A Collection of Strangers on Walkabout

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Apr 10, 2023 12:59 pm
OOC:
@Rizado96,@daryen welcome @Matchacha to the story. When your characters meet please give a simple description of your character
Khaguran and Skeeve relax in the tower until the time approaches to rescue the girl. Let me know what the plan is.

Rikia has "just" jumped off the tower, a frightening experience, and been stuck at the base of the tower unable to leave. She can tell her warding spell is failing and the area she can wander had been reduced to a small area as the warding spell fails and is almost completely gone.
Apr 10, 2023 3:33 pm
The plan is pretty simple: I jump off with the crossbow and rope, collect the girl, shoot the crossbow at the top of the tower and start climbing. If I miss high, Khaguran will need to grab the rope and tie it off. I will use focus for both the jump and the shot. I will use Spell-touched to slow my descent at the end. The rope and crossbow are prepared prior to the jump.

Quick question for the phantom: how big is she?
OOC:
BTW, no insult or diminution is intended with the use of the term "girl". If there is a preferred term to use, tell me and I will change going forward.
Last edited April 10, 2023 3:35 pm
Apr 10, 2023 3:39 pm
OOC:
@Matchacha can answer both those questions
Apr 10, 2023 3:52 pm
OOC:
While waiting for answers, Skeeve asks about alternative plans. I assume all of this planning happens during the rest, not when we're supposed to do things.
Some additional questions for the phantom:
1) This is a magic crossbow. Does the bolt care about weight? I mean instead of shooting the bolt/rope, then climbing, could we instead just tie ourselves off, then fire the bolt/rope and just let it pull us along? I wouldn't ask this question, except for the "magic" part.
2) Alternative plan: Tie one end of the rope to my Stick and the other end of the rope to Khaguran. I wedge the Stick on the parapet and Khaguran jumps, they grab each other, and I pull them up from there. Assuming they both weigh less than me, then this would actually be easier, faster, and not require as much uncertainty. And the rope might not be exposed for any longer, as I can just start pulling and I should be able to pull faster than either she or I can climb unassisted.
Last edited April 10, 2023 3:53 pm
Apr 10, 2023 3:53 pm
OOC:
Hello, I'm excited to be part of this game. In this moment RP wise girl is fine because she is 5' and you are looking down at her from the top of a tower. But she's of age (Still haven't picked a specific age yet) so lady, woman, something of those lines is fine but eventually we'll all introduce ourselves so it'll be Rikia. :D
Rikia is a human woman wearing a simple dark brown hooded cloak. She's 5’, has tan skin, short (chin length) brown hair, and glassy periwinkle eyes. At the moment she is calling for her master her voice getting raw.

Zastan! Zastan! No... NO! Don't leave me like this. I don't want to be alone again. I can't...
Apr 10, 2023 4:12 pm
[ +- ] Rope Caster
The problem is the temporal differential. You will only have a few rounds or about 15 seconds to act topside but whoever is at grind level only has 1 round, 2 actions, before they are out of sync again for another day
Rikia essentially had had 6 seconds of time for each day of time for the last 50 years so had been trapped for about a day her time
OOC:
revised earlier pay about Rikia being trapped to reflect being the about a day
Apr 10, 2023 7:55 pm
OK, how about combining the two tactics:
- Skeeve makes the stick long so it will get stuck in the parapet.
- Skeeve jumps down to Rikia (I'm just gonna use that preemptively).
- Skeeve then shoots the rope at Khaguran. (The theory: Khaguran is willing, so it should automatically hit. I'm trying to avoid a dice roll.)
- Skeeve and Rikia then start climbing up the rope to get out of there. Khaguran, if he's strong enough, can pull at the rope, too, to pull us while we climb up.
OOC:
To be clear, Skeeve is talking about these plans to the Khaguran and the phantom. That's why I am not making the OOC.
If we could communicate with Rikia, I'd just shoot her from here! :)
Apr 10, 2023 8:11 pm
No. Changing my mind again. This is the plan I now recommend.
- Skeeve makes the stick long so it hooks the trap door and wraps his arm.
- Khaguran ties one end of the rope to himself.
- Khaguran makes the jump down to Rikia (said even though we don't know her name yet).
- Khaguran then shoots the crossbow rope at Skeeve, who is a willing target. (So it's hopefully an auto-hit.)
- Khaguran and Rikia grab at other and hold on tight.
- Skeeve then forces the stick to contract as quickly as possible, pulling them up as quickly as he can. I figure him being a full sized human, the combined weight of Khaguran and Rikia should be low enough to allow him to pull them both up quickly. If necessary, he will then jump down the trap door to finish the retrieval.

This is all assuming Khaguran is willing to make the jump.

But, since we have so little time, there is no time for whomever jumps and Rikia to climb. They must be pulled out extremely quickly.

Along that line, are there any heavy objects we can use to help with the pulling them up?
Apr 11, 2023 1:26 am
OOC:
@Rizado96 and additions or alterations for Khaguran?
Apr 11, 2023 2:59 am
"Okay, I think I'm following, and it seems like a good plan. I'm willing to take the plunge; having the two lightest people down there seems smart, assuming our combined weight isn't too heavy to pull up effectively."

So my one round of actions will be to grab Rikia, then shoot the crossbow rope at Skeve. I might suggest, Skeeve could even jump down through the trapdoor as soon as the rope harnesses itself to him. He might act like a counterweight and yank us up several feet at once as he falls. Depending on whether the staircase down to the next (2nd?) floor is enclosed or built into the side of the tower wall and thus open to the air, you could even go to the top step and jump down to the floor again for another free several feet without having to manually pull us.

I can see how that might be a little tenuous though. Our esteemed DM can advise if that seems farfetched given the circumstance.
OOC:
Good to meet you, @Matchacha! Looking forward to adventuring.
Apr 11, 2023 3:02 am
OOC:
By the way, if it's okay with you, Psybermagi, I'd like to retcon Khaguran's appearance a bit to make him look more like a halfling (as in the portrait I added). I was generating some art with StarryAI, but I couldn't get it to spit out one that actually looked like a goblin. I thought this one was pretty cool though, and had the right vibe if not the physiology I was imagining at first.
Apr 11, 2023 3:43 am
OOC:
I had really wanted to be the one who jumped, so I could say, "Come with me if you want to not die." But, alas, Skeeve is needed for his weight.
Quote:
I might suggest, Skeeve could even jump down through the trapdoor as soon as the rope harnesses itself to him.
That would have been ideal, but I have to be right on the edge for you to shoot me, and the trap door is in the middle. So, I still have to get from the edge to the middle before I can plunge down the trap door. My understanding is that all the other staircases are purely internal. So I have to be on the roof

Also, I recommend shooting me first, then grabbing her. I'll wait a beat before running.

Ghost Guard

Psybermagi

Apr 11, 2023 4:04 am
OOC:
@Rizado96 adjusting your look is fine
Good plan and we can do your idea if you want the dramatics.
I am suggesting an alternative just to simplify it since you already came up with a good solution.
Ghost Guard
As he listens to your plan he commends you on your bravery and clever plan but makes a suggestion. Actually if you time it right one of you can shoot the girl. The other end of the rope can be tied around the other at the trap door who then jumps down to the second floor and you both pull her up. This would require convincing her quickly you are trying to help.

With the tower being 35 feet tall, from base to parapet with 10 feet per floor, and assuming 4 feet to tie off each end you can barely grab Rikia and have the other end secured to Skeeve at the trap door. Dropping to the 3rd floor will hoise Rikia up 10 feet quickly and then you will have to haul her up the rest of the way.
Apr 11, 2023 8:12 pm
OOC:
We can just shoot her with the rope and it can work because she is a PC. However, there is no way it would work without her being a PC. We have six seconds (or so). She is scared and confused. She doesn't understand what is going on. She saw the tower collapse, then she couldn't make it when she saw it was still standing. She just lost her wizard mentor. Now, she might (or might not) see us screaming at her, then raise a crossbow and shooting it at her. Just human reflex will cause her to resist the one shot we get.

So ... if you don't mind some meta-gaming, I am more than willing to just shoot her from the tower. But it can only work because she is a PC.

Also, Skeeve was planning to jump through the trapdoor, and then keep on going down the stairs.
Apr 11, 2023 11:05 pm
Psybermagi says:
OOC:
@Rizado96 adjusting your look is fine
Good plan and we can do your idea if you want the dramatics.
I am suggesting an alternative just to simplify it since you already came up with a good solution.
As he listens to your plan he commends you on your bravery and clever plan but makes a suggestion. Actually if you time it right one of you can shoot the girl. The other end of the rope can be tied around the other at the trap door who then jumps down to the second floor and you both pull her up. This would require convincing her quickly you are trying to help.
OOC:
Ohhh, I see. I wasn't realizing we could tie off one end of the rope, then shoot the other end out of the crossbow. Probably read the description a little too quickly. This seems like a great plan to me.
Khaguran walks over to the parapet, leans over, and calls to the woman, "Miss, we're going to help you up. Don't be startled by the rope." He hopes his laconic mode of speech doesn't hurt her chances of trusting him too much.
Apr 11, 2023 11:22 pm
OOC:
Yea I agree it be a little meta-game-y for Rikia to just accept some strangers shooting a crossbow at her and pulling her up with a rope in such a tense situation. But I'm willing to play along.

@Psybermagi are the times synced up that Rikia would see and hear Khaguran?
Apr 12, 2023 12:05 am
OOC:
I missed you comment saying the short plan is because the other one was good enough. I apologize for completely missing that.
Skeeve securely ties his end of the rope around his waist and stands by the trapdoor. When he gets Khaguran's signal, he jumps down and starts running down the stairs.
Apr 12, 2023 1:34 am
OOC:
I was just trying to expidite a convoluted situation I created that I did not want to get any more messy.
Ready Go
When the Ghost Guard indicates the time is near Skeeve gets into position at the trap door while Khaguran loads the rope into the magic crossbow.
Ghost Guard
I thank you for your assistance. When the time is right the doorway will reveal the landscape though blurry. Leave quickly when that happens. Feel Free to take anything you like from the tower.
I will bridge the gap now


With that the ghost presses his form outside the parapet, and as before his form distorts. However this time the ghost pushes his entire form beyond the parapet and extends himself downwards. Khaguran watches as the ghost expands downwards and outwards creating a connections to a figure that is slowly coming into view at the base.
A scream of agony mingles with a roar of defiance as the form of a young lady solidifies at the base of the tower.
Apr 12, 2023 4:07 am
I can just walk though the rescue in story mode
or
You guys can act it out.

I do want each of you to roll at least one test related to the rescue to determine how smoothly it goes. You can pick something interesting, hard, or your character is good at. I leave it to you
Apr 12, 2023 2:32 pm
OOC:
@Rizado96, do NOT roll to hit. Let that be automatic. Instead, roll to assist on pulling her up and catching her when she gets to the top. Please.
Skeeve will roll to successfully make the jump without injuring himself. Then, regardless of success or failure, he will run/limp down the stairs to keep pulling up. He will stop when Khaguran either yells to stop or when he gets to the bottom. I assume no Focus because he just doesn't have the time. I assume standard difficulty, as there is nothing to make it at Disadvantage.
Last edited April 12, 2023 2:44 pm

Rolls

Skeeve: Test DC: 5 - Basic - (2d6)

(42) = 6

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