Allence's Last Hope

Game Master sarpadian

I am (reluctantly) okay with forced march, if only because I get paranoid about bodies of water (us GMs gotta use our water monsters somehow!).

I am against forced march just because we have seen how well combat while damaged has gone for us so far.

I also vote for staying.

Once camp is set up, Umash begins brewing.

Technically, there's enough time before dark to craft two potions, but Umash only has CLW memorized once. If y'all want, she can craft one potion of CLW and one of enlarge person. Drexel, do you want to copy spells?

I am going to copy what spells I can into my spell book

You have enough time to copy all three spells whose Spellcraft checks were successful. You still have the scroll of true strike, since you failed the Spellcraft check.

Chantif, Det, and Umash's watches pass uneventfully.

I'll craft only the CLW potion. Also will prepare 2 CLWs for the next day.

I was just thinking, why are we doing all this in ooc?

As we approach the lake I say "This looks like a great place to make camp for the night, obviously it is pretty safe or so many people would not have camped here previously, and it will give me time to add some of these spells we got to my spell book."

I assist with setting up the camp and then sit close to the fire in the dying light to transcribe the spells that I had deciphered.

In the middle of the night... you are all (hopefully) roused from your slumber as Rhona suddenly screams: "Aw, WHAT?! Monster, monster, monster! Everybody up, everybody up!"

Sarpadian, you made me feel safe! I'll never forgive you for this! ;) I'm guessing you'll roll initiative for us? Not sure if I'm acting in the surprise round or not, or what equipment I'm considered to have ready, but this would be my first action.

Rhona shakes the jaws of the reptilian creature off her leg and hastily swings her longsword down at the creature in an attempt to drive it off.

Cold Iron Longsword: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Confirm the Crit!: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Extra Crit Damage if possible: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

To be fair, I specifically said that it wasn't that I wasn't capable of springing water monsters on you, just that you weren't necessarily going to be able to get away from them by marching another hour, and (furthermore) I didn't do it, the random encounter dice did. That said, I will plead guilty to deciding it happened during your watch because I thought it was funny. I will roll initiative now, and there's a map up on Roll20. It trying to chow down was the surprise round, and I would have assumed you stand watch with your armor on and your longsword where you could get to it. Shield's probably pushing it, though; it would get pretty heavy standing around for several hours.

The creature lashes out at Rhona again. Its bite completely whiffs this time, but as it temporarily rares back on its four rear legs, it swings the razor-sharp claws on its front legs. The back two miss by an even wider margin than the bite did, but the front two claws connect, ripping at Rhona's flesh.

Total of 14 damage. Everybody woke up except for Det; the initiative order will be posted in the spoiler at the top of the page.

Mein gott! That's a lotta damage! What's the phrase...? "HALP!"?

Chantif grabs his flail and rolls out of bed, then runs at the creature. "TO ARMS! UP, DET, YOU SLEEPY LOG!"

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The dice give, and the dice take away. If he hadn't won initiative, it would have been 0; your Dex bonus would have been enough to make all his attacks miss. Also, I've fixed the map on Roll20: I'd moved your tokens onto the new map, but I forgot to make it the current page. Should be fixed now, so you can move yourselves on the map.

I always forget that about surprise rounds.

Umash and Drexel are up.

Umash grabs her falchion and yanks it free from its sheath as she steps outside the tent to assess the situation.

Rhona brings her longsword down on the creature's head, slicing at its chin. Then she readies her shield and awaits the next onslaught.

The more I think about it, having your shield on your back wouldn't be unreasonable, and readying it means it'll have to roll really well to finish you off. Drexel's up, then Chantif's action goes off, then Det gets another Perception check.

I guess I forgot we weren't doing Party initiative.

I can't remember what we were doing before, but I'm finding as I get more PbP experience that the style of combat that seems to work best (in terms of balance between keeping the game moving and rewarding people for investing in initiative) is letting people post in any order they want, but then having those actions resolve in initiative order.

I roll out of bed grumbling and fumbling for my crossbow. "I better get enough rest to prepare my spells in the morning."

End of Round 1:
Drexel moves out of the tent with his crossbow at the ready. Chantif then passes by him on his way to close with the creature. Det wakes up, but he's momentarily disoriented.

I realized that the DC for him to wake up is now 2, so he doesn't need to roll.

Beginning of Round 2:

The creature unleashes another flurry of attacks. Only one of its claws strikes home, but that's still enough to make Rhona crumple to the ground.

4 damage (btw, the shield and, especially Shield Focus, just came in really handy. The rest of the party should post round 2 actions.

I'm not sure if this is possible or not--I couldn't see the map before--but could I move Chantif out a little so that he is not coming directly at the lizard at the end of round 1, and can be flanking by round 2? Either way, he should end his round 2 move action adjacent to the lizard to hit it with his flail.

Chantif steps up to the lizard and brings his Flail down around its neck.

Seeing the reptilian creature attacking Rhona, Umash circles around to attack it's unguarded rear.

9 feet are enough to stay out of reach while moving around.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 + 2 = 17
Damage: 2d4 + 3 ⇒ (1, 2) + 3 = 6

To identify the creature, I assume it's either a magical beast or an animal
Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

I rush toward Rhona knowing I am useless firing into melee, dropping to my knees I attempt to help her. heal: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14 "Come on, don't die!"

Yes the second +2 is for flanking. I missed that Rhona was down.

Umash's blow strikes the creature, but the falchion appears to merely graze the creature's tough hide, rather than penetrating it. Drexel tries to patch up Rhona, but doing so with a large lizard directly in front of him is apparently nerve-wracking enough that he can't manage to staunch her wounds. Chantif steps up and lays a mighty blow on the creature, causing it to recoil a bit. Det stumbles out of the tent, hammer in hand. He says, "Can't a guy sleep off a hangover in peace?"

Rhona is at -4.

Beginning of Round 3:

Its head shaking (whether from pain or rage, you can't tell), the creature unleashes a flurry of attacks at Chantif. It latches on with its bite, and then falls motionless on the ground, dragging Chantif with it.

Chantif takes 10 normal damage and 2 Con damage. Con damage affects both your current and max HP, so he's currently at -1/11. Umash and Drexel are up.

Oh, balls! Y'all don't die!

"H... haaaalp..." Rhona groans, half-unconscious, flailing her hands uselessly at Drexel as he fumbles with her wounds, completely unaware of anything going on around her. Blood trickles from her wounds, soaking into her cape and staining her armor.

GM, should I make a stabilization check? If so:

Stabilize (Con Check): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 :<

Umash takes a step back: "That does it..." she declares while producing a vial. She downs the contents, staggering as her muscles to bulge up with wet popping sounds and her frame extends.

Once the mutation is complete, the now even more primal looking half-orc grabs her weapon with both hands again and growls a challenge.

Using mutagen, -2 Intelligence, +2 Natural Armor and +4 Strength

Shouldn't Chantif be at 1/12? 2 CON damage would be -1 HP, not -2, and Chantif starts with 13.

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Looking back at my previous post, I realize it wasn't as clear as it could have been. The creature was disabled, so its attack on Chantif rendered it unconscious. However, the special attack it's using on Chantif doesn't require an action to use, so I'm going to rule that it still happens on the creature's Initiative count, unless Chantif escapes. (Hence why we're still in initiative mode, even though the creature is dying). Escaping requires a CMB or Escape Artist check. One of you may take the aid another action. Fair point on the Con damage, Chantif, I was in a hurry and misread "penalty" as "damage." I'll try to get another post in today, but school's really putting a damper on my gaming time right now.

Wait, so you meant he has -2 penalty to his CON modifier so he IS at -1/11? Or you misread penalty as damage and I was right about 1/12?

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The rules say "apply this penalty to your current and maximum hit points," and I read that as "apply this damage to your current and maximum hit points." In other words, you were right.

Okay, retcon my action then, I thought its still going because we're still in turn sequence.

Umash steps up and starts pulling the creature's jaws open.

CMB aid another: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Chantif grabs hold of the creature's mouth and wrenches it open, straining against it to break free.

CMB: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

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I see the creature fall and attempt to tend to Rhona again since Umash is seeing to Chantif.
Heal: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Between the two of them, Umash and Chantif manage to get Chantif loose. Drexel's attempt to patch up Rhona is unsuccessful. In fact, it looks like Rhona has started bleeding faster until Det runs up, saying: "I've got this, Drex.". Det patches up Rhona.
Rhona, I'd already rolled your stabilization check for you. I'm going to roll another for this round now (if the one you rolled had been a success, I would have let you use it for this round, but it wasn't). Rhona is stable at -5. We can leave initiative mode now.

"Another near death experience. How are we supposed to find this artifact if we are nearly dying every two days? How are we supposed to get past the Orcs?"

Umash pulls out the one potion she could brew so far: "I cannot make these as fast as we use them up. Perhaps we should make sure that nothing else comes crawling out of that hole and then stay here for a while, to give Chantif and Rhona time to recover, and me time to make more potions."
She hands the flask to Detskiye. "I need to figure out a way to make my extracts work on all of you, that would save us a couple of expensive potions."

Chantif rolls onto his back, breathing heavily. Maybe-- he coughs and takes a deep breath --we need to learn-- his chest heaves again --how to fight more cautiously.

Maybe next time we should all fight defensively?

We seem to have stalled. I'll move this along so that Rhona can at least be involved in the conversation.
Det administers the potion Umash handed him to Rhona, while the rest of you make sure the area is safe, which it seems to be. Some of her wounds fade, but she's still unconscious. Presumably, Drexel (whose watch is next) takes over the watch, and the rest of you return to sleep. An hour later, Rhona wakes up.

Rhona, you're conscious at -1. You're treated as disabled until you reach 1 HP.

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4Consciousness check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13

Why, thank you!

Rhona groans as she regains consciousness, but is relieved to see that no one appears to be dead. "That sucked," she grumbles. "Gotta admit... I've always imagined my end to come in glorious battle retaking the North from orcs... not getting mauled by a random lizard-thing." She swallows, feeling a bit of a wound to her pride. "Not my finest moment..."

Guessing I'll be pretty much useless until I get some more HP back, but I say we press on anyways.

The rest of us are still sleeping?

If you went back to sleep, then yes. You can say that you stayed up if you want, but you'll be fatigued for the day. Drexel's watch is the last watch, so the rest of you need two more hours of sleep.

Chantif is definitely out like a log until the night rest ends or something else wakes him.

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Hearing Rhona stir, I approach. "Glad you are still among the living, but you probably need your rest if you are to heal. It is my turn to keep watch, so don't worry."

After talking to Rhona I settle back down and study my spells for the new day.

After another hour or so, the sun rises far enough in the sky to wake up the party. The party begins discussing whether or not to move out today as they eat breakfast. Det pipes up: "We can camp out here a day, if we need to; one day is probably not going to make a difference. We do need to think, though, about making sure we have enough time to complete the job and get back across before the passes close. If we slow down too much, we're liable to get caught north of the Teeth when winter sets in, or (maybe worse yet) have it set in while we're in the Teeth."

I do hope Det returns soon, but having a GMPC comes in handy sometimes. Discuss among yourselves :).

Yeah, I haven't seen Wivvy online in ages. The Rise of the Runelords game he was running has been inactive for weeks. :\ Still, I like Det and definitely don't mind him sticking around as an NPC.

Rhona groans and smiles wearily up at Drexel. "Yeah, well, I'm glad too. Stupid lizard... where'd it come from, anyway?" She grumbles incoherently for a while before going back to bed.

The next morning, Rhona offers: "I don't want to hold us up too long, personally, but if you think we could spare one day's bed rest, well... I'm sure Chantif and I could both use the sleep. After that, though... let's double-time it. I don't want to get snowed in on the Orc side of the mountains."

Chantif sits in thought, staring at the ground for a few moments after the others finish. "I think we should not delay. Rhona and I will have to be more cautious. Mayhap Umash can make more potions to get us back up. Regardless, we do not have much time to burn, so we should save what extra time we have for when we have no choice but to stop."

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