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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fr33py" data-source="post: 5168069" data-attributes="member: 84318">Chapter 7 - A fungus among us<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />       After a much needed rest the group was eager to be on thier way but Serasith said "My brother is in need and while I do want to make haste toward the Lyseum the potions will still take the morning to prepare so we will head to a nearby cave and gather some components for his research."     The group agreed only because Serasith was already strapping on his sheild and heading toward the cave. The group caught up and heard a loud piercing noise comming out of the cave. The sound was deafening and they needed to find its source and extinguish it. Cheadle had heard the tone before "Its some sort of Alarm Spell we need to find its focus and take it far away." The group hit the cave and moved as quickly as it could searching patches of moss and fungi for very specific sampled and chipping flint from the cave walls. Kristov had found the alarm focus and got it far out of the cave, "what a relief" Just as they were nearly done shambling creatures came out of an inner cave into the larger cavern. They attacked but were driven back by the heroes who gathered what they needed and headed out of the cave.So here I had some problems with the group. I decided to use the modified skill challenge that was posted in this thread:<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/war-burning-sky/266171-redesigning-burning-sky-skill-challenges.html#post5008387" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forum/war-burning-sky/266171-redesigning-burning-sky-skill-challenges.html#post5008387</a>The group was all over the place. One of our players has a small case of OCD. Cheadle the gnome orginally decided he would attempt to see if he could delay the sounds coming from the cave but at the last second decided to help search for flint. No one made any attempts to delay and the group tried to just find and gather the reagents during the 8 rounds. I felt I tried to give as much information as possible without giving everything away. I laid out the fact that based on their impression of the sounds from the cave they could assume they had roughly 8 rounds to gather the reagents before what ever was coming would get there. I then drew two boxes on a peice of paper and filled one with 8 tokens to represent the rounds. I left the other box empty and explained that for every 2.5 successes for attempting to delay the inevitable you could gain an additional round before IT arrived. I had the party roll initiative and suggested they discuss their tactics before beginning so they have a good idea what they need to accomplish (the whole time I stressed how loud the shrieking alarm was and that it was soooo loud that sooner or later it could lead to deafness). After a round in they Kristov finally decided to attempt to find the alarm source and deal with it. Mean while the group was split in two trying to gather flint and shrooms. After 6 rounds of gathering they hadn't found all the reagents yet and felt it was inevitable that what ever was coming would get there before they got it all. I explained that they might have organized better and maybe attempted to delay. Davkas's player was frustrated and lashed out saying that i didn't give them enough information. They didn't know what to do. I felt differently. I wasn't about to tell them the exact solutions and how to delay, I leave that up to the player to come up with possible outs and then I will interpret how to apply the necessary skills to resolve them. I believe I am there to assist when necessary but not provide all the answers to everything. Needless to say this lead to a small heated argument. The Mushroom men showed up and the party dispatched of them and finished gathering the reagents.    They returned late morning and it wasnt long before the ritual was prepared. "Ok what I plan to do is gain the alliance and aid of a powerful Dryad I am near to discovering the secrets of this fire and may indeed have a way to control it and even put it out! The ritual prepared will be used to save her and her children with what I learn even more will be unlocked! Lets begin!"     The group assisted as best they could but nature itself rejected the magics and the ritual was disrupted vines ripped out of the ground and grabbed to strangle the heroes and the makeshift ritual alter collapsed in a sinkhole. After a gruelling battle the trees were uprooted and the Dryad and her children were lead to a cool pool The dryed had used all of her strength to give her children life so they could make it to the pool. She sank away as her children were happily frolicking in the waters. Seeming to quickly forget their mother and the fact they were on fire just a short while ago. "Well I guess we won't need Davkas to sing and cheer up the children, they seem to be handling things quite well" Said Cheadle "A lot like we did with whats-his-nose that dwarf guy who used to hang around with us"  Grull noticed Hadin crack a smile. The half orc wondered how much damage he would do to the group if Hadin dominated him and used him against them. Cheadle would definately go first...Grull smiled and let his thoughts go, of course he would never hurt his friends but it was always fun to imagine. I was originally planning to use the modified skill encounter for saving the children in the above thread but failed to realize it was incomplete before getting to the point where I could complete it on my own. I ended up just using the skill challenge in the module with left much to be desired. I like skill challenges just not necessarily the way they are laid out so far in adventure. I have read through some other threads talking about alternative ways to deal with skill challenges and they all sound like they have improvements. I'll try to implement these or change the skill challenges when I can and have the time.      The group headed down the sinkhole and were able to secure the dragon borns body and barely escape up as they were surrounded by more shambling Fungus creatures. They headed back to the cabin to go ever everything and again get a much needed rest. The Dragon Born would need time to go over his notes and recouperate but he was onto something and he thanked the group and resupplied their potions.     They again took to the road and after a few hours they heard a cracking sound ahead and a huge flaming tree smashed across the road in front of them. They looked back and a wave of fire moved up the road from behind them crashing out of the flaming brush came Stags with firey antler racks crackling. They snorted and prepared to charge. The group readied themselves. Davkas pulled out his Lute and yelled "I love this..the song ideas just keep comming hanging out with you guys is great!" just as some ash got in his eye.      Cheadle summoned his spirit companion and noticed Davkas had thrown a wink in his direction and thought to himself "Why is he always doing that? Maybe its because I'm short and he could just walk up and..." Cheadle shuddered the image away and focused on the battle at hand.</blockquote>

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