Crimson Sands of Time

"That sounds like a good plan to me."

Trisk gets ready to enter.

Sam, invisible, sneaks into the dining hall to find four orcs eating a meal at the tables throughout the hall, all to his right, while a small stage or dais stands before him, with a lone table upon it, at which is sits, devouring a leg if mutton, an extremely large and hideous half-ogre: Kilsog.

Sam sneaks back into the kitchen and gives Tetrevess the go ahead.  T bursts into the dining hall, casting his spell sparking the embers of a fireball that blooms to fill the room.  The ogre at the table roars angrily when his dinner is interrupted. 

<i ha e to know the damage to the fireball. Sorry for rollong it, but this could wipe multi9le targets, potentially: 33

Orcs dex saves:

1 16

2 19

3 5

4 14

<DC20, they all fail. But not quite dead, so...>

The orcs scrambne to arms, gathering their weapons as they search for the perpetrator of this underganded attack, finding Tess bwfore them. Players are up.  Also, I forgot: We dont roll for things here.  Anyhow, go for it. How do you proceed? >

(no worries on rolling damage). "Plenty more where that came from.  I'd suggest surrender and tell us what you know.   We think you stole these goods from the people of the city.  Does that ring a bell? . " T says, as he targets the largest, scariest looking orc with Toll the Dead for 30 points of necrotic damage (DC 20 wis save to avoid) 

<Sorry, i should have mapped this for you. Fireball can hit the four orcs to the right, but the big half-ogre is up on the dais, opposite side of the room.  So, toll the dead on him doesn't make sense, but would for the 4 orcs.>

"Grunts!  Squish the mage!" Kilsog orders as he leaps down form the dais.   As he does so, Tetrevess targets an orc and drops hom witb the faint sound of bells ringing in the air.  The other three orcs ignore their dead comrade and set upon T. Overturning thetabke near the wall, an orc runs at the wizard and slashes with his swors.  Another orc at the other table jumps from chair to table and hurls an axe at him, as the final orc jogs to the fray and brings down his great axe on Tetrevess. 

The half ogre sneers as he brandishes his greatsword.  "Little magic man. You will pay for interruptig my meal."

(At some point im guessing the other PCs will enter. But its not like T is going to die here.)

Players are up.

Triskelion will walk in on the heels of Tetrevess and cast Slow on the remaining 3 orcs.

DC 19 WIS save.

"Let's all take a minute, I mean there's no reason to be hasty here!"

The orcs are slowed by Trisk's spell.  The bug guy rebuffs the illusionist, "You come to tak.  No take Kilrog's mear!" With this, he brings down his greatsword on Trisk. 

<I've been thinking maybe adding a little mechanics here, but all player-facing rolls. Everything the players do autohits and they all do max damage.  Monsters already do static damage. Just have players roll saves to avoid attacks.  I still don't know what I'd have you roll (which die, what modifiers, what's the target), but would people be on board with this idea, generally? >

Plauers are up.

(like the story first aspect.. but it's also good to have some rolls in there.  No firm opinion from me I guess)

T firebolts the big orc, and backs away from the front line

Sam carefully goes from orc to orc gutting them with his glaive 

Trisk will cast Shocking Grasp to rebuke the Half-Ogre's offense and receive a Blessing of the Raven Queen to teleport away and gain resistance to all damage until the start of his next turn.

"I'm not sure if my stomach could handle what you eat Kilrog!"

Here is a reference for how the proposed system works. I designed the system, but I did use AI to write this explanation. 

 On the system:

*If players like them, optional rules for Crits.

 <I almost forgot, I'm calling this mechanic a "Dodge Roll" 🙂🫨🙃🫠😵‍💫>

Sam: make a Dodge Roll, (described above: 1d20+ {your AC} -10,) DC 19 or take 23 slashing damage.

<incidentally, this system is proving very useful for converting from 3.5e l. So, even if we don't end up using it at all, it still works for this purpose.>

While Kilsog swings, Trisk grabs the ogre by the wrist, sending a shock through the barbarian's body.

As Triskelion teleports away, Kilsog sees him vanish just in time tonreveal the approaching firebolt Tess launched his way, too late to avoid it. 

Players can still act. If Sam doesnt move or kill Kilsog, hes just going to keep attacking Sam.

I think this system needs initiative to get people posting.  I'll call it here. 

Sam stands his ground and presses the assault in the hungry hakf-ogre.  Sam's glaive strikes Kilsog's sjoulder as he turns into the attack, ramming his massive body into the Fang of the World Serpent.  

Sam uses the other end of the glaive the smash the raging barbarian's stomach, whereupon he exhales a deep groaning  "Ghwaaeehh!" 

"Perhaps this will sate your hunger," Sam quips, turning the glaive to point the blade straight down, choking up on the weapon's neck as he lofts the long handle above his head, exposing himself to attacks, but leaping, before the giant-kin can counter, into the air and shoving the glaive down Kilsog's throat, the blade bursting feom his backand driving into the mortar of the stonework floor, pinning his corpse to ground.

The room is quiet.  A door to the sourh leads to a hallway, which leads to a set of stairs that descend to the east. The passageway leading to the west is unused, full of cobwebs, dust and debris. It should be obvious to the characters that all the traffic in this area heads east, down the stairs.

<technically you can go west.  There's nothing there. Youd get a random encounter and id rather not right now. I do mean random in the sense that there are pre-written encounters to ppace around the castle, and whoxh one you get is determined randomly.>

The double doors leading into this wide corridor is locked. The passageway leading to the west reaches an apparent dead end after 15 feet. A shallow, stagnant pool of water flows from this passageway to the east, underneath the double doors. This water forms from condensation and small leaks in the west wall,l.

A small alcove at the end of the western corridor conceals a secret stone door, which isnt very well hidden at present, as it is frequently used and has left a lot of scrapes on the floor, making it relatively easy to find.

So, do you want to follow the water under the double doors leading east or check out the secret door leading south (you're coming from the north)?

Secret door, it is:

This room is full of large crates, barrels, and leather bags piled along the walls. Two elevator shafts pass through the center of the room. The descending shaft is choked with rubble, making it impassable. The ascending shaft, along the far wall, appears to be in working order.

The crates are full of average-quality shields, simple weapons, tents, dried rations, and other basic supplies. These goods bear the marks of various trading companies, making it difficult to sell them legally in Greyhawk. The barrels and crates in front of the east wall of the room are full of blankets and rough woven cloth, making them relatively light. 

The ascending shaft contains a hand-operated elevator that ascends up the Tower of War, making stops on both the second and third floors. Once on the first level, characters must find their way to the stairs leading up to the surface ruins. 

The elevator shaft going down has collapsed and cannot be traversed without first digging out the entire  shaft.

The water trickling into this room comes from underneath the west wall, flowing down the shaft and into the rubble behind the southeastern door.

There are also double doors in the southwest corner of the room, but someone has piled up a number of heavy crates in front of them.

There is also a door in the southeast corner.

 What do you want to do?

<Ok, rather than "initiative" we're going to call this the "spotlight".  So, I'll say who I'm asking "what do you do?" They can respond and indicate the next person to get the spotlight, or I'll move it myself.  Just because the spotlight is not on you doesn't mean you're not on stage.  You can still say or do anything. It's not one person's turn. Its just that I am asking one person "what do you want to do?" But anyone can respond to it if it makes sense.>

Spotlight: 4

Sam, what do YOU want to do?

<ooc: @shimshon123 is Picollo around/ foing to dhow up at some point.  Im using d4 for this, but if shes not there im switxhing to d3. It actually landed on her just now.>