DM Deevor's River Into Darkness pbp (Inactive)

Game Master Deevor

Lysandra knows where the food is, she also realises that the cramped conditions in the hold passageways make it very difficult for one person to pass 2 others, so the normal rule of passing through a friends square does not apply. Movement is double hampered in this situation.

Anyone going down to the hold may make a perception check.

The Captain allows Leylyn to go below, and say "Be careful, whatever did this is dangerous." Trueheart then returns to the bridge, where he and Draevin the first mate start talking earnestly to one another, sending occasional glances down to Ursel. Joeseph comes up and sees Ursel, he goes over and a conversation eschews between the 3 crew members about the situation.

I would assume that Lysandra is wearing her armor, as it is a mithral shirt, and has no armor check penalty.

Knowledge (Local):1d20 + 8

Lysandra draws her blades from their scabbards, and carefully moves into the hold.

"If memory serves me correctly, the food stores should be right over here."

"Lysandra, give me a moment to grab my armor..." Jon whispers to her as they go below.

Jon rushes over to his bunk and grabs his armor and gear...then follows Lysandra to the food hold. He whispers a prayer to Cayden Cailean before he pears into the hold...

Perception check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Perception:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Charles nods in agreement with Jon.

"There is no point running off without appropriate preparation..."

Charles will definitely head for the crew quarters to put on his armor before descending to the hold.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10.

'The hold is dim light at the upper levels, and the further down you go the darker it becomes' - Have Dark Vision 60'

...Harry turns to Lysandra on their way to the food hold,

"Mother always said [i]'character is what you are, in the dark', I would add 'and so is blindness' but that would have got me a clip around the ear. Fortunately the inheritance from my father means I am NOT so blind..."

Noting the cramped conditions,

"Think I prefer my battles where there is a bit o' space to move, this is barely fit for a Dwarf"

"Here." Lysandra says, handing Harry her dagger. "I doubt there is enough room down there for me to use both weapons anyway."

The dagger is masterwork.

Leylyn grabs her stuff, and runs to where the others are. She then casts mage armor on herself, and then unwraps her everburning torch. You guys see anything...?

Leylyn's Perception 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
Gregori's Perception 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19

Leylyn tries to stay towards the back, as she is not much of a fighter.

If you are unhappy with the marching order, then please say...but please organise yourselves into a normal combat order 2+2+1 or 2+1+2, that I can use as a default order. Please discuss and create on the discussion thread. For this encounter, Harry was the first to dive to change into armor. John beats Charles into armor thanks to his better dex. Lysandra and Leylyn either wear their armour or have none. So Lysandra leads the way, Harry and his dog follow, Leylyn is next with the light rod, then John, then Charles. Conditions as explained in early posts. You enter the aisle in single file.

Init Order of PCs
1. Jon
2. Leylyn
3. Harry
4. Charles
5. Thumper
6. Lysandra

You enter the hold, wooden barrels held in place by netting stacked on one side of the passageway seem ready to spill into the passage way. Piled on the other side are large wooden caskets, filled with heaven knows what, stacked to the ceiling. The wooden beams holding the deck up, extend several inches down from the ceiling. Occasional slatted openings above in the deck, permit light and air to enter the hold. You walk through the hold, ducking under the beams, missing the hooks where oil lamps hang unlit. You get to the aisle where you know the food is being stored.

At the far end of the 35ft long 7ft wide corridor you see food has tumbled down into a heap, bursting through the rope netting and spilling onto the floor. The air smells of fruit, apples, pears, oranges and lemons, but the smell is not quite right, a waft of rotten fruit and food is also present.

Use your perception results from above

Harry thumbs the dagger pensively while considering his options and advancing towards the mess...
Thumper wrinkles up his forehead, unsure of what to make of such big slugs.

Jon reaches out and touches Lysandra on the shoulder while speaking an incantation. "May Cayden ward you..."

Cast Shield of Faith on Lysandra (+2 deflection bonus to AC)

Leylyn peers into the room. Hehehe, Look at all the ikky, slimey little maggot things! Leylyn whispers and points to the pile of food. Kyaha! And look!, that's probably their nest, how utterly disgusting. Leylyn continues, pointing to the holey barrel. Hmm...Now what could these things be...? Leylyn mutters as she studies the creatures...

Whichever one is appropriate...if any...
Knowledge Arcana 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28
Knowledge Nature 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Knowledge Planes 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

Hearing the others point out the grub-like creatures, Lysandra remarks,

"Regardless of what they are, they must be taken care of. And apparently, we'll have to tell the captain he must alter course, we won't have nearly enough supplies to reach Bloodcove."

Leylyn recognises the creature as vermin, but doesn't recall having come across one before or have any specific knowledge of it.

The ikky, slimey creature pays you no heed, (you are still 30 ft away), it continues to eat its way through the pile of food. The food ripples up and down, as the creature moves under the pile of food.

Charles' nose wrinkles with distaste when the identity of the stow-away is revealed.

He then arches an eyebrow.

"Well then, perhaps one of you fine fellows up the front could deal with the creature? I can't quite reach it myself at present..."

My understanding is that we can only maintain a one-person front, so for the moment, that means Charles will loiter at the back, calling out helpful suggestions to the four people in front of him :-)

"Indeed Master Beecroft, it won't be killing itself I'll wager"

Harry will attempt to pass Ley at a safe juncture so he can get into the room and go after the creature, hopefully working with Jon so that we can get it out so it can be flanked. Either way, seeking to engage the creature.

Thoroughly disgusted by the larvae-like creatures, Lysandra will attempt to let others get by to dispose of the wretched little beasties.

Round 2 (I think)
Leylyn readies and action to use her fortune ability on the the first ally whom engages the creatures after her next turn. Whomever she uses this on gets a dreadful cold feeling running down their spine...

Jon squeezes through his comrades to stand beside Harry. He speaks an incantation and everyone feels bolstered to face this gruesome creature. Cast Bless on everyone.

Turning his head toward Harry..."Shall we?" he says with a grin.

...with a conspiratorial nod to Jon, they advance on the threat...

/ooc as my last post above :)

Charles nods at Harry's words, and then gestures towards the creature.

"Well then, if you would like to do the honors...?"

Initiative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22.

Too much of a gentleman to insist on squeezing past the ladies, Charles will draw his blade, ready to poke anything hostile that comes within reach; of course, if they want to withdraw slightly, he is happy to go ahead of them.

Watch List

Jon strolls to the front of the group, armed and ready for combat, weapons drawn, certainly he has the creature earmarked for extermination. As he passes Leylyn, a cold shudder goes down his back, momentarily he stops and looks around as though expecting something worse, but feels an air of optimism and luck in the combat to come. Harry (or Thumper) moves alongside Jon as they move towards pile of food.

As the characters get to within 15 ft, the sound of munching stops and the movement of the food stops. You continue on to the pile of food, which smells rather disgusting the closer you get, the smell of rotten food, you know its time for action.

Harry noted that the pile of food is piled against the side of the ship, not much opportunity to flank, sorry when I said it was at the end of the aisle, I should have made it clearer.

Jon you have Leylyn's Fortune cast on you, see her previous post.

Please let me know if your action is against F1 or F2 in the simple map.

No problem on the flankage, it was only if we could see a way to do it, otherwise its engage to my dead front and start poking about ready to 'have at it' with the borrowed dagger

Action - attempted stabbing with a dagger...
Attack Attempt: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26
MW Dagger/+1 Bless/-1 Power Atk.
Damage potential:1d4 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Jon follows Harry's lead and stabs the pile of food in front of him. F1

Bless spell that I already cast...everyone gets +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and saves against fear.

Attack roll: Power Attack + Bless + Bull's Str with reroll from Fortune
1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26
1d6 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

In Combat, if you don't want to perform an action please dot the round. Next up is Leylyn, then the rest of the party.

Jon's rapier is plunged into the pile of rotting food, it hits something hard and metal, but instead of halting the blades progress, it deflects and enters through an unprotected ridge in the maggot like creature. The blade continues on its path for several inches until the blade is halted by the creatures armour. The blade had just failed to completely go from one side of it's body to the other. As Jon pulls the blade out of the pile of food, the blade drips a greenish ichor and the pile of food in front of him moves significantly.

Should we have an initiative order at this point?

Lysandra begins to softly sing a song about a young warrior marching forward to face the unknown.

Activating Inspire Courage: +1 to hit, damage and saves vs charm or fear.

Should we have an initiative order at this point?

Lysandra begins to softly sing a song about a young warrior marching forward to face the unknown.

Activating Inspire Courage: +1 to hit, damage and saves vs charm or fear.

I have rolled everyone's initiative earlier, that's the order we'll be joining in. I use one initiative for the whole combat, not each round...although if it's better to go for once a round I'll do that...see how this goes first.

Lysandra Eventide wrote:

Should we have an initiative order at this point?

Lysandra begins to softly sing a song about a young warrior marching forward to face the unknown.

Activating Inspire Courage: +1 to hit, damage and saves vs charm or fear.

I have rolled everyone's initiative earlier, that's the order we'll be joining in. I use one initiative for the whole combat, not each round...although if it's better to go for once a round I'll do that...see how this goes first.

Got it....I must be blind this morning.

Sorry, but I'm a little confused about what round it is. I think my attack was at the start of round 2 with the benefit of Leylyn's Fortune hex. So does Leylyn go before me now since her readied action went off (Fortune Hex)? I'm going to attack again, but I wanted to give her a chance to Cackle to extend it :)

Sorry, but I'm a little confused about what round it is.

This is Round 3, you attacked in round 3. Leylyn cast Fortune in round 2 as you walked by her. I'm waiting for Leylyn's action this round, before I can see what happens next. You don't have to post in order, as I will make some sense of it when I can, if a post doesn't make sense because the circumstances have changed, either I will ask for a new post or fit the post to the new circumstances. I will make sure, the rounds are more clearly identified in my posts. I'll get the hang of all this soon... :)

Tuesday evenings UK time is my RL RP gaming night, so I don't get much of a chance to post.

same same - generally I will postup 'intended actions' or roughly what I a trying to achieve. And sometimes this will be out of (notional) order as I'd prefer to go to bed with an action posted that can be slotted into correct sequence than leave you hanging til I get up :)

Southern Hemisphere here :)

dot

If Charles is threatened / can see a way to get at the creature(s), he will do so, but otherwise, there is nothing he can do.

"Argg...Disgusting!" Jon yells as he withdraws his rapier. He shakes the ichor from his blade and stabs at the creature again with furry.

Attack roll: Power Attack + Bless + Bull's Str + Inspire Courage. Assuming that Leylyn is going to Cackle to extend Fortune
Also, using Ferocious Strike (domain power): +3 damage
Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13
Attack (Fortune reroll):1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28
1d6 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

If Harry is within range, he now has fortune as well. Otherwise she moves into range. Leylyn then starts to cackle loudly and Jon (and possibly Harry) gain another round of fortune.

Seeing that Jon has managed to strike his blade home, Harry tries to predict where the creature might be and lunges his blade in...

Attack:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27
Fortune reroll:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24
Damage:1d4 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
MW Dagger/+1 Bless/+1 inspire courage/-1 Power Atk

Lysandra continues her song.

12 rounds remaining for the day.

Round 3 (Clarification) (I missed the simple map before)

Leylyn uses her fortune hex on Harry as well. She then follows up with a cackle, adding an extra round of fortune to both Jon and Harry!

Round 4

Leylyn uses her Misfortune hex on the creature (F1?), and then continues cackling as the others attack, adding an extra round of fortune to both Jon and Harry, aaand another round of misfortune to the vermin! Assuming it doesn't make its save...

Misfortune (30ft) 1 rd, target rolls twice and takes worse result for all ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks. Will negates(DC 16).

EDIT: Deevor, I just realized that my AC did not include my ring of protection, and I just updated it so that it does.

Leylyn's eye activates once more, empowering Harry with some good fortune, whilst at the same time she cackles a harsh rasping cackle, that seems to inspire Jon. Harry watches as Jon's rapier exits the heap of food, but before he can stab his dagger forth, a grub much quicker than he imagined lunges from beneath the apples and pears piled in front of him. However quick as a flash, Harry parries the attack by lunging his dagger at the revolting yellow and brown thing. The creature squirms in pain, though no sound emanates from its mouth, yet the green liquid ouzing from its body shows the accuracy of Harry's strike. Meanwhile Charles looks at the two men in front, ready to move forward if one did falter and the heroic tones of Lysandra's chant carries through the air, bringing a feeling that victory is close at hand, and you will previal.

Yet even as this music dances forward, another creature lurches forward at Jon, hunger in it's squat little eyes and shown more noticably in its strong, viscous gaping mouth. In the short time it was hidden from view, it had seen a weakness in the clerics stance as viewed its prey, its mouth sinks deep into the cleric's exposed neck , drawing blood and sending a burning pain into Jon's flesh. The blood flowing from Jon's wound and the green goo escaping the creature, mingle red and green patterns of death on the ships floor.

Jon 4 damage and Fort save DC=16 and you are grappled by the maggot thing. The 4th round begins now, Jon is up, and will have to redo his actions as he's now got a grotesque maggot attached to his neck.

Lysandra continues her song. Seeing Jon's problem, she pulls her whip from her belt, lashing out at the grub in an attempt to pull the disgusting creature from the cleric.

Assuming Lysandra is in range to do that, the whip has a 15ft reach.

Depending on what happens this round, Lysandra is last to go of the PCs, but I get the idea.

Jon struggles with the writhing creature as he feels a burning pain from the bite.

Fort save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Fort save Fortune reroll: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

He strikes it with his rapier, trying to slay the gruesome creature.
[ooc]Power attack + Bless + Bull's Str + Inspire Courage
Also, using Ferocious Strike (domain power): +3 damage
Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
Damage: 1d6 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

Apologies Jon, but the Fort save is for Round 3, sorry if I didn't make that clear, here you already used your fortune to improve your attack on the creature. Being pretty new to this pbp DMing, its more difficult than you think.

Round 3 - final bit
The burning sensation in Jon's body from the bite, weakens him as he feels the strength drain from his body.

R1 Strength damage 1d3 ⇒ 3 You base strength is now 15. Your damage is also reduced by one point.

Round 4
Jon's body fights back against the poison coursing through his veins, he is made of stern stuff and the burning sensation fades. He takes his rapier and expertly pierces the body of the creature attached to his neck, as more green puss flows from its foul body.

I will use what you gave me for for this round, so you pass the fort save with the 23. You use your good fortune to reroll the attack.

Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20

Leylyn continues with her course cackling as she looks intently at the creature attacking Jon, which studiously ignores her as it tries to keep hold of Jon's neck.

The other maggot tries once more to savage Harry, but he is too quick for it, even in these confined spaces.

Harry's up next

Gotcha. No problem.

I'm curious about the result of Lysandra's whip attack. Is the creature grappled by her whip now?

Gotcha. No problem.

I'm curious about the result of Lysandra's whip attack. Is the creature grappled by her whip now?

She's last PC in order, so you'll have to wait and see... :)

Sigh...oh well...back to boring work stuff :)

Seeing his comrade struggling with the disgusting creature, Harry lines up a more measured shot and hopes the creature is distracted enough to reveal its softer underbelly for one critical moment as his dagger thrusts home.

Seeing his traveling companions beset by wriggling vermin, Charles shifts from foot to foot uneasily.

"Harry, could you get Thumper to move back so that I can move up and assist John with the thing attached to his neck?"

Otherwise, still dotting...

Harry, Seeing his comrade struggling with the disgusting creature, lines up a more measured shot and hopes the creature is distracted enough to reveal its softer underbelly for one critical moment as his dagger thrusts home. The dagger scores a deep line into the soft mailable flesh from the tail to the mouth, spilling green guts and ichor onto the floor.

The mouth still holds tightly onto Jon's neck in its death, when Lysandra's whip wraps itself round the corpse and pulls the dead weight from Jon's neck. The torso falls onto the heap of fruit and entrails at Jon's feet.

Jon's Bull Strength spell ends after its 4 minutes, it was cast after Jon had healed the crew member.

Round 5
Jon up next