Chronicles of Arcania: B/X Homebrew game.

Game Master Peet

"Could we move the supplies into the hall, and leave just enough to make them think the beetles consumed it all? Then bring those from camp to carry?"

Ferrous seeing that the group is desiring that they bring the supplies to the lazy bones that were at the camp a level above them starts to adopt the stereotypical dour attitude of Dwarfs.
Alright mates. Ye outvoted me. But since we're going to be carrying all this stuff back best if we lighten the load a bit. The dwarf starts to dig through the preserved food to find something to satiate his ravenous appetite.
Let's eat our fill then move on, aye? the dwarf says with a mouth full of food.

Ana rolls her eyes at the dwarf's manners, but even she has to admit to feeling pangs of hunger. She will partake of a full meal.

Montague eats his fill as well.

"I still say they can carry their own food back. I don't mind guarding them".

A as well

Taklishim likewise eats and drinks what feels comfortable....

Follows his companions and takes a full meal. So lets take up some up, for any weaker members, then guard the rest as they carry the supplies back up to our hideout

I see several votes for A and no other votes, so...

9:10 AM, Day 3

The party returns to camp with some of the food and arranges for the rest of the refugees to carry the crates and barrels back to camp while the rest of the party keeps guard.

7d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 5, 5, 4, 6, 4) = 30

On the party's third trip back up to the camp, as they near the door leading off the hallway to the hideout, Ana hears a sound up ahead, like a barking cough, then a sniffing sound, like that of a large animal. She calls the group to a halt. Whatever it is is not yet in range of the party's light sources (the beetle glands).

For expediency I have split the party into two groups, one in front of the NPCs and one behind. I am assuming Ana tells those near her that she hears something, so Ferrous and Fistep would know why the party stopped, though those in the rear might not yet.

We are not yet in combat.

This takes place on the Tier 2 Map.

Ana which way did you say the noise came from? Was it from the room or further down the hall? Ferrous asks the elf as he readies his axe for a charge.
Might be a chance for these useless mouths to prove somewhat useful

"This has went more smoothly than I had thought it might."

Ana which way did you say the noise came from?

Ana indicates that it came from up the hall to the north.

"Why have we stopped?" asks one of the crate-bearers.

Two pale ragged humanoids lurch into the red light of the fire beetle glands. They look human... sort of. They have filthy rags for clothes and their hair is matted and dirty. It is hard to gauge in the red light but these men seem even paler than the humans you have encountered so far. Their fingernails are dark and filed down to points, and they have a crazed look in their eyes.

Behind them a third figure emerges from the shadows. The third figure is humanoid like the first two, but his skin is darker and he is completely hairless. He has long pointed ears and his fingers end in cruel-looking claws. His eyes glow faintly with a greenish light.

The third figure whispers something to the other two. The two creatures in front utter a wordless scream and begin to rush forward, a crazed hatred in their eyes.

Round 1 Initiative
Block 1: Humanoids in front
Block 2: Ana, Ferrous, Montague, Talikshim, Zynazyr
Block 3: Humanoid in rear
Block 4: Fistep (and NPCs)

The two creatures in front rush forwards, an insane gleam in their eyes. When they reach Ferrous and Fistep, they claw and bite madly. Fistep is unhurt, but the one facing Ferrous manages to scrape and chew at Ferrous' flesh. The wounds are minor, but after tasting Ferrous' blood the creature howls with glee, and it shakes in a spasm of ecstasy.

Ferrous: 3 damage total.

Everyone except Fistep is up. Montague, Talikshim, and Zynazyr are around the corner and do not know what is going on, but they can hear the inhuman screaming down the hall.

Bah back ye unnatural beast.
Ferrous screamed as he shoved the creature away and slashed at with his axe.
THAC019: 19 - 1d20 ⇒ 19 - (12) = 7
In case it hits.
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Ana hefts her bow again, aiming for the one in front of Fistep.

THAC0 20: 20 - 1d20 ⇒ 20 - (1) = 19
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

And snarls as the arrow drops from the bow to land at her feet.

Zynazyr's eyes widen when he hears the screams. "That doesn't sound good," he says as he moves to the corner in order to see down the hall. Quickly surveying the opponents, he tries to send a magic bolt of energy at the leader but the scrambling people from the caravan interrupt his concentration and the spell doesn't go off.

Cantrip: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Bah back ye unnatural beast.

Ferrous screamed as he shoved the creature away and slashed at with his axe.

Ooh! You rolled double digits!

Ferrous' axe bites deep into the creature's neck. The bizarre humanoid collapses in a spray of blood.

Ana and Zynazyr both fail to achieve anything. I moved Zynazyr's Icon so it is behind Ana.

FYI Ana (and anyone who attacks with ranged attacks): It won't matter if you keep rolling 1's, but you get a -1 to hit for each character or obstacle your shot passes through before getting to the target (to a maximum of -4). However, you also get a +1 for attacking at short range, so in this case it is a wash. Note though that Ferrous is short enough that if you stand behind him he provides no cover penalty.

Montague and Talikshim are up. I will bot them in 24 hours if I don't hear anything.

"Ward me Montague as I summon forth the warrior spirit."

Summons the warrior spirit to separate the two first creatures from the one behind, and to attack to furthest creature....

Combat Stats
THACO 18: 18 - 1d20 ⇒ 18 - (20) = -2
Damage 1d4 ⇒ 1
THACO 18: 18 - 1d20 ⇒ 18 - (4) = 14
Damage 1d4 ⇒ 2

Montague moves forward and looks around the corner to appraise the situation, and determine what is needed. Looking through the mass of people and supplies, he begins to make his way forward.

"Come on! The actions up here".

"Ward me Montague as I summon forth the warrior spirit."

Talikshim concentrates intensely, but the magic does not come. Then he remembers he is out of spells for the day!

Montague moves forward and looks around the corner to appraise the situation, and determine what is needed. Looking through the mass of people and supplies, he begins to make his way forward.

"Come on! The actions up here".

Some of the NPCs take note. Bruno the Fat drops his crate and begins fumbling with his crossbow. Thylla drops her crate and produces a sling.

The remaining creature charges with a snarl, clawing and biting at Ferrous. The claws and teeth rake his armor, but none penetrate.

Bruno and Thylla both take shots at the creature attacking Ferrous. Bruno's crossbow bolt strikes the creature in the left side; Thylla's shot goes wide.

Round 1 Initiative
Block 1: Humanoids in front
Block 2: Ana, Ferrous, Montague, Talikshim, Zynazyr
Block 3: Humanoid in rear
Block 4: Fistep (and NPCs)

Round 2 Initiative
Block 1: Zynazyr
Block 2: Monsters
Block 2: Ana, Ferrous, Fistep, Montague, Talikshim (and NPCs)

Fistep and Zynazyr are up. Others may post conditional actions if they wish.

Readies his shield and swings his sword at the creature in front of him.

THACO: 16 - 1d20 ⇒ 16 - (3) = 13
Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Initiative: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 2) = 8

The party returns to camp with some of the food and arranges for the rest of the refugees to carry the crates and barrels back to camp while the rest of the party keeps guard.

Sorry I read this as we returned to the main camp and organized to bring others back, after resting....

Trying to get out of the way of his companions firing from behind him, Zynazyr moves over into the doorway and throws his shuriken at the leader. Unfortunately, being so close to the crazed humanoids affects his aim and his shuriken sails over everyone's head.

THAC0: 18 - 1d20 ⇒ 18 - (3) = 15 +1 range -1 cover

Montague jumps up on the supplies in 7.19, and slings a dagger at the beast.

16 - 1d20 ⇒ 16 - (5) = 11 Dagger
1d4 ⇒ 3 Point

Which glances off the ceiling and falls harmlessly to the ground.

Sorry for the delay, guys. Kinda under the weather this weekend.

Fistep swings and misses, while Zynazyr and Montague both miss with their hurled missiles.

The two creatures claw and bite madly at Ferrous and Fistep.

The grey humanoid manages to bite Ferrous. Ferrous feels a strange numbing sensation around the wound, and feels strangely dizzy.

Ferrous: 2 damage, and you need to make a health save or be paralyzed before your next action begins. Your "H7" means you need a natural 7 or better for your health save.

The paler humanoid manages to score a hit on Fistep with his claws.

Fistep: 1 damage. No other effects.

Thylla sends another sling stone at the grey humanoid, but misses; Bruno the Fat reloads his crossbow.

Round 2 Initiative
Block 1: Zynazyr
Block 2: Monsters
Block 3: Ana, Ferrous, Fistep, Montague, Talikshim (and NPCs)

Round 3 Initiative
Block 1: Montague, Talikshim, Zynazyr
Block 2: Monsters
Block 3: Ana, Ferrous, Fistep(and NPCs)

Everyone is up. Talikshim may take 2 actions.

Taklishim sends a volley of slingstones....at the furthest creature

THACO (light and normal weapons): 19 (20 - (DEX + progression))
sling: Damage 1d4 ⇒ 4
THACO 19: 19 - 1d20 ⇒ 19 - (6) = 13

sling: Damage 1d4 ⇒ 1
THACO 19: 19 - 1d20 ⇒ 19 - (18) = 1

THACO: 16 - 1d20 ⇒ 16 - (8) = 8
Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Initiative: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4

Swings again at the biting foul smelling humanoid... Dwarf, what type of creature have you attracted with your beard?!!? he shouts out!

Talikshim manages to strike the creature facing Ferrous once, doing minor damage.

Fistep runs the creature in front of him through with his sword; the creature collapses to the floor with a gurgle.

Fistep: don't forget you took 1 damage. No other effects.

Round 2 Initiative
Block 1: Zynazyr
Block 2: Monsters
Block 3: Ana, Ferrous, Fistep, Montague, Talikshim (and NPCs)

Round 3 Initiative
Block 1: Montague, Talikshim, Zynazyr
Block 2: Monster
Block 3: Ana, Ferrous, Fistep(and NPCs)

Ana, Ferrous, Montague, and Zynazyr are up. The one remaining creature has take 3 damage so far.

SaveVS7: 1d20 ⇒ 13
Ferrous feels his body start to tingle around the bite wound and his head begins to lighten before he pulls sharply on his beard regaining his focus and rage.
He swings his axe at the creature that dared to bite the dwarven warrior.
THAC019: 19 - 1d20 ⇒ 19 - (9) = 10
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

Ana tries again with her bow, aiming for the one in front of Fistep.

THAC0 20: 20 - 1d20 ⇒ 20 - (10) = 10 +1 for range, -1 firing into melee

Zynazyr attempts to throw a dagger over the dwarf's head to finish off his opponent.

THAC0: 17 - 1d20 ⇒ 17 - (10) = 7+1 for range, no cover
Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Ana tries again with her bow, aiming for the one in front of Fistep.

[dice=THAC0 20]20-1d20 +1 for range, -1 firing into melee

you mean ferrous right

you mean ferrous right

Apparently I'm not the only one who makes that mistake. :)

Ferrous' swing misses, as does Ana's bow shot. Zynazyr manages to catch the beast in the torso with his dagger; the wound bleeds black blood. The creature snarls.

Botting Montague to keep things going. Looks like he has another dagger... so:
Montague Dagger: 16 - 1d20 ⇒ 16 - (8) = 81d4 ⇒ 4

Montague hurls his other dagger, but the missile merely grazes the beast's shoulder (no damage).

With a roar the creature attacks again. It shuffles over to the right, and tries to claw and both Fistep and Ferrous. If tails to do anything more than scratch the warriors' armor.

Bruno and Thylla loose their missiles. Bruno's crossbow bolt goes wide, as does Thylla's sling stone.

Round 3 Initiative
Block 1: Montague, Talikshim, Zynazyr
Block 2: Monster
Block 3: Ana, Ferrous, Fistep (and NPCs)

Round 4 Initiative
Block 1: Ana, Ferrous, Montague, Talikshim, Zynazyr
Block 2: Monster
Block 3: Fistep (and NPCs)

Everyone is up. Ana and Ferrous may act twice. The one remaining creature has taken 7 damage so far.

Stubbornly Ferrous grips his axe and makes two quick cuts with his axe.
THAC019: 19 - 1d20 ⇒ 19 - (9) = 10

THAC019: 19 - 1d20 ⇒ 19 - (9) = 10

Empty Coffers and dry flagons! He curses as both his swings miss the creature before him.

Ana aims for the remaining creature letting fly another arrow.

THAC0 20: 20 - 1d20 ⇒ 20 - (8) = 12
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

...and follows it up quickly with a second.

THAC0 20: 20 - 1d20 ⇒ 20 - (17) = 3
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Taklishim releases another stone from his sling.

THACO (light and normal weapons): 19 (20 - (DEX + progression))
sling: Damage 1d4 ⇒ 1
THACO 19: 19 - 1d20 ⇒ 19 - (9) = 10

Ferrous and Talikshim miss, but Ana's shot strikes the creature in the eye, and it collapses in a heap. Black blood oozes out of its wounds.

I'm guessing nobody wants to eat these things... do you want to do anything with the bodies?

Combat Over.

The strange creatures dead, the group returns to the task of hauling materials back to the base. The supplies are stocked into the hideaway safely.

The fourth trip passes without incident.

1d6 ⇒ 11d2 ⇒ 12d6 ⇒ (5, 3) = 81d3 ⇒ 21d8 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 61d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

"All right then... One more trip should do it," Bruno says. He hefts his crossbow and prepares to head back down the stairs.

9:30 AM, Day 3

6d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 2, 5, 4, 2) = 20

The party heads quietly back down the stairs. When they reach the corner, Ana pauses. She hears some kind of clattering sound from around the corner.

At the signal from Ana, the party stops. Ferrous hides the light and uses his infravision to look around the corner. He can see several insect-like forms coming around the far corner, at the limits of his vision. They are slowly approaching.

You are on Tier 3 now. This is on the Tactical Map.

As they are coming your way, the creatures are going to run into you eventually unless you backtrack back up the stairs. They are not likely to see the secret door (which I am assuming you keep shut when you are not there).

As long as there is no light, Ana and Ferrous will be able to see them with infravision out to 60', but the rest of the party will be blind. Using the beetle glands has the same radius as torchlight, which is about 30', but any normal light disrupts Ana and Ferrous' infravision.

The creatures have not noticed you yet.

You will be able to "redeploy," adjusting your position before the creatures get there. If you wish, you can have the NPCs fall back and the player characters in the rear move up. Note that if you have NPCs help in a fight then they get shares of the XP.

Could Ferrous melee into square 05:17 from his current location. I suggest we go three wide at 04:16-04:18. Ana any objection to fighting in the front line with your battleaxe.

From his current position, if Ferrous was walking to 5:17 he would have to move through 4:17 first. Ferrous could attack a creature in 5:17, but the wall provides 50% hard cover, which is a -3 penalty. Of course, a counterattack from a creature would have the same penalty. If an ally stood at 4:17 then a character who wants to join melee but is more afraid of getting hit could stand where Ferrous is now for some extra protection.

Thank you for the explanation. Fistep or Ana care to benefit from the 50% cover. Ferrous will not be able to hit with a -3 penalty so he will most likely shift down to 04:18.

If no one minds, Ana will shift to where Ferrous is currently standing to take advantage of the cover.

Ok but statistically you are probably our best front line fighter. I know low AC but highest THAC0 and second highest HP. Be prepared to jump out. If Fistep gets hit twice he is going down.

Moves down along the wall. He whispers, Whats out there? I can't make out anything down the corridor now that you've extinguished the lights He draws forth his sword, and readies his shield.

Cough, same THACO thank you very much... just yeah, more HP

While the party discusses their plan in hushed whispers in the dark, Ferrous can see the creatures scuttle slowly forward down the hall. Two more come around the corner.

Fistep and Ana are roughly equal in attack capacity. Ana has AC6 and 12 HP; Fistep has AC 1 and 6 HP. Ana is much more likely to be hit than Fistep, though presently she can soak up more damage.

So:

* Any feedback from the rest of the party?
* Do you want to send the NPCs to the rear?

I'm going to wait for another 20 hours or so (after local midnight)... after that if you don't have a plan the critters will have moved again.

Montague gathers up his two daggers, and peers down the edges, certain that they must be a flawed as his old bow was to fly so untrue, then takes up his position guarding the rear of the NPC's.

"Whatever that is, please dispose of it quickly... or should we just retreat for a bit, and let it pass by".

Will do our best. There's now five of em. Lets get into position and form a choke position here so only two can attack at a time.

Do we recognize these beasts as any kind we have already fought.
Ferrous is pretty much a low AC high hp but ultimately unlucky fighter

Zyanzyr looks towards the front to see what is going on. He gestures for the others to move back. "Montague, why don't you keep an eye on these people for us," he says as he moves forward to try to help.

I updated map to where I think everyone wants to be. There will be limited assistance from the ranged attackers from the back due to the corner.

Do we recognize these beasts as any kind we have already fought.

They are not as bulky as beetles. You don't think you have fought these things before.

I updated map to where I think everyone wants to be. There will be limited assistance from the ranged attackers from the back due to the corner.

I believe Ferrous wanted everyone in the #4 column. Presumably this leaves the rear column (#3) open for ranged attackers to shoot past.

I am making some assumptions here, in the name of getting things going.

Ferrous gets into position and gets Fistep to The line up with him. Then he uncovers the light. Two of the creatures are moving slowly forward into the beetle-lit area (the area with light is indicated by the orange circle on the map).

The light reveals that these are some type of scorpion, perhaps 2' to 3' long, and covered in black chitin. You saw these in the hallway upstairs on a previous day but did not fight them. You believe their stingers are venomous, but you are not sure how venomous...

The scorpions scuttle forward slowly, as if searching for something. Then...
1d6 ⇒ 3 They are not surprised.
... the scorpions snap alert, and face you. They begin to scuttle forward much more quickly!

Round 1 Initiative:
Block 1: Ana, Talikshim, Fistep
Block 2: Some scorpions
Block 3: Ferrous, Montague, Zynazyr
Block 4: More scorpions
Block 5: NPCs

Ana, Talikshim, and Fistep are up. Since the scorpions are not in reach yet, you could make a missile attack, or you could post a "readied" attack that will trigger when a creature is in reach.

Moves up slightly to allow room, then waits in anticipation to swing his sword at any scorpion that comes in range.

I'm mopving up to allow for everyone ranged to be able to see down the hallway.

Ferrous steps behind Fistep and puts a hand on the fighters shoulder.
Advise you to step back in formation. Switch with the elf if you get hit.
The dwarf then put his hand back on his axe and braced for the inevitable combat.

@ Fistep: If you are readying an attack you can pre-roll it; if you don't get the chance to use it I will just ignore the roll.

@ Talikshim: You are up but aside from the fact that the guys in front are preparing for combat you can't tell what is going on.

@ Ana: You are also up. You could make a ranged attack or ready a melee attack, or cast a spell.

If I am still waiting tomorrow I will bot people who haven't moved.