Expedition - Amistad: Down the Morlock Hole - 06 July 2021

[Zhym]

I thought morlocks had high enough AC for Olaf's roll to be a hit.

Olaf keeps fighting.

Pick Axe (THAC0 19): [1d20+1] = 3+1 = 4 [1d8+1] = 5+1 = 6

[Marullus]

You're right. Since I'm not assigning a darkness penalty to Olaf he does indeed hit. Post amended.

Blackjack rushes to join Olaf in the dark against the hairless humanoid. The creature is nimble and fights with an unmatched ferocity - neither of them can get their weapons near it. It spins its steel chain in the darkness, using it to lash Blackjack. The chain wraps around his arm and disrupts his axe swing, raking flesh from his arm viciously as the creature tears it loose. (-3hp)

Hearing the others meleeing in the dark, Akkara hangs back by the unconscious Achaedany. She loads her crossbow and calls out again to the creature in its own tongue. The creature responds, its words vehement and hateful. Akkara is taken aback. Achaedany and Earc remain paralyzed by the effective venom of the poison darts.

Olaf's pick comes around true, however, almost missing the creature as it tries to dodge, but catching it hard by the sheer force of his swing. The creature is flung back against a tree trunk and collapses, dead.

The forest is silent for a moment, no sound but their haggard breath.

Date/Time: 01:42am, 08 July 2021
Light: Campfire
Distance Travelled: None yet
Injuries: Earc (severely injured, paralyzed), Blackjack (severely injured), Akkara (minorly injured), Achaedany (minorly injured, paralyzed)

Initiative: Us [1d6] = 4 Them [1d6] = 6

[4d6] = 16 CHA for Akkara
Morlock Chain: [1d20] = 17 Targeting (O, B) [1d2] = 2 Damage [1d6] = 3

[Zhym]

Olaf checks the body then rejoins the group by the fire. "What'd it say to ye?" he asks Akkara.

He looks down at the paralyzed Achaedany and Earc and wonders if he can do anything for them.

[Marullus]

Akkara answers Olaf, "I had hoped to speak to these creatures, to find them open to dialog. The creature was angry at being spoken to in its own language, resentful." She shakes her head. "I won't repeat the ill words and epithets directly but it said, 'There are no more Masters. You cannot command me. No more Masters!' before you cut him down."

Akkara asks for assistance in moving Acheadany back to the campfire near Earc. Then she tends to Achaedany and Earc while the others find and loot the morlock corpses. She announces that they are as comfortable as they can be, but that we'll just need to wait for it to wear off.

Olaf looks over the gathered belongings by the campfire:
- golden brown citrine (250 GP)
- tiny roundel of golden amber (25GP)
- small radiant banded agate (100 GP)
- blue-green turquoise (50 GP)
- large cracked pale green tourmaline (100 GP)
- Six blowgun tubes
- 15 blowgun darts
- six steel chains
- six expertly-tailored tunics, mangled and bloodstained from their owner's demise

Date/Time: 2:00am, 08 July 2021
Light: Campfire
Distance Travelled: None yet
Injuries: Earc (severely injured, paralyzed), Blackjack (severely injured), Akkara (minorly injured), Achaedany (minorly injured, paralyzed)

[Zhym]

Olaf gives the blowguns and darts the stink-eye. "Nasty weapons them be," he says.

The gems grab his interest. "Crap," he says of the amber, tossing it aside. He shrugs over the turquoise, sighs wistfully over the cracked tourmaline, peruses the agate's grains, and nods with satisfaction at the citrine. "Them dart-spitters got some stones on them."

[Marullus]

Olaf's experienced eye proves accurate in judging the stones.

Ooops.... Didn't intend to post the values.

[Alethan]

Ooops.... Didn't intend to post the values.

OOC: I was about ready to ask for an appending of a few posts that were missing that information!

[Zhym]

With most of the party injured, Olaf volunteers to take the next watch shift.

[Alethan]

Two person watches?

[Zhym]

Considering our last one-person watch was almost dragged away from us, a two-person watch would be wise.

[Marullus]

Is your goal to give Earc eight hours to recover spells, or to rest the party?

Earc needs eight hours. For others, I baseline that you need six hours every 24, or you take the cumulative -1 to hit.

Single watches allows 2-hours each for six hours rest in eight hours.
Double watches (with four people) allows six hours rest in twelve hours, so four hours less travel each day.
Or, double watches for eight hours for Earc, everyone else takes a -1 penalty.

[Zhym]

Optimally, we both rest the party and give Earc time to recover spells. If we have to stay here longer to do that, that's fine.

[Alethan]

Agreed. Not to toot my own horn, but Earc has some potent magical ability at this point. We would do good to have it.

I think Earc could use one or two of the darts in his laboratory to see if he can duplicate the paralyzing potion, but the rest might be used to our advantage. For the record, Earc has some bonuses for using darts and has used them to great advantage in the past. Anyone else who wants to use the darts should take some.

I'm mostly waiting until Earc is mobile again before doing anything, though...

[Marullus]

Olaf and Akkara take the first watch, letting Blackjack get some sleep while the others rest (whether they like it or not) and recover from their paralysis. After a short while, they twitch slightly and their breathing normalizes into restful sleep. With three and a half hours of the night already past, they change shifts a little before 6:00am, intending to let Olaf and Akkara rest until about 9:00am before beginning the day. Earc is up and rested at about 6:30 and is finishing his morning studies (spells are memorized), when Achaedany quietly signals Blackjack. She has spotted three orc scouts plying their way down the wooded riverbank from the north (the direction you were intending to travel). They're about 130' away and haven't noticed you.

Date/Time: 7:23am, 08 July 2021
Light: Morning light
Distance Travelled: None yet
Injuries: Earc (severely injured), Blackjack (severely injured), Akkara (minorly injured), Achaedany (minorly injured)

[Alethan]

OOC: Will update Earc's character sheet, but first I had a quick question. Is it in any way at all possible for a MU to memorize a lower level spell in place of a higher level spell? So instead of memorizing a 2nd level spell, Earc memorizes an additional 1st level spell? I'm not even asking for a complex trade - just a straight one-to-one trade of a lower spell for a higher one. Maybe allow him to even just duplicate a spell he already has memorized, allowing for multiple castings of the same spell?

[Marullus]

I thought on this, and I think I'm going to leave them as-is, with spells slots being for the level they are. There are already bonus spells for INT which boost the lower-levels. I understand that not having enough higher-level spell variety is a challenge, but I want PCs to face that challenge, not just double-down on their low-level spells. Seek opportunities where you're more likely to unearth old spellbooks. Engage in research to develop your own high-level spells. Seek education from other PCs and NPCs, form magical societies and orders for the exclusive sharing of knowledge. Make disreputable deals for easy power. Expand the story.

[Alethan]

I thought on this, and I think I'm going to leave them as-is, with spells slots being for the level they are. There are already bonus spells for INT which boost the lower-levels. I understand that not having enough higher-level spell variety is a challenge, but I want PCs to face that challenge, not just double-down on their low-level spells. Seek opportunities where you're more likely to unearth old spellbooks. Engage in research to develop your own high-level spells. Seek education from other PCs and NPCs, form magical societies and orders for the exclusive sharing of knowledge. Make disreputable deals for easy power. Expand the story.

Alright. Understood (and I get it - it's a slow process, though, when you have expenses and researching costs lots of money and time and pacing is already terrible in a PbP game).

When all you have is a hammer, though, everything looks like a nail, so... Gonna be a lot of blind creatures blinking light outta their eyes!

And yeah, Earc is on the wrong adventure for magical research... at least the "looking for old spell books and scrolls" kind. I suspect he is going to hear rumors of towers the next time he's in town and head off to one of them instead of going after Morlocks...

[Alethan]

Earc of Toll's Tower

In the light of day, Earc examines the items taken from the morlocks before the others awake.

While everyone is eating breakfast, he comments, "the steel in those chains is of an unknown make to us, Olaf. It is lighter and stronger than steel. They have some value to the town guards at Gaul as well as Frogmorton Ford. And I believe the tunics, once cleaned and repaired, may be of some value at the merchant camp back at Gaul, though I'm not sure we have time to clean them and don't think there is wisdom in carrying around blood-soaked rags."

"The blowgun darts, as some of us have seen and... others have experienced, are quite effective." He pulls out his blowgun tube, taken from a morlock during his first expedition, and shows it to the others. "I have some skill with it, though I'm sure it isn't any better than anyone else here. If you've never used a blowgun and want to use one of these, I can show you the basics..."

After securing two of the blowgun darts in his pack, he will divide the remaining darts up among anyone who wants to use them.

When Achaedany points out the three orcs, Earc lowers his voice and body at the same time and eyes them to see what they do. He waits for Blackjack and Olaf to pipe in with their experience about what they should do.

[Marullus]

During the discussion, Achaedany comments that she'd like some blowguns and darts, and she suspects Akkara would, too. When Earc is alerted by Achaedany to the orcs, he wakes Olaf and Akkara. (Olaf may act after Blackjack does. Olaf and Akkara are still at -1 penalty for not resting enough.)

[Alethan]

OOC: Anyone else want poisonous lawn darts? 13 total for dividing up.

If Olaf really did throw the piece of amber aside, Earc picks it up and stows it with the gems from the tree nymph.