...
Two minutes pass.
...
No goblins.
...
Two more minutes.
...
Nothing.
...
Then the sound of a door opening.
And slamming once more.
More glass clinking.
Then grumbling voices, that by their tone, sound half annoyed, half expectant (OOC: Oloc alone can make out statements to the effect of "This had better be good, Dirtbag!")
You hear the trapdoor close with a bang.
The charmed goblin leads the way, followed by five of his companions out of the building ruins. All five are armed with bows and a variety of one-handed melee weapons. They step into the area you intended as a kill zone, and one of the goblins seems to interrogate "Dirtbag" on the other sentry's absence, but as he does so, Varros' and Duran's first arrows are already in flight.
Unfortunately, the twang of the bows is enough for the goblins to react. Duran's first shot catches only the tunic of the first goblin targeted, and then all the goblins dodge, duck, roll, and flop themselves on the ground and all the arrows miss their targets. "Dirtbag" however, has remained standing, perfectly still, through it all.
The goblins, a bit confused, look from your positions to "Dirtbag" and back again. Suddenly understanding, and growling with rage, they quickly get to their feet.
********************
OOC: Actions?
Combat
Surprise Round (ambush, surprise on 1-5; d6 = 3)
Duran: d20 = 10 + 2 (short) = 12 (miss); 6 + 2 (short) = 8 (miss)
Varros: d20 = 8 + 2 (short) = 10 (miss); 3 + 2 (short) = 5 (miss)
Sorry, guys. The dice were definitely unkind there. I'll switch to my translucent blues for you on the next round. :)
Also, just so you have a rough sense of how I handle situations like the ruse where the outcome is not certain, I set probabilities that the plan would succeed beautifully, succeed/fail partially, or fail badly (modified by things you did, like re-equipping the charmed goblin, and Oloc's story, both of which modified the die roll in your favor). I rolled a die, which determined the outcome (success, the ruse worked). Then I set a range of how many goblins your charmed fellow would succeed in bringing out, based on your revised intent to draw out five, and the possibility that your charmed inside man would get that exact number, or fewer, or more. Again I rolled the die, and bingo – five exactly. To determine how many brought their bows, I set a range from zero to five. And again rolled five exactly.
Sometimes, like your initial ambush of the two sentries, the plan is solid and there are few variables, so I'll simply rule that it succeeds. Other times, if there are "dicey" factors (substantial elements beyond your control), I'll use the dice. When I use the dice, there will always be a chance of success, of failure, and (if applicable) of something in between.
OOC: If there is time to use the bow again before the goblins can close Varros will shoot. If not he will ready his sword and attack. Varros main goal will be to block any retreat to the trapdoor by the goblins. Varros will also give his 2 concealed daggers to Olec so he can utilize them time permitting.
ReplyDeleteooc: Thanks for the insight - your methodology seems completely sound to me! Oloc will do all he can to avoid melee. He will throw his daggers at the first opportunity and if there is time to take Varros' daggers he will do that. Otherwise he is prepared to 'high-tail it' around the house should the gobs head his way.
ReplyDeleteI think the easiest way to handle the dagger hand-off is to say that Varros passed them to Oloc just before the ambush began, anticipating that he might need them. So we'll go forward with Oloc already having them in his possession.
ReplyDeleteSince White Box doesn't give missile info on daggers, my plan is to treat them as equivalent to throwing axes for range (10 feet = short with +2, 20 feet = medium with +1 and 30 feet = long with +0). For ROF, we'll give them 2 per round (I'm basing this on the old DMG and just thinking the ROF of 2 per round with a dagger seems reasonable to me).
ReplyDeleteCurrently your range is about 20' to goblin #5, so you'd get the +1 for medium range (if the party wins the initiative and you throw before the goblins close).
Duran - Fighter
ReplyDeleteCursing his bad aim Duran continues to fire at the closest goblin. Yelling over his shoulder to Stan and Gaven he says "One of you go around and block off the trap door while the others stands with me. If you move in to attack the goblins make sure to attack the ones on the edges so I still fire into the middle without hitting you."
OOC: Duran will keeping firing at the goblins starting with the closest. When the others engage in combat with the goblins he will aim for the goblins not in hand to hand combat or farthest from his friends.
Gaven - cleric
ReplyDelete"Light, what bad luck! Stan, quickly, put stones on top of the trapdoor to keep the other goblins from getting up here!"
Ooc: Gaven will aid Stan if need be. If not, Gaven will enter the "doorway" that the goblins went through to enter the "kill zone" to block their passage to the trapdoor. He will throw the spear at a goblin if he has a chance and then ready his club.