The Rod of Seven Parts: Kauai Team OOC

[Ambrus]

How close was the curtain wall he was following before the trees interposed themselves to block his view of it? How large is the clearing he's currently in? How far away did he get from Rot-root and the trio of skeletal dire-rats before stopping? How far away from the curtain walls and Mael is the crag? Is there any wind blowing this night?

It'd help to have a map of the forest with all the various points of interest marked (the west and east gates, the gnomes' burrow, Mael's hovel, Mael's entry crevice, the crag, Rot-root's haunt, etc.) I'm afraid I'm having trouble making sense of where everything is located. :\

Also, could you judge objectively whether Mael might figure out what the tindertwigs are and how to use them? I can't quite imagine how difficult it might be to figure out what a match is...

 

[CanadienneBacon]

How close was the curtain wall he was following before the trees interposed themselves to block his view of it?

If you hop over to the IC and click on the last map I put up in there, look on the right side of the screen where the grid lines end and things go black. That is the curtain wall. During his encounter with the rats, Maelicent was 15-20 feet from it. I have every expectation that he is now within something like 50 feet of the curtain wall--he had been using it to guide himself to and then out of the glade.

How large is the clearing he's currently in? How far away did he get from Rot-root and the trio of skeletal dire-rats before stopping?

Not sure, but there should be text in the IC that you can work with. I'll go re-read in a moment, but I think I said he left the rats and got a little ways north before the trees closed in on him. This was meant to imply that Maelicent is away from the rats and isn't in immediate danger from becoming a skeletal rat snack. Rot-root isn't around at the moment.

How far away from the curtain walls and Mael is the crag? Is there any wind blowing this night?

The crag isn't in view at the moment, but is probably something like quarter to half a mile distant. Is there wind blowing? Not under the heavy canopy of the forest. When Maelicent entered, the air was heavy and still.

It'd help to have a map of the forest with all the various points of interest marked (the west and east gates, the gnomes' burrow, Mael's hovel, Mael's entry crevice, the crag, Rot-root's haunt, etc.)

Maelicent hasn't seen that Rot-root, as you call him, has a regular haunt. The rest of it, I can do for you this coming weekend before I head out of town next week. When I have it done, I'll amend it as an edit into both this thread and the OP in the IC.

Also, could you judge objectively whether Mael might figure out what the tindertwigs are and how to use them? I can't quite imagine how difficult it might be to figure out what a match is...

You really don't think he's seen a match before? It would've been pretty hard for a tribe of goblins in the small-ish nation of Edaesmyd to have avoided all outside contact. He's probably seen a tindertwig before. Where skeletons may have been stretching the boundaries of his knowledge, matches probably aren't. I'll leave that one up to you.

 

[Ambrus]

I have every expectation that he is now within something like 50 feet of the curtain wall

Alright, I just wanted to make certain that there wasn't more than one or two lines of trees between he and the wall.

Is there wind blowing? Not under the heavy canopy of the forest. When Maelicent entered, the air was heavy and still.

Okay. Again, just making certain.

The rest of it, I can do for you this coming weekend before I head out of town next week.

Okay. Thanks.

You really don't think he's seen a match before?

I don't know; they're rather expensive and require alchemical knowledge to create. As such I'd imagine that they're luxury items and not in common usage; especially not amongst goblinoids.

Heh. I've never had an omniscient forest pick a fight with me before. This could be interesting.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I did have a forest's spirit (embodied in an omnipotent giant of sorts) try to pick a fight with my dragon PC. Didn't care for him much either. What an odd re-occuring problem... :\

 

[Voadam]

How big are the tunnels, just trying to get a gauge on the biggest a creature coming up the tunnel could be.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

The tunnel is ten feet in diameter. When the tunnel deposits into the crystal cavern an hour's walk away, it bottlenecks to a 5 foot diameter but the rest of it is enough for two men to walk abreast.

 

[Ambrus]

I'm somewhat surprised Maelicent didn't dart forward, snatch up the nearest al-mi'raj, then haul tail back to the cave. Still, I can also appreciate not wanting to draw the attention of a pack of skeletal rats.

I just noticed that I'd missed this post. Mael didn't do that because I figured it'd be suicide. It seemed clear that the rat's were waiting in ambush and would likely tear into Mael if they spotted him. Stepping out into the open to snatch a hunk of meat as large as himself wouldn't be subtle. "Hauling tail" with such a heavy load also wouldn't have worked since small-sized quadrupeds could likely outrun a goblin even under ideal circumstances. Essentially the only thing Mael would have accomplished in making the attempt would have been to lose the element of surprise.

So, you never did get around to telling me whether Mael is ignorant of the skeletons' Damage Reduction or not.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

With regard to the DR metaknowledge, when I said:

I'm not going to insist that you edit anything. Nor will I think badly of you if you decide to not have him fire. Three large unusual-looking rats could rightly be considered a valid reason to go look elsewhere for take-out.

I was hoping that would cover it.

In-game, Maelicent hasn't encountered skeletons yet. Based on that alone, I should think he wouldn't know about the relative ineffectiveness of his arrows versus a skeleton. As you rightly point out, however, any old joe might hazard a guess that small pointy-tipped projectiles might run the risk of whizzing through clean air between the ribs of a skeleton.

Re: snatching a dead al-mi'raj and high-tailing it out of dodge, the other two rats were watching the rat eating the bunny. They weren't watching Maelicent. Honestly, I did try to leave open the option to have Maelicent snake a bunny from the sidelines and quietly depart. When you didn't seem to consider that idea, I was surprised but chalked it up to the vagaries of gaming in text.

 

[Ambrus]

My mistake then. I guess I just always expect the worst from the undead.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

My mistake then. I guess I just always expect the worst from the undead.

Tell that to the innocent captives of strahd ... there is no joy in the dungeons of castle ravenloft

 

[Ambrus]

there is no joy in the dungeons of castle ravenloft

Then why is it such a popular adventuring locale?