GM Bret’s What Lurks in the Woods (Inactive)

Game Master BretI

I have my ranged fire attacks..either burning hands or my fire domain fire jet attack...

Right now the plant doesn’t appear to be moving. None of you see any wings or legs on the plant.

Does anyone else have Kn: Nature or a plan to determine what to do? Right now, I’m assuming you are over 40’ away.
Creative solutions welcome.

That's why I was curious if we could just walk around it. Failing that the first plan will probably be Gaius trying to shoot it from distance.

The garden is about 15’ from the ruins of the cabin. You don’t know what senses the plant uses nor how far out it can sense prey.

Yes, you can just start combat if you want. If that is what you want to do, roll it.
I am willing to let you try what ever and will come up with a way to resolve it.

Alright, seems I need to lay out some potential plans you could try. Give you some examples with the game mechanics I would use to resolve it.

1. You could just skip the encounter, leaving the area without investigating. No checks required.
2. One of you could just shoot at the creature to start combat. Theater of the mind combat since I don’t have a map prepared.
3. One of you could approach the plant and then run away as soon as it moves. I would treat this as an initiative check, if you win you ready an action to move away as soon as it moves. If it wins, it acts. This would tell you how quickly it moves but is sort of risky. Don’t pick this if you have a bad initiative modifier.
4. One or more of you could try to sneak past it to the ruins. A stealth check.
5. Some other plan that you come up with and try.

I think I can pass it, if needed, with a good running start. And I'm able to defend myself.

PLans to use Acrobatics to either jump over or dodge the creature attack (+10 acrobatics, maybe Derring-do if needed for +1d6), with Opportune Parry/Riposte ready if that fails

Alright, seems I need to lay out some potential plans you could try. Give you some examples with the game mechanics I would use to resolve it.

1. You could just skip the encounter, leaving the area without investigating. No checks required.
2. One of you could just shoot at the creature to start combat. Theater of the mind combat since I don’t have a map prepared.
3. One of you could approach the plant and then run away as soon as it moves. I would treat this as an initiative check, if you win you ready an action to move away as soon as it moves. If it wins, it acts. This would tell you how quickly it moves but is sort of risky. Don’t pick this if you have a bad initiative modifier.
4. One or more of you could try to sneak past it to the ruins. A stealth check.
5. Some other plan that you come up with and try.

@GM: I didn't want to have Gaius start firing without the rest of the party weighing in on our options.

I think I can pass it, if needed, with a good running start. And I'm able to defend myself.

PLans to use Acrobatics to either jump over or dodge the creature attack (+10 acrobatics, maybe Derring-do if needed for +1d6), with Opportune Parry/Riposte ready if that fails

Remember, if Evelyn fails, she'll be the only PC within the plant's reach. Are we sure we don't want to have Cara try her Fire domain power or Gaius shoot it?

@GM: I didn't want to have Gaius start firing without the rest of the party weighing in on our options.

Giving others a chance to do something is fine, but nothing had happened in a day and a half. That is why I posted.

Can't we burn the damn plants? THat seems the easiest way, and we wait long enough, no need to waste more time, by Besmara's salty kisses!

Says the half elf impatiently

No..we can't risk you getting hurt, Evelyn...I'll just burn them from a distance...

I'll spam my fire bolt touch attack...+3 ranged touch..30 ft range..1d6+1 per shot...can add guidance before each attempt for +3...

No..we can't risk you getting hurt, Evelyn...I'll just burn them from a distance...

"Where there's possible choke, there's fire," toothily grins John, clearly satisfied with the proposed solution.

Seeing there's action afoot, Gaius activates his Wand of Divine Favor and then fires an arrow!

@GM: Sounds like we're going the fight route. Do all PCs get an action in the 'surprise' round or just one of us? If it's just one I'll see how Cara's fire attack resolves.

Azalmak draws his blades, in case the plant needs to be cut down as well as being burnt.

As the others prepare for combat, Cara moves to just within range and fires off her bolt of fire. It misses the plant.

The plant rushes towards Cara, getting to within 10’ of her before she can react. Double move

Round 1:

Bolded may act.
Distance after the name is approximate distance from the plant. Feel free to describe how you move and distance you want to be from the plant.

Plant
Azalmak 20’
Cara 10’
Evelyn 25’
Gaius 25’
John 20’

@GM: Was Gaius able to use his Wand of DF beforehand?

@GM: Was Gaius able to use his Wand of DF beforehand?

Yes.

Gaius fires two arrows at the Flouncy Flower!

MW Composite Longbow (+1 Str), Rapid Shot, PBS, Divine Favor: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 5 + 1 + 2 = 191d8 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 1 + 1 + 2 = 11

MW Composite Longbow (+1 Str), Rapid Shot, PBS, Divine Favor: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 1 + 2 = 141d8 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 1 + 2 = 8

Gaius manages to hit with both arrows, barely managing to kill the creature with the second shot.

Go ahead and do any searching that you want to do. Let me know where you are searching. Obvious areas would be the cottage ruins and the garden.
Here is the description of the area.

Nice shot...that's what I was trying to accomplish... Cara says, heading to the cottage and checking it out, first with her magical sense, then her own eyes.

perc: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

Azalmak heads to the cottage as well, and takes a look around outside.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

John begins a search in the garden.
Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Nice shot...that's what I was trying to accomplish... Cara says, heading to the cottage and checking it out, first with her magical sense, then her own eyes.

"Thank you, I'm glad we didn't find out how the plant suffocated people."

Gaius assists Cara in searching the cottage first:

Perception Aid: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

Together, Cara and Gaius find a small unlocked metal box hidden in the foundation. The only thing in it is a magical feather. Detect Magic with Spellcraft check to identify the item.

John doesn’t find anything he considers interesting in the garden other than a small skeleton (perhaps from a goblin) near where the Breathless Ordhid was. The bones look very clean.

spellcraft: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
+1 for guidance if you allow it...

edit...nvm....

Yes, I allow Guidance on tries to Identify an Item. The Guidance spell lasts 1 minute and you only need three rounds to get to the point with Detect Magic where you can do the Spellcraft check.

Cara can’t tell what this magical feather does.

Attempting to assist Cara, Gaius casts Guidance and then Detect Magic on himself and tries to identify the feather:

Spellcraft with Guidance: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 5 + 1 = 21

Gaius is able to identify it as a bird feather token, which is very useful for passing short messages over long distances.

Having searched the area, you continue on towards the goblin fortress.

You camp the night, expecting to reach the fortress early tomorrow. Nothing of note disturbs you that night.

Up at dawn, you continue your journey and reach the fortress a couple of hours later. It is situated on a stone shelf on the eastern side of Mount Witt.
Map on slide 6 updated with approximate location.

Soft light filters through the branches of the forest, which is still and silent. A rough platform formed of interlocking hexagonal stone columns rises thirty feet above the forest floor, abutting the foot of the mountain. A rickety wooden staircase attached to the side of the cliff leads to the top of the platform, which is covered by a ramshackle collection of boxy wooden buildings surrounded by a patchwork steel  fence.

Map of where you are on slide 10. Right now you don’t have any reason to believe you have been detected. The base of the wooden staircase is on the north side, it ascends as it goes south.

Gaius surveys the area attempting to spot any guards or animals:

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Stealth: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Evelyn tries to be discreet, and looks around, rapier in hand

Cara looks around, hoping a plan comes to her, but knowing strategy was not one of the subjects she took at the abbey.

perc: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Maybe we use the fact they don't know we're here as a weapon...surprise them and try to overwhelm them? Just a thought... she says as she scratches her head as she thinks.

Looking around, none of you detect any signs of activity other than some normal insect sounds in the forest. From your current position it would be difficult to hear anything other than loud sounds from the fortress.

If you want to spend the time, you could take 20 to try and detect something.

might as well...

Gaius and Evelyn hear some very faint sounds of movement up in the branches of the trees somewhere to the north. They are unable to see anything from their current location, so it is probably more than thirty feet away.

They still hear nothing from the fortress.

"Perhaps, we can get a better look from above," John suggests quietly. The half-orc heads to the base of one of the larger trees and begins to rapidly climb.
Climb: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

He turns his gaze to the branches to the north and then to the top of the staircase.
Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

John moves into the forest and climbs one of the larger trees.

He doesn’t detect whatever it was that Gaius and Evelyn heard in the tree tops, but he is able to get a good view of the fortress.

Lashed-together wooden poles form a makeshift staircase crudely bolted and fixed to the side of the stone shelf. The stairs lead upward to a platform that sits thirty feet above the ground

The front gate consists of a seven-foot-tall wooden gate constructed from fragments of tower shields which blocks a crudely cut hole in the fence. The fence is a patchwork of piecemeal steel and iron running between the wooden buildings.

Unfortunately he can not see into the fortress from his perch.

Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Azalmak takes a quick sneak around, looking for alternate entrances, such as holes in the wall.

Keeping to the edge of the forest where he has cover to hide in, Azalmak sneaks around looking for any hidden entrances in the cliff face.

He doesn’t see any gaps or signs of a hidden entrance, but ahead he sees a single goblin high up in the branches of a tree. It is looking down and towards the open area around the base of the stairs. It has a bow ready.

@Azalmak, I had you stop moving when you saw the goblin.
@Everyone else, you are not aware of where the goblin is.

Azalmak looks around for his allies, and gestures to the tree, hoping to point out the goblin.

I'll wait to see what we learn! :)

Gaius, Evelyn and John can see Azalmak pointing further into the trees. None of them make out what he is pointing at.

Let's go forth... We'll see what happens. Be cautious everybody.

Confident that Azalmak is trying to point out something/someone of interest, Gaius attempts to move quietly over to where he is:

Stealth with ACP: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Gaius gets up near Azalmak when things start happening.

Everyone else can take a round of actions before Gaius gets noticed. Although you don’t know they will be noticed, you probably realize they aren’t being very stealthy in their movements.
John, you might want to climb down out of that tree…. :)
I have updated Gaius’s position on the map. You can adjust it a little bit but no more than 5’ forward of where I put you.

I almost took 10 on it but thought I might need a 20. Guess I should've took 10!

Gaius blushes as he trips over his own feet!

** spoiler omitted **

Gaius gets up near Azalmak when things start happening.

Everyone else can take a round of actions before Gaius gets noticed. Although you don’t know they will be noticed, you probably realize they aren’t being very stealthy in their movements.
John, you might want to climb down out of that tree…. :)
I have updated Gaius’s position on the map. You can adjust it a little bit but no more than 5’ forward of where I put you.

I'm good with where you moved Gaius. :)

Cara quietly draws her crossbow and loads it.

i moved my token one square...

Azalmak takes out his sling, and moves forward, into the forest.

John hops down out of the tree. "Nothing to see here. The fort looks empty."

John just finishes his pronouncement as there are several shouts in the goblin language.

Round 1:

The goblins are 15’ up in the tree branches.
Although I have put them on the map, not all of them are visible to everyone.
Move closer and those who don’t see any of them may attempt a DC 20 Perception to spot goblins. Remember the -1 penalty for each 10’ distance.
Those not confident in their perception can delay until after a goblin has acted.

Cracking John
Gaius
Azalmak
Yellow Goblin (only seen by Azalmak so far)
Evelyn
Blue Goblin (unseen by all)
Orange Goblin (unseen by all)
Cara