Because this way you can fill it with elaborate puzzles and deathtraps and then scry it for-the-lulz later on ^^?
You mean like some interplanar love child of Takeshi's Castle and Smash TV?
Today in "The Dungeon of Death" - Yellowknifes company! How far will they get?
That would be amusing. Less so for us, though.
Hello, everyone, just popping in again to let you know I'm travelling again from tomorrow through the rest of the week for a conference. (The Society for Classical Studies, in Toronto this year for its annual meeting - so much for easing into the new year and a new semester!) The schedule is pretty intense, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to snatch a moment here or there to post, so feel free to bot Chaïa like an instrument of randomness if it would slow things down too much in the meanwhile.
Okay Chaïa - have fun : )
@Chaia: You mind taking a look at wether you have some way to trigger the elevator from your part of the the level?
While from a trapped-dungeon-design standpoint, it would make sense to force the party to split up, from a game-design OOC viewpoint, it seems unlikely that we'll be forced to keep two guys upstairs operating the dais, while the other people go explore.
So, OOC I'm pretty certain there should be SOME way you can handle things independently from us, I guess checking now would save us some IC-talking about how to proceed only to find out we don't have to split up after all.
@Samnell: Bleh...should not post directly after getting into work while still sleepy. I intended to shake them off in more vivid pictures while trying to get away after you went to the trouble of explaining in detail how they begin to devour me.
That part kind of got lost. Just wanted to let you know.
So, being covered by carnivorous acid bugs, on fire. Of all the nasty things to have to imagine. It's a good thing Chaïa is very definitely not me, or she'd be having to make a Fortitude save not to expire from sheer horror.
At least it's not as unnerving as mind-affecting magic can be. *Tries not to think about Perdido Street Station.*
Hm...pity Khepri are not a pathfinder race, hu?
Anyway, I think getting away from the swarm is more important than trying to put out the flames(on a field covered by a acidic swarm on fire).
I am channeling with the expectation that you both intend to survive. If one of you intends to instead use their body as improvised flaming weapon, rolling around on the bugs, do tell -_-
Stop drop and roll was actually a thought...
Aye. But chances are you catch fire again, and if the Swarm is not "dead" after you roll over them, you may take 3-16 damage again. With 4 HP left, that could almost be lethal(especially since you would not be conscious to put out the fire if 5 or more damage are done).
Low chance, but present. Either way, your call :) There's a reason I have not added the rolled HP back to the statline(used a ready action instead of delay - and that may not meet the trigger condition).
Did I mention I heavily dislike swarms? .
Usually always have some Acid or Alchemists Fire on Chars, but instead took a deluxe dungoneering kit on Janus -_-
Just my luck, there.
On the bright side; at least you are ninja-proof for a while! : )
So, being covered by carnivorous acid bugs, on fire. Of all the nasty things to have to imagine. It's a good thing Chaïa is very definitely not me, or she'd be having to make a Fortitude save not to expire from sheer horror.
It's not often that players cast buffs on their enemies. Generous of you, really.
To a fault, is what that is. :)
To be honest "on fire" is a buff I'm perfectly okay with us handing out :P
Yep. especially if we can outrun the "buffed" enemies...which I do hope is the case, because it seems nobody else had any grand ideas.(except Lu. Amusingly, I had considered retreating a bit, then lighting torches, handing them out, and using those. I guess burnifying all your paper works, too :) )
So...any smart plans? I can't even wiggle through on a Take 20(and I'm certainly not the only one).
We could, of course, go and fetch this.
Then opt for this solution.
I'm almost thinking that maybe we should do return and get some proper gear. Grappling hooks, rope and climbing gear for that cliff. Glue or something to stuff into the pipes. And hammer and chisel seems like an excellent way of bypassing that slab without bringing everything down over us! Additionally we can fetch Arun - he is small enough to easily bypass that gap and take a quick look at the other side.
If we do that we can also take some time to consult our employee and rub our success into the faces of those other scrubs/stake our claim.
Honestly, I'm up for whatever. XD Alas, I don't have Grease, so I can't ease anyone's way through that way.
So...any smart plans? I can't even wiggle through on a Take 20(and I'm certainly not the only one).
We could, of course, go and fetch this.
Then opt for this solution.
Tools could work with anything ranging from adding circumstance bonuses (levers, pulleys, etc) to making a slow handwavey passage (chisel through the whole damned thing).
You can also team up and do a joint push on the stone. Highest roll would be lead and everyone else aids another. Five PCs means as many as four +2 mods on top of whoever rolls best. This may be compatible with tools if you do something like rig pulleys so everyone can give a good yank or make a big lever.
That's also possible with squeezing through, but there's not room on top of the slab for the whole party at once so aiding another would be more limited. This could also benefit from tools in the form of, say, nudity and lubrication. A greased-up adventure in deshabille would get +4, +6 if it's Janus. Maybe +8, depends how sated I am when resolution time comes.
Nudity and Lubrication you say?
Lets go, Lu. We undress, then you oil me up. I'll make sure you are lubricated, too, then we'll slide into that tight space and start moving.
You can go first, then you'll help me come, too.
More seriously, I'm up for anything...is there some roll we can do do figure out how whatever is connected to the pipes is triggered? Knowledge(Engineering) maybe? Or Dungeoneering? (not that I have either...)
Nudity and Lubrication you say?
Lets go, Lu. We undress, then you oil me up. I'll make sure you are lubricated, too, then we'll slide into that tight space and start moving.
You can go first, then you'll help me come, too.
More seriously, I'm up for anything...is there some roll we can do do figure out how whatever is connected to the pipes is triggered? Knowledge(Engineering) maybe? Or Dungeoneering? (not that I have either...)
Engineering, but there's not a lot of mechanism around to look at so any knowledge check would only kick back educated guesses. You may be able to narrow things down a bit if you knowledge around some of the things about the ruin by placing it and cross-referencing with known proclivities. I don't think anyone has tried to place the sarcophagus figure yet.
If you want to hack into the walls and try to follow the tubes around, that's a different story.
Chaïa's probably still annoyed enough to just try pushing the block over if we can all pitch in together, sensitive archaeological site or not. Unfortunately, she knows neither grease nor reduce person, and even that would be pushing her luck to squeeze through.
I've actually got a positive modifier on strength, so I could probably Take 10 to Aid Another on that if anyone wants to try. ^^
If we don't feel like stressing, Lu could take 20 on the Str check for 24 and with some help shove it out of the way.
Though I personally thing that may trigger some bad event :P
I believe Haytham has not managed to post in any of his games since near the end of January, neither as player nor as GM.
Considering it's been over a month since then, we may have to consider him a loss, too.
That leaves us with:
Chaia(Wizard(Primalist)/Oracle(Spellscar))
Janus(Oracle(Spirit Guide)/Swashbuckler(Falcata Swashbuckler))
Lu(Fighter(Swordlord)/Bard(Duettist))
Saeri(Magus(Card Caster, Kensai)/Witch(Cartomancer, Hedge Witch)
with a loss of:
Haytham(Cleric(Red Knight)/Slayer)
Kaysomnite(Swashbuckler/Sorcerer(Tattooed Sorcerer))
We still got full prepared arcane(twice), full spontanteous divine(twice), Melee capability(twice), some more arcane casting(twice, two thirds). We are lacking in mundane ranged combat, except for Saeri's card tossing - we did before, too...
I think we're still fine as-is. But wanted to check if there were any glaring weaknesses needing to be covered, warranting a partial rebuild/retraining after this arc.
Then figured maybe someone else would take a look too and wanted to share my thoughts to save someone the time to double up on them.
That's... about the expected rate of attrition, really. XD Can't say I'm surprised.
We still got full prepared arcane(twice), full spontanteous divine(twice), Melee capability(twice), some more arcane casting(twice, two thirds). We are lacking in mundane ranged combat, except for Saeri's card tossing - we did before, too...
I think we're still fine as-is. But wanted to check if there were any glaring weaknesses needing to be covered, warranting a partial rebuild/retraining after this arc.
Then figured maybe someone else would take a look too and wanted to share my thoughts to save someone the time to double up on them.
THat's basically my thought on it too. If you were critically missing something or we had gotten to a worryingly low number, I'd be all over getting a replacement. As-is, doesn't seem urgent...unless you players feel otherwise.
Either way, you are welcome to adjust things on your PCs if you wish.
If this happens we might not want to go closer :P
You know, brown things described as creeping in dungeons always have me worried. Not that Lu would know, but Know(dungeon) might be the correct thing to roll (maybe)?
Also! I'll be busy today; not sure if I can slip in an IC post sorry!
*Thinks about some of the things they've read about* ...Hah, yeah. XD
Another week from heck coming up for me, so I might be a bit slower at posting than usual. I'd like to think I'll be able to post daily as necessary, but if things are going to drag because of me, feel free to bot Chaïa.
Another week from heck coming up for me, so I might be a bit slower at posting than usual. I'd like to think I'll be able to post daily as necessary, but if things are going to drag because of me, feel free to bot Chaïa.
Noted.
Also so everyone knows: I'm going to be removing Haytham from play fairly soon, hopefully in a way that doesn't cause too much disruption.
Mkay! Seems reasonable on both accounts.
The Great Lantern Tunnel Round-up
Since a fair bit of RL time has passed, here's what you already know about the tunnels, lanterns, and sarcophagus.
The Sarcophagus
Got some androgynous figure on it. Spines around to point at tunnels and things happen when it does. You haven't tried to open it. It's missing a finger, which you found separately.
Red Tunnel
Missing its lantern. Nothing happened on pointing the sarcophagus at it.
Orange Tunnel
Lantern present, unlit. Sarcophagus was pointing at this tunnel when you came in.
Yellow Tunnel
Lantern present, unlit. Pointing the sarcophagus at it brought up an elevator which appears to be in working order and took you to the sublevel with the mold, elementals, and weird eye creatures which you have now fully explored.
Green Tunnel
Lantern present, lit with an iron sphere marked with an upraised white hand in chipped paint, the mark of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors, the mage guild of the City of Splendors. The sphere emits light in the form of a slightly blue, heatless flame. Janus took the sphere. On turning the sarcophagus toward Green, the floor where an elevator would be if it were the same as the yellow tunnel -all the tunnels have a pattern in the floor that suggests an elevator in the same place- collapsed into a shaft and hostile bugs emerged to attack.
Blue Tunnel
Lantern present, unlit. The ceiling of this tunnel goes much higher than the others and you spotted a ledge somewhere up there. You also found a skeleton here that appeared to have died from a fall.
Indigo Tunnel
Lantern absent, but found by the party elsewhere in what looked to be an adventurer's pack. Turning the sarcophagus to it summoned an elevator which was littered with debris. Janus hauled a big bug corpse into it and the elevator slammed shut. Then the ceiling came down hard, making a big crunching sound. Among the debris in the elevator were some Waterdhavian coins.
Violet Tunnel
Lantern present, unlit. Nothing happened when the sarcophagus was pointed to it.
Dying from falls worries me. XD Triply so at Level 1. Might be good to try and explore the Violet Tunnel and see if we can figure out any other connections, though.
Dying from falls worries me. XD Triply so at Level 1. Might be good to try and explore the Violet Tunnel and see if we can figure out any other connections, though.
There's always Climb checks. And rope. It's not that far back to Daggerford if you want to make a supply run.
I agree with fall damage being...worrysome at level 1.
Saerie, please elaborate on exploring the violet tunnel?
Am I missing a pattern? Or what do you intend to try to get that part to reveal additional secrets?
I agree with fall damage being...worrysome at level 1.
Just tie a rope to someone and lower them down. Maybe slather them with honey mustard first. Jiggle them a little if you want. Ring a bell. It'll be cool.
Sounds fun. But if we're talking about the blue tunnel, I'm not so worried about lowering them down, and more worried about getting up, or staying up in the first place. If I'm up there on the ledge and lowering someone down, then a trap of sorts pushes me over, we would need a significant amount of honey mustard to break our fall.
I'm afraid our funds are not sufficient for that...
Sounds fun. But if we're talking about the blue tunnel, I'm not so worried about lowering them down, and more worried about getting up, or staying up in the first place. If I'm up there on the ledge and lowering someone down, then a trap of sorts pushes me over, we would need a significant amount of honey mustard to break our fall.
I'm afraid our funds are not sufficient for that...
Blue is up. Green is down. You could fall from or dangle from either place, though perhaps not at the same time. I mean not without a lot of blood...
I am not concerned unless some demonic creature pops up letting me know blood is a natural lubricant.
The FALL damage, I am worried about with blue.
The swarmy bug nest, I am worried about with green.
And Chaia, I am worried about with indigo.
Red, Orange and Violet seemed unresponsive, and we've been to yellow.
Albeit we should probably give the sublevel a once-over, just to make sure we didn't miss something. This whole place feels too much like a huge puzzle to have meaningless dead-ends.
@Fall Damage - Lu still has feather fall though so that should help (unless we want to fall lots of times!)
"This whole place feels too much like a huge puzzle to have meaningless dead-ends."
My thoughts, basically - so I figure going the way that seems like it should lead somewhere, but currently doesn't, is the most likely to get us to interesting (and hopefully profitable) places. XD
Also, PbP is slow and I run a ton of games, so I forget puzzle stuff kind of easily. o wo; I don't suppose we could try sticking that lit sphere into the violet lantern and seeing if anything happens?
About indigo, you're right. It's been a while, so I got confused and forgot which alcove was the bug squisher.
Hmm. Maybe if we take a moment to make a preliminary report to Yellowknife, and bribe him with that fancy quarterstaff, Saeri and I can write feather fall into our spellbooks, if he has access to the spell?
@Saeri...point was if there was anything special about violet since you singled it out...orange and red were "the same", so I wondered why you specifically pointed out the violet one.
The lantern we found was indigo and I don't remember some special description...so it was more of a "just because you like the color, or did I miss something?"-kind of question.
@Lu: Good call on having it...do you want to take a look, or should someone else *cough* Haytham *cough* do the honors?
@Chaia, don't worry. I'll try and keep you away from known dangers.
@GM: I'm stating that as a standard modus operandi: If we KNOW something about our environment is dangerous, I'll try and keep between it and Chaia if possible. (if theres something else dangerous on the other side, we're out of luck if it sparkles.)
@GM: I'm stating that as a standard modus operandi: If we KNOW something about our environment is dangerous, I'll try and keep between it and Chaia if possible. (if theres something else dangerous on the other side, we're out of luck if it sparkles.)
Known dangers are the kind of thing I usually remind players about and ask for confirmation before going ahead anyway unless it's pretty obvious they know from the start. Like if someone declares "I charge through the wall of fire."
Aye. And if Chaia cheerfully responds "yes" when you ask for confirmation, then I want a Reflex Save to try and grapple her before she does so.
Because as per the previous statement, I will be positioned in a way to do so. ^_^
Aye. And if Chaia cheerfully responds "yes" when you ask for confirmation, then I want a Reflex Save to try and grapple her before she does so.
Because as per the previous statement, I will be positioned in a way to do so. ^_^
I can't promise I'll remember, but I'll try.
Gah, missed a couple of posts earlier. Fixing now.
Also, PbP is slow and I run a ton of games, so I forget puzzle stuff kind of easily. o wo; I don't suppose we could try sticking that lit sphere into the violet lantern and seeing if anything happens?
It is a puzzle, but I'm not into the whole torturing the players because they don't guess right thing. I figure you'll have a chance to thoroughly explore what you can and if no one seems on track then it's fine to brute force the thing with Int checks, divination, and/or having Yellowknife do those things for you.
Hmm. Maybe if we take a moment to make a preliminary report to Yellowknife, and bribe him with that fancy quarterstaff, Saeri and I can write feather fall into our spellbooks, if he has access to the spell?
Yellowknife is willing to buy artifacts from you anyway and does have some spells under his belt. If you'd rather be paid in part in spells, he's cool with it. He can supply you with feather fall. He'd consider copying services for it to be worth 10gp for each of you, 20gp total.
That's basically the normal model for commerce in magic, incidentally. Most workers of Art either don't need a lot of gold or can easily raise it by selling their services/items once they reach a certain level and assuming they don't have many active adventuring or research expenses.
So spreading Art tends to be on a barter basis. Spells, passwords, magic items, rare reagents, and bits of lore are traded for one another. Yellowknife is perfectly comfortable dealing with you directly, which is a more unusual.
Paranoia is common, and usually wise, so swaps are usually arranged through an intermediary. You can use anyone both parties agree on, but priests of Mystra and Azuth are the preferred choice. They have a religious duty to broker such exchanges in good faith and serve to guarantee the behavior of the principals toward one another. You might still be tricked or strike a bad deal, but they're unlikely to lead you into a trap.
Exchanges often take place on neutral ground, frequently a temple or shrine. The especially paranoid might not even show in person, but that's quite rare. The thought is that if you aren't willing to show up yourself then you're probably up to no good. Sending proxies to do the negotiating is fine, if a little odd, but sending one with the thing itself is practically telling the other side that they're getting set up the bomb or that one expects the same. Of course there's a fair bit of disguise, sneaking about, and the like too.
Wizards can be kind of terrible people. :)