[Completed] - Ulf/Mission for the Dwarves - May 20, 1 VC

[Zhym]

How about our HP?

So the lone archer, 150 to the SE, is facing us, ready to fire, and four more that are about 100 to the north are approaching him (not us)?

From now on, MUs are mandatory on expeditions.

[Keehnelf]

Yes, you're healed up, and the others are approaching your position, more or less to converge on you from two sides.

[Zhym]

Ulf does the math and doesn't like the answer. "Come on!" he says as he takes off running away from the gnolls. "They outnumber us and we won't defeat longbows by throwing rocks!"

ETA: I don't think he'll get into range this round (and probably can't throw his hammer on the run even if he does), but in case he get an attack:

Hammer of lightning, +2 (THAC0 19): [1d20+3] = 5+3 = 8 Dmg: [1d4+2] = 1+2 = 3 + [1d6] = 3 elec.

Edit: Run away! Run away!

[Zhym]

Can I change my move, or did that contingency attack roll lock things in? I've been thinking about the odds of one dwarf and two clerics vs. five gnolls and they don't seem great. We should, however, have a good chance of being able to escape if we run away. Five of them vs. three of us is a 90% chance of escape before applying any more modifiers.

[Keehnelf]

Just this once you can change your mind on it.

In the future, rolling locks you into a course of action though, even if it's contingent.

[Zhym]

Thanks. Edited.

[Starbeard]

In that case…

Seadu hikes up his tunic and high-foots it away from the gnolls.
'Turn about, Capilla! Scram!' he says to his mule. He grabs her reign and drags her along with him.

[Keehnelf]

May 23, 1 VC - 4:10pm

Escape! [1d100] = 16
Hours spent escaping [1d8] = 3

The small party turns tail and runs for the hills at the sight of the group of gnoll archers looking to poach them. Seadu's mule proves the most difficult part of the escape, not realizing their danger and constantly bucking against efforts to get her to flee--after a time, however, the blind panic in the group turns out to be sufficiently infectious and she begins to comply, the darkness descending over the landscape lending all the more credence to the party's fears of being overtaken and overwhelmed. Occasionally at the beginning of the chase they hear the light "zip" of arrows being released and the dull thud of impacts in the earth somewhere nearby, but after an hour or so these sounds have become only a dim memory and, eventually, the sounds of the chase begin to disappear altogether. The party circles around in a loose arc for some time, just in case the gnolls continue to follow and have just taken the chance to regroup, but by the time the moon has fully risen they decide it is time to set up a camp for the night.

The rest passes uneventfully, and the party breaks camp headed toward the rising sun once the day begins, continuing on their way and making good progress on the open ground. There is no sign of the gnolls, and the party keeps watchful eyes out throughout the long day's march. By early afternoon, however, the party notes that there is no sign of the deep cleft to their right, and in fact, it seems that they must have gotten significantly off-course during the night's flight, as the southern mountains appear much closer than they had been during the earlier leg of their march east.

Lost? [1d100] = 4

[Zhym]

Ulf scowls. "Lost. Well, unless we want to go back to town and try to get more people, I think we should head north a bit. Carefully, so we are not ambushed a second time."

Keehnelf, is it possible to gain a bonus to spotting threats ahead of time if we take a penalty to movement rate?

[Keehnelf]

There's no bonus to spotting threats for moving slowly. "Ambush" is strictly determined by the surprise roll I make (each side is surprised on a 1-2 on a d6) after I determine that an encounter will take place. The only way that number changes is through a racial, monster or magic item ability that specifically impacts it (like certain spiders having a 1-4 surprise chance).

Here are your options for changing movement and what they affect:

1. You can move more slowly to increase your chance of discovering locations of interest in the area you're moving through.

2. You can move rapidly through an area and decrease the chance of discovering locations of interest in the area you're moving through (I automatically employ this movement mode for areas you know well and have not indicated a desire to seek out anything in that territory, or when you're moving along a road like to the Tower of Wendall).

2. You can assign a scout to travel ahead of the party and be subject to the surprise roll (and the encounter) in the place of the party. The scout needs to be sufficiently ahead of the party that they can reasonably be considered a separate unit (usually almost out of visual range on open ground, or a hundred yards or so in denser terrain, which is usually out of visual range as well). This gives the scout a chance to retreat to the party if they are not surprised, and give them an alert, especially if the enemy is surprised so they likely haven't spotted the scout.

Note that being surprised by an enemy doesn't automatically mean you start combat. For example, the hobgoblin encampment that Varas' group encountered was a random monster encounter that resulted in surprise on behalf of the enemy group, but the encounter distance (I roll randomly to determine the starting range) was sufficient that the enemy used that surprise to set up a passive ambush rather than aggressively engage with the party. Also, if the initial reaction roll (I use it to determine starting attitude toward the party) is neutral or friendly, it likely will not result in a combat starting during the surprise round--instead they might use the round to cautiously retreat, remain out of sight, etc.

[Zhym]

Gotcha. For planing purposes, was the encounter we just ran away from one encounter or two? That is, was the rider who shadowed us for a while a separate encounter that you moved past for expediency, or was that just flavor setting up how we got ambushed?

I think we're more interested in getting to the tomb than finding stuff, so we could speed up—but then again, since we're lost, the tomb might be the kind of stuff we need to find. If so, we'd better slow down, right?

[Keehnelf]

Yes, moving quickly while you're lost is potentially problematic if you're interested in finding your way again.

For clarity's sake: Yes, the lone rider was a separate random encounter with no surprise that took place at long range and with a neutral/indifferent disposition.

[Zhym]

Okay, low and slow we go, hoping to find the right path again.

[Keehnelf]

Also to clarify: the reason I glossed over that encounter (narrated through it automatically) was the party had no reasonable chance of turning it from a long-distance sighting into an actual confrontation, so there really wasn't much choice but to travel until the guy either got closer or disappeared.

[Zhym]

Understood. I think we might have changed our route if we thought that was a scout, but I'm guessing the subsequent encounter was a separate roll unrelated to the scout so diverting wouldn't have changed anything.

[Keehnelf]

Exactly right.

[Starbeard]

Seadu examines the south mountains and agrees with Ulf. 'Yes. If we keep heading east from here we'll just stay lost. We have to cut north and continue on when we find something we recognize. I don't think any of us are equipped well to act as scouts, so we might as well just stick together and tread carefully. I'm surprised there are still so many monsters out here after the battle. Between the hobgoblin army at Vaul and the undead army that seems to have left the secret exit near the dwarf ruin, I was half-expecting the countryside to be a bit of a wasteland.'

[Zhym]

"As was I," answers Ulf. "Foolish of me. I would not have ventured out with so light a force had I known that the wilds were quite so full of enemies."

[Keehnelf]

I think you guys are getting especially unlucky...between you and Varas' group, you must have encountered half of the goblinoids currently haunting this territory

[Keehnelf]

May 24, 1 VC - 11:30am

The party moves a bit further before camping for the night, and then in the morning continues on due north, hoping to catch sight of the watchtower or some other landmark. By late morning, a landmark does indeed come into view: a long, deep gash in the land, running east-west, stretching off into the distance each way. It appears that it would take at least a day either way to reach the end.