Well, I'll leave light-gathering up to Linnam then.

If I'm in melee with a crawler when it's my turn in the round (i.e., one has already advanced towards me), I attack with my battle axe and then move away, trying to draw the crawler(s) away from everyone else. If there isn't a crawler right next to me, I try to circle, sidestep, or otherwise move away from everyone else, but not too far from the crawlers (say, 10-20'), then throw an axe at the nearest one.

My goal is to get them to come after me, to give everyone else a chance to hit them from a distance. (And also, I'm trying to make them have to move to get to me, since Barik is likely to be able to shrug off one or two of their love slaps, but not sixteen.)

Combat stuff: Barik is +11 with the waraxe (one handed) if he doesn't use his off hand weapon [note: this is an amendment from my last post: I forgot Barik has Weapon Focus with the waraxe, making it +6 (base) +3 (str) +1 (masterwork) +1 (Focus).] He's +8 with a throwing axe alone [+6 +2(dex) ]. Damage: +3 for waraxe (str), +1 for throwing axe (str/2). AC: 17 [10+5(armor)+2(dex)]. Fortitude save against poison: +10 [+5 base +3(con) +2(dwarf)].
posted by Scholeologist at 2/14/2004 07:29:00 PM

Barik's outburst: "Poison tentacles! Back!"

Barik's concerned that Linnam's blind, and our best unfrozen archer. Without spending any time, does Barik already know, or is he able to see, where the lantern is that Linnam was holding at the ready when he was on guard duty? How many attacks of opportunity would be provoked by going to Drusilla and revealing her...glowy pendant? (Ignore the potential attack from Drusilla.)

Once I know about possible lighting, I can give an action.

Oh, and if you pretend this image is in black and white, this is what the three of us who are conscious and night-sighted see:


Well, half of what we see, since there's two of them. This one's George.


posted by Scholeologist at 2/14/2004 05:30:00 PM

Watch order looks fine to me too.

We don't want to keep the fire going, I think.

I also think I get antsy when the DM gets particular about how you keep watch. :)

I'm in favor of watchmen moving around some -- one staying at the cave mouth while the other goes back into the cave to check on the sleepers, or walking a little circuit around the ground outside the cave mouth, in sight of the other one. Maybe looking at whatever's over the cave, in case something could come down that way...

But basing their activities from just inside the cave entrance, like you say.

Unless Barik's Survival, Knowledge: Nature, and Handle Animal experience suggest something else to him (which they might), he tells Bishop that having the horses inside might be awkward and crowded. "And normal pigs and horses get along fine, but I don't know what these fellas have been getting fed; adult dire boars might treat the horses as food, and for all I know that's what their mother's been feeding them."

(If Barik actually knows something about whether dire boars hunt live food, amend this comment to something more sensible.)

On the one hand, having the horses inside keeps them safer, but if the room's 30x30, that's a pretty crowded house. On the outside, hopefully they'll be some cheap extra sentries -- maybe one of them will wake up and get antsy if they smell something icky.
posted by Scholeologist at 2/13/2004 12:03:00 PM

Here's how I meant the rope triplines to go in that previous post:

Cave

|       \

|         \

|           \

Grell's plan sounds fine to me. Barik tries to dilute the trail of guts...shovel dirt on it, cover it with smelly flowers, whatever. We'd like any hungry beasties to find the boar, not find the boar and a trail of tastiness back to us.

Unless someone's worried about creepy crawlies, l'm in favor of camping inside the cave. Unless the dead boar made it stink too much or something. The guards can keep watch at the cave mouth. If they spot something, they can come back and wake up the others, and if something attacks them, they can blow the whistle or shout and the others can come out to them. (One of the watchmen can make an occasional check inside, just to make sure that nothing little has snuck in through the cracks.)
posted by Scholeologist at 2/12/2004 09:31:00 AM

Unless Grell seriously objects, it sounds like we've decided not to eat the piggies. I'll "introduce" the party members, one at a time, to see if the piggies are too aggressive to keep around. (If they're just afraid of somebody, that's okay -- we'll hope the piggies will stay at their end of the cavern, and we'll stay at ours.)

I also would like to set up a tripwire or two outside the cave mouth (but not across the cave mouth). Little bitty diagram coming up next post.

I make sure everyone knows where the lines are before they go to sleep. And since Linnam's brought it up with Drusilla, what are the night-blind going to do about light when they're on guard? We could put up a couple of torches outside -- they're less obvious than a fire...

Barik tells Spade (in Dwarven) to stay up and help keep watch on the shifts Barik's not on duty.
posted by Scholeologist at 2/12/2004 03:45:00 AM

[Bob's Meaningless Jabber -- no important game elements here]
Among my favorite 'talk to the animals' scenes are in Peter David's run on Aquaman.
I _love_ Peter David's writing. He thinks about powers (and other stuff), which makes up for the occasional horrible puns. Also, he entertained my foibles once by putting in a scene that I asked for on a BBS.

Linnam most certainly has not ever encountered a dire rat
Yeah, but he's run into lots of rats in the big city; these are just like those, only HUGE. And with scary fangs. And...well, if you've had any rat nightmares, you've seen dire rats. :)

I suppose it seems appropriate that Dru's familiar is equally snarky and grouchy. Empathetic bonds would tend to influence each other's moods.
And who else would put up with her? :)


posted by Scholeologist at 2/11/2004 12:19:00 PM

"Without their mother, they'll probably die, but I would just as soon leave that up to nature's whim -- I've no quarrel with these young ones, though they have a quarrel with me, and we don't need food -- we can cut a hunk off the carcass if we want meat."

If I think they'll stay docile, I say "I suppose we can just leave them where they are -- they won't do us any harm, and their chances are slightly better in the cave than out there." If I think they'll get mean and try to gnaw on us in our sleep, I say "Let's see if we can coax them to bed down somewhere else. They can't stay here with us."
posted by Scholeologist at 2/11/2004 09:25:00 AM

"Ahhh crap. I'd hoped it was a lone boar, but now it looks like a sow protecting her young. I don't know if dire boars are more familial than normal pigs -- Bishop, Linnam, could you go back and guard the entrance, and make sure a mate doesn't come up behind us? I'm going to try to squeeze by the carcass and see if I can calm down the young, or at least keep an eye on them. If we leave this much meat lying in our camp, we'll be harrassed by predators all night -- Alonzo, Grell, can you two drag it out of here? Once it's outside, if we can get it away from the campsite, any nasty beasties that might have come visit us in the night will be lured away by the smell of a very big dinner.

"Drusilla, I would appreciate it if you could cover me while I'm trying to have a chat with the piglets."

If everyone goes along with that, I try to get past the boar and look for the babies. I'm going to try to use my Wild Empathy to calm them down and maybe befriend them. (I'm not going to adopt them -- Barik wants to know how aggressive they are, and whether he can relocate them, so that we can have the cave.)


posted by Scholeologist at 2/11/2004 03:22:00 AM

A heavy warhorse is encumbered starting at 100 lbs of weight.

Say what? I've picked up a Monster Manual (v. 3.0) that says under heavy warhorse that a light load is up to 300 lbs. The 3.5 PH says why: for quadrupeds, "multiply the value corresponding tothe creature's Strength score...by the appropriate modifier...[for size] Large x3,..."
posted by Scholeologist at 2/10/2004 07:17:00 PM

Can we do a brief inventory check of important stuff? I don't think any of it will matter for the combat, but it might be good to know...

If anyone has a differing list, I could easily be wrong -- I might have missed something, or not noticed when something got used up. (I don't mean stuff in your inventory that no one knows about, I mean stuff that's been "community property", or is publicly known about.) Also, does a flask of holy water weigh the same as a potion (0.1 lb), or the same as a flask (which I don't know, but I think it's heavier)?

Healing:
Alonzo: 1CLW, 1 CMW, 1CSW (bought from Moradin's Temple)
Barik: Pelor's Oil (2 applications left) (Kevlor in Two Towers), 2 CLW, 1 flask holy water (from Kinvol), 1 CSW (Kendrick)
Bishop: 1 Salve (Dagnal)
Drusilla: nothing I know of
Grell: 2 CLW (Kevlor)
Linnam: 2 Salves (Dagnal)

Random other potions (from Kray):
Drusilla: Levitation
Grell: Giant's Height
Linnam: Hero's Draught, Cricket's Leap (incidentally, if you have no skill pts in Jump, Barik does (now), so he'd be a better jumper, at least with a light load), Cure Paralysis, Invisibility to Undead

Heavier stuff, which we need to distribute amongst ourselves and the horses:
1 longbow quiver "silvertips" (3 lbs, I think)
10 shortbow magic arrows (1.5 lbs, I think)
8 shortbow quivers (3 lbs each, I think)
2 longbow quivers (3 lbs each, I think)
1 warhammer (5 lbs)
4 sacks (0.5 lbs each)
2 waterskins (4 lbs each)
1 light hammer (2 lbs)
10 pitons (0.5 lbs each)
2 belt pouches (0.5 lbs each)
200' silk rope (20 lbs)
grappling hook (4 lbs)
5 gallon water keg (?? - going on a horse, anyway; when full, the water weighs 41.7 lbs)
200' hemp rope (40 lbs)

Drusilla, Barik gave you 125 crossbow bolts (12.5 quivers, weighing 12.5 lbs) that he took from the battle after the ambush. He doesn't want to carry them any more. :)

essentially weightless (I think) other items:
6 itty bitty scroll cases
1 signal whistle
1 scroll of Spike Growth (Barik got from Kinvol -- I'm keeping this, but I put it in the list so I wouldn't forget it.)

Barik's ideas for distribution (feel free to put your vote in for stuff you want or don't want):

All the arrows to Linnam and Bishop, I think (Barik can carry some more on his horse, but he's got 50 regular arrows on him, and doesn't want to carry more). The warhammer to Grell, or Alonzo. Barik will take one of the sacks, leaving three for whoever wants 'em.

Waterskins to anybody (Barik doesn't want 'em -- they're for someone else, in case they get lost or separated.) Hammer and pitons to Linnam (for pounding in pitons, in case more than the two of us need to climb something). Barik will claim one of the belt pouches, unless someone is short of storage space.

The silk rope and grappling hook to Linnam (the rope is heavy -- Barik'll keep it on his horse if no one wants to carry it.) The water keg is going on someone's horse -- presumably someone without one of the waterskins, and who has plenty of weight allowance for their horse. I'm thinking Darkstar. The hemp rope is even heavier -- Barik can take it on Lightfoot if someone else takes the silk rope, or anyone else can take it -- might as well spread the rope around to more than just Linnam and me.

Dru's got her horn, so I propose the whistle goes to Linnam, for the time being. This might be a worthwhile item to trade off to whoever's got the night watch. Barik takes the scroll cases, of course.

Did Emerelda end up getting that barding Alonzo tried to get?
posted by Scholeologist at 2/10/2004 01:18:00 PM

You listened. You heard nothing. You looked down the passage as far as you could see. You saw nothing. You waved Alonzo up. Then you started in with Alonzo.
That's exactly what I meant to do. Your description before left out the initial check, and then said Alonzo was too loud for me to listen, so I thought my listen check was squelched. But if it wasn't, I can't complain -- so, forget I said anything, kay? :)

As far as trying to impress Alonzo, I can try to strike four times (Improved Two-Weapon Fighting came with the last level). But Barik's happy -- 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Out of curiosity, does Barik know anything about "dire" creatures -- where they come from, why they're big and mean? (I should point out that I myself know _nothing_ about them other than that they're big and mean.) Are they magical or demonic or something?

Not that it matters to me, though it might affect my attack bonus if he runs in -- where's Grell in the initiative order?

Regardless of Barik's knowledge of dire creatures (though if he knows something helpful, he'll yell it out) and Grell's initiative, Barik goes with another full attack on the boar. If he can make a 5-foot step to try to make space for someone (Grell) to attack the boar without crowding, he does.

Attack bonuses: Waraxe: +8/+3 (+6/+1 BAB, +3 Str, +1 Masterwork, -2 two-handed) Handaxe: +7/+2 (same as waraxe, without the masterwork) Damage: +3/+1 (Strength bonus, halved for handaxe, I forget if it's because the handaxe is light or because it's off-hand -- I think it's because it's light)

posted by Scholeologist at 2/10/2004 09:14:00 AM

From the DM:
The party dismounts and proceeds with Barik's plan, with Alonzo and Barik heading in to the passageway as Grell hangs back as the second line of defense near the cave mouth.

Barik, you notice a second too late that Alonzo makes a HUGE amount of noise when he walks in with you, and so you weren't able to hear much until it's too late.

Now, from my previous post:
Barik says, "I'll go in first. Unless someone has some skill or another I don't know about, I propose I go up to the mouth with everyone else a little ways back. I'll take a look in, and give a listen. Then I'll wave you up. I think we can go in approximately as we're situated now: Alonzo and I will head in first,...

The cat's out of the bag now, but for the record, Barik knew Alonzo would be noisy and tried to get in a position to listen effectively. In the future, I'd appreciate it if the party actually did everything we said we were going to do.

---------------------

If we can "go around the corner" like Alonzo indicates, I do that, with a 5-foot step if possible. Because then I unleash fury of both my weapons, waraxe and handaxe, in a full attack. (If we can't "go around the corner", I full attack anyway, and I assume Alonzo sets his urgrosh right where it is. If we have to take a move to get around the corner, then no full attack for me, just the waraxe alone [so no two-handed penalty, if I read things right.] )
posted by Scholeologist at 2/10/2004 05:13:00 AM

Just as a clarification about the hand crossbow thing: my understanding was that the hand crossbow had a secret compartment, and that in it was still a vial of poison. I don't think the compartment had anything to do with the poison delivery -- it was just a convenient place to store the poison until you applied it to a dart. (Incidentally, Barrs told us about the secret compartment.) Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Back to the cave entrance...

When we're near, Barik says, "I'll go in first. Unless someone has some skill or another I don't know about, I propose I go up to the mouth with everyone else a little ways back. I'll take a look in, and give a listen. Then I'll wave you up. I think we can go in approximately as we're situated now: Alonzo and I will head in first, with Grell covering us at the side of the cave mouth. The other three can be ready with missiles, leaving us enough room to get back out if we have to. Once Alonzo and I reach the cavern, we'll wave back to Grell, who can wave you up. Then you can take positions near the mouth, while Grell advances to us. The three of us can flush the cavern, while you make sure we don't get any nasty surprises from the exit -- I would hate to get trapped in there because we were looking the other way. If there's any trouble inside, you can use Drusilla's light to get to us inside."

"After the cave is cleared, some of us can start to make camp while Grell and I try to flush out any uninvited guests in the area around the cave mouth. Then we switch off, and two bowmen guard the entrance while we finish setting up."

Regarding the discussion of monster knowledge:
Manticores are Greek, and we aren't anywhere near there. :)
posted by Scholeologist at 2/09/2004 04:39:00 PM

"And Master Barik, while I appreciate the quality of the ale in Argunn Lode, you might have wanted to warn me of just how potent the stuff was. If it weren't for Dagnal's hands this morning, I would be in no shape to travel today and you would all be without your Wizard. And, in the name of all that is sacred, what was the rancid smell in that entire city. Do Dwarves ever clean? I know you bathe, the bath house was beautiful, but the smell of musty stone was thick and the mold must have been a century old. I'm amazed that dwarves can live as long as they do in such conditions."
Barik doesn't even try to reply to Dru's outburst, and even tries to hide his bemused grin until she's behind him and he's facing the other way.

[Barik's TB] "I wonder if all elves are such lightweights? It's a good thing she didn't drink the _strong_ brews!"

Barik's mood in general is rather cheery -- he's very relieved to be on the road and out of the stifling (and politically dangerous) town. And Dru, though caustic, is pretty funny. As is Alonzo's reply, which Barik thinks is _hilarious_ (especially after the dwarf condom bag discussion -- go back to when Barik and Alonzo are following Grell to the tower after the big caravan ambush if you missed it).

If Alonzo doesn't tell the story of the poisoned apprentice episode, Barik will eventually (maybe during lunch, or on the road after) ask the party in general about poison -- does anyone know anything about it, seen it take effect, what can you do about it, do you have to ingest it or get it in a cut, is storing it and bottling it dangerous, can you get poisoned from contact with someone who's poisoned or their bile, etc. (Barik might hear about the earlier adventure before he showed up, when the orc thieves were firing poisoned arrows.)

Is he fishing, or is he just curious about the weird and dangerous thing he's just seen in action? Hard to say...probably both...

Anyhow, when someone asks why he wants to know, Barik's happy to tell the story, and is very nice about it. (excerpt: "Oh yes, Old Ironsides was in a state -- but I told them about where it came from, derided the foul tactics of the orcs...anyway, by the end the crowd was calmed down, or at least more worried about the orc shaman than what _else_ might be poisoned...")

Barik acknowledges Linnam's "thank you", insofar as such a slight gesture can be acknowledged.

Gamewise, it sounds like we pick the cave, unless Dru, Grell, and Alonzo all vote for something else...
posted by Scholeologist at 2/09/2004 07:34:00 AM

I'm back from Bath -- I have pictures of what the baths at Argunn Lode would look like if they fell into disrepair for a millenium and a half, and then got rebuilt by English people. :)

I'll try to write some (hopefully fun) commentary early tomorrow. Alonzo's concern that Dru might sully his virtue tickled me.

So, my 2 cents on the practical stuff:
* I'm guessing Aaron's marching order suggestion is for single file. If (as I expect) the road's wide enough for two, I like Jacob's plan; for single, I'd switch me and Alonzo (i.e., put Barik in front) and otherwise Aaron's is fine with me.

* Don't care too much about where we stay -- if there isn't a strong opinion, I'd go with the cave, but if anyone else votes with Linnam for the tower, that's okay too.

* Barik is okay with starting a campfire, because he expects no one is going to see the smoke in the rain and at night. He doesn't suggest it, though -- he'll camp in the dark unless someone pipes up. Watch order -- if we let Dru sleep, we've got five guards and about 10 hours to guard. If we guard in rotating pairs, everyone gets 6 hours sleep (I suggest a pair to keep each other awake). Something like Linnam and Alonzo, Alonzo and Grell, Grell and Bishop, Bishop and Barik, Barik and Linnam. Barik suggests that.

Also, Barik lets everyone know that we're going to move much faster tomorrow. There are a lot of time-sensitive things -- Hextor's Flail, how long the heir is captive, if Agar's slowly bleeding to death -- that we need to get ahead of.
posted by Scholeologist at 2/08/2004 07:26:00 PM