The beetles surrounding the party move in for the kill. Two beetles from 0910 separate and attack Aleksandra. One beetle attacks Rowan's prone body. The one remaining one on Lothar attacks the ranger and the beetle from 0909 joins in the feast on Gudbrand's corpse.
While the beetle in 0811 misses Aleksandra, unfortunately the other attacking beetle rolls a natural 20. A second d20 roll indicates the damage was doubled, a total of 3 x 2 = 6. As Aleksandra was at -4, this is enough to kill her. She drops and the spear falls to the wet floor.
At the same time, the beetle attacking Rowan tears at his flesh. [ages ago, I made a rule under the paralyzation spell for being attacked while helpless ~ I've just updated this rule as its own wiki page, in the attacking/combat section]. I roll a 5 on a d6, which is multiplied by 1.2, a tenth of Rowan's total hit points above zero. This is sufficient to kill Rowan also.
This leaves one attack on Lothar. The beetle rolls a 9, missing.
Here is how it looks now:
Engelhart's cure light wounds spell is cast ~ see below in the comments for effects on movement. As promised, it being the 12th round and Engelhart removing none of his clothing, I have to roll overheat damage, a total of 0-2 points. I roll 4 on a d6, so that Engelhart takes 1 damage from heat. Unless he rests (uses only 1 AP to do no more than move or locate something to drink), I will be doing this each round going forward.
Lothar can climb the twine at this time, up four feet (-1 for having to leave the combat hex with the beetle. This has an 80% chance of being too high for the beetle to attack. The beetles in 0610 and soon to be in 0710 will likely feast on the dead bodies of Rowan and Aleksandra. This would mean that at the moment, only one beetle, the one in 0808, is truly dangerous.
Here is the distribution of x.p.:
Here are how things stand following the party's move:
21 comments:
Could I attack the beetle before I begin climbing? How high would I get if I did?
Before any further consideration, how many AP would it cost for doffing off my coat?
[Lothar: You can obviously count on an Hp boon from me, plus if we dispatch this beetle I ought to be able to give you a boost up and then have you pull me from above.]
[Pipe-dreaming further, we could even think of retrieving your bow.]
Looking at the AP page on the wiki, removing a backpack costs 5 AP, I would think taking off a coat would be about the same.
That said, I think you've probably got enough AP to cast and give me a boost this round, which will get you out one round sooner. I certainly wouldn't argue if you were able to smash that beetle and grab my bow while I'm climbing, especially since I'll have to drop my fancy store-bought quarterstaff to climb with two hands.
[I think this is all common enough knowledge that I'm not table-talking too much, apologies if I am]
Yeah, I read about the same. Just waiting for official confirmation.
Heat damage at Level 1 is no joke, but I'll have to weigh my options.
Since you're back in the fight (I was pessimistically counting on you being hit again), I'm not too keen on boosting you just yet if it'll cost us this turn's round of attacks on the beetle. I feel like we'll need to at least stun this thing or we risk not leaving at all, and us being two means we can outflank the bug and dispatch him handily, dice rolls permitting.
This reminds me too, Alexis: are the beetles exempt from overheating? What are our expectations on this going forward?
Confirmations all around, gentlemen. Lothar, you can attack and then climb. I'm rating the twine as 1 foot per AP. (3 rounds to get up a 15' twine).
It would be 5 AP to doff your coat, Engelhart.
I have no problem whatsoever with any of the "table talk" ~ this is normal D&D discussion. No one here has any knowledge, at this time, that the other doesn't have.
Reading the cure light wounds spell, I have added this adjustment to the description:
"Because the caster must have the wherewithal to attempt to touch an opponent (in reference to 'cause light wounds'), unlike most spells, cure light wounds does not need to be concentrated upon once it is cast. It still requires 1 action point to discharge the spell, but the caster may freely move while doing so."
That dispenses the restriction I included in the post above, which I will now remove. Engelhart must be in an adjacent hex to Lothar to touch him, or must be in one of the three hexes surrounding the barrow entrance if Lothar decides to climb.
The beetles are exempt from overheating; this is their environment, they are effectively naked and perfectly comfortable, their bodies adapting to excessive energy use [think ants repairing a hill]. This is going to make it very difficult for fighting natural monsters in the game, particularly creatures like undead, but so it goes.
Cool. *breathing sigh of relief* This is my action: I attack the beetle, and then begin climbing the twine. Engelhart, I estimate your chances of survival as very good at this point. My own, on the other hand, decrease dramatically the longer I stay down here, even with extra HP.
Rolling now. Attack: 3 on the die minus 2 = 1 total. Of course.
Damage (not that it matters...): 5 on the die modified by a net -1 = 4.
I'll accept a boost along with the heal spell if you're willing to give it.
This just crossed my mind, while parsing the adjustments made: once cast, is the polarity of a spell already set in stone? Is Engelhart bound to have cast our could he still opt for light wounds?
Regardless of the above, what is the d20 target number for touching an opponent, past the 2 AP cost?
Other than that, I'd like us to have your pronouncement regarding overheating for monsters.
Lothar, it isn't a natural 1 so there's no chance of your staff breaking. However, you will have to leave it behind. I count you as 3 feet off the ground. Unless Engelhart engages the beetle (and casting cure light wounds does not count as an 'attack'), there is a 40% chance that the beetle will have a chance to attack you next round.
Disregard my asking for monster overheating, Alexis, you adressed it in the meantime.
I also mangled the italic tags, meaning the words were "inflict" and "cure" were suppressed; what was meant was: inflict or cure, when is the choice made, pre or post casting?
I'll make my way to 0807, touching Lothar's back en-passant.
"...and Deliver us from Evil!"
After this, I engage and attack the beetle. Rolls pending until I get home, both for healing and the attack. Wish me luck.
Regarding polarity, I was thinking about that too. I think that it has to be argued that the Intention prior to the spell's being cast must establish the nature of the spell once it is time to discharge it. Therefore, no, it is too late to change the polarity.
For future reference, the spell's description states you must only hit AC 10.
Since Lothar moves before Engelhart, and since he is climbing the rope, you had better amend that final position to 0707, Engelhart. Lothar won't technically be in that hex, so you can attack out of it; if you move to 0706 & 0807, you'll be more than a hex away from Lothar by the time you pass (your reaction time being lower than his).
I figured as much and had already acted in conformity, but it is interesting to note. AC 10 is a lot different from AC 15, even with my rolling hands and it could have made a bit of a difference at a crucial junction. Lessons learned.
Thank you for your prompt replies.
Consider it amended. I was afraid we'd count as occupying the same space.
Kind of telling, how after all these rounds we're still ironing out kinks in such a cascading succession, huh?
That is how it goes. Like Chess, how the pieces move is easy enough to learn, but the combinations take time.
Ok, here it is:
Healing Roll: 4, for a total of 8 Hp restored!
Attack Roll: 17, modified to 18(!).
Damage Roll: 2.
Best round so far, the beetle is doubtlessly stunned, if not killed.
Still what lingers is this feeling of "too little, too late".
Take what you can get, Engelhart.
I looked back and that beetle has not been hit before. You don't kill it, but you do stun it and drive it back into 0908.
I've updated this post above with the party's latest move. Working on the next post.
Correct that: none of the remaining beetles will be attacking the party, since they've moved onto Rowan and Aleksandra's corpses. So I have updated the beetles' latest move also. Still, I'm going to create a new post for Round 13, just to keep things clear.
The next post is up.
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