(OOC) The Primeval Dark

[Deadguy]

I'd assumed the games full name was "The Primeval Dark - Prologue to the End". I had no clue it was a literal prologue.

Jesus, I can't really comprehend that kind of dediction. I'm just now DMing my first game ever(as in, I just made the opening post a few minutes ago), and the idea of putting 3 years worth of work into building the world seems terrifying

This is one of those games where I'd love to take it all, bottle it up into novels and make a series. It just has that flavor to it. I'm reminded of the show 'Lost' or at least the first season. Just when you think you've got something figured out... there's a polar bear.

[Mornings]

This is one of those games where I'd love to take it all, bottle it up into novels and make a series. It just has that flavor to it. I'm reminded of the show 'Lost' or at least the first season. Just when you think you've got something figured out... there's a polar bear.

Haha, and we're only, what, four rounds in?

It's going to get interesting.

[forg99rules]

Haha, and we're only, what, four rounds in?

It's going to get interesting.

4 rounds for them lol

[Mornings]

Bah, doesn't look like im going to finish this post tonight either. had a late start, but did like half of it.

[Mornings]

posted group 1. sorry for the gramatical errors and such. its 1am and i don't have time to look it over. Just trying to get your update out as soon as possible. I'll come back later and edit in extra XP, etc. Not super important right now.

Welcome to round 1.

[Triskavanski]

Going to start off with rolls here.


Climb check to get out of the water (1d20+5)[13]
Knowledge Planes vs dark water (1d20+7)[10]
Knowledge Arcana vs dark water (1d20+7)[24]

Perception to find path to escape (1d20+12)[19]
Acrobatics to move through the rubble (1d20+19)[36]

Reflex save vs damage (1d20+10)[27]


I'll likely make some more checks once I re-read the post again.

[Mornings]

There's no Acrobatics to pull yourself out of the water, unless you can beast shape into a dolphin (then I'll think about it). You'll need to climb as stated in the spoilers. You can try jumping to higher furniture, but vertical jumps aren't feasible for most people unless you're some kinda dragoon themed jumper. The water rises every round, a significant degree, so you'll want to move quickly!

If the tide gets you, that's probably game over.

I'll edit the post later when I get a chance to fix any messed up spots. Good luck.

[Stevesciguy]

posted group 1. sorry for the gramatical errors and such. its 1am and i don't have time to look it over. Just trying to get your update out as soon as possible. I'll come back later and edit in extra XP, etc. Not super important right now.

Welcome to round 1.

Don't worry about it, I only saw a couple. I'm at work right now, won't be able to post for another few hours. I read the post last night, and I am sad cuz all my stuff was in my backpack, which I hadn't picked up yet

[Mornings]

Don't worry about it, I only saw a couple. I'm at work right now, won't be able to post for another few hours. I read the post last night, and I am sad cuz all my stuff was in my backpack, which I hadn't picked up yet

Ah, I forgot to add that into the spoiler!
Anything you didn't pick up, you have it back on your person, and any of the effects from the cell are removed.

The whole point of all that was just to get PCs adjusted to the kinds of actions, speed and mentality involved with surviving out there. In the real game you'd just loose all your crap if you couldn't grab it, but not from this lol

So you're good to go. Make sure you pack efficiently in the future~

[Stevesciguy]

Ah, I forgot to add that into the spoiler!
Anything you didn't pick up, you have it back on your person, and any of the effects from the cell are removed.

The whole point of all that was just to get PCs adjusted to the kinds of actions, speed and mentality involved with surviving out there. In the real game you'd just loose all your crap if you couldn't grab it, but not from this lol

So you're good to go. Make sure you pack efficiently in the future~

Hooray! That's a relief, I've got some good stuff on me

[Triskavanski]

There's no Acrobatics to pull yourself out of the water, unless you can beast shape into a dolphin (then I'll think about it). You'll need to climb as stated in the spoilers. You can try jumping to higher furniture, but vertical jumps aren't feasible for most people unless you're some kinda dragoon themed jumper. The water rises every round, a significant degree, so you'll want to move quickly!

If the tide gets you, that's probably game over.

I'll edit the post later when I get a chance to fix any messed up spots. Good luck.

Right, that is why I climbed out first. The it looks like there is some rubble outside of the water in the map, so to not get stuck in the rubble I'm acrobatics my way through the rubble.

[Mornings]

Right, that is why I climbed out first. The it looks like there is some rubble outside of the water in the map, so to not get stuck in the rubble I'm acrobatics my way through the rubble.

There's no difficult terrain since everything on the map is 'vertical', you'll have things to hold onto or clear wall to fall off from. The water-level is effectively the 'floor'. Since there's no movement through difficult terrain, no Acrobatics is needed. It won't impede your movement while climbing.

[Stevesciguy]

So, does what I got from my perception/survival check mean I heard the whole conversation between the speaker and the woman? Or did I just get a glimpse or something?

I am confuse

[Mornings]

So, does what I got from my perception/survival check mean I heard the whole conversation between the speaker and the woman? Or did I just get a glimpse or something?

I am confuse

The checks being taken have not always been from the perspective of yourself in your present iteration. The information received from success or failure is relevant towards piecing together the truth of what has happened, and how to stop it. However, for your character this information may be arbitrary. The use, uselessness or interpretation of such results is largely falls to the player to determine.

Erik recovered a small portion of the thoughts of himself from another instance, but it falls to you, the player, to determine what that means.

The vision was experienced by everyone.

[Stevesciguy]

The checks being taken have not always been from the perspective of yourself in your present iteration. The information received from success or failure is relevant towards piecing together the truth of what has happened, and how to stop it. However, for your character this information may be arbitrary. The use, uselessness or interpretation of such results is largely falls to the player to determine.

Erik recovered a small portion of the thoughts of himself from another instance, but it falls to you, the player, to determine what that means.

The vision was experienced by everyone.

I see. Too bad I don't have any knowledge skills to figure out what a speaker is.

Gonna roll some checks so I can describe my turn. I'll copy them over to a spoiler in my IC post

Reflex: (1d20+8)[16]

Swim(DC 10): (1d20+7)[20]
Another swim in case I fail(DC 10): (1d20+7)[26]

Climb checks:
(1d20+7)[19]
(1d20+7)[26]

How would I go about using the rope in my backpack?
...I guess that's kinda my job to figure out, huh

[Stevesciguy]

Gonna roll one more time on climb to see if I can get a bit higher. Really don't want that water getting me

DC 16 Climb Check: (1d20+7)[27]

Phew. Gonna stop there. After this, I'm more likely to fail than succeed

[Chromascope3D]

Ack, won't be able to post til tomorrow (midnight here now).

[Mornings]

I see. Too bad I don't have any knowledge skills to figure out what a speaker is.

Gonna roll some checks so I can describe my turn. I'll copy them over to a spoiler in my IC post

Reflex: [roll0]

Swim(DC 10): [roll1]
Another swim in case I fail(DC 10): [roll2]

Climb checks:
[roll3]
[roll4]

How would I go about using the rope in my backpack?
...I guess that's kinda my job to figure out, huh

Gonna roll one more time on climb to see if I can get a bit higher. Really don't want that water getting me

DC 16 Climb Check: [roll0]

Phew. Gonna stop there. After this, I'm more likely to fail than succeed

Good rolls. So rope is pretty key to coming out of this encounter alive, you have a lot of options, but not a lot of rope.

If you want to prioritize your own survival, you'll want to use a grapple, or any similar tool to get that rope hooked as far as possible. You probably wont have time to retrieve it, but you'll basically have unimpeded movement to climb the distance you threw it - or shot it, if you have grapple arrows. Getting a head-start before the water rises is the safest bet. If you get caught up with the tide nipping at your toes, you're likely going to die. This also works for boosting up your allies who have more difficulty climbing (aren't you glad you don't have a huge ACP?)

Alternatively, if you feel you have decent strength and a decent climb speed, you can set pitons, or even set improvised pitons, such as a dagger or iron spike to prevent you from falling beyond a certain height, which may be useful depending on what you're trying to do. You could also tie another PC off to yourself and climb, hauling them behind. Due to the way the rules function for catching others, and the unique climb rules of this encounter, there's no penalty for dragging someone with you, other than the strength checks. This can be important in keeping other PCs alive that have weak climb checks. Alternatively you can also hop-scotch it, and have fast climbing players climb normally with their first move, then pull each other up further after tying themselves off to one another so they can move further ahead during another character's movement, but this requires decent strength to accomplish.

There's a lot of ways to skin this cat, but without working together the likelihood of hitting 'game-over' rises. If you get KO'd here, that's pretty much a wrap for you and I don't think anyone wants to be the first new PC to reroll, lol. This is a good exercise in teamwork and why you bring various tools. The water rises a random amount each round, up to a maximum of 20ft. So better haul ass!

EDIT: Side note, if you have dimensional storage, like a bago' holdin' or handy-haver - normally using these kinda items unprotected in a tainted region is super risky, and could screw you pretty bad. This is also why lugging out loot from dangerous places is often harder than earning the loot. Typically this would just throw you through a sector down to another one, or potentially shoot you out of that tainted region to a random location depending on the sectors conditions, (which could be another tainted region lol). Usually this is just off whatever got populated on the table and the d100 does the rest (flavored as getting shot out into another dimension, etc). For the purpose of this encounter though, you can use such items normally right now. This particular instance isn't to pressure you with the risks of magic, but don't assume doing so will be safe at all moving forward.

Ack, won't be able to post til tomorrow (midnight here now).

No problem. Thanks for the heads up. I still need to put up the update for group 2 and Stella anyways, so it's no big deal.

[Triskavanski]

Ah i misread the map. Didnt realise we went to a 2d platformer instead of the normal top down beatem up.

[Stevesciguy]

Good rolls. So rope is pretty key to coming out of this encounter alive, you have a lot of options, but not a lot of rope.

If you want to prioritize your own survival, you'll want to use a grapple, or any similar tool to get that rope hooked as far as possible. You probably wont have time to retrieve it, but you'll basically have unimpeded movement to climb the distance you threw it - or shot it, if you have grapple arrows. Getting a head-start before the water rises is the safest bet. If you get caught up with the tide nipping at your toes, you're likely going to die. This also works for boosting up your allies who have more difficulty climbing (aren't you glad you don't have a huge ACP?)

Alternatively, if you feel you have decent strength and a decent climb speed, you can set pitons, or even set improvised pitons, such as a dagger or iron spike to prevent you from falling beyond a certain height, which may be useful depending on what you're trying to do. You could also tie another PC off to yourself and climb, hauling them behind. Due to the way the rules function for catching others, and the unique climb rules of this encounter, there's no penalty for dragging someone with you, other than the strength checks. This can be important in keeping other PCs alive that have weak climb checks. Alternatively you can also hop-scotch it, and have fast climbing players climb normally with their first move, then pull each other up further after tying themselves off to one another so they can move further ahead during another character's movement, but this requires decent strength to accomplish.

There's a lot of ways to skin this cat, but without working together the likelihood of hitting 'game-over' rises. If you get KO'd here, that's pretty much a wrap for you and I don't think anyone wants to be the first new PC to reroll, lol. This is a good exercise in teamwork and why you bring various tools. The water rises a random amount each round, up to a maximum of 20ft. So better haul ass!

EDIT: Side note, if you have dimensional storage, like a bago' holdin' or handy-haver - normally using these kinda items unprotected in a tainted region is super risky, and could screw you pretty bad. This is also why lugging out loot from dangerous places is often harder than earning the loot. Typically this would just throw you through a sector down to another one, or potentially shoot you out of that tainted region to a random location depending on the sectors conditions, (which could be another tainted region lol). Usually this is just off whatever got populated on the table and the d100 does the rest (flavored as getting shot out into another dimension, etc). For the purpose of this encounter though, you can use such items normally right now. This particular instance isn't to pressure you with the risks of magic, but don't assume doing so will be safe at all moving forward.

Uh... I had the forethought to get rope, but not any sort of grapple or climbing kit.

I do have an idea... it involves using one of my scorned abilities, but I think it could work

What action would it be to tie a rope around my waist? Move?

[Mornings]

Ah i misread the map. Didnt realise we went to a 2d platformer instead of the normal top down beatem up.

Yeah, map perspective change.

[Mornings]

Uh... I had the forethought to get rope, but not any sort of grapple or climbing kit.

I do have an idea... it involves using one of my scorned abilities, but I think it could work

What action would it be to tie a rope around my waist? Move?

Yeah, you can tie your rope as a move.

[Chromascope3D]

Yeah, I was feeling really good about his +9 in climb until I remembered the effects of medium encumbrance on ACP. What I wouldn't give for Careful Packer. :P

Spoiler

Show

On top of what was in my post, I'm gonna spend a second move action to reset the DC and attempt to climb ten more feet.
Climb DC 10: (1d20+6)[17]
Climb DC 13: (1d20+6)[11]

[Stevesciguy]

Yeah, I was feeling really good about his +9 in climb until I remembered the effects of medium encumbrance on ACP. What I wouldn't give for Careful Packer. :P

Spoiler

Show

On top of what was in my post, I'm gonna spend a second move action to reset the DC and attempt to climb ten more feet.
Climb DC 10: [roll0]
Climb DC 13: [roll1]

Erik might be able to help with this. Emphasis on might. He's got an ability that lets him turn into a mummy. Which means he won't care about fortitude saves or non-lethal damage. It also gives him a strength buff. So, he might be able to just drag everyone up the wall at top speed. If someone falls in, he can dive in and drag them out. The downside? He only gets 2 minutes as mummy-Erik, and when he comes out of it, he'll be fatigued. Which is Super Bad^TM

Oh, it's also, of course, a magic ability, which means he might just explode if he uses it

[Toptomcat]

So if I understand things correctly, Willowbrook is now on its side, Crofte blew out the doors of Khazik's and Erik's cells, but I'm still stuck in my cell?

I think I'll delay posting until Faux Paw does. My actions are likely to be very different if he succeeds or fails to pick the lock on a second try.

[Chromascope3D]

Nah the mysterious entity tore all of the walls into another existence and then we all fell into a pool of squid ink. We're all free and potentially drowning now, is how I read it :p

Actually I misread it, the entity picked up the building like a dollhouse and dumped us all out into a pool of squid ink. We're all in a different room now.

[Toptomcat]

On rereading, you're quite right. Writing a post...

[Mornings]

Nah the mysterious entity tore all of the walls into another existence and then we all fell into a pool of squid ink. We're all free and potentially drowning now, is how I read it :p

Actually I misread it, the entity picked up the building like a dollhouse and dumped us all out into a pool of squid ink. We're all in a different room now.

Yup. Dollhouse.
Git to climbing bois~ lol

[Stevesciguy]

Do we wanna work out a strategy to climb? I was thinking that maybe Kazik and Erik, having the highest climb checks, could climb up with a rope, then both hold onto it while the less climb-y characters climb up it, and rinse and repeat. I think that'd help the slower characters to keep ahead of the water

[Toptomcat]

I have only +5 Climb, which might be the worst in the party-but with Muleback Cords and a Heavyload Belt I'm pretty sure I can literally climb with the entire party on my back while taking only a -5 for heavy encumbrance. Then if everyone spends their standard actions to Aid Another, I get +4 per person, putting me at a pretty reliable +12.

It's weird, but then magic is weird.