03. Survival at the Falls

[dmw71]

Continuation from here: viewtopic.php?f=48&t=1249&p=35346#p35346

Borrowing from this previous map, the group manages to reconvene at the edge of the forest (marked with an 'x').

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                 |                   @ 
           g __ /                   @    g = goblins on cliff
         /                        @      0 = where you were
        |    o                   @       x = where you are
        |        x              @        @ = forest
       @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

For the time being, you consider yourself relatively safe.

[onlyme]

Ewell will continue walking, with shield protecting best it can, toward the tree line.I assume since it is still light enough to see without aid of lantern, since the battle should have only taken 7 minutes, correct?

Once we are several yards into the tree cover, we need to fire up a lamp and head toward the base of the cliff. We will want to be far enough in that the lantern wont shine out into the open field. (assuming the tree cover is dense enough for that to be the case...)

[Alethan]

"Quick - let's make haste while they regroup and are still at the top of the falls. They've felt quite a sting tonight - about two dozen gobbies and a handful of worgs, by my count. If they're smart, they'll go back to their caves and lick their wounds and leave us alone."

Gwilt starts heading west, then pauses. "No lights for now. Let's have Shanny stay up front with me and Garth should stay in the back with Al. We can take advantage of their night vision to make sure we don't stumble across anything nasty and ensure we're not being followed from the falls. It should be easy enough to stay close to the tree line in the dark. A lantern would be seen for miles..."

[Editor's Note: I know it's only 18. This is how good stories become fantastic ones...]

[ravenn4544]

"good fightin', boys -- but agree it's time to take a break!" Alordan stows his bow and draws his sword and takes up the rear guard position with an eye back to the valley and the cliff for unwanted guests.

ooc: thanks for the roll to keep things moving along. Was tied up unexpectedly the past 24hrs or so.

[saalaria]

"I must say that was quite the excitement there. My first real combat too. I love this mace too."
The young cleric burbles away - clearly giddy on adrenaline and the release of the fear of the fight now things appear safer - temporarily at least.
" So Alordan - what brings you out this way today?" he enquires of the ranger.

[Stonjuz]

"Oh my, Im definitly low on ammo. What's that? I'd be happy to stand watch up front in the dark. It's probably what I do best. I can blend in better than most, even magically disguising myself when necessary. Ask Garth, we snuck up on most o' you all, so very close, Ha ha."

[onlyme]

Gwilt starts heading west, then pauses. "No lights for now. Let's have Shanny stay up front with me and Garth should stay in the back with Al. We can take advantage of their night vision to make sure we don't stumble across anything nasty and ensure we're not being followed from the falls. It should be easy enough to stay close to the tree line in the dark. A lantern would be seen for miles..."

Ewell agrees. Very well. I am not accustomed to travel with such advantages as night seeers. I believe I shall be best suited in the heart of the group. That way if anyone front or back gets attacked, I can be next to them quickly. He merges into the line, trying to guage the terrain and surroundings with what little light is left.

[Nuke66]

"I'll bring up the rear, let's just get to cover and lick our wounds as well." Garth responds.

"Aye Shannigans, stealth is still called for on guard duty as well."

[dmw71]

Gwilt starts heading west, then pauses. "No lights for now. Let's have Shanny stay up front with me and Garth should stay in the back with Al. We can take advantage of their night vision to make sure we don't stumble across anything nasty and ensure we're not being followed from the falls. It should be easy enough to stay close to the tree line in the dark. A lantern would be seen for miles..."

With the halfling in the lead, the group stays close to the treeline and makes its way west to where the forest and cliff intersect.

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                 |                   @ 
           g __ /                   @    g = goblins on cliff
         /                        @      0 = where you were
        |    o                   @       x = where you are
        |                       @        @ = forest
       @x@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

So, what is the plan?

If your plans involve sleep, I assume you'll want to sleep in shifts... I'll just need to know what they are.


Also, please review the "signature" below and let me know if there are any discrepancies. I will probably begin including it at the bottom of most 'action' posts. Note: Current hit points, "normal" armor classes and items in hand are in red.

---

Gwillt - hp: 11|17; ac: 2|3|7; mv: 10"; armor: std leather, m. shield; weapon (sf): short bow (7), scimitar (5), spear (6), dagger (2)
Ewell - hp: 5|16; ac: 3|4|5; mv: 12"; armor: chain, m. shield; weapon (sf): lance (6), orcish long sword (5), foot pick (7)
Shan. - hp: 6|6; ac: 5|8|8; mv: 5"; armor: leather; weapon (sf): short bow (7), dagger (2)
Garth - hp: 4|4; ac: 7|7|10; mv: 11"; armor: none; weapon (sf): scimitar (5), sling (6), dagger (2)
Kaltar - hp: 6|11; ac: 4|5|5; mv: 4"; armor: chain, m. shield; weapon (sf): mace (7)
Strom - hp: 1|13; ac: 3|4|4; mv: 9"; armor: splint, m. shield; weapon (sf): bast. sword [1h|2h] (6|8), mace (7), spear (6), dagger (2)
Alord. - hp: 11|18; ac: 4|8|8; mv: 12"; armor: leather; weapon (sf): short bow (7), long sword (5), dagger (2)
---
Order: Shannigans, Gwilt, Strom, Ewell, Kaltar, Alordan, Garth
Spells: Shannigans (mu-0: 2/4, mu-1: 0/1): , Garth: (d-1: 2/4) (mu-1: 0/1) , Kaltar: (c-1: 0/3)

[Alethan]

Considering the 2E rules of needing a FULL day of rest to recover HP, there's no use in having certain PCs sleep through the night in order to recover HP (Unless the GM has some ruling for that; as far as I know, and as far as the current rules indicate, a full day of non-strenuous activity is required in order to recover 3HP.).

But there are some players who need uninterrupted sleep of some time so they can recover magic in the morning (Shanny, Garth, Kaltar). (Or how do you like to work that, dmw71? I've seen it done several different ways and didn't see anything specific in the Rules section...)

I'd suggest having two people on a shift, with the people with night vision for the first or second shift, when it is darkest out (and we're most likely to have people trying to sneak up on us). After that, have the other caster (Kaltar) take the last shift so he has uninterrupted sleep most of the night, and then pairing up one of the rangers with the pally or the cavalier. But... we probably shouldn't have the cleric alone for the last shift.

Unless we want to do three shifts, and have Strom sleep through the night since he's the one with the most damage. (Not likely he'd allow that, though...)

So, something like...

1st Shift: Shanny Garth
2nd Shift: Gwilt Ewell
3rd Shift: Alordan Strom
4th Shift: Kaltar ???

Or maybe move Gwilt up to the first shift and have Garth do the second, so we have people with night vision for the first two shifts, and then Gwilt can cover the first and last shifts.

Thoughts?

[dmw71]

Good questions!

Considering the 2E rules of needing a FULL day of rest to recover HP, there's no use in having certain PCs sleep through the night in order to recover HP (Unless the GM has some ruling for that; as far as I know, and as far as the current rules indicate, a full day of non-strenuous activity is required in order to recover 3HP.).

I don't know if I read the 2E rules any differently than I do the 1E rules:

The 2E rule reads:

Characters heal naturally at a rate of 1 hit point per day of rest.

While the 1E rule reads:

"For each day of rest a character will regain 1 hit point, up to and including 7 days."

Kind of the same thing, at least in my opinion.


Regardless, referring to the rules put forth in the 09. Damage and Death section, let's turn this:

Characters heal naturally at a rate of 1 hit point per day of rest.

Into this:

Characters heal naturally at a rate of 1 hit point per day eight consecutive hours of rest.

Which translates nicely into the actual "entire day" rule:

If a character has complete bed rest (doing nothing for an entire day), he can regain 3 hit points for the day.

----

But there are some players who need uninterrupted sleep of some time so they can recover magic in the morning (Shanny, Garth, Kaltar). (Or how do you like to work that, dmw71? I've seen it done several different ways and didn't see anything specific in the Rules section...)

This is covered in the 09. Spells section, with the pertinent section quoted below:

Spell Memorization

Spells of any sort must therefore be selected prior to setting out on an adventure, for memorization requires considerable time.... As a rule of thumb, allow 15 minutes of game time for memorization of one spell level, i.e. a 1st level spell or half of a 2nd level spell. Such activity requires a mind rested by a good sleep and nourished by the body.

The amount of time required to re-memorize spells will closely follow the guidelines presented in the 1E DMG (page 40), shown below:

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Spell Level    1-2    3-4     5-6    7-8      9
Rest Time     4 hrs  6 hrs   8 hrs  10 hrs  12 hours

The DM reserves the right to modify the above rest time requirements as dictated by the situation.

So, four hours of rest/sleep will be required in order to be capable of re-memorizing first level spells, with each spell requiring an additional 15 minutes (per level) to actually memorize.

[Stonjuz]

"We should probably check out that dead body down that path over there, sometime soon i suggest. Garth, how far down the path do you think he lies? Ill take the first watch. No problem. Happy to. Who should I wake up?"

[Nuke66]

"Too far to do in the dark Shanny, let's just get back up to some degree of strength before we move on if you please."

Garth will be happy to take first sleep so he can rest and memorize spells.

OOC: same selection BTW.

[ravenn4544]

"Boys, I'll take the 3rd and 4th watch if that's helpful -- I could get by tonight with a short rest... some of us, I think, could do with more than that..." Alordan mutters.

[saalaria]

Happy to fit in wherever - recovery of all spells crucial as we all know
Kaltar prepares to bed down

[onlyme]

Ewell would prefer to get 8 hrs of consecutive rest. Does that include staying awake as lookout? or just actually sleeping? If it doesnt matter, he will take whatever shift is needed. How long are these shifts? 2 hours? 4?

[Alethan]

In that case, maybe Ewell and Strom taking the last shift would be good.

Say camping time is 10 PMish to 8 AMish, that's 10 hours total. Anyone else who needs more healing could take first shift and sleep through til the end of the last shift (Gwilt and Alordan).

But then that leaves six hours between three people, and that's not fair to them...

Hmmm... Let me ponder it on the way to work.

[dmw71]

Ewell would prefer to get 8 hrs of consecutive rest. Does that include staying awake as lookout? or just actually sleeping?

Rest is considered as no, to low activity. Not all of that time has to be actual sleep, but I'll be more lenient on the eight hour rest requirement, the more of that time is spent actually sleeping.

[onlyme]

In that case, maybe Ewell and Strom taking the last shift would be good.

Say camping time is 10 PMish to 8 AMish, that's 10 hours total. Anyone else who needs more healing could take first shift and sleep through til the end of the last shift (Gwilt and Alordan).

But then that leaves six hours between three people, and that's not fair to them...

Hmmm... Let me ponder it on the way to work.

Do we have an inkling of the sunset/sunrise? I would imagine it makes sense to have humans watching once the sun rises enough. As you mentioned earlier, we need to spread out the infravision folks to be one per shift during the dark. That would be priority one. Then 4 hrs rest for spell folks. Then 8 hr rest for the seriously wounded. Then fairness to any others. Once we get into a town, those who were short-changed can get an extra sip of ale...

[Alethan]

Or we could always hole up for an entire day. But... that might be too many wandering monster checks for my taste.

The important thing is going to be getting our two front-line fighters up to better hit points as fast as possible. Gwilt and Alordan each took a few shots, but we're both still at 11 HPs, which isn't bad.

How about... First, we break it up into four shifts. 9-12, 12-3, 3-6, 6-9

Strom and Ewell definitely need to sleep first, to try and recover the 3HP each for getting 8 hours rest.
Let's try to get one of the rangers up 3 more HP, so Alordan should take first shift, with Shanny or Garth. Then he'll need to fill in for the third shift, as well, but if there are no interruptions, then he'll also get a full 8 hours of rest, as well, and recover some HP.
Gwilt can take second shift with Shanny or Garth (whoever doesn't take the first shift), and then the first and second shifts will have people with infravision in them.
Third shift can be Alordan and Kaltar.
Fourth shift can be Strom and Ewell.

Unfortunately, that's about the best I got. Unless someone has something better?

So...

9-12 Alordan Shannigans
12-3 Garth Gwilt
3-6 Kaltar Alordan
6-9 Strom Ewell