View source for Ice Lake Round 23 ~ Nearly Over

'''Continued From [[Ice Lake Round 22 ~ The End of a Long Fight]]'''

==Summary==

Lothar is hit and stunned. Rob and Mikael finish of the remaining two larvae. All but Engelhart gain a level. Embla begins scouting ahead.

==[https://juvenis-campaign.blogspot.com/2018/08/ice-lake-round-23-nearly-over.html Original Page]==

[https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_SX47B5hVd0aENArMTHZFf13gRLLj6H9h8Ft-fijWLf7oVmJ3tw-kMf8ASUYiqoCiahRizur3szKc7TUjI9izYVPokqv-Ehgr0BKb56C6hc1Jo_jFb_shnV4uTwiHnzHl1WergTkBZbc/s1600/The+Ice+Lake+Round+23.jpg After the larva's turn]

'''The DM:''' I have only one attack; it is still against Lothar.  I hit with a 13, causing 2 damage.  That will stun Lothar and leave him in 1923.

Following the party's move, they're both dead.  Here's the final experience:

[https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLcbxbtcWSazBvQUZQ7g4jR09avvXl0EdBbLcpdAD9cNNZq9r0YNZq8mB3RlqKQKOYcy30bmPw6NC5h1alMfCFJZduz5HH8WP3LVc99NBg_TLvJdxNIVHj-Halww4EwRRFuwW-i5nXKfM/s1600/Ice+Lake+X.P..jpg Total XP]

'''[[Mikael]]:''' I spend 2 AP and swing my Mithril Dart at 1925, my modified attack roll is 15 hitting AC 6 and dealing 3 damage.

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' Yes, of course. 48 more XP, though.

'''The DM:''' That destroys it, Mikael. It had 2 left.

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' Alright! Rob and Engelhart, finish that last one off!

'''The DM:''' Embla too. She can throw the axe in her hand.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' I close in (1525) and swing.

Roll a 9, though, so not enough to clinch it.

'''[[Rob]]:''' i move to 1626 and swing at 1526.

<poem>
attack : 16
dmg : 4
</poem>

'''The DM:''' That's it. You're done.

'''[[Mikael]]:''' Whew. Thank you all for protecting me.

I am now (easily) level 2, though our xp numbers were about 800 xp off from each other, so we should figure that out (I had me at 2026 xp prior to this fight)

'''[[Rob]]:''' Great. That was a horrendously tiring fight, and with nothing to show for it but wounds and enemy dust.

Mikael's the worst for wear, no?

'''The DM:''' I've posted the final experience on the post above.

'''The DM:''' I'll sort out my numbers and get back. I trust your numbers, I just failed to update when I gave out the magic items.

'''[[Mikael]]:''' I am at -1, but I also only lost 8 hp. You all were extremely effective

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' Woo! Level 4! I roll a 7 on a d8 for hit points.

'''[[Mikael]]:''' I rolled a 1 on my d4 for my new hitpoints. I have 8 hit points now!

'''The DM:''' Noted, Lothar. Be advised, level four unlocks your multiple attacks ability. As a 4th level, you attack 5 times per 4 rounds of attack.

In table games, we would play the ability this way. You would keep five d20s in a bowl or a cup. Each round, you draw out 1d20 and use it. When you are left with 2d20 in the cup, you attack twice that round.

You always start every new combat with a full cup; you don't count rounds where you're stunned and you don't swing, only rounds where you actually use an attack die.

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' Alright! I will come up with some kind of tracker for my character sheet.

'''The DM:''' Player characters are exempt from rolling 1s for hit points in my game, Mikael. You get an edge that way over the NPCs. Roll again.

"Nothing," Rob? Really? I think you're 2nd level.

This gives the druid a 2nd level spell, which you can choose from the spell tables. Your wisdom is only 14, so you get no bonus spells, I'm afraid. You roll a d8 for more hit points.

'''The DM:''' The mage gets a 1st level spell. For every new spell, you also get a random cantrip; you'll see a random number on the Mage spell acquisition page on the wiki, next to where it says how many cantrips you start with. I rolled a 67, so that gives you 1 more reversed cantrip.

'''The DM:''' Those rolling hit points, please add your NEW hit points to your present hit point total. For example, Lothar's 7 would be added to his present 3, which makes his present hit points 10.

Lothar, you also get a new weapon proficiency at 4th level.

Lothar's THACO improves 1, to 17. Rob's is still 20 and Mikael's is still 21.

I will update sage abilities before the next running.

Anything else? I'm pretty sure Embla also went up a level. Engelhart is close, I think, but not quite 5th. Correct me if I'm in error, the cleric got the most.

'''[[Rob]]:''' [ Ah! but that was in character ! Rob wouldn't know about his new level. The player on the other hand has gained many thrills during this fight ]

I rolled a 3 for hit points.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' I am solidly up into 5th level, Alexis.

I roll a 5 for hit-points. What else do I get?

'''[[Rob]]:''' [ well choosing a new spell is hard ... by the way, the links for lvl2 druid spells on the wiki-blog still point to the old wiki, so I cannot read them ]

'''[[Rob]]:''' [ also, should I roll for my sage abilities ]

'''[[Mikael]]:''' A change of heart...

<poem>
Rolled a d4: 4!
Reversed cantrip: Dirty
Additional Level 1 Spell: Shield
</poem>

August 1, 2018 at 3:24 PM
Alexis Smolensk said...
[I really don't get this "character" thing. It isn't that I don't understand the compelling qualities of a character, it's a choices thing.

[After a fight like that, most would be standing with hands on knees, exhausted, glad to be alive, expressing appreciation, wondering what the hell was that, etcetera ... not counting their treasure.

[And since the party is here to end an evil, the "nothing to show for it" is even more out of place. You've just sent 36 even creatures back to the bad place they've come from. Character-wise, that would be a more logical focus at this moment.

[The "nothing to show for it" doesn't sound like a "character," it sounds like someone treating it all as a game. Like at the end of the first scene from Saving Private Ryan, having one of the living soldiers saying, "And nothing to show for it."

[So, it isn't that I don't appreciate character-building and personalization, but it always seems that the choice of personalization deliberately ignores what actually just happened. As a character thing to say, it's ... weird. [Or at least not believable. Like the out-of-synch things characters are made to say in certain DC pictures.

[I suppose that's why I'd rather players just viewed the game as something that happened directly to them: because then it sounds real. "Nothing to show for it" sounds like a perfectly believable thing that a PLAYER would say. It sounds ... "made up" ... if we put it in a character's mouth.

[I hope that isn't insulting. It isn't meant to be. It's an issue I am having with game play I'm seeing everywhere online. I prefer genuine and authentic response to artificial character projection]

'''The DM:''' At 5th level, Engelhart gets a 3rd level spell, plus a bonus 3rd level spell for wisdom, for two spells. THACO stays the same, but you get a new weapon proficiency.

You get a new sage study inside your present sage field. Engelhart's field is Legends & Folklore, so you'll get one of the three studies inside that field other than Beasts. Your pick.

And, when you get out of the dungeon, you're entitled to a henchman.

[I just want to say, I think the Senex Campaign played for something like four to five years before anyone got a henchman]

'''The DM:''' Rob, you'll find all the 2nd level druid spells listed here:

https://wiki.alexissmolensk.com/index.php/Druid_2nd_Level_Spells

Please send me the url for those links that weren't working, so I can fix them. All my links worked.

'''The DM:''' Oh, I found them. I'll have them fixed very soon.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' Right now I'm steamrolled from work but I'll look into all this, definitely, in time for the next running.

As for now, we're definitely clutching our knees and counting breaths (and no telling if a whole 'nother conga line of 36 may be just around the corner!), so we must head back and gird ourselves for a couple of days on the mend with our Svirf friends. If they have healing on hand, it'll be a day or two at most, if not, mine own efforts can still patch aplenty.

'''The DM:''' They should all work now.

'''[[Mikael]]:''' [As far as I can tell, the Senex Campaign had about one combat every 4-5 months, so that makes sense]

I need to catch my breath. The level up took me out of negatives, but that was stressful. I'll want to collect my darts before we press on, but I am not rushing to do so.

What were those? Does anyone know?

'''The DM:''' Dirty cantrip and shield spell, got it.

'''The DM:''' Engelhart, that's your choice, but when Lothar was having tactics and strategy explained to him as a very young man, they beat into his head the notion that getting into a fight tells the enemy that you were there; how well you did in the fight tells the enemy how strong you are; and backing out to regroup gives the enemy time to get ready for you.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' I can't say I'm really convinced... not with these hit-point totals to show for. As usual, we're up for voting.

Is there any moral impediment to picking up "Animate Dead"? You called these slug-men humanoids earlier, so that would make them eligible to be raised and added to our ranks as footsoldiers.

That would be kind of devilish, us getting there, riding their own wave of mooks into battle. *grin*

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' [Ack, forget about it, I just figured that I'm not actually at level 5, I had erroneously counted up to 12,001 xp and it's actually 13k!]

'''[[Mikael]]:''' I think their bodies vanished anyway.

I am loathe to retreat at this point. We are all beat up, but I would imagine the enemy is as well.

'''The DM:''' [Good, Engelhart; I couldn't figure it myself]

I feel it's probable that Engelhart would have some notion that the "vanishing" was the prime material corporeal presence of the creature being banished back to its plane of origin. Which would mean the creatures here in the prime material won't see them again, and know that they're gone.

Plus ... I feel compelled, despite being a DM, to point out that you have one assassin and one scout in the party. Reconnaissance much, before you make up your mind?

'''[[Mikael]]:''' I always remind my players to recon situations, and now here I am not suggesting we do the same

'''[[Embla Strand|Embla]]:''' My apologies for the late post - I was AFK for almost all of today.

Embla does gain a level and is now level 4. She rolls a 2 on a d8 for hit points, gaining 6 more (and has 8hp currently).

Recon sounds like an excellent plan. That might have been the bulk of their forces, and pressing our advantage while we have it seems like a good idea.

'''[[Rob]]:''' [ So, if I followed correctly you've landed a new job (congratulations!). Do you know yet how this will affect the game schedule? I'm asking so I can re-schedule my other games. ]

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' [I'm here, are we playing today?]

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' [...and I saw the new post. Feel free to ignore me]

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' Just here to wave the flag.

Since I didn't actually make level, I guess I'll wait for you all to take stock.

My vote was for a pondered withdrawal, some of you guys wanted to scout ahead.

'''[[Embla Strand|Embla]]:''' While I'm definitely not fully hale, I still want to sneak ahead.

I sneak forward 100 yards in the direction from whence these creatures came.

'''[[Engelhart Askjellson|Engelhart]]:''' I cast Aid on Embla before she parts.

2d6 comes up 4 so that's 12 more hp on you.

'''The DM:''' So, small details that will need to be caught up ... I think I was supposed to upgrade my xp table for one, but we can leave that.

The AID spell is one of those that requires the recipient to be the same religion as the caster. Is Embla of Engelhart's religion? I cannot actually remember.

Embla, a hundred yards does not reveal much. The lake is a mile across and your visibility was no more than 80 feet when the creatures came shuffling into view. That said, you see no humps moving towards you, only the bare ice. The visibility perhaps improves a bit, letting you see fifty yards in front of you. That is not enough to reveal the far edge.

'''[[Embla Strand|Embla]]:''' Yes, Embla is of Lothar's religion.

I press on further, another 500 yards.

'''[[Lothar Svensson|Lothar]]:''' Englehart, may I get a Cure spell? I'd like to back up Embla, but 10 HP is a bit low.

'''The DM:''' The next post is up.

Continued on '''[[The Lake's Edge]]''' after a delay due to '''[[Stars in Retrograde]]'''