The Tomb of Abysthor

Game Master Ierox

Welcome to! I need to set up some stuff real quick. In the meantime, feel free to go over your sheets one last time. Some of you don't have darkvision, so make sure you bring a light source! Likewise, you should have some stuff for camping outdoors, like a tent and a bedroll.

Even discounting all travel times inside the Valley of Shrines itself, you're three days away from the nearest point of civilization, so you should be able to go a while without resupplying.

Finally, a word of warning:

This module has encounters that are not level-appropriate, even aside from the fact that it's a sandbox style dungeon; you can walk into higher-level areas without noticing.

Be sure to assess if you actually stand a chance at defeating what you're facing, and if you don't, remember to run away.

Rhiannon reporting in! Everything should be good to go in my profile. Alas, as a human, I don't have any handy Darkvision powers... although I plan to get better senses later... but I did dip in for a Celestial Lamp that'll provide unlimited light for us.

If anyone else is using Oladon's browser plugin, she's also got an avatar/token in her profile that you can use to get the right face.

Thanks so much for the selection! Looking forward to gaming with you all.

For better or worse, Zatinya's spending most of her time carrying torches as light sources, even if she doesn't technically need it. That could change over time (nothing in her build is strictly tied to flaming torches), but fire dancing / juggling is the inspiration for this character.

Zatinya's also dreadfully poor due to the strong desire for a healing wand, maybe she'll have to give up one of her favorite mundane items for a tent.

First, thanks for picking me.

Second, I look forward to playing with all of you. Hopefully we won't all die horribly. :D

Arianna is a bit naive and probably isn't going to realize that not everyone can see in the dark at first. She's been cooped up in the same patch of forest for a while and things beyond her old hunting range are almost unknown to her. Our first visit in Bard's gate is going to be interesting.

Thanks for the chance to participate in this.

Just a heads up, Lorien is not a very good fighter. But she is a heck of a supporter. Maybe Zatinya has a half full wand or a few scrolls.

That's a good point - does Zatinya have the option of buying a partially charged wand? That would free up a bit of gold for other odds and ends.

Keshokkar checking in, still have some gold to spend on a few camping items. Character is a pretty good bruiser, with flight I might make a decent scout, but Keshokkar is intended to be a fast hit-and-run combatant w/Flyby Attack and (eventually) Power Attack charges. So at his most effective he won't be around to interrupt enemy charge-lanes to casters. But he should be very good at hunting soft targets provided there's room to fly.

Do we have anyone able to front-line tank?

One other note: I am currently living in Europe so my posting times might be a little funny relative to the other players. I'm a very regular poster though!

Well I also live in Europe.

That's a good point - does Zatinya have the option of buying a partially charged wand? That would free up a bit of gold for other odds and ends.

You can buy wands with half charges (25), if you like.

Rhiannon should eventually be able to tank pretty well. She can also do some decent Battlefield Control when we're in hallways and the like thanks to her Kinetic Cover, which can split enemies up, force them to spend time battering it down instead of approaching, et cetera.

Checking in! Looking forward to getting this started. Thanks again for including me. Now over to the real thread.

So... Why are people suddenly making camp?

We can make this a late afternoon snack before pressing on. Still 2 hours of good travel in us, right?

-Posted with Wayfinder

I believe so, yes. ^^

A misreading on my part. I think Hought it was late in the day.

@Red DM - Some questions about lighting torches, as I try to figure out how my character works in practice:

I know it's a full round action to light a torch with a flint and steel. Zatinya can also light a torch with a Spark cantrip as a standard action. What kind of action is it to light a torch with another already-lit torch? I obviously want it to be as short an action as possible, as Zatinya will likely need to spend move actions to draw more torches at some point.

If Zatinya takes the Elemental Strike feat, can she use that to light her torches as part of activating the effect?

Let's say it's a move action to light a torch if you have source of flame around already. I don't think elemental strike will set fire to the torch.

We could make it a feat, I guess, sort of like quick draw.

???
Benefit: If you have a lit torch or other source of flame within reach, lighting a torch is a free action.

Which way do you go?

It's roughly a ten minute walk to the shore of the lake and the temples.

You can cross the hex you're currently on the border of by spending your remaining two hours travelling.

Maybe with some alchemy crafting she could make giant tinderwig-esque items? Matches the size of a club that can be lit by scraping them along the ground? Just spitballing here.

I vote for visiting the nearest temple first.

I probably didn't explain well, but the two shrines are built right next to each other.

Just a second: 2d2 ⇒ (2, 1) = 3

2d4 ⇒ (4, 4) = 8

Rolling initiatives:

enemies: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Keshokkar: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Zatiana: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Arianna: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Rhiannon: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Lorien: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Gren: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

The enemies go first.

Just a second.

Initiative order:

1: The Skeletons.
2: The Party.

Nice and clean, this time around.

Curse them and their slightly higher modifier. XD

Hey! You're not the one that just lost over half her HP. That said, I am really hoping that these skellies have just a slightly better attack and not more AC or HP, otherwise, Arianna's in big trouble.

Frog God Games' notorious difficulty aside, I wouldn't expect the first encounter on the surface to be a murder-fest. XD Not unless you're very bad with tactics, anyway... but may I suggest trying to rejoin the rest of the group when you feel you can?

There's always withdraw actions. That'd take a lot of the heat off, and presumably redistribute it over the rest of the party.

That's the plan. I was hoping to give a fighting retreat while regrouping.

@Keshokkar, remember the rules of flying. You have to spend 10 feet of movement for every 5ft. you're ascending (flying forward 5ft. each time, so you're ascending at a 45 degree angle), and if you want to do anything by fly in a straight line, each time you turn, you spend 5 ft. of movement for every 45 degree turn you make.

This means that if you ascend 3 times (putting you at the neccesary height to avoid AoOs at 12+ feet) you've spent 30ft. of movement.

In practice, this means that with a flyby attack starting from the ground, you can only fly 5 squares in a straight line without beginning to make fly checks.

You generally need only make a Fly check when you are attempting a complex maneuver.

Without making a check, a flying creature can remain flying at the end of its turn so long as it moves a distance greater than half its speed.

-It can also turn up to 45 degrees by sacrificing 5 feet of movement,
-can rise at half speed at an angle of 45 degrees,
-and can descend at any angle at normal speed.

Note that these restrictions only apply to movement taken during your current turn. At the beginning of the next turn, you can move in a different direction than you did the previous turn without making a check.

Don't forget some of the skeletons have saves vs burning hands.

I rolled them offsite, sorry.

Quick question. Since a Medium creature standing on the ground occupies the first "square" of height, I'd only need to rise 2 squares to reach my desired elevation correct? Keshokkar is 5' 10", to reach 12-14 feet in elevation would only be an addition of 7-9 feet (roughly 2 "squares" if we envision the grid is 3D).

Does that make sense? I booped Kesh back 10ft to represent the movement lost gaining air but I think it's only 20ft rather than 30.

Also will move him from there to represent his Round 2 actions.

Lorien - you mean for me to take your Battle aspergillum (Alchsilver) right? Just making sure before I pull it out of your pack next round.

Quick question. Since a Medium creature standing on the ground occupies the first "square" of height, I'd only need to rise 2 squares to reach my desired elevation correct? Keshokkar is 5' 10", to reach 12-14 feet in elevation would only be an addition of 7-9 feet (roughly 2 "squares" if we envision the grid is 3D).

Does that make sense? I booped Kesh back 10ft to represent the movement lost gaining air but I think it's only 20ft rather than 30.

Yeah, I think you're right, now that I'm mulling some more about it. You'd still only be ten feet off the ground, not 12-14, but that's enough to make you unreachable for a medium creature - they're supposed to have some 8ft. vertical reach.

The pack animals aren't the only ones backing up nervously. This might be the quickest PBP ever at this rate!

@Gren - I just took a peek at the stats you rolled and your current stats. I think you forgot to add your Human +2 bonus to a stat! In other words, you could be more dexterous or intelligent (or whatever else you might want).

What a rookie mistake! Seems too late not to ret-con that one (unless our DM is feeling particularly generous?)

Two points more to my int probably won't help this fight much anyway! Seriously though thanks for the heads up.

You can add it after the battle is over.

What are you doing with your standard action?

Thanks...added a standard action now (not that it will matter).

1d20 ⇒ 18
1d20 ⇒ 11
1d20 ⇒ 10
1d20 ⇒ 19
1d20 ⇒ 9

Just checking to make sure it's possible to role higher than 10!

Okay, I'll bite. When Rhiannon made her first attack in this battle, did she just miss, or did she hit but not do enough damage?

She hit it just fine. 11 damage didn't kill it.

With fire and holy bambam and whatnot, it has taken 13 damage so far. It's not dead yet.

In fairness, one-shotting a foe is fairly rare unless they're distinctly weaker than you. XD I'm hoping that I can average at least half their health, though - y'know, when I can actually hit.

All right, I've investigated, and it turns out I've made a mistake, forgetting to note the two damage that Gren dealt to S6 after applying damage reduction, and mistakenly applying Zatinya's torch hit to #8 instead of the #4 it should've targeted.

I've fixed that now. It means that S6 has taken sufficient damage to be destroyed, so I'll remove it from the map.

Strictly speaking, this means that they got a freebie attack on Zatinya, but I won't retcon that away. Due to how the diceroller functions, I can tell that she'd still have been hit if I'd been making one less attack. And retconning is a hassle.

Yay! I agree Z would've been hit.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Yeesh, our attack rolls this round are terrible. XD I'm definitely looking forward to being able to deal consistent damage...

(Alas, I couldn't find any archetypes that would've let me have both a physical blast and an energy blast from the start... ah well.)

Well, the only thing that seems to be rolling worse than your characters, is my skeletons.

On to round 4.

Yay?

:P

I know how you feel, the only thing worse for me is when the mooks turn out more dangerous than the bosses by virtue of critting a whole lot.