Yah I knew I was taking a risk by dashing away, but figured one opportunity attack was better than disengaging or staying put and not being able to get across the bridge, to be around for even more attacks the next round

The holidays are soon upon us.  I am not expecting anyone to be checking the forums during that time.  However, if you will be absent for more than a couple days, please let us know here in this thread.

If people continue to post moves then I will continue to move the story forward, as much as I can between the festivities.  I will also let you all know when I will be absent for more than a day.

I should still be able to post at least daily during the holidays, but won't be checking/able to post nearly as frequently as normal, since I have the whole week next week off, plus new years eve and day, which, ironically, leaves me LESS time to check/update on here, since I work from home and spend all day on a computer for work...

I'm a telecommuter as well, but the holidays shouldn't hinder me too much. I'm not taking any PTO aside from the standard holidays, but if anything changes I'll let you know.

Now that combat is over (for the moment), I have a few questions.

1) 208 XP is enough for Beegred and Narstin to reach level 2 (combined with the quaggoth that died during their slave shift). Is it "poof, you are L2", or will we need a long rest? (Or something else?)

2) I assume that we've cut the east bridge down too? I'm guessing at some point the quaggoths would return.

3) Starting equipment in the tower store room, but no spell components or arcane foci, correct?

Quote from Quasimodal >>

Now that combat is over (for the moment), I have a few questions.

1) 208 XP is enough for Beegred and Narstin to reach level 2 (combined with the quaggoth that died during their slave shift). Is it "poof, you are L2", or will we need a long rest? (Or something else?)

2) I assume that we've cut the east bridge down too? I'm guessing at some point the quaggoths would return.

3) Starting equipment in the tower store room, but no spell components or arcane foci, correct?

 1) Poof, you're level 2.

2) You tell me if the bridge is cut or not.  Your rest may not be as long as you think if it stays up.

3) All non-magical starter equipment is in the armory.  Shields that had emblems have had the emblems defaced, but the shields are there.  Any non weapon/armor object(s) are not in the armory.

Note: there are FOUR 100 foot long coils of silk rope.

Aww, channel divinity needs the holy symbol I don't get yet :(.  Guess I can't get 10 free healing that way.

For all of you to prepare for what's to come...

Escaping Velkinvelve is chapter 1.  Chapter 2 is all about making your way in the Underdark, avoiding being captured again, gaining experience and figuring out how things work.  You will all be required to find and drink clean water every day, and eat every 3 days + your CON modifier or suffer from exhaustion.

You will also have to manage your time, as individuals within the group, to rebuild what you've lost.  Things like emblems and arcane foci have a gp value in the equipment section of the players handbook.  And per the PHB, you can craft 5 gp worth of objects per day, using raw materials equal to half the market value of the item in question.

Out of the Abyss has a section on crafting, which I am copying an edited version for you to read:

Characters can use downtime during their travels to craft equipment, provided they are proficient with the necessary tools and have access to them (see “Downtime Activities” in chapter 8 of the Player’s Handbook). Having to improvise tools doubles the crafting time, and some items require materials that are hard to find in the Underdark, including wood and other surface-world plants. Leather, bone, or zurkhwood might substitute in some cases. Crafting can include modifying scavenged or salvaged items to fit other needs, such as creating a makeshift suit of armor from gathered pieces of armor and other materials.

I found a mention in Xanathar's (?) that says 1 day of crafting equals 8 hours, so that's what I'm going to use for this campaign.  

Tying this all together, say you want to craft an emblem for your shield:

PHB value for an emblem is 5 gp.  You're using improvised tools (assuming you have proficiency with the skill that fits with the material being used), so the time (time = cost) doubles the cost to 10gp (you still only need 2.5 gp worth of materials).  Per the downtime activities section of the PHB, every day (8 hours), you craft 5 gp worth of progress.  So crafting an emblem using improvised tools with materials you are proficient with, would take 16 hours of crafting time and 2.5 gp of materials to start with.

And the crafting time can be broken down to 1 hour intervals, and when it is reasonable to do so, individuals can work together to craft it.

Make sense?

One other thing!

When out of combat, please let me be the voice for the NPC's.  My intent is to avoid having more NPC's to control during battle than PC's playing.  I've even given you some guidance regarding your individual NPC's so you can have them speak during battle, to add your own personal flair.

However outside of battle, I have instructions, personalities and surprises to unveil as the DM.

I'm reluctant to post in the official thread until we have a plan, but I'm also worried if we take too long the feces is going to hit the spinning metal apparatus in spectacular fashion. Thoughts?

I want to clarify something I thought in my mind but probably never actually stated anywhere.  I request activity from all of you of 1 post per business day.  I'm not going to worry about weekends or holidays.  But the rest of the time, I want 1 post per day.

That doesn't mean 1 ACTION per day.  A post in the OOC thread counts, so if you all want to discuss and plan, you are welcome to do so.  Just keep in mind that you are playing through your characters, so you have to think and act based on what your characters know. IE:

This is what my character knows, ….

This is what my character thinks is happening, ...

This is what my character thinks we should do, ...

So if it takes a whole week of back and forth between the players in OOC to decide what to do, that is fine as long as participation is maintained in the OOC thread.  If I see that you are all coming to an impasse, then I will step in and force the issue.

Quasi, Vander, and bold...

I'm wondering about using the next five or six rounds (30 to 36 seconds of in-game time) to cycle our characters and NPC's through the process of making ranged attacks from the eastern door of the guard tower. I'm imagining a merry-go-round of sorts, and when each character/NPC reaches the open door, he or she fires away at a quaggoth (making the nearest quaggoth the priority). I estimate this would allow the following attacks per round:

• Beegred: 1 (crossbow)
• Narstin: 1 (spell)
• Eldeth: 2 (longbow)
• Tozer: 1 (javelin)
• Xilyrah: 1 (spell or crossbow)
• Jimjar: 1 (poisoned dart)

If we could sustain this for, let's say, five rounds, then that would be thirty five attack rolls, which should be sufficient to eliminate two, or maybe three, quaggoths. Join that with the possibility of Topsy and Turvy neutralizing the other ones...

My two cents for tonight. 

Not so much a merry-go-round per se, just leave the square at the door open for people to move into, attack, then move back to where they started.  Actually moving around in a circle wouldn't work so well in DND where you all have to go in order one at a time :P.  I like the plan though, try to get damage on the quaggoth while they can't easily fight back.  I'm just worried about what the drow to the south will be doing...

We decided that trying to control the main part of the drow station (and the lift) will not work, as our group is not strong enough right now. But looking back at the main thread post #1 map, the group has 100' ropes and this drow station is 100' up. If we are trying to get to the cavern floor (area NW of the guard tower), we are fine. From the lower altitude areas of the drow station, we have enough rope to get to the cavern floor.

We need to decide where to drop down. I'm worried about the webs (sticky & giant spiders) and the water below (quaggoths falling into it might have attracted piranha or something).

We retreated to the guard tower to get weapons and avoid the quaggoth rush. *If* we think we can kill off the remaining quaggoths to the north and east, then we should start going back to the platform outside the guard cell (M9 area). Can either melee fight with Topsy/Turvy or ranged attacks to assist them. Assuming we can control the northern area, spike one end of a rope to N1, spike the other end to the cavern floor at J(-1), then we all climb down. (The battle will also get all of the PCs to level 2.) This will avoid the webs and spiders... but it does mean a tough fight against quaggoths.

Other thing we could try is to cut the east bridge after getting Topsy & Turvy to return to the guard tower. Then use a rope to get from the eastern tower entrance to the lower tip of stalactite. Then another rope from there to the floor (D6). The guard tower should block the view of the Drow to the south. But we will have problems with the webs and any nearby spiders.

This might be a dumb question (I'm pretty new to all of this), but if we melee with the quaggoths, wouldn't the caltrops come in handy? Xilyrah could use Expeditious Retreat and get out to where Topsy and Turvy are in a couple rounds and throw out some caltrops for the quaggoths to stumble on.

If it's a terrible idea, I won't be offended. I'm spitballing.

Caltrops

Quote from Kerrec >>

Caltrops

 Thanks, DM.

If we begin to cross the bridge and engage in melee combat, the drow will be granted multiple rounds of ranged/spell attacks, it would seem. Likewise, descending 100' of rope will take multiple rounds--rounds that also allow the drow to fire away at us. But do we truly need to climb down the entirety of the rope?  An 80' freefall into the water might sting a bit, but it shouldn't cause much damage. 

I'm leaning toward the following:

1. Ranged attacks on the quaggoth for as many rounds as possible.
2. Running like Usain Bolt across the bridge and down the stairs.
3. Diving off the northermost landing (N1) like Greg Louganis
4. Swimming to the nearby shore like Michael Phelps.

With that said, I doubt we'll pull this off without sustaining a few casualties. Tozer votes for Ront to die first. 

Jack_Joke: Look at the map in post #1. The southwest bridge has been cut down, so they are standing on that narrow path to the west of the waterfall. From that position, they have zero angle on our group. They are either blocked by the guard tower stalactite, the waterfall itself, the webs (if shooting down), or the cliff face on the east side of the waterfall jutting out. I don't see how they can hit our group at all.

Hand crossbows have a regular range of 30'. That is the reason to cross back to the prison cell platform, to get close enough for ranged combat without disadvantage on hit rolls due to long range.

As for an 80' freefall into the water, (a) we don't know how deep the water is (80' dive into 10' water = severe injuries), and (b) we don't know what is in the water (underdark creatures swimming for prey??). The quaggoths fell in, but they also have a lot more HP than 1st level characters. Minimizing the fall and the time spent in the water would be best.

Having said that, Beegred also votes for Ront to dive in first, and stay in the water until everyone else is out.