[LPF] Ties that Bind

jkason · May 8, 2012

"Name's Eanos, miss, and if any of your magics can make me faster, I'd appreciate it," Eanos says, as he looks up to realize Elenka's asked him a question and that the second dragon might not be quite beyond saving. He drops his bow with a look of determination and rushes off the dock. "Hate to ruin the whole shipment if we can help it."

His heroic dive into the water is rather unceremoniously ruined when he surfaces sputtering and flailing.

[sblock=ooc]Drowning rules:

When the character finally fails her Constitution check, she begins to drown. In the first round, she falls unconscious (0 hp). In the following round, she drops to –1 hit points and is dying. In the third round, she drowns.

If the creature's already unconscious, I'd assume they have 2 rounds to drowning.

Expeditious Retreat and Haste don't appear to stack, sadly (both count as Enhancement bonuses), and with Eanos' base speed at 40', he'd probably get further if he could do a full round swim with possible Hasting than stopping to cast.

Of course, then he rolls a natural 1 on the swim check, and it's all probably moot now unless Elenka can talk the elementals into grabbing up the dragon.

Swim check (1d20+1=2)[/sblock]
[sblock=mini stats]Eanos Setirav
Initiative: +6
AC: 17 (19 w/ SoF)
HP: 29 Current: 29
CMB: +4 CMD: 17 Fort: +5 Reflex: +5 Will: +8

Conditions: None (longbow dropped, arrows not yet recovered)

In Hand: None

Arrows: 11/17 (+2 recoverable)
Blunt Arrows: 20/20
Cold Iron Arrows: 19/19
Silver Blunt Arrows: 16/16
CLW Wand charges: 31/50 remaining

Judgement: 1/2 Remaining Determination: 2/2 remaining
Silver Tongued Haggler: 5/6 remaining
Spells: Orisons (DC 13): Brand, Create Water, Detect Magic, Disrupt Undead, Guidance, Light
1st (4/4 remaining)(DC 14): Divine Favor, Expeditious Retreat, Protection from Evil, Shield of Faith, Wrath
2nd (2/2 remaining)(DC 15): Silence, Weapon of Awe[/sblock]

Qik · May 8, 2012

The aura of Eanos' heroic dive is tempered when he fails to surface...

[sblock=OOC]Thanks for digging up that info, jk.

Unfortunately, Elenka doesn't seem to speak any elemental languages (I had checked, because summoning a water elemental had struck me as your best bet). So I'm not sure that having them help you out is an option.

Eanos failed his swim check by more than 5, so he's currently under water.[/sblock]

Artur Hawkwing · May 8, 2012

Audra watches Eanos go into the drink with a magnificent dive. But when he goes under and doesn't come up, she quirks an eyebrow.

He might need a hand with that dragon.

Shrugging the pack off her back to the deck, she takes a deep breath and plunges over the side after Eanos.

[sblock=ooc]Perhaps if she succeeds and sees him flounder she can help him buoy himself. She is serious about helping him drag that carcass back to the ship if it can be saved.[/sblock]

Qik · May 8, 2012

Their attention already diverted by Eanos' dive, Phedilo and Captain Hwuzel watch as Audra follows him into the water. From his position in underwater, Eanos feels the force of Audra as she dives in cleanly and powers past him.

[sblock=OOC]According to the Swim skill, one can move at quarter speed per move action. At that rate, even if Audra succeeds on her swim check every round, she's only moving 15 ft per round (double that if Elenka retroactively contributes a dash of Haste). Given that the dragon moved 200 ft before being felled, it's going to be at least 6 rounds before anyone gets to it, well past its expiration date. So it doesn't look like you're going to be saving it.

Of course, the PCs don't know all this, so jumping in and attempting a rescue makes sense IC. But unless someone sees something at fault with my math, I'm going to go ahead and push things forward a bit, with the recovery of the dead dragon's body, fairly soon. [/sblock]

jkason · May 8, 2012

[sblock=ooc]Well, the ki pool speed boost (20') doesn't list as an enhancement bonus, so that actually should be able to stack with Haste for a base speed of 80' (so 80'/full round swim), but if the dragon moved entirely horizontal, and didn't burn any of its flight on rising (I had actually assumed the latter), then even super-buffed Audra wouldn't make it.

Ah well, a heroic effort.

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Qik · May 8, 2012

[sblock=OOC]I hadn't fully sussed out the dragon's flight pattern, but it would have been mostly (though not entirely) horizontal.

The Swim text says you can move half your base speed as a full round action with a successful swim check. With a base speed of 40', 30' from haste, and 20' from Ki, her land speed is at 90', meaning, from my reading, she can swim 45' in a full round. I think the argument could be made that the movement bonus from Ki isn't halved, which would still put her at 55', meaning it's going to be at least 2-3 rounds until she gets there (again, assuming she makes all her checks), which is still too late.

Not at all trying to be argumentative; I'm just trying to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. This is the first time I've had to deal with drowning dragons and potentially-hasted, Ki-infused, dragon-saving monks.

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Artur Hawkwing · May 8, 2012

[sblock=ooc]Well, she has a Ki power to increase her movement by 20 feet per round per point she uses. She also has a base movement of 40, so it'd have to be 10, I'd think, for quarter movement. Full round after that would get her 20. Still nowhere near enough to save the beast, but she'd still go after it, just the same. The sailors are in for an eyeful when she comes back up, though, her wet clothes pressed against her....but I'll leave that for the GM to have fun with

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jkason · May 8, 2012

[sblock=ooc]

Qik said:
Not at all trying to be argumentative; I'm just trying to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. This is the first time I've had to deal with drowning dragons and potentially-hasted, Ki-infused, dragon-saving monks.

Oh, I didn't think you were. Hopefully I wasn't coming off that way, either. This is actually only the second time I've gone anywhere near the Swim skill, and the first time was way back in 3.5, so I think I was more talking through it to get my head 'round the rules than anything.

I kept mis-reading the 'full round action' bit to mean you could move at half speed (i.e., your base movement) in a full round, but I think you had the right reading all along. So even given generous readings on the ki power (can you stack the ki speed boost with itself? I always thought you could only spend 1 ki a round on any of the basic effects) I think Audra's gonna find a dead dragon.

That'll teach Eanos to get cocky about having a 'drop 'em and stabilize after' attitude.[/sblock]

Artur Hawkwing · May 8, 2012

[sblock=ooc]Unless Elenka suddenly has Summon Jet-Ski, no matter what the dragon will be an ex-dragon by the time she gets there. First time I've used swim since 2nd Ed. (I think GlassEye was running that one). Gah. Now I have to go home and try to rewrite the Monty Python 'Dead Parrot' sketch to a 'Dead Dragon' sketch. So, move on when you are ready, good GM, sir.

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Qik · May 8, 2012

[sblock=OOC]Oh, you're fine, jk. I just wanted to reiterate, in case my willingness to parse the details be misinterpreted.

My initial thought on the Ki pool thing is that the bonuses probably stack, since they're untyped, but that she wouldn't be able to expend more than 1 point per round, since it's a swift action to spend 1 point.

In the interest of moving forward, I'm going to go ahead on that presumption.

Edit: Glad we were all on the same page.

[/sblock]
Audra speeds through the water like a missile, her locomotion powered as much by the energies cultivated through her monastic training as by her arms and legs. Churning across the surface, she takes in a final breath sharply before plunging below the surface and diving down to the motionless form of the dragon below. Wrapping one arm around the creature, she powers upward towards the surface, then makes her way urgently back to the ship, though not as rapidly as her departure outward. With each stroke, Audra finds herself fighting off the grim conclusion that her efforts have been for not.

Having already helped a sputtering Eanos out of the water, the crew throws a line back in to Audra. Despite the shapely image formed by her wet clothes as she emerges on deck, however, no one dares make a cat call; one sight of the deadly-serious look on the monk's face makes sure of that. Captain Hwuzel dashes over to inspect his cargo, but comes away shaking his head: the dragon is beyond help at this point. Silently, the normally-gregarious gnome goes below deck.

The academic-looking halfling who had been traveling with Eanos and Fulgrim makes his way over to Audra. "Madame, that was a remarkable display of selfless effort. I'm sure Captain Hwuzel appreciates it, too, it's just that apparently much of the profit of this trip was apparently to come from the delivery of those eggs. I believe he has gone below to see if he can ascertain who or what was the cause of their escape, although between us, I am uncertain as to whether identifying a responsible party will alleviate his financial considerations. In any event, I do not believe he will mark any of you with such a characterization: he knows your expedient action saved this unfortunate mishap from spiraling out of control. Lord knows what would have happened if those two creatures had made it into the city."

The halfling pauses, adjusting his glasses, and then extends a hand to both women. "I'm sorry, I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Phedilo Crea; I am a client of the Captain's. These two gentlemen here," he adds, gesturing to Eanos and Fulgrim, "were here to help in the event of any trouble, which a colleague of mine had warned me about. It seems as though I was wise to heed his warnings."

"In any event, ladies, I am extremely grateful for your decisive action, which undoubtedly prevented any undue harm from occurring." After a thoughtful pause, he adds, "Except where these poor creatures are concerned, that is, but I do not see how that could have been helped."