I'm going to push this encounter forward into a pre-planned encounter during day 43. Between my offline game and this one, I'm pretty tired of coming up with escaped slave backstories and having to keep track of them all.
Sorry for the absence this week. It's been a pretty trying week for the family. Luckily this coincided with US Thanksgiving, so I hope everyone was busy anyway.
Since Beegred has spider climb, I think find out what is ahead (past the web floor) and report back. Then the others can decide if the the northern route should be checked.
Where do you want to move to with your spider climb?
Row 13, maybe a foot or two up the wall, get to Q13, carefully peek around corner, crawl back along that same wall.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM) Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy) DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
That will be your turn when I roll initiative for combat. Everyone gets 1 'turn' to do something non-combat before I roll. Movement is allowed, if you want to improve your positioning.
That will be your turn when I roll initiative for combat. Everyone gets 1 'turn' to do something non-combat before I roll. Movement is allowed, if you want to improve your positioning.
In that case, Beegred will try to find some cover (if possible) where he is on the wall, and has the magic short sword ready. He will be about 15' up, so he can reach the ground in 1 round of movement.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM) Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy) DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
Quote from Winenose >> (I don't understand where the enemies are on the map)
Besides the one Drow that was clocked by the rock, we don't know. They are probably have a camp somewhere to the NE, but they might attack from the east passage, or that northern corridor.
If the party wants to run to the west, that's fine with me, but someone has to suggest it.
I think Beegred would hope to kill these guys before they can report to the other Drow that the "prison escapees" were found.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM) Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy) DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
Beegred would have noticed that the east-west tunnels are frequently traveled and show plenty of foot traffic. The northern tunnel is slick with water creating a muddy looking floor, which is currently devoid of any tracks. The western edge of the northern tunnel has a small stream flowing along it, about 6 inches wide at the narrowest places. It would be hard to walk in that little stream to avoid leaving tracks in the mud. Nothing has been that way (that shows tracks on the floor) for some time.
and I assume they are working with old intel and not expecting a big stealthy murder machine to be with the party - but it sounds like they aren't engaging so I won't be able to sneak attack anyone yet :(
Each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in difficult terrain) when you’re climbing, swimming, or crawling. You ignore this extra cost if you have a climbing speed and use it to climb or a swimming speed and use it to swim. At the DM’s option, climbing a slippery vertical surface or one with few handholds requires a successful Strength (Athletics) check. Similarly, gaining any distance in rough water might require a successful Strength (Athletics) check.
A 15 foot rope would require 30 ft of movement. Since you cast it next to a cave wall, I won't require a skill check to get to the top. However! There's no way Skameros can climb with all the food he's carrying. He'll have to drop it all.
Narstin will have to take a turn to Doff his shield, so he has two free hands to climb.
If Beegred has two weapons drawn, it will take a turn for him to sheathe both.
@Rodolfo: Your INT is high enough you would realize the above. If you want, you can change your action. I think Rope Trick is meant to be a safe place to take short rests while in hostile territory, not necessarily during actual combat. Or a good place to spring a trap from. Stuff like that. It also only lasts 1 hour, in case you are not aware.
Hmm, as far as I understood then we saw one guy, heard a few more, then darkness fell in between and footsteps were running away. My assumption is that by the end of the next round all of our party is in the Rope Trick and the rope has been pulled in so that we're all positively invisible. This sounds like a good idea in combat given the assumption that we might not be pursued in said two rounds and we are heading in the direction we would be heading anyways if we were to try to completely free.
But.. on a metagaming level - the stuff we seem to be facing given the initiatives rolled sounds like a several times deadly encounter anyways and we would need to be running away anyways. So the Rope Trick might be the only somewhat viable alternative to just complete flight.
Hmm, as far as I understood then we saw one guy, heard a few more, then darkness fell in between and footsteps were running away. My assumption is that by the end of the next round all of our party is in the Rope Trick and the rope has been pulled in so that we're all positively invisible. This sounds like a good idea in combat given the assumption that we might not be pursued in said two rounds and we are heading in the direction we would be heading anyways if we were to try to completely free.
But.. on a metagaming level - the stuff we seem to be facing given the initiatives rolled sounds like a several times deadly encounter anyways and we would need to be running away anyways. So the Rope Trick might be the only somewhat viable alternative to just complete flight.
Rodolfo is the smart one out of the group. Like you said, the Darkness that conceals their movements will also hide the party's. If the party "disappears" into the Rope Trick, I would think the bulk of the enemies would chase to the west, assuming we fled back the way we came. The best place to hide is behind the perimeter of the search group.
After the bulk of them continue west, the party can drop down a short time later to attack their camp (which will be lightly defended at that point), scatter their supplies to slow them down, and maybe get some goodies.
It will be bad that one of them will definitely get away to spread the news (we will have to mix in some fast marches soon to get some separation), but doing a guerrilla strike on their camp instead of fighting their front-liners is the safer choice.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM) Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy) DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
You are right to evaluate what you are facing and choose whether to fight or not.
However, the initiative is all mixed up. Some of your party will be up the rope trick, others won't be during any given enemy turn. If any of the enemy come out of that darkness, they will see where you are all going. And your rope trick lasts 1 hour, which you are setting up in the general area where they seem to have set up their camp/hideout.
I'm going to reveal my hand a little bit in the spoiler below. If you want to know what's coming and where I'm at, then by all means, go ahead and read it.
As a player, I'm not a fan of railroading. Yet here I am a DM and I'm going to do it. Why?
Well, this module is crazy busy with stuff to keep track of:
It is supposed to be a great escape/chase all the way to the surface. The DM has to keep the tension, the sense of being stalked going at all times.
In the first part, it is supposed to be a survivor story - stealing, scrounging, finding, bartering for or making the things you need.
It has a huge cast of NPC's that tag along to also escape. Many have complicated backstories. For example, I explained Derendil's and he's not really all that complex. Just an animal with a bit of implanted language and memories. Look at Jimjar, he's supposed to be a chronic gambler that can't resist a good wager. Yet he's honest, always remembers what he owes and pays up when he has currency. But I can't bring myself to constantly fabricate situations to wager over, nor keep track of who owes what to who, and so on. We're getting to the point where we're almost out of NPC's in the party, but there are more coming!
The first part of the module is supposed to be open ended. You could have chosen to go to any of the points of interest, not just Neverlight then Blingdenstone. Each of those points of interest have interlinked 'quests' and to pull those off via narrative, you need to know the whole module in and out at any given time. I've read the first half of the module front to back and back to front many times and each time I realize I forgot something, or didn't do something as well as I could have. Trying to drop story hooks to introduce all those things doesn't seem achievable.
I don't really find I am doing a good job emphasizing all those points. There's not much back and forth with the NPC's (not your fault), I think only Narstin actually crafted anything while Rodolfo took the opportunity to learn a language, and I'm not sure if it is my doing, but your group is doing the exact same thing my offline group is doing (same places, mostly the same NPC's.) Anyway...
This next scripted encounter I will be running you through before getting to Blingdenstone is supposed to start with a tunnel collapse and you just happen to be at the right place at the right time to not only survive the collapse, but find a way out.
I found the premise to be a bit lazy.
So I am taking the opportunity to embellish how you find this next place with my own personal touch. And while doing it, reaffirm that you ARE being chased. The drow are not giving up, and they are mobilizing an unjustified amount of force to find and capture you. Whatever is driving them goes beyond your financial value as a slave.
So yes, your metagaming is correct. You may cut down several of these Drow forces, but in the end, MY goal is to force you to take a detour. If playing out a pre-determined outcome doesn't appeal to you, and I wouldn't blame you, I would be fine to 'narrate' this drow encounter and get started with the scripted part.
Don't beat yourself up too badly I think you're doing a great job of tracking the stuff you have been throughout the game. I came in late to the game but personally though the whole crafting/learning stuff was just more things to distract from the actual story - I'm sure it plays slightly different in PBP vs IRL at a table, or maybe because my characters came in already equipped there was never a need to craft things (weapons etc). This module seems way more technical (more like something 4E would have) than the slightly looser form 5E generally takes - that could be your DM'ing style or it could just be how the module is written - either way I applaud your skills to run this (both here and IRL) your attention to details etc it really has brought an interesting twist to what might be a standard dungeon crawl - I try not to be a difficult player so hopefully its not anything I've done. In the end we're all here to have fun, and that's what is really important.
Results:
Narstin is off to a great start! 2 hours wasted.
Guard duty during long rest:
Random Encounter (DC 14+):
I'm going to push this encounter forward into a pre-planned encounter during day 43. Between my offline game and this one, I'm pretty tired of coming up with escaped slave backstories and having to keep track of them all.
Sorry for the absence this week. It's been a pretty trying week for the family. Luckily this coincided with US Thanksgiving, so I hope everyone was busy anyway.
That being said...
Where do you want to move to with your spider climb?
Row 13, maybe a foot or two up the wall, get to Q13, carefully peek around corner, crawl back along that same wall.
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec
Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM)
Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
The Alarm spell encompasses up to a 20 foot CUBE. So climbing doesn't help. Fun times ahead.
That will be your turn when I roll initiative for combat. Everyone gets 1 'turn' to do something non-combat before I roll. Movement is allowed, if you want to improve your positioning.
In that case, Beegred will try to find some cover (if possible) where he is on the wall, and has the magic short sword ready. He will be about 15' up, so he can reach the ground in 1 round of movement.
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec
Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM)
Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
Besides the one Drow that was clocked by the rock, we don't know. They are probably have a camp somewhere to the NE, but they might attack from the east passage, or that northern corridor.
If the party wants to run to the west, that's fine with me, but someone has to suggest it.
I think Beegred would hope to kill these guys before they can report to the other Drow that the "prison escapees" were found.
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec
Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM)
Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
Beegred would have noticed that the east-west tunnels are frequently traveled and show plenty of foot traffic. The northern tunnel is slick with water creating a muddy looking floor, which is currently devoid of any tracks. The western edge of the northern tunnel has a small stream flowing along it, about 6 inches wide at the narrowest places. It would be hard to walk in that little stream to avoid leaving tracks in the mud. Nothing has been that way (that shows tracks on the floor) for some time.
and I assume they are working with old intel and not expecting a big stealthy murder machine to be with the party - but it sounds like they aren't engaging so I won't be able to sneak attack anyone yet :(
Skameros - Bugbear Barbarian - Out of the Abyss - By Kerrec
Follow your Arrow where it Points - Tabaxi Monk - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
Citron Pumpkinfoam - Fairy Monk - Project Point: Team Longsword
Before we lock in Rodolfo's action (Rope Trick), here's how it's going to work:
Climbing:
Each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in difficult terrain) when you’re climbing, swimming, or crawling. You ignore this extra cost if you have a climbing speed and use it to climb or a swimming speed and use it to swim. At the DM’s option, climbing a slippery vertical surface or one with few handholds requires a successful Strength (Athletics) check. Similarly, gaining any distance in rough water might require a successful Strength (Athletics) check.
A 15 foot rope would require 30 ft of movement. Since you cast it next to a cave wall, I won't require a skill check to get to the top. However! There's no way Skameros can climb with all the food he's carrying. He'll have to drop it all.
Narstin will have to take a turn to Doff his shield, so he has two free hands to climb.
If Beegred has two weapons drawn, it will take a turn for him to sheathe both.
@Rodolfo: Your INT is high enough you would realize the above. If you want, you can change your action. I think Rope Trick is meant to be a safe place to take short rests while in hostile territory, not necessarily during actual combat. Or a good place to spring a trap from. Stuff like that. It also only lasts 1 hour, in case you are not aware.
Oh yes - I forgot - I'd like to have shrugged off the excess food before I hid if that's cool - if not I'll wait for my turn.
Skameros - Bugbear Barbarian - Out of the Abyss - By Kerrec
Follow your Arrow where it Points - Tabaxi Monk - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
Citron Pumpkinfoam - Fairy Monk - Project Point: Team Longsword
It will always be assumed players drop their packs when initiative is rolled.
Excellent
Skameros - Bugbear Barbarian - Out of the Abyss - By Kerrec
Follow your Arrow where it Points - Tabaxi Monk - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
Citron Pumpkinfoam - Fairy Monk - Project Point: Team Longsword
Hmm, as far as I understood then we saw one guy, heard a few more, then darkness fell in between and footsteps were running away. My assumption is that by the end of the next round all of our party is in the Rope Trick and the rope has been pulled in so that we're all positively invisible. This sounds like a good idea in combat given the assumption that we might not be pursued in said two rounds and we are heading in the direction we would be heading anyways if we were to try to completely free.
But.. on a metagaming level - the stuff we seem to be facing given the initiatives rolled sounds like a several times deadly encounter anyways and we would need to be running away anyways. So the Rope Trick might be the only somewhat viable alternative to just complete flight.
Rodolfo is the smart one out of the group. Like you said, the Darkness that conceals their movements will also hide the party's. If the party "disappears" into the Rope Trick, I would think the bulk of the enemies would chase to the west, assuming we fled back the way we came. The best place to hide is behind the perimeter of the search group.
After the bulk of them continue west, the party can drop down a short time later to attack their camp (which will be lightly defended at that point), scatter their supplies to slow them down, and maybe get some goodies.
It will be bad that one of them will definitely get away to spread the news (we will have to mix in some fast marches soon to get some separation), but doing a guerrilla strike on their camp instead of fighting their front-liners is the safer choice.
Beegred Thornpost - Lvl 8 Halfling Ranger - Out of the Abyss by Kerrec
Drusk - Lvl 8 Half-Orc Life Cleric - The Long Road: Dragon Heist by Mingofaust (player & current DM)
Hunferho Aelorothi - Lvl 5 Half-Elf Bard/Rogue - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
DM - Frontier City of Nunkreet (ended)
except I think they are running away - to warn the others and come back with their force to recapture you.
sucks I wasted inspiration and a nat 20 for nothing
EDIT: re-reading it maybe its a larger force then - since the voice said to engage us - but someone is riding off to gather more people?
dunno since only certain members understand elvish - seems like Skaramos is going to stay invisible on the wall.
Skameros - Bugbear Barbarian - Out of the Abyss - By Kerrec
Follow your Arrow where it Points - Tabaxi Monk - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
Citron Pumpkinfoam - Fairy Monk - Project Point: Team Longsword
You are right to evaluate what you are facing and choose whether to fight or not.
However, the initiative is all mixed up. Some of your party will be up the rope trick, others won't be during any given enemy turn. If any of the enemy come out of that darkness, they will see where you are all going. And your rope trick lasts 1 hour, which you are setting up in the general area where they seem to have set up their camp/hideout.
I'm going to reveal my hand a little bit in the spoiler below. If you want to know what's coming and where I'm at, then by all means, go ahead and read it.
As a player, I'm not a fan of railroading. Yet here I am a DM and I'm going to do it. Why?
Well, this module is crazy busy with stuff to keep track of:
I don't really find I am doing a good job emphasizing all those points. There's not much back and forth with the NPC's (not your fault), I think only Narstin actually crafted anything while Rodolfo took the opportunity to learn a language, and I'm not sure if it is my doing, but your group is doing the exact same thing my offline group is doing (same places, mostly the same NPC's.) Anyway...
This next scripted encounter I will be running you through before getting to Blingdenstone is supposed to start with a tunnel collapse and you just happen to be at the right place at the right time to not only survive the collapse, but find a way out.
I found the premise to be a bit lazy.
So I am taking the opportunity to embellish how you find this next place with my own personal touch. And while doing it, reaffirm that you ARE being chased. The drow are not giving up, and they are mobilizing an unjustified amount of force to find and capture you. Whatever is driving them goes beyond your financial value as a slave.
So yes, your metagaming is correct. You may cut down several of these Drow forces, but in the end, MY goal is to force you to take a detour. If playing out a pre-determined outcome doesn't appeal to you, and I wouldn't blame you, I would be fine to 'narrate' this drow encounter and get started with the scripted part.
Don't beat yourself up too badly I think you're doing a great job of tracking the stuff you have been throughout the game. I came in late to the game but personally though the whole crafting/learning stuff was just more things to distract from the actual story - I'm sure it plays slightly different in PBP vs IRL at a table, or maybe because my characters came in already equipped there was never a need to craft things (weapons etc). This module seems way more technical (more like something 4E would have) than the slightly looser form 5E generally takes - that could be your DM'ing style or it could just be how the module is written - either way I applaud your skills to run this (both here and IRL) your attention to details etc it really has brought an interesting twist to what might be a standard dungeon crawl - I try not to be a difficult player so hopefully its not anything I've done. In the end we're all here to have fun, and that's what is really important.
Skameros - Bugbear Barbarian - Out of the Abyss - By Kerrec
Follow your Arrow where it Points - Tabaxi Monk - Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus (by Pokepaladdy)
Citron Pumpkinfoam - Fairy Monk - Project Point: Team Longsword