Free Ferelden (BoL Hack) - Game Thread

[MinotaurWarblad]

James lunges through the door across from the one Abe just opened, brandishing his longsword towards the first potential threat he sees (if there is one).

[Mr Stereo1]

Abe toddles along behind them, pointing his staff at the unopened doors in what he hopes is a menacing manner and listening carefully for any rousing Darkspawn.

[whiteflash]

Jacques looks around behind the group to make sure nothing's sneaking up on them.

He also makes sure to look down into the entrance hall, to see if anything is moving down there.

[Tibbius]

Peeking over the balcony into the entrance hall, ten yards down the passage, would have taken Jacques away from the rear of the party as James burst through the door into what the map showed as a dormitory. So Jacques decided to hold off on that.

The dormitory was occupied.

A moment after James burst through the door, he beheld four twisted creatures scrambling from their sleeping places, reaching for axes and mace. They were at the far end of a room about eighty feet long and fifteen across, lined with rotting mattresses on the floor along each side. Six barred windows filled the room with greyish mid-afternoon light and raindrops darkened the windowsills and the old wood floor below the sills. A cool breeze blew in and wafted the odor of mold from the mattresses, as well as a more acrid odor. The floor within about ten feet from the door was simultaneously slippery and sticky with dark matter that stuck and stained James' boots.

{{What do each of you do as the darkspawn arm themselves?}}

[Mr Stereo1]

Abe lunges his staff forward to one of the Darkspawn stumbling awake and awkwardly grasping for a heavy looking mace and casts a minor Orlesian curse on him, causing him to lose his grip on the weapon. Abe doesn't stay to watch the result but steps back into the doorway.

"I'll watch the hallway." He tells the others briskly, fearing the alarm that the waking Darkspawn could bring and the prospect of being caught in close quarters.

Spoiler: OOC

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I'll use a Cantrip to give one of the Darkspawn momentary clumsiness, hoping that Abe can catch one of them stumbling up at the right moment to drop a mace on their foot or tumble into another Darkspawn.

(1d20+4)[18] to cast with DC 5. AP down to 7/15.

[MinotaurWarblad]

James swings his blade with an underhand grip, using a pendulum motion to build momentum as he moves forward in a blur, flicking the end in an outward arc -- the goal is to attack two of the monsters in one attack, slashing the first one's arm (better than aiming for vitals since he doesn't have to move as close to hit the creature, and such a wound, while not lethal, still buys him time) and driving the sword's tip into the leg of another one.

Spoiler: OoC

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I hope that, with the element of surprise, he has enough time to give a couple weakening wounds and still get into position to protect his allies. Those moves would take maybe 1.5 to 2.5 seconds, but that might be enough time for one of them to get their bearigs and flank him.
Edit: Removed the comment about darting back. Here's the rolls (+2 Str +2 melee -1 fighting defensively for +1 AC, total to hit +3 and AC 20): [roll]1d20+3[/roll] and [roll]1d20+3[/roll] to hit, [roll]1d8+2[/roll] and [roll]1d8+2[/roll] damage.

[Tibbius]

Spoiler: OoC

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I hope that, with the element of surprise, he has enough time to give a couple weakening wounds and still get into position to protect his allies. Those moves would take maybe 1.5 to 2.5 seconds, but that might be enough time for one of them to get their bearigs and flank him.

Spoiler: OoC

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Maybe you're thinking that the darkspawn are near the door, but they're at the far end of an eighty foot room. It would take James about 4 seconds to charge across that distance (considering his Agility 4). He would easily outdistance Jacques and Abe, leaving him alone to square off against the four darkspawn, who might have readied their weapons by then.

[MinotaurWarblad]

Spoiler: OoC

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My bad, I didn't look at the map and was just imagining a standard bunkhouse dormitory (about 20 feet). I'll edit my post to adjust.
Edit: Fixed!

[Tibbius]

Spoiler: OoC James' rolls

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because they won't work if they are added in an edit.

(1d20+3)[22] and (1d20+3)[11] to hit, (1d8+2)[5] and (1d8+2)[3] damage.

The spawn of darkness have no time to don armor and barely a moment to seize their weapons from the floor, before James is upon them striking at them. He slices one across the arm and it howls with pain and rage. The other snatches its leg back from James' return stroke. The two rearward ones, being out of his reach, retreat through a door at the end of the room, in the wall opposite the last window. The door slams shut.

What do Jacques and Abe do now that two of the opponents have escaped?

Spoiler: Abe's cantrip

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Good idea, but in the time that it took James to reach the darkspawn whichever one you targeted had time to pick up the mace that it had dropped.

[whiteflash]

Jacques throws a dart at the one with the big gash across its arm.

(1d20+4)[5]
(1d6)[6]

Edit: Shame to waste an awesome damage roll on a Nat 1.

[Mr Stereo1]

In fear of being caught in a pincer assault from all sides Abe moves as decisively as his ample frame will allow him to shut off potential avenues of attack. He snaps the doors to the hallway from the second Dormitories and Training Room closed and with a tap of his staff snaps the thumb latch, trapping the Darkspawn on the other side after a fashion.

To think his tutors claimed he was wasting his time studying furnishings like some Carpenter!

Toddling onwards to the staircase Abe lays out one of his sheets behind him as he surveys the field of battle imperiously like a conquering General.

[Tibbius]

Spoiler: Initiative

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The darkspawn: (d20)[5] Abe: (d20+7)[20]

While the darkspawn make whatever sinister plans, Abe executes his stratagem. The levers of the doorlatches snap with satisfying little noises.

[Tibbius]

The two darkspawn whom James engaged retaliate against him (he remains between them and Jacques, although consistent with his plan he is making a fighting retreat toward the doorway). They wield an axe and a mace (both medium weapons).

first darkspawn Melee 1 Strength 1 - (d20+2)[20] axe Strength 1 - (d8+1)[4]
second darkspawn Melee 1 Strength 1 - (d20+2)[14] mace Strength 1 - (d8+1)[6]

[Tibbius]

Abe checks the damp stone stairwell, which is well-lit by sunlight through its barred windows. He sees nothing, but hears a faint slithering sound.

James makes a fighting retreat, easily knocking aside with his shield the incoming blows from the darkspawn armed with mace and axe.

[Mr Stereo1]

Peering suspiciously down at the hall beneath him like his sainted grandmother peering into the forests for Dalish rebels Abe toddles back towards his companions, leaving his fearsome battle blankets spread out across the hallway. He wracks his mighty mind for some etching of whatever the slithering might mean.

Spoiler: OOC

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If there's no rush oncoming I'll go try and help, but I'm genuinely blanking on what would be making the slithering sound so here's a Mind + Scholar roll in case Abe knows IC.

(1d20+6)[9]

[Tibbius]

Nothing in Abe's remembered studies informed him what might make an audible slithering noise in a darkspawn infested fortress. Maybe a giant constrictor snake? But those, he had heard, were creatures of the hot and humid northlands. He had never seen one himself.

[MinotaurWarblad]

James makes another swipe while keeping his focus on parrying incoming attacks.

Spoiler: OOC

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(1d20+3)[5] to hit for (1d8+2)[8] damage, keeping up at AC 20.

[Tibbius]

James makes another swipe while keeping his focus on parrying incoming attacks.

Spoiler: OOC

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[roll0] to hit for [roll1] damage, keeping up at AC 20.

Spoiler: ooc

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Are you going for a Defensive Stance (+1 AC, -1 attack) or All Out Defense (disadvantage on all attack rolls, incoming and outgoing)?

[MinotaurWarblad]

Spoiler: OOC

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Defensive stance, since the +1/-1 was already included.

[Tibbius]

The two darkspawn snarl and try to attack in sequence, one darting forward and striking to drive James back toward the door, then the other stepping forward and swinging to drive him back further.
first darkspawn Melee 1 Strength 1 -1 defensive stance - (1d20+1)[18] with axe Strength 1 - (1d8+1)[4]
second darkspawn Melee 1 Strength 1 -1 defensive stance - (1d20+1)[5] with mace Strength 1 - (1d8+1)[6]

The axe-wielder slams its blade into James' shield, making a solid clunking noise and leaving a nasty crack.

[Mr Stereo1]

Striding down the hallway, leaving whatever serpant slithers beneath them and whatever Darkspawn batter at the magically broken doors behind him for now Abe hears a disturbance. Peeking his head around the doorframe he's shocked to spy the beasts gaining an edge over his martial companion! Seeing his companion struck Abe lashes out with his staff, grasping the axe and tearing it from the savage creature's grip.

Spoiler: OOC

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I'll Cantrip another Disarm on the Axe-Darkspawn to try and buy James some time.

6/15 AP now.

[Tibbius]

The darkspawn's axe sticks to Abe's staff as if the blade has been welded to the wood. It slips from the darkspawn's grasp like a hot greasy sausage from a child's hand. The darkspawn howls and shrieks and clutches futilely as Abe yanks back the staff and gains possession of the axe, which now drops clattering to the wooden floor.

[Tibbius]

Jacques' dart makes a low arc over Abe and James and lodges in the cheek of the mace-wielding darkspawn. It takes a step back from James and tries to claw the dart out of its face.

[Tibbius]

Jacques -> James -> darkspawn -> Abe -> repeat

[Tibbius]

It seems like this game has faded. Let me know if I'm wrong.

[Mr Stereo1]

I'm around, at least. I feel like we might have better luck in a PbP format with less step by step, door to door, dungeoneering choices and we could try something more like "here is [encounter/dilemma] how do you prep and/or respond?". There are times I really appreciate the agency to have chances to do things with my character, but in slower moving PbPs some of that needs to be sacrificed, I feel.

The choice on how to enter the castle was good, the first reactive encounter was good, but I feel like most of the choice points since had too much lag going into empty rooms and hearing noises that never turned into monsters. In real time or face to face that's just a sign of a well made dungeon and I love it, but in PbP it might be easier to just run over that with "you encounter nothing in the library, there's leftovers in the kitchen" until we get to "and there's an ogre sleeping in the staircase, what do?"

[Tibbius]

I'm around, at least. I feel like we might have better luck in a PbP format with less step by step, door to door, dungeoneering choices and we could try something more like "here is [encounter/dilemma] how do you prep and/or respond?". There are times I really appreciate the agency to have chances to do things with my character, but in slower moving PbPs some of that needs to be sacrificed, I feel.

The choice on how to enter the castle was good, the first reactive encounter was good, but I feel like most of the choice points since had too much lag going into empty rooms and hearing noises that never turned into monsters. In real time or face to face that's just a sign of a well made dungeon and I love it, but in PbP it might be easier to just run over that with "you encounter nothing in the library, there's leftovers in the kitchen" until we get to "and there's an ogre sleeping in the staircase, what do?"

Good points about the PbP format. I'll keep that in mind for other games but I'm afraid this one may be dead.

[whiteflash]

I could go with that. But unless Minotaur's still in, we'll need to re-recruit.

[Tibbius]

I'll open it up to replacement players and see who we get.

UPDATE: Giving until Tuesday to see what happens. No takers by then, I'll close this down.

[Mr Stereo1]

Well, here's hoping someone steps in.