Megadungeon Five (IC)

[Varil]

Ix

"Hm?"

Ix glanced around, listening. I don't...no matter. At worst he's wrong.

Ix hops off his Noble Riding Donkey(tm), drawing his crossbow "just in case".

[jinx1016]

xerxes notices the commotion and decides to draw his longbow and pull an arrow from his quiver.

I don't hear or see anything, what in the nine hells is he talking about? I hope there's somethign out there, it would help with the boredom.

erm, whats all the fuss about?

[Smokin Red]

Pierre, totally aware of everything while whistling (), stops it and mutters: "Better safe than sorry!"
Than he hides in the fog and readies his crossbow.

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Always assumed he can do so.
Hide - (1d20+9)[29]

[Malimar]

DM
Pierre drops to a crouch, hiding super-effectively in the fog! (Visibility is low: creatures more than 5 feet away have concealment (20% miss chance).) He doesn't even need to hide behind anything, though there are scattered boulders and trees that he can hide behind, so it works either way.


Everyone is now made aware that something is going on! As of two (maybe more, maybe less, but probably approximately two) large bats or birds. And by "large" I mean "Tiny", which is still on the large side for your average bat or bird.

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Initiative
Pierre: (1d20+1)[13]
Xerxes: (1d20+3)[20]
Ix: (1d20+1)[19]
Tynd: (1d20+8)[27]
Zalkess: (1d20+2)[14]
Creature 1: 9
Creature 2: 23

Initiative order is Tynd, one of the creatures, Xerxes, Ix, Zalkess, Pierre, the other creature. You don't need to post in that order, that's just the order in which I will resolve your actions.

Zalkess heard the creatures far enough away that you're able to prepare yourselves, so the things use up what might otherwise have been a surprise round getting close enough to the party that battle will be met in the next round. The creatures are close enough to see, but only barely: all you can really make out are flapping wings and what might be elongated beaks.

,,,,,,,o,f,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,f,,|,,,,
,|,,,,,,....,,,,,,,,
,,.......Z......,,,.
........TXI.........
.........P,d,.......
.....,,,,,,,,,......
....,,,,,,,,,,,,,..,
,,,,,,,,|,,,,,,o,,,,
o,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

, - grass
. - road
(grass and road are mechanically identical)
| - tree
o - boulder
f - flapping thing
P - Pierre
X - Xerxes
I - Ix
T - Tynd
Z - Zalkess
d - Ix's Noble Riding Donkey(tm)

[jinx1016]

Xerxes moves away from the group and lets an arrow fly at the oncoming fliers!

actions

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move 15ft to the right of the party.

shoot at closest flier that is not currently engaged in melee with anyone. if that's not possible then just closest flier.

attack roll (using cunning insight)
(1d20+7)[25] confirmation roll if needed (1d20+7)[23]

attack roll if flier is engaged in melee
(1d20+3)[20] confirmation roll if needed (1d20+3)[8]

miss chance 21-100 is a hit 1-20 is a miss
(1d100)[55]

damage roll
(1d8)[5] if critical (3d8)[19]


knowledge check to identify what we are fighting
knowledge nature (1d20+6)[15]

[Varil]

Ix'll pop off a shot at whichever creature is closest. If one closes to melee he'll use a 5' step to get clear, preferably sticking close to his donkey, who clearly needs a name before Noble Riding Donkey(tm) gets too old.

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Attack Roll : (1d20+1)[16]
Concealment Roll(1-20 hit) : (1d100)[86]
Damage Roll : (1d8)[3]

In case of critical : (1d20+1)[12] (1d8)[1]

[Varil]

Erm. Oops. Obviously the concealment(1-20 hit) isn't right, but I was shooting to "roll low" so I guess that's a miss.

[Justyn]

Zalkess keeps the point of his polearm trained at the approaching enemies, looking for an opportunity to run one through.

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I'm not reading an action here; I'm just stating that I'll be posting my actions after the "thing" that I'm guessing is a stirge acts. Not metagaming, just noting that calling it a "thing" is a bit on the awkward side.

Just a note, I have a terminal case of crappy wi-fi, and I tend to be a night owl, so if I don't post in the day time... that's why.

[Tyndmyr]

Tynd snaps around, stepping five feet directly away from the party, then fires his heavy crossbow at the closest creature.

Attack Roll: (1d20+2)[17]
Concealment roll(1-4 is a miss): [roll]1d20[roll]
Damage Roll: (1d10)[8]

[Tyndmyr]

Posted again to correct fail concealment roll.

Concealment roll(1-4 is a miss): (d20)[16]

[Malimar]

First Part Of Round
Tynd takes a step, then pegs the nearest flapping thing with a crossbow bolt. It shrieks and crumples to the ground.


Creature 1 flies directly at Zalkess. It looks like somebody cross-bred a mosquito with two bats and painted it orange. Which, considering the frequency with which A Wizard Did It, may even be what happened. It does indeed look something like this:

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Halberd isn't a reach weapon, so no attack of opportunity, and the stirge just goes right for Zalkess with its proboscis pointed directly at his heart. It's a critical threat, and a critical hit. That would be terrible news, if it weren't just attaching itself to Zalkess. It latches itself firmly to the lizardman's chest.


Xerxes identifies the things as not animals at all. Switching the roll out for Knowledge(arcana), he identifies it as a stirge, a mosquito-like monster that likes to drink blood. Then he moves east. One stirge is on the ground, and one is grappling Zalkess. (1d2)[1] {1 is bad, 2 is good} Xerxes hits Zalkess, who takes 5 damage from his comrade's arrow!


But lucky for Zalkess, Ix misses entirely in the fog and doesn't even need to make a chance-of-hitting-ally-because-his-target-is-grappling roll!


Now Zalkess is up. Also Pierre. And creature 2, but creature 2 is unconscious. (Making me split the round into two halves can slow things down a lot; I wouldn't recommend making too much of a habit of it.)

,,,,,,,o,*,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,|,,,,
,|,,,,,,..f.,,,,,,,,
,,.......Z......,,,.
.......T..I...X.....
.........P,d,.......
.....,,,,,,,,,......
....,,,,,,,,,,,,,..,
,,,,,,,,|,,,,,,o,,,,
o,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

f - stirge
* - unconscious stirge

[Smokin Red]

Pierre follows the lead "Okay, you're more the 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind of guys...", and shoots at the nearest hostile not in melee.

Afterwards he takes a 5-ft.-step away from the nearest enemy and tries to hide again.

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FAIL! I'm going to do the 2 again, sorry
[roll=Attack (I hope against flatfooted)]1d20+2[/roll]
Confirm critical - (1d20+2)[18]
[roll=Concealment (1-20=miss)]1d100[/roll]

Damage - (1d6)[6] (If critical - (2d6)[9])

Hide - (1d20-11)[4]

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Smokin Red]

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Next try:
Attack - (1d20+2)[5]
Concealment - (1d100)[39] (1-20=miss)
Gnaa, useless!
Aargh, just realized, that I have been ninja'd. Should I change my action?

[Varil]

Ix eyes the halberd in Zalkess's hands.

Probably can't use that so close.

Ix draws his dagger with his off-hand and offers it to Zalkess, if he wants to try and use it to get the thing off.

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Not sure on the rules for handing off objects to grappled characters. If this isn't possible...probably still best that Ix doesn't take any pot-shots right now.

[Tyndmyr]

Tynd grins as his bolt strikes true, then flips out another, loading it into his crossbow as he looks on with some concern at the one biting his new acquaintance.

[Justyn]

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OOC: I just want to check: are the stirges here identical to the ones in the monster manual? Because if they are, the one that is grappling me would have provoked an attack of opportunity from doing so, as the ones there lack Improved Grapple. Unless it's doing that "faux-grapple" thing they have, in which case, never mind.

[Justyn]

Zalkess

Zalkess drops his halberd, and tries to dig into the offending Stirge with his claws.

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Anyhow... Attacking with both of my natural weapons, if I'm reading the rules correctly, since the pair of claws are my default primary weapon right now, I get my full strength to hit and damage; if not then only the modifier changes, rather than having any effect on the die roll; hence why I'm showing what the numbers generated are rather than just the results.

claw - (1d20+3)[13](16)
critical confirmation - (1d20+3)[2](5)
claw, damage - (1d4+3)[2](5)

claw - (1d20+3)[12](15)
critical confirmation - (1d20+3)[17](20)

I can't really think of a description right now, so I'll just post actions to keep the game moving.

[Justyn]

Forgive me for the triple post, but I forgot one.

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claw, damage - (1d4+3)[2](5)

[Smokin Red]

Pierre

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Okay, as nobody says different, I'll keep to my posted actions above. Not, that I would do any good in other ways. :(
I'm no help in a grapple against them, and the one on the ground I didn't hit.

The following is my next round.

After hurting the ground with his well-aimed bolt, Pierre retreats some more (10 Ft.) to the east, and tries to hide again.
Then he reloads his crossbow.

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hide - (1d20+9)[28]
If I do something stupid, or can do something in a more productive way, please tell me.

[Malimar]

DM
Zalkess, uh, does a natural attack damage while grappling, which, uh, works. He claws the stirge into pieces, and tosses it aside.


Pierre does indeed miss! But there are no hostiles that aren't in melee, so that works.

,,,,,,,o,*,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,|,,,,
,|,,,,,,..*.,,,,,,,,
,,.......Z......,,,.
.......T..I...X.....
.........P,d,.......
.....,,,,,,,,,......
....,,,,,,,,,,,,,..,
,,,,,,,,|,,,,,,o,,,,
o,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

You all gain 60 experience.

[Varil]

Ix

"Well. What unpleasant little creatures. Are you alright, Zalkess? Shall we press on?"

[jinx1016]

xerxes

yeah, erm, I'm um, sorry about that. here. xerxes pulls out a small vial of liquid. drink this.

[Tyndmyr]

Tynd snaps up his loaded crossbow, and looks disappointedly at the lack of targets before shouldering it and resuming the slow plod onward.

[Smokin Red]

Pierre takes a breath, obviously relieved.
"Well, that went better than I thought."

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Pierre will follow the group to the mine or the city, he just don't want to stay alone in the wilderness / on the street.

[Varil]

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Just for clarification, Ix is willing to proceed assuming the group agrees.

[Justyn]

Pulling the last bit of the ruined bloodsucker from his flesh, Zalkess dropped it unceremoniously to the ground, still twitching, before stomping on it a few times for good measure.

Turning toward the approching elf, Zalkess waved his hand at him. "Ah, thank you, Xerxes, but I don't think tha... " His eyes finally spotted the bolt sticking out of his thigh, and he tilted his head down towards it. "...t... How did I not notice that?"

Zalkess made a hissing noise and rolled his eyes. "Hold that thought, I need to get this out, or else that might just cause my flesh to heal up around the..." He looks over the group. "...bolt, given none of you are holding a bow, but I've seen you all holding crossbows."

Eyeing at the bolt pierced through his armor, he continued. "Judging by the hole in the metal, this is an armor piercing head, so I just need to pull the thing out straight, and I can pull the whole thing out without any further injury. And..." Zalkess kneeled down on his other leg and tapped the shaft of the a few times with a grimace. "Yeah, it doesn't feel like it hit anything else besides the muscle."

He took a deep breath in though his nose. "Alright, let's get this over with." Zalkess reached down and wrapped his fingers around the shaft, and exhaled. With a grunt, he started to slowly pull the bolt out of his leg, and, after a few seconds, he finally pulls it free. Checking it to make sure he hadn't left the head in his limb, and finding it still attached, he offers it to Xerxes.

"That actually hurt less than I thought it would. I imagine that that was a healing potion you were offering me a moment ago?"

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Here's a nice long post to make the game nicer... Also, I wanted to make up for the fact that I've been more concerned with catching up with the episodes of One Piece that I've missed, and replaying EarthBound.

[jinx1016]

xerxes looks around at his companions. well, if everyone's ok, let's continue forward. he begins walking down the road again.

[Malimar]

DM
The group concludes that the creatures, being naked beasts, have nothing of value, and thus continues on its way!

After the better part of another uneventful hour, they arrive at the mine. Well, at a large, squat building. The front of the building has a sign declaring it "TIV-BECKETT COLD IRON MINE HEADQUARTERS", and there's an old mongrelman sitting in a rocking chair on the porch. Behind the building to the right, dust-covered workers bustle purposefully.

[Smokin Red]

Pierre approaches the old man and bows slightly.
"Ey up, sir! My name is Pierre de Frappé, and my companions and I are here for the exterminator job. Would you be so kind and give us some clues about it?"

[Malimar]

DM
The old mongrelman puffs on his pipe, then responds to Pierre: "Well, a month or two ago, the miners started gettin' et by centipedes. We pulled 'em out, put out a call for adventurers. Some of 'em found this crazy drow guy, beat him up, and brought him back to the palace dungeon. Drow guy had been breeding the bugs. Still bunches of critters to kill left in there, though."