Guys: I've been having internet connectivity issues the last few days. My connection has been going out for long periods. I'm hoping that the problem is over but I can't say for sure.
I'm going to try and get caught up but since my window for posting may be limited I will handle threads that require short posts first.
Another flash of light engulfs the gnolls ascending the stairs.
dice:
gnoll save 13:1d20 ⇒ 6 gnoll save 13:1d20 ⇒ 8 gnoll save 13:1d20 ⇒ 6 gnoll save 13:1d20 ⇒ 20 gnoll save 13:1d20 ⇒ 19 gnoll save 13:1d20 ⇒ 5 gnoll save 13:1d20 ⇒ 17 gnoll save 13:1d20 ⇒ 1 gnoll save 13:1d20 ⇒ 20 Shaman save 12:1d20 ⇒ 2 Boss save 12:1d20 ⇒ 4 Hyaena save 12:1d20 ⇒ 6
Seven more gnolls, plus the hyaena, are all frozen in place!
* The slave pen doesn't really have a gate, just a very flimsy fence with two horizontal rails. It would be trivially easy to "break out" - the pen mostly just designates where they have to sleep rather than actually keeping them in.
Brathas wrote:
Does Brathas know where the dropped Oil of Smoldering is?
* Approximately, yes. He can't actually see it seeing as it dropped in the sand.
Brathas wrote:
And who has the other Oil of Smoldering? Brathas suggested that Walia take it (June 26) but I don't know what came of that.
* Beats me... but I'm fine with Wallia having it even if it is a retcon.
Brathas wrote:
Should Zynazyr go before White and Red in Round 7 or his initiative penalized for some reason?
* Why do you ask? Were you peeking behind the GM screen? :)
For the record, there were too many initiative blocks so I fudged it to speed things up. Sometimes that fudging has been in your favor. Leave it as it is. But you shouldn't be looking in those spoiler tags.
Ferrous Grimgond wrote:
Would it be possible for Ferrous to use his shield to cover Ana basically transferring the AC bonus from him to Ana?
* Interesting... sure, as long as you are adjacent, she is to your left, and the attack is from the front. That would penalize your AC by 3 and improve hers by 3.
Note though that while you are adjacent diagonally as you are now, the "front" would represent enemies to the southwest.
Two gnolls (black) run up the stairs and hurl javelins at Ana, but both miss. Two more gnolls (red) reach the stairs and begin climbing up. One shaman skirts the south side of the stairs, climbing up toward the group.
On the Camp map:
More gnolls run northeast towards the pyramid, including the two remaining shamans. One more gnoll "boss" takes one of the less wounded hyaenas from the pen and begins to bring it north towards the pyramid.
The hyaena to the south begins following Brathas' trail. The gnoll's handler calls out, and several other gnolls head to the south to join him.
The regular gnolls can move 3 squares and attack? Or 9 squares if they don't attack? 30' move, halved for going up the stairs.
And Ana can move 1.5 squares if she uses the rod, or 4.5 if she does not? She ended up pretty far from the hole.
These numbers are correct.
Remember that Ana can move 3 squares down the stairs and attack, or 9 squares down while running. That is how she got so far down. Ferrous was moving and shooting and so was Fistep I think.
Also note that the "landings" are flat and allow normal movement.
One of the shamans runs toward the stairs, and pulls up behind one of the well-armored gnolls. He waves his arms in the air and conjures an arrow made of red glowing energy. The arrow streaks towards Ana! It strikes her squarely, passing through her armor as if it wasn't even there!
Ana and Zynazyr both recognize the spell as magic missile.
Ana: 4 damage. At least it is not as bad as 5!
Another one of the gnolls by the hyaena pen manages to get a healthy hyaena by a lead and heads towards the pyramid. A couple others continue to try to soothe the remaining hyaenas.
Round 6 Initiative Block 1: Ana (-4), Zynazyr Block 2: Blue, Green Block 3: Ferrous, Fistep, Wallia Block 4: White Block 5: Brathas Block 6: Black, Red
Block 7: Slaves, Camels
It occurs to me that Ferrous and Fistep probably ought to have a formation where they cover Ana.
.
.
Something like this:
Fe__
__An
Fi__
With the gnolls coming from the left. The gap between Ferrous and Fistep gives Ana room to use the wand without hitting either of them, and she can switch to the halberd and attack someone in melee with either Ferrous or Fistep without having to advance.
Just a thought.
With the current map layout, Ferrous has enough movement to move diagonally past Wallia and engage the far hyaena, while Fistep can reach the nearer one.
Technically yes, though I should check to see if using a wand requires concentration (which would halve her movement again). But since I don't want this scene to drag more than it already has, we'll consider her turn done.
Zynazyr sends an arrow at the hyaena but it goes wide. He then hesitates, not sure if the rest of the group is prepared to fall back as far as he is.
Zynazyr could move back much more, but since he will outrun everyone this way I'm not sure I see the point.
The gnolls and hyaenas continue to race forwards. Many of the gnolls seem usnsure of what is happening, but the exhortation of the shamans and the chief spurs them on. Two of the hyaenas manage to reach Ana; the wounded one manages to bite through a weak spot in her armor!
Ana: 5 damage.
Back in the camp, the chieftain starts shouting at the gnolls handling the hyaenas. The ones handling the healthy hyaenas pull those animals out of the corral and prepare to send them towards the group.
I don't think she took a shield because she uses a two-handed sword and bow. ...
I was not aware of any post where Ana was given a shield, but I may have missed it. If there was one, please point it out with a link.
Considering that her regular weapon options (the +1 two-handed sword or the halberd with reach) are both pretty devastating but require two hands, having the shield limits her options to basically only using the wand while she has a shield up. She can hold the sword or the halberd in one hand while wielding the wand, then put the wand away in the same round that she wants to swing.
The bolt strikes the hyaena dead on, and it staggers and yowls in pain, but somehow remains standing!
More gnolls continue to pour towards the pyramid, yowling and screeching as they come. Many more reach the stairs.
Some other gnolls run off to the east, chasing the fleeing camels, while a few others wrestle camels back to their pens and begin tying them up again. The gnoll to the south looses his hyaena while tying up the camel he has caught. They hyaena runs forward and begins sniffing the ground where Brathas was standing a few seconds ago.
Brathas can see the gnolls in the center of the camp and it is clear that the gnoll king is not committing his whole tribe to the assault of the pyramid. He turns back to the gnolls tending to the wounded nyaenas and continues to bark orders at them. Some of the gnolls head to the tent south of the central "square" and come out gain with damp cloths to soothe the hyaenas' wounds.
The shaman leader continues to talk back to the chief.
Wallia single moves and slings a bullet at the hyena 17-1d20-1 if hits 1d4
Wallia's sling stone strikes the hyaena soundly. The canine yelps and shakes its head but continues to charge up the steps.
Wallia, since you can only move at 1/2 speed up the steps, and your move is 15', that is 1.5 squares. I moved your icon back.
Brathas wrote:
(this is 60' of movement, so a double move).
FYI anything more than a single move counts as a run action, if that matters to you.
Ferrous Grimgond wrote:
waiting to see if the hyena is downed by that shot. Also mechanically is there a way for Ferrous to pick up and carry Ana further up the pyramid steps?
The hyaena is still up.
Since Ana is slowed by her plate mail, carrying Ana up the stairs would involve you carrying that load along with the weight of Ana, so this would not be any faster than Ana going up the stairs herself. FYI Ana, Fistep, and Wallia all move at the same speed.
Fistep's shot staggers the gnoll, bit it remains standing. Fistep, Ana, and Zynazyr all fall back up the steps of the pyramid.
Ana, you had exceeded your move by a "half" square. I'll allow you to move half a square upwards rather than rounding down since your move will end up as an odd number. Same goes for Ferrous and Wallia.
Zynazyr: I moved your token the full distance possible but you need not move that far. You could also move laterally as well. If you don't want to move that far then pull your figure back.
The gnolls at the north edge of the camp continue to rush towards the pyramid and up the stairs, including one of the shamans. The ones at the southeast edge of the camp continue to chase fleeing camels, while the gnolls in the centre try to calm the hyaenas in the pen. The gnolls are able to get two of the hyaenas that jumped the fence of the pen back into it.
In the lower left part of the page with the camp map you will see several camels and a couple gnolls off the map. These camels have fled the map and the gnolls have chased them off the map. These creatures are unlikely to return during the combat.
The chief steps away from the shaman to watch the progress of the gnolls as they ascend the stairs, but makes no move to join them.
Thanks for the extra square catch LCDM. Zynazyr has 40' movement so triple would be 120' He could move further up the steps correct?
He can move farther, but don't forget the stairs themselves cost double when moving back up. But counting again... yes, he could move a lot further. If he goes straight up he could get to the landing above where everyone else is.
The real question is, where do you want to stop and form a line to hold the gnolls back? Presumably you will do that at some point.
Ferrous: Your token had only moved one square, which reresents a half move (the map squares are 5' and you can move a total of 10' up the stairs). I wasn't sure if that's what you meant to do so I moved your token the extra square; just move it back if that is not what you intended.
Round 5 Initiative Block 1: Ana, Fistep, Zynazyr Block 2: Black, Blue
Block 3: Brathas, Ferrous, Wallia
Block 4: White Green, Red
Block 5: Slaves, Camels
Ana, Fistep, and Zynazyr are up!
I recommend that Ana and Zynazyr triple move back up the stairs to join the others. If they do that they end up on either side of Wallia.
FYI using ranged weapons to shoot at a lower elevation just uses normal ranges, but if the gnolls shoot back each square up the steps will count as two for range purposes, meaning shooting up the steps is harder. You don't see many bows but most of the gnolls have javelins and spears.
Just waiting for Fistep. I don't feel it's fair for me to rush people since I was away from the game for so long, but I will bot him tonight after midnight unless we hear from him.
Ferrous: Actually, if you were to draw a throwing axe, the only targets that would be in range (even if you moved forward) would be the paralyzed gnolls in front of Zynazyr. If you don't want to use it on them, then reloading the crossbow is probably a better plan. However, falling back up the stairs also makes it harder to form a line with the rest of the group, since Ana is way forward. Zynazyr can triple move to right beside where Wallia is; Ana could triple move to between you and Wallia.
Yes, the paralysis will last for 1 hour, which is rather killer. Dispel magic or remove paralysis would be necessary to free them before that.
The stairs are 40 feet wide, but that is still narrow enough that the armored characters can form a line with a 5' game between each one, and the gnolls will have to come within reach of someone to get past.
The gnolls move at the same speed as humans. The youths have no armor and are quite fast. The adult gnolls have leather armor and are a bit slower. But the gnolls are not slowed down by the sand the way humans are.
I am trying to think of what I can do right now within the mechanics of the game. Can Ferrous drop his crossbow and throw a throwing ax? If not Ferrous will reload his crossbow and move back up the stairs towards the hole.
Letting go of something you are holding does not require an action, so yes, you can do this. If you choose to move please indicate where you want to drop the crossbow (before, after, or during your move) in case you want to pick it up later.
Wallia unloads with his sling and hits one of the gnolls at the base of the stairs. Even with a couple of people in the way providing cover that is still a hit. I'm just assuming you are aiming at the nearest unparalyzed gnoll.
save Y 14:1d20 ⇒ 9 save Y 14:1d20 ⇒ 10 save G 13:1d20 ⇒ 10 save G 13:1d20 ⇒ 14 save G 13:1d20 ⇒ 19 save B 13:1d20 ⇒ 2 save W 12:1d20 ⇒ 10
A violet flash of light pours forth from the wand, and rushes forth like a tidal wave of magic. It engulfs several gnolls and a hyaena. When the light clears, the hyaena and four gnolls stand rigid and unmoving! Two other gnolls, unaffected, look down at their bodies and around at the other gnolls, wondering what just happened to them.
The hubbub dies down in the gnoll camp. More gnolls turn to look at the pyramid, and one of the shamans starts shouting orders to the others.
Note: Paralyzed figures have been recolored to be very pale. As with hold person they are frozen in place and do not fall down. This means that the frozen gnoll youths actually give Zynazyr a bit of cover.
Also Note: It is now clear that one of the shamans is the leader of the others by the fact that he is giving orders to the others. This shaman is marked with a black star.
Brathas has been trying to give the hyenas a wide berth to avoid this problem. He is 50' away, with multiple camels in between and multiple burning pack-mates nearby. And multiple human prisoners nearby, who smell basically the same as he does. He is going to think it impossible that the hynena is reacting to him.
FYI the hyaena that is barking is the one with a gnoll handler that is south of the main body of camels and was about 25' from your position before you moved. If you run (triple move) you will be a bit more easy to detect than if you move slowly. For the purpose of detection, your position at the start of your move matters as much as where you end up, since a creature has a chance of spotting you at any point along your move, rather that just where you end up.
Anastoria wrote:
I think I have the template aimed at the most advantageous angle.
I adjusted the template a bit for you, since the way you had it you would have got Zynazyr too (which I assume you don't want). It still affects all the same enemies. Anyone within or touching the triangle will be affected.
The gnolls continue to rush towards the group. Some of the younger ones, unburdened by armor, actually ascend the stairs and reach Zynazyr, howling with glee!
The gnolls that are moving towards the pyramid are running (3x normal movement) and don't get to attack.
Other gnolls within the camp remain, mostly trying to soothe the burnt hyaenas, though others chase fleeing camels and still more stand around the central square, watching the chief argue with the shamans. Two of the shamans leave to watch the progess of the gnoll war party heading for the pyramid, though their lack of haste indicates that they aren't interested in joining the hunt.
I'm not sure if this action was ever used. If not ...
Sorry, I don't think I assigned the damage for that one but it would have been a hit. Since you were kind of "firing into the crowd" I just picked a guy at random (he is one of the guys in the lead group). If you wish to retcon your second shot to hit the same guy you can.
Zynazyr wrote:
I did a separate entry. When I tried to combine them, I must have broke something as my output was -993 lol
FYI if you use "quote" on a post with a dice expression it leaves the original [/dice] tag off the expressions. This prevents it from generating a new roll, since it's just a quote and isn't meant to generate new numbers. But since the start of the dice expression is still there, if you do any more they conflate with the original expression, which is still open until you add a closing [/dice] statement, so the rolls get conflated weirdly. I just copy and paste the roll manually from an original post when I quote a post with a roll.
Brathas sprints around to the west side of the camp. As he does, the nearest Hyaena begins to bark loudly.
Meanwhile, Zynazyr takes another shot from the top of the wall. One of the Gnolls yelps in pain as the arrow strikes it. Zynazyr heads back towards Ana though the stairs are harder to climb than he expected.
Zynazyr: Going back up the stairs is done at half the normal speed, so you couldn't have moved quite that far. I moved your token back a bit. If you run (i.e. spend your whole round moving) remember you can move at 3x normal speed.
Zynazyr:
As Zynazyr watches the gnolls he realizes that their paws seem better suited to the sand than human feet would be (i.e. unlike humans they take no penalties for moving on sand). They seem to be running about as fast as humans can run on open ground. He is glad that the group did not choose to face the gnolls on the sand.
The gnoll leader standing at the mouth of the big tent begins barking orders at the gnolls around him. He points at the group of humans and demi-humans on the stairs of the pyramid. Several of the gnolls begin sprinting towards the pyramid, and more turn around and look towards the pyramid.
The shaman standing in front of the tent begins to argue, and the leader strides over and begins barking orders at the shaman. The discussion seems to be getting heated.
It is pretty clear that the one giving orders is the overall leader of the tribe. His token is marked with a white star.
Some of the camels escape, though two of the gnolls manage to catch one of the fleeing camels.
You will find that there is a new map on the Tactical Map slideshow. It shows the pyramid stairs and the current positions of everyone other than Brathas.
The left edge of the map corresponds to the top of the map of the gnoll camp. The maps overlap slightly. The purple "X" and "Y" markers correspond to the same markers on the map of the camp.
The hole in the stairs that leads to the tunnel into the pyramid is the black thing marked "Hole." The various tiers are indicated by the various shades of grey. The borders between the tiers are not quite sheer but may as well be for combat purposes. They are fairly worn though and could potentially be climbed.
You will note that the tiers are 40' wide but the stairs are only 30' of this. That last 10' is a 'landing' so you can walk out on the rest of the tier.
The big purple triangle at the top is an AoE template for Ana's wand of Paralysis.
On the map it looks as if the stairs end at the last stony area, but they do extend a bit down to the sand (about 10', which is half a square).
Ferrous moved 60' on round 2, and shot his crossbow on round 3.
Ana moved 45' on round 2, and on round 3 she moved 45' again. So she is ahead of Ferrous now. She is still on the stairs, however. I have moved her "letter."
Wallia moved 45' on round 2, and on round 3 he moved 15'. So he is with Ferrous now. No gnolls are yet in range of his sling. I moved the "W" down to beside Ferrous.
Fistep moved 45' on round 2, so on round 3 he could potentially triple move past Ferrous by moving 45' again. This is what Ana did. Or he could move 15' to catch up with Ferrous. However, if he stops there, none of the gnolls will be in arrow range yet with a shortbow. I have not moved the "F" yet.
Ferrous: I'm not going to change the gnoll you killed because about a dozen gnolls have moved now as a result and I can't recall exactly where they all started. Sorry. But if the goal was to get the gnolls to head up the stairs in a nice line it looks like you may have succeeded.
Ana continues to advance down the stairs, while Ferrous takes a shot with his crossbow. He strikes a young gnoll in the back, and the gnoll drops dead with a faintly-heard gurgle.
The gnolls beside him look down in surprise, then up at the pyramid. They point at the group. The party has been spotted! Many gnolls break off from the pack and head towards the pyramid.
Most of the gnolls though have not noticed the group yet. They continue to mill around and argue. Several break off to the southeast to chase camels that are fleeing, and a few of them manage to grab the reins of some of the camels.
The camels with yellow borders are not tied up but gnolls have grabbed them. It will probably take a round for the bulk of the gnolls to notice you but the proces has started.
Is the group that took out the servant spirit still in the same location or did they return to the camp?
That group was at the north end of the map that Brathas was on and has returned to the main part of the camp.
Ferrous Grimgond wrote:
Trying to find some cover anywhere....
The stairs are pretty open. The only cover available would be to go to the west side of the stairs at one of the landings and crouch behind the stairs, since the goblin camp is a bit to the east of you. This won't do that much good though once the gnolls start coming up the stairs though.
Ferrous Grimgond wrote:
...and then fall back to the Pyramid.
Do you mean the hole you came out of? You are still on the pyramid steps. I put some markings on the map... the "AFW" represents Ana, Fistep, and Wallia, while the single "F" represents Ferrous. Zynazyr is the yellow circle (which I had to move back a bit because he moved it too far).
Ok best I can tell Ferrous grabbed a heavy crossbow at the very start of the campaign from a trap so that is good news. Bad news I don't think he has any bolts.
He gave the only bolt he found to Bruno the Fat. So this is a slight oversight on my part. I can't believe I failed to ever get bolts.
Imagine the thought going through Ferrous's head as he sees near 60 gnolls at perfect heavy crossbow range goes to load his crossbow and realizes that he never found any bolts to fire it.
Range for a heavy crossbow is:
Heavy Crossbow 5 - 80 / 81 - 160 / 161 - 240
So you could actually start shooting from where you are, and you would be at long range. The heavy crossbow deals 1d10 damage but is not modified by strength.
It does take 1 round to reload though. So you can shoot in one round and then reload the next.
The party begins running down the stairs. Zynazyr, not wearing armor, gets the furthest, while the others try to keep up.
Gnolls continue emerge from tents, while others dart back in to the tents to get their gear. More "boss" gnolls and "shaman" gnolls emerge from the central tents. There is a lot of shouting in the central square, and it looks like an argument is brewing, but Brathas cannot understand their vile language.
The hyaenas have stopped burning though bits of flame still flicker on small pools of burning oil on the ground. They hyaenas continue to howl in pain, however.
Some of the gnolls break off to chase the fleeing camels, though the pursuit is not very organized. Other camels break loose and flee the site of the fire.
Ana and Ferrous are up. Those who are not up can post an action if they want; if it is something that would be invalidated by what the gnolls do I will allow retcons.
Those on the Pyramid: I am including an indication of how far you are off the map in the initiative count. Remember that if you do nothing but move on your turn you can move 3x your normal move.
