GAL: Quest 1 (Completed)

[GathersIngredients]

► Show Spoiler

@ Quarg: No, please don't take the torch. You'll most likely need both hands to use bow & arrow. Just USE the torch, if you want to try and light the arrows before letting them loose.

@ Wears: I dunno about a 'back up plan'. Originally I hoped that the spider would walk upside down on the bridge, when lured with the rat corpse. Then, if turning off the bridge didn't make it fall into the acid, we would only have lost a rat corpse, and could have tried the other option, namely to poke the spider with the spear so it will stay still and shoot it with bow and arrow.
Now we have the chests to make sure that the spider gets thrown into the acid vat, even if it walks on the walls rather than on the bridge. Additionally we all stand ready to fight it with conventional methods (spear, pointy stick and bow & arrow), in case it gets aggressive after being hit by some chests.
What else can we do?
Also, if the bridge is turned off, you don't need to fit the spear through the holes, because there will be one big hole where the bridge used to be, right?

And I don't know why you keep on going on about some rope. We don't have any rope. And the gnomes basically just told us that they could make us something for flaming arrows, but that would be the only thing they could give us.

@SGTdude: I think you said something about what we want to achieve before we leave the dungeon again, after/if we successfully deal with the spider, the underwear crisis and the beer shortage. This is an excellent idea and I'm sorry for missing/ignoring it earlier.
I would be thrilled if we could loot all the chests. But I'm not sure if Walks would survive much more fighting.
Also, I'd like to rescue the gnome from the web (I already mentioned that, though).
If we can take one (or more) of the indestructible chests with us, that would be super cool, too! Maybe the tiny one under the web, at least? If we manage to kill the spider somehow.
Oh, and I edited my action post, so that Walks shouts to Odd when to trigger the bridge. But I'm not sure if she actually can do it, because of what else she's already doing that turn. Maybe you could condition your button pressing action similar to my shouting condition, to make sure the bridge gets triggered, if the spider is in a good position for that, no matter if Odd gets a command, or not?

@ the gesture: And here I was thinking that it was Odd hovering his finger over the button, so eager to press it and just waiting for the opportune moment. But it made me chuckle, anyways, and SGT's interpretation is even more hilarious! Especially in combination with the facial expression of Rork and William.

[WearsHats]

@ Quarg: No, please don't take the torch. You'll most likely need both hands to use bow & arrow. Just USE the torch, if you want to try and light the arrows before letting them loose.

The usual proceedure is to have a second person hold the torch for you. Then you fire the arrows through the, well, fire. And they ignite on the way through, rather than igniting your bow or any loose clothing you may have.

@ Wears: I dunno about a 'back up plan'. Originally I hoped that the spider would walk upside down on the bridge, when lured with the rat corpse. Then, if turning off the bridge didn't make it fall into the acid, we would only have lost a rat corpse, and could have tried the other option, namely to poke the spider with the spear so it will stay still and shoot it with bow and arrow.
Now we have the chests to make sure that the spider gets thrown into the acid vat, even if it walks on the walls rather than on the bridge. Additionally we all stand ready to fight it with conventional methods (spear, pointy stick and bow & arrow), in case it gets aggressive after being hit by some chests.
What else can we do?

The question is whether the rat corpse will actually lure the spider out. We know poking the web with the spear will get it to come where the spear touches the web, but we also know that the spider, even if interested in prey, prefers to web it remotely and pull it in. So there's a chance the rat corpse won't do the trick. Hence the need for a backup plan.

Also, if the bridge is turned off, you don't need to fit the spear through the holes, because there will be one big hole where the bridge used to be, right?

I was suggesting that I poke the spear through the bridge to get the spider's attention if the rat corpse failed to do the trick. We'd want the bridge on at that point, so we could turn it off and try to hit the spider with the chests.

And I don't know why you keep on going on about some rope. We don't have any rope. And the gnomes basically just told us that they could make us something for flaming arrows, but that would be the only thing they could give us.

The gnomes told us (several turns ago) they have spare cloth to make one thing of our choosing. Rope or a net or something of the kind. (Perhaps even a glider if we wanted to try that plan.) I was hoping we could also get a few scraps to use for fire arrows (it really shouldn't take much), but apparently not. One thing means one thing. So we have a choice. If we'd agreed on the rope back when I first mentioned it, we could have it by now and could use it to try to tie the chests together. That would make it easier to use them as a bridge if they float. Or to give us a way to retrieve them if we want to keep one. (Quarg also wants to try to use a chest full of acid to melt the skeletons. So, again, we'd need a way to retrieve a chest safely. And to haul it up a ladder.) Or maybe we could just tie the rope to the torch mounts and thus keep the chests from falling all the way into the acid. But no one seems to be going for that plan. You're the first to so much as acknowledge that I've mentioned it.

[thinkslogically]

And I don't know why you keep on going on about some rope. We don't have any rope. And the gnomes basically just told us that they could make us something for flaming arrows, but that would be the only thing they could give us.

That was me being unclear. You can have anything from the gnomes that they can fabricate, but you can only have one thing from them. So:

If you want a rope, they can make you a rope but that's all you can have.
If you want flaming arrow things, you can have them, but that's all.
If you want a shirt, you can have one, but that's all.

It's worth bearing in mind that gnome-made things are likely to be rather higher quality than you might find elsewhere.

...Ninja'd...

[GathersIngredients]

► Show Spoiler

Ah, now I understand what you meant about the spear. Sorry, I didn't get the picture before. I thought you wanted (while standing on the bridge yourself) to poke through the holes at the spider to throw it into the acid, while it's walking upside down on the bridge or something. Which, while possible, would have collided with the idea of turning the bridge off to make the chests topple onto the spider.

And I'm sorry, but I wasn't aware that you were waiting for an 'okay' from any of us before you would get the rope. If you want the rope, and you're the one negotiating with the gnomes AND no players protests and says you should get something else, instead, then I suppose just go for it. I didn't wait for anyone's okay with the trade rat corpse for spear (borrowed!), either.
Don't get me wrong sometimes coming to a consensus is MUCH preferable to everyone doing their own thing (and very much necessary when wanting to do a massive co-operative plan like we are doing now), but OTOH, sometimes waiting for your co-players to agree on EVERYTHING you want to do is contra-productive, because you get nothing done at all.
That doesn't mean don't offer your ideas before doing them. Just that 'Qui tacet, consentire videtur' is - in my personal opinion - a valid approach. Meaning if you suggest something and no one protests against it the next turn, I (again, this is ME) would deem it safe to proceed with that action, because the others either think (secretly without telling me so) it's a good idea, or at least not that it's a bad idea and I should be doing something else, or they just don't care either way. (...Or they think it's a bad idea, but they really want to see my char do it, anyways, possibly to fail and/or get horribly mutilated. ), would most likely just do it. Unless I have a better idea, or want to do something else because of short attention span and/or new developments.


And while the idea with the rope and the chests could work, I'm not sure if the rope just wouldn't dissolve, and we would have gained nothing at all. If you WANT to try it, though, say so. I can hold of having Walks try to lure the spider until you got the rope and tied it to your hearts content to the chests or whatever.

[WearsHats]

In part, it was that I was upstairs, and thus could not speak to the gnomes. In part, it's that they will only make us one thing, so I didn't want to just jump ahead and claim it without discussion. In part, I'm wondering if it's a good plan (or if there's something we need more).

I was hoping to sort this out three turns ago, so the gnomes would have time to make it and we could get things into place. Now, to put it into effect, I'd have to hold up the game: walk to the gnomes and ask them to make it, give them at least a turn to do it, carry the rope back up, tie it...

I recognize that there's a risk of the rope dissolving (I mentioned that way back when I first floated the idea) but if we tie it to the tops of the chests, we'll have a better chance. Or if we tie it to the empty torch holders on the wall there, we can hold the chests in place above the acid. (Assuming we have enough rope for that.) The idea of using the chests as a bridge (in order to rescue the gnome) while they're just floating there seems awfully risky. And, again, I don't see how we're supposed to get the chests back out of the acid if we don't have something tied to them.

[GathersIngredients]

► Show Spoiler

Well, there's no way to split ONE item among 4 goblins, anyways.
Also, I have no idea what else we could be getting from the gnomes.
And I'd be willing to wait, because I think it's a valid idea, that could turn out well. If you want to you could ask the gnomes if they think their rope would be able to withstand the acid, and, if so, for how long, before committing to get the rope.

With a rope, (with or without the chests) it would be easier to reach the right lower side of the room, if only by having 1-2 goblins hold onto the rope, and another one climbing down it, swinging towards the web/chests.

[SGTdude]

I didn't read the preceeding wall of text.

I approve anyone stating my action of pushing the button (or doing anything else for that matter) since I may not get to post today

[thinkslogically]

Ok, I'm going to give you guys an hour to tell me if you want to ask for a rope or not and then we're going to proceed with the plan Gather's has outlined.

[GathersIngredients]

Assuming that I'm not too late, I'd like for the plan to pause/be halted/not set into motion yet in order to get some rope from the gnomes.
I don't care who asks, in doubt, Walks can do it. And have her ask about how long (if at all) the gnomes think that their rope would withstand the acid. Thanks.

[thinkslogically]

Will do, cheers!

Update is on its way now.

[thinkslogically]

Turn 24



More preparations happen.

Walks heads down to the gnomes and asks if they can have some rope that will withstand acid.

"Oh! Umm... Well, let's see now. That would be a challenge... But yes, I think we can manage something like that! It won't last forever mind you - only about 10 turns actually in the acid, but once you take it out it'll be good as new! It won't last long in fire though. Come back next turn and we'll have it ready!"

The gnomes disappear into their lair and get to work.

The others wait for the plan to happen.

William closes the nearest chest.

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Stats & Loot [Items in red are currently equipped]
.[tabs: Odd Duck]
ATT: 2
DEF: 2
HP: 4/5

ITEMS:
Skull
Pointy Stick (+1 ATT)
Leather Armour (+1 DEF)
Rat Corpse (x1)

[tabs: Walks With The Wind]
ATT: 2
DEF: 1
HP: 3/5

ITEMS:
Pointy Stick (+1 ATT)
Vial of spider venom: Can be applied to weapons or added to potions.
Torch (lit): +1 ATT if used as weapon; 5% chance of setting an enemy on fire; 10% chance of breaking.
Rat Corpses (x2)
Skull

[tabs: william]
ATT: 2
DEF: 1
HP: 4/5

ITEMS:
Pointy Stick (+1 ATT)
Shortbow (ranged)
Arrows (x6, +1 ATT)
Skull

[tabs: Mines Flagons]
ATT: 2
DEF: 1
HP: 4/5

ITEMS:
Torch (lit): +1 ATT if used as weapon; 5% chance of setting an enemy on fire; 10% chance of breaking.
Venomous Spear (+2 ATT): Venom has a chance to paralyse the enemy.[/tabs]

[SGTdude]

Mines gives odd the finger. Got it.

I will close the closest chest and then return to my button post and resume waiting for the call to push the button.

[Quarg]

Er...don't I have a torch on me now?

William will close the lid of the middle chest...

[WearsHats]

I'll close the nearest chest. And examine it for possible places to which a rope can be attached.

BTW, any chance we could fast forward a bit? Not expecting much NPC action in the next couple of turns, and I think we have our actions planned out: get the rope, tie the chests together, get back to trying to lure the spider out. The only question is whether we leave extra rope dangling off the leftmost chest or whether we (assuming we have enough rope) try to thread it through the wall sconces. (People with functioning brains: any thoughts on that? I need to lie down again.)

[thinkslogically]

@ quarg, you asked for the torch but gathers said no, and its hers so no dice, sorry!

@wears- there's not much to skip. You'll get everything prepped next turn if you coordinate i think. between 4 of you, thats a lot of actions

[WearsHats]

Okay. Well, if we get the rope I'll start tying the chests together. If there's more than a ladder-length of rope left over, I'll loop the extra through one of the torch sconces. If not, I'll leave the extra hanging over the left end so we can hopefully grab it.

[Quarg]

@ quarg, you asked for the torch but gathers said no, and its hers so no dice, sorry!

@wears- there's not much to skip. You'll get everything prepped next turn if you coordinate i think. between 4 of you, thats a lot of actions

I thought she handed me the torch...not that I wanted it...

[SGTdude]

Gathe rs or tl:

Control odd. I can't update for 12hrs

[thinkslogically]

Turn 24



"Okie dokie! Here's your rope! Good luck with your plan!"
"Thank you very much!"

Walks accepts a beautifully light and delicately woven length of Gnomish Rope from the gnomes. It certainly seems to be pretty durable and she hopes it's up to the job. She carries it back up and hands it over to Mines who wraps it around the chests as best he can. They don't seem to have handles, but hopefully this will hold ok. There's a bit of rope left over, but not enough to tie onto the top of the ladder.

William and Odd close the remaining two chests and everyone takes their places ready (I think) for the Master Plan to start.



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Gnomish Rope: 50 feet of high-strength, finest-quality rope. Not fire-resistant.

► Show Spoiler

Ok, so I took a couple of liberties this turn with Walks' actions, which I hope are ok. As a rule, I don't like controlling people's PCs on their behalf, but in the interest of expediency and because you've explained your plans in detail so far I made the call to do it in this case. If it's not ok, let me know and I'll change the actions accordingly.

Stats & Loot [Items in red are currently equipped]
.[tabs: Odd Duck]
ATT: 2
DEF: 2
HP: 4/5

ITEMS:
Skull
Pointy Stick (+1 ATT)
Leather Armour (+1 DEF)
Rat Corpse (x1)

[tabs: Walks With The Wind]
ATT: 2
DEF: 1
HP: 3/5

ITEMS:
Pointy Stick (+1 ATT)
Vial of spider venom: Can be applied to weapons or added to potions.
Torch (lit): +1 ATT if used as weapon; 5% chance of setting an enemy on fire; 10% chance of breaking.
Rat Corpses (x2)
Skull

[tabs: william]
ATT: 2
DEF: 1
HP: 4/5

ITEMS:
Pointy Stick (+1 ATT)
Shortbow (ranged)
Arrows (x6, +1 ATT)
Skull

[tabs: Mines Flagons]
ATT: 2
DEF: 1
HP: 4/5

ITEMS:
Torch (lit): +1 ATT if used as weapon; 5% chance of setting an enemy on fire; 10% chance of breaking.
Venomous Spear (+2 ATT): Venom has a chance to paralyse the enemy.[/tabs]

[WearsHats]

Looks like we're ready. Time to lure out the spider.

We may want to hold off on the fire arrows, given the chance for stuff to burn that we don't want ignited. (If the web ignites, we might kill the gnome we're trying to save. Also not sure how well the arrows we have would work as fire arrows, since we don't have any oil or rags. The only flammable part is the shaft. But I'll leave that up to William and Walks. (If you wanted to use the spider venom, odds are it's not immune. Most such creatures aren't, any more than parts of our bodies other than the stomach are immune to the hydrochloric acid it produces.)

If Spider Lure Plan A (AKA the rat corpse) fails to attract its attention, I will poke the spear (I do have that, right?) through the slats. If it webs the rat and Walks seems to be losing the tug of war, I will try to use the spear to cut the web line. If things do go according plan, I will stand by, ready to defend myself and others with the spear if I have it and the torch if I don't. (Listing that last because it basically means I do nothing. Wanted to cover actual actions first.)

[SGTdude]

I should be able to post today, but I'm just gonna push the button when told anyways so have me do that. If more action may he required, well....we are coming out of a bad winter storm here. And I'm working. So it may be like 12hrs before I can look at this again. I just don't want this plan to fail cuz I couldn't check in.

[GathersIngredients]

Thanks a lot for auto-piloting Walks, thinks. I got hit by a serious spot of 'busy' yesterday, and didn't make it to the forums at all. Sorry about that.


Walks will proceed with the plan. (Namely stick the rat corpse through the bridge and wiggle it about to attract the spider's attention. When the spider is in good position, tell Odd to press the button.)
IF William wants to use the venom on the arrows, allow him to.
In any case: Make sure not to get her (or William's) feet caught/tangled up in the rope!


I vote that Odd will aid Mines in whatever way he can when/if necessary. (e.g. the spider becomes aggressive towards them, help with the fighting. Or the spider make a tug of war with Mines for the spear, hold onto Mines and pull him - and hopefully the spear, too.)

[thinkslogically]

No worries. I'm probably not going to be able to update until tomorrow anyway so no rush sgt

[SGTdude]

Still can't. Got 1 thing must do tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Just control me. Nothing stupid plz.

Be back asap. Thx

[Quarg]

William will of course prepare to fire arrows if needed...

(Ach...eight hours of work...then five hours of driving turned into six because of people lost in Iyro canyon...)