Ghosts of Saltmarsh OOC

[CaoimhinTheCape]

So, there are two Giant Poisonous Snakes in the well. Rather than get us into combat again, I'm giving all of you a turn (including another round for Eldryn) as these snakes slither up to attack. I'm also letting the Firebolt auto-hit, since it was a per-emptive attack and to speed things up.

My guess is that you guys can take these out in a round, so we don't have to get bogged down with more of that.

[Snarkhunter]

If an enemy emerges from the well, Byrok's ready should trigger to attack it from 10' away with reach.

Attack: (1d20+6)[13]
Damage: (1d10+4)[11]

[paradox26]

Wow, that was a surprise. I thought there might be a passage headed down to the tunnel that comes in from the sea. I wasn't expecting to see any other enemies down there.

[CaoimhinTheCape]

Lol, they had 11 health and died from the original firebolt. I'll try to be online a bit today in case I can give a quick response to anything.

[Izzarra]

Is the well large enough to fly down or does somebody need to be lowered on a rope to check for money?

[CaoimhinTheCape]

The book describes it as possible to climb down - it would probably be too cramped for wings but it's 20 feet deep and there's no need for a check.

[Snarkhunter]

Do we have someone with darkvision and a decent skill at searching? Byrok is willing to go down there, but he may not be the most skilled.

[Awful]

Tulvi is an elf and thus has darkvision, but it doesn't seem like it matters.
We should fish the snake corpses out, though, or they'll contaminate the water for any future drinkers.

[Snarkhunter]

I don't know whether Byrok should be making a Perception or a Survival to find tracks just inside the door. Either way his bonus is a +4.

{skill} (1d20+4)[12]

[Izzarra]

We should fish the snake corpses out, though, or they'll contaminate the water for any future drinkers.

How heavy do the snakes look?
Mage Hand heavy, spear fishing with trident + rope heavy, or climb down there haul them out by hand heavy?

[CaoimhinTheCape]

The snakes are more than a mage hand can carry.

Perception or Sruvival would work, will note what you see in thread. In terms of checks, you won't have to do a new perception check in each room unless there is a particularly good reason to make a new check (for example, if you're searching a room and use perception to find a hidden door and then investigation to look for traps around it). Your survival roll will carry you through a lot of the exploration.

[Izzarra]

Lets get the snakes out of the well on the way out.

[CaoimhinTheCape]

So, if the discussion is going into the cave first, then you'll have to find a way to scale the cliff and then swim over to the cave. Depending on Yue's strength she may be able to carry someone small but you shouldn't count on that.

[Izzarra]

Yue has a strength of 10, she might be able to carry somebody if they both strip down to their undergarments.

Getting down can be easy, Yue has Feather Fall. Can everyone jump off the cliff directly above the cave entrance?

If we want to save a spell slot and try climbing down what is the vertical distance? We probably have 200 ft of rope.

[Lioslaith]

How far down is it?

[Awful]

I've been busy over the past few days; I'll post tomorrow.

[Snarkhunter]

I guess I don't understand why we are walking away from the house, where we just found tracks leading in 2 directions, to go check out some cave. Is this really how ya'll want to proceed?

[Izzarra]

I guess I don't understand why we are walking away from the house, where we just found tracks leading in 2 directions, to go check out some cave. Is this really how ya'll want to proceed?

The cave is below the house as far as we can tell and several of us think that they are connected so we might go in through there and work up through the basement.

[CaoimhinTheCape]

Yue has a strength of 10, she might be able to carry somebody if they both strip down to their undergarments.

Getting down can be easy, Yue has Feather Fall. Can everyone jump off the cliff directly above the cave entrance?

If we want to save a spell slot and try climbing down what is the vertical distance? We probably have 200 ft of rope.

How far down is it?

It's about 40 feet.

To jump off the cliff and feather fall, you should be able to land in front of the cave entrance. There might be some penalty for anyone wearing heavy armor wading through water a bit but there's no worry of drowning.

As for climbing down, it'll be two athletics checks as you scale the cliff. Succeed by enough on the first one and the character passes their second check automatically. If you succeed these checks you also don't have to worry about the water, since you're climbing the rocks to avoid most of it.

[CaoimhinTheCape]

"<Before we all go down, I should probably check to see if there is a boat or something in the cave. We have no way of knowing if it actually connects to the house.>"

When you flew by before, you didn't see a boat from your vantage point but you also didn't see any land to walk on in there (implying that the cave goes a bit further in). If you want to go in further, let me know.

[Lioslaith]

I guess I don't understand why we are walking away from the house, where we just found tracks leading in 2 directions, to go check out some cave. Is this really how ya'll want to proceed?

There’s also the chance that they (if anyone is there) is prepared to attack anyone coming in a conventional way versus us coming in “from behind” so to speak.

[Izzarra]

40 feet isn't too bad, in my head I was envisioning double or triple that.

Is there a tree, large rock, or something that we can secure a safety line or knotted rope to? If there is then we won't have to worry as much about if there is a boat or not as we could probably climb out if we have to.

[CaoimhinTheCape]

Sure, we'll say there is a tree that you can tie off the rope to.

[Izzarra]

Okay here is a plan:

- Cast Guidance on all climbers.

- We use the tree as an anchor to belay down a martial character like Caspian or Byrok.

- Yue +1 take a quick peak to see if the entrance is clear..

- If it is not safe the rest of the team uses the rope to pull the martial up the cliff quickly.

- If it is safe everyone else goes down with Yue belaying the last climber.

- We explore the cave.

[CaoimhinTheCape]

Cool. So, Yue can fly down and doesn't have to make any climbing check. You can tie the rope to the tree without issue.

- Whoever is going to climb down first to scout the cave should make two climbing rolls. They are both DC 15 Athletics checks, which you can roll with Guidance (again, both). If anyone gets a 20 or higher on their first Athletics check, they make the second check regardless.

- Then, Yue + whoever she is going with should make Stealth checks and Perception checks.

- Assuming that it is safe to explore, everyone else makes the same DC 15 Athletics checks, which you can roll with Guidance, same bonus for passing the first with a 20.

---

People can feel free to roll out of order if they'd like for the sake of saving time (so, someone who isn't the first scout could roll to climb), but once you make a roll you commit to the action no matter the result.

Also, make all your rolls in the same post, to save space/time.

[Lioslaith]

Once the rope is secured Caspian takes it up and starts his climb down the cliff.

Spoiler: Climb checks

Show

(1d20+5)[6]
(1d20+5)[10]

[CaoimhinTheCape]

Oh, wow... I meant to make the check difficult, but did not expect caspian to fail both. Thechnically you had guidance helping you too but it wouldn't have been enough to pass.

As a note, if you fail one check but not the other, you'll take some fall damage, not all 40 feet of it.

16 damage for caspian though.

[Lioslaith]

Well he’s not dead… yet. Lol

[Izzarra]

I suppose I should have elaborated about how someone belays down a cliff in greater detail before rolls were made.

The climber ties the rope around their waist or to their belt.
The tree is used as a friction break to help the people holding the rope arrest the fall of whoever is climbing if they slip.

I hope that this is not straying too far into metagaming.

[Lioslaith]

Well on the one hand it’s dnd, so it’s really just a roll to meet a DC not matter if you are trying to climb a glass wall or stairs should the dm decide you need to roll.

That’s puts me back to being only down 1 hp.