Chapter 6: Q&A / Discussion

[Jeff]

Ack. Right you are, Darren. This is why I need reminding sometimes. You wouldn't believe how many windows and browser tabs I have open when working through each round's mechanics.

Okay, I've adjusted some things. The spider delays its action, so it still bites Kal further down in the round; but Dragonflame Mantle and the Dragon Magic aspect of Burning Spray also kick in.

And the spider still ends up in the same place, because Varna slides it there.

[Jeff]

The shifter zombie also takes 5 radiant damage from last round's missed Avenging Echo attack, unless he wanders off somewhere and doesn't attack Syrdan.

Not so, I'm afraid. That only kicks in if the Avenging Echo attack hit, but it didn't. If that was listed as an "Effect," then it would count, because it wouldn't matter whether you hit or missed. But if that info's listed under the "Hit" section, it only counts if you in fact strike and deal damage.

[Dave W.]

Mar 30, 2010 11:24:27 GMT -4 Darren said:

[Kal] gives Varna's hand a quick squeeze of reassurance. 
...
Dear lord....what is with these rolls???

Don't worry, Darren, you may have missed but you got to touch the pretty halfling's hand. When they do the movie that's where the girls in the audience sigh.  

[Darren]

Heh heh heh....

[Jeff]

Move action: one square, directly to the east
Standard Action: Overwhelming Strike (really, this time!) on the shifter zombie.

Mike, if Syrdan moves 1 square to the east first, as you seem to indicate, then he can't reach the shifter zombie to attack it. However, you could attack first, then move one square to the east and move it after you... Is that what you meant?

Also, by moving 1 square east, he's still adjacent to the female zombie...so the shifter wouldn't be the only enemy adjacent to Syrdan (for oath of enmity purposes). Not that it matters. The first attack roll is a hit.

And everyone: yeah, there's a weird announcement flag that makes it look like the top thread has been duplicated. Haven't the time to figure that out yet, but it doesn't really affect things. It's the same thread, though. Doesn't matter which one you click on.

[Mike]

Let me amend my post, then.

I had the positions of the female zombie and the shifter zombie reversed.

[Mike]

Mar 31, 2010 9:13:34 GMT -4 Jeff said:

Mike, I'm just assuming you wanted to take advantage of Condign's action and give up a healing surge?

Yes.

[Brian]

Hey, Jeff, does Condign get a save vs poison for this round? I looked three times and haven't seen it. I remember you rolled it on his last hit during your post. Or should I roll it during my post?

[Jeff]

Sorry! I've updated my post.

And...sorry.

[Mike]

Two quick corrections. First, Kal moved two squares west during the last round, so his position is slightly different than what's shown on the map.

What Darren said. Was the map updated? I'm thinking that Syrdan's position should be different, as should the shifter zombie's.

[Jeff]

Yeah, it didn't update right. Try and refresh.

[Jeff]

Also, I think Syrdan's also supposed to get 8 temporary hit points (I don't see that listed on our current status; just correct me if I'm wrong, though).

Oh, he did. But then he got thwacked twice by some zombies for a total of 19 damage, which first chewed through all 8 temp hit points and then did a remaining 11 damage.

The hit points listed at the bottom of my posts are supposed to represent where everyone's at by the end of the round.

[Mike]

That's fine. Just checking!

[Mike]

Mar 31, 2010 10:36:17 GMT -4 Darren said:

Oh for the love of.....once again I won't bother rolling damage. How many times can the dice roller come up with a '2' in a row?

One of several things I miss about the earlier versions of D&D.

Magic missile didn't miss.

[Darren]

A sunrod is actually made of iron. Not quite as thick as a crowbar, though; not really enough to give good leverage.

So if it were to have the chain wrapped around it, and then be twisted, which would force the chain straight (and beyond), it wouldn't help in trying to break the chain? I'm just thinking of real-world methods that I've used to break chain before....

[Brian]

Ken wrote:

Oops. One of the drawbacks of looking through multiple posts on a smartphone's tiny screen (as I was doing this morning) is that it's very easy to overlook sections of someone's post, as I did with Condign's suggestion about getting the heck out of here. Sorry, Brian. Oh well, it worked well in character!

No worries! I actually think that was a more true representation of what would happen in such a situation. So much going on that not everyone hears what is being said by the others.

And it gave me a chance to inject a little humo. . .er, sarcasm.

[Jeff]

So if it were to have the chain wrapped around it, and then be twisted, which would force the chain straight (and beyond), it wouldn't help in trying to break the chain?

I get what you're after, and it's a good idea. I'm just saying the sunrod, a one-shot device, isn't very solid. It's iron, but Kal could bend it a little if needs be. It's not the best for this. But even so, it's certainly not enough to raise the Strength check total to what it needs to be to break a solid chain.

[Darren]

Fair enough. How solid is the haft of the sharrash?

[Jeff]

Pretty solid. It's got a wood haft, but it's also now reinforced by a little magic.

[Darren]

So....maybe you can't answer this question, but does Kal feel like it'd stand up to what he's thinking? Or is there a chance it would break?

[Darren]

Alright, guys, time for an out-of-character discussion to figure out what we're going to do. Let's list some facts, first:

- As far as we know, the only way out is the way we came in. That path is currently sealed (we assume).
- There is a path to the north through the sarcophogus room.
- There is a path to the north that leads somewhere.
- There is a path to the north west, branching off from the path to the north. There's a good chance that that path meets up with the one leading out from the sarcophogus room.
- Although there are spiders pouring out of these holes, we have no proof to suggest that, beyond being creepy, they are in any way dangerous.
- There's been another scream from the north, similar to the one we followed to get in here in the first place.
- We've been unsuccessful at figuring out a pattern for closing these holes, and haven't been able to break the chains, yet. Our best option for trying to break them would take five minutes before it could be tried, and assuming it worked, we would have to wait five minutes before we could break the second chain, and then five minutes again before breaking the third one.

Suggestions for what to do?

- If anyone has a good way of making fire (very clever, Joe), we could try throwing it down the holes, but we have no idea what the space below them is like or how many spiders there are down there.
- We could head to the north and abandon where we are now. We have no idea how many spiders would come out of the holes or what the effect of that would be. Maybe nothing. Again, we have no proof that the spiders are actually dangerous. Maybe someone could make a Nature check to see if they're poisonous or anything?
- We could continue to find a way to break the chains. This could mean delaying by as much as 15 minutes.

I think we should come to an out of character consensus, or we're going to have one of those in-game moments that go on forever as no one can really decide what to do.

[Dave W.]

I don't see that we're making much progress with the chains. Adamant's sword's going to take too long to recharge. Unless there's a new idea. The only other thing I though of was trying to stop up the holes with the spider bodies. But Jeff is implying that we cut them up too much.

So I think that leaves us with fight or flight.

I'm assuming the spiders will come out and attack as a (or two or three) swarm. I've only played one battle against a swarm, they can be pretty nasty. Like half damage from melee and ranged attacks, they really only suffer from area affect attacks. I'm not saying we wouldn't take them, but we'd be weaker when we get to the real big bad.

I'd prefer to try moving on to the sarcophagus room and closing the doors. With luck (assuming these are natural spiders, not controlled by someone), they'll find the jump spider carcasses interesting enough (look! someone left us a buffet!) and ignore us if we're not actually in the room. If we need to we can deal with them on the way out. Though I'm also sort of hoping there's another way out (we don't know how to operate these doors anyway).

[Brian]

I believe it comes down to the fact that:
1) We can't seem to lower the covers, and it will take too long to continue trying.
2) Swarms can be very dangerous, and Condign has no area of effect powers to kills multitudes at a time.
3) Those metal knobby things are likely to fry us, and probably it'll take Belarin too long to disarm them.
4) It's a dungeon crawl. . .so let's crawl!

So, I suggest we let Condign, Syrdan and Varna find out what's at the end of their hallway. The rest can meet in the sarcophagi room and defend the door. And if that fails. . .we give Jeff the wedgie of a lifetime. ;D

[Ken]

Agreed. Based on the information so far, it'll take Belarin a while to a) figure out the function of the trap and b) disable that function.

I'll make an active Perception check to get a better sense of the trap, then if that's good, try to disable it. If the first check fails, though, Belarin is leaving.

Update: OK, Option B it is. Belarin is walking like an Egyptian to the sarcophagus room.

[Darren]

Alright, well, considering that Syrdan has already moved on, I think we know Mike's opinion on this. I'm going to guess that Joe has no strong objections, so I guess that's it.

[Brian]

And, by the way, thank you Darren for addressing this as you have. You were right, it would have been a back and forth among in-game characters. I think your post has gotten us by that.

[Mike]

Apr 4, 2010 23:13:34 GMT -4 Darren said:

Alright, well, considering that Syrdan has already moved on, I think we know Mike's opinion on this. I'm going to guess that Joe has no strong objections, so I guess that's it.

Well, had loud screaming not suddenly come from the north, I would've been amenable to other options. But this was a good time and place for a thread like this, Darren, so thanks for starting this up.

Ken pointed out that avengers are kind of like Batman, which is how in many ways I'm playing Syrdan. So picture Syrdan in the group much as Batman fits into the Justice League - he'll definitely work as part of a team, but there's times he'll do his own thing as well. I'm trying to very much keep mindful of group dynamics. My main reason for moving into the sarcophagus room was to make sure nothing was lurking in there that was about to immediately come out and kill us.

Moot point now, but as regards to the chains and the holes, I think we were all either missing something obvious, or they simply weren't meant to easily be closed from this location. I was about to suggest moving north along either of the corridors, but circumstances seem to have made discussion a little bit irrelevant at the moment.

[Darren]

Yeah, no criticism, Mike. I think you're walking the fine line pretty well with Syrdan.

Besides, it's nice for Kal to be on the other side of that kind of behavior, for a change of pace!

[Ken]

Apr 5, 2010 17:16:51 GMT -4 Darren said:

Kal gives Belarin a large, odd looking smile.

_______________
Ken, I was actually referring the to eastern doors in the northern room. I assume they lead to the hallway on the other side of the trap you found in the northern hallway off the first room.

Yeah, I realized that immediately after writing. I've edited my post.

[Jeff]

Any chance that Kal's possession of the Mark of Sentinel would be of help here?

Sorry, nope. The Mark gives him a bonus on Insight rolls. Otherwise, it won't help at this stage of the game. One of the rituals Kal will one day have immediate access to, Eye of Warning, automatically detects scrying sensors that come close.