Attacking Shoor threw me for a loop. What to do with a hyper violent drow when "assaulted" by a slave? To you it may seem like what Shoor is doing is me copping out and going easy on you. Which is half true, as the point is to escape, not die.
It took me some time to figure out what to do, but I'm rather proud of this, so bear with me. What is happening to Shoor actually ties into the overarching plot of this campaign and is one of the many cues and clues I'm trying to slowly reveal to you all.
Valthana begins to tighten her grip on the meat in her hands when Narstin speaks, attempting to place the drow under a spell. She halts to watch what happens. As the drow then begins performing the same strange ritual over and over, Valthana frowns. She is ushered back to work with a furrowed brow. She keeps an eye out for anything she can use to escape.
Perception: 18
I gave Tozer a freebie with the bolt, as he was the first to try, but I'm not going to keep doing this. I can't just keep feeding you "stuff" as you "ask" for it while hoping the dice rolls in your favor. It has to work the other way. You have to imagine what kind of things you could potentially find that would be useful to engineer a breakout. Let me try to give you a broader picture:
Obviously the whole complex is carved out of solid stone, but it's a bit rough. Drow are not the stone workers that dwarves are known to be.
The landings, stairs, bridges, furniture, dishes and some cutlery are made of a wood like product that is actually a type of mushroom.
Anything resembling rope is actually spider silk spun by the drow to be non-sticky. The bridges in the outpost are anchored on each side by thick strands of these. And these ropes fray. There are plenty of bits and strands lying around.
Gates and other metals used to reinforce structures or items are made from some kind of iron or bronze and look crude compared to the craftsmanship of a dwarf. Weapons and armor look much better crafted. The drow priestesses wear an armor that looks like a hardened fabric made of spider webs and the rank and file drow wear chain mail and swords that appear simple and pragmatic, probably not drow in origin.
There is very little waste lying around as everything gets thrown into the waterfall and ends up in the pool on the cavern floor. But you do get tasked to do the throwing out, so things like left over food, bones, grease and whatnot are often in your hands.
I completely forgot that Beegred and Narstin broke their chains. I was supposed to "check" them at the appropriate time to see if they got caught. But I forgot and that's my mistake.
So I'm going to rule that you got your hands on strands of hair (beard, head, or other parts...), and tied the chains back together. Making sure to take very good care to not pull your handiwork apart, you can fool a cursory look in your direction. The drow don't look very intensely as it would grant you too much favor from them, and the quaggoth are not very bright. However, you definitely want to avoid having the drow or quaggoth pull you along by the chains.
I completely forgot that Beegred and Narstin broke their chains.
When the group eventually makes a prison break, can the length of chain be used as a weapon? I figured it might be like a whip (1d4 slashing) without the "reach" option, but I wanted to check what you had in mind.
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)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As Ferriman settles in for the time being, waiting for a sign from the other, more experienced prisoners who are planning an escape, the halfling will start looking around the cell for his own methods or ways to help. His first point of interest will be the bars and gate to the cell; the quaggoth really went at them a bit ago.
Ferry will get up, casually pace the cell to sneak a closer look, and see if the bars were damaged or loosened in any way from the quaggoth's rage. Then he'll go sit back in his place against the wall beside Tozer and Jimjar.
10
(Flat roll because I wasn't sure which applied, Ferry's Investigation (+1) or Perception (+2).)
edit: LOL off to a good start! A 3 and a 2 for my first two rolls!
Attacking Shoor threw me for a loop. What to do with a hyper violent drow when "assaulted" by a slave? To you it may seem like what Shoor is doing is me copping out and going easy on you. Which is half true, as the point is to escape, not die.
It took me some time to figure out what to do, but I'm rather proud of this, so bear with me. What is happening to Shoor actually ties into the overarching plot of this campaign and is one of the many cues and clues I'm trying to slowly reveal to you all.
On the plus side, at least I didn't actually physically assault him trying to kill him. The command itself was completely harmless, if INCREDIBLY insulting and whatnot. Granted, that's only because the command spell CAN'T cause them to harm themselves. Otherwise I'd have been trying to command him to jump off the nearest ledge...
And look ont he bright side, at least I only commanded him to flee. I considered commanding him to Grovel instead, which I'm pretty sure would have been much worse. Especially if it'd worked...
If I do get myself killed though, I totally won't be upset or blame you, totally not your fault. I knew full well that casting a hostile spell on a dark elf overlord at the very least had good odds of getting me tortured/severely punished if not killed. But narstin's ideal is helping those in need, no matter the personal cost, and his bond is that he'll protect those who cannot protect themselves (Bridge 4!), so I figured there was no way he'd stand by and not do SOMETHING when a child is telepathically begging for help and sobbing in terror. Also, wasn't actually part of my thinking at the time, but his flaw is "I overlook obvious solutions in favor of complicated ones", which the Command attempt might fit as well. All in all, that would have been a GREAT post to get inspiration...if I didn't already have it :P.
Man, I (As the player) REALLY wanna try to steal Shoor's wand while he's in his loop, but Narstin doesn't really have any reason to do so, not being able to use it for anything himself and not actually knowing right now if anyone else would be able to do so :P.
Beegred really wants to take advantage of only having 1 guard around, but dislikes more the epic beatdown he would get from the quaggoth if they went head-to-head.
He will try to get that frayed rope strand that Narstin was working on, but not if it reveals the state of his chains. Sleight-of-hand: 4 (OOC: what the holy hell...)
I'm going to alter the above and make you try at a different length of frayed rope, to take advantage of your critical failure to set up an unexpected scene.
Who knows, maybe taking the wand away would break his loop...
Yah, I thought of that too. If I had a good IC reason to take it (Like if I was a class that could actually use it as a focus), I'd probably take the chance. But it doesn't do me any good, and Narstin doesn't know whether or not it would do anyone else any good, so no real reason to risk it.
Are we able to spend inspiration after the roll, or only before? Too late for the attempts to get the rope, but could possibly give it to beegred to try for a higher athletics check if it can be done after. If I'd thought of it, I' might have used it for my own sleight of hand...course, then we wouldn't have gotten this wonderful sticky situation. Shoving the quaggoth off (if we even can) stops him from reporting the broken chain (I'm assuming its a long fall that's likely to kill it or at least severely injure? Speaking of, how far down is it from the lift?), but might possibly get us in more trouble than the broken chain if we're seen or it's decided we did it as opposed to an accident...
I'll figure out my turn once I see how beegred's shove goes (unless I can grant him inspiration, in which case i probably will)
If Beegred's modifier is better than yours, then you can use a Help action. You roll another D20 with Beegred's modifier. I'll take the better of the two rolls. If your modifier is better, than just jump in the pile and try your hand at it.
As for Inspiration, I seem to recall that players can award their inspiration to others. I will have to go verify this (if no one else does before me). I will also have to verify if there is any RAW rule about using DM inspiration after the roll, but before you know the result.
Edit: the cavern floor below is approximately 100 feet down. Per the module, it's 10d6 bludgeoning damage.
Players and Inspiration. Remember that a player with inspiration can award it to another player. Some groups even like to treat inspiration as a group resource, deciding collectively when to spend it on a roll. It’s best to let players award their inspiration as they see fit, but feel free to talk to them about following certain guidelines, particularly if you’re trying to reinforce conventions of a certain genre.
Beegred really wants to take advantage of only having 1 guard around, but dislikes more the epic beatdown he would get from the quaggoth if they went head-to-head.
He will try to get that frayed rope strand that Narstin was working on, but not if it reveals the state of his chains. Sleight-of-hand: 4 (OOC: what the holy hell...)
I'm going to alter the above and make you try at a different length of frayed rope, to take advantage of your critical failure to set up an unexpected scene.
I just remembered that Halflings are "Lucky", so I could have re-rolled that "1".
But... what is happening now is just too much fun. I beg that the DM will apply some form of the Halfling Luck sometime later in the encounter. (Maybe another prisoner helps out, who normally wouldn't have. Or maybe the guard who shows up hated that particular Quaggoth, and is willing to accept that it "slipped" into the pit.)
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 really wants to take advantage of only having 1 guard around, but dislikes more the epic beatdown he would get from the quaggoth if they went head-to-head.
He will try to get that frayed rope strand that Narstin was working on, but not if it reveals the state of his chains. Sleight-of-hand: 4 (OOC: what the holy hell...)
I'm going to alter the above and make you try at a different length of frayed rope, to take advantage of your critical failure to set up an unexpected scene.
I just remembered that Halflings are "Lucky", so I could have re-rolled that "1".
But... what is happening now is just too much fun. I beg that the DM will apply some form of the Halfling Luck sometime later in the encounter. (Maybe another prisoner helps out, who normally wouldn't have. Or maybe the guard who shows up hated that particular Quaggoth, and is willing to accept that it "slipped" into the pit.)
I'll say that Shoor won't be cognizant of what happened. How's that?
I'll say that Shoor won't be cognizant of what happened. How's that?
With a quaggoth about to pound the halfling into mincemeat, I'll take anything I can get.
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)
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Attacking Shoor threw me for a loop. What to do with a hyper violent drow when "assaulted" by a slave? To you it may seem like what Shoor is doing is me copping out and going easy on you. Which is half true, as the point is to escape, not die.
It took me some time to figure out what to do, but I'm rather proud of this, so bear with me. What is happening to Shoor actually ties into the overarching plot of this campaign and is one of the many cues and clues I'm trying to slowly reveal to you all.
You're doing a great job, Kerrec. Thanks for all the thought and effort you're putting into this.
Let's all just pretend this module was made by Bethesda. Shoor's behavior is thus normal by that standard. ;-)
Current Roles:
GM - Fata Morgana: The Ghosts of Saltmarsh
I gave Tozer a freebie with the bolt, as he was the first to try, but I'm not going to keep doing this. I can't just keep feeding you "stuff" as you "ask" for it while hoping the dice rolls in your favor. It has to work the other way. You have to imagine what kind of things you could potentially find that would be useful to engineer a breakout. Let me try to give you a broader picture:
Obviously the whole complex is carved out of solid stone, but it's a bit rough. Drow are not the stone workers that dwarves are known to be.
The landings, stairs, bridges, furniture, dishes and some cutlery are made of a wood like product that is actually a type of mushroom.
Anything resembling rope is actually spider silk spun by the drow to be non-sticky. The bridges in the outpost are anchored on each side by thick strands of these. And these ropes fray. There are plenty of bits and strands lying around.
Gates and other metals used to reinforce structures or items are made from some kind of iron or bronze and look crude compared to the craftsmanship of a dwarf. Weapons and armor look much better crafted. The drow priestesses wear an armor that looks like a hardened fabric made of spider webs and the rank and file drow wear chain mail and swords that appear simple and pragmatic, probably not drow in origin.
There is very little waste lying around as everything gets thrown into the waterfall and ends up in the pool on the cavern floor. But you do get tasked to do the throwing out, so things like left over food, bones, grease and whatnot are often in your hands.
Ferry is confused by Jimjar's behavior. He's trying to read the gnome's end-game with this blatant provocation and putting others' toes up for ante:
Ferry Insight: 19
(manually doing dice roll tags cos I'm on mobile. Hope this works!)
Current Roles:
GM - Fata Morgana: The Ghosts of Saltmarsh
One other thing!
I completely forgot that Beegred and Narstin broke their chains. I was supposed to "check" them at the appropriate time to see if they got caught. But I forgot and that's my mistake.
So I'm going to rule that you got your hands on strands of hair (beard, head, or other parts...), and tied the chains back together. Making sure to take very good care to not pull your handiwork apart, you can fool a cursory look in your direction. The drow don't look very intensely as it would grant you too much favor from them, and the quaggoth are not very bright. However, you definitely want to avoid having the drow or quaggoth pull you along by the chains.
This is your first encounter with Jimjar, probably the first time you've met a deep gnome, and have no clue what he's up to.
When the group eventually makes a prison break, can the length of chain be used as a weapon? I figured it might be like a whip (1d4 slashing) without the "reach" option, but I wanted to check what you had in mind.
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)
As Ferriman settles in for the time being, waiting for a sign from the other, more experienced prisoners who are planning an escape, the halfling will start looking around the cell for his own methods or ways to help. His first point of interest will be the bars and gate to the cell; the quaggoth really went at them a bit ago.
Ferry will get up, casually pace the cell to sneak a closer look, and see if the bars were damaged or loosened in any way from the quaggoth's rage. Then he'll go sit back in his place against the wall beside Tozer and Jimjar.
10
(Flat roll because I wasn't sure which applied, Ferry's Investigation (+1) or Perception (+2).)
edit: LOL off to a good start! A 3 and a 2 for my first two rolls!
Current Roles:
GM - Fata Morgana: The Ghosts of Saltmarsh
On the plus side, at least I didn't actually physically assault him trying to kill him. The command itself was completely harmless, if INCREDIBLY insulting and whatnot. Granted, that's only because the command spell CAN'T cause them to harm themselves. Otherwise I'd have been trying to command him to jump off the nearest ledge...
And look ont he bright side, at least I only commanded him to flee. I considered commanding him to Grovel instead, which I'm pretty sure would have been much worse. Especially if it'd worked...
If I do get myself killed though, I totally won't be upset or blame you, totally not your fault. I knew full well that casting a hostile spell on a dark elf overlord at the very least had good odds of getting me tortured/severely punished if not killed. But narstin's ideal is helping those in need, no matter the personal cost, and his bond is that he'll protect those who cannot protect themselves (Bridge 4!), so I figured there was no way he'd stand by and not do SOMETHING when a child is telepathically begging for help and sobbing in terror. Also, wasn't actually part of my thinking at the time, but his flaw is "I overlook obvious solutions in favor of complicated ones", which the Command attempt might fit as well. All in all, that would have been a GREAT post to get inspiration...if I didn't already have it :P.
Man, I (As the player) REALLY wanna try to steal Shoor's wand while he's in his loop, but Narstin doesn't really have any reason to do so, not being able to use it for anything himself and not actually knowing right now if anyone else would be able to do so :P.
Who knows, maybe taking the wand away would break his loop...
I'm going to alter the above and make you try at a different length of frayed rope, to take advantage of your critical failure to set up an unexpected scene.
Yah, I thought of that too. If I had a good IC reason to take it (Like if I was a class that could actually use it as a focus), I'd probably take the chance. But it doesn't do me any good, and Narstin doesn't know whether or not it would do anyone else any good, so no real reason to risk it.
Are we able to spend inspiration after the roll, or only before? Too late for the attempts to get the rope, but could possibly give it to beegred to try for a higher athletics check if it can be done after. If I'd thought of it, I' might have used it for my own sleight of hand...course, then we wouldn't have gotten this wonderful sticky situation. Shoving the quaggoth off (if we even can) stops him from reporting the broken chain (I'm assuming its a long fall that's likely to kill it or at least severely injure? Speaking of, how far down is it from the lift?), but might possibly get us in more trouble than the broken chain if we're seen or it's decided we did it as opposed to an accident...
I'll figure out my turn once I see how beegred's shove goes (unless I can grant him inspiration, in which case i probably will)
If Beegred's modifier is better than yours, then you can use a Help action. You roll another D20 with Beegred's modifier. I'll take the better of the two rolls. If your modifier is better, than just jump in the pile and try your hand at it.
As for Inspiration, I seem to recall that players can award their inspiration to others. I will have to go verify this (if no one else does before me). I will also have to verify if there is any RAW rule about using DM inspiration after the roll, but before you know the result.
Edit: the cavern floor below is approximately 100 feet down. Per the module, it's 10d6 bludgeoning damage.
Per the DMG:
Players and Inspiration. Remember that a player with inspiration can award it to another player. Some groups even like to treat inspiration as a group resource, deciding collectively when to spend it on a roll. It’s best to let players award their inspiration as they see fit,
but feel free to talk to them about following certain guidelines, particularly if you’re trying to reinforce conventions of a certain genre.I just remembered that Halflings are "Lucky", so I could have re-rolled that "1".
But... what is happening now is just too much fun. I beg that the DM will apply some form of the Halfling Luck sometime later in the encounter. (Maybe another prisoner helps out, who normally wouldn't have. Or maybe the guard who shows up hated that particular Quaggoth, and is willing to accept that it "slipped" into the pit.)
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)
I'll say that Shoor won't be cognizant of what happened. How's that?
With a quaggoth about to pound the halfling into mincemeat, I'll take anything I can get.
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)