Expedition: Baxtaw - Seeking Scatha's Lair - 23 July 2021

[Marullus]

*bump*

Baxtaw leads the group into the clothing racks on the left side of the doorway seeking deeper within.

Lug? Bremen? Osana?

[Zhym]

Lug follows along, happy that someone else is in charge. Whenever he led missions, there always seemed to be arguing. And punching. And arguing about the punching.

Yep. Lug is happy just to let someone else tell him where to go and when to fight things.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Bremen asks Baxtaw and the dwarf to use their nifty dark vision to the party's advantage. You two see anything?

[Dram]

Baxtaw - Peers into the darkness looking for any movement or signs of life. I will check.

[Jernau35]

Piers

As they (hopefully) get closer to the lair of the dragon, Piers is a mixture of excitement and trepidation. He wants the party to be able to sneak up and finish off the dragon, but an icy feeling slowly creeping up his spine makes him think that the dragon is sneaking up on them... He hopes that the first thing Baxtaw sees coming out of the dark isn't a blast of dragon fire.

[Marullus]

Clauson and Crowgar hold the torches to illuminate the party as they begin moving to the left, stepping over mounds of discarded clothing and wending between the clothing racks. Baxtaw moves to the front edge of the torchlight, peering into the darkness hoping to see more with his elvish vision. Piers adopts a mien of confidence to mask his worry as they explore while Lug follows happily and unworried.

"Look up!" exclaims Baxtaw at the last moment, drawing their attention up to movement among the old webs which clog the ceiling, just in time to see the giant spiders there, ready to drop on the party. The spiders were near invisible, their six foot black bodies concealed in the thick darkness and moving with silent agility among the webbing lines and chandeliers. The party registers three of them and has only a moment to react.

(Nobody surprised. Round 1! Actions!)

Date: 12:20am, 26 July 2021
Light: Crowgar's torch (until 12:50pm); Clouson's torch (until 12:50pm).
Effects: None.
Injuries: Bremen (minor wound), Stantz (minor wound), Clouson (minor wound), Baxtaw (minor wound), Lug (superficial wound)

surprise: Us: [1d6] = 5 them [1d6] = 4

[Zhym]

How far overhead are the spiders? Melee range?

Do we have time to back up and use the doorway as a choke point? Or will that depend on initiative?

[Marullus]

Initiative will decide a lot here.

Hmmmm. "Could I hit a chandelier with a sword in a 20' vaulted room?"

If they are on the ceiling, ranged is normal, melee has -2 for partial cover.
If they drop on you, melee is fine and ranged has friendly fire.

You are out in the middle of a big room. Two rounds of tactical retreat to the door.

[Zhym]

Lug carefully backs away, keeping Reason ready. "Did I ever sing you guys the song about the time I killed some spiders?" he asks. "Wonder if these knew the ones I squashed."

If any of the spiders drop on him, or near him, he tries to Reason with them.

"Reason" (2-handed sword) (THAC0 18): [1d20+2] = 9+2 = 11 [1d10+2] = 7+2 = 9

[Rusty Tincanne]

Captain Bremen tries to slip into some shadows to hide in. If it looks like any of the spiders are coming directly at him, he fires his crossbow (into a pile of rags).

Heavy Crossbow (THACO 17): [1d20+2] = 2+2 = 4, damage [1d8] = 3

[Jernau35]

Piers

Like everybody else, Piers believes that the best defense against the threat of the spiders is to get as far away as possible and squash any that come near him.

Light hammer (THACO 18) [1d20] = 9 Damage [1d6+1] = 2+1 = 3

[Dram]

Baxtaw-Spiders 3 of them in the ceiling! Pulls his bow and fires his bow at the closest spider.

Initiative roll [1d6] = 1

+1 MW Bow(THAC016)[1d20+3] = 13+3 = 16 Dam[1d8+3] = 6+3 = 9

[Marullus]

The spiders chitter hungrily as you wander into their hunting grounds. The party reconsiders this choice and tries to begin retreating backwards to escape, flailing their melee weapons fruitlessly at the ceiling.

The spiders, however, are a bit more calculated. Two of them flank the group, their speed along the weblines and their unimpeded route allows them to reach the rear of the party where they both release a mesh of sticky, thick strands. The webbing both encapsulates Stantz, who is stuck fast, and also separates Rowine and Crowgar from the rest of the party. With the party already in retreat and them (barely) on the safe side, the two Baudhic mercenaries turn and flee, escaping (with their torchlight) into the hallway beyond.

The third spider hisses at the front rank, ensuring you keep fleeing backwards into the now wide-webbed-trap directly behind you. It drops a net of webbing onto Dorbeck, singling out the one dwarf among you for its dinner. Before it can claim a prize, however, Baxtaw gets his bow up and shoots an arrow straight through its thorax, dropping the spider to the floor where it convulses in its final spasms. (-9)

Father Clouson, wielder of the group's only torch, brandishes it in his off hand and reaches forth boldly, to touch the spider with his open palm as it encapsulates Stantz. "Flee! Flee, vermin! You have no power before Baudh!" he yells, but the spider scuttles out of his reach and continues extruding webbing from its spinnerettes.

Stantz and Dorbeck are webbed; Rowine and Crowgar escaped the scene. The web blocks your direct route, so you need to circumvent it - you're still two rounds from the exit. Two spiders remain, both still at ceiling level.

Date: 12:21am, 26 July 2021
Light: Crowgar's torch (until 12:50pm); Clouson's torch (until 12:50pm).
Effects: None.
Injuries: Bremen (minor wound), Stantz (minor wound), Clouson (minor wound), Baxtaw (minor wound), Lug (superficial wound)

Initiative [1d6] = 2
Targeting [1d10] = 2 [1d10] = 9 [1d10] = 9
Spider Morale [2d6] = 7
Rowine and Crowgar Morale [2d6] = 11
Clouson - touch [1d20] = 3 save [1d20] = 20

[Rusty Tincanne]

I don't have the rulebook handy on this device. Are the spider's in range for a thrown flask of oil?
How long would it take to out Stantz free? Can Bremen get Stantz's bow free to use this round, or is that encapsulated too?
Last round I have a conditional directive, preferring to hide. Did that happen or did he for the crossbow?
Thanks.

[Jernau35]

Piers

With the disappearance of one of the torch bearers, and seeing the other in danger, Piers decides to try and kill two birds with one stone. He calls on the power of Baudh.

"Oh Sun Father! Send your Light to aid us in this darkness, and blind our enemies with your Divine Incandescence!"

Casts Light on whichever spider is closest to him.

[Dram]

Baxtaw wraps the end of his arrow in cloth. Lights it with the torch and fires it into the ceiling at the webbing missing it.


Scimitar [1d20+1] = 6+1 = 7 dam[1d8+2] = 3+2 = 5

[Marullus]

I don't have the rulebook handy on this device. Are the spider's in range for a thrown flask of oil?
How long would it take to out Stantz free? Can Bremen get Stantz's bow free to use this round, or is that encapsulated too?
Last round I have a conditional directive, preferring to hide. Did that happen or did he for the crossbow?
Thanks.

Yes, a lit flask flung into the webbing would work.
You can't get anything off of Stantz.
I am torn about the crossbow. (Easy to be conditional on a miss.) I will allow you to not have fired but it isn't a president.

[Zhym]

Lug fires his Boring Ordinary Longbow ineffectively into the webbing near the spiders.

Boring Ordinary Longbow (THAC0 18): [1d20+1] = 4+1 = 5 [1d8] = 1

[Rusty Tincanne]

but it isn't a president.

I leave far too many auto corrects unattended to make a snotty comment. I was more interested in his current positioning.

Bremen stays in the shadows. If anything emerges that he can sneak up on, he attacks from behind.

Warhammer of Baudh (THACO 17): [1d20+2] = 19+2 = 21, [1d8+3] = 4+3 = 7 No modifiers for backstabbing because I don't know if he is hidden well enough. If not, and he can get into melee, he will. And in case no one else rolled it yet:

Initiative (modified for DEX) [1d6+1] = 6+1 = 7 Now that I look at that macro, I am thinking we don't use our DEX modifier for group initiative, do we?

[Marullus]

The spiders chitter in the webbing above as Lug's arrow whiffs past, then Baxtaw's flaming arrow misses the spiders but gets stuck in the webbing. The dingy white strands readily flare up, the room blazing brightly as the web begins burning away from the ceiling. The spiders skitter away from the blaze but are not yet ready to give up their quarry while you stand so brazenly in their hunting ground.

Piers calls upon the name of Baudh to blind the spider, but the arachnid shrugs it off, the spell failing to take effect. Clouson yells once more, "Flee! Flee, vermin! You have no power before Baudh!" and smacks the foremost spider's leg as he abjures the monstrous beast. The spider screeches, recoiling from him in terror and clambering away into the darkness. The fear is infectious - finding itself alone, the third spider follows its companion in flight.

Bremen grips his Warhammer and waits, disappointed as his opportunity never arrives. Dorbeck and Stantz continue to struggle against their webbing cocoons.

(Parting shots allowed as they flee, or move to post-combat actions.)

Date: 12:22am, 26 July 2021
Light: Crowgar's torch (until 12:50pm); Clouson's torch (until 12:50pm).
Effects: None.
Injuries: Bremen (minor wound), Stantz (minor wound), Clouson (minor wound), Baxtaw (minor wound), Lug (superficial wound)

Lug misses with longbow.

Baxtaw fires a lit arrow at the ceiling webs. (Misses the spiders, can't miss the webs. Cause Morale check.)
Spider morale [2d6] = 2
- They're fine.

Piers casts Light on a spider.
Spider save [1d20] = 17
- No effect.

Bremen holds action for Spider to come down (no action taken).

[No post for Osuna. No clear action for her to take.]

Clouson causes fear.
Clouson [1d20] = 16 touch [1d20] = 13 save
- successful

Morale check on second spider...
Spider 2nd morale [2d6] = 9