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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 9543611" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dark Squad in the Secrets of SaltmarshSession #154: Arcadia Part 2. Dance! Dance!Dark Squad (in alphabetical order, no egos here).Daktari/Dak (played by Haggis) Male Human Uthgardt Sky Pony Barbarian Lvl 9Fellowyn Silverstream (played by George) Male Eladrin Wizard Bladesinger Lvl 9New Tricks/Newt (played by Bear) Male Tabaxi Warlock Lvl 9Ramshambo/Ram (played by Kev) Male Half-Elf Rogue/Fighter Lvl 7/2Vincenzo/Vinnie (played by Haggis) Male Shifter (Wildhunt) Druid Lvl 9DEAD PCs<s>Nicholai Barbaros Kostyiev/Nicky (played by George) Male Dhampir Cleric of Twilight Lvl 8 </s>RIPNPCs<s>Inverna Nightbreeze (played by George) Female Wood Elf Fighter Lvl 8 (Sidekick)</s> RETIRED<s>Garumn Male Mountain Dwarf Paladin of Moradin Lvl 5</s> RIP*<s>Tarbin Tul (played by goonalan) Male Human Bard</s> RETIRED<s>Ubmo (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 1</s> EXPLODED<s>Ubdug (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 2</s> EXPLODEDUb-Pam (played by Goonalan) Supreme Being Lvl 3*Trapped in the Land of the Bad Dead Ancestors.Servants/FamiliarsGerald (Bat/Giant Bat) servant/mount of New TricksOwly (Owl) Vinnie’s familiarArchimedes (very scruffy & old, Owl) Fellowyn’s familiar.The Dark Squad’s to-do list-<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Find the other four Symbols of Ub, one was left in Deepbridge (Duergar fortress in the Underdark). The others need to be found, they belonged to- Rambles 'Shambles' Bowspirit (halfling killer from Lowhill), Antonio De La Crane (posh kid druid alchemist) & Giggles (crazy wood elf). All of these folk lived in the Saltmarsh region, the Dark Squad have found the De La Crane Manse (in the Dreadwood) and the De La Crane Crypt (in Saltmarsh Cemetery).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Nightshade is in the Deep Dreadwood- except she's not there anymore, but a big red dragon is?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Blackedge and the Goblin Stair?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">To join the Pact of the Wild Flame prepare the Witch's Tor for the coming of the starfall, the Witch's Tor is in the Drowned Forest, in the Mere of the Dead Men.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">To join the Pact of the Wild Flame track down the last member of the Pact, a wild elf adventurer called Giggles- and finally put her spirit to rest, and also recover her maze button. Location unknown. SEE 2. ABOVE.</li> </ol>This is session 154 and the Dark Squad are playing a variety of arcade games in a place called Arcadia, sometime in the (dystopian & goblin-infested) future. Alas this write up is late because I was properly sick between the last session and this one, and I’m still not right yet.So, I didn’t get much prepped for this session- nothing at all in fact, and so it’s just more of the same.This then is going to be short and sweet, like the session itself, but without the interminable coughing and spluttering from me.[ATTACH=full]390692[/ATTACH]Newt has bought himself some friends, nothing new there. Vinnie, by the end of the last session, has a coterie; he exudes a rustic charm, and has a silly voice.Lots of gaming follows.And as predicted, it’s getting cutthroat now.[ATTACH=full]390693[/ATTACH]Fellowyn just manages to scrape a high score on God Knows (religion check).Meantime…[ATTACH=full]390694[/ATTACH]Ramshambow storms into the lead on Flip-Flop-Flap (acrobatics check).While…[ATTACH=full]390695[/ATTACH]Vinnie’s on fire playing That’s My Donkey! (animal handling check).And for every cabinet Ram is still, when no-one is looking, having a quick tinker with his thieves’ tools, and trying to improve his chances.[ATTACH=full]390696[/ATTACH]Ram is going to be playing on every cabinet. He’s in it to win it.And so finally we get to the end of it.The final scores on the doors, or else the high scores for all 18 cabinets, one for every skill check, and keep in mind a PC only get a mention below if they manage to extract a high score (100,000 plus)-Flip-Flop-Flap (acrobatics)Newt 109,000 but the winner is- Ramshambow with 171,000. Ram’s first win.That’s My Donkey! (animal handling)It goes- Daktari 112,000; beaten by Ramshambow with 141,000 but the eventual winner is- Vinnie with 156,000. Vinnie’s first win.Magic Pants! (arcana)It goes- Ramshambow 101,000; beaten by Vinnie with 130,000; who in turn is beaten by Newt with 160,000 but the eventual winner is- Fellowyn with 190,000. Fellowyn’s first win.Run! Jump! Oof! (athletics)Fellowyn 126,000 but the winner is- Daktari with 146,000. Daktari’s first win.Only Newt not on the high score board, ah- but we’ve just wandered into the warlock’s wheelhouse.Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire! (deception)Ramshambow 122,000 but the winner is (inevitably)- Newt with 190,000. Newt’s first win.Old Tosh (history)It goes- Daktari 130,000; beaten by Vinnie with 134,000; who in turn is beaten by Newt with 143,000 but the eventual winner is- Fellowyn with 163,000. Who would have thunk it, the ancient wizard knows a lot about the past. Fellowyn’s second win.What’s My Anxiety? (insight)Only one high score generated, and the winner is- Fellowyn with 129,000. Not insightful- the Dark Squad! What a turn up. Fellowyn’s third win. Blimey!Oi! YOU! (intimidate)Fellowyn 127,000 but the winner is (again, inevitably)- Newt with 182,000. Newt’s second win.WHO R U! (investigation)It goes- Daktari 133,000; beaten by Ramshambow with 148,000 but the eventual winner is- Fellowyn (again) with 193,000. Fellowyn’s fourth win. Double blimey!OPERATION! (medicine)Only one high score generated, and the winner is- Vinnie with 212,000. That’s a whopper. Vinnie’s second win.Name That Tree (nature)It goes- Fellowyn 121,000; beaten by Vinnie with a lowly 123,000 but the eventual winner is (oddly)- Newt with 131,000. Newt’s third win.LOOK OUT! (perception)Hotly contested this one. It goes- Fellowyn 104,000; beaten by Newt with 118,000; who in turn is beaten by Ramshambow with 181,000 but the eventual winner is- Vinnie with a massive 223,000. Vinnie’s third win.Acting Up! (performance)It goes- Daktari 123,000; beaten by Newt with 164,000 but the eventual winner is (pipped at the post)- Fellowyn with 167,000. Fellowyn’s fifth win. He’s hot to trot the ancient wizard.I’m Not Convinced! (persuasion)It goes- Daktari 110,000; beaten by Ramshambow with 125,000 but the eventual winner is (pipped at the post, once again)- Newt with 130,000. Newt’s fourth win.God Knows (religion)Everyone attempts this cabinet, as none of the PCs have any extra advances in this skill- they’re not a very religious group, although Newt wants to be a god, so… Anyway, only two high scores generated, for all their effort. Fellowyn with 102,000 is pipped at the post with the final roll- Vinnie wins with 106,000. Vinnie’s fourth win.Mind The Gravy! (sleight of hand)And again, all the PCs try for this one- particularly because Ram stuffs his roll up early, and he’s +8 or so on this. But still only two high scores generated- Fellowyn leads the way briefly with 102,000; but is beaten in the end (again) by Vinnie with 132,000. Vinnie’s fifth win.To recap- Fellowyn and Vinnie have five high scores apiece, Newt with one less- four, and Daktari and Ramshambow still stuck on one apiece.The last two.Stalker! (stealth)It goes- Newt 121,000; beaten by Fellowyn with 130,000 but the eventual winner is, crushing all others- Ramshambow with a whopping 216,000. Ram’s second win.Then finally…Wild Thang! (survival)All the PCs attempt to win this one, the final hurrah! It goes- Fellowyn with 130,000, swiftly beaten by Daktari with 143,000; who is in turn beaten moments later (next roll) by Ramshambow with 158,000 but the eventual winner is- Vinnie (of course) with 191,000. That’s Vinnie’s sixth win.Get in!High scores so far- Vinnie six, Fellowyn five, Newt four, Ram two and Daktari… just one, and he’s the arcade specialist- +1 on all rolls.But we’re not done yet.Next up is Dance! Dance! You Bastard Dance![ATTACH=full]390697[/ATTACH]Clear the floor, make ready for the dance-off.Here’s a better picture of proceedings.[ATTACH=full]390698[/ATTACH]And the rules, and keep in mind we played about with these before we settled upon the following-The squares on the left (image above) are numbered 1 to 9, left to right, top to bottom. The numbers are not written on the map so that the players have to use their brains and remember. Note the PCs tried to annotate the map- I deleted all of their attempts. So, squares 1 to 9- got it. The image above obviously shows two dance areas.The DM sends a PC (one PC at a time in action) a series of numbers- which correspond to the (1 to 9) squares above. The PC (as soon as the number sequence appears) moves their PC to the numbered squares as indicated in the sequence. Effectively they have to drop their PC on the correct sequence of squares- one square at a time, the PCs always start the sequence positioned in the right hand column of the map.When they drop their PC on a numbered square, they must also shout out the accompanying word or phrase (see the image above). So, square one = FANDANGO!, square two = HOOPLA!, etc.Note, George is also doing the phat choons while we’re in this, some terrible 150 BPM nonsense follows, and the inevitable Hard Handbag.On Fantasy Grounds I have turned the PCs movement off, so in effect the players are marking a trail, that’s why they must ‘drop’ their PC on the squares in the correct sequence.All non-dancers watch to make sure the PC in action completes the sequence correctly, calling out if they go wrong.If the PC goes wrong in their sequence they must start again.The DM has a stopwatch running.Fastest wins, natch.However, the competition is over three ‘dances’, basically a five-digit sequence, followed by seven, then nine.If that hasn’t confused the heck out of you then well done.If it has, then…[ATTACH=full]390699[/ATTACH]Here’s Daktari in action in the first turn/sequence. Keep in mind we have banging choons and the gruff barbarian (in cod-Russian) shouting (square 1) Fandango! (square 8) Dance! Dance! (square 6) Ub! Ub! Ub! (square 2) HOOPLA! (square 9) Dak-Tara-Qui (like Jamiroquai, but… well- not quite).Note Dak-Tara-Qui is Daktari’s ‘dance name’.All the PCs must have one. The DM insists.Also, the winner of the competition gets 10 high scores, 2nd = 7 high scores, 3rd = 5 high scores, 4th = 3 high scores, and last = 1 high score. Added to their totals from the cabinets.Note, the PCs still have no idea what the high scores are for.Point of fact I’m not entirely certain at this point either, but I’ll make something up.And so, there’s only one more picture for this evening, therefore the rest is dancing- and the inevitable bickering, and attempts to cheat et al, which all comes as standard for any inter-Dark Squad competition.And so, at the end of the first sequence (five squares) the table looks like this- last to first.5th Dak-Tara-Qui 22.15s, he went wrong twice.4th In-Fur-NO! (that’s Newt) 19.04s, he went wrong once.3rd MC Ram-Hammer (figure it out) 11.72s, clean run.2nd Snake Hips (Vinnie, of course) 9.48s, clean run.1st Pantsless Grandad (yep, the semi-naked ancient wizard) 9.22s, clean run.Fellowyn’s still got it.He’s the oldest swinger in town.Second dance sequence (seven squares) goes in the same order as above- slowest goes first, remember it’s the total time for all three dance sequences.And so, at the end of the second dance sequence the table looks like this-5th MC Ram-Hammer, he went wrong twice in this sequence 45.73s4th Dak-Tara-Qui 45.03s, two errors to.3rd In-Fur-NO! Clean run 31.69s2nd Pantsless Grandad, one error 29.74s1st Snake Hips, with another clear round 26sAnd in the final dance off- nine numbers/squares, well- Snake Hips cannot be beaten, although for the nine-digit sequence all PCs go clear- not one mistake from any of them, and In-Fur-NO-Newt managed the nine squares in 16.52s. Point of fact Newt was also fastest in the second sequence, he however couldn’t span the deficit from his first dance sequence. Also, Pantsless Grandad and Snake Hips were only just behind him, and very quick from the get-go, although Newt manages to separate the pair.Final scores on the doors-5th MC Ram-Hammer, 88.29s (3 high scores)4th Dak-Tara-Qui, 68.35s (4 high scores)3rd Pantsless Grandad, 48.98s (10 high scores)2nd In-Fur-NO! 48.21s, just scraping into 2nd (11 high scores)1st Snake Hips in 45.65s (16 high scores)Note the new high score totals up above.And that’s what we did last session- apparently this is how they play D&D now, who would have thought it, quite frankly it beggars’ belief.Oh, last picture.[ATTACH=full]390700[/ATTACH]A final exhibition dance-off- although Newt went wrong early in this one. Fellowyn for the win.Have a cracking New Year you lovely people.Stay safe and well.Cheers the Dark Squad and goonalan.</blockquote>

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