D&D Beginner's Game: Act 1, Scene 3: The Hunted

Guffy

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

"I'm afraid that name is not familiar to me...".

"We have been stuck in this godforsaken place, for what feels like months...".

Webby points out the massacre, which took place moments (OOC: 8 - 9 hours?) ago.

"We lost many already... And stand to lose more... In fact, im not doing to well myself...".

His momentary spurt of energy seems to be subsiding again.

"I'm so tired... i must... lie... down".

Webby makes his way to his belongings again, with the intent to get at least 8 hours of sleep.

Ech joins him for an 8 hour sleep

The Dungeon Master

The party snuggle up in a bear-pile, Fector on the bottom, Webby and Poppy on the top
(OOC : For narrative purposes, and because I know you'll just run around like a mad yoke inventing inventory items and trashing the gaff if I give you the option Prof, Poppy is also taking a rest.

In the serene calm of a quiet dungeon room, Fector snores. Echtrae snuffles. Poppy snorts. Webby grumbles. Stu groans.
Webby is awoken suddenly from a delightful dream of tussling with a giant rabbit by a weird flapping at his feet. He tries to push Poppy's attentions away but on opening one eye notices she's opposite him. He looks back over his shoulder.

Stu has looked better.
He is holding a spellbook upside down in one hand, tapping it with the other while groaning and working his jaw and then slapping the free hand on Webby's leg as if trying to cast a spell - the lack of any effect seems to be frustrating him. Over near the northern door, Lalwende is tucking into a hearty supper of dead rat, stabbing at it with her trusty quill.

It's init time.
https://rolz.org/dr?room=The+Meatgrinder+Boards.ieD%26D
Bear in mind that all the others are still asleep, it's going to take them a round to wake up if you choose to alert them - which does not interfere with any combat actions you might want to take, but it will possibly attract Lalwende's attention to you.

Note - only Stu and Lalwende rose up. Neither the rats nor Poppy's former companion seem to be affected.

Edit : And to be clear - this is about 3 hours into your snooze, so you will not yet have any of the benefits of a good night's sleep.

Professor Moriarty

Poppy dreams of Neifion and wonders if she will ever see him again.

Nebelwerfer

The Dungeon Master wrote: »

Webby is awoken suddenly from a delightful dream of tussling with a giant rabbit by a weird flapping at his feet. He tries to push Poppy's attentions away but on opening one eye notices she's opposite him. He looks back over his shoulder.

Stu has looked better.
He is holding a spellbook upside down in one hand, tapping it with the other while groaning and working his jaw and then slapping the free hand on Webby's leg as if trying to cast a spell - the lack of any effect seems to be frustrating him. Over near the northern door, Lalwende is tucking into a hearty supper of dead rat, stabbing at it with her trusty quill. .[/I]

Webby, still drowsy from the lack of sleep, notices Stu casting a spell at the bottom of his feet.

"Sigh, why wont people just leave me sleep". He thinks to himself.

Webby decides it is better to entertain his team mates, so he can resume his sleep and get the rest he is after.

Webby slowly moves upright, looking at Stu and gives him a thumbs up.



"Thanks for the spell my friend".

He points over to the door, where he lodged Stu's staff earlier, in an attempt to get him to shift his attention to something else.

He pulls back his feet, away from Stu and readies himself to guide his companion to the door.

The Dungeon Master

Zombie Stu tries to grin and return the gesture, but he's missing the thumb on his right hand. The remains of his lips curl back from his teeth in a poor facsimile of a smile and he lumbers off in the direction Webby pointed, still mumbling and waving his hand around. Lalwende is still eating her fill of rat guts.

Nebelwerfer

As Webby looks onto Stu, who is now attempting to acknowledge his instructions, he makes the sudden realisation.

"This... This is not Stu... Not anymore...". He thinks to himself as the remnant of Stu lumbers off towards the door.

Webby looks around and notices that Lalwende has also arisen and is digging into one of the rats, unscrupulously shoving every piece of meat she gets her hands on, into her face.

"Well... SH*T..." he whispers to himself as it finally daunts onto him that both him and his party are in grave danger indeed.

Though he is pleased that his lack of sleep and grogginess prevented him from making this observation sooner, as he may have reacted differently had he known danger was, literally, right in front of him.

Webby grabs his rope and quietly makes his way towards the cantilever, near where Poppy was suspended by a rope earlier.

He ties himself, steadily on the cantilever structure, finding himself suspended above the pit, with little else to do besides drawing the attention of his former comrades.

So he begins.

The Dungeon Master

OOC : Your rope is 5 feet long. Not saying it's not possible, but do please enlighten me as to what exactly you've tied to what, because that's not a lot of rope to hang yourself from.


Zombie Stu wanders over to Lalwende and gives her a shove, then shows her his no-thumb up and grimaces happily. Her feed interrupted, Zombie Lalwende groans angry "uuuuuurgh!" and confronts Stu, but is then distracted by the dancing dinner-party over by the pit. Fresh-ish rat gore still dripping from her jaw, she begins to shuffle in that direction and she is not smiling. Stu shambles along in her wake. Neither pays any attention to the sleeping pile.

Webby's shenanigans wake both Fector and Poppy. Echtrae stirs a little but remains asleep, even as Fector slowly pulls himself out from under the slumbering mage, taking stock of the situation and looking to Webby for some semblance of guidance or a plan.

Nebelwerfer

Webby now finds himself on the far end of the cantilever, over the pit with his waist tied to one end of the rope and the other end tied onto the platform.

He notices as he starts making noise, he is catching not only the attention of his undead party but also waking up a part of his party which still seems to be breating, alive and kicking (OOC: No offense Fector).

In between the commotion, which Webby is causing, he notices a confused Fector look onto him in shock, clearly unsure what is expected of him.

Webby waves one of his hands, besides his waist, indicating Fector to hold off for the moment.

Professor Moriarty

Poppy wakes up and notices two creatures approaching Webby. She catches his gaze and places her forefinger to her lips. She silently stands up and quietly draws her sword. Very carefully, she tiptoes behind the two creatures.

The Dungeon Master

As Webby leans over to tie the rope to the platform, he hears a sharp crack .

OOC : Roll vs Dex, Mr Frothfist!

The Dungeon Master

As Poppy creeps up behind the 2 necrotic ne'er-do-wells, they both turn to face her.

OOC : Halflings do not have a "move silently" skill so both of them have a hidden notice roll to see if they hear you. And both of them did. Meanwhile, Webby rolled a 1 on his Dex test, attribute-based rolls are low rolls so it's a success.

The platform lurches as it begins to give way. Without thinking, Webby kicks off into the air and flings the loop of rope he was preparing to secure to the structure. It loops around one of the anchoring posts just as he hits the zenith of his jump, allowing him to swing at an angle towards the wall of the pit and use his momentum to run up the side, somersault into the air and land a perfect standing dismount.

OOC : Whether or not he shouts "Tadaaa" is entirely at Webby's discretion.

The crashing of the platform as it careers off the walls of the pit, before finally splashing into the depths below proves far more distracting than Poppy, and both zombies return their attention to Webby. Anyone who can jump like that is probably delicious.

OOC : At this point conflict is inevitable. We'll need some rolls, methinks, though it's pretty late into the day, we can hold off till the morning if need be.

Professor Moriarty

Noticing that the zombies are distracted and being a handy flanker in her day, Poppy decides to rush the zombies and push them over the edge while they salivate over Webby.

The Dungeon Master

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

Noticing that the zombies are distracted and being a handy flanker in her day, Poppy decides to rush the zombies and push them over the edge while they salivate over Webby.

OOC : They are currently about 20 feet north of the pit and closing. Webby is directly in front of the pit. I know how far you can shove each of them. Do you?

Stu is around 6 feet tall and looks about average build. Lalwende is much shorter than that, though still taller than you, and of typically slight elvish build. You are 2'9" and weight 53lbs. Their movement rate is around 40 feet per combat round. Let me know who you're pushing, whether you're taking a run up or not and how close in feet you'll let them get to Webby and the pit before you make your move.

Professor Moriarty

Poppy lines Lalwende up as she closes in on Webby. Because they are both slight, Poppy reckons that a good run up with a violent shove, when the half-dead elf is about three steps away from the edge, should see Lalwende toppling into the pit. For some strange reason that she can't quite fathom, Poppy momentarily feels an affinity with Lalwende, a deeper connection to a kindred spirit as if they were somehow sisters. She shakes the feeling off and begins to assess the speed and timing of her run.

Nebelwerfer

Webby removes the rope from his waisy and tightens it between his hands as the zombies approach him.

He notices Poppy get ready for a push to get the zombies into the pit signs towards Fector to.do the same.

Still elated with his earlier acrobatica, Webby gets ready to get out of dodge as the zombies around about 2 feet away.

The Dungeon Master

OOC : OK! We have a plan. I'll roll for Fector unless Duffman wants to jump back in.
Webby, give me a roll vs Dexterity (That's #d20-2, target 16 or under. If you miss, roll a d20 (Save vs Death)
Poppy, I'll need you to give me an attack roll (#d20), and to avoid delays in me picking up your roll, you can also roll a Dex test - #d20-1, Target 13 or under - and a Save vs Death if you miss (#d20). Note, these last 2 may not be necessary so if you're a superstitious type, hold off till I confirm the attack roll.
Fector, same as Poppy, your rolls are #d20+2, and if you're impatient you can also add #d20 (target 10 or under), #d20 (save vs death)
Echtrae, You need to roll a #d20-1, target 13 or under - Charisma roll.

Link
https://rolz.org/dr?room=The%20Meatgrinder%20Boards.ieD%26D

As ever, please change your nick before you roll ( /nick <nickname>) and use a comment to indicate what the roll is. e.g.
#d20+2 #Fector Shoves Stu

Nebelwerfer

The Dungeon Master

Poppy flings her slight frame at Lalwende but she barely manages to stagger the lumbering corpse. Her momentum carries her on towards the pit - thankfully she manages to roll to one side and halt her progress forwards before it becomes downwards. Fector fares better, violently shoving a cadaverous Stu towards the pit. And Webby nimbly leapfrogs his former comrade's carcass as it stumbles on towards him, sending Stu into the inky depths below.

Lalwende rounds on Poppy. The halfling stabs with her sword but it glances off Lalwende's armour. As she swings her quill to retaliate Fector's hammer clangs heavily on the dead elf's back, causing her to spit ichorous bile and rat flesh, and diverting her attention from Poppy. Webby tries to finish her off, but fiinds the rope he's wielding makes a poor substitute for a sword. Echtrae mutters in his sleep about someone being a naughty tree-princess and rolls over.

Meanwhile, back at the pit edge, Lalwende swings at Fector, burying her quill in his cheek. As he yowls in pain, Webby shifts his grip, whipping his rope at Lalwende's ear - too light to do any damage of consequence but causing her to turn her head to see what the tickle was. When she turns it back towards Fector she meets a hammer swing full on, spinning most of her face and a lot - but not all - of the supporting bone-structure backwards. Lalwende falls, and Fector kicks the body into the pit.

The group yawn and go curl back up in the middle of the room to finish their snooze.

OOC : Assume a full 8 hour rest for all, everyone heals 2HP, Echtrae has the opportunity to transcribe one spell into his book and to memorize one spell for the day. It's worth pointing out, most of you are still barely clinging to life.

Professor Moriarty

Poppy drinks some water and falls asleep. After eight hours, she awakens and notices that she is exhausted and wounded.

Guffy

Ech is a little unsure on how best to help the group get through this dungeon but after hos heroics against the rats decides learning defence v evil is the best way to go.

But he decides to transcribe one of the spells before settling on his final learning task.

Ooc: whats the spell?

The Dungeon Master

OOC : Who's book did you copy it from? Stu's or Lalwende's?

@Poppy - at worst you're suffering from PTSD, you didn't get a scratch you drama queen! Fector and Webby are in bits though, and at his best, Echtrae is always one heavy blow from death.

Guffy

The Dungeon Master wrote: »

OOC : Who's book did you copy it from? Stu's or Lalwende's?

@Poppy - at worst you're suffering from PTSD, you didn't get a scratch you drama queen! Fector and Webby are in bits though, and at his best, Echtrae is always one heavy blow from death.

Ooc: shoot sorry, erm stu

The Dungeon Master

Sleep
Level: 1
Duration: 4d4 turns
Range: 240Ê
A sleep spell causes a magical slumber to come upon creatures with 4+1 Hit Die or fewer. The caster may only affect 1 creature if it has 4+1 HD, but the spell will otherwise affect up to 2d8 HD of creatures. Calculate monsters with less than 1 HD as having 1 HD, and monsters with a bonus to HD as having the flat amount. For example, a 3+2 HD monster would be calculated as having 3 HD. Hit Die that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Sleeping creatures are helpless and can be killed instantly with a blade weapon. Slapping or wounding awakens an affected creature, but normal noise does not. Sleep does not affect undead creatures.

(Technically Stu didn't define what was in his book. An argument could be made that it was Charm Person, but that's definitely what's in Lalwende's book so since Stu never used his spell, let's inject a little variety into your magic. You can always learn Charm Person at your next rest if you hang on to Lalwende's book)

Edit : overlooked the finding of the 3 scrolls earlier! Amended.

Guffy

Disappointedly Echt puts his pen down. "I already knew that one".

He studies it anyway.

Professor Moriarty

Poppy approaches Echtrae. "Hello, I'm Poppy. Pleased to meet you." She extends her hand.
"i wonder if you ever met a friend of mine, Neifion?"

Guffy

"Hey Poppy, nice to meet you. I'm really sorry but I'm busy studying for the moment.

I think so.

I think he used to own my silver knife. If its him he lays over by the rats there.

Sorry about that"

Echt bows his head back to his book.

Professor Moriarty

Poppy turns away not wishing to see Neifion's corpse. She distracts herself from her grief by exploring the room paying particular attention to the walls wondering if she can figure out where she is and if there is anything of interest or use.

The Dungeon Master

The room has changed little since she first arrived in it - there's still the door to the north, though now it is closed, barred by a quarterstaff and blocked by rat bodies and gore and blood and metal. There is still a door to the west. There is still a door to the south. The pit in the south east corner has changed, the platform is mostly gone though the anchor posts remain. There's still a diagram on the east wall, which initially makes no sense to her but when Fector notices her interest he mutters that Echtrae said it's some kind of trap on that western door. Once she knows that she can follow the individual strands of the diagram and see that it's a gas release triggered by the opening of the door, shooting out of the left hand side of the frame.

OOC : That'd be your monster Wisdom score coming in to play. Note - knowing the trap is there does not make you a thief, and does not mean you can disable, remove or destroy the trap with a die roll

For my future benefit, Echtrae's spellbook now contains the following :
Protection from Evil, Feather Fall, Magic Missile, Sleep.
Note : he has a scroll of Speak with Animals, this is a Cleric spell and is not available to be read or learned by a magic-user. Also worth mentioning that Feather Fall is an Advanced Edition spell so casting it may cause the fabric of this reality to split apart and let in race/class distinctions and druids. Be careful!
#EchtraeSpells

Professor Moriarty

Having studied the diagram very carefully, Poppy examines the door to ascertain the exact positioning of the trap. She considers all options as to how she might get past the trap and wishes that they had a POW to send through first. She approaches Echtrae. "Echtrae, are there any thieves in the party?"

The Dungeon Master

In investigating the door frame where the diagram indicates the gas jets are located, Poppy notices there's a small stud embedded in the bottom left of the door frame, pushing against the door. As soon as the door is opened it looks like it will spring forward, probably triggering the trap.

OOC : Just to point out, while you know that the trap is there, that doesn't convey you with any magic powers to physically find the trap itself or it's activator. That can only be done on a roll of 1 on a d6, which I do behind closed doors. In the interest of you understanding why you found this, I can confirm your detect trap roll was a 1.