[DnD] Let's Cast Magic Missile!

:'(

We can always just abandon this quest and wreak Mr. Pangalin's carefully-orchestrated encounter! The one with cannons firing from every direction. I mean, the reward is what, 500 GP?

____________

Pang, I'd like to confirm something about range.

What is the maximum range the longbow can reach? Is it 20 squares or 40 squares?
Second, how many squares ahead can my character see? And how does it compare with duergar vision?
Third, if my character can't see an enemy, but thinks that an enemy is lurking in the shadows 20 squares away, can he shoot at the suspected square without a penalty to hit?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

20 squares is about as far as you can shoot and still be decently accurate. You can shoot up to 40 if you want, but your accuracy will take a major hit because of it. Generally a last ditch sort of thing, although it might come into play if Pang starts shooting at you guys from far enough away.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Colonel Skills

[Unsleeping Watcher] implies I will take all the watches.

Well it seems obvious if you put it that way yeah

Originally Posted by Zergrinch

Pang, I'd like to confirm something about range.

Bow range: what he said ^

Vision distance: this isn't really covered by the rules much. For distances more than 50 squares or so to even be plausible we'd have to be operating on a much larger scale than your typical dungeon. For the most part you can assume that if you have line-of-sight to something you can see it. Duergar have the same visual range as any other humanoid, but they see better in the dark.

If you know where an enemy is but can't see him, he has total concealment, which imposes a -5 to hit.

Cannons, psh. We already established there's no sulfur in the area to make powder with.

PS here's your up-to-date map

There's nowhere I can't reach.

No technological artillery? Great. Now if only you can promise you won't pit us against biological artillery similar to Starship Trooper plasma bugs... or dragons of sorts

Additional Edit:

I'm trying to get a sense on the general layout of the dungeon. Reconnaissance, if you will.

This

is a splicing of the maps you've provided. Are the placements correct, and is the arrow correct? I would also like to know whether the party came from the location I labeled as A, or from B, as these seem to be the only exits.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Hay Pang, I am fishing for information!

My character did not notice which direction the crossbow bolts came from. But, did he:
a. Hear how many hit the door?
b. Notice whether they came from one direction, or from multiple vantage points?

I know he was all surprised and stressed but he's a ranged specialist and might pay a greater degree of attention to little details like that. [Insert further rationalization here to pursuade Pang.]

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

About half a dozen, all incoming on roughly the same trajectory.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Okiedoke. Thanks!

---------

Alright then, Pang's got anywhere from three to six crossbows keeping watch on the northeast bridge. He was rather coy on keeping the direction secret, I'm willing to bet that these same crossbows are also watching the northern bridge. Most likely one of the doors have the arrow slits Pang described earlier.

I seriously doubt there is any way for the party to negotiate their way out of this one. We'll probably have to take some hits before the battle even begins. And we're not sure how many enemies there are this time. The last encounter had five, but three escaped, so we could be facing eight enemies at minimum.

If we decide to proceed with this quest, I think we basically have two alternative courses of action:

Storm the Castle
This proposal is to use Tables as mobile shields, and just do a double-move towards any of the doors. At least we'll have +2 to hit due to cover. If I'm reading the rules correctly, running triggers opportunity attacks only from melee, and not ranged attackers.

We can also crawl at half speed, since targeting a prone opponent gives a -2 penalty to attack rolls. I'm not sure if these penalties stack. I also doubt Pang will let us crawl while slowly pushing tables without some kind of skill check, because the thought of five sweaty adventurers squirming like worms, while pushing a table above them, is rather ridiculous.

We will have to decide which bridge to storm. To do that I think we need to find out where the bolts are coming from (maybe Acer can have better luck with perception, and he can maybe use Skittering Sneak to scout), and then assault the other bridge. Alternatively, Glock can also repeat the stunt he pulled earlier to guage for quantity and direction.

Trickery
Instead of having to go to them, have them come to us. This would entail Cal shapeshifting into one of the kitchen thralls, don the disguise, and try to persuade the duergar that the party is sleeping in the kitchen after eating Rundarr for lunch. And so now would be a good time to attack them, since they'll be caught unawares.

Given the state of high alert, I am not very sure of success. For one, Pang might not even allow the Bluff check. For another, he may not agree to send over the duergar to our fort where we can ambush them, since he's supposedly punishing us for taking an extended rest.

Thoughts?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

A testudo formation would probably serve us better than pushing cover, I think we all have shields, and any gaps can be filled by using the tables, like you said.

How ya doing, buddy?

Surely the fort you're in has some windows facing the bridges? Why not just have someone peek through the windows to look where the arrows come from while someone else opens the door with a long stick or something? Either that or make models of yourselves and put them in the windows and let the bad guys shoot arrows at them until they run out of ammo.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Hmmm... good question.

Pang, are there any windows facing the bridges from any of the two forts?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

No Many, many windows. It's all underground, what's to look at other than more rocks?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Pangalin

No windows. It's all underground, what's to look at other than more rocks?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

That is an excellent point which I, um

The thing about that is



I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I love how this gets more and more like Darths & Droids or DM of the Rings every day.

How ya doing, buddy?

It's not my fault WoTC's art department never actually read the module

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Also not your fault Skills is all Rainman about these things.

FELIPE NO

Post 3246 and 3247 were so damn amusing, I spent like 2 minutes laughing.

Skills, you owe me a new monitor.

I'm so glad Pang decided to just add windows instead of saying they were painted on like a wall mural for aesthetics.

_______

Psst Pang, now that the book is irretrievable, what WAS it?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

It WAS a ritual book of Undead Servitor.

How ya doing, buddy?

Huh, I guess it really WAS a foul book. That teaches you to make zombie butlers and stuffs.

Glock was right all along. Who knew?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Aw, but I guess subservient zombies aren't as fun as wild zombies for Gordok.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

If you chumps haven't done something other than stand around idly strategizing by tomorrow it's Beholder Comes Out Of Fucking Nowhere time

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I did something! =D

I was speaking idiomatically.

=O

I'm doing something! I'm doing something! It's the rest of these guys who're just standing around throwing/doing things at windows that don't face the bridge

No evil floating demonic eyes in Final Fantasy please, oh wise, kind, gentle, and MERCIFUL DM!

----------------------

Also, in another retcon, I totally just picked up Delic's light shield and the other provisions mentioned prior, because I recalculated the encumbrance and the overall weight seemed to have been overstated by 18 pounds

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Beholders aren't from Final Fantasy.

To be honest, I'm waiting for Zerg to do something, he seems to have at least half an idea of what he wants to do, I'm just waiting for him to fully realize it.

FELIPE NO

I did lay down what I wanted to do in this post. Just waiting for the rest of you to either agree with it or propose some other course of action

Anyway, if that's what you folks are waiting for, here is my plan:

1. Find out where the bolts are coming from. Already doing this.
2. Blind them with Garrmondo's firebombs in conjunction with Gordok's pyrotechnics.
3. Turtle up and run past the bridge farthest away from the archers. Actually, if Pang agrees to give us superior cover due to table + shield, just chaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge.
4. Epic battle. I'd like to make sure that (1) no duergar escapes and (2) at least 1 duergar is left alive for me to harvest beard quills from us to interrogate.

Oh, and a question for readied actions, for the experienced players. How long is a readied action effective? For example, if I ready an action to shoot at anyone who tries to retreat, will it trigger seven rounds later?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?