Battle at the Crossroads
Situation: The party has attacked a small Derro fortification guarding a branch in the tunnel they are following.
Intentions (in initiative order):
K’harn: wait for Castinar, cast Soften Earth/Stone under his
Nikki: Double move forward to Y14
Diana: Double move forward to W16
Bohica: Follow Diana forward
Katrina: Run forward to R11
Matar: wait for Castinar, move to E11c, try to push tower down
Amber: Fly forward to W14, 20’ off ground
Castinar: cast Soften Earth/Stone under fortifications
Shadow: Double move forward to X16a
Thengal: Move forward and assist Matar with his pushing
Ari: follow Matar forward, push with him
Events, in initiative order:
K’harn, sensing Castinar’s intentions through the Combat Empathy spell, decides to wait and see how his spell turns out before casting her own.
Nikki begins to move forward, wanting to get within magic missile range. (OOC: If you want to run forward instead, that will put you around V12, which will be within Magic Missile range as long as your caster level remains 8th or higher.)
Diana and Bohica move forward as well. (OOC: A run forward for you would have put you at around Q14. Let me know if you would have preferred to do that.)
The derro on the left tower (the uninjured one, 1 on the map) peeks out from behind one of the crenellations at the top of his tower. Lo and behold, what does he see but whole gaggle of wizards making their way up the side of the tunnel towards him. (OOC: with mirror images, the three wizards in the group look like 20 wizards! And yes, a “gaggle” is the proper term for a grouping of wizards.) “Gishna! Fust briathna!” he cries out. Castinar understands this to mean “Look out! Wizards are approaching us” in derro. Through the Combat Empathy link the others know the derro has called out some kind of warning, but not the exact wording. (OOC: does anybody else speak derro? Thengal might be able to understand a little, since it is a dwarven dialect.) The pale dwarf then bends back down and picks up his crossbow. Exposing as little of himself as possible, he takes aim and selects his target. (OOC: note that Mirror Image works a little differently now – an opponent selects his target first, then attacks it. The figments have lower ACs than the actual character probably has.) Unfortunately for the derro, he picks one of the illusions. Still, his shot is a great one, passing right through where Bohica’s heart would have been – had the target been him.
Having heard his companion’s warning, the wounded derro (2) comes up from his defensive position with his crossbow at the ready. He is momentarily taken aback by the large number of wizards, but quickly notes that most of them look the same. He spits in frustration, knowing that his bolt will probably be wasted, but he still takes aim and fires, selecting one of the images of Diana as his target. The bolt catches the figment in the shoulder. It wavers, then fades away.
A new derro (5) emerges from the small building behind the left tower. He darts forward to the edge of the tower and looks down the tunnel. Those in the advance party see the panic in his face. He turns and runs back to the building he just came out of and shouts into it. He pauses, as if listening, then nods. He turns and begins running up the tunnel away from the battle.
Katrina is eager to get into position where she can put her bow to use. She drops to the ground and then runs forward to U12. (OOC: You can’t move very fast up on the wall (at least compared to running on the ground). So to cover the most distance you would have to drop down to the ground, then run forward. If you want to stay up on the wall or ceiling you would be limited to your slipper’s rate, which is 15’. If you would rather have done that, let me know.)
Another derro (6) comes running out of the building on the left. This one carries a crossbow. He moves to the side of the right-hand tower, drops to one knee, and selects a target. It really isn’t a difficult choice – one of the mages with tons of mirror images running, or the one single target up ahead of them. He takes aim and fires. (OOC: -4 due to range (just beyond 2nd). It is a fairly accurate shot, but it is made from such a distance that the agile Katrina practically has time to do her nails before she has to duck and avoid the bolt.
Matar, sensing Castinar’s intention to try and weaken the foundations of the fortifications, decides to wait.
Yet another derro (3) appears, this one on top of the left tower, just to the right of derro 1. He also makes the mistake of targeting the deceptively difficult to hit Katrina, but his shot isn’t even close.
Amber, her Winged Boots activated, flies forward to W14, about half way between Katrina and Nikki.
It’s finally Castinar’s turn. Concentrating on the ground under the fortifications, he casts his spell. As soon as he is done, K’harn casts her version of the same spell, softening the ground a little deeper. Much to the disappointment of the ranger, there is no immediate effect other than derro 6 suddenly looking down at the ground and putting a hand out against the tower next to him.
Matar, sensing that Castinar has cast his spell, begins to move forward, but quickly realizes that if he does this without the silence spell around Hunter he may be detected, destroying the party’s surprise. Reluctantly, he decides to wait until both Thengal and Ari are ready to accompany him. (OOC: I would have liked to have given you the option on what to do here, but with the way things developed I’m going to say you waited. Otherwise you would have had to make a move silent check against two listen checks, and probably would have been noticed.)
Now at the tail end of the party, Shadow moves forward to X16, putting her within comfortable bow range.
A final derro (4) shows up, this one next to derro 2. Derro 2 says something, and derro 4 takes aim at Amber, flying in the tunnel. (OOC: still -4 for range.) The bolt flies close enough to Amber that she feels the wind of its passage, but it skips slightly just as it touches her. She silently thanks Diana for that Mage Armor spell.
Like Matar, Thengal has to wait for Ariessus. But unlike Matar, he doesn’t have long to wait before Ari is ready to head out. The three move forward, the sound of their passage masked by Hunter’s silence spell. The bat flies low, trying to keep the edge of the sphere of silence away from the derro on the tower above. Arriving at the corner of the tower, all three set their shoulders to the stone and begin to push.
OOC: I decided this should be a strength check against a weakened masonry wall, giving it a DC of 28 (35 base, -2 for poor workmanship, -5 for unstable foundation due to the spells). For the ability check I used Matar as the base (since he is by far the strongest), then added the strength modifiers of Thengal and Ari (+3 and +4 respectively) to Matar’s score. That gave the trio a combined strength of 33 against a DC of 28. Just for fun, I rolled, and got a 13, giving the trio a check of 46, over ½ again as much as they needed to knock the wall down.
Still OOC: However, the results are not quite what the trio may have expected. As mentioned, the workmanship of the tower is somewhat shoddy, so it didn’t hold together well as a structure. There was also the unexpected effect of half of the tower being set on a nice firm foundation, and the other half now on slippery clay. The net result was that part, but not all, of the tower came down. So instead of falling over, much of it collapsed.
BIC:
The effect is quite dramatic, if somewhat unexpected. The trio strain mightily against the tower. After only a few seconds they feel a shift, earning a cry of surprise from above them. A loud groaning sound fills the tunnel. That’s when the whole outer wall of the tower collapses! The three party members stumble forward, directly under the falling stones of the higher reaches of the wall and the collapsing tower platform.
OOC: I made this a rather difficult DC. The three were pushing into the wall with all of their might. It gave way rather suddenly, so their momentum would have carried them forward. The blocks also would have been falling out away from the tower wall, so just holding one’s position wouldn’t have been enough. I gave it a DC of 18 as a Reflex ST to take half damage. Making a DC of 25 meant no damage. Otherwise… full damage.
BIC:
The three struggle to regain their balance and get out from under the falling rock. Ari avoids most of the rock, as does Matar, although just barely. The less-fortunate Thengal takes the full force of the rocks falling on him.
There is a silver lining to the collapse. The two derro that were on top of the tower are caught amongst the rubble as it falls to the ground. (OOC: Same thing for them on checks, but more possible damage since they have both the rocks and a fall to deal with.) The uninjured derro (4) manages to stay on top of most of the rubble, and ends up sprawled on top of the stones only a few feet away from Matar. The injured one, however, is not as lucky. All that can be seen of him is a single hand sticking out of the rubble, twitching occasionally. Derro 6, who was at the side of the tower, somehow managed to scamper back in time to avoid being injured, but in the process he slips on the wet clay and falls backwards.
End of Round
Situations of note:
Matar, Ari, and Thengal are now all bleeding somewhat and covered in most places by either dust or wet clay. They are also no longer silenced, as Hunter had to quickly fly up and away from the collapsing tower to avoid being injured. The area around them is still somewhat dusty, so it is unlikely they will be spotted right away.
The bad guys:
1 – 75% cover, crossbow in hand
2 – dead or dying, mostly buried in the rubble
3 – 75% cover, crossbow in hand
4 – injured, prone, very angry, nothing in hand
5 – running north
6 – on butt, crossbow still in hand
We’ll pick up at this point during Friday’s chat session. I’ll make any amendments to actions at that time.
For those of you who will not be at the chat session or may be late, please give me general intentions for your character. Matar – since you won’t be there, please appoint somebody to lead the party in your absence.
Saif