City of Ashes (Inactive)

Game Master Grimmy

"That might be a possibility, Urrnir. Because if we can't come up with something clever, everything in this place is going to know our every move."

Cairenn frowns after the explanation, peering down the flagstoned road.

"...I have a spell that might cause our bodies to temporarily mimic the dead, but I would be most loath to use it. In the first place, casting it enough times to let us all pass would completely drain me of any useful spells for the rest of the day. In the second place, it will both cause pain to the recipient, and can even weaken your muscles-- which seems ill-advised, in a place where we may meet so many foes."

He squints at the path, and then at the walls of the corridor in question.

GM: from the map, the walls of the flagstoned corridor look rough and irregular. Is this in fact the case-- natural stone/cavern wall? Also, how wide is the corridor? It looks like it varies by width here and there, but is it roughly 5 feet wide in most places, or wider?

Ronen frowns at Cairenn's idea. "To mimic any of these abominations would be blasphemous to The Lady. With time our foe here as well here is my suggestion. The passages down here are something of a maze and we do not know how long they run for. Suppose we test this gauntlet and when necessary rest on one of these side passages. The narrow tunnels will at least provide us with a defensible position."

"I'd rather exhaust all other possibilities rather than alert them to our presence, Ronen. Of course, if we can't come up with a better idea, we might have no other choice but to try that. Are there any tunnels that don't have the pressure plates on them?"

"I understand your caution but I feel like we are running into deadends with the only path being the paved one before us."

At that Ronen returns his focus back to the tunnel.

"So if it needs us to mimic the dead, why not make the area cold?"Pris says looking about.

"You know make the trap deal with overt cold, or something, Or get some undead to follow us in? you know blend in?" She says trying to think how to bypass of inflitrate

[dice=Survival]1d20+6

Uurnir is successful at finding enough dirt, and with a little water from one of the red streams it would be possible to make it into a cooling mud... but no one can say for sure whether that would actually foil the sensors in the flagstones. Priscilla feels they are a magical trap, and register actual life force, not just body temperature.

GM: from the map, the walls of the flagstoned corridor look rough and irregular. Is this in fact the case-- natural stone/cavern wall? Also, how wide is the corridor? It looks like it varies by width here and there, but is it roughly 5 feet wide in most places, or wider?

It's irregular like a cavern wall, but it looks like it was intentionally carved out... whereas the unpaved tunnel sections are natural formations. The paved sections you have seen have been 5' wide, but there may be irregularities at intersections and so forth where there is a slightly greater span from wall to wall.

Perception:
Ares: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Priscilla: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28
Urrnir: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Lilia: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Cairenn: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Ronen: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Priscilla notices a sound from the back of the party. A little humanoid creature approaches from the direction of the cave that the party had passed by. Shorter and thinner than a halfling, it seems to be made of organic vegetable matter. Tendrils of fungus and patches of mold cover it's body and limbs. It has a wild, tribal appearance.

Two of it's compatriots wait a few paces behind it, spears held at the ready for tossing. The one in the lead gestures with it's spear towards the flagstone path ahead, waving it's hands in an alarmed fashion.

"They are trying to communicate with us, I think. Are they trying to warn us about the trap?"

Lilia approaches the creature with her empty hands outstretched. "Hello, I'm Lilia. Are you trying to help us?"

Ares lets his shield go slack and holds up his empty right hand up and follows Lilia's lead. "I am Ares, and we mean you know harm." He says in a friendly tone.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

The plant man let's it's own shield go slack and shows it's palms, mimicking Ares and Lilia.

It waves it's compatriots forward, communicating to them with a system of rhythmic taps and clicks.

The two in the rear recede back a ways and return pushing a rickety little miniature siege weapon made of bone and vines. It looks like a tiny balista, with a rope ladder attached to the ammunition. The rope ladder too is made of bone rungs slung together with vines.

"S that your weapon? Have you used that to fight the undead here? Would you help us fight them," Lilia asks, knowing she couldn't communicate well with the little creatures. "Any ideas on how to ask them this, Ares? I'm afraid it's a bit beyond me."

Ronen watches with clear amazement at the plant people before him unsure what their miniature siege weapon could be used for.
"Perhaps we should make some room for them to use their device."

If they need room Ronen will begin to usher the other party members out of the way

"I take it Cairenn nor you Lady Lilia have anything to aid in communicating with our new allies?"

"I have a scroll that would allow me to understand them, but unfortunately, it wouldn't aid me in communicating to them. It's probably worth using, however."

Lilia moves back from the plant creatures as not to spook them when she pulls out her scroll of Comprehend Languages. If they don't seem threatened, she will use it.

Good thinking Ronen, I had forgot all about my scrolls!

With the scroll activated, Liliafinds the rhythmic taps and clicks of the creatures translated into simple linguistic messages inside her mind.

They walk on road. Rock and mudmen come. Kill tribe.

-We help. Use machine. Give them ladder to climb. They swing like us.

If they fall mudmen still come. They look week.

-We give them chance. Some look strong.

Turning her attention to where the ballista is being aimed at the cave ceiling above the paved road, Lilia can make out small bone rungs.

They are meant for small hands and spaced for small creatures, but it looks like these plant men have used them before to traverse the paved tunnel from the ceiling, swinging hand over hand.

The balista bolt sends a rope ladder up to the ceiling, similar to a grappling hook with a rope in tow.

The rungs work like a jungle gym guys. You are supposed to swing from one rung to the next like a monkee, hand over hand.

Lilia nods in understanding to the plant creatures. She tells the others what she has figured out about how to traverse the precarious ladder system. "Who wants to go first?"

Priscilla claps and smiles at the whole ordeal and as soon a Lilia asks she is right there.

"Ooo Ooo Me I do I wanna do it!"

"I agree, Miss Springheel keep an eye out for any traps or loose vines." He then looks back to the vine creatures, and gives them a bow. "Lilia can you thank them for there help."

The little plant men fire their balista, and the bolt lodges in the cavern ceiling, trailing a little ladder of vine and bone behind it. The climb up the ladder is easy enough, but once the cavern ceiling is reached the little bone handles spaced along the way are small and awkward to grip for human sized creatures.

Priscilla has no penalty on the acrobatics checks but medium sized characters have a -4 penalty. One successful check is enough to proceed your full move speed. The DC is 12. So anyone with a +6 or better acrobatics can take ten. Any less than +6 means you have to roll.

Willing to piggyback people as necessary.

I can say what Priscilla see's up ahead, because she auto-succeeds with a take ten.

Swinging hand over hand, Priscilla travels about 20' before she finds herself passing another unpaved side-cave... with another sarcophagus. This one is occupied by the robed skeleton who had spoken to Cairenn back at the blood-mist falls.

You can see this on the updated map. I moved Priscilla's token to show you the position. Check it out.

The robed Skeleton was the higher level one, correct? We need to be real careful with this one, if that's right!

If Urrnir can make the climb while packing Lilia, I'll be happy to take a ride!

He seems a little higher level because he is bold enough to walk around in pyjama's.

Piggy back is fine, you guys run the numbers for me comparing the load to carrying capacity please and figure out the encumbrance penalty.

It's a DC 16 acrobatics basically (DC 14 if you're small).

Lilia is carrying 28.5 lbs., not counting the evil necklace she picked up in the graveyard. I haven't written up a height and weight for her, but I assume she's rather small, something like 95 lbs. By my count that's 123.5 lbs for her.

Cool!

Uurnir has ~89lbs equipment? So 212 lbs with Lilia piggybacking. Heavy load for uurnir (Str 18). -6 penalty to acrobatics by my quick count. Maybe someone can check my math.

Also, typo in post above. Dc is 12 for small characters, 16 for medium (-4 penalty due to inappropriately sized handholds.)

Sweet here she goes

With little urging Priscilla runs towards it and leaps

acrobatics: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24

Passing by the silent robed skeleton, Priscilla goes another 20' feet deeper into the tunnels, swing hand over hand like a monkey. Just ahead she sees a crossroads in the paved tunnel... and the northwest leading section quickly joins up with another naturally formed unpaved tunnel section.

Moved Priss's token to show the position of everything. You can see the token of the skeleton guy in his sarcophagus too.

-6 is pretty steep, I'd need to roll a 15 to succeed. Can anyone who hasn't gone across yet help spread some of the weight around?

It looks like if you dump just 13 lbs you will only have a -3.

I can have Lueck help if you let him know what's going on.

Lueck tests the rickety ladder, and finding it sturdy enough he makes his way to the cave ceiling.

"Seems ok Cairenn... come on up!"

Actually I'm checking out Lueck's character sheet now he is probably not a good candidate to hold your stuff.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Lueck falls as he beckons for Cairenn to join him.

He feels the flagstones depress ever so little beneath him as he lands.

Lilia holds her ground, waiting to see what happens from the effects of the flagstones being depressed. "Don't move for a second, everyone!"

A slight tremor shakes the ground and the little plant-men abandon their siege weapon and take off the way they came at top speed.

"Too late! We need to go now!"

Urrnir starts to move ahead, abandoning the idea of the ropes in the face of urgency.

Treading the flagstone path, Uurnir soon comes to the side-cave where the robed skeleton who had spoken to Cairenn stands motionless by it's sarcophagus.

Around the bend, she sees Priscilla, hanging from the roof at an intersection, peering this war and that.

Priscilla looks about for any signs of traps

perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26

Ares chases after the girls after the activation and peers around for any incoming trouble.

Perception:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

Looks, like just those pesky traps in the floor tiles... but Priscilla is swinging from the roof so no problem there... and anyway Uurnir just came running around the corner so it seems that ship has already sailed. Might have something to do with that thump Priscilla heard a few moments back.

Priss was out of sight when Lueck fell on to the paved tunnel floor.

Priscilla can see that to her left (east) there seems to be a dead-end, to her right (west) the paved part joins a natural tunnel, and straight ahead the paved road stretches on into the darkness.

I guess we will say Abraxes is drifting along with Priscilla to give her light. Sound good?

Edit: Oh there's Ares with more light.

"Oh hey...Why aren't you guys hanging from the ceiling? Did one of you set the trap. I swear what good is it telling you all to be careful there is a trap when you set OFF the Trap!"Pris says falling to the ground and pointing down the possible paths.

"East is a dead end, straight is pitch black and west the pavement rejoins some of the natural stone so which way the natural cavern or into the 'hey I;m dark but its cool Its not like I'm hiding deadly halfling eaten monsters' tunnel" she says as she looks up at her companions a little miffed at having her skills blatantly ignored.

Back at the juncture with the rope ladder, where Lueck has fallen, Cairenn and Lilia hear a slurping coming from about 15' back down the paved tunnel to the right, like waves slapping up against a bank and then wet heavy foot steps smacking onto the flagstone road.

This is within line of sight if Abraxes cruises over there. Added guardian tokens to map.

Lilia doesn't waste any time. She throws caution to the wind and starts running the same path Urrnir had laid out for her. "Something nasty is behind us now. Keep going ahead! We are right behind you!"

As Lueck falls Ronen rushes over to him unmindful of disrupting whatever traps might still be active and offers him his hand.
"Quickly Lueck. Something approaches and we must face this with others."

Helping Lueck up he turns to Cairenn and watches as Lilia dashes off. "Follow her Cairenn myself and Lueck will guard the rear."

With the sound of water slamming against the paved road he pulls Lueck along knowing that they must reach the others to survive this first test.

"May the Lady grant us her insight and steady blade on the evil that we are to face."

Ronen will have his blade drawn as Lueck, Caireen and him chase after the others.

"Damn," Cairenn says with a sigh to Lueck's fall. "Well, we tried...."

He sprints along, sticking close to Lueck, unable to resist throwing glances over his shoulder to see what might be behind.

"The trap has been sprung, Lady Springheel. It is no longer prudent to remain on the ceiling. Now, quickly, which way do we proceed?"

She looks around hurriedly, taking special consideration to check if the robed skeleton is still asleep.

The robed skeleton remains motionless, but as Cairenn passes, it whispers in the tongue of the dead...

Initiative:
Ares: 1d20 ⇒ 3
Priscilla: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25
Urrnir: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Lilia: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
Cairenn: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Ronen: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

Mudmen: 1d20 ⇒ 17

Thought I'd roll initiative just for the sake of tracking movement turn-based since there's hostiles on the board.

Round 1:
Priscilla <<<<
Ronen <<<<
Mudmen
Lilia
Cairenn
Uurnir
Ares

Cairenn mutters in the common tongue, "Thanks, you moldering bag of bones," --but he says it quietly.

More loudly, to the others, he says, "The mage's skeleton confirms we have guardians incoming!"

"I'd suggest we close ranks, so we can't be isolated by multiple guardians. Stay tight, and maybe we can hold them off."

shlepp... shlepp... shlepp...

The sound of muddy feet slapping stone reverberates through the tunnel.

"Um West?" She said as she looked at the others.

"unless you want to fight what ever sounds like webbed feet right out of the muck" She says as she points to the direction that looks the clearest.

Now that Lueck is up and safely moving with the others Ronen races ahead passing Lilia and the warrior of Freya. As he comes into the small chamber he looks at Priscilla who appears to be hesitating.
"This area might do if we back in further. It should allow two if not three of us to engage it while keeping the rest of us safe behind the front line."

I'm not sure of the space but is it possible to have the party positioned so that we can three of us facing one opponent in this area? Where Priscilla is currently located if we move about five feet in seems like we can create that bottleneck. Sorry btw I only have access to my phone so cant move my counter.

Sieze the initiative on Urrnir, so she gets another roll of her init and takes the better of the 2 results. Its my tatics domain power.

Ares nods to Ronen and once there in postion he orders "Shield line is Ronen, Urrnir, and myself. Everyone that has a ranged weapon draw it now and start firing on the enemy as they round the corner. Luek pass your longspear to either Lilia or Cairenn so they can attack from behind the line. Let hit these creatures fast and hard." The aasimar then grabs a rock and casts light on it then throws it down the hall so the archers and slinger can see there target.