Thursday, February 8, 2018

News from the Surface

Before hearing the sounds of the fight, and seeing the absence of players in the kitchen, so that she came down the stairs to see you kill the beast, Willa was coming to tell you something important.

The froglings are returning.  They are coming back in groups of three to five; they seem to be hurt and wounded, as if they had lost the battle.  However, Willa has counted fifty of them ... in steady groups.  It is only a matter of time before some of them start coming into the water room.

She did not know what to do.  She left the materials upstairs, not wishing to have anything in her hands when she came across the bridge again.  But she felt that the party should know.

23 comments:

Engelhart Askjellson said...

Deep down the rabbit hole we go...

Can we scrounge the wood debris for a makeshift carry-bed for our fallen?

Lothar Svensson said...

Oh, wonderful. I look down the passage that was too small for the dog-thing.

Alexis Smolensk said...

It squirrels around, so you can't see very far... it would pass for a giant rabbit hole.

I think you could probably manage two planks out of what you find, though they won't be much of a stretcher; there will be a chance of a body slipping off if you don't move very slowly, like two hexes a round.

Engelhart Askjellson said...

Very well, there just remains one itch before we steal away tunnelling.

Alexis: I search the room for discarded gear and encourage everyone to do the same: our backpacks, Pandred's axe, etc.

There's a chance we can make it undetected for longer if no out of place items show up.

Afterwards, with whomever volunteers help, I drag our companions onto the improvised stretchers and begin our descent.

Alexis Smolensk said...

[I am home today, so it is worth checking the campaign]

Please assume you have your gear. You might want to get anything you've left upstairs in the kitchen, also. A quick collection there will yield no frogling attacks, but I can't promise what you'll find if you cross the bridge. It is still quiet upstairs.

Bergthora and Fjall can handle Embla, who is the heaviest at 191 lbs. They will both shuck their armor to do so. They'll offer to replace the cost out of their own pocket.

Pandred weighs less. Willa can handle half his weight without dropping her armor; if Engelhart will take the other end of the board.

Bergthora will suggest that Lothar look on down the passage, to see what's there.

Lothar Svensson said...

I scout down the passage. Being an elf, I believe I can leave the lantern with the humans while I do so and still see.

Alexis Smolensk said...

You are able.

The passageway weaves down at a fairly steep rate; there are two places where people will have to be careful with the planks, but not places where they will need to worry unduly. They should be able to make it through.

Eventually, the passage reaches the level of the water that was below the bridge ... and here, Lothar finds a cave beside a gently flowing river, not more than about 10 feet per round, or a foot a second. The river water is good and cold (so that it appears black with infravision); however, there is a reassuring presence of a boat that sits on next to the water.

The cave is about the size of the one where you fought the dog-headed beast. The boat would be large enough for eight to ten people. You don't know much about boats, but this is a clinker-style construction, the sort that went out of vogue about five or six centuries ago. You wouldn't know if it was seaworthy, but Engelhart would. Your guess is that it looks in good condition, that it is solid in frame and that with enough effort and a good wedge, you could probably get it into the water.

Lothar Svensson said...

Is there land on the other side of the river? What sort of opening does the river flow from and to? Is the water drinkable?

Alexis Smolensk said...

I see that under mountaineering, it does give Lothar the ability to identify clean water. [I need to update your sage skills...]

The water smells clean, though there might be some unknown impurities associated with the froglings. You'd guess with a good 19 in 20 that it is safe to drink.

There is no shelf on the opposite side of the river. The river enters from the chamber where the bridge was ~ you can dimly see the natural structure of pillars that must be the support for the bridge ~ but it is near the edge of your 60 ft. infravision. The river flows through a tunnel that curves away from you and out of sight.

Lothar Svensson said...

Is there any sign that the frogs have passed through here recently? Is there water under the boat (as though it had been recently pulled up)?

Alexis Smolensk said...

There's no sign at all that the froglings have been here. The boat does not appear to have been moved ... there are places on the hull where silt has accumulated on the bottom of the boat, a sign that the passage must have flooded at some point, and the water run away. Technically, you would probably need real light to see this, but I can make a concession here. My desire is to give you the strongest sense that this is untouched.

[I had completely forgotten that I never did get around to fleshing out the wiki on your mountaineering skills. I had forgotten you even had mountaineering under your sage abilities. So I'll be working on these today, as I meant to work on the wiki anyway, though it was going to be first level mage spells. This is more important. I just finished "cave finding."

[Loosely interpreting "Routefinding I" for this situation, which I haven't written yet, I'll just add that after a few minutes of looking around, you feel confident you can smell the ocean]

Lothar Svensson said...

[Awesome! I think that skill will come in handy in the future, I like it.]

Bolstered by the thought that we might be able to escape on this boat, I return and report.

Alexis Smolensk said...

If I'd remembered the mountaineering skill, and finished it, I could have told Lothar that "caving I" made him pretty much invulnerable to the bridge, unless he had been stunned while crossing it.

I added Mountain Routefinding I.

If anyone else has a sage skill I haven't detailed yet, please tell me!

Alexis Smolensk said...

Added Caving I, though I think at a later date it will need expanding.

Lothar Svensson said...

Woo man! Definitely looking forward to crawling around in some caves now.

Engelhart, are we ready to move down to the boat landing?

Alexis Smolensk said...

Identify Clean Water

Alexis Smolensk said...

Okay, that's the rest of Lothar's mountaineering skills, rock foraging (which ain't much) and skiing (which is cool for everyone!).

Of course, I didn't actually make rules for mountain climbing, so that link is dead, but I will get around to it.

If I could, I'd like to resist discussing Lothar's additional sage abilities (and Pandred's too) until you're out of this mess. I'm going to rule that Lothar is too stressed at the moment to contemplate what he's learned from surviving the battle with the beast.

Engelhart Askjellson said...

I move with the team towards the cave, getting the boat's measure and setting our bearings towards... wherever this river may take us?

I'm thinking it will link back to the Store Stokka, but Alexis mentions the ocean, not like we've got much choice.

We climb aboard and make good our escape.

Alexis Smolensk said...

I'll just confirm that Engelhart's knowledge of boats rules this one as seaworthy. There are no oars, however, so you have little control over where it will go. The planks you brought Pandred and Embla down on will be needed to get the boat in the water, where it will ride fairly deep.

Is Lothar good with Engelhart's proposal, that you make your escape? The followers will follow as told, and the other two have no vote while they're unconscious.

[I had failed to answer your question about hold person, Engelhart. I haven't looked at a description of the spell for some time.

[In this case, the creature wasn't a humanoid. But for future reference, for which I need to update the spell's description, this spell was written before I invented the rules for Helpless Defenders

[As this is a 2nd level spell, it shouldn't be too powerful. There's a certain danger that, once a victim fails a saving throw, they're effective dead if the helpless defenders rule is applied. It's an automatic 10-60% of their hit points gone if they don't make save, with no need to roll a die to hit. This is too powerful for a 2nd level spell, as it enables a 3rd level character to easily kill a 20th level, who happens to make a bad saving throw.

[I can fix this in two ways; I'd like your input on this. a) I can limit the HD/Level of the victim to the cleric's level, perhaps one level higher, so that the spell would result in the quick deaths of the cleric's equal, and not someone of massively higher level and power; anyone above that limit would be unaffected by the spell.

[b) The line where it says, "if the creature is struck or attacked... could be understood that at the moment of ATTEMPTING to attack, the spell is broken. This would mean the high level defender would be able to avoid the attack, and the Helpless Defender rule wouldn't apply. This would emphasize a parley angle on the spell, rather than making it an easy assassination method.

[Thoughts?]

Lothar Svensson said...

I am on board with attempting an escape in the boat. Right now it looks like our best bet, and it sure beats sticking around here for another 12 hours starving and hoping the frogs don't find us.

Alexis Smolensk said...

Therefore, you load your unconscious companions into the boat, and all the equipment you can gather, and a hundred pounds of the metal kitchen ware, that Fjall and Bergthora ran back up for after bringing down Embla (without being asked), with two boards for paddles. With concern, you push off from the cavern floor into the river, and feel the water gently take you away from the bridge, and the froglings, and blood you've left on the floors of the caves, and much treasure you weren't able to bring with you ... and into the darkness, perhaps towards the sea, or perhaps towards a terrible fate ...

Lothar Svensson said...

"There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing

Is it raining, is it snowing
Is a hurricane a-blowing

Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing
Is the grisly reaper mowing

Yes, the danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing"

Alexis Smolensk said...

Nice!

The next post is up.