Part 7: Return to the Moathouse Dungeon

Round 9 begins!
Eltrezar stands in the Torture Chamber above, looking at the light shining down through the hollowed pillar. Maloria lay on the floor unconscious and paralyzed. Gilly crouches blindly on the ground next to Bors prone form, and the hireling Kobort struggles with a ghoul in the blackness.

Turn order is as follows:
--> 1. Eltrezar (5)
2. Bors (4)
3. Gilly, Maloria (3)
4. Kobort, Ghoul #3 (2)
5. Ghoul #4 (1)

Turn order is as follows:
1. Eltrezar (5)
2. Bors (4)
-->3. Gilly, Maloria (3)
4. Kobort, Ghoul #3 (2)
5. Ghoul #4 (1)

Maloria is unconscious. Gilly's up. I would make a ruling here that if Gilly is progressing forward in the darkness, she can only move half her Encounter Movement Rate (so 20' per Turn). That's basically her carefully feeling along walls, taking cautious steps not to step on or trip over anything, etc.)

Okay, so what happens these next few rounds, and the exact sequence that they happen, are probably the difference between all of the the party surviving this, some of the party surviving this, or a TPK for probably all but Eltrezar. Gilly's actions are especially critical right now.

I'm not trying to railroad anyone or roleplay your characters, but I also want to make sure you have all the information available to make informed decisions and choices, and I understand that maybe the big picture isn't clear. So let me just take a second to give out a few more details that Gilly would probably know, that maybe I haven't made completely clear to the players, and I'll just go ahead and let you peek a bit behind the DM screen a minute, because I think that it's reasonable that Gilly would be aware of some stuff despite being blind right now that may be lost in the PbP format:


•Gilly would know that Bors has gone down directly in front of her, and I think she would be able to assume reasonably that the ghoul that felled him is adjacent to Bors on the other side of him, thus being about 10' away.

•Gilly also heard a ghoul run after Kobort and attack the hireling a few seconds ago, the sounds of which did not originate from directly behind Bors.

•I think Gilly could deduce that if she crept forward in the dark, right now, she would bump into the ghoul that dropped Bors after 10' of Movement, which I think would most definitely give her away (and you can't pass through a square occupied by an enemy). I mean, assuming she is in fact invisible to the ghouls right now, she basically looks like the rest of the ghoul's surroundings (probably a wall, or a piece of rubble or stone), but if a rock suddenly bumps into your shins, you would look down, and even a stupid ghoul would think, "Hey, rocks don't move by themselves..."

•So I think Gilly would be able to assess that right now moving forward is going to cause her to run directly into the ghoul, and that would be really bad. She would be better off holding her Turn until she hears the ghoul clear out.

•I also think that Gilly would know that these ghouls seem to have a method to their madness. Every time a ghoul has felled a member of the party (and Gilly's seen quite a bit of it this encounter, including to herself) the ghouls immediately move on to targets that are still standing and fighting. It's easy to deduce that these ghouls will eventually start eating the party, but they don't start eating until any and all threats are eliminated.
Probably they'll eat anything with meat on it, but the fact that they prefer to paralyze their prey is likely in part to be able to eat without concern of being attacked while feasting, and probably because they prefer living, warm meat, over dead meat (they'll eat anything, but if it still bleeds, what a extra special dish, y'know?).

•Seeing that at this moment the only other party member still alive and fighting is Kobort (again, assuming the ghoul doesn't see Gilly), through meta-knowledge the players can see that Ghoul #4 goes next, and the "Bors-Buster" will likely clear out and go after Kobort, leaving the hall open for Gilly to creep through without obstruction.

So, if Gilly wants to hold her turn and see if the ghoul will chase off after Kobort, then go last, that's an option. Then again, maybe the DM rolled a "1" on that cloak roll this turn, and the ghoul knows exactly where Gilly's at and will attack her next.

But at least now you have a better picture of what you're working with. Or at least a picture Gilly would be able to piece together in her head in the darkness.

So, with that picture painted for you, is Gilly still taking this Turn to creep forward? Does she want to do something else? Does she want to see what Ghoul #4 does first?

Again, I'm not trying to talk anyone out of anything, or into anything. Just making sure if things start sucking even harder nobody comes at the DM saying I didn't give them enough information to make a informed decision...

I would say that digging through Maloria's bag will take an Action this Turn. Next Round Gilly has access to any inventory the dwarf carries.

@dominion451: Assuming that Gilly is either looking for a torch or potion, is it safe to also assume Maloria keeps both those items in her backpack, or does she keep them somewhere else?

I assumed as much as well. So let's figure that's what @KCC has planned and I'll move to the next Round of Initiative unless I'm corrected.

Round 10 begins! Turn order is as follows:
--> 1. Kobort (7)
2. Gilly, Bors, Ghoul #4 (6)
3. Maloria (5)
4. Eltrezar (2)
5. Ghoul #3 (1)

The round now continues with Gilly, Bors, and Ghoul #3.
Round 10 begins! Turn order is as follows:
1. Kobort (7)
--> 2. Gilly, Bors, Ghoul #4 (6)
3. Maloria (5)
4. Eltrezar (2)
5. Ghoul #3 (1)

Yes they will... dun-dun-dunnnnn....

Eltrezar has I think five detect potions on his person, so those will be handy if you need to asses whether this situation is getting dicey, but good luck getting the wizard to bring you one.

Okay, hang on a moment I'm going to have make some dice rolls for a while...

As I continue to make some rolls here, this is mostly just some stuff happening on the back end until Maloria's paralysis wears off. It should be noted that any time gilly moves, or takes any Actions of import, I roll 1d6 for her cloak at the beginning of her next turn and she ia spotted on a "1", but if she's been "Invisible" and she remains completely motionless on her turn, I don't roll for her. She just remains "Invisible" until she starts moving around again. So in theory, unless she does something of notice, she can feel pretty confident she won't draw the ghouls' attention while she waits.

Enough time has transpired that we are now on Round 15! For this Round only Gilly, and Eltrezar really have a role. I think the wizard has been standing at the top of the ladder for around a minute total now, and I believe @cowleyc said Eltrezar will wait a minute or two, so for the time being, we'll wait and assume the wizard is still there unless @cowleyc says otherwise.
The ghouls are now both feasting in the dark on Kobort's body, believing they are alone with their meals, and Gilly can act. Bear in mind this is technically Round 15 still, and certain actions can (and will likely) trigger other events and attention of the other ghouls in the next round...