Due to recent devellopments in real life, I have been re-evaluating my free time and decided to stop this campaign.
Other more pressing (but very possitive) issues rhen GM-ing demand my focus so... I hope you guys have found some enjoyment in this campaign and wish you all the best.
Sad to hear. I definitely enjoyed the crazy characters and the direction the puzzles were going. But it is much better to admit when you don't have the time and bow out, than to try to string it along. (And I ought to take my own advice elsewhere...)
Congratulations on your positive event, whatever it is. If you ever find yourself with the time to do something along these lines again, drop me a PM and I'd love to join.
You hit the final button (middle one) with great force and push it back almost all the way. But just a feet or two before it locks, you have lost the last bit of momentum and it pushes you back out again.
For the sake of moving things along, can we just assume he tries again until he succeeds in pushing it back enough to lock? Nothing else is going to happen until he does, unless you want me to shoot another bull.
As the others play with buttons Eapheu goes to play with the bulls. "I think there's another bull coming our way. I'll take care of it while you try pushing those buttons. What is it with this place and big red buttons?"
He flits over to hover 15' above the end of the chute, and points both pistols at the exit point.
"Here bull, come here. You make a very nice target. It's my turn to deal with you."
Readied action: If the bull comes out:
The tiny creature's glowing gun fires, and two pea-sized bullets come flying out at the bull.
One gun, so no penalty. Both barrels at once, so -4. Point blank shot for +1. Both attacks are close enough to be against touch AC. Spending a point of grit to add 2d6 precision damage to the first attack (half on a miss).
"I actually thing blood loss is very contagious. Or at least you should hope it is. If you're bleeding all over the place, you're going to want something else to be bleeding too. But suddenly spewing blood isn't healthy, either way." He flits over to the bull pen and continues on a more immediate subject. "There's four more of those shocking bull things in here. We might be supposed to have them hit the buttons for us. Or we might be supposed to kill them. I can shoot them from up here and they don't look like they can fly." He pulls one of his tiny guns and sights along it. "If they're dead, they won't be bothering us. Shall I?"
"Hungry? Me? Are you suggesting I eat him? He's a lot larger than me. I don't think that's possible. And he might be poisoned. Or poisonous. I don't want to die like he did." The small creature looks rather disturbed by the thought.
Sad. But that's definitely an appropriate way to exit the game.
By the time Eapheu makes it through the door, the bull is well in hand (so to speak), and he zips around investigating the top of the platforms (I'm assuming the +10 means that those areas are 10 feet higher up), and keeping up a running commentary on what he finds up there.
By the time he returns, Karnicore is vomiting blood up on the ground. "Well that was unexpected? Did the bull hit him? He did bite it, maybe it's poisoned? I wonder what we should do with him now? Do we just leave him here? That doesn't seem right. Maybe we should set his corpse on fire?"
With a shrug and a spurt of speed towards the closing door, Eapheu puts his dragon pistol away for another time. "Bye, bye, bunnies. Don't eat each other while we're gone! Then there won't be as many targets when we get back."
I'm thinking I really should be CN instead of CG, the way Eapheu's personality is developing...
"An electric bull? These tests certainly are interesting. We should probably slay the rabbits before we move on. They don't seem to be like they will ever be more than an annoyance, but who knows what else is out there? I can totally see them following us into a room where something turns them from my size into that bull's size. But we should stand on all the pillars and cover the floor with them before we start killing them off. It'll be easier to take them out several at a time that way." He pulls out another pistol, this one carved to look like a dragon. "I can probably take them out five or ten at a time with this one, if they cluster closely enough. And we just saw a demonstration of rabbit-flambé ready to happen." He nods in the fiery dog's direction.
As a high-initiative character with a less-active player, this really does directly impact me. I should have been able to take the first shots against the first set of rabbits in this room, but instead they got slaughtered, a second batch showed up, and I got those instead. I didn't really mind (although it surprised me) but it's a perfect example.
I would point out that even under method A, many turns could have been redone - DD's claw/claw/bite and Karnicore's gore would have killed off the first set of them, and everyone else was just beating on dead rabbits. Most games I'm in have people actually post in their initiative order, and it works out reasonably well.
I'm not sure I have a preference, so long as it's clear and we make sure to keep to one turn per go-round.
"Bunnies. Bunnies. Where are they getting all these evil bunnies? And who wants to make evil bunnies? They're so cute and fluffy until they leap at your throat." He pulls out two pistols and aims at the rabbits as he continues to speak. Both of the tiny pistols have dual barrels, intricate carvings on the handles (although that's pretty hard to see unless you're right next to them, given their size), and one of them sparkles slightly.
Two hands, so -4, and rapid shot, for another -2, with Point blank shot for +1. All attacks are close enough to be against touch AC. Since all the attacks do >3 damage, a hit kills a bunny.
"That would be a lot of killer bunnies. But I assume they breed like rabbits, so it's to be expected. What a strange foe."
Also, swift action to magically reload one barrel of the primary gun (via Beneficial bandolier)
Observation room:
The rainbow-labcoated gnome smiles as his creation gets to show off the pistols, even if it just WON'T SHUT UP.
"Do you like the popguns?" he asks the others in the room. "You would not believe how hard it is to make usable firearms for a creature that small. But well worth it! Look at how well he uses them!" He gives a nod of acknowledgement to the others in the room. "... not to say that your creatures aren't highly effective as well."
Perception:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30Heh, exactly the same as Raijin. Go tinys!
A little disappointed he doesn't get to do a fancy "fly through he closing door in the nick of time" maneuver, Eapheu glides into the next room. Seeing all the lines, he begins zipping over them mid-air, choosing turns more-or-less at random.
"Whee! What do you suppose all these lines do? I don't see a big red button in here, but they look like the one that connected the last button to the door. This one door doesn't have a light, so we can't turn it green. Maybe the button is on the other side? Or maybe we just need to connect the green light to a red door light? There sure are a lot of lines. I wonder what happens if we activate them in a loop?"
Eapheu tries to hold the button down as Karnicore steps off it, but just can't apply enough force to it.
Hovering above the big red button, he continues his stream of words. "Well that is interesting. If I could hold down the button I could probably zip through the door as it closed, since I'm fast and small and it's so large. But I'm not heavy enough. Maybe if Raijin and I both stood on it? He's almost as fast as I am, so we can duck through the door as it closed after all you overly large things have walked through. Or maybe you can find something for us to hold?" He pauses, briefly, then continues. "But if it's heavy enough to push it down with us, it can probably hold it down afterwards. So we could just leave it there. Maybe a pod?"
Eapheu flits forward into the room, talking as he does.
"That was impressive. Or a rather defenseless bunny. I think you just ate a defenseless bunny. Well, maybe it had defenses. It did jump at you. And you were fire and it was ice - I'm not surprised you killed it. You probably would have melted it, if it were actually made of ice. Was it yummy? Are we going to have to find more food for you? Don't think that I'm food just because I'm as small as it was. I don't care how hungry you are. So let's push the button. Do you think I can do it, or am I too light?" He flutters down to the button and lands on it, then jumps to land on it harder.
"Sorry. Gorg, not Grog. No offense intended. Didn't mean to imply you were a drink. I'm not even sure what would want to drink you. Do you have blood or sap? Do you know? Hopefully we won't find out when something attacks you. I assume things will attack us, although I don't know why they'd want to. Lets go see what's on the other side of that door. Maybe that will explain things?"
Eapheu flits over to the door and peers through it as it (presumably) opens.
The tiny winged creatures finishes collecting its gear (which consists almost entirely of guns and ammo-stuffed bandoliers) and then hovers mid-air as he surveys his "companions". Then he begins speaking. Rapidly.
"Boy you have a lot of eyes. How do you figure out where anything is? Isn't it all so confusing? Would it hurt as much if I shot you in an eye as it would if I shot someone with only two? Like the dog? Sure I can help you. Except you look like you don't need it. Are those magic buckles that buckle themselves? That's a really clever idea. Especially since you don't have hands. Why don't you have hands? Oh you don't have hands either. That's ok, Grog has extras. Although he doesn't have enough for both of you. Maybe we can find you a pair somewhere. How else are you supposed to shoot? Oh, you don't have guns. That's silly. Why wouldn't you want them? Well, you might set it off just by touching it. Powder's rather explosive! Boom! You just stay on the ground and I'll stay up here, and that way you don't make me go boom! Why are you crackling, anyway? Oh I should introduce myself too. I'm Eapheu Damira, call me Eapheu. Or Eep. I'll answer to Eep. It's a much faster way to get my attention than saying 'Eapheu Damira' after all. I don't even know why that's my name. It's very long. Eep is shorter. Nice to meet you all. Should we open the door? What d-"
Realizing he probably should let someone else get a word in edgewise, Eapheu cuts himself off mid-word and takes a deep breath. As he does, his hair starts drifting, as if in a breeze, and little flakes of the pod swirl around him briefly before blowing away.
Observation room:
A gnome wearing an assortment of lab coats in a rainbow of colors (and fits) smacks his forehead with his hand. "I think I gave him too much curiosity. And too much mouth. Maybe I can stitch it closed later..."
Eapheu slowly sits up, blinking and peering around. He stays calm for thirty seconds or so, then in a sudden burst of movement he launches himself over the side of the pod, stretches out his pale wings, and flutters to the ground. He immediately opens the cache and pulls out a pair of pistols half an inch long and hugs them to his chest.
After a moment or two of that, he checks them over, then gets the rest of his gear out of the cabinet.
OOC stuff:
The highest DC on the Fly skill table is 20, and I have +21 to the rolls, so I will assume that I can automatically do anything I need to. In the case of winds of 21 mph (Strong) or higher, or some other type of penalty, I may need to actually roll. Let me know when those situations come up.
Also, unless you object, I'm trading one hit point for one rank in Acrobatics. This should be the last adjustment I make.
I just added two weapon cords (attached to the two primary pistols) which I forgot about. Very important not to drop your guns when you're 20 feet up in the air...
I also am making the assumption that they're only 4 inches long, since that keeps the same general proportion as a 2' cord to a 6' human.
