Beyond the rim... there dwells madness -- Moff Rimmer DMs the Planes

Game Master Moff Rimmer

"Mind if we look around? The leprechauns will keep their hands in their pocketses."

"Mind if we look around? The leprechauns will keep their hands in their pocketses."

"Please do. Of course, I will be watching you."

"Of course."

Pinna starts sizing up the interior of the cathedral to see if there is anything interesting 'round these hyar parts. Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (20) + 15 = 35

"Of course."

Pinna starts sizing up the interior of the cathedral to see if there is anything interesting 'round these hyar parts. Perception: 1d20+15

Wow. Good roll. I'm going to wait a little bit -- posting's been a little slow for some people and I want to get everyone's searches in and see if they are doing anything else before I get too far along.

Elysia darted to and fro throughout the cathedral, but after the first five or six passes she started to slow, her shoulders drooping. Everything was just so boring and same here. She listlessly continued to search, hoping that she would either find the puzzle piece or an exit so that they could leave this awful place.

Perception:1d20 ⇒ 11

Pinna reflects on how worthwhile it is to study the wisdom of the ages if you want to find something, and wishes she were an old tengu so she could see and hear better.

Hello? Hello? Check, check ... is this thing on?

In an effort to keep things moving, I'm going to assume that people are going to be looking around...

Lanwin – 1d20 + 6 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 6 - 2 = 5
E. – 1d20 + 11 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 11 - 4 = 14
Vassago – 1d20 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (12) + 3 - 1 = 14
Ra’s-ug – 1d20 + 12 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 12 + 1 = 32
Sebastian – 1d20 + 7 - 1 ⇒ (18) + 7 - 1 = 24

Elysia --> 11
Lanwin –-> 5
E. –-> 14
Pinna --> 35
Vassago –-> 14
Ra’s-ug –-> 32
Sebastian –-> 24

*nudges Sebastian and Pinna* "You two notice that peculiar acting modron over there? Someone want to go talk to him/her/it?"

Pinna nods at Ra's-ug's statement and wanders over to the strange-acting Modron. "Big place. What do you and other modrons do here?"

"Big place. What do you and other modrons do here?"

He looks at you and answers curtly -- "You wouldn't understand." And then he goes back to "work".

"You might be surprised what we can understand. I'm even starting to make sense of E's gibberish."

"What are you working on now? What does it do? Why do you need to do things when the machine is stopped?" Pinna looks over its 'shoulder' and exclaims and pokes at anything shiny the guy is examining.

"What are you working on now? What does it do? Why do you need to do things when the machine is stopped?" Pinna looks over its 'shoulder' and exclaims and pokes at anything shiny the guy is examining.

"Do you mind?", he asks in a rather nasty tone. "There are things all over here that simply don't make sense." As he pulls a gear off and throws it aside. "I'm trying to make it make sense ... and you are in my way."

"You might be surprised what we can understand."

"Ha!" Although, as soon as he says that, he looks around quickly as though to see if anyone noticed. Quickly regaining composure... "You are clearly impeding progress. Begone with you so that I might complete my tasks here."

Trying to cathc up a bit.

Sebastian looks at the halted orrey map.

"Absolutely magnificent! Ser Five, this is truly a masterpiece of cartography. Does it show everything on the planes?"

When Ra's mentions the modron acting strange, Sebastian turns to Five again.

"Is what that Modron doing part of your plan, Ser Five? It seems chaotic and destructive to my eyes. Perhaps it is malfunctioning?"

Hmph. I don't speak gibberish. I have no idea

<Sees weird gear>

This doesn't look like it belongs with the other gears. I'd better take it, so I can check with Number Five.

<Pulls on gear>

what he's talking about.

"Is what that Modron doing part of your plan, Ser Five? It seems chaotic and destructive to my eyes. Perhaps it is malfunctioning?"

"I'm not sure I understand. Isn't it simply trying to fix the Orrery?"

This doesn't look like it belongs with the other gears. I'd better take it, so I can check with Number Five.

As soon as you reach for the gear, we'll need to roll initiative. Is anyone else doing anything before then?

E. wrote:

This doesn't look like it belongs with the other gears. I'd better take it, so I can check with Number Five.

As soon as you reach for the gear, we'll need to roll initiative. Is anyone else doing anything before then?

Nope. Just standing right next to the suspicious guy.

Sebastian D'Aubergine wrote:

"I

s what that Modron doing part of your plan, Ser Five? It seems chaotic and destructive to my eyes. Perhaps it is malfunctioning?"

"I'm not sure I understand. Isn't it simply trying to fix the Orrery?"

I am not sure Five, but it looks to my eye that he is deliberately sabotaging it. Could you call him over to explain what he is doing? Perhaps I am wrong, but if I am not..

E. wrote:

This doesn't look like it belongs with the other gears. I'd better take it, so I can check with Number Five.

As soon as you reach for the gear, we'll need to roll initiative. Is anyone else doing anything before then?

Nope just watching interestedly. E got to it before me. But I'd help him pull the gear out if it were stuck or something. :)

Moff DM wrote:

Sebastian D'Aubergine wrote:

"I

s what that Modron doing part of your plan, Ser Five? It seems chaotic and destructive to my eyes. Perhaps it is malfunctioning?"

"I'm not sure I understand. Isn't it simply trying to fix the Orrery?"

I am not sure Five, but it looks to my eye that he is deliberately sabotaging it. Could you call him over to explain what he is doing? Perhaps I am wrong, but if I am not..

"Unfortunately, it will not acknowledge me. I will need to send a command down the ranks. Shall I go do that?"

FYI -- this will also be the reason why they will not immediately enter combat. They are given specific instructions and unless they are given different instructions from an immediate superior or are somehow prohibited from accomplishing their task, they really won't even notice anything outside of their task.

"Unfortunately, it will not acknowledge me. I will need to send a command down the ranks. Shall I go do that?"

Sebastian nods

"I would consider it a logical thing to do Five. There are forces at work in your realm that are obviously beyond the normal scope of what is rational for Mechanus. This modron might be rogue, or another disguissed being feigning to be a modron, trusting in your faith that no illusion is possible here. "

A Diplomacy roll: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31

Moff DM wrote:

"Unfortunately, it will not acknowledge me. I will need to send a command down the ranks. Shall I go do that?"

Sebastian nods

"I would consider it a logical thing to do Five. There are forces at work in your realm that are obviously beyond the normal scope of what is rational for Mechanus. This modron might be rogue, or another disguissed being feigning to be a modron, trusting in your faith that no illusion is possible here. "

A Diplomacy roll: 1d20+13

"Let me attempt something..." He moves over to the rogue Modron and says ... "Designation, what are your current instructions?"

At this point, this will also trigger an initiative roll. I'm going to wait for Vassago first though.

Forget the multiverse, those halflings will become the death of me... My eyes wonder for nary a second and behold; yet another is ready to take offense.

Vassago reiterates what Five already asked the rogue. Designation, I hope ... for your sake ... that your protocol is the correct one. Else, I'm quite afraid ... that you'll be assigned ... a new one. For your sake, I implore you to decide whether or not the conflicting protocol will be ... your last one, he hissed from beneath the partial mask.

bring it.

bring it.

Ok, a number of things happen at just about the same time.

E reaches for the gear that caught his attention and as soon as he touches it, a bunch of these shoot out of the gear and swarm all over E and Elysia.

The seemingly rogue modron turns to "5" and the rest of you and says -- "Enough of this charade. Your laws mean nothing to me. You must be prepared for the coming chaos or perish in the process." And he changes into this.

Here's initiative...

Lanwin – 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14
Elysia – 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
E. – 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Pinna – 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Vassago – 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Sebastian – 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18
Ra’s-ug – 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

"5" - 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Big bad guy - 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Worms - 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

Here's the map.

A few more things.

Map -- the large black circle is the outer wall of the large room you are in. The smaller blue circle is the extent of the orrery. Really this should be a 3D fight as they can fly and there could/should be a lot of climbing around it. But I think it's really too hard to map out that way.
Moving through the device isn't really difficult, but people will be limited to half speed without a DC 17 Acrobatics roll.
While in the device, it will grant "Partial Cover" granting everyone a +2 bonus to AC and +1 bonus to Reflex saves.

I think that's about it. Any questions?

So, initiative order...

Vassago
Pinna
Elysia
Sebastian
BBG
E.
Worms
Lanwin
Ra's-ug
"5"

Vassago considers his remaining resources and decides to take a more subtle tactical maneuver. He quickly disappears.

Casts invisibility on self.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23

Move to T-26

Do you have to roll Acrobatics each round if you want to move at regular speed versus half? I only ask because I intend to likely move at double movement; if not more.

I'm cornfused, as usual. Pinna wants to tumble to V-19 to avoid BBG's AoO if it's possible to get there with 10 squares of movement within the orrery. Not sure if his shape changing counted as a surprise round action or not - if so, he's entitled. I'm also not sure if I can tumble at half-speed as usual or if it's quarter-speed within the difficult terrain. So, Acrobatics check to try to tumble (if possible) to avoid AoO. If not, then that check is moot because I can get to V-19 normally.

1d20 + 15 ⇒ (1) + 15 = 16 to tumble to V-19.

Once there, attack with, say, cold energy
1d20 + 15 ⇒ (2) + 15 = 17 for 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 plus 1d6 ⇒ 3 cold.

"They threaten the beautiful structure of this place! Stop them!"

Once again, upping my offering to the dice gods. Curses!

I'm cornfused, as usual. Pinna wants to tumble to V-19 to avoid BBG's AoO if it's possible to get there with 10 squares of movement within the orrery. Not sure if his shape changing counted as a surprise round action or not - if so, he's entitled. I'm also not sure if I can tumble at half-speed as usual or if it's quarter-speed within the difficult terrain. So, Acrobatics check to try to tumble (if possible) to avoid AoO. If not, then that check is moot because I can get to V-19 normally.

In this case, since he hasn't gone yet (I'm not counting the shapechanging), he doesn't get to make an AoO. (I believe anyway without looking it up quickly.)

In any case, for future Acrobatics rolls...
Hmmm. Ok, I'm not sure that I'm going to call this "difficult terrain" twice. I've already got one roll to determine that. So I won't make it only a quarter your movement -- at worst, you will only be reduced to half movement.
And for Vassago -- yes -- I will want a new roll at any time you wish to move at your normal rate.

I think that's fair. Any other questions?

So, up next...

Elysia
Sebastian
BBG
E.
Worms
Lanwin
Ra's-ug
"5"
Vassago
Pinna

And for Vassago -- yes -- I will want a new roll at any time you wish to move at your normal rate.

I think that's fair. Any other questions?

Sounds like I shouldn't push my luck to double movement, then? Or does that increase the difficulty?

"Ooh, pretty! Oh, that probably means they're going to try to kill us," she said sadly. "Every time we meet something pretty lately it's trying to kill us."

Casting Defensively: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21
Casting burning hands such that E is not included in the area of effet.

Sebastian faces the serpentine horror

"Fie agent of Chaos! You will rue the day you came against my blade! HAVE AT THEE!"

Attacks:

1d20 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 221d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 122d6 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (4, 2) + 6 + (4) = 162d6 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (2, 4) + 6 + (6) = 18

Sebastian's new sword ally crackles with blue lightning as he slices at the multi-headed foe

Edit: Looking at the map, I will have to take a five-foot step to engage the enemy. That might invalidate my second attack. If so, just disregard the second roll

Edit: Looking at the map, I will have to take a five-foot step to engage the enemy. That might invalidate my second attack. If so, just disregard the second roll

Pinna moved to V-19 (not on the map yet). If you 5' step to W-20, you will gain flanking bonuses and should get your second attack as well.

"Ooh, pretty! Oh, that probably means they're going to try to kill us," she said sadly. "Every time we meet something pretty lately it's trying to kill us."

Casting Defensively: 1d20+9
Casting burning hands such that E is not included in the area of effect.

You should be able to affect the three in N21, O21, & O20.

SR Roll --> 1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 7 + 4 = 28

That worked so 5d4 ⇒ (1, 2, 1, 4, 4) = 12 fire damage

Reflex saves...
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Moff DM wrote:

And for Vassago -- yes -- I will want a new roll at any time you wish to move at your normal rate.

I think that's fair. Any other questions?

Sounds like I shouldn't push my luck to double movement, then? Or does that increase the difficulty?

I will allow double moves -- essentially you see how the device is set up and are able to use it to your advantage -- but I won't allow running.

Sebastian faces the serpentine horror

"Fie agent of Chaos! You will rue the day you came against my blade! HAVE AT THEE!"

Attacks:

1d20+13;1d20+8;2d6+6+1d6;2d6+6+1d6

Sebastian's new sword ally crackles with blue lightning as he slices at the multi-headed foe

Edit: Looking at the map, I will have to take a five-foot step to engage the enemy. That might invalidate my second attack. If so, just disregard the second roll

Based on Pinna's suggestion, I moved you to W20 -- which also helped you to hit with flanking bonus (the first attack hit).

"You cannot stop the chaos from coming!"

vs. Pinna --
Tail -- 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

vs. Sebastian --
Bite -- 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (10) + 16 = 26

vs. "5" --
Tentacle -- 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Tentacle -- 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Sebastian is hit for 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8.

So, up next...

E.
Worms
Lanwin
Ra's-ug
"5"
Vassago
Pinna
Elysia
Sebastian
BBG

"RCO TKT KL CMNB LA ZB WIMYBW?"

<Attacks worm at Q22 with mace>

Attack roll: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22 Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

On the off chance that kills the worm, 5-foot step to Q22.

On the off chance that kills the worm, 5-foot step to Q22.

Nope. Not yet.

Worms...

vs. E. --
Bite -- 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23 -- If hits, 1 damage
Tail -- 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15 -- If hits, 1 damage and need a Will save

Bite -- 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22 -- If hits, 1 damage
Tail -- 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 -- If hits, 1 damage and need a Will save

Bite -- 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16 -- If hits, 1 damage
Tail -- 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15 -- If hits, 1 damage and need a Will save

Bite -- 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13 -- If hits, 1 damage
Tail -- 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12 -- If hits, 1 damage and need a Will save

Bite -- 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18 -- If hits, 1 damage
Tail -- 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 -- If hits, 1 damage and need a Will save

Bite -- 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21 -- If hits, 1 damage
Tail -- 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19 -- If hits, 1 damage and need a Will save

vs. Elysia --
Bite -- 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12 -- If hits, 1 damage
Tail -- 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16 -- If hits, 1 damage and need a Will save

Bite -- 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26 -- If hits, 1 damage
Tail -- 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21 -- If hits, 1 damage and need a Will save

One potential crit against E. -- 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

So 5 damage to E. and I need two Will saves. 3 damage to Elysia and I need two Will saves.

So, up next...

Lanwin
Ra's-ug
"5"
Vassago
Pinna
Elysia
Sebastian
BBG
E.
Worms

Will save 1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Will save 2: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

Will Save 1: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Will Save 2: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

You both made your saves.

Lanwin bolsters himself with divine power.

Casting Divine Favor. If I'm within reach of the baddy, I cast defensively - I can't fail that roll. 5-foot step up one square so I am adjacent to it.

Moves to S-24.not going to try to push my luck on acrobatics just yet

"5" moves up. "Deceiver! You have no place here!" And seven arms attack the creature wildly...

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24 -- if hits, 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10 -- if hits, 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18 -- if hits, 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11 -- if hits, 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20 -- if hits, 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13 -- if hits, 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15 -- if hits, 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

You get the feeling that "5" should be hitting better than this.

Only one attack drew blood.