Unutterable Blasphemies (ooc and questions lV)

[Inferno]

That was a different fireball calculation that went very, very poorly. Thus began my interest in correctly calculating the area of a fireball...

Ha. I see.
Have you ever tried Aftermath from FGU? The game appropriately has the word math right in its name.

[Zhym]

I'm befoggled. I always figured that part of the point of AD&D was to give nerds some fun math to do.

[SocraticLawyer]

Okay. For climbing up a knotted rope near a rocky wall, I'm going with half your normal dungeon movement rate. This way your Encumbrance, and your Strength's effect on it, is already factored in.

All teens or adults can climb alone. Children (like Sarah, the little girl from the cage) need help.
Anyone may help another up by transferring inches of their movement to that person. (Urdur has been doing this with Sarah, and so has been progressing at half his climbing speed.) Only one person may help at a time.

Passing someone on the rope costs you both 1" of climbing movement.

Details to keep in mind:

• • -Hoom permanently lost 2 points of Strength from reading the blasphemous tome.
    
    -Brevos, Hoom, Ingrid, Mouser and Urdur all lost 4 points of Strength. (So Hoom is down 6 points total)
    
    -Dropping your backpack (or other equipment that can be shed quickly) can lower your Encumbrance and increase your Movement.

So Brevos, Hoom, Ingrid, Mouser and Urdur please recalculate your Strength, Encumbrance and Movement accordingly.


Also, here is progress of the climbers so far:

• • -Urdur and Sarah have been climbing for 3 rounds, at half Urdur's climbing speed because Urdur is helping Sarah.
    
    -Jeremiah (the young teen boy from the cage) has been climbing for 3 rounds, but is keeping pace with his sister Sarah.
    
    -Hoom climbed for one round. Then spent a round helping up the children, and another round helping up Felicity.
    
    -The city merchant from the cage has been climbing for 2 rounds.
    
    -Felicity Gade has been climbing for 1 round.

Once Hoom and Urdur recalculate Strength, Encumbrance and Movement, please report it here, and I will update your climbing progress and include it in the next DM post.

I hope this is all clear. Thanks!

Sorry if I'm holding things up here. I don't know the numbers for Urdur's encumbrance or anything, and can't check it now at work. I have been lowering his strength score each time it was posted, to reflect the current value (5). Urdur's base move is I think 12".

[wolfpack]

strength is 9 now so normal Brevos will dump his backpack and just keep his weapons, armor, belt pouch and shield.

[Scott308]

With that info, I guess Ingrid will keep her armor, cloak and shield and begin climbing. The cloak and shield are not enough to put her into the next level of encumbrance. She'll still get rid of the backpack since she did that a few rounds ago and I'm not going to ret-con that.

[ChubbyPixie]

I'm befoggled. I always figured that part of the point of AD&D was to give nerds some fun math to do.

Some of us are art nerds.

[Inferno]

Yay, art nerds!

Thanks, Socratic and wolf. Got it.

With that info, I guess Ingrid will keep her armor, cloak and shield and begin climbing. The cloak and shield are not enough to put her into the next level of encumbrance. She'll still get rid of the backpack since she did that a few rounds ago and I'm not going to ret-con that.

Got it. Thanks.

I should be able to post today.

[OGRE MAGE]

Some of us are art nerds.

[wolfpack]

What was the final decision on the stone shape? I saw a bunch of ideas flying around but don't know where it landed

[Inferno]

Hi drpete,

Is the ground the cage slides on mud, that we might force a trench into, or solid stone?

Down here, the cavern is stone, thinly covered in mud.
The upper part of level one, where the phosphorescent mushrooms are, is more mud than rock.

How massive is the waterfall, and does it come down in the middle of the pool, or on one side? (in other words, does it fall "close" to this downward sloping tunnel?)

That info was buried in the fine print:

The towering waterfall is a 5' diameter column in the center of the pool.

[Inferno]

Pelias
"Well done, Bo. I will be the last up" says the paladin to the others.

Hi Ale,
Is Pelias going to carry the bound, unconscious cultist (C5) all the way to the surface?

[Inferno]

Brevos will... give everyone an initial boost until it is just He, Pelias, and Grothnak then he will head up.

Pelias
"Well done, Bo. I will be the last up" says the paladin to the others.

He is careful, in no great hurry, despite the threat of the horrors.
Pip is a fast mover, so he'll go next round, probably,

While the others head for the rope, Grothnak waits by the wall... He and Pelias can argue in a moment over who will be last up the rope. He will, at the least, be second-to-last to go.

Ha. You four and Telkis, please sort this out (IC or OOC) so I know the players' intentions.
Who is last? Second to last? Third to last? Fourth to last, and fifth?
Thanks.

Also, a friendly reminder:

For climbing up a knotted rope near a rocky wall, I'm going with half your normal dungeon movement rate. This way your Encumbrance, and your Strength's effect on it, is already factored in.

...Passing someone on the rope costs you both 1" of climbing movement.

[Inferno]

Ingrid Esthof
Were there light sources on the different levels we had been on previously?

Yes but not in the central shaft of the Hell Mouth. The only light here was:

• - daylight from the surface (but it's now past sundown)
  - the phosphorescent fungi of the uppermost subterranean level, and
  - reflected torchlight at "B" emanating from the Heinous Shrine.

At times you are climbing in total darkness, as per this:

In the darkness high above that life and death struggle, their strength waning, Hoom and Urdur continue their frantic flight up the central chasm of the sinkhole, shepherding the freed prisoners higher and higher through shadow and mist.

[Zhym]

OOC, it makes sense for Pelicans to go last in case any of the monsters are summoned. His Protection from Evil should keep any of those at bay. Everyone else seems to have movement of 90', except for Pip, so the order may not matter (although I may be forgetting important climbing rules).

How about this?

Pip
Long Bo
Telkis
Grothnak
Pelias

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof
Were there light sources on the different levels we had been on previously?

Yes but not in the central shaft of the Hell Mouth. The only light here was:

• - daylight from the surface (but it's now past sundown)
  - the phosphorescent fungi of the uppermost subterranean level, and
  - reflected torchlight at "B" emanating from the Heinous Shrine.

At times you are climbing in total darkness

Thank you.

[Scott308]

Pelicans.

[OGRE MAGE]

It took me a minute to figure that one out.

I'm good with that order. Did you forget Brevos?

[Zhym]

DYAC.

I did forget Brevos. Okay, here's another list based on HP and AC:

Pip - AC 9, 5 HP
Long Bo - AC 6, HP 23
Telkis - AC 0, HP 9
Grothnak - AC 3, HP 9
Brevos - AC 2(1), HP 13
Pelias - AC 2(0), HP 15

You could swap Telkis and Grothnak if you want someone with lower AC instead of higher damage (and can convince Grothnak to go fourth from last; at that point, you'd have better odds convincing Grothnak to go right after Pip to help protect those climbing).

[drpete]

Pip won't complain about this. He can shimmy up and lend movement to some slower folks.

As for the others, this might not be an issue, but another possible way to view this is to put some strong folks near the front of this back end order. They can get to a ledge then pull the rope (and those behind them) up.

[AleBelly]

We totally should have summoned pelicans to distract our pursuers.