There was a face carved on the door leading to that freezing chamber. I thought that was the old man, and the package the thing frozen on the pedestal. But I could very well be wrong. But there wasn’t any statue or such down in the death-chamber of getting eaten alive by tiny critters, right? And Zahra’s visions? She saw people, but any old men?
I thought that too at first, but now that we know this is a tomb, I'm thinking it's something we take off an old corpse.
If you look at the roll20 map it shows that there is more hallway to explore past the collapsed door. I think if we turn back now we leave without our main prize.
The swarm is an issue... this is too much OOC knowledge, but I doubt we can even deal damage to it, let alone kill it, unless there is a gimmick involved in the room below. And it can definitely kill us if we just give it a couple rounds.
It's more confusing than that as it is a 'modified' swarm so you don't know what part of your occ knowledge to trust.
Better that way, then. If the freezer was still going and we could lead the swarm there, the cold would likely do them in quickly, but since that seems to have turned off... AoE spells (fireball, burning hands and such) would be the preferred option (not much point doing single-target damage to something composed of hundreds or thousands of single targets) but we don't seem to have those kinds of spells, nor mundane firebombs either.
If Dounia gets out and the majority of the swarm is still downstairs, we could perhaps cover the hole with a cloak or something and at least buy some time... but if Tymythy is right and the whole cave is about to collapse on us, time won't help us. Or perhaps repeated use of Cairee's Create Water over the hole would harm them - could be they couldn't at least fly with their wings wet.
I think it's worse to split the party than it is to chance the ceiling collapse. Hopefully there's another way out.
How much of what we just pulled out of the hole will fit in Zahra's bag of holding? She'd want to get the magical stuff in first, just in case we can't come out this way again.
The pouch holds 50lbs.
The stone planks and brass plate weight 8lbs and would fit through the opening of the pouch.
The robes weight 10 lbs and would fit through the opening.
The box weighs 150lbs and could not fit through the opening.
That was all Dounia mentioned she bundled up.
You put 12 days rations for four people (48 days at 1 lb per day) in the pouch and you've been in the desert for 10 days (-1 for the day at alHuffra, -1 for the support trapping from Tymythy, -1 for Dounia's fishing) so you've used 28 days (or 28 lbs). You could easily fit the robes and the planks and the plate in the bag.
It's a full round action to put everything in the bag and you're left with the heavy box.
It might be better for Zahra to just let go and risk some falling damage (it wasn't too far, right?) rather than dangle there in open view for the swarm to devour.
This sounds like a bluff. The scarab swarm has no mind (literally: Int -) but bluff is checked by a wisdom based skill so it could work. Stretching your cloak out won't fill the hall space (8' high x 10' wide) but it might 'throw them off'.
Well ...
Holy crap ...
Your bluff will succeed if you don't roll a nat 1. For every 5 better than an 1 you roll you fool them for an additional round.
So ...
Here's how the door works ...
There are 12 pins across and 36 pins down, so 48 pins in total.
Do you want to figure out the puzzle?
Each pin has three basic positions:
- Clear (In the correct position and not blocking any other pins)
- Wrong rotation (In the correct position but blocking one or more other pins)
- In the wrong position
The difficulty class changes depending on how many pins you try to figure out and the level of success determines if it is clear/wrong rotation/wrong position
- Full success means all the pins you attempted to disarm are clear
- Failure by 5 or less means all of the pins are in the right position but some are in the wrong rotation (I get to move some of the previously cleared pins back to the wrong position)
- Failure by more than 5 means you block some of the previously solved pins
- Crit success means you clear twice as many as you tried to
- Crit fail means you loose half your solved pins
I will have two charts, one you can see and one I can see. After trying to disarm I want a check made (perception DC20, Disable device DC16, Kn Engineering or profession locksmith DC12) to know which pins are in their correct positions. Someone can aid this check.
Do you want to break the door down?
Make a str roll against the very high DC
or
Attack the door (AC5 with a very high hardness and hit points)
or
Attack a pin (each pin had a hardness and hit points with an AC5)
Do you want to move pins at random?
copy and paste to move six pins:
1= clear; 0= no change, -1= previously clear becomes locked
Combo?
Two people work on the door simultaneously and use any two of the methods above.
I'll post your chart soon.
Let's not try to break the door if we can avoid it - if we do, there's nothing (that we know exists, at least) to stop the swarm from following us and killing us.
Busy today... we know what Tymythy is doing indeed, but I'll try to put that in some more words tomorrow.
This door is really cool, and I'm totally at a loss of what to do! Corey says the first option of "figure out the puzzle" is a disable device roll.
Think of it as any lock but you can see the tumblers.
I think my only area affect spell is Grease but I’ve been out of spells for awhile now. I only have 0 level spells and none of them affect areas.
My only though was using Prestidigitation to cool Tymythy’s cloak so that maybe they thought the room was more back to normal. Maybe they’re hot and cranky. I know I get that way when I’m too hot :)
(I thought)I posted something and can't find it.
Dounia - you didn't say how many pins you were moving this round. Please decide on the number of pins before rolling.
My only though was using Prestidigitation to cool Tymythy’s cloak so that maybe they thought the room was more back to normal. Maybe they’re hot and cranky. I know I get that way when I’m too hot :)
You'd have to let go of the cloak to cast and there's a chance the hand over could go wrong - you could try. It might buy you another round or two.
Welp, it was good while it lasted. I'll try to run Tymythy into the swarm next round, for a round or two, in the hopes they will chase the one prey that gets to them by instinct instead of moving forward and enveloping all of us at once.
Interesting strategy - maybe Zahra can turn your stripped bones into some kind of puppet/familiar?
;^)
Well, the swarm won't kill in one round. Or if it does, and Tymythy doesn't offer himself to be bit, and Dounia can't get the door open in one round, then the swarm will envelope us all and we all die.
So, if Tymythy would die in one round if he steps in, we all die in one round if he doesn't. And if he only takes damage, better to have one person damaged rather than all at once (mind you, the swarm might not take the bait and go for the larger buffet instead of a single-course meal).
Not that it will buy us much time, with the roof collapsing on schedule, but I can't see Dounia's work getting any easier if she's being eaten while she works the puzzle!
Please check the character status to see if I've missed anything.
Also, Cairee, you've been drained of 1 level. You should be rolling all skill checks at -1.
Right! Stupid wraiths.
Zahra - Sorry, if you want Tymythy's help with a task you'll need to post before he does. He already declared his action this round. You might set something up for a following round but asking him to change his action is just a little too awkward for play-by-post.
Also, the action you are describing, even with two people, would be very difficult - Fanning a cloak to disrupt about five thousand crawling (not flying) insects. Even flying insects would be very difficult to disrupt. I will have them make a reflex save against a very low DC.
Tymythy - the hallway is just over 30' long. You get to the south end of the fog in one action.
This will be up to Cairee or Tymythy (and, with Tymythy's drawback of overprotective it may be up to Cairee). There are nine pins left. Dounia's DC was 30 and she rolled a 29. Give me any sort of roll and write it up on how it might aid the attempt. The more plausible the lower the DC will be to give aid.
I think Dounia already included Guidance in her roll. Can Cairee still help in another way?
Cairee can perform an 'Aid other' action.
On this roll I am allowing someone to aid with any sort of roll as long as they can justify it. The DC will depend on how plausible the post is.
I figured Zahra would be out of the running to help. Unless her screaming like she’s dying would motivate Dounia to get it open faster…because she can totally do that :) in fact she probably will be regardless of whether it helps or not
If tymythy doesn't, I have an idea for cairee to try. I probably won't get a chance to post until tomorrow.
Was on a business trip yesterday, let's see... Tymythy is heading back, sees Zahra (eventually, once he gets within touching distance due to the fog)... the trait only triggers when someone is unconscious, but trait or not, it's not like he'll just walk back. So he'll try to help her, if he can. Question is, can he do anything meaningful? Guess he could try to scoop off handfuls of the beetles, but that won't actually achieve anything if they have decided to swarm on Zahra - no way he can remove them faster than they can gather in...
He can't really know how close Dounia is to solving the puzzle, so it wouldn't make much sense to leave Zahra behind to go and see what's the holdup ;^)
Any chance Tymythy could pull Zahra out from the swarm? And what roll might help with that? I doubt it's not a question of strength alone... yet this is not a grapple situation where Tymythy could try and assist her either. He has a bit of water, but I doubt a single skin's worth dumped on that many beetles would do much to help...
There are two mechanics at work here.
1) On the swarm's action it attacks everyone it can reach. This is the source of the damage.
2) If someone end's their turn inside the swarm they receive strength damage. Cairee's warning, 'Don't stay inside the swarm'.
I have allowed Dounia a save vs the strength damage once because she described herself dropping to the ground and rolling like she was on fire.
In this instance, Tymythy can make a CMB roll vs a DC of 14. If he succeeds then Zahra will receive no Strength damage for having stayed inside the swarm.
I'm sorry, but this doesn't save Tymythy.
...but, tymythy didn't end this round inside the swarm, just at the edge of it.
If we are voting, I'd like option one, please ;^)
We can't kill the swarm, and the door is the only thing in sight that might prevent it from following. Or at least leave part of the swarm behind - perhaps we could find a way to deal with a weakened enemy somewhere ahead.
I'm putting the game on pause for a few days. People are busy with some RL stuff and this part deserves time of its' own. In a few days we will get back to business.
I did the math and there's is no way you won't be able to get through the door before the scarab could attack again ... gonna advance you to the next room.
Is the blue quartz that the ship is on level with us - so it's like we're on land looking up at the ship? Or is it sunken? Your first description sounded like we were all on the same level, but then you said Tymythy took stairs down, so I'm confused.
You are currently above deck height by about five feet. The stairs go down to the side scaffolds which are at deck height. The blue quartz is at ground level, giving the ship a sunken appearance.
I will put height references on the current map I posted.
Can anyone else hear what the mouth said to Tymythy? And if so, can anyone translate? I don't think anyone has linguistics so is it possible to translate using a knowledge skill? Not that Zahra would be super helpful with that - unless this somehow links to her bloodline that gives her some sort of bonus...
Sorry for the delay in my post, I typed it yesterday and forgot to submit, then submitted today without checking to see if there had been an update. More from Dounia later.
Can anyone else hear what the mouth said to Tymythy? And if so, can anyone translate? ...
Only Tymythy was at the hut at the time of my post so only he heard it clearly. It is not in a language any of you could understand. Even Linguistics would hardly be helpful with no time to analyze what was said.
Decisions, decisions… That spear-thing sounds temptingly like something Tymythy could make use of once he has a chance to do his feat retrainings to start using two-handed, long spears… but robbing a grave doesn’t necessarily sound proper, particularly if someone’s buried ancestor is still alive and kicking to a degree.
How to justify one’s own greed while keeping in character… ;^)
I'm traveling for the next week visiting family. I'll post when I can, but please bot Cairee as needed to keep things moving. When in doubt, make her pray :)
Escape the Vault!
Game-within-a-game
I'm going to set challenges for you.
Someone will have to step-up and be lead for the challenge each round. Suggest a solution. Make a roll. Each roll that fails gives you a -2 escape rating. Each roll that passes a +2.
At the end of the 'game-within-a-game', you'll each have to make a final escape roll with the final modifier you've accrued.
I'll need you to face four challenges to get out.
If you head back into the tomb to try to get the chest with what could be 'A LOT' of coins (or it could be only a few coins ... or possibly more scarab swarm) then I'll need you to face six challenges!
The first challenge is to help everyone climb up and out of the room to make it to the first chamber (but not yet to the gate).
Character status is updated (including Tymythy's tribute -2hp for minimum spear damage +str bonus)
A current map coming asap - may not be until tonight.
A topic of conversation... I think there is a rule somewhere that you can always do less damage than the minimum roll if you want. I'm just fine with -2HP here, but just in case there is a future need, you don't subscribe to that ruling?
I liked the symmetry of minimum +str here but I reserve the right to be a little arbitrary.
Excellent! I love these mini-games! *rubs hands in glee*
Does this count as Tymythy's turn? Or does the turn need to do something to include all 4 of us?