Boruuk and Artemus climb up into a really large chamber. Boruuk grabs the lantern and pulls it up with him, setting it on the floor. It looks like this chamber has caved in from above. It is almost bowl shaped with the two of them at the bottom of the bowl. The walls on the side look like they were at one time floors. They look smooth and slippery.
They see a few skeletal bodies lying about. It looks like they might have fallen down here when the chamber collapsed long ago. The stench they noticed before is definitely stronger here, but the group is used to the smell by now.
The climb was more difficult due to the tightness of the twisty little tunnel, but Boruuk was made for climbs like these and Artemus is very skilled at climbing.
Artemus starts pulling out his rope when he gets up there.
Tirial has climbed most of the way up the tight chimney, but is now currently stuck in the second section.
Hasifar has climbed up past the first section as well. It is easier than he expected, but he realizes that a rope can only help in being pulled up, not in actual climbing. And Knoepf has climbed up right behind Hasifar.
Suddenly, rocks start pelting Boruuk and Artemus from above. They look up and see Skeletons picking up rocks and throwing them. They cannot go back down the way they came because the tiny chimney is blocked. There are two Skeletons to the west where the climb is steepest, two Skeletons north and two Skeletons south where the climb is slightly less steep, and four Skeletons to the east where the climb is the most gradual.
Ten total Skeletons, well protected in chain mail and heavy shields!
The two Skeletons on the west throw rocks at Boruuk and Artemus and miss, just barely in the case of Artemus.
[sblock=Special Encounter Rules]
Ok, the following is lengthy. Please read it all carefully.
This is a three dimensional terrain encounter. There are some minor modifications to the normal rules due to the fact that the normals rules don't quite cover some of this. I wrote all of this down so that people could adjudicate their PC's own movement and each PC's move would not slow to a crawl.
The numbers represent the number of squares above the bottom. So, a 3 is 15 feet up, etc. If there is no number, it means that it is the same elevation as where the PCs come in. The gray squares are walls that go up to the ceiling 40 feet above. The numbered squares are not jagged, but straight smooth slopes. So it kind of looks like:
PCs can stand in square J12. That is the entry square with a narrow hole from below.
The skeletons are throwing rocks. The lower you are, the more damage the rocks do. The higher you are, the less damage the rocks do. Anyone who stays at the bottom will probably get pelted real hard. Staying near the bottom, even for a short period of time is problematic due to the deadly rocks.
If a rock hits for enough damage, it pushes the PC all the way back down the slope if the PC is not at the lowest level (Knoepf requires more damage due to Stand Your Ground). The PC can make the normal saving throw to avoid being pushed back and falling, but like always the PC is prone if successful (note: if in a 1 square, don't bother rolling the save since a 5 foot fall does no damage and does not knock a PC prone either).
Once a PC is in a 6 square (i.e. 30 feet above the floor), they are on a level floor and do not need to worry about falling down the slope (unless the monsters have other push/slide attacks).
The only light source is currently in square J12. But it is at 10 square illumination, so it lights up the entire room and the foes do not get bonuses to hit from the dark.
Movement rules for this encounter. These are very important. Please make sure you follow them because we do not want to slow up the game to go back and correct them. Also, many of these rules are straight out of the PHB, I just reposted them here so that everyone is on the same page. But some are slightly different.
1) When going from the same elevation to the same elevation, use normal movement.
2) When going up in elevation:
It is a DC 10 Athletics and 2 squares of normal movement to climb 1 square up (1 square over).
It is a DC 15 Athletics and 4 squares of normal movement to climb 2 squares up (1 square over).
It is a DC 20 Athletics and 6 squares of normal movement to climb 3 squares up (1 square over), etc.
Like always, the PC can use the double movement climbing rules (i.e. increase the DC by 5, use half of the number of squares).
3) This is an important rule. Decide each square one at a time. Make an Invisible Castle roll to see if the PC is successful. If so, then continue on. If the roll is missed by 4 or less, you stay where you started and lose the rest of your move action, but you don't fall. You can try again as part of a new move action. So going up the slope to the east is 5 IC DC 10 rolls, one at a time and it costs 2 movement per roll (and the PC is safe as long as each roll is 6 or higher).
If the roll is missed by 5 or more, the PC falls to the bottom floor and loses the rest of their move action. A 5 foot fall results in no damage. A 10 or more fall results in a D10 (normal falling rules) damage per 10 feet. If a PC takes damage from a fall, the PC is then prone. If you fall while climbing, you can make an Athletics check as a free action to catch hold of something to stop your fall. The base DC to catch hold of something is the DC of the surface you were climbing plus 5.
Note: DO NOT make all of your IC rolls ahead of time and then apply them to the movement. If you climb in 3 different squares, it's 3 separate IC rolls in order. You need to know if you are successful or not and the results of each roll before you can move on.
4) If climbing down, the PC can jump down like normal with Acrobatics. Otherwise, it is the same Athletics as climbing up.
5) All of the normal rules apply. So, a falling PC with the Acrobatics skill trained can use Acrobatics to lower falling damage, etc.
Note: If the climb roll is automatic (like for Boruuk and Artemus in some cases), don't bother IC rolling it. Just write down your minimum roll and move on.
Example: Fred goes from a 1 square to a 2 square. He rolls a 12 Athletics an increase of 1 square up is a DC 10. It works. It costs him 2 squares of movement. He then tries to go from the 2 square to a 4 square and rolls a 9. The DC was 15, he missed by 6. He falls and loses the rest of his move action and takes 2D10 of damage for falling 20 feet (the height of the square he was attempting). He decides to make an Acrobatics check. He rolled a 12, drops 6 points of damage from the 2D10, but is unfortunate and rolls 13 points of damage on the falling damage, takes 7 total points of damage and is prone back at the bottom.
If your PC takes falling damage, roll the damage on IC. The damage is 1D10 if you were attempting a 2 or 3 square, 2D10 if attempting a 4 or 5 square, and 3D10 if attempting a 6 square.
Climbing with a weapon in hand adds 2 to the Climb DC. Climbing with both hands full adds 5 to the Climb DC.
The rules for most of this are on page 181, 182, and 284 of the PHB. If you have any questions, PM me instead of filling up the thread here.
By stuck for Tirial, it means that she is most of the way up, but having difficulty near the top. Hasifar made one climb check as well, so he too is most of the way up, just behind Tirial. And Knoepf is also part way up just behind Hasifar.
Any PC can try to Aid Another Athletics another PC above or below them to help them climb. This is a Standard Action and adds +2 to the other PC's roll.
But to do this, there has to be room. So, Tirial can be helped by Artemus, Borruk, or Hasifar, but Hasifar cannot be helped until Tirial moves and then only by Tirial or Knoepf. Only Hasifar can try to help Knoepf unless a rope is lowered.
Tirial needs one more successful climb check to climb out (2 squares movement needed, so she could continue a movement action as she gets out). Once she is successful, Hasifar needs one more successful climb check (4 squares movement needed) and Knoepf needs one more successful check (6 squares movement needed). All three of them made the easier check for the bottom half of the climb, they are just trying to make the more difficult second check for the second part which is tougher.
The DC to climb up the second section is 20. Lowering the rope and pulling on to it for those below will drop this to a 15.
[/sblock]
[sblock=OOC]
Note: Indicate the skeleton you are attacking by the square it is in. I'm not displaying the token names since they interfer with the elevation indicators.
West group: H6, J6
Tirial 45/45
Artemus 39/39
South group: O13, O15
East group: I21, J21, M20, N20
Hasifar 41/41
North group: E12, E14
Boruuk 51/51
Knoepf 40/40
North is up on the map. The PCs cannot see beyond any square at the edges which does not have a number in it.
It's Tirial's turn.
[/sblock]
