Chapter 16 - Tempus' recruiting drive

[Storm11]

Tempus smiles. I do have a head start. And I have another vial if the Greek Fire to block the passage of necessary. Someone could stand by with a lit torch as I pass maybe.

[scottjen]

Zo: Since the fire could block it in the passage but not outside, maybe the plan should be: Someone waits with torch in hand to set alight the Greek fire while the others fire missiles at it in the pit. Once it comes after us, we flee and ignite the fire setting the creature alight. If it flees back towards the pit, we fire on it again. If it chases us out of the pit we flee outside where Tempus uses his magic to entangle & burn it. What think you all?

[CAI4]

"I'm not sure we need to plan a strategy" replies Lucas after some thought. "If it's stuck in the pit, it's stuck in the pit. But I can go along with Zo's plan." He pulls out his sling and gets ready.

[Storm11]

Does Tempus think this creature is a natural one of the natural world? I can get on board with that, but I would rather not kill it if it’s an animal that is merely feeding itself as it would normally. If we could persuade it to fetch the leather armour for us and leave it alone then that would sit better with me.

[AleBelly]

it is not an animal Tempus can recognize, so no, not natural

[Zeromancer]

Lumenor thought on the nature of the creature for awhile longer. He surmised that the creature must have originated from outside the pit, possibly from the very forest he now stood within. Perhaps it was drawn into the cavern by the nightmen's activities, and they in turn began to feed it carrion to keep it sated and relatively docile. It certainly wasn't borne from the rock, and his enhanced vision couldn't detect any other route into the depression it now occupied. It may very well be trapped.

"If it cannot escape the pit, then it will likely starve before long without the nightmen here to feed it." the elf conjectured.

[Storm11]

It is not a natural animal. So we can slay it without causing offense to the Earth spirits. The plan has merit. Tempus says eagerly.

He retrieved his other bottle of Greek fire and places it in his belt pouch, and waits for someone else to light a torch.

He gets out his sling and moves to a spot near the exit tunnel, that’s narrow enough for a line of Greek fire to completely cross, but that’s in the fifty foot range of the creature. Placing a bullet into the sling he nods he is ready.

[AleBelly]

Lumenor thought on the nature of the creature for awhile longer. He surmised that the creature must have originated from outside the pit, possibly from the very forest he now stood within. Perhaps it was drawn into the cavern by the nightmen's activities, and they in turn began to feed it carrion to keep it sated and relatively docile. It certainly wasn't borne from the rock, and his enhanced vision couldn't detect any other route into the depression it now occupied. It may very well be trapped.

"If it cannot escape the pit, then it will likely starve before long without the nightmen here to feed it." the elf conjectured.

As the party listens to Lumenor's musings, they begin to realize the sense in his perspective. Humanoids without sight are dependent on other senses. The position of the latrines and refuse far from their everyday dwelling is almost certainly not an accident, but rather a design to minimize interfering strong smells.

Nice deduction! I didn't place those areas where they are by accident. Glad you picked up on it!

[Zeromancer]

Lumenor studied the cavern entrance while Tempus reiterated his enthusiasm to kill the beast from the pit. He paid particular mind to any ledge which he could position himself upon where he could remain out of sight and upwind from the creature should it actually emerge from the opening. He also gave consideration to the oil itself, and whether the beast would avoid any area doused with the noxious substance, but he mused that as long as the trap too was positioned upwind, it should go unnoticed.

He then turned to face his companion. "I do not object to destroying a creature that may do harm to the natural ecology if left to its own devices." he said, paused for a moment to order his thoughts, then continued, "You spoke of using yourself as a lure, but we know it responds to hunger. Why not instead make use of some of corpses we left littered throughout the cavern? It may be several hours before it seeks food again, but that time would also give us time to rest and recover our magics."

Finally, he gestured to a position above the mouth of the cave. "Lay your trap, and when the time comes, I will touch it off with an arrow from there."

OOC: Dipping the arrowhead in the Greek Fire should be sufficient to get the desired effect. Might be a good idea to make 2-4 of these flaming arrows, depending on how hard the DM deems such a shot would be. The fire may foil any entangling magic, though.

[scottjen]

Zo: If we don't attack, it may leave the pit for a reason known only to the creature and we may then not be ready for it. Perhaps it likes to eat other things more than night man corpse. Perhaps it goes out at night to look for a mate. I would feel more comfortable with my magic renewed, but do we sleep in here and risk having it come after upon us when only one of us is awake on watch?
Lumenor, are you suggesting we put corpses like a trail of food to lure it out and away and then descend into the pit to retrieve the valuables?

Are going to go forward with Zo's original plan? Sounds like Tempus volunteered to handle the Greek fire to keep the creature from following if someone lights a torch & hands it to him (I don't have any torches). Meanwhile everyone else lines up at the pit to do some missile damage. If this is not the case, somebody correct me.

[AleBelly]

Tempus finds a pinch point in the passage leading from the pit to the outside. It's 10' wide, and will require two flasks of fire to ensure there is a wall of flame. He expended two during the battle.

Lumenor brings up the idea of a flaming arrow. It should not be difficult to hit a target (call it AC 12) from 40 feet. The bigger issue is the arrow extinguishing itself during flight. There's some interesting reading out there. It works much better with metal bolts. With his experience, the elf realizes he will need some spare clothing to soak in the Greek fire. Then there's a 25% chance the arrows will extinguish during flight. This treatment will ruin the arrows, so he needs to decide how many to treat. The elf also suggests using their new collection of corpses to distract the strange centipede creature.

The party still hasn't exactly settled on a plan as they continue to discuss one, though Zo tries to summarize their efforts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_the ... nd_rockets

[CAI4]

Lucas, knowing Tempus to be the most experienced of the group, waits to follow his lead. He loads a stone into his sling as he stands on the north edge of the pit. "Just waiting for a command to fire" he calls out. "I have a torch if any of you need it." He will give a torch if that's how we want to touch off the fire.

He makes sure he has easy access to his morningstar in case the thing escapes the pit.

[Zeromancer]

Regardless of whether the group decided to rest or not, Lumenor began to prepare four arrows with the incendiary oil and scraps of spare stockings. Besides, he would soon be able to resupply fully as the group would assuredly be journeying back to Alleborg with the arrival of the next dawn. All that said, in his estimation, the level of risk involved to acquire a mere piece of enchanted armor was too great. He expected better judgement from Zo, though perhaps his racial sensibility had been suppressed by so much time spent among humans.

OOC: @DM You never did say if Lumenor was able to recover any of the arrows he fired in the previous battle. I tracked 10 arrows fired, 5 of which were good hits, at least 3 more were close, and a couple were wild.

[AleBelly]

DM rolls dice

Lumenor is able to locate all 10 of the arrows he fired. Several are shattered against the stone floor or cavern wall, while a couple others' heads broke off while hitting bone. After a careful once-over (and wiping off of gore), Lumenor judges 5 arrows fit for re-use.

[Zeromancer]

OOC: Okay, good deal. He'll collect all the heads, regardless of the condition of the arrows. They could be reused, even if the shaft cannot.

[Storm11]

Tempus only has one jar of Greek fire remaining. He does have 3 boxes fitted with some coppers inside and fire trapped he could lay down. If the fighter/magic-user has an unseen servant spell he could memorise after some rest it might be possible to set off a trapped box as the creature moves over it. I am not complaining at all here, fyi, but if you realised just how extremely rare magical items are in this game you wouldn’t be complaining about the effort!
DM: how far up the ledge do we have to be to beat the creature outside and still be within range of missile weapons and the pit? I don’t expect an exact description obviously, just how many round approximately we think it might take to get out safely but quickly, starting within 50 feet of the edge of the pit, or as near as we have to be to have a good line of sight to attack the creature.

[Zeromancer]

OOC: Negative. Lumenor does have a Burning Hands spell which he could use though, but he'd have to use up his Shield spell first.

[AleBelly]

DM: how far up the ledge do we have to be to beat the creature outside and still be within range of missile weapons and the pit? I don’t expect an exact description obviously, just how many round approximately we think it might take to get out safely but quickly, starting within 50 feet of the edge of the pit, or as near as we have to be to have a good line of sight to attack the creature.

Tempus tries to map out some distances, anticipating an escape of the creature from the pit. If the creature can move out of the pit at will, Tempus estimates that he will need to be about halfway between the pit and the entrance to ensure escape. His longer-legged party members can get closer...perhaps 25-30' from the lip. But this far a distance will obscure some of the pit and provide cover for the creature if it's intelligent enough to realize it.

[AleBelly]

OK, so do I have this plan right? Tempus stands near the pinch point so he can escape (not enough Greek fire to completely cover the spot) if the creature gets out of the pit. Lucas is standing at the lip, ready to fling some stones. Will the elves fire their missile weapons at the thing, and if so, where will they stand? We need to reach a decision here...

[Zeromancer]

OOC: I'd rather just head back to the city, lol. All this for magic armor seems silly to Lumenor. If we really must fight this thing, then I'm still for waiting until morning. Not recovering healing magic and preparing Burning Hands seems like a handicap for the party. Otherwise, Lumenor's going to get up on the rock face and fire down upon the thing when it emerges from the cave (if it emerges, that is). I'm assuming he can touch off the oil from that position as well, possibly catching the beast in the blaze as it moves across it.