Mothman's Adventures in Darkmoon Vale game

Game Master Mothman

Eljoy doesn't see any mushrooms, or anything else interesting standing here by the doorway.

Is anyone going inside the room to have a better look around?

"Hey aren't stalactites only supposed to grow underground?" He motions to the ceiling with his blade, where 3 small rocky stalactites hang from the beams.

Reekis looks up. "They just looks like... rocks. You want me to shoot one, see what happens?"

Go on then!

Reekis looks round as he seems to hear a disembodied voice urging him on.

Both Oliver and his light stick close to Adalwin, as he's grown fond of the man's interest in the glory of knowledge. In response to the question of stalactites, he ponders, given he thought the same thing. "I believe you're right, Adalwin. Did you know that they are not rock formations, per se? They are more of a calcification of mineral runoff collected either due to underground basins or very humid caverns. It does seem odd that they would form here under these conditions."

Knowledge Dungeoneering (Untrained cap of 10) 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
Forgive any of Oliver's statement if I am personally geologically incorrect, then again, he isn't trained in the skill. ;)
Perception (JIC) 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

Both Oliver and his light stick close to Adalwin, as he's grown fond of the man's interest in the glory of knowledge. In response to the question of stalactites, he ponders, given he thought the same thing. "I believe you're right, Adalwin. Did you know that they are not rock formations, per se? They are more of a calcification of mineral runoff collected either due to underground basins or very humid caverns. It does seem odd that they would form here under these conditions."

Adalwin nods enthusiastically. "I didn't know that. How interesting!" He says, sincerely. "So that would suggest that these aren't in fact stalactites. Maybe Reekis's idea isn't bad one." His second statement also sounds genuine, though tinged with surprise.

"Hey!"

You guys crack me up!

Oliver knows enough to know that a stalactite is unlikely to form naturally in such a situation as this, but he doesn't know enough to otherwise explain these formations.

"Ok, watch out everyone, I'm going to shoot the nearest one." Reekis takes aim and sets his bolt a-flight.

1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7 to hit, damage 1d8 ⇒ 1. Don't know if sneak attack is relevant here, but if it is, add another 1d6 ⇒ 6.

EDIT: Wow, that was pathetic.

Jasper watches with interest. He never would have considered them odd, but having been pointed out, Why are they there? he wonders.

Reekis misses the stalactite by a good few inches, the crossbow bolt instead sticking deeply into the old timber beam holding up the roof … and the stalactite seems to writhe …

Initiative please.

Here's the map.

The stalactites hang above squares G-H 10-11. I've placed you where I think you might be based on stated actions, but you can shift your position if you like (let me know).

"Did - did that rock just move?"

Position is fine.

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

"Blah!" yells Reekis in shock as the thing moves, desperately grabbing for another crossbow bolt.

1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

Adalwin curses

[dice="Stalactite" Initiative]1d20 + 6[/dice]

Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12 Good placement.

Initiative 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3

Not sure I envisaged Reekis standing quite so close, but then again, WIS 8...

Could someone roll for Anor?

"Rocks don't move. Maybe they're giant bats."

Anor's Initiative: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

That's some initiative modifier, Nevyn. I had a rogue with a +8 once. Initiative rolls were always bad though. It became a running joke in the group that he would always go last.

That's some initiative modifier, Nevyn. I had a rogue with a +8 once. Initiative rolls were always bad though. It became a running joke in the group that he would always go last.

Thanks for the roll.. and yeah... It's a bit mad. I have a rogue who rolls high inits, then usually delays because he's scared....

Initiative:
Anor: 23
‘Stalactites’: 19
Jasper: 16
Reekis: 15
Eljoy: 12
Adalwin: 10
Oliver: 3

Anor is up first.

Anork fires a round of her crossbow into the group of things...

Atk: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16 dmg: 1d8 ⇒ 5

Then reloads.

Anor is too far back at L11 (where I had her) to get a line of sight on these things through the doorway and up to the ceiling. I'll assume that prior to combat breaking out she had wandered up to K12.

Anor's crossbow bolt hits one of the stalactites, burying itself into the structure (which is obviously not rock); some sort of dark coloured ichor drips down to the floor, and the thing seems to unfurl slightly, revealing appendages that could be tentacles or could be wings.

Suddenly, everything goes dark!

Map updated.

The dark blue on the map is dark - light from torches etc. are suppressed (but work normally if taken out of the area). Oliver's light spell has been countered. If you have darkvision you can see normally (albeit in black and white) - low light vision is of no help in areas of darkness.

Unless you have some way to see, or some ability to offset the penalties, you are effectively blind: this means a 50% miss chance in combat (all opponents have total concealment), lose any Dexterity bonus to AC, take a –2 penalty to AC, and take a –4 penalty on Perception checks that rely on sight and most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks.

There is a flapping noise in the darkness, and then something slams into Adalwin.

Slam Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20 damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2
If that hits, it attempts to grapple (a grab, so no AoO).
CMB to grapple: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6. If it beats your CMD (which will be reduced due to Strength damage) you are grappled.

Jasper is up.

Hit but not grappled

What does Jasper see with his darkvision?

"I'VE GONE BLIND! AAAAAAARGH!"

"Get out! Back to the light! "

Brashen give us something to work with.

"It's just magic dark. One is attacking Adalwin - it looks like one of those sea creatures with all the arms - like one of those with a blanket over it, but with hooks at the ends of its arms. There's two more hanging from the ceiling. Get the one off of Adalwin and I will try to surprise the other two."

He tries to position himself to intercept if the others dive from the ceiling and readies a color spray to hit one or both of them as they come down. If he has to hit an ally to hit both, he will do so and apologize later.

Jasper, from your current position you will almost certainly hit one or more of your companions with a colour spray, unless they move in the meantime; is that ok?

Please note that probably no-one else can see the creatures, but Adalwin and Reekis are probably close enough to feel it flapping around and can at least pinpoint the right square (but still have a 50% miss chance). By default, 'low' (01-50) is a miss.

Reekis.

A 15' cone from my 3' height will not reach the ceiling, will it? What if Eljoy picks me up?

What squares are the two ceiling-bound creatures in currently? That will help me position myself.

Knowing I won't kill my companions, I'm not not overly concerned if I catch someone, but I would rather avoid it.

I'm sticking to spoilers as Jasper is the only one who can see the situation.

Sorry, I was being dense about the spoilers. And I see I overlooked information you had already provided. Sorry. Now, to the spoilers.

Eljoy and Reekis feel the diminutive spellcaster move past them. "Reekis, duck away from me, would you?" And the familiar sound of a spell being cast can be heard from the darkness.

Eljoy and Reekis feel Jasper push past them in the dark. He calls out, then casts his spell. There is a flash of light, briefly illuminating the scene, although the sudden spray of light in the darkness leaves everyone blinking. Sadly, Jasper’s spell does not seem to have any effect on the monsters.

Wow, those Will saves suck for you there – I felt sure at least one of them would fail to save…

On my turn]

Adalwin takes a careful step to the side, hoping he doesn't step straight into the wall. He then swings at where he thinks the thing was, praying for some divine guidance.

Move to J9 and attack - not sure if there are further penalties for being somewhat blocked by the wall now.
attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
damage: 1d10 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
miss chance: 1d100 ⇒ 2

Sorry, didn't realize it was my turn.

Reekis panics and blunders in a random direction to escape the darkness.

Indeed, a random direction. 1 = north, and then going clockwise 1d8 ⇒ 2.

He staggers past Adalwin and Oliver.

Can't quite work out if there is a wall north of L8. If there is, he stops there; if not, he continues on to M7 and stops there. Obviously, he may provoke AoOs along the way.

"Everyone clear out! Ady! Where are you?"

Eljoy delays until he gets a fix on Ady's position.

"Over here!" The young man calls, and then, realising more detail may be needed in the darkness; "A step down the side passage, to the right."

Sorry for the delay guys.

There is a grunt and a thud – it sounds like Jasper has been knocked out – or worse.

Reekis blunders away through the darkness, and runs into a wall at L8 – yes, that is a wall there.

Eljoy calls out to Adalwin in the dark – he hears the other man’s voice come from nearby.

Adalwin steps away, then strikes at where he thinks the creature is, but he strikes only air. Low is bad on miss chances.

Ok, Eljoy has delayed so he is up. Then Oliver and Anor.