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My PC's have managed to burn down the Lucky Monkey... unbelievable. A few well placed fireballs from a necklace of fireballs tossed into the upper windows set the place on fire fairly readily.
I am trying to decide the effect the building catching on fire would have on the brown mold in the cellar.
I wonder if there is a giant patch of brown mold where the Lucky Monkey used to be now?
Well, in actual life you can have too much oxygen or too much food, so it is conceivable that being immersed in fire would still kill it. That said, this is magic and that isn't nearly as fun. I can see a crazy description of the stuff bursting out windows and tearing the building assunder (something like giant brown snake fireworks).
Of course, I thought fireballs wouldn't actually light anything on fire? Kind of like passing your hand through a flame doesn't burn it... too fast of exposure doesn't allow the heat to transfer... That's neither here nor there though if you have already left off with them burning the place down.
More important that any of the above though is what to do about the whole point of the trip to the Lucky Monkey (plot wise)is to get clues that lead the PCs to the next dungeon... if they burned the place down how do you intend to give this to them?
My overall suggestion would be to do something like the huge Brown Mold spot described above, then as the PCs stand at the edge of clearing assessing the damage they have caused in the rescue, have the half-drow (forgot her name) lead a group of women and children she led away from the Inn when it was attacked, protecting them from the forest predators. She can then ask them to take these unfortunates back to Cauldron and pass on enough info to get them headed in the right direction AND you still have her around as a potential ally to the PCs.
Sean Mahoney
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My PC's have managed to burn down the Lucky Monkey... unbelievable. A few well placed fireballs from a necklace of fireballs tossed into the upper windows set the place on fire fairly readily.
My PC's also torched the Lucky Monkey, though it wasn't intentional. I saved the plotline by having the inn catch slowly. The PC's then fought through a burning building with smoke providing concealment for everyone. The stone cellar was mostly protected from the flames and heat.
It turned out to be an exciting session.
My overall suggestion would be to do something like the huge Brown Mold spot described above, then as the PCs stand at the edge of clearing assessing the damage they have caused in the rescue, have the half-drow (forgot her name) lead a group of women and children she led away from the Inn when it was attacked, protecting them from the forest predators. She can then ask them to take these unfortunates back to Cauldron and pass on enough info to get them headed in the right direction AND you still have her around as a potential ally to the PCs.
Sean Mahoney
Good point--my first thought was, "Well, this doesn't look good for the druid/monk in the basement..."
My PC's also torched the Lucky Monkey, though it wasn't intentional. I saved the plotline by having the inn catch slowly. The PC's then fought through a burning building with smoke providing concealment for everyone. The stone cellar was mostly protected from the flames and heat.
My group dropped a 6d6 fireball in the common room -- on top of the cleric. (He was surrounded by Alleybashers and Hillfolk.)
It worked out OK with a create water, the horse trough from the stables and a bucket brigade from the courtyard. :-)
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Of course, I thought fireballs wouldn't actually light anything on fire? Kind of like passing your hand through a flame doesn't burn it... too fast of exposure doesn't allow the heat to transfer... That's neither here nor there though if you have already left off with them burning the place down.
More important that any of the above though is what to do about the whole point of the trip to the Lucky Monkey (plot wise)is to get clues that lead the PCs to the next dungeon... if they burned the place down how do you intend to give this to them?
My overall suggestion would be to do something like the huge Brown Mold spot described above, then as the PCs stand at the edge of clearing assessing the damage they have caused in the rescue, have the half-drow (forgot her name) lead a group of women and children she led away from the Inn when it was attacked, protecting them from the forest predators. She can then ask them to take these unfortunates back to Cauldron and pass on enough info to get them headed in the right direction AND you still have her around as a potential ally to the PCs.
Sean Mahoney
Nice suggestions Sean. Thanks.
I think first edition and second edition fireballs didnt set anything on fire, but the 3.5 spell description says that it sets fire to combustibles and damages objects in the area. It can melt metals with low melting points such as lead, gold, copper, silver, bronze.
So given that you have some Alleybashers hiding out upstairs in a bedroom where there is probably curtains, and bedding, clothing, lamps and lamp oil, etc, and considering the Monkey is made all out of wood it seemed like it would go up very quickly to me, so thats how I described it to the players.
My party tends to move a bit slowly so I used the raging inferno to try to get them to think quickly and act quickly. It did the trick but sadly they didnt feel they had time to rescue Shensen.
This leads us to the other part of your response, plot wise. They didnt rescue Shensen (the half drow), and Tongueater got away, so what to do? Thankfully one of the other party members supplied the exact response they needed, which was to go back to Cauldron and ask Jenya to use the Star of Justice.
I had been thinking that Shensen would have perished in the cellar from the tremendous heat generated by the burning building the cellar would have become like and oven until the brown mold started expanding. Then she would have been caught in the big freeze from the brown mold.
I like the big patch of brown mold idea, as that is kind of what I was thinking anyway... :)
So what I am envisioning right now is this biggest patch of brown mold ever seen on the face of Oerth. Having grown over the bits of the inn the fire itself did not consume.
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My PC's also torched the Lucky Monkey, though it wasn't intentional. I saved the plotline by having the inn catch slowly. The PC's then fought through a burning building with smoke providing concealment for everyone. The stone cellar was mostly protected from the flames and heat.It turned out to be an exciting session.
dang I wish I would have thought of that... oh well I am sure there will be a next time, as I think the wizards player has his heart set on burning down some building in Cauldron itself...
Dungeon Masters Guide II has rules for burning building scenarios in the Archetypal Locations section.
Monte Cook mentions an interesting manner for handling fires:
Lastly, there are some rules guidelines for handling nonstandard urban encounters like fires and mobs. I particularly like the rules for dealing with fires. Based on an off-hand comment made by Mike Mearls, I made fires sort of like monsters -- they have Hit Dice based on their size and take "damage" from water and other extinguishing methods, but they also deal damage each round in various "attacks." This method can make running into a burning building to save a trapped victim as interesting and exciting an encounter as fighting a dangerous foe.
It did the trick but sadly they didnt feel they had time to rescue Shensen.
You've forgotten the second rule of survival for a Call of Cthulhu campaign, the first rule being "never look up." The second rule is, "if you don't have the body it's not dead."
Did they know Shensen was down in the cellar? Did you already tell them they found the burned corpse of a half-elf down in the basement? If not, then the combination of stone cellar/cold from the brown mold/there's a freakin' well there, after all should give her a good chance to survive, and there's always those pesky hidden tunnels and secret entrances...
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Dungeon Masters Guide II has rules for burning building scenarios in the Archetypal Locations section.
Monte Cook mentions an interesting manner for handling fires:
Lastly, there are some rules guidelines for handling nonstandard urban encounters like fires and mobs. I particularly like the rules for dealing with fires. Based on an off-hand comment made by Mike Mearls, I made fires sort of like monsters -- they have Hit Dice based on their size and take "damage" from water and other extinguishing methods, but they also deal damage each round in various "attacks." This method can make running into a burning building to save a trapped victim as interesting and exciting an encounter as fighting a dangerous foe.
Monte Cook is a freakin gaming genious :) I really like the idea of handling fires like monsters with hit dice, that is a great idea.
I totally forgot about that in DMGII, and I own it... guess I need to flip throught that section again.
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Did they know Shensen was down in the cellar? Did you already tell them they found the burned corpse of a half-elf down in the basement? If not, then the combination of stone cellar/cold from the brown mold/there's a freakin' well there, after all should give her a good chance to survive, and there's always those pesky hidden tunnels and secret entrances...
They knew someone was in the cellar, but they didnt know who or what it was. All they knew was there was someone calling for help.
I thought about her crawling down the well to survive, and I still havent ruled that out so she might make an appearance later in the campaign.
As the PC's are all in the dark about this bit of background goings on, I am basically holding my decision in reserve in case I need her.
Yep, my party set the Lucky Monkey on fire too. I don't know what it is about that tavern but the idea of a big wooden building in the middle of a forest was irresistable to the level 5 wizard with his first fireball.