Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#41 Post by Piper »

Wick whispers to the others. “I think some adventurers were chased from this room by ...” Wick looks at the tracks again, “... something. No, somethings. Bad things, unnatural.” (he shudders)
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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#42 Post by drpete »

Spearmint wrote:Carling

The elf nocks his shortbow with an arrow. "Maybe hang a couple of torches around the room so we have light to see by. No telling who or what hides in the darkness." he says scuffing his feet into the dusty tracks.

Booted prints or animal hoofs?
Carling has a Sledgehammer in one hand, and a set of iron spikes in the other... what does he do with them before pulling out his bow...?

Just an fyi, there's been some talk about going into the room, but I'm not sure if you are... Theglid has the torch. Where does he go/what does he want to illuminate? Is he sweeping the area following Carling's suggestion, or going to the tripod following Betdas?

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#43 Post by snake_hunter »

Fane will wind his heavy crossbow and stay in the shadows near the entrance. He'll try to get to a spot that can cover the entire room, but close enough to the entrance in case there's a threat from outside.

Something will probably try to trap us inside! Insidious bastards always trying to be clever... he mutters.

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#44 Post by Spearmint »

Carling

Belt of spikes and sledgehammer by my feet. When we clear the room of dangers we can bring in Boldar and all the packs.

Carling covers Wick as he checks the prints and tripod.

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#45 Post by leafcutter »

Theglid will cautiously enter the chamber and sweep the torch to try and illuminate anything that might be waiting to attack Wick.

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#46 Post by drpete »

As Theglid slowly moves into the large space, you can see that the ceiling arches up to a height of about 20 feet overhead, peaking between the square pillars, which are centered on the tripod, about 30 feet from the door.

The walls to either side of the stairs curve gently, giving the impression that this is a large, round space, though the far wall is beyond the limits of your torch light.

While Carling and Fane stand by the entrance, bows ready, searching the darkness, the others move slowly forward, toward the tripod. As they get closer, it reveals itself to be a rusty, jury-rigged metal stand atop a hole in the ground. A threadbare rope is attached to a block-and-tackle attached to the tripod. The rope descends down into the darkness of the hole.
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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#47 Post by Spearmint »

Carling

"The stones around the edge don't look too secure. Be careful when you look down."

Carling continues to watch over the checkers and approaches to the pile of bones. Are they also entrances left and right of the tripod?

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#48 Post by thirdkingdom »

Betdas the Bold

"Huh," he says, "interesting. Well, I propose we pull up the rope so no grues emerge from below to devour us, then go explore another barrow that's already opened."

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#49 Post by drpete »

Spearmint wrote:Carling

"The stones around the edge don't look too secure. Be careful when you look down."

Carling continues to watch over the checkers and approaches to the pile of bones. Are they also entrances left and right of the tripod?
There are four pillars holding up the roof. The space between them just kind of goes back out into the big room you are in...

Note: I'm assuming you are leaving the sledgehammer and spikes by the door...?

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#50 Post by Piper »

Wick volunteers to shimmy down the rope for a quick recon.
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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#51 Post by Fingolwyn »

Lhainor draws his sword and stands near the entrance, ready to cover a retreat if the forward party members are assailed from the darkness.

(I assume we are using the Blueholme initiative rules, where movement occurs last, thus anything closing can't attack until the next round?).

Are there any other entrances to the room (other than the one we came in, and the hole in the floor)? I'll move a little off to the side if necessary and use my darkvision/infravision/super-elf-eyes to check the darkness (assuming the torchlight isn't spoiling it everywhere).
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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#52 Post by drpete »

Fingolwyn wrote:Lhainor draws his sword and stands near the entrance, ready to cover a retreat if the forward party members are assailed from the darkness.

(I assume we are using the Blueholme initiative rules, where movement occurs last, thus anything closing can't attack until the next round?).

Are there any other entrances to the room (other than the one we came in, and the hole in the floor)? I'll move a little off to the side if necessary and use my darkvision/infravision/super-elf-eyes to check the darkness (assuming the torchlight isn't spoiling it everywhere).
Hrmmm...

On darkvision, I thought I had read a slightly more clear version of this in the rules than I see in the book at the moment, but I'll treat it like this... if you're inside the effective range of a light source, you can see only what is made visible by the light source. If you are outside it, your eyes adjust and your darkvision kicks in (though I guess logically you can't see past the light source to the other side). So you can sort of move around the wall, and scope out what's outside the range of the torch, but you'd have to kind of wander out of the light to do it.

On initiative, Journeymanne seems to say that you can attack "before, after or during movement". That said, we're using this slightly more explicitly "phased" combat sequence in which all movement gets resolved, then all melee, then all magic. Missile weapons can fit in in various spots there. So, characters can move up to their movement then attack, or they can move up to double movement, but then have no attack.

Effectively, there is no defense against surprise. If you are surprised, you might drop whatever you have in hand, and the opponent can (possibly) move and then attack you. If you are not surprised, you will get warning and an opportunity to react, in initiative order.

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#53 Post by drpete »

Hrmmm... that's interesting... the Holmes Prentice and Holmes Journeymanne editions have different initiative schemes. Curiously, the Holmes Prentice version is basically the mirror image of the version we are using (Note: I wanted to try the Perrin Conventions prior to noticing this...). The Holmes Journeymanne edition is more like a familiar "do everything on your initiative count" system, by default.

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#54 Post by drpete »

Lhainor is able to move around out of the light. Using his darkvision, he can see that you are in a round room with a 60 foot diameter. He cannot see any other exits.

Looking down the hole, Wick cannot see the bottom of the rope. He would be climbing down into darkness.

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#55 Post by Spearmint »

Carling

"Maybe we are in the room, top of the pyramid. Only way is down. Lower a torch and shin down the rope."

With no exits, the room offers a dry base. Do the drag marks go down into the hole? How secure is the tripod? It looks a bit rickety to take a adventurers weight.

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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#56 Post by drpete »

Generally, most of the tracks lead to the area of the hole. Some do go off to the back of the room, though.

The whole thing doesn't seem terribly safe, really. The tripod does seem to have been spiked into the ground, and at least seems to have been here a while. That said, there could be *anything* down there.


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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#58 Post by Piper »

Throw it on down, gentlesir! Says Wick. I'll shinny on down for a look-see and bring it back in a trice!
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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#59 Post by Fingolwyn »

Since we're not using the 5-step Blueholme initiative, it doesn't do any good to cover the party's retreat from the entrance, so Lhainor will cautiously cross the room, giving the hole in the center wide berth, and search the back area (where the tracks seem to go) for secret doors. Anyone who wishes to come with me is welcome. He will NOT open any if he finds them.
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Re: Chapter 1: Expedition to the Barrow Moor

#60 Post by drpete »

Lhainor is going to do a "casual inspection", walking around the perimeter? Being a 60 foot diameter room, it would take about 3 hours to do a complete, thorough search...

On the initiative issue, I am not sure what specific maneuver is being lost here... Maybe because I haven't played the Prentice system initiative before. A comparison...

Prentice:
Round 1: (surprise) Skeletons advance to melee range
Round 1 (no surprise) Same, or guards can... Fall back?
Round 2: Surprise attack, if needed from skeletons.
Guards and skeletons fight, in Dex order, then reinforcements can move in.

Perrin:
In the system we will use:
Round 1: (surprise) Skeletons advance to melee range, then attack. Guards get no counterattack.
Round 1: (no surprise) Skeletons advance. Skeletons & guards fight.
Round 2: Reinforcements move in. Everyone fights in Dex order.

Since it's an alternating between movement and melee, it's basically the same, isn't it? (Or is your concern about missile weapons/magic)?

That said, Lhainor doesn't need to guard the door, I just dunno what that has to do with initiative...?

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