DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Fantasy SKT: The Storm King's Thunder 3H - Second night in Yartar

<Bern>

He shrugged. "What ever =we= decide is best", he said with a grin.

Zhu

"Absolutely." She replies, waiting for the others opinions.

[OOC: I'm not Nep, but I play one on TV. And drafted the description he posted earlier. It's 30 feet from grate level to the walkway. The ceiling is 15 feet high, so you'd be in line of sight halfway down. You might find some convenient overlaps between those distances, your speed, and movement rules.]

Arus

With the presence of hostages, this night-time foray into the town sewers has just become a rescue mission.

But with only one, narrow entrance into the chamber and their enemy likely able to flood it, their options are extremely limited.

"The best chance of saving the hostages is to hit hard and fast, pacify the chamber and then extract the hostages." Arus says, adding, "But as we have noted, the ladder makes that tricky."

Although Arus doesn't recognise the tentacled monster lurking below, the race of its two attendants is known to Arus at least in name. Merrow, who fought against aquatic elves and tritons in the Third Serôs War, are still mortal enemies of the undersea peoples.

"Two merrow are standing by wheel valves, presumably waiting for the order to flood the chamber. The question is, why hasn't the monster ordered them to already? A flooded chamber would be a big advantage to the merrow, the kuo-ta, the monster too I'd wager."

The triton doesn't like where he's heading with this idea but how else can they save the hostages.

"I think the monster must wait until its drained the life from hostages before flooding the chamber. We're against the clock and the only way we can delay the enemy is by negotiating."

The party have potions of water breathing now but only Arus is a natural underwater. He also speaks Aquaan.

"It's a gamble but I'll go first, engage the monster in conversation if possible and while I do, you all descend and get into position.

"Merrow and kuo-ta are fierce opponents, no doubt, but we should focus our most powerful attacks on the tentacled monster first. It clearly has more than spears in its arsenal."

Arus ponders a hostile a reaction.

"If I'm attacked on sight, I'll draw as many around me as I can and give them reason to regret their path of evil."

(OOC - OK, so if the grate is 30 feet above the ground and the ceiling is 15 feet high, then I presume there is a 15 foot long "tube" the ladder descends thru before passing thru the room's ceiling? ...... never mind. Searched back to find the post describing it and what I just wrote above seems correct.)

Jaliera

"I agree generally with the plan. Arus first, Bern following. I still think I will have to go last as I have no water breathing potion,"

[OOC: There's some rounding involved to try to make it simpler. TLDR: It takes 6 5-foot grid squares to move from where you are to standing at the base of the ladder. Three 5-foot grid-square moves from where you are now will put you on the ladder, just below ceiling height. An additional 3 5-foot grid-square moves from where you are first in-sight will move you from there to standing at the base of the ladder.]

<Bern>

He nodded his acceptance of 'the plan' and moved up closer to the grate, ready to follow Arus down.

Zhu

"I can teleport one of us down there to save time as well. Just let me know who, and when."

[OOC: 1d8 1d6 for each 10 feet you fall. 3d8 3d6 from where everyone is. 2d8 2d6 if you want to climb partway down the ladder, and drop from just above the ceiling height.]

[[ Not to be a 'nudge' ... but I can certainly 'slide down a rope' a =LOT= faster than I can climb down a ladder <weg> ]]

[ooc: Is is "slide down a rope" which requires all your attention or "be lowered on a rope whilst having your hands free to use your ranged weapons"? I would presume that sliding all the way down could fall into the "dash" double movement category but probably not let you react to combat. Nep will ultimately deal with this... but y'all need to clearly state your plan. Who goes, in what order, on which turns.]

[OOC: Half-tempted to just go for a superhero landing from ten feet down and bonus action second wind away the fall damage and the damage taken earlier.]

[[OOC: I misspoke, it's 1d6 per 10 feet, not 1d8. I edited the post above.

Also, of note, you end the move prone. Which may be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on how close your enemies are. :)]]

Kriv

"Speed is of the essence. I'll drop down from the ladder after Bern."

<Bern>

"Sounds like a plan". he said getting ready.

(OOC - OK, here is Zhu's plan. Its a bit complicated. She will go down the ladder after Arus and Bern, but right before Kriv. She will stop at the 10 foot level, i.e. 20 feet above ground. Once there she will use her Racial Benefit to cast Misty Step (Verbal Component only) as a Bonus action and use her "Season of Spring" Racial Benefit to teleport Kriv from above her on the ladder to a spot below on the ground. She has a range of 30 feet, so since she is doing it from 10 feet down the ladder she should be able to place him a square or two off to the side and not have to worry about the spots right under the ladder. She will then cast Misty Step again, as an action this time, and teleport herself to the ground and off to the opposite side.

Note: If there's any issue with whether Kriv can be within 5 feet of her during her turn she can just teleport him to the bottom directly from the top, right after Arus goes, but before Bern, and then Kriv can use his own move to move out of the way to let Bern come down. She can then do her own move of 10 feet and the other Misty Step to the side.)

(I can work with that, but we may wish to teleport another. If We stick with Zhu 'porting Kriv, he will move accordingly to make room. Otherwise, Athletics to jump down, bonus action second wind, cast a spell, action surge, get up (which consumes half movement), engage.)

(OOC - Happy to do Sindar or Davroar instead. Presume Jaliera has good climbing.)

[[ Does that mean we are not using the rope?? ]]

ooc: I get what you are attempting to do Zeim. You'll need to go down 15' rather than 10 to "magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see". At 10' you can't see anything. where you're misty stepping to.

The grate and shaft really can only handle one person at a time. It is a 5x5 hole that ends directly in the middle of 2 squares. This is a conga line.

It's possible that the map graphic posted was misleading. It was meant to indicate that a climber has a choice of 2 squares where to land.

Here's an old-school graphic of where Zhu needs to be to use her misty steps. Remember that to get there takes 2 full moves because you move 3 squares per round in difficult terrain.