Expedition - Lug/Exploration - May 20, 1 VC

[Keehnelf]

Enemy Initiative [1d6] = 6

The gnoll, seeing everyone up on their feet, armed and charging, drops his bow to unencumber himself and races back down the hall and around the corner out of sight. Galen and Lug reach the corner, with Orrin hot on their heels, but they discover that past the corner the light no longer reaches and the corridor is shrouded in shadows that echo with the heavy thumps and jangles of the still-retreating enemy. Krysta, left behind by the party's charge, is unable to reach Galen with her healing touch due to the tightness of the corridor before he is off (he would have lost his movement if he waited for her to come up and heal him while Lug squeezed past and pursued. The spell is not considered to be expended.).

Inside the chamber, Niles establishes that the combatants that have fallen are all dead, and he pulls a platinum coin off each of the orcs as well as sixty two gold coins off the assembled group.

[Zhym]

"Crap!" spits Lug. "Crappity effing crap. We've got to kill that gnoll or we're dead. Orrin—you can see in the dark, right? Do you see anything?"

Without waiting for an answer, Lug fires Smurfgrill at the sound of the retreating enemy.

Symurgwyl (Longbow +1/+2) (THAC0 18): [1d20+2] = 2+2 = 4, Dmg: [1d8+2] = 1+2 = 3

That should be -4 for firing blind and +2 for firing at the gnoll's back, plus range adjustments, not that it matters.

Your explanation makes sense. And yes, I've posted conditionals before, but I was hoping I could cut down on having to do that in some situations.

I get that there are some situations where a conditional isn't possible. What I don't understand is why rolling initiative changes anything. Before rolling initiative, we know that we might win or lose initiative. After rolling, we only have a better idea of the probabilities that we'll win or lose initiative. Adding a conditional after the initiative is rolled doesn't change any action—it just adds information about what you'd like to happen if you can't do what your stated action was. I see that as a very different thing than trying to declare a different action after making an attack roll, for example.

[Zorroroaster]

Orrin tries to get his own bow out to take a shot.

If he can see the retreating gnoll, he'll fire. Also, he'll bark out what he does see to the others.

Short bow: attack [1d20] = 8 damage [1d6] = 4

[hedgeknight]

Krysta follows along behind the others.

[Keehnelf]

Orrin sees the gnoll running pell-mell about thirty feet down the hall from the party--the corridor stretches about fifty feet from the turn before making another jog back to the left. There are two doors on the right side, about twenty and forty feet from Orrin's current spot at the turn, and one door in the middle of the left wall. He lets fly an arrow, but he's moving too quickly and it strikes one of the side walls, caroming off into the floor.

At this point, the gnoll is running full-tilt, and the only way to catch him will be a full-on pursuit since he'll be out of sight this next round. Given that the light source is at the very back of the party by a good twenty feet, anyone without darkvision will be pursuing into darkness and/or relying on Orrin to guide them verbally through the darkness as they run.

What do you do?

[Marullus]

Niles again contemplates his fate as a useless wizard. With pursuit going down the hallway, he comes out to study the body of the fallen hill giant. A curious anatomical opportunity; he pokes it with his stick.

[Zhym]

I assume lighting a torch takes too long to both do that and chase?

[Zorroroaster]

"Damn. We had better expect reinforcements soon."

Orrin looks to the others, appraising their situation.

[Keehnelf]

It's possible but will put you behind, thus hampering your chance of success (-10% on the pursuit roll).

[Zhym]

Are you using the wilderness escape rules? I guess that'd be better than the labyrinth escape rules, which seem to be purely deterministic based on speed: if you're faster than what you're chasing, you catch them; if you aren't, you can't. If we do use the wilderness rules, that's a 40% chance of success if Lug lights a torch and he and Ulf give chase?

[Keehnelf]

Are you using the wilderness escape rules? I guess that'd be better than the labyrinth escape rules, which seem to be purely deterministic based on speed: if you're faster than what you're chasing, you catch them; if you aren't, you can't. If we do use the wilderness rules, that's a 40% chance of success if Lug lights a torch and he and Ulf give chase?

Yes, in this case I'll be using the wilderness escape rules for this.

[Zhym]

The wilderness rules envision a long chase that can take hours (remember Lug and Varas chasing after whassname the orc?). How lost would Lug get if—oh, hell, it's Lug. The moment I start asking questions like that, I'm already playing him as too wise.

Lug hastily grabs a torch from his pack, dips it into one of the many pools of oil available from Niles's errant bombardments, and lights it. "C'mon, Orrin! We gotta stop her or we're dead!" he calls out as he gives chase.

[Spartakos]

With adrenaline fading, Galen is feeling the pain of his wounds. After confirming that Krysta and Niles are all right, he turns to check on Bertram.

Seeing Orrin's glance and Lug's impatience for flight, Galen sets his jaw firmly. "We can't abandon Bertram to go chase that gnoll. If Lug insists, he can do as he likes, and you can go with him or stay with us. Just remember what his last impulsive act accomplished."

[Zhym]

FWIW, Lug isn't just being impetuous. That was a hunting party, searching for us. If the gnoll gets away, it's a good bet she comes back with reinforcements. We're in no shape for another battle and I don't know if we can withdraw or relocate without it killing Bertram. Our best hope, IMO, is to get that gnoll before she can go tell anyone else where we are.

Of course, not everyone needs to run after the gnoll. There's not much point in more than two or three chasing after her anyway. But it would be nice if Lug didn't have to go alone.

Or I could pause that action (or have Lug start out chasing and come back right away if it's clear the gnoll is gone), but what's our move then? We'd need an overnight stay to bring Bertram back, right? Do we have enough healing brew left to bring him back now?

[Zhym]

Let's put Lug's action on hold for a moment. I've got an idea.

We need at least a day without being disturbed to bring Bertram back to health—and, optimally, get the rest of us healed too. Lug has that Honey of Passage that will let him put a hole in any wall. If we could collapse the tunnel right in front of the door we're in while leaving it intact in front of the adjacent room, we could make it look like we trapped ourselves. Whoever sent the hunting party would think we're dead and we'd get all the time we need to recover. When we're ready to move on, we make a hole to the next chambers and move on that way.

What do you think?

[Zorroroaster]

Dang, I like that idea.

[Zhym]

The question is: how do we collapse the tunnel in a controlled way and do it fast enough that it's down by the time the gnoll brings reinforcements?

BTW, if our character sheets are up to date it looks like we still have enough healing brews to wake Bertram up. Lug has a couple of sips left, Bertram has three sips, and Niles still has a full potion.

[hedgeknight]

Krysta stops running after her companions when she sees they have stopped.
She takes off her pack, removes her lantern, pours a flask of oil in it and lights the wick, bringing much needed light to the hallway. "Where did the gnoll go off to? Do you think it will bring more back with it? If so, we need to get Bertram and get out of here. Or at least get somewhere we can hole up until we heal up some. I only have one cure spell left for the day...by Pelor's grace."

One oil flask deducted.

[Marullus]

(Niles still also has his lantern lit, not sure how long he has left.)

[Spartakos]

The question is: how do we collapse the tunnel in a controlled way and do it fast enough that it's down by the time the gnoll brings reinforcements?

I'm with Orrin, this plan sounds good. And I expect Orrin might have the best notion of how to collapse something, given his dwarven knack for stonework.

It's either that, or flee the place.

Krysta, want to try healing Bertram (since Galen didn't get your ministrations earlier)? I have some potion, if I need it.