PM

Caves of chaos OOC is here...I'll leave my OOC comments in the other OOC as it's too late for Runt to un-see...

Ok, I know we are itching to move things along, but I need what your plan is.  Even if it is something as simple as "hide in the bushes and wait for Norla's gang to come through."

I realize some of the issue is the lack of a map, so I'll try and alleviate that now.  Below is the map of the valley, without some of the cave references, just because it's too painful to get everything in.



The base of the cliff for the high (Norla's) cave is at the far Southwest, the bandit's cave is at the far Northwest.  You are currently in the middle of the map, where the shrub is centered on the river.  Disregard the 'E' cave and the red lines... they don't exist.  The 'A' Cave is there, but hasn't been explored yet (it's the one Hamish tried to get you to go in).

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cave A is the cave where we think there are spiders.  Got it.

Is Norla's cave at the 'I2' on the map?

Is D2 the slaver cave we cleared?

Yes, some reference points would be awesome!  Thanks!

In addition to the aforementioned reference points, does anyone have Tactics or Strategy or Area Knowledge enough for us to get a reasonable idea of the most direct, easy foot route from Norla's cave to the direction she desires to go to vacate the caves?

It would seem the best thing to do is find a position with cover and higher ground and decent fields of fire and we position ourselves there and see what we can do to them with missile fire.

Depending on how much time we have, we could also set traps/booby traps, pitfalls, snares, etc. to soften them up.

We will definitely want to ask our prisoner how many bad guys Norla hangs with, whether they're all humans or whatever, and how many spellcasters there are and a decent idea as to arms and armor.

Rolf has Area Knowledge Craine and Area Knowledge Western Megalos.

He has Area Knowledge (SW Megalos) as well.

I'll try and get all the questions here as methodically as I can based on the fairly high level of area knowledge for this part of the map.


No, I2 is part of the original module that I'm not using, and it doesn't exist in this game.  Theoretically, that room is underground, which is why it is overlaid with the canyon.  Norla's cave is 60 feet off the canyon floor, at the far southwest corner of the map (no marker there, but it's the very edge).


I'm missing the D2... the D cave though is the first cave you went in, the one with the trapped hallway.


Unfortunately, most of the caves are higher up than the ground floor, which makes them not show up on the map without including various rooms you haven't explored yet, but I'll try my best to give you an idea of where everything else is I haven't mentioned.

The Cave with the Bugbears was on the southern wall of the canyon, about as far down the canyon as the I2 mark is.

The slaver cave (the one you cleared out and reinvestigated at the beginning of this thread) is at the very top left of the map (again, no marker, but the very northwest).


Unless I'm mistaken, Norla didn't mention where they were going.  There are a few potential places they could be headed.  Three Corners is the closest place by far, which is almost due south.  Raphael and Craine are the closest big cities, which are a week's travel north or north north east.  Bannock and Quazr as Sawh are the closest cities on the south side of the Megalan/Wazifi border, both of which are about a week and a half away, and are east north east and due east respectfully.  Caithness is to the west, though that part of the country is almost uninhabited, likewise, due south is only small towns and villages.


Definitely a possibility.  Terri has some skill with traps, though snares and trips seem more likely unless you plan on spending a lot of time (or mana?) digging a hole for a pit trap.


I'm happy to just answer this one out of character unless you want to parse his exact words IC.  Elkins will mention that everyone in that cave (that he saw anyway) seemed to be packing reasonable arms and armor.  It was 50/50 almost with just over half having some sort of leathers, and the rest having chain or scale.  Swords were fairly commonplace, with some having shields.  Elkins will note that he didn't really see any magic while he was there, though he'll emphasize again that he was only in the cave for less than an hour before he was sent out again (to clear out the bodies from the slaver cave) and then incarcerated.  He will say that he had at least seven or eight working with him, and he would guess a total of ten or twelve for the whole group.  In short, they are better armed and outfitted than the slaver cave you already tackled.

Standing by for more questions or IC additions.

I'm going to submit that I think part of what is going on here is that the players realize that the choice confronting them is going to have potential life or death outcomes... which makes everyone hesitant to make any choice right away, lest it be the wrong one.

I'm not trying to push you into doing anything right away, but just be aware that any decision you make will still probably be subject to dice rolls, so even the best plan (in the GM's opinion) could fail, and even the worst plan (in the GM's oppinion) could succeed.  What I do want to avoid though, is having the players stew for weeks, trying to come up with the perfect solution.

With the intent of keeping things focused, I thought I would summarize the options as I see you all have talked about them.

1.  Ambush Norla's group as they are descending the rope
2.  Ambush Norla's group as they are walking the canyon
3.  Scout the surrounding area/caves to look for better options
4.  Set traps along the canyon floor to pick off fighters
5.  Healing Elkins to take part in the action

What has been ruled out (as I see it) has been the following:

A.  Storming the cave

I'm actually aching to go fight. In fact, if Rolf and Gustav kept planning I was going to shoot one of them in the back with my crossbow just to spur them along! lol

I was thinking we should take option 3 and scout the area.  Look for other cave openings to make sure they don't leave via some exit that we aren't aware of.  Also, look for a place we might get to that's closer to their cave.  In hopes of being able to attack them while they transition down.  Though I would suggest if we do that don't attack too soon and let some of them descend down.  Divide and conquer.

Worst case if the plans above go awry we let them down to leave and track them to attack from behind.

Sound good?

I declare we immediately do what Rolf just suggested.

Fine with me...

If we are all in agreement, then scouting will be our next action.  Pending what happens with Elkins that is.  We still need to resolve what to do with him, which will be dependent if he is mobile with Lisa's healing or not.

Actually, I suppose I added that last one because it was a point of contention, Sajaa has made her intentions quite clear :D.  The word suicidal was bandied about for storming the cave though, so I figured it was worth putting down for further discussion.

Ok, I'll post in the in game thread here in a few minutes to let you know the outcome with Elkins but as  a quick summary, healing him doesn't un-break his leg.

As for the scouting, I'll endeavor to get a meatier post up tonight with the results.  Based on the short suggestion above I'm going to assume the following:

-2 groups

1st group scouting out the caves below and the valley (Rolf, Gustav)
2nd group scouting out places nearer Norla's cave (Lisa, Terri, Sajaa)

-Scouting for 30 minutes
-Leaving Elkins behind (tied up?)
-Leaving the horses behind (same location they've been)
-Prearranged meet up back at the horses

There may be more pertinent details that I haven't though of, but that should at least get me going.  If anyone feels strongly and wants to change any of the details above, let me know before tonight.

works!

(Sorry been a bit tied up lately)

Holy cow what a blast from the past!  I might just have to have Norla turn Terri's hair into a drumstick in nostalgic euphoria!  We've revolutionized this module!

This all sounds good.

Raddek, let me know when you want me and Gustav to post.  Till then I'll wait.

Sounds good.  I’ll probably end up posting again before I’m ready for you.

PM

Neither you nor Gustav recognize the voice offhand.  Also note that only you and Gustav are in this OOC thread now, so no need for the private.  Thanks for being careful about it though :D.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:10, Mon 14 Nov 2022.

Do the three girls know the two boys are 10' behind them?

Relocated here by GM