Neverending Dungeon: Dolly

[Jarian]

Map image update coming later when I have access to photoshop. Sorry for the delay.

[Jarian]

[roll0] [roll1]
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4] [roll5]
[roll6] [roll7]

[Jarian]

Take another 5 acid damage over the course of your investigation, and lose 3 nonlethal damage.

Some redactions were necessary due to massive amounts of markings on the map.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/8315/mapbwdolly.jpg

[Blatm]

Awesome thanks for the map.

What is left unexplored? I don't see any hallways leading off into darkness besides that one bit near the southeast.

Did I find any more notecards? I'll go fold them without reading them up and put them in my bag if I haven't already.

Did I find any more bullseyes? Did I find anything else that was that sort of interesting?

I've been thinking about those bullseyes, and I suspect that the doors right next to them are fake and will hurt me if I get near them. I'll go to the one in the southwest (southwest of where the blue notecard was), approaching it from the west (i.e. that long hallway going east/west, not the corner nearer to the blue notecard), and using my pole as an improvised weapon I'll take a whack at it (details pending a few things). Hopefully this won't incur the wrath of the dungeon.

Details: how do maneuvers work in this case? I'd want to attack it with a Crusader's Strike, but I'm not sure how you want to determine what the beginning of the encounter is. Also, how much damage does my pole deal as an improvised weapon?

[Jarian]

You've explored everything that isn't behind a door.

You found three new bullseyes. I will point them out when you reexplore an area with one of them.

You found no new notes.

A 10ft pole can be used as an improvised quarterstaff.

If you choose to treat a bullseye or other portion of the dungeon as an actual encounter for maneuvers, it'll hit back.

[Blatm]

So my pole isn't a reach weapon? That's inconvenient.

Time to start opening doors. I'll open the door just southeast of my starting location, morningstar in hand.

[Jarian]

Opening the door reveals the following room:
{table]|A_|B_|C_|D_|E_
1|||||
2|||||
3|||||
4||||B|H[/table]
There is a door at A-2, which you are just outside of, another at E-4, south side and another at E-3. There is a human wearing a chain shirt and holding a longsword standing near the southeast door, standing behind a beast with patchy dark fur that covers its unhealthy shrunken black skin in some places. Open sores dot its hide and a feral, catlike head glances with blank eyes at the wall in front of it.
Initiative:[roll0]

[Blatm]

Initiative: [roll0]
Maneuvers: [roll1], [roll2]

[Blatm]

Move to D3 and breathe on the Human.
Damage: [roll0]/2 (Electricity)
Entangled for: [roll1] turns.
Can reuse my breath weapon in: [roll2] turns.
Maneuver:[roll3]

[Jarian]

The beast vanishes as the human wiggles his fingers at you warily...

Concentration: [roll0]

http://nottheremin.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/psychedelic.jpg

Will save please.

[Blatm]

Will: [roll0]
crapcrapcrapcrap

Er, does he have to make 2 concentration checks? One for entangled and one to not provoke an AoO?

[Jarian]

Colors dance across your vision and your head swims as you struggle to remain conscious, but you pull through by the skin of your teeth. The man snarls and opens the southern door.

Your move.

[Blatm]

Terrifying.

SMASH HIM!

Entangle damage: [roll0]
Attack: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

[Jarian]

The damage staggers him.

Having no better recourse, he takes one wild swing at you before succumbing to his wounds.

[roll0] for [roll1] damage. PRO.

150 xp, chain shirt, longsword, two spell component pouches.

[Blatm]

I hit him while he's down to finish him off. I doubt it, but does that give me 2hp from martial stance?

Chain shirt is some pretty nifty armor. I ditch my studded leather armor and put the chain shirt on.

I'll leave the rest here, and throw his corpse on the bullseye (which if I'm mistaken is right outside the door).

Scary stuff.


In other news, I have no idea how I'm going to make any money. I can barely lug this stuff around.

I'm just fixing stuff up. I'll decide what more to do in a sec.

[Jarian]

Inflicting lethal damage will let you trigger martial spirit, I think. I believe attempting to deal nonlethal damage to a downed opponent won't trigger it, per rulings for the NED.

Nothing happens when the corpse hits the bullseye.

[Blatm]

If you permit the encounter to continue when he's down but not dead, I have Crusader's Strike too. Is that legit?

Damage: [roll0]
Heal: [roll1]

Once this is done, I'll drop two flasks of oil here to take care of weight and to to the northeasternmost door. I search/listen through it, and if I don't hear anything I'll open it from 12 ft. back with my pole.

Also I just realized my move speed is 30', not 20'. It is a good day.

[Jarian]

It's legit, but you have to actually roll for your hits. He's down and bleeding out, true, but he's still wearing armor and your attack bonus isn't that high. It's entirely possible that you could miss a few hits while he bleeds to death.

[Blatm]

Right, that's fair.

Attack: [roll0]
Same damage/heal as above, unless you want me to reroll.

Assuming he's dead, I'll go to the northeastermost door and do what I described in my last post.

[Jarian]

Hit, heal, splat.

There's a bullseye on the floor directly outside the northeast door, if that changes anything.

[Blatm]

Yes it does. I still don't know what the bullseyes do and I'm not tempted to find out. I'll instead open the nearby door on the southern wall from the hallway running north/south, as far back as possible.

[Jarian]

Opening the door reveals the following room:
{table]|A_|B_|C_
1|||
2|||
3||B|
4|||
5|||
[/table]

There is a door at C1 north, which you are standing just outside of.

Large red button on a raised stone table in the center of the room. Button reads “PUSH ME” in large white letters, written in common.

[Blatm]

Why on earth would anyone push that button? I'm still going to try to, of course.

Depending on the specific geometry of everything involved, I an going to try to press the button with some rope while I'm outside of the room. One way I could think of doing this is as follows: nail something to the ground near the pedestal and tie a rope to it. Then have the rope run over the button, with lots of slack on it, and wrap it around something nailed to the other side of the pedestal in a way that if I pull on the rope it will tighten and eventually press the button. Is that a reasonable thing to try? (I'm not going to try it before making some preparations though).

EDIT: Ignore the above. It looks like the button is 10' away, and I have a 12' pole. Can I push the button without entering the room?

[Jarian]

Yes you can push the button from the doorway. Do so?

[Blatm]

I nail a piton to the wall next to me and tie myself to it with some rope because I'm worried the button opens a pit right in front of the door. I keep my longsword nearby in case I need to cut the rope. (I'll nail several in, etc., until all checks I have to make have DC's less than, say, 7.)

Then once that's done I'll push the button. (!)

I think the real question is, will it be a will save or a fortitude save?

[Jarian]

The entire floor of the room falls away, revealing a pit of equal size twenty feet down, with a swarm of spiders in the center.

[Blatm]

Can two swarms fight each other?

[Jarian]

Yes, but spider swarms have tremorsense, so these are aware of you. I don't know why I forgot to roll initiative last post. :smallredface:

[roll0]

Mind that you're still triple-tied to the wall.

[Blatm]

Ugh. My decision making is perhaps sub-par at times.

They have tremorsense out to 30'. Am I less than 30' away? Do diagonals through the air count for that 30'?

Initiative: [roll0]

Did I tie myself to the wall in a way that lets me use my breath attack to get free in one turn without hurting myself? Does it take me 3 attacks with my longsword to get free, or just one?

EDIT: I win initiative because I have the higher mod, right?

[Jarian]

Higher modifier wins, yes.

You can torch the three ropes with a blast, yes, but you'll lose fifteen feet of rope, and your pitons may be damaged. I'll have to check their description later to determine hardness and hitpoints.

A longsword would need three separate actions to cut three ropes, I would say.

[Blatm]

I'll do that and run away form the spiders. I should be 30' down the hall.

Not going to use entangling exhalation on this breath attack. Recharge in [roll0] rounds.

Maneuvers:
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

Does a weapon attack vs. a spider swarm count for Crusader's Strike even if they can't be harmed by it?

[Jarian]

We'll go with yes.

The spider swarm rushes out of the room, myriad tiny forms surging through the hallway, some on the floor, some on the walls. You end twenty feet west of the bend, while they end ten feet west of it.

[Blatm]

I'll double move away.
Maneuver: [roll0]

EDIT: taking the shortest path to the rest of the dungeon of course. It would be silly to let the swarm cut me off.

EDIT2: Here's my general strategy: I'm going to get in a situation where after one move action I'm 45' away from it. Then I'll ready the action "hit it so I can heal/breathe on it so it dies when it gets within range". then on my next move I'll double move again, etc. It might take a while to get through this encounter turn by turn, so if you have a suggestion for making it go more quickly I'm all ears.

[Jarian]

You make it halfway down the first split south after the western bend (bleugh, inaccurate description, reference map above). If the swarm follows, you can't see it.

[Blatm]

Hm. I'll ready the action "move if I see it".

Also see EDIT2 to my post above.

[Jarian]

I'm not sure where you expect to place yourself in a situation like that in the general area of the room. Regardless, the spider swarm doesn't appear on your next turn.

[Blatm]

I was expecting it to follow me. I'll wait a full minute with the same readied action, and if I still don't see it I'll slowly make my way back to the room, taking a move action with the same readied action. When I see the doorway, I'll wait another minute, and if I still don't see it I'll begin casting Summon Swarm (bats) in the room, as close to where I first saw the swarm.

[Jarian]

One minute passes. Nothing happens.

You find it very soon however, at the first bend south to the west of its room. Part of the swarm extends into the hall to the east.

Initiative: [roll0]

[Blatm]

Initiative: [roll0]
*crosses fingers* (I'm right next to it, yes?)

EDIT: WOOO

I run away, obviously.

[Jarian]

You caught sight of it as you entered the bend north that would start to take you back to the room.

Running away it is, then.

Sixty feet will take you to the northernmost square of the four way split nearest to you. There is a pit trap five feet to your south that you have previously discovered, and not enough room for a running start. You hear the swarm surging after you, though you do not see it yet.

[Blatm]

I'll hop over the pit and keep move along the south path, as far as I can. I'll keep running until either a) I get to a straightaway more than 40' long and don't see the swarm behind me (in which case I'll wait and ready an action to move, listening and looking for it), or b) I can take a move action and be exactly 45' ahead of the swarm (in which case I'll ready an action to hit it with Crusader's strike if it's readied or if not with just a simple melee attack).

I don't want to keep track of maneuvers. Can I just assume that at any given time I have a 7/10 chance of having it readied if I haven't used it in a while?

[Jarian]

Well, the swarm stops following you after your next double move, which puts you directly west of the blank square in the small loop south of the four way split.

Want to go looking for it again, or?

[Blatm]

tl;dr I think about it tomorrow.

What I'm thinking of trying to do is scout for it using summon swarm. I'll summon a swarm at a bend/split/intersection ahead of me, and if the swarm I summon doesn't come to me I know it's around the corner. I guess that doesn't work though because the slowest swarm I can summon is a rat swarm, and that still moves at 30'/round, and I can only summon it 30' away so it'll get to me before I have time to dismiss it.

I suspect what the swarm is doing is pursuing me when I'm within 30', so I need to think about the layout and figure out how I can be 45' away move wise but less than 30' away absolute distance wise, and get there in time to ready an action.

But right now I'm going to go to bed and think about this tomorrow.

[Blatm]

Yeah I'll go looking again. I'll wait 5 minutes then make my way back to the room I first found it in with my weapon hand free.

[Jarian]

Rounding the northern bend of the four-way split, you shortly find the swarm again. It occupies the hall just outside the door in the first split north after the bend, sliding up the side of the walls to either side.

Initiative: [roll0]

[Blatm]

Initiative: [roll0]

Judging from the map, it looks like they're 40' away from the nearby pit trap to me. If that's the case, I'll move 5' beyond that. (If I'm mistaken about something I just want to be 45' away from the spiders and I'll do whatever puts me in that situation.)

Maneuvers:
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Jarian]

The swarm is 35 feet from the pit trap, which occupies the first square to the north of the four-way split. Confirm that you then want to be in the first square south of the four-way split? (45 feet of movement from swarm's current location).

[Blatm]

I'll go east from the four-way split instead of south.

[Jarian]

Okay. It bears noting that you found another pit trap five feet to the east of the split as well.

The swarm surges through the halls, ending spread all the way up the western wall north of the split, just above the pit trap.

[Blatm]

I'll move back 30' and ready an action to breathe on them if they get within 5'.

[Jarian]

Breathe away.

[Blatm]

Damage: [roll0]/2 (Fire)
Entangled: [roll1] turns
Can reuse in: [roll2] turns

[Jarian]

Reflex (DC what?): [roll0]

Regardless, it swarms over you, dealing [roll1] damage and a fort save vs poison.

If you start your turn in the swarm's square, make a fort save vs distraction.

[Blatm]

Seems to me that it only had 5 feet of movement left when I breathed on it, and since entangle makes movement cost double it wouldn't be able to move that extra 5' to get me. Or was I only 30' away from the swarm at the end of my movement?

Reflex DC is 14.

Further actions pending the check that I'm actually screwed.

[Jarian]

You are correct, and are thusly less screwed. Continue.

[Blatm]

Damage from entanglement: (1 turn left)

If my counting was right, I should have 4 maneuvers available right now. They are all but [roll1].

I use Crusader's Strike on the swarm.
Attack: [roll]1d20 + 5
Damage: -
Healed: 1d6+3 (if hit)

Then I move back 20'.

[Blatm]

Rolls, because they didn't work:

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: -
Healed: [roll1]

[Jarian]

Your attack misses, the swarm skittering away from the point of impact only to reform a moment later.

The swarm mindlessly surges forward twenty feet. Mindlessly. Because it is mindless.

Playing nonintelligent creatures is such fun. :smallsigh:

[Blatm]

I bet.

Entangle damage: [roll0] (no longer entangled)

If it's not dead yet, I move 60' away, putting away my morningstar as I move.

To save time:

Next turn if I start the turn at least 15' away from the swarm (i.e. it would have to move 15' to be in my square) I'll eldritch blast it:
Attack: [roll1] range touch attack
Damage: [roll2]
Then move 30' away.

[Jarian]

This is dumb. You kill it over the course of a long, scintillating battle, after which you somehow end right back in the four-way split. Magic.

150 xp.

Where to?

[Blatm]

=)

I'll listen through the northwestern-most door (on the south wall) and if I don't hear anything I'll open it with my pole while standing 12 feet west of the door.

Are there any pits nearby?

[Jarian]

There are no pit traps nearby.

You hear a muffled conversation in Common (you think).

[Blatm]

Not my cup of tea.

I'm having some trouble with the map. It looks like I've only found two entrances to this room, the one I'm at and the one at the dead end. Is that right? Specifically, to the south west there's some weirdness which might be a door.

I'll listen through the other door in the dead end slightly to the south, the one on the western wall. If I don't hear anything I'll open the door with my pole, standing 12' south of the door.

[Jarian]

You hear some gutteral grunting.

The "weirdness" is indeed a door. You perhaps see now how difficult it would have been to give you a normal map if there are even markings in the door markers. :smalltongue:

[Blatm]

I'll stand 12' to the south and open the door.

[Jarian]

There is an open door. You can't see inside it. Roll initiative.

DM:[roll0]

[Blatm]

Initiative: [roll0]

[Jarian]

You're up first.

[Blatm]

Active Listen check to try and judge how close it is and its reaction to me opening the door: [roll0]

I don my shield and ready an action to use my breath weapon if it gets within 5 feet.

Maneuvers:
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Jarian]

The door slams shut.

Your turn again.

[Blatm]

I'll wait a minute then go up and open the door myself.

Initiative: [roll0]

[Jarian]

Opening the door reveals the following room:
{table]|A_|B_|C_
1|||
2|||
3||1|
4|||
5|||
6|||[/table]
There is a door at A-1 west, another at B-1, and another at C-1 east, which you are just outside of.

There is a gnome sized figure with a white dragon’s head, entire body covered with ivory scales, standing in the center of the room. It holds a pair of shortswords, with a handful of darts attached to its belt.

Initiative:[roll0]

[Blatm]

Hm this does not look like someone I want to get near. I'll use Eldritch Blast then move 30' down the hall, opting to go north if I get that far.

Attack: [roll0] vs. touch flatfooded (presumably)
Damage: [roll1]

[Jarian]

Whiff.

You hear the sound of the door slamming shut a second time.

[Blatm]

I'll go somewhere else.

I'll go back to the swarm's room, look down into the pit to see if there's anything of interest there. If not, I'll open the door to the northeast (the one with the bullseye) with my pole.

[Jarian]

Edit: Frig. Edited the wrong post.

This one is lost now.

[Blatm]

Initiative: [roll0]

Standard: Eldritch Blast:
Attack: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

Move: Around the corner. Ideally I want to be 35' away from it, i.e. if he moves 30' he won't be adjacent to me. I don't know where that puts me.

[Jarian]

You started 10 feet from the door (i.e., right at the corner of the bend north)

That would put you at the first square west of the bend north. Confirm?

[Blatm]

Sounds good.

[Jarian]

"Friend Attempting To Flee. Initiating Protocol: Hard To Get."

The constructs mechanical voice echoes through the halls alongside its heavy footfalls as it pursues you, ending adjacent to you.

[Blatm]

I'll entangle it and run away.

Damage: [roll0]/2 (Acid, DC 14 ref for half)
Entangled for: [roll1] rounds
Can reuse in: [roll2] rounds

I'll draw my longsword as part of my move action.

[Jarian]

Moving will provoke an AoO. Checking to make sure you are aware of this.

[Blatm]

I hadn't realized that actually. Can the hugbot try and hug me on an AoO? If not, I'll just try and survive the AoO. If it can I'd like to withdraw instead of making a breath attack.

[Jarian]

Grapples, trips, disarms, etc, can be performed as AoOs, yes. Withdraw, then?

Mind that withdrawing takes you in a straight line, so you could only reach the end of the hall at the furthest.

[Blatm]

Yes, withdraw. Where does it say that you can only move in a straight line with withdraw?

[Jarian]

Bluh. I'm wrong. I really need to not make rules calls without checking the relevant rules after midnight...

How far are you withdrawing?

[Blatm]

As far as I can.

[Jarian]

Alright. That puts you at the first square down the hall of the first southern split available following the hall (urggghh inaccurate description I'm sorry! Reference the map please). You hear sounds of pursuit, but you don't see the construct before your turn rolls around again.

[Blatm]

I don't like the geography around here so I'm going to run a bit further. I want to end my turn 10' north of the nearby 4 way intersection.

Free: "Has he lost his mind? Can he see or is he blind? Can he walk at all, or if he moves will he fall?"

[Jarian]

Hm, sorry, I didn't see this update in my subscriptions. Update coming soon.

[Jarian]

You hear the sound of pursuit, but once more do not see the construct. It appears to be significantly slower than you.

Your turn.

[Blatm]

I'll sheathe my longsword and get ready to cast Eldritch Blast if I get a clear shot.

[Jarian]

The construct rounds the corner, moving toward you. Blast away.

[Blatm]

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Jarian]

Crit threat. Confirm it?

(Warforged, only light fortification, not complete immunity.)

[Blatm]

I didn't realize Eldrirch Blast could crit.

Attack:[roll0] OH SNAP
Damage:[roll1] (crit is x2? In case it's x3: [roll2])

[Jarian]

CArc, Weaponlike Spells, paraphrasing:

"Spells with attack rolls can threaten criticals as weapons. These spells threaten critical hits on a roll of a 20, and have a critical modifier of x2, unless feats are taken to improve the power of their criticals."

Basically, yes. If it has an attack roll, it can crit.

--

Light fortification: [roll0]

Hugbot powers through the pain and goes for the grapple!

[roll1] touch attack. If it hits your touch AC, opposed grapple: [roll2] for [roll3] lethal damage.

Hugbot fails spectacularly in every regard.

[Blatm]

I didn't realize he was so close to me (how on earth did he catch me? Am I correct in thinking that I'm 20' from the 3 way split?), and I've sort of backed myself into a corner (pit trap just south of me right?). I guess I have to risk an AoO.

I'll entangle him and then try to jump across the pit and go East.

Damage: [roll0]/2 (Acid, DC 14 ref for half)
Entangled for: [roll1] turns
Can reuse in: [roll2] turns

Jump check: [roll3] plzplzplzplzplz

[Jarian]

He got that close by being a tricksy robot.

Reflex: [roll0]

AoO grapple attempt w/ entangle penalties: [roll1]

On hit, opposed grapple: [roll2] for [roll3] lethal damage.

[Jarian]

The warforged calls after you.

"Hugbot want hug. Come back to hugbot."

No sign of pursuit.

[Blatm]

I get lucky again. I should be at the corner of the hallway that bends south if I'm not mistaken.

[Jarian]

Sure. It doesn't really matter at this point.

Roll your entangling damage?

[Blatm]

[roll0]

I'll move to the intersection to see if he's on the other side of the pit, and ready an action to run away if he tries to jump across (unless that would provoke an AoO, in which case I'll take the long way around to go to the south split and ready the same action.)

[Jarian]

He's inert on the far side of the pit thanks to your entangling damage. 150 xp.

[Blatm]

That was a bit scary. I'll hop over the pit and search him, then go to the room he was in (jumping over the bullseye) and search it/listen through the doors.

[Jarian]

Opening any of the doors in the warforged's room reveals a hall full of vending machines and the exit to the second floor.

[Blatm]

The easiest way to be good at this stuff is to be lucky.

Does this mean I can start at the 2nd floor now if I want to? If that's the case, I'm going to go around killing stuff.

I heard squirrels a while back. Lets go smash them.

[Jarian]

You have to leave the first floor to save at the second floor. Once you leave, you can't come back. With that in mind, what do you want to do?

[Blatm]

After some deliberation I'll move on to the second floor*, and start with a fresh character there. I hope that floor is a bit more interesting, and a bit less traptraptrapdoortraptrap. Will you be DM'ing me for that floor as well?

*Unless there are specific encounters you want to run.

[Jarian]

The second floor is definitely... interesting.

I'll be DMing there unless you want someone else, in which case you should specify in the recruitment thread.

[Blatm]

Onward then. I'll make a new character with 1000 xp and 3000 gp and let you know when I'm ready. It might take a few days since I'm in the middle of finals. I hope that's ok.

[Jarian]

Floor 2 starting stats are 1,000 xp and 900 gp.

[Blatm]

Woops. That then.