DnD Tuesday #14(283) played 2019 04 16

INTRODUCTION

Greeeeeetings, Team "Alpacalypse"

A hearty welcome and a round of (virtual) ale to all you P-C's!

When last we left your brave band of bold adventurers

You'd managed to NEARLY complete 

A very hazardous passage UPWARD

Through a series of increeeeeasingly difficult

Puzzled and Trapped segments

of a hidden access shaft

which I suspect you HOPED would

lead to that spooooooky castle you saw
atop the fog shrouded cliffs. 

Well, Team Roving Band of Misfits, 

Let's see how that works out for you ...

ELECTRIFIED LADDER

Having made it past the GHOULS, through the secret door, up the NARROW spiral stairs, up the greasy rope, beyond the inverted-angle wall, past the now-bloodied spiked wall, and EVEN through the swarm of mechanical spiders, the party came to pause at the foot of a long, metal ladder that lead upward to what appeared at a distance to be a locked metal hatch. Someone in the group had detected a trace of something shiny affixed to the ladder. That's where we left off.

ACTION NOTES

• EKUN attempts to climb the ladder, taking 25 points of lightning damage and 1 point of bludgeoning damage on the back of his head!
• UNCONSCIOUS
• NESDALYNN - attempts to stabilize EKUN with cure wounds. 
• gets 6hp back!
• EKUN stutters in shock while NES does lay on hands, for 6 more hp of healing
• The shiny thing at the top of the ladder is still in place
• YESDI slices the metal thing with a 26!! with an arrow
• NES grabs the ladder and is NOT fried to a crisp!! Yay!
• NES heads up the ladder first!
• BUT ... with an ATHLETICS check of 11, she slips and falls (not far) as the ladder (iron) is greased. Very slippery. One more time!
• Nat20!!
• Carefully ascending the ladder, NES finds the metal hatch, 5'x5' with three padlocks.
• NES attempts to break the padlocks. 
• YESDI climbs up behind NES
• EKUN, EMERY and ROWAS bravely guard the foot of the ladder
• NES smashes lock#2 with a mace
• STR check = 1 :( taking 1 ego hit point of non-damage.
• YESDI stabilizes the lock with her sword to make it easier to hit. 
• NES swings again, but misses again. 
• A slight piercing sensation is felt in NESDALYNN's cheek
• Feeling light-headed, NES begins making her way down the ladder
• ATHLETICS check=10, and tumbles down the ladder (now drugged)
• Takes 1hp of bludgeoning damage, 5 hp of poison damage
• Can CON check at end of next term and feels dizzy/woozy
• YESDI climbs down successfully
• EMERY tries to climb up the ladder, but slips and falls.
• YESDI gives EMERY a boost (ADV on check for EMERY)
• EMERY slips again.
• EKUN tries climbing up the ladder, but slips.
• PARTY INSIGHT CHECK
• 21
• 18
• If one were to fling a rope with a grappling hook to the top rung, one could use the rope to aid in climbing the ladder without falling BUT
• NESDALYNN burns the grease off the ladder with a torch, filling the area with smoke, BUT getting rid of the grease.
• EKUN climbs the ladder (ACROBATICS = 9) successfully
• The center lock trap has been triggered. The other two may or may not be trapped, but are identical. 
• NES is still poisoned (taking DIS on all rolls, no additional damage)
• EKUN tries picking the lock with a dart
• Tries the left lock (which may be trapped)
• DEX=14
• REACTION - catches the dart in mid air!! Wow!! Takes no damage 
• 5hp of poison damage - 1d10+3+3 (14) - no damage!
• Attacks the third lock!
• Attack = 21 - and this lock is opened!!
• Team Passive Perception check
• 15, 13, 12, 11, 11 ... 
• NES does a CON save vs poison - still woosie  
• EKUN now takes the time to pick the rest of the locks
• OLOTUI is at the bottom of the ladder, looing as if he's seeing or hearing or smelling something
• "Do you hear dogs?"
• PERCEPTION CHECK
• Sound of snarling from the other side of the hatch. 
• EMERY
• "Let's use the Smoke Maker 9000 and make some smoke

STEEL TRAP DOOR (TRAPPED?)

• EKUN tells the group he thinks it will take 2 folk to lift the hatch and toss the Smoke Maker 9000 through the opening to smoke out the dogs (or whatever is making the snarling sound)
• Open hatch a bit, hang on with knees, pitch through the gap
• OLOTUI has a spell slot left to use for spider climb ...
• The team takes a short rest prior to scaring the dogs with smoke.
• ATHLETICS CHECK 
• NES 19, YESDI 13 - the sound of snarls and snapping come in response to the hatch opening
• With smoke now billowing above the hatch ... 
• YESDI rolls a 21
• She sees 4 DEATH DOGS on the other side of the hatch, now that it's cracked open
• EKUN gets some hp from 2 HD of rest during the short rest - feeling better-enough
• AN HOUR LATER
• When one listens now at the hatch, one hears REALLY hungry Death Dogs.
• YESDI knows that Death Dogs are NOT immune or resistant to lightning or fire.
• THE PLAN
• prop the hatch open wide enough to toss the smoke maker through, jam it open to keep it open wide enough for beam, breath and projectile weapons to pass but NOT wide enough to allow Death Dogs to attack. 

COMBAT!!!

• 8 HEADS of four Death Dogs are snarling through the gap in the open hatch
• NES uses her breath weapon, doing 9 points of ligtning damage!
• ROWAN does burning hands!! doing 13 points of fire damage to 1, 2 and 3
• YESDI fires an arrow and does 11 points of piercing damage to DD1, which runs away
• EKUN throws a dart through the opening doing 7 points of piercing damage to DD2
• note - the ceiling above is stone
• NES - working on balance on the ladder, tries stabbing one through the gap - misses :(
• ROWAN casts firebolt at for DD4 for 10 fire damage
• YESDI fires an arrow, doing @DD2 for 7 more, and DD2 runs away!!! 
• EKUN tosses a dart at DD3 (15) for 4 points of piercing damage
• YESDI misses with her next bow shot
• YESDI fires (CRIT!) and hits DD3 with 11 piercing damage, and DD3 runs away!!
• EKUN tosses a dart at DD4 for 5 points of piercing damage!! DD4 runs away!!  

The team works together to push open the hatch - a god-awful rusty hinge noise later exposes a dimly lit chamber, with iridescent fungus growing on the walls. 

• You find yourselves in a 15'x15' room with stairs climbing out of the room - the room appears to be a staging area for loading things down or up from the vertical access hatch. 
• The noise and barking DD's may have given away your presence
• MARCHING ORDER
• LEAD = NESDALYNN
• YESDI
• ROWAN
• EKUN
• OLOTUI
• EKUN
• The team munches on some good berries.
• NESDALYNN perceives a 20' stone stairway leading upward between well constructed stone walls. 
• At the top of the stairs is a 10'x10' landing with a turn to the right.
• NES leads the way, peering around the corner to the right
• From the dimly lit atmosphere, you're able to make out a long, straight corridor heading at least 60 feet straight a head. Corridor is 10' wide and 10' high.
• The team continues ahead in single file
• ROWAN peers ahead with NES
• Making their way down the passage way.
• At the end of the corridor, there's a turn ahead. 
• EKUN tries to see where the dogs went, possibly turning to cats?. 
• ROWAN scouts ahead 
• The passage ahead
• Turn to the right goes 60' further without turning
• The passage ahead straight goes 40' before dead-ending 
• (YESDI realizes that the dead end isn't a dead end and that castles are sometimes protected by subterranean labyrinths filled with monsters, to prevent ingress and egress from below)
• The team does a quick investigation of the dead-end, and discovers a turn to the right which goes 40' and goes left to a door
• The team checks the door for traps
• EKUN investigates (5) - no sign of obvious trap mechanisms or fall-out
• The team pushes the door (wooden - oak with iron banding - sturdy - good condition - LOCKED)
• EKUN uses a dart to try to pick the lock (DEX=13) successfully, though bending the tip of the dart
• DOOR UNLOCKED
• EKUN listens at the door and hears nothing
• NES (shield raised) opens the door
• 30'x30'x10' tall empty room.
• No features of note, other than evidence of tracks leading into the room, but not recent
• NES goes into the room, following the old foot prints
• INVESTIGATE  - nothing indicates traps.
• The party joins NES in the 30' x 30' room for a long rest in this modestly sized and un-trapped room. HOWEVER, 11 minutes into the long rest ... 
• A steel plate slides down in front of the entry door sealing it off entirely. 
• Hmmmm

And that's where it ends. 

AND YES, THE PARTY GETS THE BENEFITS OF A LONG REST IN THIS ROOM ... A VERY, VERY, VERY LONG REST.

ARROW RULING

>  1 minute looking for arrows after battle yields 50% of arrows retrieved

>  15 minutes looking for arrows yields 75% arrows retrieved

>  30 minutes looking for arrows yields 100% of arrows retrieved

EXPERIENCE POINTS

300xp per character for making it up the trapped and tricky access shaft