GM WhtKnt's Into the Borderlands, Table 1 (Inactive)

Game Master WhtKnt

"Even if we leave, friend Theo, what would stop the hobgoblins from pursuing us?"

With those words and a soft sigh the elven mage steps forward to support the halfling. Then he brings to mind a spell of fire and as soon as the incantation is spoken and the arcane gestures completed, a torrent of flame shoots out from his outstretched hands. And just as soon as the first enemy begins to burn, he calls out in the goblin tongue.

Stepping forward and casting burning hands. Also, maybe trying a bit of intimidation?

Damage (fire): 3d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 6) = 14

Intimidation: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

"Even if we leave, friend Theo, what would stop the hobgoblins from pursuing us?"

"You've just taken our first steps, Sand. We..."- Theo pauses. He still can't be sure the Goblins don't understand the common tongue: better safe than sorry.

An additional five-foot flame wall between the box and the door, on the goblin side. Plus, a five-foot cloud of thick smoke in the doorway itself.

With the illusions so close to the real thing, it should be almost impossible to tell the two apart. The fake flames will seem to give off heat, just as the fake smoke will seem to sting lungs and eyes.

Theo wonders if the more pressing issue is how they are to move the living statue that is Morgan. "Zdravko! If we do find a window of escape, you and I are in for some heavy lifting." Theo says, gesturing towards what is easily a quarter ton of tiefling and steel.

Morgan doesn't give a stated weight or height. But the picture he linked is built like a mini-Hulk. And, if he's to scale, he's like 10 ft tall. He's gotta way 350+. His gear is another 140. I think Zdravko and I can split that and still move normally.

Theo takes a defensive position [Dodge] in front of Mogran and waits to see what comes of Sand's flames.

Sand's spell catches three of the hobgoblins, burning them severely and taking them out of the fight! Theo repositions himself in front of Morgan. The hobgoblins seem reluctant to approach the party, though the ones with longbows do fire upon Ore and Sand. Ore is hit once, and Sand is hit with two arrows. (Ore takes 3 damage, and Sand takes 9 damage. Both are down, Sand is bleeding out.

"Zdravko! Grab Ore, I've got Isandril!" Theo runs to Sand, shrugging off shield and pack as he goes. He grabs Sand by the arm and quickly heaves the elf's limp form up over his shoulder.

Not sure if pack-drop + lift = standard action. If not...

As Theo stands he whispers a short prayer Spare the Dying

"Cast and flee! We'll be on your heels!"

Here is what the movement would look like this round; Zdravko and I each carrying an unconscious ally over our shoulder. Zdravko ending in Ya'Bo's place, me ending in Zdravko's, and Ya'Bo ending in the stairwell.

I think our best option for carrying all three of them is to dump these two on top of Morgan, Ore on top. Then we lift Morgan's body from the arms and legs. Basically using Morgan as a stretcher.

I might be able to help drag but don't have the mussel to lift

Ya'bo casts Prestidigitation to create a smoke screen.

He then does the best he can in helping the wounded.

when his turn rolls around again he will cast grease on the steps just to slow down pursuit.

Not sure if were back around in initiative but...

Zdravko squats briefly and loads Ore over his strong half-orc frame, sturdily retreating back down the hallway.

Ya'Bo, I think the smokescreen will need to be a Minor Illusion. The illusions from Prestidigitation are instant and palm-sized. Minor Illusion is five feet and lasts 1 minute.

That should be enough to fill the door itself with a cloud of smoke. Which, in turn, will blend with real smoke from the flames.

Assuming that Ya'Bo will use minor illusion.

Theo moves quickly, grabbing the wounded Isandril and hefting him over his shoulder, whispering a prayer as he does so. Zdravko grabs Ore and the group performs a strategic withdrawal, Ya'Bo providing cover as they go. The illusion apparently does the job, because no arrows come through the illusory smoke and no hobgoblins penetrate the cloud.

Party is up!

Sorry yes, minor illusion

"So are we running all the way back to the keep?"

"If we find a small area inside this cave area I could make an illusion of a cave Wall and maintain it so others can rest. It will need to be out of the way. What do you think?"

Theo carries Sand over to Morgan and lays him atop the tifeling before bending down and taking hold of Morgan's massive legs. "Can you get his arms, Zdravko?"

Readied Action: Dash. Trigger: Zdravko grabs Morgan's arms.

"If we find a small area inside this cave area I could make an illusion of a cave Wall and maintain it so others can rest. It will need to be out of the way. What do you think?"

"That's brilliant! I know the perfect place!"

Done right, you could wall off that whole hallway.

Each casting lasts a minute, and each round is only 6 seconds. If my math is right, you could maintain nine fake walls at once (45ft^2); just recasting as time goes on. You'd have to use your tenth casting to restart the first wall. Rinse and repeat.

Side Note: You could also stretch the walls into five-foot cubes of adaptive camouflage; showing the viewer what should be on the opposite side of each cube. Thus creating a space of generic invisibility. This way we don't have to worry about any patch of wall looking out of place.

Theo gestures to Zdravko, "Just follow Ya'Bo"

"I am right on your heels."

As Ya'Bo keeps pace

Zdravko bends to assist in the carrying of Morgan and follows Ya'Bo...

"If this is their home, they might easily recognize something out of place...perhaps just a short respite!"

So, are they following us as we flee?

And did I need to grease the stairs to slow their persuit?

It takes a moment for the hobgoblins to reorganize, but pursue they do! Ya'Bo greases the stairs as he goes, causing your pursuers to slip and slide and slowing them considerably. In desperation, you take refuge in the small tunnel with Ya'Bo "sealing" off the entrance. Apparently, the ruse has worked, because no hobgoblins come through the illusion, despite the fact that you can hear them pass by in the corridor outside. For the moment, you are safe!

Theo presses his finger to his lips and gestures to Zdravko for ink and quill.

Note: We should flee when Morgan wakes. Ya'Bo, can you maintain this for a couple of hours?

Morgan's excess weight is the only thing keeping us from running back to the Keep.

It is a very short term spell but I can recreate it easy enough.

Ya'Bo whispers to the others.

I'm just big boned.

Zdravko catches his breath there in the small illusion with the others...

I dont need to spend any HD at the moment, and a short rest doesn't restore any healing spells for me. But I think unconscious and stable PCs can roll HD at least. Might be enough to get us out of here to more fully prep.

So is anyone rolling HD for the short rest? Then we can move on I suppose.

So, if I understand it correctly, with a Constitution of 15, I roll 1d6+2, right? And I add the result to Sand's current -1 hit points?

Natural healing: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Sand, almost, but there is no such thing as negative hp in 5e. You either have hp or dont (are at 0). So you are at 5 actually.

Natural healing: 1d8 + 0 ⇒ (7) + 0 = 7

GM, did you see my comment in the discussion regarding Theo's max HP? Just wondering, since you've updated HP a couple of times but mine is still 3/10 instead of 1/8

Tossing this here if that's what we're doing. If this is a short rest, are we considering trying again, or doing something else?
Hit Die: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Id vote once everyone has some hp again we should head out and find a place to camp and long rest. DM hasn't posted since Monday though, so not sure whats up.

Sorry, been a busy week last week. My cat went blind rather suddenly and I've been dealing with that.

Theo, I saw it and made a mental note to fix it, then promptly forgot about it. I'll fix it now.

From here, the choices are in your hands, my friends. A return to safety might not be amiss, even if only to gain a slight reprieve.

I think everyone's hit points are right, now.

From here, your choices are to carry on (if Morgan uses natural healing, he could get back to full, which would put most of you at full strength) or to go back to the Keep. If you remain here too long, you will likely be discovered. The hobgoblins are relatively unfamiliar with this cave, but the goblins are another matter.

I would like to find a place to rest, maybe back at the keep so we could resupply.

Maintaining the illusion Ya'Bo looks at the others to see if they are ready to make a run for it.

So, are you heading back to the Keep? If not, I will have Neil show up as a lone wanderer. Otherwise, you can recruit him more traditionally back at the Keep.

my preference is to stick it out. Feels like going back so early would make us look silly.

I'm more of a mind to retreat. I have to restock after dropping my pack, anyway. Besides, we'll look extra foolish if our bravado gets us killed.

We're all at almost full HP, and the wizards get some spell slots back from the rest. Why not go 'take' back your pack? Isn't this exactly what short rests are for?

I did not rest, do to keeping the spell going I thought. So a short rest would only get me one 1st level spell back.

Morgan regains consciousness and is restored to nearly full health.

With everyone awake and mostly healed, Ore chances a glance behind the curtain of illusions and finds the hallway empty and the area quiet, though he can hear goblin voices to the south. He also sees a lone human quietly entering the cave, guided by a guttering torch. Neil, you catch a brief glimpse of a halfling's head poking out of a wall ahead before it goes back inside the wall.

The map is updated!

Bookrat/Neil, please check in at https://app.roll20.net/join/3223406/ZTy93g, so I can link up your character and vision. Thanks.

Oy! I see you back there. It's just ol' Neil to find ya. Been trying to catch up since town, but you lot move fast. These old bones don't move like they used to, ya know.

Looking to his hidden companions

" Who the hell is that? he'll bring the whole war party down on our heads."

calling as quietly as he can

"Hay you, get over here, and be quite.
Who are you , and what are you doing here?"

Get the wax outs ya ears, boyo. I just told ya who I am.

Neil sticks a finger in his ears. No. Wait. That's wax in my own ears! He wipes it off on his pants.

As he trundles up to the group, he says, a bit quieter than before, Now. I've been following ya since town. Y'all ran off without me. The good news is, there ain't nothing behind us. I ain't seen a single one of them monsters since I got here. Tha bad news is.. well, I don't got any bad news.

So maybe you can tell me why we gotta be quiet. All y'all are bundled up next to this dead end of a cave, and there ain't nothing behind us. Where you thinking they gonna come from?

Please ignore that last paragraph of my last post.

I think y'all be safe here for a bit. Ain't nothing in them tunnels one way or the other. Is anyone hurt? I can provide a bit o' healin' touch, if'n you need it.

"Just old Neil? How'd 'just old' Neil decide the best way to spend his day was exploring the Caves of Chaos? I doubt you're 'just' anything, Neil, but well met nonetheless," Ore says, with a twinkle in his eye and a playfully accusatory tone.

"Either way, it's good to see friendly faces, in my experience, regardless of the circumstance. I'll turn down your offer of healing, if only because the rest seems to have done better by me than I deserved, but also because if we're going back in there again, you'll be needing whatever healing touch you've got."

"All of that to say: Ore Thornstock, lovely to meet you."

"How'd we do, and who's the new guy?" Morgan asks after regaining conciseness.

"How'd we do, and who's the new guy?" Morgan asks after regaining conciseness.

"Let's call the outcome sub-optimal, and leave it at that. As for our new friend...that's an excellent question."

Theo gives the old man a once-over.

"Ore is right. You certainly aren't "just" anything. That said, we have little time for mysteries and a great need for friends."

"Vaguely suspicious old men aside, what is our current plan?"

I would strongly advocate a full retreat. Our party is 1/3 pure spell-caster and 1/2 magic-dependent. And each of them, sans our newest member, has been drained.

Well, let's not dally. If'n yer all fine, then let's get a move on. In or out, but get outa the doorway.

With that, Neil walks out to the hallway, expecting the rest to follow. If they move towards the entrance, he'll cover them. If they move further inwards, he'll lead.

Do or die time. :)

More or less refreshed both physically and magically, Sand nevertheless is more than a little torn about what they should do.

"That confrontation almost proved the end of us," the elf offers, one hand resting on his slender sword's pommel. "Still, we do seem to have recovered well enough," he notes as he looks at both himself and the others. "And there is also the matter of... ahem... leaving no pack behind," he adds in jest, referring to Theo's missing supplies. "Should we perhaps at least retrieve that?"

You guys coming out of there? Coast is clear at the moment.

"We head for the keep."

Ya'Bo grabs his pack and walks on out, looking to Neil

"If you would be so kind, lead us back to the keep."

"Guess you'll not be seeing that pack again, Sand. Same goes for my axe, too. Pity. I liked that axe. Could split a melon like nothing you've ever seen," Ore said, comforting Sand as Ya'Bo starts leaving.

"If you want to go check to see if that pack and axe are there, we can. But I think that the hobgoblins have it already."

"If you want to go check to see if that pack and axe are there, we can. But I think that the hobgoblins have it already."

And don't you worry, my diminutive friend. We'll be sure to find you an ax that cleaves skulls as cleanly as your lost blade cleaved fruit."