"If anyone goes in to scout, we should be ready and close to move to their defence if needed. And if Davroar is willing to go, maybe something flying.. a bat or some such.. might be a little less vulnerable?"
She turns to look at the young druid with an enquiring expression and an edge of concern. She doesn't want to see him hurt.. or worse...
With the rite complete, Chandan shares his thoughts on the Many Arrows with his party.
"One thing we have learnt is Cragmaw Keep not around here. Even orc as dumb as this one would know nearby rivals or allies. Predators always know the boundaries of their territory."
Returning to his human form, he says to both Jaliera and Kallista, "I'm limited to ground animals, so can't fly away, and anything small is probably a meal to any orc in there. Only thing I can think of is a skunk..."
He shrugs his shoulders unable to think of anything else, and even a skunk might not dissuade a hungry enough orc or bugbear.
"I will go", she says. "They won't be able to see me."
She pauses a moment. "But wait near the entrance anyway. If you hear me call come quickly, please. Just in case."
(OOC - Sorry, mixed up powers with another version of this PC. She doesn't have the ability to do that here, yet. Deleted Kriv's reply so ignore this post.)
"Best go in numbers. We seem to run into problems splitting up in caves, but if Whisper is willing to fly ahead of us that should give us some warning in there."
"So be it. Whisper to scout, everyone else in range to react swiftly if needed, and we go with Kallista's plan if there are no impediments once we've scouted."
The quintet left the dead orc and headed towards the cave which it was guarding. Ahead of them Jaliera had sent off Whisper to do advance scouting for them. The owl flies off and Jaliera focuses in on what it sees. As the bird flies, Jaliera's eyes gloss over and dart up, down, left and right as Whisper's must be doing. She cannot hear or see while in this mode.
OOC: I'm going to assume, for starters, that you're all over 200 feet away from the cave mouth to start. The maximum range of Jaliera's contact with Whisper in this mode is 100 feet. I'm doing this so you can plot your approach. The owl moves 60, gets +3 to stealth and perception. There are some trees (as you can see) on the way to the cave mouth. I assume that at least one perception roll is needed now ;)You guys start in the bottom left hand corner of the map and Whisper is surrounded by a red circle. These are 10x10 squares.
Last edited by Neptune; Sat 11/06/1600:47 UTC. Reason: DM doesn't know his left from his right!
Jaliera, through the eyes of the owl, can see that there's movement at the cave mouth. Whatever is there is trying (poorly) to hide behind the rocks they've piled up there.
She maintains her vigilance but whispers to the others.
"Looks like there might be another orc outside. He's hiding - but not well - near the entrance. Probably wondering what happened to the other sentry. We could take them out one by one this way."
"Well if can all sneak up to the bushes that line the rock face, when we get closer I can create a distraction like a branch move or a animal sound up to about ten paces away that might draw the orc out to investigate..."
He keeps low and quiet. Chandan doesn't doubt the wisdom of his words--- If the orc raiders of the Many Arrows aren't familiar with Cragmaw Keep or the Black Spider, then there must be at least a day's journey separating them.
As the old monk pictures the maps they'd looked at in the inn, he sees only one feature that could keep the Many Arrows and Cragmaw Keep's denizens apart. The town of Phandalin.
Did the town, or traffic to and from the town, act as a buffer between the two bands of humanoids?
Chandan doesn't know the answer, but his companions are right insomuch as the Many Arrows should be dealt with. They are raiders, orcish or otherwise, and their chosen path is evil, doling out death and destruction.
If the party want to put a stop to this evil, Chandan will stand with them and do his part.
[OOC: I was waiting on the characters that don't clank when they move. ]
Kriv
The erudite noble pondered the tactical situation, cold reptilian eyes appraising the possibilities.
"Let's look at it from the Orc's perspective. He knows the sentry is gone, we can extrapolate he told the rest of their sorry kind. He's hiding, he expects us to return and he thinks he can ambush us. Another consideration, an ambush works better with superior numbers: I think it likely his associates are lurking just inside the cave, ready to charge out at his signal. If we can take him out without him giving it, we might be able to regain surprise, but regardless, we should expect maximum resistance from here on in.
He looked across their fellowship, eyes settling on Jaliera.
"This hinges on our approach being unnoticed, and upon our ability to take him out without him giving those who have a likelihood of waiting in ambush the slightest warning, and even then we must assume they are listening and waiting for an opportunity. I suggest Kallista and I make ready to use our arcane might on the entrance, a natural chokepoint, in case we fail. Let's go."
OOC: I'm just trying to interpret the actions. It sounds like:
Jaliera will "sneak" up to the entrance and try to kill the orc. Note that he's behind a rock which gives him 3/4 cover which will give him a +5 to AC (that's rather significant) if you use a range attack. If you want to do melee, that's a whole other story
Kriv and Kalista will hang back (what distance please?) to use spells.
What are Davroar and Chandan doing ... specifically.
If you like, I can get you a zoomed in version of the map centered on the cave mouth.
Also, (and I'm just throwing it out there), the map is on Roll20.com. We could handle this combat in real time, if you like, there. I would set up your PC's and we could try and find an hour that works on both sides of the pond (early Saturday morning for US and early afternoon for GB). I would wait for Zeim to return before we did that so we can lead up to that. Thoughts?
[ooc: Davroar only has one shape-change left for the day, so I will hold off on doing that until the group has a better idea of what they are up against. For now Davroar would hang back in a support role with his healing since he is not a stealthy type. ]
[OOC Can Jaliera cast another sleep? As to RT play, happy to give it a go but getting a day we can all agree might be difficult. Work and social make afternoons pretty full.]
[Let's talk precise times. Saturday could work quite well for me, what time would we start Nep (your time)?
Chandan isn't too bad at stealth and has a few ranged attacks. He wouldn't spend Ki points on the sentry though, so he'll probably attack with thrown darts if the KalJal's initial attacks don't kill it. (I don't have 5e so I don't know about thrown ranges.)]
[OOC Saturdays - I am away this weekend, Neil & I both have FTF next weekend, I am on holiday from 2 Jul to 9 Jul inc. My first free Saturday is 16 July. Sorry! ]
ooc: No problem on the FTF. This sort of thing would take coordinatio[color:#FF0000]n anyhow. Getting my FTF group to find a free Saturday (with only one person, Zeim, in a different timezone) is enough of a challenge. We're lucky if we have a monthly
I think that you're all getting into the characters and having fun (I hope) but the mission of the game was to learn a bit of 5e. So, in that spirit, I'm answering questions and offering suggestions now.
Note that If you want to make any changes to your PC, go ahead and make the changes before we continue. Gypsy, you get two 1st level spells per day, so yes. But your character, having just beat up on an orc, might think that sleep is overkill, unless you intend to let orcs live. If she saw a few, she might thing different. Rank-and-file orcs have 15 HP each. You get to roll 5d8 to see how many go to sleep. If you roll an average roll, you would take down two. By they way, you rolled 9d8 for the last sleep and I think there's your understanding of what "at higher level" means.
If you're able to cast second level spells (you can do that at 7th level) you can cast sleep as a 2nd level spell. When you do that, you add 2d8 to the roll. You don't add 2d8 for every level that you are. If you have access to a Player Handbook, it's on page 201. You can also see it in the Wizards official SRD To quote:
Quote:
SPELL SLOTS
Regardless of how many spells a caster knows or prepares, he or she can cast only a limited number of spells before resting. Manipulating the fabric of magic and channeling its energy into even a simple spell is physically and mentally taxing, and higher-level spells are even more so. Thus, each spellcasting class’s description includes a table showing how many spell slots of each spell level a character can use at each character level. For example, the 3rd-level wizard Umara has four 1st-level spell slots and two 2nd-level slots.
When a character casts a spell, he or she expends a slot of that spell’s level or higher, effectively “filling” a slot with the spell. You can think of a spell slot as a groove of a certain size—small for a 1st-level slot, larger for a spell of higher level. A 1st-level spell fits into a slot of any size, but a 9th-level spell fits only in a 9th-level slot. So when Umara casts magic missile, a 1st-level spell, she spends one of her four 1st-level slots and has three remaining.
Finishing a long rest restores any expended spell slots (see chapter 8 for the rules on resting).
Some characters and monsters have special abilities that let them cast spells without using spell slots.
CASTING A SPELL AT A HIGHER LEVEL When a spellcaster casts a spell using a slot that is of a higher level than the spell, the spell assumes the higher level for that casting. For instance, if Umara casts magic missile using one of her 2nd-level slots, that magic missile is 2nd level. Effectively, the spell expands to fill the slot it is put into.
Some spells, such as magic missile and cure wounds, have more powerful effects when cast at a higher level, as detailed in a spell’s description.
Neil, I added the link to the official WOTC System Reference Document to the first post in the OOC: Resources "sticky" thread. Dart range is 20/60 which means you can throw one 20 feet without penalty for distance and up to 60 feet but you roll with disadvantage (roll twice to hit and use the lesser of the rolls). And I totally agree with waiting to use ki points until you know if there's a "big" bad guy. Otherwise, using ki points early is the most prudent action. By "thinning the herd" of enemies, you reduce the overall damage the enemy can do in a round.
Dugan, do you find yourself at a loss for what to do in melee that doesn't involve a shape change? We'll I looked over your spells and wondered why you selected two non-combat cantrips.
Druidcraft lets you do things like predict the weather, make flowers bloom, and light a candle. All very druidy, but you really would use them only rarely in a game. Guidance lets you add 1d4 to someone's ability check. That will come in handy but I would also classify it as non-combat.
What I've learned is that you should take at least one "attack" cantrip, something you can use in a melee when all else fails. This hearkens back to the days of yore, when wizards would cast their lone magic missile and disappear for the rest of the day. The idea was to give spell casters an every-round way to participate in an encounter.
Poison spray, thorn whip and shillelagh are those kinds of cantrips. By the way, shillelagh is a bonus action so you can cast it every round while you have to attack physically.
[ooc:I'm not too worried about picking the non-combat cantrips, Neptune. I had pictured my druid as more of a support role than a pure fighter anyways. I will definitely take one of the combat oriented ones when my character reaches a level where I get another cantrip. Besides I did change my prepared spells to include Flame Blade prior to travelling here.]
[Nice one, Nep (though the SRD doesn't cover Monks).
One thing it does tell me is that Chandan's darts will do 1d4+3 damage. Even throwing his spear would do 1d8+3. All insufficient to drop the 15 hp orc, assuming he hits.
Unless using special abilities, this is likely similar to other PCs' ranged attacks, so we'll have to focus fire on the one orc. I reckon we should just roll our attacks and be done with it.
Even if we take this orc out silently, we can't surprise the others in the cave anyway, since we'd need light, making stealth impossible. (Assuming orcs can still see in the dark thus not need lighting in the cave.)
For the party, the combat needs to happen outside the cave, so let's get it on. ]
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