Dobhyst Wasteland campaign

OOC: I've only done it once before, this time I just tried to the most painless way to kill. Also, I meant the boss is down the unexplored area

Well, silly me then. You, Markus. This is your fault, so go and lure them up here! You're good at that sort of thing, otherwise that sneaky Azalor would never have hired you!

It's amusing for me that you wanted to add illusions to both doors, when a perfectly good lock is still on one of them...

Yes, the whispered dialogue to Markus did specify that the "Boss" is down the stairs to the south.

Markus mutters to himself and begins moving down the hallway.

{OOC: I thought we'd opened them both. Anyway, I expect you'll do whatever goes on down there with Markus privately, and let us know what we hear}

Ikiit scratches his head rather unsure as to what is going on.

"We kill flimsy cave elf-thing? Boring boring but you speak of more good-good. Quibbler set up sneaky sneak traps. I throw explosive yes, scatter enemy things, pick off one by one."

(Been any off-screen development here? I'd rather not lose the spell, but I'll keep holding it if I need to.)

Well, there's a dead drow, the cleared sections of the crypt and the path leading deeper where other drow (of a currently unknown number) have progressed.

Thus far there's been nothing to see your illusion.

{OOC: Well. I was assuming that you'd do something with Markus to try to lure things, but maybe he's brighter than that.}

"I'm bored. These dumb tallies aren't coming. Let's just go and take care of them. I'm keeping this illusion up and I'll just make something similar when we get there. Coming?"

What little information you could extract from the ashen-skinned before his forced redundancy stated that the others were searching deeper in the crypt for what Markus believes is some kind of spellbook. There was no description of how many there were, their collective capabilities or the cohesion of the group.

Having made a roll of my own, Ikiit (because he's actually looked around the corner) believes that there can't be any more than 10 of them, and they're travelling light.

Fresh wet ground in a frosty environment really makes survival easy. DC <12 easy.

"Ehehe! I know just the illusion! I can cover us in walking bushes! That always works, according to Mother's Box of Scrying. When you're in the wilderness, you always hold up some branches in front of you and you're fine."

{OOC: Damn Lamashtu and her Box of Scrying. Doesn't she know it's giving her an unrealistic impression of reality?}

I've been a bit (read: far) too lazy with this. I'm willing to continue running this dungeon on the forum for the time being, and continuing until I can get a live session properly organised.

Also, for simplicity's sake, when Ikiit checked around the corner ahead of him, he saw this path:



The tracks of about 10 people, travelling light, lead down the corridor before reaching a set of stone stairs leading downwards.

"Ehhh? keke thing-things have gone down here. Spooky scary path it is yes. Perhaps send sneak-rogue down, good danger magnet, keep us safe yes."

"Taking a closer look at this tunnel, maybe walking bushes aren't believable enough. I'll do Spiders instead."

I adjust the illusion so we appear to be large spiders, with lots of other similarly large spiders around the place.

"Now, are we ready to continue?"

As soon as you have at least one more reply to this, then we'll move things on.

While we're at it, how are Quibbler's and Ikiit's collective noses?

If by noses you mean perception +7 Kekeke

Good, good. All in due time...

My forum character sheet is completely up-to-date, complete with uses left of everything, so you can use that. I ent got nuffin ta hide.

Perception is +3.

Markus starts walking forwards, looking sneaky

Markus is taking the lead? Excellent.

The slate staircase descends sharply before making two hard left turns leading into a hallway of incredibly neat stonework. The hallway continues for about 25 feet before reaching a crossroads, one leading left and one leading right. The phosphorescent stone that was lighting the corridors above does not appear to exist in this area forcing you to rely on your own light sources.

Roll20 Link: https://app.roll20.net/join/931912/huGz5w


Edit: What are your current light sources? If none, then I'll assume that Quibbler has light cast.

Well, that 'fight' went well for me. Unless someone does something in the remaining 8 rounds I'm unconscious for, I'll get up when I can and say...

"Ergh, another tranquiliser dart. I wasn't even doing anything that terrible this time!" I look around and spot the dead drow. "Good, you got them. Thingies. Ehehe! Have I been out long?"

[ooc: hmm is there a way to butt into the campaign for at least the forum portion of the game?]

The party is currently made up of 5 players and one doesn't use the forum at all. Feel free to "butt" in. Outside of what has been said earlier in this subforum, there isn't much to be said.

Um, yes. It does go very, very slowly. Personally, Veggies, I'd suggest just keeping on going here so at least something's happening instead of just having an awkward silence. Otherwise it'll just be me sitting here waiting for a response.

I agree. I'll transfer my newer maps across and we can get moving again.

How're the maps going? I was sort of surprised nothing more happened after that Roll20 session you started.

I ran into a spot of bother involving the blue screen of death. It'll be easy to retrieve them though, and I'm willing to run more roll20 if others are able to join.

Below is the first floor of this crypt complex. There were no further passages that you discovered on this floor and any treasure with material value has either been stripped and collected, or is of obscure cultural significance, negligible value, or is too large/heavy to carry.



The second floor, and the floor you are currently on. Currently it's pretty blacked out as you haven't gotten very far into it and the lighting is extremely poor. The strong, black walls are, as Ikiit has pointed out to the others, probably made of Basalt, a common igneous rock. These walls have been expertly carved and have kept much better than the previous floor. A thick layer of frost and condensation litters the floor making it exceedingly difficult to move without leaving tracks. As luck would have it, your drow quarry appears to have split up down both pathways towards the south (Assume that map is oriented to north. Dwarves built this, and they like this kind of order.)
(Doesn't really break immersion but... The map does go farther than these outlines suggest.)

Roll20 link
https://app.roll20.net/join/931912/huGz5w

You said that most of the drow footprints were heading south, didn't you?

"Pesky big things! Ehehehehe! Time's wasting, we'd better catch up to them before they get away with that book!"

Quibbler darts off to south, leaving the other party members behind if they aren't going to follow.

Actually, the majority of the footprints went west into the room that Markus was attacked in.

Also, Quibbler is technically still unconscious for another minute and the others are in combat. There is one drow within detection range and still armed. Hopefully I can get responses to finish up this skirmish and get on with things.

Huh, that was obviously a misinterpretation I had there. And I guess I'll just wait until I'm conscious again...
That combat's been going for a long time now.

3 rounds, actually...
I'll try to drum up more responses. Until then, I'm not sure how to proceed as the remaining drow are last in initiative order.

Well, if it wasn't for the only active member being unconscious, I tend to say people who don't do stuff get their turns skipped. It's usually 2 days maximum unless they say something to me. Poking them is about all you can do if they're consistently slow.

How about I try for a roll20 session tonight?

(very)Brief synopsis of Roll20 session:
You defeated the drow that were harassing you and beat their heads into the floor, leaving no survivors. Quibbler came to before Markus had a chance to strip his body and before Ikiit could remove his gallbladder under the guise of research. You entered the chamber that Markus had fled from and found a drow woman who was surprisingly friendly (though all things considered, a drow not shivving you at first sight is a miracle). She, Quibbler and Ikiit had a lovely chat about work, the scenery and Gimkirinzad before the party set out to look for her employer, whose name she dropped as Aumrauth. She also mentioned he has a pet orc.
After a brief interlude, our heroes followed in the footsteps of (even) more drow, who had got into a fight with some skeletons and come off worse for wear. The party swiftly, in 5 rounds to be exact, eventually threw down their quarry and called it quits.

Above lies the sanctum floor of the crypt of Gimkirinzad.

The session began with the party getting over the fact it had taken nearly a whole minute to dispatch a measly 3 bonemen, which took less time fortunately. Then, our heroes rejoined their lost comrades and soldiered on into the crypt, simply walking over the corpses that now littered the corridors. While navigating through the south corridor, Markus and Quibbler discovered some dwarven frescoes, detailing the history of a lost civilization hidden somewhere in the wasteland. After spending an inhuman amount of time trying to open a door, iur heroes were promptly ambushed by an insignificant foe. After nearly effortlessly gutting their foes, the party continued further into the complex and found their target, Aumrauth, and began to interrogate him. He put up with the inconvenience for a while before making a subtle veiled threat. The party responded with a very obvious threat. Battle ensued.

Round 1: Quibbler and Ikiit are rendered unconscious by Aumrauth. Markus takes a swipe at Aumrauth and Orc-thing approaches the party. Jedediah enters the room and disarms orcen. Mr S and Ranga come closer to the fray. Ranger lets free an arrow, mildly irritating Orca-man. Mr S also lets free a bolt of snow-lightning at the orcses.

Round 2: Aumrauth casts sleep, knocking out Jedediah. Markus takes a swipe at Aumrath, damaging him mildly. Orcish-man picks up his weapon and swipes at Ranger, knocking him out. Mr S takes a shot with an electric snowball at the orc, damaging him yet further. Jed stabs the orc (with a flail) and deals some damage.

Round 3: Aumrauth hits Markus with a shocking grasp and does negligible damage. Markus takes another swipe at Aumrath, only connecting once this time. Coup de Grace vs Quibbler by da ORC (spoilers, it failed).

Round 4: Aumrath greases Markus' weapons. Quibbler and Ikiit wake up but are still blind and stunned. Markus stabs Aumrauth yet again, bringing him to near death. Coup de Grace vs Ranger by McORK, low damage but close to death. Mr S flings an elemental ray at the Orc, bringing him down for the count. Jedediah takes his opportunity to flank Aumrauth and messily removes his leg. Markus then makes a Coup de Grace attempt on Aumrauth, which kills him.

COMBAT OVER!!!

Quibbler reawakens and burns his healing all at once to stabilize the battered party. After looting the bodies, and not finding much, the party moves away to rest up and recover. Markus and Mr S however stay in the sanctum. Mr S opens the door to Gimkirinzad's room and They both go inside. Markus has a jolly old chat with Gimkirinzad with Mr S being an awkward third wheel, before realizing Gimkirinzad speaks common...

They report their chat to the others who decide Gimkirinzad isn't so bad after all, and direct Chassiana to the chamber because she's ino that sort of thing. They then wasted enough time to refresh spells, hp, class abilities etc and went back to Reppashk to report their findings. THen they re directed to a bunch of places where people are a thing.

<cue session end>

Map of explored and known hexes and landforms:

Three metre tall Drow! Someone's been having steroids. It's so easy to forget that a square is actually pretty big...

That coup de grace though :P Only just made that save. Only 10 damage on a crit seems low for a raging barbarian, even a level 2 one, but I'm not complaining...
I guess that luckily, there is now the Reanimated Medium Archetype: You play a dead character, and you possess your own body. Weird, but cool. If necessary I could have come back as that and tested the non-playtest version of medium.

My character sheet has been updated to reflect my new status as Cleric 1/Arcanist 2. All doshe shpellsh. All two of them.

After accidentally rolling 2d10 for damage, I'd say you were extremely lucky. He rolled a grand total of 4 damage on 2d6.
I used sprites taking up 2 squares just to make things obvious (as everyone is no doubt aware, scale can be pretty annoying).

If you were wanting an opportunity to try the reanimated medium, you'll have plenty of chances later on. I don't plan on pulling any punches from this point forward.

Hooray, we can have real monsters now!
Checking up on that weapon, you probably did that coup de grace incorrectly. In that you forgot to make it a critical. Should have been 6d6+24 damage. I'm not complaining. Not complaining at all. It's good to be not dead. (P.S. I failed the minimum DC 40 Fort save)

Well then *ahem* [monologue]

Ehehehe! It's good to be back in a civilised place, yes. Ehehehe! It's a shame that that Aumrath fool didn't seem to know anything about those cultists. I'm still a little worried about why he was even here, though. He was studying that fascinating mark, presumably, but then, why was he outside Gimme's room? Come to that, that's one deaf dwarf! Ehehehehe! I would have thought he'd have heard.
He doesn't seem to have left any handy notes in his spellbook about the nature of that mark, or why he was there, but I bet I know! It's Azalon, isn't it! He's moving in on my research already, and that was just one of his cronies! Maybe he's behind those dumb cultists, too!
In any case, it can't be a coincidence that we found him there, in a place, probably incorrectly, associated with demon cultists! There must be some kind of link! And with Azalon! I'm going to beat him to it, I swear! I'll just have to follow all the leads we have to try to dig up links.
Since the people here don't know a thing about it, the best option would be to head down to that big place. Surgo. See if they know more about it there.

In the meantime, I'll have to try to find that nice dwarf lass. Those pasties were good! She's got talent! I'll have to try to teach her some magic! Bring out that dwarf lineage!


[/monologue]

Edit: Huh, just noticed my Activity Score. That's big. I could have busted out an actual Resurrection with that.  If you're using AS. Speaking of which, if you are going to use it, make sure to let on to the other players. Nothing like rewards for using forum to encourage using forum.

Thus far I've only given you the note that was loosely inserted at the front and the spells. There is clearly research notes included here, mostly writtwn in undercommon.

(I'll prep a page or so with the information you manage to extract if Ikiit gives you a hand translating and you make some linguistics and knowledge checks.)

Also, how would I go about awarding AS if I see something totally amazing from a PC?

Easiest way of doing it is to tell me, and I'll use my mystic Admin powers to hand it out.

Turns out I've got some linguistics now because of background skills (although it was more to get Azlanti and Thassilonian as languages than anything else, since they were background relevant). Character sheet's up to date if you want to roll stuff. Since it's possible to meta by knowing what knowledge is rolled, feel free to do it in secret.

I shall do that. Probably won't have your results for a while because reasons (prac, mostly). I do want a lot of depth from this.

[ooc: Ok I will begin rolling some dice here for my stats. Here we go!]

The member 'Onions' has done the following action : Dice Roll

#1 'd6' : 5

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#2 'd6' : 1

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#3 'd6' : 2

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#4 'd6' : 6

[ooc: Next]

The member 'Onions' has done the following action : Dice Roll

#1 'd6' : 6

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#4 'd6' : 2

[off: And another!]

The member 'Onions' has done the following action : Dice Roll

#1 'd6' : 3

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#2 'd6' : 4

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#4 'd6' : 1

[off: Another then]

The member 'Onions' has done the following action : Dice Roll

#1 'd6' : 2

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#2 'd6' : 6

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#3 'd6' : 5

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#4 'd6' : 5

[ooc: Here here, just 2 more to go!]

The member 'Onions' has done the following action : Dice Roll

#1 'd6' : 5

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#2 'd6' : 4

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#3 'd6' : 5

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#4 'd6' : 6