|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 
That's two people to DMPC already... I have a player that may possibly replace Kyrul once we get out of this area.
Happy New Year, folks. I'm still waiting for Targi and Treize's actions before moving on with the combat.
One of the goblins stumbles mid-charge and faceplants into the sewer filth, quite asleep. Before the other goblin even realizes what's going on, his face assumes a blank expression as he's dazed by Ferrucio.
Two goblins armed with large jagged knives rush at you from the right tunnel with amazing speed. Even faster though are the three arrows which fly from the area covered in darkness.
One of the arrows hits Bishop in the torso, but another pierces his throat and he falls down, unconscious.
The party arrives at the T-section with full illumination. This allows Bishop to notice that their original tracks which lead to the left have been muddled by a bunch of small humanoid feet going to the right. Tracing the direction of the tracks, Bishop stares into the right tunnel. Where the light spell cannot pierce the darkness, it is totally black... Until a pair of bright dots suddenly flash in the dark, reflecting your light!
Before Bishop can react, he screams in pain as an arrow hits him.
Dario:
It sounded very much like a Goblin war cry
Jack's arrow pierces the dog's ear, failing to inflict significant damage. Shalastar struggles to suspend the guard's disbelief for a long time. The guard suddenly becomes aware that he's surrounded by the people who want him dead ASAP. The clanking of Kyrul's manacles over his head alerts him and he turns to deflect the attack at the last moment. However in doing this he exposes his back to Targi's dagger, which finds a weak spot in his armor. He cries out to Shalastar: "Look, I can't just let them cut me to pieces! Tell them to stop and then we'll talk unarmed!" Treize inflicts additional wounds on the dog, which is bleeding in several places by now. The wounded dog keeps pursuing Jack:
The healthy dog stays focused on Treize:
The flanked guard attacks Kyrul:
The dominated guard approaches Mordred as instructed. The other ranged guard tries to shoot Mordred:
The last guard comes at Shalastar from behind the corner:
The wounded dog charges directly at Jack. Treize attempts to shove the guard's body in its path, but fumbles and the dog leaps unhindered, the body tumbling down like a rag doll behind it.
The guard near Tragen looks demoralized and confused by Shalastar's words. He approaches Shalastar as if hypnotized, seemingly oblivious of the other dangerous convicts around him. He asks meekly: "But... Isn't that the right thing? What would you have done?" The other dog runs up to Treize and attempts to bite him.
Two more guards move in quickly, looking for tactical positions with their bows. The last guard switches to the sword&board and lags behind somewhat.
Kyrul - I am being slow myself, for which I am very sorry but time just keeps slipping away between all the RL chores. Unless you want to cut this game off, you're welcome to stay. If you don't want to, I will have a replacement found. Mordred - I've had my share of cramming during my uni years, but crying? That's taking it way too far. Crying never helped anyone prepare better, as far as I know. I'm sure you will be able to put the bad stuff past you. Shalastar - In theory I'd say yes, but there are a lot of strings attached. First, there is no such thing in the game world as a generic lvl 20 sorceress. That would have been some very renowned or legendary individual who you must have seen personally or at least on many very detailed images to be able to impersonate. Second, those wings would be purely decorative and immediately discovered as such if touched. Third, there will still be a Will save to disbelieve the illusion, possibly with a penalty to DC if the disguise is especially out-of-place. But yes, you can use wings or tail or a nimbus or forked tongue or perhaps even smoke or lighting effects as part of your disguise.
Once again, the group heads into the sewers. The sickly smell is starting to feel familiar to Dario and Bishop. After crossing the long tunnel, you arrive at the T-section, where the duo followed the tracks to the right.
Dario and Bishop return to the headquarters. Ferrucio and Dracius finish recovering their magical energies. Illithia returns from the city, having met with the Children there and carrying the coins from the sold loot. You have a lunch where the events are recounted: Dario and Bishop were chasing someone, presumably a goblin, through the sewers, and eventually stumbled upon a trapped gate with a fang symbol on it, behind which somebody, presumably more goblins, was waiting. As you gather your things, the sun is still high up in the sky, but it is well past noon already.
When I have time, I don't get the updates, and when I get them, I don't have time anymore :( Plowing through.
The dog's growl briefly turns into whimper as Jack's arrow hits him, but ultimately it only serves to anger the animal.
Oh, hi Gary! :)
Gary:
The guards' BAB is +2 and their Dex is 13, so I would think their Atk modifier with longbow should be +3, but it's +2 in the stat block... I'm ruling in the players' favor.
Being a fairly new DM myself, it's hard for me to imagine how an Assistant DM would work. E.g. how much communication will be required and how to ensure we don't post different things at around the same time. But I'm willing to consider the idea.
The wounded guard's companion roars in frustration and tries to hit Tragen from the side: , but Tragen skillfully parries the attack.
Seeing that the business has turned lethal, the rear guards command the dogs to attack and draw longbows themselves, taking sniping positions in the back room. One massive dog charges at Tragen, jumping over the body of a guard and aiming for his sword arm: . Powerful jaws lock on Tragen and the weight of the beast plus the blood loss from the wounds is too much to bear. The other dog runs past the fray and approaches Jack and Treize, growling and snarling dangerously. The guard previously wounded by Jack pops out of cover and takes a shot:
Mordred:
Jack's arrow goes wide, not even hitting a shield. Tragen charges into the guard, who tries to hide behind the shield but underestimates the antipaladin's conviction. Tragen uses his momentum to kick the shield aside and drive the sword right into the guard's side with both hands. Blood gushes and the guard becomes deathly pale, though he does not fall immediately.
The wounded guard retreats to the guard room, peeking at you from behind the door.
The short standoff between Jack and the guard is interrupted by a sound of many boots climbing the ladder. Four more guards stomp into the guardroom from the below level. Two of them have swords and shields ready, the other two lead guard dogs on leashes. The guard throws a glance backwards and shouts "Hold it, they got a hostage!"
Mordred tears off two patches with daggers, which immediately turn into actual daggers.
Sorry for the delay, was moving back from the business trip, then the national holiday, then a concert, and now I finally have some time but the boards are excruciatingly slow tonight :( So not sure if I'll manage to put in a full post.
Perception DC20:
The heavy door muffles most sounds, but you think you can hear several high-pitched voices screaming about something, followed by a more severe, almost barking voice. A dark and tense silence falls for several drawn-out moments, as you lie on the wet and stinky floor trying not to move or breathe. After a short while, another similar click can be heard from exactly the same direction, but no one seems to come out.
Dario is none the wiser regarding the meaning of the symbol.
Dario - in your studies concerning Westcrown, you are positive you have never came across this symbol bearing any prominence.
Mordred finds that the veil radiates moderate transmutation aura. Tragen, to his mild surprise and amusement, finds that both guards register as Good, even if the auras are a bit hazy and mudded. The guard does not feel comfortable in Treize's charge range and retreats back to the door, blocking it. .
Treize's threats stop the guard, who does not want to risk ending up in your place for allowing you to kill his comrade. He switches to a longbow and keeps it trained on you, but does not shoot.
The guard throws a swift glance back as he finishes his speech, in anticipation of something.
Sense Motive DC8:
The last part of what he says is sincere, but his belief in the Brandenscar security is not as strong as he makes it seem. But he takes reassurance in expecting more guards to be here soon.
The guard is armored in a standard-issue chain shirt. Aside from the soft but heavy leather club and the heavy steel shield, he also carried a longsword and a longbow with an arrow quiver. A large keyring with the cell keys is attached to his belt, but even a cursory glance is enough to see that all of them are too big to be used on manacles. It is unlikely he would have any reason to unlock you before the day of your execution.
Mordred only gets to see a glimpse of a corner with a chair in it through the half-open door; the chair is empty and the guard is out of his field of view at the moment. Tragen finds his charge path blocked by Treize, who seems to have snapped out of the combat. Still, by circling around him, he ends up flanking the guard with Kyrul, holds his chin with one hand and delivers a well-placed blow with the other hand. The guard comes down like a sandbag, knocked out and bleeding, but still alive.
The second guard pops out of the door again. "What's taking you so..." He stops halfway through the sentence in surprise and horror, upon seeing unshackled prisoners standing over the body of his partner in an unlocked cell. He pops back and you hear a sharp whistle, and a moment later the guard runs into the room, drawing his longsword and shield. GET BACK! he screams, in fury and terror.
DM roll:
Sometimes, for the sake of flow, players act in order of posting and then the DM posts the results of all the actions and acts for all the bad guys (or good guys, as it were). This simplified system works well where all the set pieces are arranged from the start. This fight isn't really like this, so initiative is fairly important here.
Kyrul moves in for a kill, and this time hits the guard squarely in the head with the heavy manacles. Blood sprays and the guard has to grab the bars to avoid falling down. When he sees that Tragen has simply torn apart the chains which were holding him, his eyes widen and the jaw drops open. There is nothing but fear left in him.
-> Tragen -> Guard 1 -> Guard 2 -> Treize -> Kyrul -> Mordred
Treize, you're right about the AOO... Shame on me. I'll process the remaining actions now.
Okay, sorry for the delay. The last few days have been of the 'work hard, party hard' variety. I should be able to post more often until next Thursday now. Next weekend 17th-18th I'll be flying back home so will be in the same situation as Treize. But I should be able to do an update on Monday 19th. On a positive note, the campaign link should now have proper (if smallish) map with tokens which you should be able to move around. Further on in your combat posts please state the starting and ending positions of your token so that I could keep track of your movement (if there is any). The state of the map is before Kyrul's turn. If Kyrul wants to get in a flanking position, he'll have to move past the guard and provoke an AOO. Please confirm or revise the action. The cell door is placed awkwardly between the grid lines, but as it is about 5-feet wide, I will count that the guard blocks it completely. If you want to get from T10 to T11, you'll have do it through S10, which currently has the guard. If at some point you'll want to get from S10 to S11, you'll have to do it through T10.
In an impressive display of physical prowess fueled by the burning emotion, Tragen's chains creak and finally give in, allowing him to enter the fray.
The look Treize gives him, however, holds something more than simple surprise...
I think I didn't define the DM/player roll policy yet... In general, if you didn't make some roll I require to process the event, then I'd like to be able to do it myself. This might include Initiative rolls when entering combat, opposed checks, passive rolls from special abilities etc. But if you went ahead and did the roll yourself in the anticipation of something - more power to you, I will use your result then. Hope that's alright.
As the guard retreats to the doorway, he also readies a heavy wooden shield. Treize attempts to take advantage of this distraction and wrestle the guard's club away, but in his current emaciated state cannot compete with the brute.
Shalastar continues to scare and demoralize the guard with his poison-laced words.
Mordred:
No, you can't see him at the moment. But that's a good thing for you, anyway :) I suppose you can ready an action vs the second guard's appearance.
As the guard abruptly reacts to Treize's sudden assault, Kyrul tries to knock him out but his blunt strike just harmlessly glances off the guard's chain shirt.
The heavy swing forces Treize to recoil to avoid it, and the guard seems to be restoring faith in himself. He takes a step back to block the exit with his body, and assumes defensive stance.
I am just hesitant to kick off the Round 1 because it starts with the guards' turn, and Kyrul's surprise action has a potential to change what guards do (hell, even him failing to act will have its own outcome). I will be busy tonight so I might not move things forward until tomorrow night.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
