Tests and Trials Game Thread

"A group waiting ahead, and one chasing behind with spiders in tow. If we pull back we may be able to catch the pursuers by surprise as they round the bend and draw them into a melee, but we would have to cut the light."

((If it helps you decide - Dashing back this round would put you around the unconscious drow and around another dash from the stairs back to the Librarian's level and the main center corridor where Lurn hears the 'pursuers'.))

((I feel kinda lost, and Kroshav's not picking any of this up, but an ambush sounds like good tactics to him. He'll go along with whatever plan Lurn's good ears and Jaq's good eyes suggest.))

((I'll make up a zoomed out map and with you in it so you can see where you're at and where the noises are coming from but here is a big map of the entire floor.'

Okay, this help?

You are all in the top left corner. Lurn can hear things, a ways off, right around that corner in the top left. Lurn has also just heard sounds coming from the large, middle east-west corridor.

))

"Mebbe me and Clad wait in there, then when the come through, we jump out and pop em?"

((Yes, that helps a ton. It sounds like north noises are closer to Lurn? If he is okay with waiting where the party is, along the west wall, Kroshav and Clad can slip into the room to our east that connects to the north corridor. Let the light of Lurn's shield peek around the corner, and let the drow draw close, then retreat down the west slightly to bring them in to the corner. If Kroshav uses his Channel Divinity of Sacred Weapon to light up Sword, could that be done in such a way that it only lights up the blade, so he'd be able to have her sheathed and lit, but not casting light? Does being sheathed affect her 'sight'? She's seemed to have been able to see through things in the past. If Kroshav and Clad are lying in wait with a lit but hidden Sword, Lurn is moving the light source farther down, when the drow pass the door, Kroshav and Clad jump out and take them from behind, Joe and Jaq blast them from the corner, and Lurn moves back in to provide cover for the ranged folk.))

((With his 25 on that perception Lurn would place them about the same distance away but the north group isn't moving and the south group is moving quickly towards you.))

((Ah... Clad and Kroshav to the middle room, Lurn and Co ducking into corner room and same ploy vs the south pursuers?))

(Jaq is in the doorway of the middle room now, where should he be?  stay put or move somewhere else?)

((I had Jaq moved up nearer the rest of the group, but he can make the middle room without much problem. ))

I'd agree with some of us going to that previous room, and Lurn can duck into the one on the corner, leave the door he went through open just a little so that light can still come out just a little.  The southern group should light a torch, but keep it well hidden until the ambush happens so that no light can leak under the door.

((Okay, where is everyone going to go and what are you doing for light for each group?))

((Is he able to light just the blade of Sword and keep her sheathed, a la Sting from LotR?))

( As the newest member of the party and a former mercenary solider who never rose above the rank of common infantry Cladmir is just going to stand ready for someone to tell him what to do, especially in this dark place he is totally unfamiliar with.  Basically anyone in the party can just whisper ‘Follow me’ and he will follow. )

((@Spider, sure! It was how I was picturing the light anyhow.))

So Kroshav will tap Clad and scurry south with him, tracing fingers along the wall to their left, Sword just drawn enough for them to see, before ducking into the room and setting up on either side of the entrance, out of view from the hallway.

Because it looks like we’re gonna get close and personal Cladmir is going to pull out the rapier for some close up stabby action.

And then Lurn and the ranged combatants into the corner room, unless Jaq wants to be in close with Kroshav and Clad.  Lurn will be leaving the door cracked open slightly so a little light can come out, and listening intently.

(I wish I could use Guidance here just to be sure, but it's concentration too.  Well, a fight should make enough noise to be easily heard anyway.)

((Okay, I will make a map with what I understand to be your positions today for your approvals.))

The party splits, the range attackers going to the NW room and the melee boys going to the room just south. Both parties cough a bit at the smell of the rotting bodies in both of the rooms.

((How does this placement look to you?

 ))

((Looks good to me, as long as  K and C are tucked in enough not to be visible. He'll ask Sword to keep him up to date on the drow progress.))