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OOC - The Floors, 1 floor per sheet - Also, don't forget that there's a chat on the far right of the sheet, if you see "# other viewers".
The group stands five minutes down the road from Arugal. Some of you are here to reclaim a lost son, others to explore the depths, maybe you're here for gold, or to better yourself, or for some other reason. You have all decided to work together back at Arugal and now stand before a purple glowing portal. You can't see what's on the other side, but you still step through it.
You find yourself in a room with masonry walls, stone piled on top of stone. The floor is even and the air clean. There's a doorway on the other side, and the purple light of the portal behind you. If you try to touch the portal behind you, it feels smooth and warm, but solid.
Spoiler
The maps I will always use are Google Documents. Please tell me roughly what the formation you will travel in is, unless there is no formation and you're all just walking around as you see fit, then tell me that. The map's boundaries will expand as the area is seen, to stop you from knowing the approximate dimensions of the map.
The small hooded Kobold takes a look around and starts to inspects the floor, walls, ceiling and - if he doesn't see something that catches his interest - the door.
DM:
Spoiler
Search check: 18 if he can take 10, 28 if he has the time to take 20 a couple of times.
If he has to roll: (1d20+8)[20]
Ipsens thoughts on formation:
Spoiler
Normally, Ipsen will try to lurk around somewhere in the middle or in the back of the group, where he's protected by the rest of the party. But since he's probably the sneakiest of the lot, he'll be sneaking ahead from time to time to scout the area.
Last edited by Pathrogas : 10-24-2012 at 07:01 PM.
As long as there are no enemies in sight and aren't distracted, you are allowed to take 10. People who you plan to attack but aren't hostile aren't enemies. So you can take 10 on attack checks in those situations.
It takes you just under a minute to search the small room.
Looking around the room, you find nothing of interest. It's a pretty bare room, just the floor, walls, and the stone ceiling.
Inspecting the door, you find nothing that your race is famous for, that is, no traps.
Spoiler
By the way: Don't need to color in your entire text, just speech.
The absence of any noticeable marks or bloodstains lends credence to the kobold's declaration that the door is safe. Rufus walks over to stand next to the door and, after listening for a little while, motions towards it. "After you, Ipsen."
Spoiler
(Assuming I don't hear anything, of course)... taking 10 on Listen check with no skill points and bonuses for a 10.
The kobold doesn't look too happy about it (though most likely, nobody will notice it under his hood), but moves to the door. He gives it another, quick inspection and listens for any sounds coming from behind it. If he doesn't find or hear anything, he'll try to open it.
Spoiler
Listen check, taking ten for a total of 12.
Also, if he could see light coming from behind the door, he'll let the rest of the party know.
The glowing portal feels kind of like glass and there doesn't seem to be anything special about it other than it being the entrance.
Neither of you are able to hear anything from the other room. When you open the door, you see a larger room up ahead past a hallway, and no living, or nonliving, thing that could be called an enemy. There's also no light coming from the below the door.
The room past is pretty much identical in terms of floor and walls to the first. There is a torch across from the door on the wall. If you care to cross the short hallway and look into the room, it has three doors and three passage ways. The passage ways are dark, so you can't see past them.
The map has been updated.
EDIT: Updated the map again, I forgot about the hallway.
Tyrick hangs out at the back of the party as he usually does, not being a front-line fighter when he doesn't need to be, and not wanting to walk into traps. ith His hand is resting on his morningstar in case trouble should come their way. He watches as the kobold slowly opens the door, and waits to see what he says about what's in the room, or if he gives them any sort of indication to move forward.
__________________
Love shows itself more in adversity than in prosperity; as light does, which shines most where the place is darkest. ~Leonardo Da Vinci Active Characters:
Ipsen slowly sneaks through the short hallway, taking his sweet time searching for traps and other things of potential interest.
He sticks his head into the room for a moment to see if anyone's in it before he enters. Then he swiftly disappears around the corner to the left to sneak to the first dark passage, carefully looking around on his way. After a short time of inspecting the passage, he sneaks to the other side of the room to inspect the other two.
Spoiler
Taking 20 for Search (28 total) in the hallway.
Hide for (1d20+18)[20]
Move silently for (1d20+6)[10]
Taking 20 for Search in the room.
Listen for 12 in front of every hallway.
Nobody can see it, since he's around the corners, but he'll of course take a close look at the walls and the ceiling too. Can't forget the ceiling.
Ipsen has Low-light as well as Darkvision 60 ft. Can he see something in the passages?
Steven follows the current group into the larger room and looked around as well. In case any creeps would come out and try to attack, he had his longsword and heavy wooden shield pulled out.
Spoiler
Considering how Steven is an armored fighter, he would pretty much be in the front. I mean, he has 20 AC when not flatfooted, but 17 when he is. Not bad :P
Searching the hallway reveals nothing but dust and hallway.
Searching the following rooms reveals 3 purple mushrooms with blue dots.
Spoiler
Knowledge (Nature) will reveal what they are and Craft (Poisonmaking) will reveal what they are if they're poisonous.
Other than that, the northern passage leads through a small hallway and to a door. The southern passageways lead into a conjoined room and then two separate doors.
I have assumed that the entire group has moved into the second room by now.
It took Ipsen a total of 92 minutes to search the whole area. Unless he also searched the new areas. If so, add 64 minutes to the time.
No traps, but there are two doors here, Ipsen whispers and points to the southern passages, and one the other way (points to the northern passage). The kobold then cowers down to take a closer look at some blue mushrooms.
Spoiler
Knowledge (nature): (1d20+5)[13]
Craft (poisonmaking): (1d20+6)[13]
92 minutes! Holy moly, I forgot how long taking 20 took :/
Ipsen takes 10 to search the floor in the new areas, taking 20 only for the doors to see if they are trapped. He also listens at each door:
North: (1d20+2)[4]
Southwest (G23): (1d20+2)[21]
Southeast (L23): (1d20+2)[7]
If he finds and hears nothing out of the ordinary, you can place him where the mushrooms are.
Rufus spins around slowly, surveying the empty room. "This place is too clean. If everyone who enters the Cavern passes through here, there would be marks... bloodstains, chips in the wall, small bits of splintered armor, and such... if there was a threat here or just on the other side of any of these doors."
To explore a maze, always go left or right and you will eventually find your way onwards. Most would go right, so we should go left - I say we start with the hall to the northwest as soon as Ipsen is done with his plants."
Echevaria follows the group cautiously into the room, staying close to the wall in case something bad happens. Taking note of Rufus' comment he reaches into his pack and pulls out his chalk. Carefully avoiding the gaps in the flagstones on the floor he makes his way over to the north west corridor. There he writes in clear letters on the wall "TRIED FIRST"
"Its as good a place to start as any, I suppose," he shrugs.
Ingesting this mushroom causes burning in the throat and stomach, harming the eater.
If refined slightly, the mushroom turns into a stronger poison that burns when it enters a body. You know if given the right tools (alchemy table, or the like. At the least, Artisan's Tools (Alchemy/Poisonmaking) is needed), you can make it into this.
1 mushroom can fill 1 vial.
Ipsen hears:
Spoiler
Nothing of interest, in any of the doors.
There is now a note on the corner of the northern hallway, with the words that were written there.
Ipsen nods, while carefully collecting the mushrooms. Rufus is right, it's the best plan we can get in this situation. Closing his backpack, the kobold goes back to the northern door. Stay behind the corner for now, I'll see if there's anything waiting for us, he says and disappears into the dark passage to open the door - not without giving it a last quick check about traps though.
Spoiler
He takes 10 and finds nothing new, since he already took 20 on all the doors.
If the door isn't locked, he will open it very slowly and quietly, in case someone (or something) is in the area behind it. He'll open it just a tiny bit, enough to see what's behind it and if it's safe, before he opens it further and goes through it.
Ipsen opens the door away from him and inside, you can see an orange beetle with red glows over each of its eyes. There's no light in the room besides that, which illuminate a roughly 10 foot region around it. From the lighting, you can tell that there's another one, which slams into the door soon after you opened it.
Spoiler
Bull Rush:(1d20-2)[14]
Roll a strength check (at a -4 penalty for being small) and if you equal or beat the roll, you don't move back and can keep the door open. You can, of course, decide not to fight back and let it ram the door closed.
These guys must have good eyes... or some sort of blindsense/sight. Hm!
Knowledge (nature) check to see if Ipsen can identify the things (IF they are animals/vermins, that is): (1d20+5)[6]
If he knows something about them, I'll change what he tells the party of course, so they know what we're up against.
Ipsen lets the beetle ram the door closed and runs back to the party. Two glowing beetles, he tells the group. One of them shut the door closed. Not sure if they'll try to follow me.
Spoiler
Move to L10.
Last edited by Pathrogas : 10-26-2012 at 07:28 PM.
Unfortunately, you've never seen this creature in books nor in person. They're a mystery to you. Everyone else with Knowledge (Nature) can do a check at a -2 penalty due to second hand knowledge, though.
Tyrick tries to remember anything he might know about the beetles.
Knowledge Check Nature:
(1d20+4)[23]
__________________
Love shows itself more in adversity than in prosperity; as light does, which shines most where the place is darkest. ~Leonardo Da Vinci Active Characters:
Tyrick has read about these creatures. They are called Giant Fire Beetles and he knows that they are vermin. He knows that they can see in the dark, don't have a mind, have a good amount of armor, don't move very fast nor are they strong, and they shouldn't be too hard to kill. The glands above their eyes glow for up to 6 days after being removed, illuminating a 10 foot region around them (5 feet bright, 5 more feet shadowy). Within that time, if the gland is treated properly, they can be made into a type of extract that when added to a weapon, makes it light up and burn (created by Craft (Alchemy)).
Tyrick is allowed to look at the Giant Fire Beetle page and know that stuff, as he surpassed the DC by enough.
Tyrick puts a finger to his head for a moment as he focuses harder, then it comes back to him, he spews off his words like water from a faucet "I read about these creatures in my studies, a time ago back in the Styllorian Library in Trovax. It was an interesting tome all about various forms of... oh I'll just get to the point, they're Giant Fire Beetles! Seeing in the dark, stupid as can be, well armored, slightly slow, yet fairly strong. Overall, not hard to kill, but they can be pesky. After we kill them, cut off the glands above their eyes, we can use them for light and to apply to our weapons with the right use of alchemy."
And as quickly as his words spewed out, he stops, slightly out of breath.
__________________
Love shows itself more in adversity than in prosperity; as light does, which shines most where the place is darkest. ~Leonardo Da Vinci Active Characters:
This may seem rather silly, but these things don't seem all that dangerous to me. I feel we should be able to ignore them safely. I mean, they're just beetles! I'm all for some killing though. Oasurn casts magic weapon.
Echevaria lights a torch and places it in the corner of the corridor (K8) "If the room had no exits and they can't get out why don't we just leave them alone and explore the next room? Unless we plan on using their remains as light sources. Ipsen is the only one who can see in the dark as far as I know." Hearing only silence as an answer Var shrugs, "I'll open the door on the count of 10 and then we shoot anything glowing that comes out. OK?
Ectoplasm from the Astral Plane begins to form into a squat, dwarf like figure. Its silvery skin reflects the torchlight for a moment as it bends its horned head and charges at the door.
Spoiler
Bull rush the door (1d20+6)[23] +4 for Improved Bull Rush, +2 for Str 15
The construct breaks down the door, but the beetle had already moved away from said door so it didn't get splattered. That was the Construct's move for the turn.
Order:
Spoiler
Echevaria/Construct (no more rounds left, disappears when it goes next without acting)
Tyrick
Beetle 1
Rufus
Steven
Ipsen
Oasurn
Beetle 2
What do the rest of you do? You can't see the beetles, but you all heard the door break down.
"I may not be able to see in the dark, but it sounds like the fire beetles don't count as dark!" Rufus advances towards the door and stops 5' away from it, so that he can attack the beetles if they come through, without having to block the door himself.
Spoiler
reach weapon-set up for aoo, anyone want to go past me?
Steven takes this knowledge into mind, as he holds his shield tight and proceeds through the tunnel. Stopping right behind the construct and assuming a defensive position, he now waited for a chance to strike.
Spoiler
Yeah, I do :P 20 AC, taken up to 24 with the Total Defense move... How tank-like is that to you guys? :P But yeah, I'm between Rufus and the Astral Construct, assuming a Total Defensive pose
Tyrick draws his morningingstar and approaches the door (five feet away or closest he can get with others there) without going through it and tries to see what's going on in the other room.
__________________
Love shows itself more in adversity than in prosperity; as light does, which shines most where the place is darkest. ~Leonardo Da Vinci Active Characters:
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Cavern of Arugal (IC)
