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

[Rusty Tincanne]

Bremen quickly loots all the goblin corpses, including the really dumb one.

[Marullus]

Bremen quickly loots all the goblin corpses, including the really dumb one.

55 ep from dead goblins.

Baxtaw gestures to Bremen that he can lead way. Lets light up a few torches move slowly look for traps and path that these goblins may used to move around the dragon.

What way? Marching order?

[Rusty Tincanne]

Marullus, when the goblin mentioned the hallway, did he, perhaps, wave his hand in a particular direction? Please?

Depends on the answer to this. Since he wasn't restrained, he could have indicated this.

[Dram]

Baxtaw suggests the following marching order. If anyone has objections post here.

Bremen
Baxtaw
Stantz
Clouson
Lug

[Marullus]

Marullus, when the goblin mentioned the hallway, did he, perhaps, wave his hand in a particular direction? Please?

Depends on the answer to this. Since he wasn't restrained, he could have indicated this.

Down the hallway (left) is the melted dragon doors on the other side of the hall. He indicated going up (right).

[Jernau35]

Baxtaw suggests the following marching order. If anyone has objections post here.

Bremen
Baxtaw
Stantz
Clouson
Lug

]Piers, Crowager and Rowine need to go in there somewhere. In between Stantz and Clouson? Baxtaw and Stantz?

[Rusty Tincanne]

Bremen takes a torch and started down the hallway, to the right. He keeps a careful watch for traps and secret doors, hoping to find none of the former and one of the latter.

[Dram]

Baxtaw suggests the following marching order. If anyone has objections post here.

Bremen
Baxtaw
Piers
Crowager
Stantz
Clouson
Lug
Rownie

Does this work?

[Jernau35]

Dont we have a dwarf with us too? Dorbeck? Maybe he should go at the back since he has infravision?

[Rusty Tincanne]

Brennen suggests putting the dwarf and elf out front to use infravision unimpeded, giving is a better chance against being ambushed. And they can look For traps and the door. He can also look for the door by torchlight.


Baxtaw
Dorbeck
space for darkness/infravision
Bremen
Lug
Piers
Clouson
Rowine
Crogar
Stantz

[Dram]

I vote for Rusty's marching order. Baxtaw will also look for torch sconces. To light the hallway.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Forgot Osuna. Anyone seen mister-kent

Baxtaw
Dorbeck
space for darkness/infravision
Bremen
Lug
Piers
Clouson
Osuna
Rowine
Crogar
Stantz

[Dram]

Mister-Kent has not been active on this site since April.

[Marullus]

Bremen takes a torch and started down the hallway, to the right. He keeps a careful watch for traps and secret doors, hoping to find none of the former and one of the latter.

Baxtaw
Dorbeck
space for darkness/infravision
Bremen
Lug
Piers
Clouson
Rowine
Crogar
Stantz

Baxtaw and Dorbeck lead ahead, watching the hallway with their infravision. Bremen follows with the torch, the rest of the party filing in behind him. Turning right and heading up the hallway, the torchlight casting its thin light to the walls of the extra wide hallway, visible far up and down its length. The party otherwise does its best to move quietly, that their footfalls don't echo and alert the goblins more than the screams of their dying kin on the hallway floor already have. Slowly, ever slowly, the party inches its way up the hallway away from the melted golden doors.

It happens in slow motion before Bremen's eyes, but he can't get the warning out fast enough to stop calamity. Baxtaw and Dorbeck didn't notice the thin cracks in the cold stone floor which Bremen was able to see when his torchlight reached them. Baxtaw already had stepped over the stone block. Dorbeck, however... just as the words choked in Bremen's throat, Dorbeck's foot presses the trigger. A grinding sound rattles deafeningly as a heavy portcullis drops from above, snapping the dwarf's leg (-13) and separating he and Baxtaw from all those behind.

A goblin war cry sounds in the darkness up the hallway as the portcullis drops. A hail of shortbow arrows comes in from up the hallway, peppering the elf and dwarf with their shafts. Already pinned by the portcullis, Dorbeck is struck through the skull by two of the arrow shafts, a third hitting him in the shouder. (Crit: -12, Crit: -10, -2) Three of the shafts also strike Baxtaw Crit: -12, -1, -3) - the elf is severely wounded and trapped on the far side of the portcullis from the rest of the party, with the goblins...

(Surprise round over. Actions!)


Date: 2:40pm, 26 July 2021
Light: Bremen's Torch (3:20pm)
Effects: None.
Injuries: Dorbeck (Dead), Baxtaw (Critically Wounded), Bremen (minor wounds), Stantz (minor wound), Clouson (minor wound), Baxtaw (minor wound), Lug (superficial wound)

Detect Trap: Baxtaw [1d6] = 2 Dorbeck [1d6] = 3 Bremen [1d6] = 5 [1d100] = 6
Set off Trap: Baxtaw [1d6] = 6 Dorbeck [1d6] = 1

Dorbeck Portcullis Damage [3d6] = 13

Surprise by Goblins [1d6] = 1
Arrows at Baxtaw [1d20] = 20 [1d20] = 17 [1d20] = 17 [1d20] = 12 [1d20] = 7
Damage to Baxtaw [1d6x2] = 6x2 = 12 [1d6] = 1 [1d6] = 3
Arrows at Dorbeck [1d20] = 3 [1d20] = 20 [1d20] = 20 [1d20] = 15 [1d20] = 10
Damage to Dorbeck [1d6x2] = 5x2 = 10 [1d6x2] = 6x2 = 12 [1d6] = 2

[Rusty Tincanne]

Dang! Those are some (un)lucky shots! Umm... What to do... The goblins are separated from the rest of the party, right? I know what Bremen would do. Anyone else want to step up?

Does Osuna have sleep memorized, by chance?

[Zhym]

Do we have anything like cover to fire from? About how many goblins are there?

If we don't have a Sleep spell, I suspect Bremen's instinct is the correct one. Sorry, Baxtaw...

OTOH, if we feel like being fools, someone could try to lift the portcullis while everyone else kept the goblins busy with arrow fire. Whoever is lifting the portcullis might not die in the first round...

[Jernau35]

Piers has a Str of 12, so would probably only be useful if multiple people tried to lift it. But that would block people from shooting back. Plus, since he's got the CLW's it's a bad idea for him to get riddled with arrows too.

Does the portcullis give any cover? Is it a grid of thick bars or mainly vertical ones ones?

Would bending the bars be more effective from our POV? We could pull Baxtaw through and the goblins couldn't rush us en masse.

Anybody got any oil left? Piers has one. Set fire to the hallway just beyond Baxtaw maybe? They couldn't rush us and maybe the flames would make it harder to target us.

[Zhym]

I think everything depends on whether Osuna has sleep available.

I like the idea of creating a smoke and fire barrier, but my guess is that throwing oil through the portcullis is going to be very difficult unless we're right next to the portcullis. Goblins rushing us en masse isn't as big a concern as firing arrows at us from afar with us not able to do much about it.

The good news is that there were only 10 arrows and the goblins shot freaky well last round. They probably won't shoot that well again. Anyone want to bet our PCs' lives on it?

[Marullus]

Osana has one sleep spell and one magic missile prepared. I'll have her do what the group decides.

The portcullis has a grid of flat bars; it will give partial cover (-2 AC) in either direction to anyone who isn't standing right up against it. (People right up against it don't get an AC bonus, but also don't suffer a bonus to shoot through it.)

The goblins are firing from more than 60' up the hallway from Baxtaw, who still cannot see them with his elven eyes.

[Zhym]

So the goblins are within range of a sleep spell?

If so, I think we should have Osuna drop as many as she can with the sleep spell. Then Lug will try to lift the portcullis while everyone else fires at any non-sleeping goblins to keep them from waking everyone up. Oh, and to kill them, if possible.