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Idriss Silverleaf

"Well I am quite dextrous and on the skinny side for my height. I have seen acrobats and cave bats hang upside down so I will give it a try to wriggle through."

Idriss changes into his stage plimsolls for better nimble grip than boots and tie his ankle to a rope. Foxy or the horse could let him down slow or yank him up fast. No quarterstaff, too bulky so daggers and a kit bag trailing behind. Tie a lantern to the rope also to shine a few feet between the cracks ahead or below as I descend.

How high do we estimate the place we are above the rocks to the cavern floor?

Foxy O'Hare

"Well neither of us have bulky armour so that is a boon. Take this small hammer and spikes, further down you might have to nail a piton into the cave roof and shinned down a rope to the floor."

The rope is 50ft long and has a grapnel tied on the end. I also have a thinner 'lasso' riding rope of 30ft. Foxy ties one end to Bluebells saddle and lowers Idriss the mole into the hole.

Idriss shimmies into the shaft, bracing himself to prevent sliding down the steep incline. He wiggles downward 80' to the limit of both ropes, but the shaft continues further.

(Also, are you feet or face first?)

Idriss SilverMole

Like Batman, hands and head first he scrabbles as far as he can. Dagger bit between his teeth. How far does he estimate the route left? ( He does a bit of maths, triangulating the height of the hill to the cavern floor and crawling at a rough 30' degree angle, plus a few twists and turns...).

Idriss has two skipping ropes in his inventory. 10ft each, he will use the hammer and spikes Foxy gave him to knock one into the wall and drape it further down with the lantern to weight it. What can he see? If the lantern shines into a tunnel that opens up, Idriss can drop one of his cudgels, a bit like a rolling pin to estimate the tunnel depth.

Anything fanged and furry looking up and Idriss will yank the rope and get Foxy to pull him out.

You hang the lantern another 20' down the shaft. It illuminates the slick walls, revealing they end another 20' beyond that, opening up into a cavern. You drop your pin and listen to it fall - you'd guess the shaft is 10-20 feet off the floor of the cavern.

Idriss the bat

Will signal to Foxy to pull him up slowly in reverse. I think the thing to do is hammer a rope into the vent shaft about half way down, pinning it to the chimney walls in a couple of locations and let it drop to just above the cavern floor. We then scramble down the shaft from the top like Santa down the chimney feet first, and then follow the rope the last way, using foot loops to secure a way to climb down.

Is that what you do?

Also, I hand-wave the cosmetic RP items (lingerie, plimsoles, costume accessories) but if you're using them for adventure utility, please account for them on your sheet. Each 10' jump rope is 2gp, 1lb. A 30' lasso is 6sp and 6lbs.

Yes, they are already on my sheet, I took the price of a '50ft silk rope' off my coinage and just made it more theatrical by cutting g it down and naming it skipping ropes on my inventory.

The combined rope length is not enough so yeah we have to either crawl a bit first or jump down to the cavern. At least the first option offers us a way to climb back up.

If Foxy is for it lets give it a go, just keep checking ahead for scything blades, poison darts, rabid bars and undead...nothing to worry about really!?

Foxy O'Hare

Okay before we become tunnel rats I want to secure Bluebelle somewhere. I asked about maybe convincing the shepherd to herd their stock above the cave so they could watch over the horse.

Squeezing her lithe frame and fat ass into the chimney vent, Foxy follows the feet first, dragging her stuff behind.

Hopefully the goblin shaft opens up a little. If we can make it to the cavern floor without incident, we need to be quiet and stealthy. Still at least a few rats about.

Stirling wrote: I asked about maybe convincing the shepherd to herd their stock above the cave so they could watch over the horse.

CHA check (9) for convincing the herdsmen [3d6+1] = 11+1 = 12
The herdsmen were tempted at the promise of coin, but balked. They don't like having their flocks too near the goblin caves.
You can hobble Bluebelle and she'll graze until you return, barring any encounters.

Idriss climbs halfway down the 120' shaft, sinking a piton and re-tying the rope to it. Face first with the lantern before him, he slides out of the chimney chute and views the cavern below. Another natural limestone cavern, this one is dryer and with few protruding natural features. The domed ceiling is about 30' high, arcing just above his head as the chute is about 15' off the floor. As marked on the map, it appears to be the goblin's larder. Eye-rings and dangling chains hang from the ceiling all the way to the floor level all along the far side of the 50' wide chamber, dimly-touched by the lantern-light, but clearly showing the outline of hanging flayed corpses, bits rotted and fallen to the ground below. Within the lantern's circle you see mounds of dead goblins, piled and left presumably by the Guardsmen, many showing signs of having been distinctly chewed upon in the time since.

There is no sign of rats, lizards, or anything moving, however. Idriss sees no reason for worry and needs to make room for Foxy to emerge, so lowers to the ground. Foxy slides out feet-first, lowering herself into the cave before getting her first vantage for viewing, and smelling, the horrid items. Dangling from the rope about 10' off the ground, Foxy notices what Idriss did not - some of the bodies in the goblin piles definitely just moved.

Rolls:

Foxy O'Hare

Thrown dagger attack [1d20+2] = 14+2 = 16 damage [1d4] = 2

Dangling from the rope above the floor, she spies the movement. What is it, hands, feet, bloodied limb? "Just our luck to arrive in the abattoir." Maybe more acutely aware of creatures slewed of flesh and animate in death after the experience of the dread mages, Foxy will throw a dagger at the nearest moving body and call Idriss to notice what is happening. "Idriss, these dead corpses are not that dead, beware."

How many can we see?

Idriss

So 'flayed carcass's ' are goblin bodies not animal remains. Can Idriss act or was it just Foxy as Idriss didn't notice the bodies moving. If Idriss can have Adsense of how many foes and what sort of creature he faces it will determine his action.

Quick nimble ghouls are going to out match us so I have a different action than if they were goblins hiding or skeletons.

Spearmint wrote:So 'flayed carcass's ' are goblin bodies not animal remains.

Not quite:
"Eye-rings and dangling chains hang from the ceiling all the way to the floor level all along the far side of the 50' wide chamber, dimly-touched by the lantern-light, but clearly showing the outline of hanging flayed corpses, bits rotted and fallen to the ground below. Within the lantern's circle you see mounds of dead goblins, piled and left presumably by the Guardsmen, many showing signs of having been distinctly chewed upon in the time since."
To clarify: The flayed corpses hanging from the chains are rats, lizards, and sheep predominantly, though there is an odd goblin. These are presumably the goblin's larder, hung above the reach of vermin and in the cool of the cave, they are better-preserved than you'd otherwise assume as more-than-a-year old. The goblin bodies are dumped in mounds, still clothed and whole, not flayed, and nibbled by rats along the edges of each pile where it is easiest to reach. They are bloated and rotted, smelling as awful as you'd expect after at least a year.

Spearmint wrote:Can Idriss act or was it just Foxy as Idriss didn't notice the bodies moving. If Idriss can have Adsense of how many foes and what sort of creature he faces it will determine his action. Quick nimble ghouls are going to out match us so I have a different action than if they were goblins hiding or skeletons.

Idriss may act or wait, but it is a snap decision based on what is currently revealed. Idriss knows that Foxy threw a dagger into the bloated body of a goblin in the pile and said "they're not quite dead." That's what you're reacting to, or you can wait to learn more.

thank you, I do appreciate the time you go to to make such vivid descriptions.

Okay, a snap decision but I will roleplay without the meta gaming or advance knowledge.

Idriss hears Foxy's warning and dodges the blade as it zips past to a target in the body pile. Seeing the mass if stripped bloody bodies and 'a pile of bodies moving', Idriss' first thoughts are they may be ghoulish creatures about. Much more nimble, much more fast and much more deadly than zombified corpses. One touch and he could be next on the al la carte menu. I don't think running and climbing is going to be an answer to things chasing us do my first thought is what I will go with..
...Idriss has a performers face mask. It gives the appearance of a creature whose language he speaks. Idriss can control the firm in a limited way. He appears to be a goblin, a rather decayed flesh morbid green goblin and Idriss will ' make like a ghoul or undead' and move away, hunched, lurching, limping, from the pile towards the stairs on the other side.

He hopes any stench aroma enhanced by the mask will cause the undead not to see him as a meal...

maybe this performance is helped by his low charisma for a change!

Foxy throws her knife, which impacts the soggy corpse-flesh with a splorping noise, eliciting a low inarticulate moan from within the pile. She calls out a warning to Idriss, who is on the ground with them, while she hangs on the rope above, almost out of reach.

She sees Idriss the entertainer respond to the imminent threat by pulling a face mask from his belongings.

Slipping it on, he transforms, shrinking slightly and growing more putrescent and ugly, until he resembles a very large, mostly rotting, goblin zombie.

The piles shift, rotting flesh gapping and separating from bone as corpses slough apart, making room for those that emerge. Five of the dead goblins crawl from the piles, their bodies also showing signs of rot, their movements slow and jerky. They hiss unintelligibly, shuffling towards where Foxy hangs on the rope.

Foxy O'Hare

Having thrown a dagger at a body, Foxy will try to get a secure stance on the rock face, may be sitting or kneeling at the chimney edge. Unslinging her bow she will fire at the nearest zombie.
Foxy: Shortbow short range: [1d20+3] = 7+3 = 10 arrow damage: [1d6] = 2

"Come and shuffle in line sweeties'", she says to the walking dead. "Idriss, if I can keep them occupied, you could scout around the room, going 'uurrghh' in goblin if you need. Checkout the staircase and beware of traps."

Foxy shifts on the rope, sticking her derriere back into the small chimney shaft, bracing with her downward-swinging feet as Idriss executes his transformation of appearance and the zombies shuffle forward. She pulls out her shortbow and loads and fires a shot from her sitting position (something a longbow would have been unable to do). The arrow clatters past the oncoming zombies as she taunts them, secure in her perch.

One of the goblin zombies catches his foot on a chain, which is hooked to the winches and eye hooks. As his foot tugs it, a winch catch releases - a pair of sheep carcasses plummet to the floor with a thud and the other end of the chain abruptly yanks the zombie backwards, its rotten flesh parting as its leg flies up to the winch and the rest of its body twitches on the floor a few times before becoming still.

The other four zombies arrive at the wall and begin jumping to grab at Foxy's feet as she tries to dodge them and load another arrow. First one, then a second, succeed, grabbing hold of her ankles and pulling hard on her legs. She slips forward involuntarily, falling to the floor below, now surrounded under the mass of undead. (-9hp total)

Date: 22 May 2021, 11:01am
Light: Idriss's lantern (until 2:30pm)
Injuries: Foxy (seriously injured)

Rolls:

Wow that's a lot from shuffling zombies, I thought the goblins would still be 3 feet tall and Foxy was 10 feet up.

Idriss will blow his cover and Magic Missile the zombie nearest Foxy. Taking off his mask so he could use it again for the remains duration of effect, he points at a grasping goblin zombie.

Magic missile damage [1d6+1] = 1+1 = 2

oh, your narrative writes one zombie got hung and quartered so four remain. You rolled five attacks though. Foxy might need every bit of help

Spearmint wrote:Wow that's a lot from shuffling zombies, I thought the goblins would still be 3 feet tall and Foxy was 10 feet up.

Zombies always seem nonthreatening until you fall into a group of them. I put notes under the "rolls" to this effect, though. I gave her a -2 AC bonus for her height (she had a 75% chance of being missed). I also lowered the damage from 1d8 to 1d6 and didn't apply the normal falling damage as well. It was bad dice that two hit her and did on the upper end of their damage.

Spearmint wrote:oh, your narrative writes one zombie got hung and quartered so four remain. You rolled five attacks though. Foxy might need every bit of help

The one who got hung was because he rolled a 1 on his attack roll and did max damage to himself, which was enough to kill him. I went with a creative method of him doing so. (So, it was accounted for.)

Spearmint wrote:Taking off his mask so he could use it again for the remains duration of effect,...

Best to clarify expectations here. You can use your mask 1/week (or 1/expedition if shorter than a week) and the magic lasts one turn (10 rounds or minutes). You can't use it one minute, then save it to use for more minutes on another occasion. You can put it on for further use during the current 10 minute period, but that's it for now.

Yes, I wrote that 'offensive actions' dispel the illusion (like it dispels invisibility) and it is a once per expedition or week item presently. Didn't have time to amend the post. Was hoping I could zombie my way around the periphery but needs must with Foxy being grabbed. If he has done a defensive spell or action the mummery mask could still be enabled. One could argue that pouring a flask of oil to light it has the intention of offensive attack also.