-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Chatty
As the parrot returns, Chatty slips down the tree to listen more carefully to Libby's report. Her head tilts, considering Arendi's question. Chatty's nose works in deep thought for a moment. Eventually, small text appears next to the parrot's map.
I can get to the top of the wall quickly. An ordinary hobgoblin is no challenge. But many things can happen in a fight. I can't guarantee taking him out before an alarm is called. Everyone else should be moving up quickly behind.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Vokon rumbles quietly: I'm not confident in my ability to remain unseen, but I AM confident in my ability to scale that wall with no difficulty. I can probably jump high enough to simply grab the ledge and roll myself up. And if we can get up there before they realize it, a high ground advantage may help us.
Though I must admit, this still has me nervous. There is a lot of room in there, and all we know about for sure is a couple of hobgoblins.
Vokon snaps his fingers.
If they're using this is a base of operations for raiding the surrounding areas, we may be able to tell. Jorr, can you creep close enough to see if there are tracks on that overrun path leading up to the keep? Maybe that can give us an idea of numbers? If they have an equivalent to the raiding party we fought earlier, we may be able to brute force it. But if there are two of those parties, I don't like our chances all at once.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Vraath Keep,
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Late afternoon, the Ninth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic
Complication Dice: 4 of 6
Jorr was visibly trembling. "Job was t' bring y' here, not go messing around near it," he said. "I'll go look if y' want it, but the sort of information yer looking for takes time t' put together. Specially if this is a base and there's been bands comin' and goin' from here."
Spoiler: The Chronicler's Marginalia
Show
Sending Jorr out to do that would raise the Complication Dice to 5 of 6. You sure you want to do that?
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Arendi sighed. "No, I don't think it'd be right to force you to. Chatty'd be better at sneaking around anyways."
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
"Well done Libby" Alastor says "once again proving yourself to be a real star of the circus" he then listens to what the others have to say
"Now I don't think either I or the animals can climb that wall quickly without me conjuring up a path, and I'd rather keep that option in my backpocket if we need a quick escape. We'll pretty much have to go through the main entrance which we won't be able to do without being noticed. I know you can't guarantee us that you can take the guards out before an alarm is called, but I fear that anything me, Dobble and Pogo do to get closer before he the guards are taken out is almost guaranteed to trigger an alarm.
Wouldn't it be easier for you to flee back to us so that we can fight them outside rather than that we try to hurry to where you are in the event that the guards survive long enough to call for back-up?"
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Chatty
The wererat sighs, and a long roll of text gradually appears on the ground, stays for a moment, and then wipes away again.
If I get into a fight on the wall, and need to flee, I face the same difficulties you have in approaching - lots and lots of arrows.
If we feel we want more information, I can try to drift around to the west in animal form, see if I can find a way in through the rubble there. Take out the guards before they know that the scavenger is a predator. If I'm successful, I'll paint instructions on the outside wall. If not, be ready to come charging in.
Unless there are objections. Chatty nods and departs. Shifting smoothly into animal form, she loops around to the west for a couple of hundred feet, or as terrain permits, then slows and begins cautiously moving towards the break in the wall shown on Libby's map.
She pulls out a wand and hands it to Alastor. More text appears.
This wand will provide me with some protection in the event things go wrong. Hold onto it for future use.
Spoiler: OOC
Show
Her goal is to approach the keep from the west to the extent that terrain makes that possible, moving at half speed, hiding amongst vegetation or rocks as she goes and nosing around as if scavenging for food. If successful, she'll go through the west break in the wall and look for a path toward the guards on the wall that keeps her hidden as long as possible.
Hide: [roll0]
Move Silently: [roll1]
In rat form, with Mage Armour from the wand, I think her AC is 29. Hopefully, that plus her damage reduction is enough to save her if this all goes south.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Vraath Keep,
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Late afternoon, the Ninth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic
Complication Dice: 5 of 6
Chatty's form shifted again. Her body fully sprouted fur and she shrank down from her height, legs and arms shortening until what was left was a plump-looking dire rat, nose twitching, eyes with a faint red glow.
Jorr muttered something under his breath that nobody could hear.
The lycanthrope skittered away into the jungle, arrowing east towards the edifice of Vraath Keep's walls. All seemed to be quiet. There were still no guards on the walls as she approached the breach in the western wall. Here, a couple of mossy boulders remained like forgotten marbles of the gods, providing excellent cover to her as she moved to the breach. The breach itself was a good five foot gap in the wall. A large pile of stones and shattered mortar - all overgrown with moss - lay in the gap, presumably the remains of the wall where it had cracked and collapsed under relentless pounding from the giants' boulders. The pile of rubble was a good five feet high, which was understandable given the fifteen foot wall that had collapsed there, but it was also very simple for a two-foot rat to clamber up. She reached the top of the pile with ease.
A glance into the compound revealed she hadn't been seen. There were no hobgoblins in sight. There were wooden doors to her rough left and right, and on the far, eastern side of the compound, the big roofed area Libby had seen had a set of rough-looking, wooden double doors. All of these entrances were closed.
She started down the other side of the rubble. Which was when her foot caught on a thin, taut wire, and she heard a faint clack from her left.
Spoiler: The Chronicler's Marginalia
Show
What do you do?
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Chatty
If the gnome would have been capable of swearing under her breath, this would have been a perfect opportunity. As quickly as she could manage, she leapt down off the break in the wall, and darted to her right inside the keep order to put some distance between her and the alarm, trap or whatever it was that she had just tripped. Chatty scuttled behind the skeletal remains of the giant slumped in a sitting position in the courtyard, hoping to conceal herself again. She called on her training to slow and quiet her breath to avoid giving herself away.
Spoiler: OOC
Show
If I'm reading the map right, it's about 40' from the break in the wall to the SW skeleton. Her hope is to find a place of concealment inside or behind that skeleton. She's really REALLY hoping that it's not an animate skeleton, or else things get very funny and very weird.
So a double move at less than full speed, if I'm reading right, allows for moving silently with no penalty, if I'm reading correctly. Which is what she's doing. I think she takes a -2 to move silently for dense rubble, which is built into the roll.
Of course, if something stops her from this movement (say, the skeleton being animated), or if she spots somebody watching her from a window or something, then she'll stop and transform to hybrid form instead.
Hide: [roll0]
Move Silently [roll1]
Spot: [roll2]
Listen: [roll3]
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Vraath Keep,
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Late afternoon, the Ninth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic
Complication Dice: 0 of 6
The mechanism she’d triggered wasn’t a terribly sophisticated one, but effective nonetheless: on the click of her pull at the wire, three or four cowbells went tumbling down the pile of rubble, setting off a bongling carillon of noise that echoed across the Keep grounds and into the woods, even out to the Circus where it stood half-crouched in the jungle.
Whatever reaction the circus had, Chatty didn’t have time to worry about it. She was scurrying across the courtyard, making for the oversized skeleton slumped in the southwest corner. The smell of slowly-decaying bone enveloped her as she dived in behind something that probably had been the giant’s pelvis, massive in size. The shadows of the skeleton wrapped around her form as she froze in place, forcing her breathing down to the slowest of inhalations and exhalations. Movement wakens the eye, so the masters had said. Stillness is for sleep and the dead, and so the eye is not drawn to it.
The courtyard of the keep came alive with activity. There were shouts from the northern building, in some guttural language Chatty didn’t know. One of the doors on that northern structure banged open on squealing hinges, and four hobgoblins came tumbling out into the yard, short swords and heavy steel shields in hand, raised on guard. They turned to challenge every point of the compass, focusing on the breach in the western wall. Their gazes swept over Chatty’s corner and moved on.
She didn’t have much chance to exploit it, though. One of the hobgoblins turned east and called out something in their guttural language, and moments after that, the double doors on the eastern side were shouldered open by two wolves. No. Not wolves. Bigger than wolves, and with far more intelligent and hateful eyes. Worgs. And on each worg’s back, a goblin rider, armed with a bow, peering around the compound. Behind the worgs and their riders was revealed a stinking, ruined set of stables.
Spoiler: The Chronicler’s Map
Show
Spoiler: The Chronicler’s Marginalia
Show
Note that the circus at least would have heard some of the commotion if not the bells going off, though at this point they don’t really know what’s going on …
The map is just for edification, we’re not in combat right now. The door the hobgoblins came out of is not easy to see, but it's the line that divides J10 and K10.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Diana restrained the urge to leap into action at the sound, but her senses all stayed trained on the gap in the wall. "Should we go?" she muttered without turning her head.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
"Not yet, not yet... but let's try to get closer." said Arendi, drawing Reason. "How about moving in from each side of the gap, so they can't see us through it? They'd have trouble hearing us through that noise I'd suspect."
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Worst-case scenario, Chatty charges back out here being pursued. That means us setting up in an ambush to save her seems valuable.
Best-case scenario, they raise the alarm, don't find her, and come out to look around just in case someone fled after setting off the alarm.
Either way, it seems like us concealing ourselves and getting ready to jump them serves our purposes. Let's move, everyone! Double-time!
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Chatty
Worgs.
Dogs kill rats. Some are even bred to hunt them. Maybe this would be an opportunity for Chatty to even the score, just a little.
Or maybe she'd end up with a worg shaking her by the neck until it snapped.
Staying as still as she could, Chatty triggered her transformation back into her gnome/rat hybrid form, and prepared for the worst. As her paws lengthened into clawed arms, she braced herself against the back of the giant's pelvis, preparing herself to lash out at the first worg that came within reach.
Spoiler: OOC
Show
Darkstalker! Why didn't I invest in darkstalker?
If we're doing roughly a round's worth of activity, she will use a standard action to transform into her hybrid form, maintaining her hiding place. Both shapes are the same size and mass, but if you need another hide check: [roll0]
And, to confirm, she's in Island of Blades stance, which she maintains in pretty much any stressful or dangerous situation.
For now, she's content to wait, but if a worg gets within 5' of her, she'll Rabid Wolf Strike his ass. Rolls, in case you want em:
Attack: [roll1] Bludgeoning damage [roll2], and her AC drops to 25 for 1 round.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Vraath Keep,
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Late afternoon, the Ninth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic
Complication Dice: 2 of 6
Seemingly oblivious to her presence, the hobgoblins at least ignored Chatty as she shifted in form, still looking around the courtyard for a sign of intruders. Eventually, one of them tapped another's shoulder and those two strode across to the wall breach, where one busied himself recovering the rusty cowbells that had formed the trap while the other climbed to the top of the rubble pile and scanned the terrain outside the western wall. A third hobgoblin jogged back to the northern doorway and headed inside the building. The last strode across to the Keep's well, peering around the courtyard. He grunted something in the Goblin tongue and snapped his fingers at the two worg riders. The first of them turned his mount towards the gateway of the keep. The second moved to follow on his right flank.
Chatty caught a whiff of the worg's stink, pungent even from thirty feet out.
The worg slowed; stopped, despite a grated instruction from the goblin rider. It let out a sudden growl, sniffing at the air, and turning towards the giant skeleton. The goblin rider frowned, blinking and turning his own gaze towards the southwestern corner...
Spoiler: The Chronicler's Marginalia
Show
It's hard to say whether a worg can tell whether it's dealing with a lycanthrope, but something that's a hybrid of gnome and rat is going to make it suspicious at least. At the moment that worg is thirty feet from Chatty.
Complication Dice rises by 2 since it's risky to shift form like that and also risky for the party to start closing on the walls with an alert on.
The Circus outside the Keep can be taken to be about 30 feet from the western breach. They haven't been seen yet, but getting any closer will provoke Spot and/or Listen checks, and the Move Silently should indicate to you how that's likely to turn out. Again, haven't started combat yet...
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
"I have an idea." said Arendi lowly. "Vokon, Diana, Alastor and the dog on one side, and the rest on the other. We should be able to catch them from both sides with magic and dragonbreath then."
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Chatty
Not for the first time in her life, Chatty deeply regretted not being one of those sprightly, clever gnomes who could distract someone with conjured sights and sounds. That would be a tremendous f***ing help right now. So she would have to make do with the simple magic of her ring.
Turning to look at the steps to her left, Chatty uses the power of her ring to conjure a few pebbles in the air a foot above the highest step that she can see, and then lets them clatter to the steps below. With any luck, it will sound like someone was ascending the stairs - assuming that the stairs could be ascended.
Spoiler: OOC
Show
Chatty uses her ring of prestidigitation to create a few pebbles (or a pebble - I'll take what I can get) less than a foot off the surface of the steps - hopefully just enough for them to make a noise like someone dislodging pebbles while walking on the steps.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Vraath Keep,
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Late afternoon, the Ninth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic
Complication Dice: 2 of 6
Well, she certainly got the worg riders' attention; the one looking towards her location blinked, raising his longbow towards the source of the noise ... and then called to his mounted comrade, who turned his worg and came loping back inside the gates, nocking an arrow to the bow and pretty effectively blocking the main gate from access. The goblin rider kept yelling, this time towards the other hobgoblins, who looked towards the ramparts of the keep walls rather than what they were doing. Now both worgs were snarling, though their attention was still on the skeleton - and it would only be moments before both riders realised the worgs weren't angered at anything on the ramparts...
The northern door banged open again. The hobgoblin who'd gone in re-emerged, and behind him, stooping to get under the lintel of the doorway, another figure emerged. It was big, Chatty thought. Very big. It towered a good way towards the height of the walls themselves, even if you left off the two, bull-like horns that protruded from its head. A cow-faced looking creature that stood on two legs ... but where there might have been fur, there instead were thousands and thousands of protrusions of rock from its body. Chatty had never seen anything like it before. The creature hefted the massive, two-handed axe it carried, and began to look around the keep, red eyes narrowing...
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Chatty
A stone minotaur? I'll bet Alastor would love to have him in the circus. And I bet Vokon would love that big axe.
At least the hobgoblins were shouting now, and the worgs barking, meaning that the others would know that something was up, and would know that there were goblins and worgs inside. She couldn't think of any way for her to inform them without giving away her own position. But now, while the prospect of taking on goblins and worgs made the ancestral hatred in her blood sing, Chatty could also bloody well count, and the odds were not in her favour. She considered her options for escape.
Spoiler: OOC
Show
Shadow Jaunt has a range of 50', and requires line of sight/effect and a standard action. Cloak of Deception is a swift action that gives greater invisibility until the end of my turn. In theory, she could use Cloak of Deception to make herself invisible, Shadow Jaunt to relocate somewhere high up, and then a move action to hide in the rubble. My questions, Saintheart, are:
- Can she see the roofs of any of the structures of the keep from here?
- Do any of these look structurally sound. 40 pounds isn't much, but it's not nothing either.
- Does she see any of the roofs or ramparts that would give her a hiding spot if she were to Jaunt there?
Possibly relevant:
Spot: [roll0]
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Vraath Keep,
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Late afternoon, the Ninth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic
Complication Dice: 3 of 6
There were two rooftops Chatty could see from where she was: the roof of the stables on the east side of the courtyard, and the roof of the northern building, from where the stone minotaur and the hobgoblin had come. The stable roof wouldn't offer much in the way of cover; it was pitched as a simple slope with the highest end to the east and lowest end to the west; that area was wide open.
The northern roof offered more promise. The slate ridgecap wasn't at a very steep angle, but if she managed to get on the north side of that capping, if she went prone on the roof, a two-foot long gnome-rat hybrid might buy herself a few more moments of time unseen, and maybe get to the ramparts and over and down the north wall perhaps. The ramparts themselves were clear and anyone in the courtyard had a good view of
On the other hand, that roof looked to be more rickety than the stable roof (so to speak); here and there a tile was missing, and the line of the ridgecap itself looked somewhat less than true, which would suggest (not that Chatty would ever admit experience with that sort of thing) that it might not have been the strongest of surfaces for nighttime strolls. On the other hand, the roofs here had clearly lasted for a good century or more and survived a successful siege; maybe a forty pound gnome-rat wouldn't be the death of them today...
And then there was one other possibility: the round tower. From where she crouched, she could see the second storey of the tower partially crumbled and open to the sky. There looked to be something unmoving in the shadows, but it was likely she'd be able to jump to the second storey of that tower and find somewhere to hide, assuming none of the courtyard's current occupants thought to look up to it.
Spoiler: The Chronicler's Marginalia
Show
Complication Dice rises by 1 as this situation is getting more dangerous with each passing moment. To recap:
- Stables roof has no cover, but you could get onto the eastern rampart from there.
- Northern roof has some cover, but it looks less stable than the stables (ha ha).
- Second storey of the round tower is also visible from here, which is a flat stone floor with a collapsed wall looking back in on the courtyard. Although that's getting even more dangerous since it's teleporting into one of the buildings held by the enemy.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Chatty
When a situation becomes untenable, the only option is to find a tenable one in place of it. Even a tendentious tenable.
Focusing her energies inward for a moment, Chatty entered the Shadow, then leapt across the shadow world to the roof of the north structure, aiming for as close to the western corner of ridge as she could get. Then, assuming she didn't immediately fall through, Chatty scrambled over to the north side of the roof, bending to employ all four limbs to stabilize herself and spread her weight around. Then, stepping from the shadow again, she waited and listened.
Spoiler: OOC
Show
Swift action to become invisible. Standard action Shadow Jaunt to the top of the northern roof. Move action to get onto the north side of the roof (or stand up and get ready for a fight, if she falls through the roof).
Possibly relevant rolls:
Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]
Hide: [roll2]
Move silently: [roll3]
Balance (if she's still on the roof): [roll4]
Jump (to avoid damage if she falls through): [roll5]
Tumble (to avoid an AoO if she lands on someone :smallcool:): [roll6]
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Vraath Keep,
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Late afternoon, the Ninth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic
Complication Dice: 4 of 6
Luck, or Tymora, or Gaerdal Ironhand, was still with Chatty. She focused her thought as the masters had taught, and shifted into the shadow for just a moment or two. And found herself on the northern roof, where she skittered up onto the other side of the pitched roof and lay motionless on the slate tile. One of the tiles creaked under her weight, but the noise was faint and carried to her ears alone. At least for the next few seconds she was still unseen and uncaught.
The minotaur was snarling in the hobgoblins' language; he seemed to be in charge of these creatures. Two of the hobgoblins were running up the stairs to the battlements on the south side, while the third and fourth hobgoblins moved towards the breach again, focused on the battlements rather than outside the keep for the moment. The worg riders were still in the courtyard, the animals suddenly confused but still snarling as their riders had nocked arrows and were now looking from one part of the courtyard to another.
Spoiler: The Chronicler's Marginalia
Show
Complication Dice rises by 1. Not sure how many miracles Chatty can keep stringing together here. The rest of the circus would likely see the hobgoblins on the battlements now, and know the place is on the alert...
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Chatty
Chatty pauses to slow her breathing and recharge her energies. Watching for loose tiles, she makes her way slowly over to the west end of the roof. There, she looks for a patch of roof on the northwestern tower than she can use to paint a white message.
4 HOB
2 WORG
MINOTAUR
Carefully, her narrow face peers over the ridge of the roof in order to observe the goings on below.
Spoiler: OOC
Show
Maybe if I play my cards right, we can reset the complication pool at the end of this encounter, and it all works out for the best. :smallamused:
She's using one full round action to restore her maneuvers, and then skitter as far west as she can without revealing herself to those in the courtyard.
Move silently: [roll0]
Hide: [roll1]
If she is able to see anything that she thinks would be visible to the rest of the group as she understands their location, she'll paint words on that surface using prestidigitation. If she can't get to a place where she can do that, she'll instead peek over the edge of the roof and check on what the hobgoblins & co are doing.
Spot: [roll2]
Listen: [roll3]
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
"Chatty has told us how many there are, and it doesn't appear to be that many, we could just charge in before they charge us" Alastor whispered to the rest "As all good performers know: you want your audiance to be surprised"
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
I think I can get on the battlements and deal with the hobgoblins up there quickly. If I can do that, and Diana and Arendi lead a charge through the breach, we may be able to overwhelm them before they realize how bad it is.
Vokon will shift into Leading the Charge stance. That will be +5 damage on a charge for anyone within 60'.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Vraath Keep,
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Late afternoon, the Ninth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic
Complication Dice: 5 of 6
Chatty got her message up onto the western wall without much effort, but the time the others were taking was a bit of a worry. The hobgoblins were sprinting onto the walls, but they hadn't deployed everyone out to the perimeter; the minotaur and the worgs in particular were hanging back. It seemed the creatures knew the value of a good set of walls to defend from ... and they were still looking around, with every moment the alert went on raising the chance that one of the hobgoblins on the wall would turn and perhaps spot Chatty...
Spoiler: The Chronicler's Map
Show
Spoiler: The Chronicler's Marginalia
Show
Complication Dice rises by 1 more because the longer this goes on, the more chance Chatty's going to be spotted or that something goes wrong with the plan.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
"Just one thing..." said the greywarden. He took out a platinum ring, said a few holy words, and handed it over to the wizard. "Don't lose it, it's expensive," he joked. "Now let's GO!"
Spoiler: OOC
Show
Arendi casts Shield Other on Jim; +1 resistance bonus to saves and +1 deflection bonus to AC and I take half his damage instead. Duration is long enough to last the entire fight and then some.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Diana needed no other encouragement. She rushed out as quickly as the jungle would let her, making no attempt at stealth as she drove for the break in the wall.
Spoiler: mechanics
Show
Since running is technically impossible in bad terrain, I guess I can only move 30' with a double move, directly toward Hob2. HERE I AM, probably poisoned ARROWS! COME AND GET ME!
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Chatty
Let's hope they're on their way.
Chatty scrambles up the ridge of the roof and lopes down the other side. She pushes off with all of her strength, struggling to reach the hobgoblin in the middle of the courtyard. For a moment, she enjoyed the feeling of the air whistling around her fur.
As she arced downwards, Chatty's leg extended, aiming to catch the hobgoblin on the shoulder and drive him to ground.
Landing on the uneven ground of the courtyard, she rolled up again and bared her fangs at the minotaur, daring it to face her.
Spoiler: OOC
Show
Move action: move down the roof and jump down, aiming to land as close as possible to L9. Possibly relevant rolls:
Balance: [roll0]
Jump: [roll1]
Standard action: unarmed strike on the hobgoblin at M9. Factors in Gloom Razor.
Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3] - this is the base. If you choose to double it, I'm of course very grateful.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Vraath Keep,
Shaareach Forest, Cannath Vale
Late afternoon, the Ninth of Mirtul
1372 DR, Year of Wild Magic
Complication Dice: 0 of 6
Chatty erupted from her position, skittering across the roof. She pictured herself vaulting from the keep’s roof, arcing through the air in the last light of the day. This was something she could do, something she’d done before. The image of her shearing her claws into the junction of a hobgoblin’s neck was so simple, so perfect a thought, that it almost seemed like reality.
Perhaps it was reality, somewhere. In this world, though, her ferocious charge put more weight on the old, weathered slate tiles she’d walked across. The tiles were sturdy. They’d been made from a quarry outside the vanished city of Kormul by a master craftsman, more than two hundred years ago.
The section of roof beam that held some of them was not so finely made.
As she cleared the ridge cap and started down the southern incline of the roof, her hard stamp on one tile was enough. The tile – and a section of the beam below – gave way. There was a groan and a staccato sound of cracking, and the roof below Chatty collapsed, sending her tumbling through the roof and landing flat on her back on the floor of the room below in a rain of slate shards.
It knocked the breath out of her, but she was able to retain enough presence of mind to realise she wasn’t alone. The room was a barracks of some kind. Dirty beds were laid against the walls. And in the northeast corner of said barracks, in a doorway that led from this room to another, stood a hulking beast – bugbear, she realised. But this one seemed to be wearing long red robes with eldritch gold markings up and down them, rather than the array of leather armour and morningstar that she’d expected. And even if it was surprised by her sudden appearance, it was overcoming its surprise pretty damn fast.
Around the point at which the roof tiles collapsed, setting off a cacophony of noise, Diana was crashing through the undergrowth towards the western breach. The noise and her movement gave her enough time to sprint to the walls and to the bottom of the rubble pile a hobgoblin was standing atop, and it now turned, crouching into stance, bringing its iron shield up into play, shouting the alarm…
Spoiler: The Chronicler’s Map
Show
Spoiler: The Chronicler’s Marginalia
Show
Just to restate the modified initiative rules and posting deadlines for those of you who haven’t been through a battle with me before:
1) Everyone including the opposition has initiative rolled
2) Anyone who got a roll higher than the monsters is put in one group
3) Anyone who got a roll lower than the monsters is put in a second group
4) Those who get initiative results higher than the monsters have 48 hours from the time of my update to post their actions. If someone in this group doesn’t post in that time, they are automatically shunted down to the group who acts after the monsters. Actions will be resolved in order of people’s posts.
5) I then update taking account of people’s posts and provide the monsters’ actions
6) Those who got rolls lower than the monsters (or who have been shunted into this group) have 48 hours from the time of my update to post their actions. If there is no post within 48 hours, the character is deemed to remain where they are and go on total defense for the round – no exceptions. Again, actions otherwise are resolved in order of posting.
7) Actions commencing in one round are resolved at the time of your post in the next round.
Edge cases may well arise (especially if stuff like Incite or Inhibit are used), but these will be resolved on a case-by-case basis.
So, having rolled initiative, the order right now is:
First: Chatty
Second: All the monsters
Third: Jim, Diana, Arendi, Vokon, and Alastor. (Jorr also takes his action here according to someone’s instructions, though he won’t go inside the Keep walls under any circumstances.)
There’s no surprise round, everyone is on alert even allowing for Chatty’s rather impressive unintended entrance.
So Toliudar has 48 hours from the board time of this post to put up actions. If not, Chatty drops into the second group. Either way, I’ll post the monsters’ actions after that and we’ll move to the ‘second group’. Again, actions are resolved in order of posting, and best way to deal with branching decisions is to just post ‘em up as contingencies OOC within the IC thread. Immediate actions and whatnot outside your turn, either post them as contingencies or slap a second post in with the immediate action.
Other material information:
- Toliudar, Chatty is prone and takes 3 hitpoints damage from the fall.
- Everyone outside the walls (bar Diana) has cover from the hobgoblins right this second since you’re all in the middle of the jungle.
- Bar the hobgoblin in the breach, the hobgoblins on the walls have at least some ranged cover from the Keep walls’ crenellations.
- Complication Dice resets to 0 of 6.
Any questions – let me know.
-
Re: The Red Hand of Doom (3.5)
Chatty
As a trained aerialist, Chatty does her best to roll with the impact on the second floor, but when you walk the wire, you are always clear that gravity is no one's friend. She winces slightly at the impact, and then has only a fraction of a second to take in her new surroundings before she can react. Beds. smell of goblins. Bugbear wearing magicky robes. One of these things, clearly, needs her attention.
Hoping to keep the much bigger creature off guard, Chatty immediately rolls to her feet and rushes over to it, claws extended and fangs exposed.
Spoiler: OOC
Show
Hilarious! Fantastic!
Her first priority is to get to her feet and ready to fight, and then to block the bugbear from getting to either of the doors in the room, by moving to G12. If she's also able to get in an attack, fantastic.
Possibly relevant rolls:
Attack roll (or AoO if the bugbear tries to get past her):
Unarmed Strike: Attack [roll0] Damage [roll1]
She remains in Island of Blades stance.