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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 6625478" data-attributes="member: 97077">Sacred Cow, Lack-Toes the Intolerant, Chuck Dagger, and Rosemary Thyme have taken a long rest. During the night, they heard far-off drums from somewhere in the jungle. The morning has been marked with smoke rising from the island's central volcano and tremors in the ground...DM: So you've decided to plunge into the jungle to find the ruins said to lay at the heart of the island. Moving toward the center of the island is an uphill, slippery affair marked by periodic tremors that threaten your balance. How do you deal with this to mitigate the chance of injury while traveling?Cow: I fashion a walking stick for additional support and use it to keep my balance.Chuck: I am quite sure-footed now that I've had a good rest - I even make some amusing flourishes when trying to keep my balance for effect.Lack-Toes: I am too strong and proud to fall, so I trudge ahead grabbing vines and the like as I need to.Rosemary: Here's hoping my elvish blood makes me as deft as my ancestors. << DM Decision Point: By now, you should know what to do here - decide if the PCs individually succeed, fail, or whether their check is uncertain. This is also a task performed repeatedly, so we can do a passive check here. I'll note where DM Decision Points are going forward, but won't spell it out. >> DM: Okay, let's do a passive Acrobatics check to represent how well you deal with the slippery ground and random tremors. The DC is 15 - Sacred Cow, you have advantage due to your walking stick. If you fail, mark off a hit die due to injuries you're free to describe.Lack-Toes: I fall short of that DC, so a tremor caught me off-guard and I slipped on some lichens. I grumble about this for a good long while. I also blame Chuck.Chuck: "Hey!"Rosemary: Yes, and when he fell, he tumbled back into me - which caused me to get tripped up as well.DM: The jungle is rife with sharp rocks and spiny plants that make falling quite painful. Both of you lose a hit die due to the strain. The terrain eventually evens out and the tremors subside. Later, the jungle gets thicker and thicker. Lack-Toes moves to the front of the marching order to hack their way through the brush. Chuck moves to the rear to keep an eye out for any hidden threats that might be trailing them...DM: After a few more swings of Lack-Toes' ax, the brush gives way to a game trail that cuts through the dense foliage. It looks to run in the direction of the volcano and away, perpendicular to your current path. There is a pile of moldering fruit on the trail about 10 feet away from you.Rosemary: "Yeesh, what stinks?"Lack-Toes: I move over and inspect the fruit.DM: As you approach the fruit, something catches on your foot - a trip wire! It's taut against your boot... one wrong move and whatever trap you've stumbled upon will be sprung! What do you do?Lack-Toes: "Chuck! Get over here..."Cow: "Lack-Toes sounds distressed!" I approach cautiously.Chuck: As do I.DM: The trap is immediately obvious to Chuck's observant eyes. Had he been in the front of the marching order, he'd have spotted it first. Hidden behind some bushes near the pile of fruit is a drawn bow on its side in which a sizeable arrow with a barbed head is nocked, pointed directly at Lack-Toes. The trip wire runs into the bushes where the bow is found. What do you do?Chuck: "Hold very still, Lack-Toes..." I take out my thieves' tools and set about trying to carefully cut the bowstring. That should sort out the trap.Cow: "Act with the confidence of the Horned God, Chuck." I cast guidance. << DM Decision Point... >> DM: Okay, go ahead and make a Dexterity (Thieves' Tools) check. The DC is 15 and you have a +1d4 bonus from Sacred Cow's blessing. If you succeed, the trap will be disabled. If you fail, Lack-Toes will be subject to the trap's attack.Chuck: *rolls 18* Snip!Rosemary: Phew!Lack-Toes: I roar loudly, ripping the tripwire and any attached components out of the bushes, then stomp on them.Cow: "Calm, friend! The peril has been avoided." Several indigenous hunters have been alerted to the adventurers' presence by Lack-Toes' rage and move to intercept them, making no attempt to be quiet in their approach...DM: Some yelps and calls from the jungle herald the approach of potentially hostile natives. You can hear them crashing through the brush, getting closer. What do you do?Cow: "The wise course is to hide until we know what we're up against."Rosemary: "Agreed - hide!" I pick up the pieces of the busted trap and throw them in the brush.Lack-Toes: I help by kicking the dirt and trying to cover up our tracks before taking cover.Chuck: I slip into some bushes beneath a vine-covered tree and hide, helping my friends stay out of sight. << DM Decision Point... >> DM: This will be a group Dexterity (Stealth) check. The DC is 14. As you huddle in the brush and try to hide, four humanoids move up the trail to the pile of moldering fruit. They are marked by the symbols of snakes in numerous pigments and wield flat clubs lined with pieces of sharp obsidian. Shortbows are slung over their shoulders. As they talk to each other, their language is notably sibilant and at least one of them flicks a forked tongue in the air as he looks around. Let's see some rolls.Party: *rolls 8, 13, 15, 21*DM: Well done. The hunters are looking around and have found their damaged trap, but haven't noticed you. Chuck, however, spots a pair of pliers from his thieves' tool kit laying at the edge of the trail nearby. It must have slipped out - and now the natives are moving toward it. If they see it, they'll know it wasn't a boar that broke their trap. What do you do?Chuck: My heart is in my throat... I don't want to be the one that gets us caught by the snake-men! I reach out of the bushes and try to deftly grab it without being noticed. << DM Decision Point... >> DM: Give me a DC 10 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. If you succeed, you'll grab those pliers before they see it, no problem. If you fail, you're caught, but your friends are not unless they make a move.Chuck: *rolls 16* Oh, thank the gods!DM: The snake-men walk up the game trail in the direction of the volcano and are soon out of sight. Pro-Tip: While I could have said that Lack-Toes' passive Perception wasn't high enough to notice the trap and then had the trap loose an arrow at him when he hit the tripwire, this could be seen as something of a "gotcha." I also provided the moldering fruit as a form of telegraphing, that is, a clue that indicates something notable to be explored. Given that it was a game trail, a player might suspect a trap, proceed cautiously, and find the trip wire before stepping on it. Lack-Toes, in this example, did not so I put him in a tense situation with clear stakes that the players used teamwork to resolve and which made for an interesting scene.</blockquote>

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