Waiting on Beegred and Valthana to post their actions.

All ya'll still in/near the cell: just a reminder there is a brimming full chamber pot of liquid body waste just inside the cell door, where Ferri left it. There's another deeper inside, along the wall (not sure which one.) ;-)

DM: What's the state of the door leading out of the other side of the guard tower? If it's open, which direction does it swing, and is there anything blocking it from doing so?

Quote from Kerrec >>

Waiting on Beegred and Valthana to post their actions.

 You are waiting on Valthana to post.

Beegred's action was written the same time as Sarith's, in post 256.

Oops.  Will go look at that.

Beegred, you posted an improvised action with one attack, and a punch with another attack.  If I let that pass, you're encroaching on the Monk class.

Two-weapon fighting allows you to attack as a bonus action if you are holding a light weapon in each hand.  To make this work, here is what I'm going to rule:  

You have one manacle with a length of chain, which you wield like a flail (still improvised).  In the other hand you have the manacle, with no chain.  You throw this other manacle, an  improvised weapon and do your 1 damage.

But going forward, two weapon fighting has specific requirements.

Quote from Kerrec >>

Beegred, you posted an improvised action with one attack, and a punch with another attack.  If I let that pass, you're encroaching on the Monk class.

Two-weapon fighting allows you to attack as a bonus action if you are holding a light weapon in each hand.  To make this work, here is what I'm going to rule:  

You have one manacle with a length of chain, which you wield like a flail (still improvised).  In the other hand you have the manacle, with no chain.  You throw this other manacle, an  improvised weapon and do your 1 damage.

But going forward, two weapon fighting has specific requirements.

Sorry about that.

I forgot the "light" weapon requirement for two weapons, and that the improvised weapon wouldn't be light. (Odd that unarmed strikes are "simple" and not "light", but that's how it is written.)

Edit: Crap, that Drow is going to get a free swing. I'm assuming Beegred has to end his turn on an open spot, even though he can move freely through occupied spots.

Kerrec, can we get a description of the door in E11? Is there furniture in the way of it, as was the case with the cell-facing door? Or is it able to be closed easily?

Also: is there anything on the table?

The door can be closed to block line of sight, but it is not defensible in any way.  A good kick will knock it open unless someone stands against it.

The table has some kind of bones and dice the drow were using to play a game of some sort.  

The hooks along the wall are empty, even though Tozer had seen plenty of gear hung up when he crossed through after his work detail.

Quote from Kerrec >>

Quote from VanderLegion >>

(Totally realized too late that I should have had Derendil try to grapple the guard that was by the bridge instead of attacking.  Does he get across the bridge or only partway?)

 The bridges are not difficult terrain for the drow.  The bridge is 30 feet long, so the fleeing drow is right at the end of the bridge.  I'll wait a bit longer tonight, hopefully Narstin and Xilyra will post their actions then I can update the map.

 (The same would be true for derendil as well as a quaggoth right?)

No. The module specifically says difficult terrain for non-drow. 

Oh, shoot, I forgot Ferriman is still on the bridge when Eldeth's turn comes. I was paying more attention to who was where in the guard tower after the moves that weren't yet updated on the map. So can we have her queue up to cross, instead? 

At a table, this wouldn't happen because of instant feedback.  It's harder with PbP.

If others want, I can ease up on the initiative order for characters acting between hostile NPC's.  For example, in this current initiative order: Narstin, Eldeth, Tozer, Xilyra, Derendil, Buppido, Jimjar and Ferriman, I would resolve their actions as they post, so Ferriman and Eldeth would move at the same time, avoiding having two people on a bridge at once.  This would make it easier for you to see what is happening in order of who posts first, but some who post at odd hours may feel like they're always going last.

How do all of you want this to work?

For streamlining the adventure, I prefer players posting in any order between hostile NPC's. 

Is there anything Derendil could use to try to cut the rope bridge away with an action?  Or maybe hang on to the ropes and jump on the bridge to try to cause the drow to fall off?  (Do drow have to do the dex check to not fall if there's more than 1 on the bridge?  And could holding on give advantage on the same roll for derendil)?

I think keeping init as rolled is important, otherwise it negates characters' init bonuses. (Not that it did much good for Ferriman and his +3 this battle! LOL)

Maybe having a little bit of takeback room when unforeseen things happen b/c of overlooked rules or situations would help, especially if no/few other turns are posted after the one with the unforeseen consequence. At a table, like you said, there's feedback from the GM and the other players, and moves are decided on the fly through a process of elimination and questioning. "Oh, move X will be half movement for difficult terrain? What if I were to do move Y--would I be able to see the target from there? Oh, I can't go through that object? Well, is my character able to try to climb over this other object via move Z as a shortcut? Okay, yeah, I'll do that and roll my Dexterity to see if I make it up so I can attack, and if I don't make it up, I'll just use the rest of my movement to get as far along move X as I can to set up for the next turn."

It's tough to do the back-and-forth like that in PbP, but I think if the player were warned "You can't do what you thought you could do," that player could easily settle on a single, easier-to-complete action. Once a die gets rolls, though, we're unfortunately risking gaming the dice. In the above example, a player shouldn't be able to change their mind after the Dex roll was failed, after they were  informed of the consequence of all 3 options.

For example, in turn #1 I thought I could have Ferry go through Beegred's space like the other characters could; I didn't realize that since we were both halflings, he wasn't able to do so. Had I known as I was making that move, I'd have had Ferry stay on the SE side of the bridge and wait until Beegred moved out of the doorway rather than clogging up traffic for everyone else by moving to the door and stopping dead on the bridge. This move could easily have been taken back and fixed as such, since no dice were rolled.

With this last turn I spent a lot of time and effort scrolling back to previous posts and comparing them to the last map update to figure out where Beegred and Bemeril actually were (vs where their tokens are), what empty spaces were available in the tower, and where I could put my two characters so as not to accidentally block the entrance for a second turn. Preoccupied with all this, in my mind I was doing their turns at the same time, and I completely overlooked the turn order. (Totally my bad.) Had I realized, while moving Eldeth sequentially and passing her through Ferry's mini on a tabletop, that it would place two people on the bridge at once, I'd have instead made her find and throw another rock, or simply queue up behind the gnomes to cross as soon as the bridge was clear. But Eldeth's die was rolled in the same post as the warning of the two-person limit on the bridge...and it's a failure. That makes it tougher to take back, because doing so could easily be assumed to be a reaction to the roll failure rather than the hypothetical risk of an overlooked scenario.

I have a hunch the complexity of this particular map, with its limited space and difficult terrain with deadly consequences, isn't helping things at all.

All that said, here's Ferry's Dex save, if it's needed: 18

Well, I made the mistake of rolling Eldeth's Dex save. I shouldn't have for this exact reason, since I'm letting all of you play the NPCs in battle.  I should have called for a Dex save to be rolled and you could have changed your mind before the roll.

So we learn from this. I will allow this move to be undone, if you don't want to play out falling off the bridge.

Quote from Kerrec >>

Well, I made the mistake of rolling Eldeth's Dex save. I shouldn't have for this exact reason, since I'm letting all of you play the NPCs in battle.  I should have called for a Dex save to be rolled and you could have changed your mind before the roll.

So we learn from this. I will allow this move to be undone, if you don't want to play out falling off the bridge.

 Was actually looking for an acknowledgement that you want the move undone, or not.

I work a late shift & just woke up.

Yes, I'd like Eldeth to stay put. I assume she can't currently see the fleeing drow--it's at the end of the bridge, right? So she'll just wait.

Are dash actions holdable? If so, she could hold until it's clear, then dash.

Ferry's move should still be okay; he moves into the doorway where the fleeing drow was and makes an attack + monk unarmed attack.

Yes, Dash actions can be held.  But a dash action alone won't cross the bridge (The movement part of your turn can't be held).  Do you want Eldeth in the middle of the bridge after Ferriman moves off it?