Round 11 ~ It Jumps

Once again, the jelly is stunned; and when stunned, it shrinks, and causes no incidental damage.

[It's worth noting that the combat system has to be flexible to manage a multitude of creatures.  While a stunned elephant would stumble and swing around, perfectly able to cause incidental damage, a jelly that responds to stunning shrinks and does not swing around.  In the same way, an elephant, or a single-unit jelly can be stunned; while a pudding or an ooze, which flows like a liquid and is not bound together with tendrils, cannot be stunned, no matter how much damage is done.  On some level, each monster demands a case by case basis to explain its behaviour and effect.

[This can seem like I'm changing the rules at a whim ... but rather, I'm trying to establish precedents for weird cases.  I expect players to say, "That jelly you had us fight before did this and this ... therefore this jelly today should also act like that."  And I agree.  D&D is complicated; memory and precedent is the only thing that binds it together].

Whatever the creature is that was in 0411 is now in 1312.  It attacks Valda, rolling a 2.  Valda, shocked, manages to dodge the half-hearted attempt of the creature to hit her.

She sees that it's skin is covered with slowly flowing green-brownish mud; and that it gives off a smothering, putrid odor, like a shut outhouse in sweltering summer weather.  The smell has no mechanical effects, but it is suffocating.

The players can act.

After their move, the positions look like:

And experience thus far:

Round 10 ~ Breathing Room

The jelly withdraws following Pandred's hit, the blow undulating through it's body.  Because of the withdrawal, no incidental damage is caused. The creature does not attack.

At the same time, the rat attacks Englehart's flank, rolling a modified 17 and nipping the cleric for another 1 point of damage.

The remaining rats flee the room.

The party is free to act.

Mikael has finished casting his spell; Rob is free of his back pack.  Valda will slowly crawl to her feet in 1212.

Following the player's move, the map looks like this:

And experience:

Round 9 ~ Valda Takes the Heat

The rats have initiative.  They keep their ground, except one that annoyingly rushes in and nips Engelhart from behind.  It hits AC4 with a modified 17, causing 2 more damage.  I see I've forgotten the 1 damage I did to Engelhart before. That has been fixed, and will show on the next XP table.  The cleric isn't stunned.

That's the only rat attack.

The jelly causes 1 damage to both Engelhart and Valda.  No one else is close enough.

Then the jelly uses this round to attack Valda.  It rolls a 16, which hits; Valda takes 9 damage.  This reduces her to -3 hit points.  At -4, she would be dead.  She fails her wisdom check, staggers into Lothar's hex and collapses, unconscious.

The players can act.

Following the players' move, here is the position:

And the amount of experience thus far:

Round 8 ~ The Jelly Makes Itself Known

The rats win initiative against the jelly and proceed to scatter.  One doesn't move, but watches the jelly.  All except for two, next to Engelhart.  One tries to press past the cleric and succeeds; it attacks Pandred, rolling an 8 and missing.

The other attacks the cleric and hits with an 18, causing 1 damage.

Meanwhile, the jelly simply rolls over the stunned rat, sucking it up into its body.  It flows unexpectedly quickly towards Lothar, and as it does, it forms a pseudopod with the front of its body like a lifted club, swinging at the ranger.  And it rolls a natural 20.  Some days the dice are good to me.

It causes 3d4 damage on such a hit; Lothar takes 16 damage, the blow breaking the skin across the bone of Lothar's knee.  The ranger falls back into 1111.

That is my action.  The players can move now.

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

And the gain in experience:

Round 7 ~ A New Guest

From top to bottom, Engelhart is attacked by two rats, and keeps out one of those that tries to sneak past him.  A 15 misses, and a natural 20, doubled, causes 6 damage.  Engelhart had 30 hp, now 24, and is not stunned.  Hurt, though.

Valda is attacked by one rat, which she stops from getting past her.  The rat misses with a 4.

Lotharis attacked by two rats, which he keeps from breaking through.  A 14 hits, as Lothar is AC 8 according to my notes, causing 1 damage.   Lothar has 28 hit points and is not stunned.  The other rat rolls a 10 and misses.

Embla lets a rat get past her; it attacks from her flank, while another attacks from the front. The one on her flank manages a modified 9, missing.  The one in front rolls a 12, also missing.

Rob is attacked from the front; the rat does not try to get past.  It rolls a 14, which hits AC 7.  I am not certain of Rob's armor class, as I haven't had time to look at any character pages.  Please let me know whether or not that hits.

MEANWHILE ...

A large, grey, jelly-like creature, definitely not an ooze, emerges from 0612 and flows into 0711.  It has a large membrane at its center.

The players are free to take an action.

Following the players' move, here is the layout.

And the experience thus far:

Round 6 - In the Thick of Rats

The map above only shows lines for rats that have moved four or less and are able to attack this round.  Embla, Valda and Pandred will each be attacked once; Lothar, twice.

A 9 misses Embla.

A 12 and a 4 miss Lothar.

A 6 misses Valda.

A 17 misses Pandred.

All the rats will be in a position to fill the gaps next round.  Because rats are small, there is a chance that they can get through the line and attack in back of it; characters in the front line will have to make a dexterity check to stop them from overrunning the front line.

At the same time, you will note that Rob and Mikael have appeared on the map.  These are two lackluster fellows who have taken work on the gangs in the dungeon, out of sheer boredom.  When they heard that there was a party exploring a cave deeper in the frogling lair, they decided to follow along and see what's what.  They've followed the direction of Fjall above, met Oddsdrakken running through the Pit Room away from the fight and now they've walked in just as the fight is happening.

A last, interesting point.  The party hears a deep, slushing sound, as though a very large bladder has been filled with water and then burst.  Lothar places the sound somewhere ahead of him, and off to the left, where the cavern floor is broken up and dark, from inches-high rock ridges along the floor.

The party is now free to act.

Following the party's action, the map now looks like this:

I'm starting a new experience table; the bonus XP from the first part of the fight would not be enjoyed by the newcomers, so this is a reset.  At the end of the fight, you'll add the tables together.

Round 5 ~ The Rats Rush In

The rats rushing in are moving faster than the characters can run.  Rats move at 6 hexes per round.

Embla should take note that she does not have her axe in hand at this time.

The players may take what actions they will.  Likely, there won't be time to cast a spell before being attacked ~ though players might be able to isolate Engelhart if they move in front of the cleric.

Giant rats have an intelligence of 2.  This means they can experience a morale failure individually, but not as a group (a wounded rat will probably flee, but rats will pay no attention to the deaths of other rats).

Following the player's move, the map looks like this.  There are 13 rats left.

And the experience:

Shrieker Round 4 ~ Something New

Showing a portion of the room ... the shrieker is still alive, still breathing, sucking in air through gaps of its bladder-like body and blowing them out through the mouth on top of its head.

Once again, Engelhart escapes the incidental damage, and once again Lothar takes 3.  Embla takes 2.

Something new ... Embla tilts her head a half second before taking an attack; then realizes what it is she had just heard.

There are rats coming.

The party is free to act.

The shrieker dies.  Here is the party's XP so far:

Shrieker Round 3 ~ And Spongy, Too

The creature undulates as though it is in pain, but it continues to scream nonetheless, as this is a reflex.  Engelhart's Beast Forms ability tells you that the creature's scream is designed to draw creatures to the shrieker, to create a melee that results in death and carrion.

Pandred will take 1 damage from incidental damage.  Lothar gets hit hard with one of the creature's arms, taking 3 damage.  Engelhart takes none.

The players are free to act.

Shrieker Round 2 - Big & Passive

The shrieker has no direct attacks.  However, it is big, and it flails around, so there is a chance of incidental damage.  None occurs this round, however ... and the shrieker, still screaming, retreats one hex to 1210.

When giving your moves, please carefully note which hex your fellow character is moving into.  Pandred, don't forget Oddsdrakken; and Lothar shouldn't forget Valda.

The players are free to act.

Shrieker

Sorry, cuts off Embla and Oddsdrakken.

Pandred falls into the room; and before he can breathe, or catch his balance, a nine-foot-tall shrieker begins to wail at the top of its inordinately evolved lungs.

The shrieker makes no attack, so the party has initiative.

Sorry, I keep forgetting things.  The brown-grey swirls in the room are floor-to-ceiling stalactites/mites.  Those hexes cannot be entered.

Restart

Okay, I assume you're still getting emails when this blog posts.  I am sorry for the departure lasting as long as it did.  World came crashing down, ran out of time, dedicated myself to tasks at hand.

If you're still with me, please indicate you are.  If there's something you need from me at this time, please let me know what it is.

I'd like to get things going again on Wednesday, when I'm not working.  Are you game, Engelhart, Embla, Pandred and Lothar?

If I don't hear from you, I'll try a direct email.