Barran inspects himself for any lingering damage from the battle. Aside from a few patches of scorched skin, he came off pretty lucky, all things considered. He unslings his lute and quietly begins to tickle the strings to produce a traditional Stout Halfling thinking song, letting his Mage Hand do the hard work of fingering notes while he lazily strums with one hand and rubs his chin with the other.
"So, I guess the question is if this Lady Zarr has plans of her own, or if she's just taking advantage of the existing features of this maze to carve out a little below-ground empire all for herself. What does poisoning all those kids get her, besides distracting the chair-snakes to get at the gems?"
Spending one hit die.
Geth, roll 1d8+1
Barran - AC:16, HP: 27/27+6 temp HP, Spells:-/3
1d8+14 [1d8=3]
Bursar on
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
After taking a small break to tend to his wounds, and the others doing the same, "So what's the plan now? Find and deal with this Lady Zarr? It seems our only lead as to where she might be is South of where we fought the hobgoblins. If we get there, perhaps Barran and I can try to scout ahead and get some information as to what we are facing.
Alright. That part is settled....where to next? Back to Lady Zarr's section of the dungeon OR head south from the Hall of Pillars into new and exciting and flying-from-the-seat-of-my-pants-mixed-with-classic/iconic locations part of the dungeon?
I kinda wanna see philo assault this spider temple.
Philo wants to see Philo assault this spider temple!
"Well," says Philo, "we didn't all come down here to play the hero and put a stop to drow scheming, but it seems drow scheming is in front of us. We've stood well together so far, and I think it's on us to handle Zarr before she does anything worse than kidnap street children and feed them to snakes." He shakes his head. "Hard to imagine, but if there is such a thing and half of what I've heard about drow is true, she'll know about it. Let's get this done."
Thankfully, Inspiring Leader doesn't require me to roll to see how that speech went over. I'd probably roll a nat 1 and you'd all wind up handing me over to Zarr.
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
Quick, someone feed the rest of the hobgoblins to Crunchette.
Ay nods to Philo, "Then let's be off. If they haven't noticed their guards dead by now, we shouldn't blow what element of surprise we may have."
My vote is to go there. I'll volunteer with Barran (or by myself if he doesn't want) to scout ahead of the group a bit to try and see what mess we are walking into.
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
Hefting his hammer, the dwarf nods, "Aye. No need to be beatin' around the mountain when we've a name to this madness, even if a tiny part."
"Even a suicidal stick-in-the-mud can crave a little fame and fortune, and to test his mettle for its own sake," says Philo. "But fair; I did, to some extent, hope there would be schemes to thwart."
"I'm comfortable looking ahead with Ay, at least until the damned goo monsters show up again. There's something we missed on our way past that I'd like to check out for a moment, too."
It was mentioned that it looked like there was a compartment under the seat of the Bone Throne, so Barran will try using Mage Hand to lift the lid and peek inside while they're in the area.
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
The soldier gives Sal a sidelong glance. "You've got a fine pair of boots, Sal," he says. "The stitching on the left looks a little loose to my eye, though. Not a problem yet, but getting there. When I was a sergeant with His Lordship's Own Razorbacks, I'd have stayed up late to pull that stitching tight for you, and stood my own watch on top of it." The men come back to him, their lined faces and beaten-brass hands, their raucous jokes and hearty singing, their shoulders against his as orc and goblin bore down on the line. "Well, a sergeant needs to sleep, too, and a sergeant who can't trust his men to mend their own boots won't be a sergeant long. Or a sergeant who gives in to fatigue mid-fight I took too much on my shoulders, and let my men down. Got a fair few killed, while I was at it." He recalls the jerk of his doublet against his shoulders when they ripped away his badge of rank, clear as if it was happening there in Undermountain. "But a man can't eat shame or disgrace, and the traveling life has its pleasures." He laughs. "I don't think I could overstep my responsibilities with the lot of you if I wanted to. Tough sons-of-bitches, every one."
What a man can't eat, he can't shit out, thinks Philo, remembering the terrible look in the survivors' eyes after they dragged him away from the butchery and told him how he'd fallen and failed them all. But he kept that to himself, deep and away from the outside world. After all, a sergeant ought not show fear in front of the men.
Thankfully, the password to bypass the animated guardians still works and it spurs you to hurry through the hall even faster this time. Upon reaching the room, your entry causes a dozen or so rats to scurry away from their from their rotting Hobgoblin flesh feast. One or two of the rats decide to stay and defend their feasts but quick punt or two sends them running. The smell in this room is....pungent.
This grand room has shiny, polished walls and floor, inset with golden mosaic tiles. Ancient wall sconces line the wall, the scorched wall stones behind them show that at one time, this room was well used. Today, a sparse number of them contain of fresh torches, casting their light around the perimeter of the room. Rising above all of your heads, near the centre of the room float two glowing globes. One of them larger than the other. Their radiance casts a soft light throughout the rest of the room.
On the far western wall, on a raised dais, sits a giant throne made out of bone. This grand seat is made out of interwoven, bleached bones. The twinkle of gems are also interspersed amongst the throne.
So.....what did you want to do this time?
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
The dwarf grumbles once he's reminded of the snake chair's existence. "Can I smash it yet?" He asks, keeping an eye out for signs of any more goblin activity from the last time they were in here.
Thankfully, the password to bypass the animated guardians still works and it spurs you to hurry through the hall even faster this time. Upon reaching the room, your entry causes a dozen or so rats to scurry away from their from their rotting Hobgoblin flesh feast. One or two of the rats decide to stay and defend their feasts but quick punt or two sends them running. The smell in this room is....pungent.
This grand room has shiny, polished walls and floor, inset with golden mosaic tiles. Ancient wall sconces line the wall, the scorched wall stones behind them show that at one time, this room was well used. Today, a sparse number of them contain of fresh torches, casting their light around the perimeter of the room. Rising above all of your heads, near the centre of the room float two glowing globes. One of them larger than the other. Their radiance casts a soft light throughout the rest of the room.
On the far western wall, on a raised dais, sits a giant throne made out of bone. This grand seat is made out of interwoven, bleached bones. The twinkle of gems are also interspersed amongst the throne.
So.....what did you want to do this time?
The last time we were in this room, there appeared to be "hinges" on the throne, perhaps suggesting a secret compartment or two. Barran would attempt to stay 30 feet back and use his Mage Hand to open, pull, push, slide, or otherwise investigate likely spots to find such a concealed storage space.
After that, bash away, since we don't have a gaggle of starving children waiting for rescue at the moment.
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Try and try and try as he might, Barran's magical hand cannot open the hinged seat of the Throne. There is definitely a hinge there, but there is a lock.
If the plucky rogue wants that compartment open, he's going to have to get in there and do it with his own two hands.
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
"Just going t'come right out and say that like Hells if'n I'll be a distraction for them damn snakes again," the dwarf says as he looks askance at the Magic Hand wiggling, shimmying, and otherwise failing to tinker with whatever is at the bottom of the throne. "Nope," he continues, his head shaking as the attempts to magically access the compartment continue to stall.
Sweat drips from the halfling's brow as the spectral hand gives the throne a thorough twice-over. "I'll have to do get my hands dirty for this one," he mutters.
Barran drops his pack at his feet and produces a slim roll of velvet from its depths, which he opens to reveal a set of blackened-steel picks, levers, miniature prybars, and other twisted pieces of metal with obscure but surely unlawful applications. He selects several of them with a professional's eye and approaches the throne. He rolls up his sleeves briefly before remembering the snakes and rolls them back down, pulling on a thin pair of slip-resistant kidskin gloves for good measure.
"If for some reason this thing manages to be the end of me, tell them... tell them I died to something less stupid than a chair."
I believe this takes three rolls as long as we're not pressed for time, right?
Geth, roll 1d20+2 for Investigation (search for traps)
(assuming a trap is found) Geth, roll 1d20+8 for disarming trap
Geth, roll 1d20+8 for picking the lock
Investigation (search for traps):
1d20+28 [1d20=6]
picking the:
1d20+811 [1d20=3]
Bursar on
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Ay shakes his head a bit, "I don't think this is wise, Barran...," and reluctantly inches forward, more ready to try and grab the halfling if things go poorly than trying to attack the snakes. He's already tried that once and failed.
Barran hikes up his pants and heads to the Throne while a few of his stalwart companions move into striking position. As expected the three snakes animate from the Throne, hissing menacingly.
The Halfling sneak goes to work, manipulating his tools deftly as the snakes strike! Unfortunately his bravery is for naught as Barran flinches from a snake bite and loses the sweet spot with his pick. He is unable to open the locked compartment this time.
Geth, roll 3#1d20+5 to Bite Barran with 1HP in bite damage per hit
Geth, roll 3#2d4 for Poison Damage
@Bursar - please make a Constitution Save PER BITE vs poison for half damage and we'll further reduce that with your resistance. If you'd like you can stick it out and make another attempt at the lock next "turn". There is no trap other than the snakes, BTW.
@Mongrel Idiot@Aegis - You two can make attacks against the Snakes, with Advantage since you're primed and ready to go.
Barran had been watching several of the largest nearby holes for movement, but three snakes, either through animal cunning or magical happenstance, spring out from unexpected crevices.
Only the last of the bites gets through Barran's AC; lucky him, all things considered.
Geth, roll 1d20+1 for poison save.
Ow! Looks like 1+6/2 = 4 points of damage?
poison save:
1d20+14 [1d20=3]
Bursar on
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Your newly silvered sword slams down on the Throne, narrowly missing one of the writhing snakes. First thing that comes to mind is, rats. The second thing is that this Throne is not made of any ordinary bone. You would, eventually, be able to smash it to pieces, but it would take a while.
Dural's hammer indeed catches one of the snakes square and destroys it. It de-animates and the broken construct is drawn back into the body of the Throne.
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
Since Barran is the one tampering with the throne, he'll be the one drawing the ire of the snakes. But good news is that there are only two left! I'll need another attempt at opening that lock on the seat and once the snakes take their bites, Philo and Dural can take another crack at the snakes.
If Ay and Salazar was in on the action....well, it'll be crowded around the throne but take your shots.
Posts
"So, I guess the question is if this Lady Zarr has plans of her own, or if she's just taking advantage of the existing features of this maze to carve out a little below-ground empire all for herself. What does poisoning all those kids get her, besides distracting the chair-snakes to get at the gems?"
Spending one hit die.
Geth, roll 1d8+1
Barran - AC:16, HP: 27/27+6 temp HP, Spells:-/3
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
@Mongrel Idiot Yes, Fighters are d10+Con Mod.
After taking a small break to tend to his wounds, and the others doing the same, "So what's the plan now? Find and deal with this Lady Zarr? It seems our only lead as to where she might be is South of where we fought the hobgoblins. If we get there, perhaps Barran and I can try to scout ahead and get some information as to what we are facing.
Barran - AC:16, HP: 27+6/27, Spells:-/3
Salazar - AC:15, HP: 30+6/30, Spells: -/3/2
Philo - AC:19, HP:38+6/38, 4 Sup. Dice
Dural - AC:18, HP:40+6/40, Spells:-/3, LoH:20/20
Ay - AC:16, HP: 29+6/31, Ki: 4/4, HD: 2/4
Alright. That part is settled....where to next? Back to Lady Zarr's section of the dungeon OR head south from the Hall of Pillars into new and exciting and flying-from-the-seat-of-my-pants-mixed-with-classic/iconic locations part of the dungeon?
I'm totally cool either way, for the record.
OK, if there not any objections then, we'll move forward when I get a chance to write something more substantial up.
Oh...and before I forget...
Geth, roll 1d100 to see if anyone noticed the half dozen or so of Hobgoblins you've killed in the past day and a bit...
Philo wants to see Philo assault this spider temple!
"Well," says Philo, "we didn't all come down here to play the hero and put a stop to drow scheming, but it seems drow scheming is in front of us. We've stood well together so far, and I think it's on us to handle Zarr before she does anything worse than kidnap street children and feed them to snakes." He shakes his head. "Hard to imagine, but if there is such a thing and half of what I've heard about drow is true, she'll know about it. Let's get this done."
Thankfully, Inspiring Leader doesn't require me to roll to see how that speech went over. I'd probably roll a nat 1 and you'd all wind up handing me over to Zarr.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
My vote is to go there. I'll volunteer with Barran (or by myself if he doesn't want) to scout ahead of the group a bit to try and see what mess we are walking into.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
"Wait. What did you come down here for?"
It was mentioned that it looked like there was a compartment under the seat of the Bone Throne, so Barran will try using Mage Hand to lift the lid and peek inside while they're in the area.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
What a man can't eat, he can't shit out, thinks Philo, remembering the terrible look in the survivors' eyes after they dragged him away from the butchery and told him how he'd fallen and failed them all. But he kept that to himself, deep and away from the outside world. After all, a sergeant ought not show fear in front of the men.
Thankfully, the password to bypass the animated guardians still works and it spurs you to hurry through the hall even faster this time. Upon reaching the room, your entry causes a dozen or so rats to scurry away from their from their rotting Hobgoblin flesh feast. One or two of the rats decide to stay and defend their feasts but quick punt or two sends them running. The smell in this room is....pungent.
So.....what did you want to do this time?
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
The last time we were in this room, there appeared to be "hinges" on the throne, perhaps suggesting a secret compartment or two. Barran would attempt to stay 30 feet back and use his Mage Hand to open, pull, push, slide, or otherwise investigate likely spots to find such a concealed storage space.
After that, bash away, since we don't have a gaggle of starving children waiting for rescue at the moment.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
If the plucky rogue wants that compartment open, he's going to have to get in there and do it with his own two hands.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Barran drops his pack at his feet and produces a slim roll of velvet from its depths, which he opens to reveal a set of blackened-steel picks, levers, miniature prybars, and other twisted pieces of metal with obscure but surely unlawful applications. He selects several of them with a professional's eye and approaches the throne. He rolls up his sleeves briefly before remembering the snakes and rolls them back down, pulling on a thin pair of slip-resistant kidskin gloves for good measure.
"If for some reason this thing manages to be the end of me, tell them... tell them I died to something less stupid than a chair."
I believe this takes three rolls as long as we're not pressed for time, right?
Geth, roll 1d20+2 for Investigation (search for traps)
(assuming a trap is found) Geth, roll 1d20+8 for disarming trap
Geth, roll 1d20+8 for picking the lock
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Geth, roll 1d20+8 for disarming trap
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
The trap is the snakes and they WILL be coming out to bite. Does anyone else want to get within striking distance to the snakes?
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
The Halfling sneak goes to work, manipulating his tools deftly as the snakes strike! Unfortunately his bravery is for naught as Barran flinches from a snake bite and loses the sweet spot with his pick. He is unable to open the locked compartment this time.
Geth, roll 3#1d20+5 to Bite Barran with 1HP in bite damage per hit
Geth, roll 3#2d4 for Poison Damage
@Bursar - please make a Constitution Save PER BITE vs poison for half damage and we'll further reduce that with your resistance. If you'd like you can stick it out and make another attempt at the lock next "turn". There is no trap other than the snakes, BTW.
@Mongrel Idiot @Aegis - You two can make attacks against the Snakes, with Advantage since you're primed and ready to go.
Only the last of the bites gets through Barran's AC; lucky him, all things considered.
Geth, roll 1d20+1 for poison save.
Ow! Looks like 1+6/2 = 4 points of damage?
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Geth, roll 2d20k1+5 for Attack
Geth, roll 1d10+3 for Damage
Maybe we should go home and try again another day!
Your newly silvered sword slams down on the Throne, narrowly missing one of the writhing snakes. First thing that comes to mind is, rats. The second thing is that this Throne is not made of any ordinary bone. You would, eventually, be able to smash it to pieces, but it would take a while.
minion, roll 2d20k1+4 for Attack
minion, roll 1d8+2 for Damage
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
If Ay and Salazar was in on the action....well, it'll be crowded around the throne but take your shots.