Where am I?

[M0rdain]

I was wondering if I could pick your collective brains :o) In the game I am currently playing we have travelled through a portal, and have ended up in a “Building” that is under water. We can not travel back through the portal that we came through as it is broken. Our plan for getting out is for me to cast water breathing on everyone, and then once outside the building to cast water walking, using this to propel us to the surface. Now comes the questions, we are unsure if we will suffer the bends, or if real world issues would not happen in the Forgotten realms, (but it could be at the DM’s discretion) The second is once we are on the surface, to work out where we are or how to get to dry land.

We consist of;
Cleric 6, RSoP 3 [Me]
Ranger 8, Sorcerer 1,
Fighter 9
Mage 5, Rogue 2, Fighter 2

At the end of the last session I used Divination to find out “Where the nearest human city is” but I got the feeling that I failed my roll. My further ideas are to use Footsteps of the divine to fly up into the air (once on the surface) and look for dry land, but we could be a long way away. The other is to use Commune and ask 9 questions that I can get a yes/no answer to. (I am not sure what questions I could ask that would be helpful though) Our ranger has stated that his survival should be good enough for him to navigate by the stars or the sun, but we would need to know where we were going lol.

Any thoughts are very welcome. We are playing tonight. :o)

[dsmiles]

Your Ranger is probably correct in his assumption. Even if he can't navigate by the stars (unless he's got some sailing experience) the sun should provide a useful baseline. Pick a direction and go is the best advice I can offer.
(Unless you drop a locate city bomb and watch for the mushroom cloud. )

[Gan The Grey]

Don't know the whole story here, but I recommend exploring the building completely before leaving. Sounds like the beginning of a Bioshock to me. Where's the fun in trying to immediately escape the dungeon the DM puts you in? YOU'RE ADVENTURERS!!!! ADVENTURE!!!!

EDIT: As for the bends, the bends is only suffered by surface-type animals. The liquid transmission of oxygen, for various complicated reasons, ameliorates the problem of the bends. Since you are breathing water, your body would react in much the same way as a fish would. So no bends.

[Rasman]

have you fully investigated the building yet for clues as to where you're at? I'd do that at least before leaving, it could give you an easier way to the surface...your idea to get to the surface is a good one BUT if it leaves you thousands of miles out in the middle of nowhere, then you're pretty boned...Detect Nearest City could REALLY screw you if you're actually in the remains of an Ancient City...it would really mean you couldn't find anything out...my suggestion is investigate and see what you find before you try to escape...there's obviously a reason your DM put you there

EDIT: Damn you Gan, you beat me to it!

[Gan The Grey]

Damn you Gan, you beat me to it!

AHAHAHA!!! First time NinjaITP. *wipes a small tear of happiness*

[dsmiles]

AHAHAHA!!! First time NinjaITP. *wipes a small tear of happiness*

W00t! You get a 'first-time-ninjaitp' cookie! You go, Gan!

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[Rasman]

AHAHAHA!!! First time NinjaITP. *wipes a small tear of happiness*

I feel sorry for who ever is your Sloppy Seconds. I also agree with the Bends thing, but I didn't care enough to go look it up. Besides, it's D&D, people throw fire and make armies explode with the blink of an eye, I'm not sure it's something you need to stress about.

W00t! You get a 'first-time-ninjaitp' cookie! You go, Gan!

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do want...

[Gan The Grey]

I feel sorry for who ever is your Sloppy Seconds. I also agree with the Bends thing, but I didn't care enough to go look it up. Besides, it's D&D, people throw fire and make armies explode with the blink of an eye, I'm not sure it's something you need to stress about.

True, and the cat-girls will thank you. And we ALWAYS appreciate grateful cat-girls...

[M0rdain]

Yes I have explored the Building, there is one place left to have a look (through a hole in a wall) We are just worried about combat underwater. (Especially having our one of our main damage dealers being a Ranger with a Bow lol) That and I suck at swimming and full plate does not really help with that hehe. To explore I stripped off and cast endure elements to cope with the cold and we had found a bottle that was forever bubbling, which I was able to use as an air supply while exploring. I have a feeling that this will just be a hole into the outside. But I will have to have a look. [NB currently we are on a boat that we summoned in the middle of the building (in a dome that was full of air above the main hall, but it only lasts 24 hours, so need to think sharpish about what to do hehe)

[Psyx]

We are unsure if we will suffer the bends, or if real world issues would not happen in the Forgotten realms, (but it could be at the DM’s discretion) The second is once we are on the surface, to work out where we are or how to get to dry land.

Firstly; I'd go with the other poster's advice regarding exploring, rather than escaping.


The bends might not even exist in the game world. As an ex-diving instructor, I tend to hand-wave all such issues in my games, for the sake of ease. It adds nothing, saves complications. And: You'd be breathing water anyway.

I'm thinking that knowledge of the bends may also be a little meta, to say the least. I'm far from convinced that any of you would know about it, given that it's not something that your characters would ever have encountered or heard of, unless someone has Profession (pearl diver) - and even then only in vague terms, lacking in real understanding. It would be poor roleplaying to be concerned about the bends, nitrogen narcosis, equalisation and the pressure. And it would be a poor GM who punished you for that roleplaying.

Your bigger problem is likely to be exposure. Memorise 'Endure Elements'. Water is cold.


Use the air bottle to keep the air fresh in your main room. I'd personally keep enough water breathing spells memmed to breath water 24/7 in order to preserve supplies of oxygen and in case of 'issues'. Frankly: It may be the only thing that will keep you alive.

[Gan The Grey]

You could always ask your DM what the heck he wants from you. You know, all nonchalant-like. Yeah...a divination to ask god what the heck he wants.

The bends might not even exist in the game world. As an ex-diving instructor, I tend to hand-wave all such issues in my games, for the sake of ease. It adds nothing, saves complications. And: You'd be breathing water anyway.

I'm thinking that knowledge of the bends may also be a little meta, to say the least. I'm far from convinced that any of you would know about it, given that it's not something that your characters would ever have encountered or heard of, unless someone has Profession (pearl diver) - and even then only in vague terms, lacking in real understanding. It would be poor roleplaying to be concerned about the bends, nitrogen narcosis, equalisation and the pressure. And it would be a poor GM who punished you for that roleplaying.

Your bigger problem is likely to be exposure. Memorise 'Endure Elements'. Water is cold.


Use the air bottle to keep the air fresh in your main room. I'd personally keep enough water breathing spells memmed to breath water 24/7 in order to preserve supplies of oxygen and in case of 'issues'. Frankly: It may be the only thing that will keep you alive.

Also, this.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Here's a good question how deep are you? significant water depth can cause physical damage.

[DonEsteban]

The three main hazards underwater are drowning, depth and hypothermia (and maybe decompression sickness, but I would be surprised if your DM wants to enforce this). Water breathing only helps with the first and should prevent decompression problems. Ask your DM (in or out of character (Survival?)) if pressure (or temperature, or temperature) could be a problem.

Freedom of Movement is the spell for underwater combat. Ranged combat is terrible and melee combat without piercing weapons is "not fun". Otherwise it is not as bad as players tend to think.

Commune will, of course, be helpful. One of my first questions would be "are we still on the same continent planet plane?"

[Psyx]

significant water depth can cause physical damage.

...Due to the air spaces in your body. If these are filled with a liquid breathing medium, or the air breathed is of equal pressure to the external pressure, the issue is mitigated.

It's safe to say that where they are is 'magic' in some way for a plethora of physical and physiological reasons and because... diving physiology is very dull in high fantasy games.

[Gan The Grey]

Catgirls, people...CATGIRLS!

[Thajocoth]

You realize this is in a roleplaying game? A lot of problems in the real world just don't exist in fantasy. They have a lot of other problems instead. It's cool to fight against some ancient underwater horror... It's not so fun to deal with the bends.

I'd assume the ruins you're in are a dungeon of some sort. Water breathing + explore. It's likely that something at the end of this dungeon will be the quickest way to dry land.

[M0rdain]

Thank you for all the helpful advice, i will try to get back on here and let you know how it goes

[KillianHawkeye]

we have travelled through a portal, and have ended up in a “Building” that is under water. We can not travel back through the portal that we came through as it is broken.

There is an issue here that you may have failed to consider. You went through a portal, that means you may be on a different plane or a different world from the one you are familiar with. If you're on the Elemental Plane of Water (for example), there may not even BE a surface for you to float up to. (I also don't think a waterwalking spell would force you up to the surface if you're already submerged.)

This could also cause some difficulty with navigation. The stars and the sun may not be the same and might not even follow the same rules as on the Material Plane!

So I think the first order of business is finding out exactly where you are.

[Greenish]

And we ALWAYS appreciate grateful cat-girls...

Oh yeah… Excellent trapfinders, them.

[Keld Denar]

Watch out for octopus shaped topiary guardians. They are NASTY!

[Kyouhen]

I'd vote for Commune. Two good questions: "Are we on [plane]?" and "Is there dry land within [distance] of this location?"

[M0rdain]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you all.

Well i fully explored the underwater building, and ther ewas nothign hidden, but the water started to subside, so we thought we may be able to walk somewhere, that is untill we saw a giant wall of water heading back towards us. So we hid in a hole in the ground from the "tidal wave" after deciding that attempting to surff the wave on an upturned pew/bench was not a good idea.

After surviving that we swam to the durface (just) and managed to then find out magical boat. We turned it up the right way and decided that any direcetion was as good as any due to the coulds obsuring the night sky. eventually we hit land (literally) and after trying to clamber accross the rocks to the actuall shore, we got attact by a giant squid. Our fighter barely survived being eaten alive (-8 hp) but after dispatching beaked foe we managed to find the shore. Where this shore is thoguh i have no clue, that i will hopefully find out tonight.

[Crossblade]

Time for a knowledge (geography) check or three. One of wwhich is at night to recognize constilations. Don't expect an easy DC though, unless you have profession (astologist).