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.

Round 11 ~ Maybe They'll Live?

The beast has no moves.  It is completely stunned.

Embla, Lothar and Engelhart all bleed 1 damage this round from open wounds.

Fjall, who is at -1, and the only person not bleeding, will move over to Embla with the intention of binding her wounds before she dies.  He'll run along the gaps between the wooden debris to get to her.

Bergthora finishes loading the crossbow.

Engelhart and Lothar can act as they will; they are both at 1 hit point.

Willa appears on the steps behind Bergthora and drags out her bow.

Kennel Round 10 ~ Mayday, Mayday! Party Down, Party Down!

Only Engelhart is subject to possible incidental damage and he doesn't receive any.

Embla bleeds 1 point of damage.  This puts her at -4.  To keep going and remain conscious, she must master her willpower: for that, I need her to roll a wisdom check.  A d20, please.

Lothar also bleeds 1 point of damage.  He's sitting at 2 hit points.

I attack Engelhart with bite first, rolling a 7.  This hits AC 6, and misses.  I roll a natural 20 with the claw, however (good thing that wasn't the bite!).  The subsequent roll for the crit is an 18, so it is just double damage.

d8: Engelhart takes 12 points of damage.  This puts the cleric at 2 hit points as well, and very definitely stunned.  He will sag against the wall behind him.

The beast will turn and take a step towards Fjall and Bergthora, swinging wildly at Fjall; this amounts to 1 point of incidental damage, stunning Fjall again.

[Forgive the note, but one of the things I love about incidental damage is that it gives big creatures the power to rampage]

Lothar is not stunned by bleeding, so he can act.  I will need that check from Embla.  Bergthora will glance fearfully at Lothar, hoping he will dive in so she can finish loading the crossbow (it is fairly clear from her actions and look that this is what she means).

The position after the player's move will show on the next post.

Experience thus far equals:

Postscript:

[A word about CLO and combat burnout from overheating.  It is just too troubled a metric at the moment to calculate this, even though I could easily waste a day for us to figure it out.  So please consider the rule shelved until such time as I can build a proper generator for it, one in which everyone's CLO is instantly calculated against ambient heat, time spent fighting and individual resistance against exhaustion.  It is still an intended feature, however ... but you are all spared from it at this time]

Kennel Round 9 - Engelhart Alone

Starting with incidental damage.  You are all liable for it.  Embla, however, is the only one that gets it.  She takes 1 from incidental and 1 from bleeding, dropping her to -3; her stats are down 30%.  The incidental damage stuns her, and she falls back into 0604.

Lothar's hit brings the attack from the creature's head:  it hits AC 0, with a 13.  Lothar has been hit before and is at 14 hp.  I hit him for 11 more, drawing a wound on the ranger and stunning him awfully.  This thing is really big, so when it hits hard, it does toss you two hexes.  Lothar rolls all the way to 0801 ~ but lets his body go limp, taking no extra damage.

Fjall drew the claw attack; the beast hits AC 6 with a rolled 7 ... this is Fjall's armor class.  The claw does a d8: and I roll a Lothar:  1 damage.

Fjall is stunned and falls into Pandred's hex.

I've showed Bergthora's move from round 8 on this map, as we were late getting to it with the last post.

Engelhart is now the sole defender, for this round at least.  Bergthora start to load her weapon.  Everyone else is stunned.

Following the party's move, there's no significant change in position from the above.

The experience thus far:

Kennel Round 8 ~ Oh, no! Bergthora!

Starting with incidental damage.  Both Engelhart and Bergthora will take a point of damage.

Embla bleeds 1 point.  As she is now at -1, her stats all drop 10%.  Her THACO and move are unaffected, but her strength is now 15.  With her charisma dropping to 8, her expressions are probably less-Lady-like than usual (and yes, that's a sexist joke).

As before, the beast will go after whomever seems most threatening.  Bergthora is close and did the same damage as Lothar; so she will get the bite.  I roll a 19 on her.  I'm wincing now, as this has the potential to kill her outright.  Picking up the dice ... and she takes 9 damage.  Whew.

That drops her to zero and the beast flips his head and tosses her two hexes into 0604.  With the incidental damage (which will count as the toss), she's at -1.  Still conscious, not bleeding ... but it hurt a lot.  Bergthora doesn't have a level, so she is dead at -4 hp.  So this was close.

The beast will move into 0502 and attack Lothar with a claw.  It rolls a 5, missing.  Rolling incidental damage against Lothar, I get no damage.

In it's bloodlust, the beast has turned its back on Embla.

Embla, don't even think about a backstab or assassination; it knows you're there and can't be surprised.  You can have a +2 bonus if you want it, though.

Fjall WILL attack.  He's just seen Bergthora almost killed and he won't be thinking about his own life at this time.

You won't get a better chance than this.  I am merely following my rule of attacking the most threatening ... that's what led it out to attack  Lothar and not Engelhart.  Rest assured, I would have rather kept its back to the wall ~ but this is a crazed beast, not a high intelligence military officer ... so it has gotten careless here.

Following the player's actions, here are the positions:

And the experience thus far:

Kennel Round 6 ~ Things Look Dire

Right up front, let me deal with Embla suffering 1 point of damage from the wound. Then, incidental damage causes both Embla and Lothar 1 damage.  This latter damage, unfortunately for the party, will stun Embla,

[I haven't made any rules for the order in which incidental damage occurs with regards to regular damage; does it happen before the creature attacks, or after?  Seems to me it should be randomly either one.  Since the order has to be determined only when it has the chance to stun, such as in this situation, when the beast is also attacking that same person, it hasn't come up before]

A random die indicates the incidental damage occurs before the beast attacks with its claw, so Embla is kicked back for 1 damage from the incidental into 0503.

The beast then bites at Lothar, hitting AC -3.  Lothar will take 7 damage from the bite, which is sufficient to knock him back into Engelhart's hex, 0501.  This will encourage the beast; ignoring Embla, it bounds forward to attack 0501, where both the ranger and cleric are now somewhat entangled and caught in the hex together, giving the beast a +2 bonus to hit with its claw.  I'll roll a 50/50 chance to see which person the attack lands on, but first I'll roll to hit.

I will roll a 2.  A miss.

Here is the ending position for the round against the party:

Engelhart, Bergthora and Fjall are capable of taking action.  I haven't put symbols over Embla and Lothar (forgot), but they're both stunned.  Engelhart must move out of 0501 to attack.  Fjall will move to the bottom of the stairs, 1004, and fire the crossbow.

Following the party's move, such is the arrangement:

And the experience so far:

Kennel Round 5 ~ It Backs Away

The beast has only one attack this round: and since Engelhart rolled higher than Lothar, I'll rule that Engelhart's miss was closer ... so the beast will feel more threatened by Engelhart just now.  It rolls a 6, which only hits AC 7.

Lothar will take 1 incidental damage.

And with that it will retreat one hex, onto 0302:

Hex 0402 is clear.  As before, 0403 will cost the normal 1 AP to enter, but will be a -1 to hit penalty fighting out of it.  0303 will cost 3 AP to enter and will cost a -2 AC defense penalty and a -2 to hit penalty.

Act as you will.  Fjall finishes loading the crossbow.  I'll let Lothar decide on Bergthora's action.  Embla suffers a point of damage from her wound.

Following the party's move, the position before the beast's attack is:

And the experience so far:

Kennel Round 4 ~ Pandred's Beat-down

The beast means to go through Lothar's hex to reach the far wall, where the rubble is deepest.  If it gets over there, the footing could get difficult and require a penalty to hit the creature.

It bites at Lothar and, as Pandred will be on its left as it does so, it will swing a claw again at the fighter.

It rolls a 3 against Lothar, so that its way is barred.

[I see I need some rule about overbearing connected to incidental damage.  This thing is 1,100 lbs, if it wants to go though Lothar's hex, it shouldn't matter if it succeeds in overbearing or not.  BUT, since I haven't fixed a rule on that yet, we'll say it gets scared and draws back.  This thing is, however, sufficiently sized for me to start rolling incidental damage]

Against Pandred, it rolls a natural 20.  The second roll is a 7, for double damage.  Pandred is lucky it is the claw and not the bite, for as I said, the bite would be triple.

As it is, the claw does 10 damage, not quite a wound, dropping Pandred to -5 hp.  She's stunned.

Next, incidental damage.  There's a 50% chance that each person within a hex will take 1 damage, from a foot or an elbow or some such.  With rolls, Lothar and Engelhart each take a point.  No stun effects there.

Embla takes a point of damage from her wound.

The beast falls back against the wall in 0402, rather than going around Lothar.  Here's the picture:

Pandred, I will need you to roll a d20 to see if you drop unconscious after this hit.  Fjall is in his second round of loading the crossbow.  If someone said it was light or heavy, I missed it.  It matters, because if it is a light crossbow, he will be able to fire in round 5; if it is heavy, he won't fire until round 6.

About the rubble.  0403 will cost 1 AP to enter, as normal, but 0302 (hard to read the number) will need 3 AP to enter.  Attacking out of 0403 will be a -1 to hit penalty.  Attacking out of 0302 will be -2 to hit and -2 AC for the defender.

Bergthora gives an expression that shows she'll give Lothar 0502 if he wants it.  She is plainly a bit uncomfortable.

UPDATE:

Following the character's actions, here's the position:

And the experience thus far:

Round 3 ~ Embla Gets Chewed

The beast, starting in 0602, is suddenly surprised at this new appearance of completely unnatural-looking humanoids.

It has two attacks.  A large, wolf-like bite and a slash with one or the other of its two claws.  It remembers that Embla was the creature that struck it first, waking it, and then it will want to get past Pandred.  It will therefore bite at Embla, then slash at Pandred.

It rolls a 13 and hits Embla with its bite (better hope this thing does not roll a critical; all my wolves do triple damage on a critical 20).  The bite is a terrifying 2d8 ... and I roll 13 damage.  Embla feels the jaws close on her arm and throw her back into 0802, where she is both stunned and wounded, losing 1 more point of damage on the monster's subsequent turns, until healed or binded.

Against Pandred, the beast rolls a 1; it howls, loses its footing and ends in 0502, fumbling the rest of its AP away.

Following the party's actions, the combatants appear as follows:

And experience:

Kennel Round 2 ~ The Beast Staggers to Its Feet

[As I prefer to begin my posts with the enemy's attack, we'll call the combined effort of Embla through assassination and attacking as "round 1," and call this the beginning of "round 2."]

The beast is groggy, standing and shifting to its right, into hex 0602.  It rolls a "3" on a d20, missing Embla.

Thus, not a good start for the thing.

The beast is in Fjall's line of sight, who will remain in 1101 in order to fire his crossbow (heavy, yes?).  Lothar and Bergthora can rush past.  It will take 2 AP for Lothar to reach 0903, Bergthora will take 3 AP to get there.

I know you guys have been dropping equipment and so on.  Could you please confirm your movement at this time, and bring me up to date on your present hit points?  I'm pretty sure the numbers I have on my table are inaccurate.

Updated after the Party's Move:

And my details for the party.  Please correct anything that is inaccurate.  There is no rush to fill in the "Weight carried" column.

Kennel Round 1 ~ Embla Tries to Clean Up Not Assassinating the First Time

Embla can start the round by swinging again.  Engelhart has used up all his movement, as has Pandred and those behind him, coming down the stairs.

Embla, according to the Rouse Sleeping Creatures rule on the wiki, this creature is was in pain before you came down the stairs and will be classified as a "normal sleeper."  You have initiative, but once you've stung, it will be nearly awake.  It will have one attack at -1 to hit.

The Kennel

As Engelhart gets to the bottom of the stairs, turning the corner, he'll find a room built rather large.  The appearance of the room is something like a large kennel ... with little in it.  There's a pile of rubble and broken wood at the far end, piled about eight feet high, and pieces of wood around.  There's two masticated bodies of froglings to Engelhart's left (not shown).  Asleep, about 20 hexes away (indicated by the large grey mound), is a large humanoid with a dog's head (lord knows I could not find an image on line for it).  You would guess this thing to be about ten to twelve feet tall.

There's a fair bit of blood in the room.  The humanoid has the ends of two spears (broken off) still stuck in its back.  It's breathing is fairly labored; it has quite clearly been seriously wounded in whatever fight it had in the kitchen (for that is the logical conclusion).

Moving the Goods Out of the Lair

You bring your first load of goods up to the storeroom where you entered this part of the frogling lair.  Where do you want to store your goods while you go get a second load?

Willa is rattled from her near fall; if it had not been for Embla's hand, catching her, she'd have died.  Willa's morale drops a point in favor of anything Embla will tell her to do now, but she will volunteer right now to stay and guard the stoneware and metal goods.

"Is that all right?" she asks.

Who else is going back in.  You've done two passes over the bridge, and the third pass will be roll free.  You'll be +3 wisdom as you bring back a second load.

Instructions?

An Unexpected Sight

As you look through the entranceway across the bridge, you can see a short passage, again about ten feet long, sloping 40 degrees downwards, about four feet wide.  The top of the passage is black with what might be soot, except that it is hard and does not come off on your fingers.  At the bottom of the passage you can see what might be a kitchen.  There's the edge of a table with a visible cooking pot, and a knife next to it, and some ripped cloths next to that.

On the floor, you can see what might be a frogling's arm, judging by the clawed hand on the end of it.  The arm is not moving.  There are splatters of purple next to the arm, which you recognize as frogling blood, having seen it several times now.

The Bridge

You find yourself at one end of a bridge, sure enough. The chamber the bridge crosses is about 80 feet long and about 45 feet wide.  The bottom is covered with water, far, far down, about 90 to 120 feet.  Once in the chamber, hanging your head over the side, you can hear the water moving, but not rushing.

The ceiling is only ten feet above you - and the stone seems to be cracked, along the length of the bridge.  The crack is only a few millimeters to half a centimeter wide, or less than a quarter of an inch; this doesn't let in much light, but it does let in enough to fill the chamber.  You can see a shaft of light in the far left corner of the room, from your perspective (sorry, forgot to add this to the map, I'll update it next time), from a hole about three feet wide, in hex 1403.

There are no rails along the bridge and it is only a meter wide, plus, or 3 to 4 feet.  The height is dizzying.  It isn't a matter of dancing across this thing.

You can hear a faint chittering sound, like a small, rattling mill wheel (that's as close as you can get to a description).  It might be coming from anywhere.

You can't tell what it looks like under the bridge; if it is natural or made, as you can't really get into a position to look over the side and under, without risking death.

Drain

Embla pulls on the stone and the chain begins to ride out of the hole above her, clanking as it comes.  The other stone rises, until it reaches a point about five feet above the floor.  The one that was higher stops at a foot above the floor.

All around is an enormous grating, clanging sound.  Then a deep, hollow bang, loud enough to hurt your ears, seems to shake the air.  This comes from below, from under the water.  And then ...

The water begins to pour out of the pool, flooding out of unseen shafts in the floor of the cavern.  The level falls quickly enough that anyone in the pool would be caught and pulled down, probably to their death.  You see the giant frog's body sluice away with the water, sucked like a wet sponge, disappearing.

Then, the water is gone.  A steady streaming of water follows, quickly diminishing, and then there is just the sound of dripping water.  This, compared to the sound that came before, seems almost deafeningly quiet.

The pool is empty.

Picking up the Game Again

Collecting our thoughts.

The image is from the previous post.

Let's pick up what everyone was doing with the last post.

Lothar was going to look into using the boards that were blocking the tunnel entrance to the pool chamber.  Unfortunately, these are not thick enough to support weight or reach from stone to stone.  Each board was only an inch or so in width.  You'll see on this post that they were drawn very small.

Embla has fetched her spear and determined that the bottom of the pool seems to be about three to four feet deep, at least as far as her spear can reach.

Engelhart [ooc: who has gone to bed by this time] was about to scout around the bend.  He was asking for a lantern, but he's about 35 feet from the rest of the party, across many rocks.  He jumps over to the tunnel (0414), finding that it is very solid.

Without a light source, there's not much he can see ~ just what is showing, dimly, in the reflection of the nearest light off the wet surface of the cavern interior.

So, Engelhart notwithstanding, someone needs to move a light source forward before the tunnel beyond can be explored.

A Tunnel Bends to the Left

Engelhart finds that there is a tunnel, ten feet wide, rough hewn, that bend to the left.  This is more or less what he can see from his location; the nearby floor of the tunnel is slippery, but since he has room to recover from a short jump, there's no chance of his falling.  He's succeeded in skipping his way over the rocks.

It's Only a Frog ~ Round 2

The frog makes another attack against Embla, apparently too stupid to realize the assassin is too big to be grabbed with its tongue.  It rolls a 10, hitting AC 8; Embla is AC 7 and is missed.

Engelhart's spell is cast; it will take 1 AP to discharge. Pandred is holding Embla's javelin ~ and, for all reasonable purposes, the fighter's axe is probably gone. It is somewhere under water, around 0612.

If Embla wants to use the javelin, Pandred has to spend 1 AP to throw it to her; Embla should roll a dex check to see if it uses 1 AP to catch it (success) or 2 AP to snag it out of the water (failure).

Lothar's arrow is nocked and ready.  Fjall has completed the second round of loading the crossbow.

Go ahead and act.

Very well, having killed the frog, here are the x.p. earned this time around:

Frog! ~ Round 1

The image shows the position of the party as a giant frog rises in hex 0511.  I have added a dotted line across the water to show where the cave ends and the ten foot high passage begins (see cross-section).

With the initiative, the frog attacks Embla.  It rolls a 14, hitting AC 4 . . . Embla feels a wet, sticky tongue slap against her mid-section, causing only 2 damage as it thuds into her; but it both sticks and grips, the flesh squeezing together around her waist.

Embla is too heavy, however, and though the tongue pulls her into the water of 0507, it snaps free from her body and springs back into the frog's mouth.

The water is three feet deep, like described.  Embla is not stunned.  Using the fight while immersed rules I wrote last week, Embla's adjusted encumbrance is adjusted by a 25% loss of weight (she's up to her waist in water):  here's the altered table for your movement when partially immersed:

The party can act; do you need another image indicating that Embla is in 0507?