Of Kings and Commoners - Kingmaker AP

Game Master RPGGGM

Reluctant to climb down into an unlit hole (especially seeing that everyone else is as well), Fergusbot sighs and goes over the lip of the well while Serenabot continues slowly down.

Everyone takes 10 on climb checks. Serena climbs down another 10' for a total of 20' down. At this point it is officially dark in the well. Fergus manages to get 5' down on a single move action.

The spiders remain in cover. Total defense, and partial cover.

Conditions The party is fatigued.

2nd Round! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Giant Spiders yellow -19 hp, green -10 hp
__ Durgan flying
__ Zokon
__ Illthir -3 Con, -5 hp from Con dmg
__ Fergus climbing -5'
__ Alia
__ Serena climbing -20'
__ Noah

Durgan's (Canopy-level) map

Everyone else's (Ground-level) map

Bah, to hell with this.

Fergus pauses to pull out a scroll and utters a phrase, as his hands seem to grow slightly.

Casting monkey fish from a scroll.

Zokon goes down the hole and then puts on his headstrap light thingie

So Climbing down the well:
If you don't have a climb speed you generally move at 1/4 speed (1/2 if you take a penalty) per move action.
Everyone can use the rope with a wall to brace against DC 5.
Super-sized Serena can use the chimney rules for climbing the rough paved walled (normally DC 20 but for her DC 10).
Other folks can climb the (dungeon-like) walls at a DC 20.
Fergus has a 10' climb speed (so 20' with a double move).
Durgan can obviously fly.

Fergus retrieves his scroll and uses it while Zokon climbs past (over?) him with a bright spotlight attached to his head.

Conditions The party is fatigued.

2nd Round! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Giant Spiders yellow -19 hp, green -10 hp
__ Durgan flying
__ Zokon climbing -7.5'
__ Illthir -3 Con, -5 hp from Con dmg
__ Fergus climbing -5'
__ Alia
__ Serena climbing -20'
__ Noah

Durgan's (Canopy-level) map

Everyone else's (Ground-level) map

Serena continues her very careful descent, using the rope in addition to bracing herself against the walls.

This was going about as well as she feared! The skald ceased her singing and moved up to the well. With a grimache she glanced down into the darkness at her companions slowly descending. Ah well! Once there was room to grab the rope she'd do so and use it to get down.

Move -> Start Climbing down (if there's space?)

Possibly Climb: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (15) + 7 - 2 = 20

Alia maintains her guard, carefully looking for movement in the trees.
Can we estimate how deep the well is yet? I mean, we don't have to climb ALL the way down, we can jump the final 10 to 20 feet...

Alia maintains her guard, carefully looking for movement in the trees.

Can we estimate how deep the well is yet? I mean, we don't have to climb ALL the way down, we can jump the final 10 to 20 feet...

Well Map

Since Durgan can descend faster than the others, he will linger near the top for now, guarding against spiders.

He holsters his warhammer and draws his crossbow.

Three rounds, and lots of 'Taking 10' on double moves later and we come to this. Likewise, Zokon has taken the opportunity to awkwardly climb around/over Serena, and is currently passing her. Remember one move action normally allows you to climb at a speed of 1/4 your regular movement speed (adjusted for armor/encumbrance. Between Serena and Illthir you have enough rope to reach the waterline and about 10' to spare.

Conditions The party is fatigued. The bottom of the well is dark aside from Zokon's light.

5th Round! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Giant Spiders yellow -19 hp, green -10 hp
__ Durgan flying
__ Zokon climbing -50'
__ Illthir -3 Con, -5 hp from Con dmg, climbing -35'
__ Fergus climb speed 10', climbing -35'
__ Alia
__ Serena climbing -45'
__ Noah

Canopy-level map

Ground-level map

Well map

Serena continues her descent.

Reluctant to enter the well before the first of their party reached the bottom, figuring they needed to hold at least one exit-point of the climb, Alia keeps her eyes on the Canopy:"Durgan, what do your dwarf-eyes see?"

I do have expeditious retreat ready and decent enough climb that for DC 5 I can try doing accelerated climbs - the moment she decides to go, she's speed up and get ready, then should be at the bottom the next round.(2xaccelerated climb, then let go and fall the remaining 10-15 feet)

"From up here, I can't see any further than Zokon's light.
Illthir, can you send some Dancing Lights further down the well?"

"Oh, the spiders? They have retreated for now. I would rather finish them off, but I won't go charging off on my own."

"Right. Light! I'll *uh* try." Dangling from a rope involve concentration checks? Not sure.

Illthir attempts to use a Move Action to descend safely, taking 10, and then her Standard Action to actually see where she was going. Let there be Dancing Lights! Maybe?

"Right. Light! I'll *uh* try." Dangling from a rope involve concentration checks? Not sure.

There is about 800 lbs of Serena anchor farther down holding the line still. So I wouldn't worry about being jostled.[/ooc]

That said if the group would like to take a round or two to organize your 'rope order', go ahead. All that can currently be seen below is water.

Zokon will continue climbing down

"I'll light ya up, if ya need, i only need to look at you."

Zokon dangles from the open well mouth into a low-ceiling underground cistern and shines his light about. The space seems to be an irregular cave whose size he can only guess at given the echoing of his own breathing and the fact that he can only barely make out the western bowl-shaped wall in the dim light about 40' away.

Now don't you guys leave me hanging too!

Alia casts Expeditious Retreat on herself, in preparation of her journey down the well, after hearing the spiders retreated for now, then moves right next to the rope and entry point, while focusing on her surroundings for any threats or onlookers.

Serena continues her climb.

climby climby climb. Fergus will increase the DC to move faster, and take 10.

Illthir Winlowe wrote:

"Right. Light! I'll *uh* try." Dangling from a rope involve concentration checks? Not sure.

There is about 800 lbs of Serena anchor farther down holding the line still. So I wouldn't worry about being jostled.[/ooc]

That said if the group would like to take a round or two to organize your 'rope order', go ahead. All that can currently be seen below is water.

Oh I should clarify; I took this as a "yeah you cast the spell. But you can't see much still, just giving Serena a nice halo!" Which sounds good to me, since the spell remains and can give us light as soon as we land :)

Flashes of lightning followed by thunder roil the sky above striking the trees with spiders in them.

So everyone is where they want their PC to be upon the rope in the well, what's next?

Fergus glances up. Huh.. well that's always good.

I think I'm fine with it, He won't try to climb over Serena.

Okay let me lay it out as simply as possible. Your characters are in the dungeon (the current adventure). The corridor ahead splits in three directions. Up into the trees, and the webs and spiders. Forward and out of the town (possibly back to camp where your horses are getting nervous because of your absence). Lastly, you can go down into the well and into the water (or above it if you are Fergus and Durgan) and look around there. Otherwise you are just hanging around. So who is doing what?

As I understood, we are climbing down the well, assuming that is the path she took instead of trying to negotiate passage with hungry giant spiders. Everybody is climbing, except Noah, Alia and Durgan, who are currently prodiving cover up top.
Durgan can fly down and won't need to climb, and Alia expects to be able to climb 60 feet per round, which means with a deliberate acrobatics jump, she should be able to make it down in one round as well. Noah probably has means to get down swiftly as well. So, we progress down the well, with some of us defending the entrance point until the others arrived down there and we know they won't have to try and come back up in a hurry because the Loch Ness Monster is trapped in the underground lake.
Wouldn't want everybody stuck in the underground cavern, get attacked by something overwhelming there, only to find the top of the well is covered in webbing and hungry mandibles surround the exit.

If he can see the ground and it's close enough he'll let go, if not he'll keep climbing down until he can get to the bottom

Climb: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

As I understood, we are climbing down the well, assuming that is the path she took instead of trying to negotiate passage with hungry giant spiders. Everybody is climbing, except Noah, Alia and Durgan, who are currently prodiving cover up top.

I get that, I allowed folks to reorganize themselves on the rope (basically their marching order) as they liked, but now they were now they are just hanging there... for like a long time.... Like a really really really long time.... This I feel can be fixed by a more regular (say 3 out of every 4 days) posting rate.

If he can see the ground and it's close enough he'll let go, if not he'll keep climbing down until he can get to the bottom

Climbing any further down quickly transitions into swimming. There is only water to be seen by torchlight below and the only ground to see is currently overhead.

Sorry, I wasn't sure if Serena's climbing rate had let her reach the end of the rope or not.

Serena is trepidatious about entering water of an unknown depth, especially wearing heavy armor. She would prefer to remain on the rope until we can figure out how deep it is.

Illthir descends until she can move her dancing lights to the surface of the water. "Uh... I don't suppose we can track under water? How big could this place be ..." The skald squints and tries to have her sleepy brain juggle all the little bits of attention. Hold on to the rope. Hold on to the spell. Don't fall asleep. Especially not when dangling on a rope!

With a foul grimace though she does realize that if they are to continue, she'll have to swap rope dangling for well-swimming. First a tiny step of caution; she drops a sling bullet into the water. Assuming nothing strange happens, like a giant beast starting to trash or similar, the skald soon follows down herself.

"Brr! ...At least this might wake us up."

Fergus will pull out a stone, cast light, and drop it into the well, and like Serena, if nothing happens after several seconds he will jump in and swim down.

I have a 10ft swim speed, and a total swim bonus of +10 including fatigue, I'll take 10 for 20 swim check.

Illthir drops a bullet that plunks into the water and sinks past seasons of leaves and webby branches that have collected over the years. Then Fergus drops a magical light into the murk. It does not fall so far though that the light dims all that much.

To all appearances the water is about 10' deep.

As she is tall enough to wade in the water (it should be about chest deep on her), Serena will drop from the bottom of the rope into the water.

SPLASH!

The water seems to rise an inch as Serena drops in. The ground beneath her boots, seems soft and silty.

Hearing the splash, Alia looks down the well:"Everything ok with you guys? Be careful - if there is a well, chance are this is not a standing water - it would go stale and undrinkable. And you don't want to be swept into some underground river..."

Maybe lets let Serena take a look around the edges of the Cavern before some of the smaller guys go there and need to make saves all of a sudden...

Where she is standing the water is about 8-9 feet deep, and Serena is about 11 feet tall enlarged. I'll update the map when I get home tonight.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Serena asks, suddenly becoming quiet. "I can see someone ahead, two figures, humanoid."

"Yes I heard" Zokon will release and swim using the light as he can. He's not that great a swimmer

swim: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Durgan had cast Fly in the middle of the first spider fight, and it only lasts 5 minutes, so it may now have worn off or be about to.

Or he may have a couple of minutes left if these encounters were back-to-back.

GM?

FINALLY! I updated the map with a top down view next to the side-view.

Durgan had cast Fly in the middle of the first spider fight, and it only lasts 5 minutes, so it may now have worn off or be about to.

Or he may have a couple of minutes left if these encounters were back-to-back.

GM?

Assume that 2 minutes/20 rounds have passed at this point.

"Yes I heard" Zokon will release and swim using the light as he can. He's not that great a swimmer

Remember unless you are distracted by obvious/imminent danger, (or caught in a storm) you can take 10 to swim. The water here is murky, but calm (DC 10). I'm guessing Zokon is taking a full-round action to move half his speed toward the voices, maybe, or just treading water?

"Heard what? ...You know, voices in the dark *usually* isn't a great sign ..." Illthir grunted. Seeing as the water looked quite deep, she was content to stay on the rope and focus on her Dancing Lights for the moment. "Which way? I might be able to *yawn* illuminate the mystery!"

Concentrate and move ball of light towards wherever Zokon/Serena points. Hope the things doesn't hiss and curse at the light :p

With Giant Serena no longer blocking the way, Durgan flies down to look.
He joins Zokon and Serena.

A single move descending with Fly is 80', so he can use a move to stow his crossbow and a move to descend.

As Durgan moves downward, Alia has little interest in remaining above with Spiders as company. Grabbing the rope, she starts running down the well.

Climb(Accelerated) DC 10: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Climb(Accelerated) DC 10: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
With expeditious retreat, that should be 60 feet. I had planned to jump down from there with Acrobatics, but it seems Serena and Co. are still standing directly below the Well so that may not be possible? Can I shift horizontally to avoid sharing a space with them which would be the case if dropping straight down?

With expeditious retreat, that should be 60 feet. I had planned to jump down from there with Acrobatics, but it seems Serena and Co. are still standing directly below the Well so that may not be possible? Can I shift horizontally to avoid sharing a space with them which would be the case if dropping straight down?

Sure if she can take one diagonal move. Alternatively she could ride on Serena's shoulders. ;)

Illthir hangs down from the ceiling and extends her magical fairie lights over the pair on the rocky beach, revealing a pale-skinned woman, with hair the color of night, her arms cradling a man in sailor's attire*--though there is something very wrong with the picture, all that can be seen of the man out side of his long coat and tattered bicorn hat is bone and the old gristle holding it together.

Durgan suspects these are undead.
Knowledge (Religion) to identify: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

He is not a zealous destroyer of the undead, and makes no threatening moves.

Dangling from the rope, concentrating on her spell, Illthir the skald decides that she actually wasn't going to miss out on the chance to talk to whatever creepy critter lived down here. Usually the creepy critters tried to eat them in some way - so this was a surprising improvement!

"Uhm. Hi!" she spoke down towards the water. "Sorry for dropping in. We've *uh* had a long day. You haven't seen a murderous werewaif sneaking by have you? Or, perhaps more likely at this point; an exhausted werewaif ..."

Durgan suspects these are undead.

He is not a zealous destroyer of the undead, and makes no threatening moves.

Durgan isn't precisely sure what they are. The skeleton is certainly a skeleton, but unliving or not it is not moving and there is no unnatural chill, glowing eyes, etc... to indicate more at present. The woman is alive (she sniffles as she looks up--she's been crying and not blood, and she seems to be breathing).

"'Werewaif'? I am afraid I do not understand." she sniffles as she speaks. Her accent is both odd and vaguely familiar. Her cheeks glisten. Clearly she has been crying.

"Is that your ogre?" she says pointing toward Serena.

Zokon will attempt to get to a place where he can stand, i.e swimming til he's close enough.

He will not engage as he is trying to check out the tactical situation, assuming there may be more undead around.