Saturday, March 25, 2017

All Goes Sideways ~ Round 7

The snuffling beast beyond the door lets out a snuffling roar, not as loud as before.  There's some pressing against the door, but it does not seem to be an attempt to throw its body against the door as the beast did once.

The frogs seem to have no feeling at all about their one dead companion or even the damage they've sustained. It is plain to the party now that these humanoids are rabid and will have to be put down to make them stop.

The one in 0908 is free to attack Lothar this round.  It hits AC 1 with the second, claw, causing 3 damage to the ranger, hardly coming close to stunning.  With it's horns, however, it does even better: hitting AC 0 and causing 5 damage.  This one will stun, as Lothar's hit points are reduced to 18 after the first hit: Lothar keeps his feet but falls back into 0910, somewhat bruised.

Being that the humanoid is a frog, it uses 2 AP to "hop" three hexes into 1011, the same move that was seen in an earlier round, engaging both Pandred and Embla.  Thankfully, it has no attacks left.

At the same time, the creature in 0811, again, attacks Engelhart.  It's first attack, a claw, strikes the Cleric (hitting AC 5), causing 2 damage.  By my count, Engelhart is down 6 hit points already from 19 (correct me, please, if I'm in error), and 2 points will not stun).  The creature screams in rage, missing with its other claw.  However, for once it hits Engelhart with its horn (also hitting AC 5), causing an ungodly six damage.  This tosses the cleric back into 1012, definitely stunned this time.

This creature has been trying to get into the hallway since the beginning of the combat: now it hops between Bergthora and Engelhart, ending in 1013 (it started from an non-melee hex, once it booted back the cleric).  It seems intent on running down the hall, towards the cage.  Bergthora is the only one conceivably able to hit it.

These changes produce this position, following the creature's round:



Following the party's movement:


And the x.p. earned so far:



18 comments:

Lothar Svensson said...

Bergthora attacks!

Attack: 18+1=19
Damage: 4

Alexis Smolensk said...

That one has been hardly hit: Engelhart did 1 damage to it many rounds ago. Bergthora's attack is enough to reduce it by one attack, but not enough to fully stun it.

Engelhart Askjellson said...

Lothar, please have her further impede the frog's progress with her move. If it cuts the cage's rope with a claw and strands us down here with the large beast breaking down the door, we might be done for.

Other than that, got to say that this fight is quickly turning out to be more challenging than antecipated. A volley of missiles could have really made a difference.

Alexis Smolensk said...

[There's no special reason to be absolutely certain these creatures would have become active; if you set yourself up to storm Iwo Jima with every combat, you could tie yourself with knots.

This was just bad luck. The one creature on Engelhart had a benefit of looking harmless because it missed a lot and was in turn missed. A spear thrown at it or another party member giving some time to make sure it got hit and knocked down a bit could also have really made a difference.

The system is just like this. It allows a fair latitude for the flow of the combat to change direction like this. But I think you guys have this]

Embla Strand said...

[Well, shit. Also, thoughts on the critter behind the door being the major predator of these frog things, hence their desire to escape down the hallway?]

I attack B with my battleaxe (which would have been in my off-hand): Nat 20 followed by a nat 1 to hit. 6+1(Str) damage, which I believe doubles to 14 damage?

That leaves me, I think, 3AP to use depending upon what happens next.

Engelhart Askjellson said...

[Alexis, I think we have this one in the bag as well, but only because my party mates roll ungodly well to balance my own poor rolls and there are three (four, really) of them to one of me - by this I mean we got lucky, starting right with the initiative roll, this was a downright perilous fight that could have taken a nose dive. Take this as a thumbs up, I like close fights!].

Alexis Smolensk said...

That is correct, Embla: 14 damage. That more than kills B, which was at -1 hit points. You get 3 hit points towards your x.p. for that.

Lothar Svensson said...

Since he isn't stunned Bergthora drops back to hex 0913 and tries to keep the frog from escaping any farther. For all the good it'll do...

Embla Strand said...

[Goddamnit!]

I switch places with Engelhart.

Alexis Smolensk said...

That is an extremely dangerous action on Bergthora's part. I'm going to have to roll a morale check for that. 2d6+3, one for the bless and 2 for being close enough to Embla. I roll and 11 and Bergthora acts in preparation to sacrifice her life (for herself; she didn't need the bonus).

Alexis Smolensk said...

[Thanks guys. I'm going back to writing. I'll refresh again tomorrow]

Pandred said...

I want to finish C really badly. REALLY badly.

However, I'll try and bring down B instead.

To-Hit 3 (+1 Str,+1 Bless) Total 5
Damage: 5 (+3Str) Total 8


Well, I was bound to miss sometime!
I'm going to go ahead and move into 1210 with two of my remaining AP to keep C engaged still.

Embla Strand said...

Pandred, I already killed B.

Pandred said...

So you're right. Same swing, at C.

Alexis Smolensk said...

From what hex? And note I said to roll again.

Pandred said...

Oh god, I'm on a roll today. My reading comprehension is apparently a pile of absolute garbage. I'm sorry for holding up the round.

Moving to 1210, swinging for C.

To-Hit: 18 (+1Str,+1Bless) Total 20
Damage: 6 (+3 Str) Total 9

If that kills C, I return to 1110, otherwise I stay put to keep him engaged.

Alexis Smolensk said...

You did kill C. It also had -1 hit points.

I'll put up a new round tomorrow. Take it easy, fellas.

Alexis Smolensk said...

The next round is (finally) up.