JoeNotCharles
First Post
|
[Adventure] Artemis' Pact
JoeNotCharles
First Post
[sblock=Rules Update]
That round was much easier than I intended. In a face-to-face game, I would negotiate with the players over their actions. "Yes, you can use Bluff to raise your comrades spirits, but that wouldn't give you a success, it would just give the next player a +2 to their roll. Maybe if you roll really well it would give everybody a +2. Want to do that, or try something else?"
But that doesn't work too well when we have to wait between posts (and when changing your mind involves changing an action you've already described). And the DM unilaterally deciding, "No, that counts as an assist and not a success," is unfair. That's why I allowed FourMonos to gain a success, when in a face to face game I would have counted that bluff as Aid Another. For Neil1889's scouting, I would probably have asked him to roll a Stealth check, and then a Perception check with a +2 if he succeeded at the Stealth or a -2 if he failed, as part of the same action, and counted the success if the Perception check succeeded.
So from now on, I'll be tightening things up a bit: I will post a list of skills that can definitely be used to gain successes. (And some of these may be Primary Skills, which give you a +2 to your roll.) If you want to try to gain a success on the challenge with a different skill, describe what you want to try in an OOC post and I'll tell you if I'll allow it or not.
Any skill that doesn't seem totally unreasonable can still be used for Aid Another.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Dungeoneering 15]
The rock here is not native to the island of Daunton, and certainly not Stargazer Hill. You've clearly been transported some distance away. You can't tell whether the rock is native to one of the Proximate Isles - although you can rule out Kytheria, the living plant island - or one of the Near or Far Lands, or if it's a place nobody's ever heard of before. Or another plane entirely.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Nature 15, or 12 for Artemis]
The creature you're following is a "wombat", and it's native to the island of Allaria, which is a few weeks travel away from Daunton. It's possible that one of them was transported here by ship and got loose in some caves, but considering the magical effects you've experienced in the maze, it's also possible you've been transported far away from Stargazer Hill to somewhere beneath Allaria.
[/sblock]
You follow the tracks that Lilli found, which lead through a maze of natural tunnels and then suddenly break out into a worked passage, wide enough for two carts to pass abreast. (You can tell by the two sets of cart tracks on the floor.) Looking up the slope, you see the tracks end hanging out over the side of a huge abyss. You cannot help but picture solid rock sheering away and falling into the void, as must have happened some time in the past.
The muddy paw prints turn and head down the passage at galloping speed. As you reluctantly follow them downwards, you see that the left hand track's wooden ties are splintered and many are missing, and even the metal rails are knotted and sometimes melted. The right hand track is almost pristine. (You wisely walk between the two sets of tracks to avoid catching your feet in the ties.)
The tunnel soon ends in a large chamber whose southern half is buried in a wall of rock. The paw prints end in the center of the room, with no sign of the beast that led you here. There is, however, a large rusted machine sitting on the left-hand track with its nose sticking half out of the rockfall. It has a large rotating drill, a bucketlike metal scoop, and a complicated system of gears and pulleys connecting the drill to metal wheels that grip the track tightly. It looks as if the machine is meant to move along the track grinding through stone as it goes. It also looks as if half the gears have jammed or fallen out of their place.
There is no way to continue through this cave without moving some of the rock. However, you passed several more natural cave openings which the paw prints ignored, so you could backtrack to those to re-enter the maze.
[sblock=Skill Challenge]
3 successes so far. Everybody may act once here. Before you do, make a group decision whether to try to get through the rockfall or return to the maze.
Rockfall: since this is a new situation, you may reuse skills without taking a penalty. Skills you may use include:
Acrobatics
Athletics
Dungeoneering (primary skill)
Endurance
Thievery (to get the machine working - primary skill)
Maze: since you are continuing the same type of exploring you did earlier, remember you get a -2 penalty to skills anyone has already used. Skills you may use include:
Acrobatics
Arcana
Athletics
Dungeoneering (primary skill)
Perception (primary skill)
[/sblock]
That round was much easier than I intended. In a face-to-face game, I would negotiate with the players over their actions. "Yes, you can use Bluff to raise your comrades spirits, but that wouldn't give you a success, it would just give the next player a +2 to their roll. Maybe if you roll really well it would give everybody a +2. Want to do that, or try something else?"
But that doesn't work too well when we have to wait between posts (and when changing your mind involves changing an action you've already described). And the DM unilaterally deciding, "No, that counts as an assist and not a success," is unfair. That's why I allowed FourMonos to gain a success, when in a face to face game I would have counted that bluff as Aid Another. For Neil1889's scouting, I would probably have asked him to roll a Stealth check, and then a Perception check with a +2 if he succeeded at the Stealth or a -2 if he failed, as part of the same action, and counted the success if the Perception check succeeded.
So from now on, I'll be tightening things up a bit: I will post a list of skills that can definitely be used to gain successes. (And some of these may be Primary Skills, which give you a +2 to your roll.) If you want to try to gain a success on the challenge with a different skill, describe what you want to try in an OOC post and I'll tell you if I'll allow it or not.
Any skill that doesn't seem totally unreasonable can still be used for Aid Another.
[/sblock]
|
[sblock=Dungeoneering 15]
The rock here is not native to the island of Daunton, and certainly not Stargazer Hill. You've clearly been transported some distance away. You can't tell whether the rock is native to one of the Proximate Isles - although you can rule out Kytheria, the living plant island - or one of the Near or Far Lands, or if it's a place nobody's ever heard of before. Or another plane entirely.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Nature 15, or 12 for Artemis]
The creature you're following is a "wombat", and it's native to the island of Allaria, which is a few weeks travel away from Daunton. It's possible that one of them was transported here by ship and got loose in some caves, but considering the magical effects you've experienced in the maze, it's also possible you've been transported far away from Stargazer Hill to somewhere beneath Allaria.
[/sblock]
You follow the tracks that Lilli found, which lead through a maze of natural tunnels and then suddenly break out into a worked passage, wide enough for two carts to pass abreast. (You can tell by the two sets of cart tracks on the floor.) Looking up the slope, you see the tracks end hanging out over the side of a huge abyss. You cannot help but picture solid rock sheering away and falling into the void, as must have happened some time in the past.
The muddy paw prints turn and head down the passage at galloping speed. As you reluctantly follow them downwards, you see that the left hand track's wooden ties are splintered and many are missing, and even the metal rails are knotted and sometimes melted. The right hand track is almost pristine. (You wisely walk between the two sets of tracks to avoid catching your feet in the ties.)
The tunnel soon ends in a large chamber whose southern half is buried in a wall of rock. The paw prints end in the center of the room, with no sign of the beast that led you here. There is, however, a large rusted machine sitting on the left-hand track with its nose sticking half out of the rockfall. It has a large rotating drill, a bucketlike metal scoop, and a complicated system of gears and pulleys connecting the drill to metal wheels that grip the track tightly. It looks as if the machine is meant to move along the track grinding through stone as it goes. It also looks as if half the gears have jammed or fallen out of their place.
There is no way to continue through this cave without moving some of the rock. However, you passed several more natural cave openings which the paw prints ignored, so you could backtrack to those to re-enter the maze.
[sblock=Skill Challenge]
3 successes so far. Everybody may act once here. Before you do, make a group decision whether to try to get through the rockfall or return to the maze.
Rockfall: since this is a new situation, you may reuse skills without taking a penalty. Skills you may use include:
Acrobatics
Athletics
Dungeoneering (primary skill)
Endurance
Thievery (to get the machine working - primary skill)
Maze: since you are continuing the same type of exploring you did earlier, remember you get a -2 penalty to skills anyone has already used. Skills you may use include:
Acrobatics
Arcana
Athletics
Dungeoneering (primary skill)
Perception (primary skill)
[/sblock]
CaBaNa
First Post
I know I keep repeating myself, but this place is Fascinating! Gil marvels at his surroundings. What do you think Shale? Seen anything like this before? I mean, any of this... Gil gestures in every direction at once, which ends up being more of an odd arm-wrapping motion, instead of a gesture indicating the all encompassing experience the group had shared.
Someone
Adventurer
 |  |  | |||
| |||||
| |||||
| | | | ||
 | |  | |||
| |||||
Last edited:
JoeNotCharles
First Post
[MENTION=5656]Someone[/MENTION]: You can definittely sense magic all around, but it's muffled. Possibly it's being disrupted by the large piece of mundane technology here, or maybe this room is just located at a neutral point between several magical forces which cancel each other out. You can try this check again if you move back into the maze.
I forgot to mention one thing that may affect your decision: the rockfall looks unstable, and if the machine goes out of control it could do some serious damage. So choose wisely! :
I forgot to mention one thing that may affect your decision: the rockfall looks unstable, and if the machine goes out of control it could do some serious damage. So choose wisely! :
Someone
Adventurer
Shale shares what he's learned about the place - it looks like this cave is partially outside the magical influence that was obvious in the previous maze, but on the other hand removing those rocks look dangerous too. Though he's not too voal about it, the crystalline construct seems to favor digging their way through the rocks instead of going back to the maze.
Anyway, maybe it's because the idea of being trapped underground isn't too scary for a creature that doesn't need to eat, drink or even breathe or can't even die of old age; perhaps it's because the strange energies that animate him are truly eternal, or just his lack of humanoid body language makes hard to gauge how tired he feels, Shale seems incapable of being tired. When the others have a hard time negotiating fallen rocks, or start to feel exhausted, Shale is there to help them keep the pace.
[sblock=ooc]
I suggest going with the "remove the rocks/fix the machine" challenge since this way we can spread the skills we use and not accumulate too many penalties for repeated skill use.
I'm using Endurance for an Aid Another check. Since my bonus is +9, I suppose I can't fail. I don't know who to give the bonus to or if I should say who gets the bonus, so anyone that comes after me announce you're using the bonus before rolling[/sblock]
Anyway, maybe it's because the idea of being trapped underground isn't too scary for a creature that doesn't need to eat, drink or even breathe or can't even die of old age; perhaps it's because the strange energies that animate him are truly eternal, or just his lack of humanoid body language makes hard to gauge how tired he feels, Shale seems incapable of being tired. When the others have a hard time negotiating fallen rocks, or start to feel exhausted, Shale is there to help them keep the pace.
[sblock=ooc]
I suggest going with the "remove the rocks/fix the machine" challenge since this way we can spread the skills we use and not accumulate too many penalties for repeated skill use.
I'm using Endurance for an Aid Another check. Since my bonus is +9, I suppose I can't fail. I don't know who to give the bonus to or if I should say who gets the bonus, so anyone that comes after me announce you're using the bonus before rolling[/sblock]
FourMonos
First Post
[sblock=ooc] Hey everyone, I'm back from travels. Sorry for the absence. Technically, aid another is 10 + 1/2 your level, so you may still need to roll on the aid another check. [/sblock]
Artemis slings his shield back over his shoulders, "It is good to know that there is some chance for a break in this magical trap."
He starts moving some of the rocks, trying the rocks at the top first.
"Maybe someone can check the machine to see if there is a chance we can get it moving?"
[sblock=athletics] 1d20+11 → [2,11] = (13) Roll Lookup . Ouch. This is going to hurt... [/sblock]
Artemis slings his shield back over his shoulders, "It is good to know that there is some chance for a break in this magical trap."
He starts moving some of the rocks, trying the rocks at the top first.
"Maybe someone can check the machine to see if there is a chance we can get it moving?"
[sblock=athletics] 1d20+11 → [2,11] = (13) Roll Lookup . Ouch. This is going to hurt... [/sblock]
JoeNotCharles
First Post
|
Similar Threads
