Personally, I think rogue in 2e is pretty cool. There's a lot of cool options, even a strength based rogue, and it's a good mix of combat and out of combat usefulness.
That being said, Kolthis has some perception, but other than that, his best trapfinding tool is his hammer.
Okay, we MUST have gotten a physical description of Crove, from the elf if nowhere else.
Is this him?
It is.
Against all odds, you guys have walked the sole path that avoids all traps and battles and found your way right into the heart of his domain. Pretty incredible.
Wow, okay.
Team: is there any reason NOT to just hit this SOB with everything we've got?
Just poking the thread! We're almost there guys - let's see if we can't round off the module before losing all steam!
Checking in, sorry for being quiet - I got food poisoning, which isn't great when there's a pandemic on.
I'll attempt to catch up at some point today
Sorry to hear that, Martine! Hope you're feeling better, and no worries.
I mean given the current worldwide situation food poisoning isn't a big deal, but it still knocked the hell out of me, and I'm still gross.
Post in to keep us moving, hope to be less gross when the action starts. Go Lys!
My dogs barfed all over two carpets while I was out this morning, and then were super listless, leading me to get really worried that they were seriously sick.
Turns out, nope -- I had left the door open to the storage room, and they had slipped in there, torn open the dog food bag, and gorged themselves to barfing and torpor. I only discovered it when I went in there this evening.
Labrador retrievers, of course.
TEAM: Can I humbly suggest that everyone DELAY INITIATIVE until after Walter, so that Walter can caste Haste on everyone?
-- +1 to hit, +1 AC
-- extra 30' of movement so we can run Crove down -- even Kolthis!
-- extra attack on a FRA once we do run him down
Also "thunderous footsteps" make me think that we're in a LITERAL RACE to kill this guy before the Creature shows up. So... is everyone good delaying to get that sweet, sweet Haste on?
@Walter, if only the dogs were the only thing to gorge themselves in this quarantine. I've finally managed to cave and demolish half a tub of ice cream in one sitting.
I was at the opinion that I'm waiting for some sort of a signal to fire, but I had to make a stealth roll and I got the drop on him with stealth, whereas magic is generally loud.
I think you got a surprise round? And then he won initiative in round one?
That's right. Surprise round is over, we're in normal rounds, with Crove having won initiative.
Sounds like Labradors - they just can't stop eating.
Might be a little confused but did we get haste? Or are we just going (and via initative order)?
Anybody who wants can state they'll wait for Walter to go first so as to get Hasted.
I can Haste one creature / level, so that's everyone but myself.
I think that rather than wait for five players to opt in, maybe make it opt-out? Default to "everyone waits, Walter Hastes everyone (except himself), then everyone takes their Round One action"? Anyone who doesn't want to wait can just say so.
Sure.
Though this brings up the problem of Kolthis and Mihaela not posting of late. Does anybody feel up for botting them?
I can make the attempt at Mihaela - I've played the SanctSlayer before, I know how she works. It'll force me to better on inconsistency now that easter is over and I'm out of excuses since the only place I can go these days is crazy, so there's that.
Easter did throw things for a loop a little but thats settled, and if you're fine with me botting Mihaela then I'll have both characters wait to be hasted. Seems the best course of action.
Sounds good!
Tactical notes:
-- Haste gives everyone +30' movement. Assuming we were within 20' of Crove, he can't be more than 50' away. Killing him is top priority. So, I would suggest that everyone just rush him.
-- Crove's a caster, and he's already taken 22 points of damage. One or two good hits should finish him!
-- Stinking Cloud is pretty damn brutal if you fail your save: nauseated for d4+1 rounds. The only good things about it are that it's small -- only a 20 x 20 area -- and it targets Fort. It's a 3rd level spell so I would expect the Fort save to be in the range of DC 17-18 or so.
An open question is whether the spell forces saves on people who are running through it, or only on people who begin their turn inside it. The former interpretation seems kinda OP for a third level spell -- that basically makes it a Wall of Nausea spell. I dunno. But I'd consider rushing him anyway. Up to you.
I think it affects anyone who enters its area. It's a vicious spell all right.
Note, however, that entering through the secret passage isn't the only avenue open on the map.
I will delay to be hasted, it seems to be the right move.
All right folks, everybody is hasted and up! Except Walter, who just went ;)
Well the fort save sucked, so that hurts, and I'm looking into the rules on Investigators to see if I can boost my tanglefoot attack or not.
Also, while trying to get back into things - how long does haste last, and how do you want me to bot Mihaela?
Being Hasted has no real effect on Yelena, so it won't have changed her posted actions.
Bump.
Hello?
My apologies. I've run into a dry spell. The chaos of the final round, the complexity of the fight, combined with the silence of a couple of players ran me to ground.
However.
We're almost there. I'll get a post up tomorrow, and we'll sprint toward the finish line - it's just in sight!
Anybody up for botting Kolthis?
Can everybody please double check the map and make sure you're positioned where you should be?
Also, Maritine, I'm confused about your line of sight with the Tanglefoot. I don't see how you'd have had a line of sight on Crove, especially since he went before you and left the room. Unless I'm missing something on how you'd hit him with the Tanglefoot bag?
I just posted!
Gonna apologize again for my long absence. This whole thing has just been pretty difficult for me. Two family members have tested positive for covid, I've been sick and paranoid, and my work and sleep schedule have got me way stressed and I haven't been able to bring myself to do anything that I previously have enjoyed, all my pbp games included.
I will do my best to contribute to combat in a timely manner, though if that ends up taking longer than is appropriate, feel free to bot me.
I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy <3
I wasn't aware he left the room, that was my fault. As was forgetting I had to bot Mihaela.
ALSO my fault was falling down my apartment stairs like a moron and recovering from that.
If I can't catch up even with haste I'll just spend as much of my action as possible to chase him down and peeking at the map, is it possible to have Mihaela use all her action economy to run around and attempt to cut Crove off?
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Nobody need apologize for anything! This has been a really rough time in so many ways that it's a wonder we're showing up at all, much less having the creative energy to push through to the end. I've obviously been struggling myself to move the game forward, so I think it's absolutely OK for people to take time to take care of themselves.
That said, the finish line really is within sight. I'm going to make a push to get there, and with a little luck we can end the module in grand style.
Onwards!
And yep, let's see how Mihaela fares in that cloud.
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I'm gonna double check the maps for what I wanted Mihaela to do but I won't be able to make character posts until Tues or Wednes, just wanted to signal I'm still here
Testing, my posts keep dropping and I can't tell whats sticking anymore.
Post attempt 3
Sorry to hear that, Maritine!
Kolthis, you're the one toe to toe with Crove. Can you get up a post? I'd hate to have to bot your answer.
I will put a post up first thing in the morning!
scroll of see invisibility, another of invisibility purge, and a dose of dust of appearance.
Pretty good guess the monster is invisible, or can turn invisible. So:
See invisibility -- What it says, you can see the invisible stuff, at any range. Duration is 30 minutes! Unfortunately, range is "you", so only a caster can benefit.
Invisibility Purge -- Shuts down all invisibility (including most forms of natural invisibility) in a 25' radius from the caster. Duration is 5 minutes. Again, range is "you", so one lucky caster must commit to staying within 25' of the monster.
Dust of Appearance -- "a single handful of this substance flung into the air coats objects within a 10-foot radius, making them visible even if they are invisible." Lasts 5 minutes. I think the best play is, we want someone with a nice high AC to get within 10' of the monster and then toss this. A nice high AC and lots of hp, because that thing is pretty big, so I'm pretty sure it has a 10' reach.
I don't know how many rounds we have until the Thing turns up, but if it sounds like we have at least two, then I'm thinking Walter's next round action will be to cast See Invisibility on himself and then pass the Dust to... well, Kolthis would be the best choice, but he might be busy with Crove. After him, who is tankiest?
Also, probably Walter should have cast See Invisibility before he entered the asylum... but that gets a little metagamey.
Walter wouldn't be thinking "boss fight coming up". He'd be thinking "if I hang on to this, I can inscribe it into my spell book and then it will be mine forever!"
And: alignment discussion aside, Walter is totally serious about killing Crove. He can't be trusted; he'll try to backstab us or escape the moment he gets a chance; and killing him might banish the monster and will certainly take away its opportunity to get stronger by killing him.
Mercy doesn't really enter into it, either. Crove totally deserves to die. If we win, we hand him over to the authorities, and they kill him. Or... let the mass-murdering kidnapper and torturer go free? Is anyone good with that? Probably not, right? So he's dead anyway. Alive, sure he adds some increment of firepower... but is it worth the trouble of keeping an eye on him?
The only way I see this making sense is if we can use him as bait somehow. Does anyone have any ideas in that direction? And if not... is there any reason *not* to just whack him?
I totally agree that we can't trust Crove, but I'm thinking self-preservation will keep him from backstabbing us until after the creature is dead. If nothing else, he'll see us as useful meat shields.
If we fight him, the best case scenario is that we manage to kill him before the monster arrives. Which would be great, but how many resources will we have spent in the process? Worst case scenario: we fight Crove and weaken him just in time for the monster to show up and have itself a little snack. We've gotten pretty lucky with critical hits and were able to kill the other two really quickly, but I don't want to count on that happening again.
GM, do we have any indication of how long it might be before the creature arrives? I'd feel much better about fighting Crove if I was confident we'll have enough time to finish him off.
I think I'm good, if I had to be botted I get it.
Character wise Maritine is totally on board for killing Crove as soon as it's viable and even taking the brunt of the responsibility of it should it have ramifications beyond 'Crove is kinda the bad guy' - It's part of her trade as an official of Lepidstadt, after all.
And given that I'm supposed to be playing Mihaela, going purely by the mechanics of the SancSlayer inquisitor, she'd have no problem doing the dirty work either - Inquisitors are morally flexible like that. Between the two they could form a convincing cover story should Crove 'technically' need to live through the encounter.
My guess is we're all on consensus on what to do regarding killing or not killing Crove, the trick is how - and I think bait is the best way. Lys and Mihaela could easily stay out of reach and still attack from range with ease and if all else fails, Walter you've got some impressive tricks in your book I'm sure, and should that somehow fails Kolthis and myself should be able to distract and finish off what should be a wounded squishy wizard.
Closely watched bait seems the best bet.
Oh thank goodness my posts are sticking again!
How many of us would reasonably take an alignment hit if we killed Crove?
Killing him right now? He's blatantly evil and guilty of multiple horrific crimes. I can't imagine anyone would take an alignment hit.
Agreeing to let him live and then killing him would be pretty chaotic, so that's a thing.
@Yelena: it's hard to tell with any sense of exactitude - the creature burrows, after all, so it could burst through at any moment. Right now, it just sounds like a minor earthquake going on above. One round? Ten? Twenty? Impossible to say.
@Maritine: No alignment hit! Crove has earned his fate.
Lys and Kolthis are up -- and I guess Martine can bot Mihaela?
Shall we pull the plug on this one? We're so close, but momentum has totally crashed to a halt.
I'm not sure what happened, to be honest. I've had a lot of work over quarantine, and the time before that was... odd.
So, to summarise - we're currently aiding Crove, and the monster is about to burst through the floor? I'd love to finish that, especially since it's the very end we were talking about.
I'd like to finish if we can, but it is hard with so many absent. Could we do a quick roll call to see who's still around? Right now it seems like Walter, Yelena, and Lys.
Hello Everyone.
I want to start with an apology - I didn't mean to be gone, but, well, I had a very, very bad week last week and while I'd like to not go into it, I feel I owe you all an apology for vanishing like that.
I should be in a better enough spot that we can, if y'all still want, to attempt to close out the adventure, and maybe it'll be symbolic for me to make the attempt. I don't know.
But I'll make the attempt.
I hope everyone else has been in better health.
Really sorry to hear that, Maritine - sending you positive vibes and strength. If you're in a tough situation, there's no need to push things forward. Take care of yourself, obviously, first and foremost.
With Kolthis posting about once a week or less, Mihaela long gone, and Maritine signaling that she's not in the best of places, I'm going to call the game here.
Alas! We came so close, but times being what they are, I completely understand folks struggling to find the energy/time/desire to play. I've wrestled with it myself.
I also want to say that I don't think I've ever played with such a fantastic group of writers. I could single each of you out for your own paragraph of praise, but in short you all made running this module an absolute pleasure. Excellent intra-party rp, lots of great backstory, and all round brilliance.
I'll check in with everybody again down the line some day when things are better. Perhaps we'll be able to rally the group for the final showdown. But until then, I hope to see you all around the boards, and thank you so much for taking part in the game!