RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Longman's hex-based exploration PBP campaign

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Re: RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Post by Longman »

Both mirrors were on the wall. The one on the "other side" was firmly fixed in place, almost part of the stonework, and it would have taken days to get it off. The one on "this side" was glued / cemented on to the wall - you have detached it now by chipping away. Is that right?

This means at any time, you can transport yourself back into the secret lair in main part of the dungeon - the wizard's lair where you found the books, and the non-functional robots, etc. Clear?


You wait all day and sod all happens. It's actually not a bad opportunity to get hp back. Overnight, nothing happens at all. The following day is the 4th of September and the weather is overcast, chilly and drizzly. You may proceed. You lose another days food and get 3hp back each, except Fido who gets 2.

Please tell me where you are going, and you you are getting there with a 6' tall oval mirror in your possession. Who is carrying that? Floating disc for the win? Or are you doing this with muscle power?
Woe
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Re: RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Post by Woe »

Longman wrote:Both mirrors were on the wall. The one on the "other side" was firmly fixed in place, almost part of the stonework, and it would have taken days to get it off. The one on "this side" was glued / cemented on to the wall - you have detached it now by chipping away. Is that right?

Ah. You're correct then. I'll depart with the easiest mirror to depart with. For some reason (maybe because of too much time at Ikea?), I thought one of the mirrors was freestanding.

This means at any time, you can transport yourself back into the secret lair in main part of the dungeon - the wizard's lair where you found the books, and the non-functional robots, etc. Clear?
Yep! Sounds great! Now all I have to figure out is an easy way to get from the wizard's lair to the fort, so the party can fortify the fort with a solid supply line while tackling the darker recesses of (insert Welsh here).
You wait all day and sod all happens. It's actually not a bad opportunity to get hp back. Overnight, nothing happens at all. The following day is the 4th of September and the weather is overcast, chilly and drizzly. You may proceed. You lose another days food and get 3hp back each, except Fido who gets 2.
In the meantime, the party will study the various discoveries. Kilian will work on the broken crossbow (no worries if he doesn't succeed -- it's RP to pass the time).

Actually... if we're going to be completely stuck for a day, I'm going to go looking for trouble at the worm-infested tunnels. Not really, but I'm going to think about it strongly before I chicken out. Can Freya see any sign of worm?
Please tell me where you are going, and you you are getting there with a 6' tall oval mirror in your possession. Who is carrying that? Floating disc for the win? Or are you doing this with muscle power?
I was thinking muscle power. Bummer that it's not exactly something I can strap onto Fido. How much does it weigh? I lost track of food (but will catch up with general bookkeeping today/tomorrow). I think I have enough free capacity for it to fit somehow into the party. The harder question is /how/ to carry it opposed to who. It's most likely a two-person operation carried like a litter, right? Tiana could carry it on her floating disc if I could work out the balance issues with that (3' disc vs 7' mirror) for 40 turns, which would be 6.6 hours -- long enough for a day's travel if she doesn't want to cast any other spells.

Another clever idea, if I could just work out the one issue about breakage, is to put all of the other gear into the wizard's lair and just carry the mirror home. Once there, then move things around between town and dungeon as necessary. However, one broken mirror = a lot of lost opportunity. I'll probably just put the replaceable items (torches, etc) there instead.
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

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Re: RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Post by Longman »

I don't want the game to get "weighed down" with encumbrance calculations ( :roll: ) so I don't really care how much the mirror weighs at this point. 2 people will need to carry it, that's all.

You could specify a "carrying order", or I could just work it out randomly. But if you all get surprised in the woods, 2 people would lose a round putting it down and drawing weapons. If you use the disc method, that would not happen, but Tiana would be down spells. Your call.

Also - crossing rivers with it could be interesting. What's your route home?

If you explore the old river tunnel to the north you are likely to meet wormies. They live there. Yes, you can see tracks when you go to check it out. But they are not attacking you right now. If you keep hanging around in the dungeon below the castle, near the bridge, you will probably will attract them, though.

Crossbow is fixed. No progress on other stuff til you get to a sage.

You are indeed free to stash all kinds of gear in the wizard's lair. But it won't make much difference to the fact that 2 people will still need to carry that mirror, like a stretcher, as you say.

So, are you heading off? Or hanging around?
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Re: RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Post by Woe »

Hi ho! Off we go, back to Red Oak. Now I have to find the map!

download/file.php?id=1135

I'm guessing I'm at L15. First off, I'll ask Abigal (the local) whether she knows the safest route back to Red Oak, or at least near it. If she doesn't, I'm going to go with 1EP per square and no searching. I'll start with K15 then take the purple line home. That'd be F15 by nightfall and Carr's farm by day two (one extra EP on day two). I'll take the chance that Carr's farm is safe resting.

I think the two least effective combatants are Anna and Abigal. Can I put them on litter duty? I'll readjust the rest of the load (theoretically) so they don't have anything to carry save the mirror and their own weapons.

Everything in the first set of pooled loot will be stashed in the wizard's room. That'd be all of the normal gear and nothing below the holdall, since that's not anything I am willing to lose in the case of a broken mirror.



If you want to not get bogged down with wandering monster rolls and fording rivers, that works for me too. Don't feel like you have to make the trip home "interesting" just to keep me interested in playing. :D
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

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Woe
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Re: RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Post by Woe »

We might be behind on the loot too, since the 135gp and 100gp of metal and crystal aren't on the pooled loot thread. I will sort that out this week. In the meantime, the rule of thumb: anything valuable = carried; and anything that can be bought fairly cheaply in Red Oak = stashed.
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

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Re: RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Post by Longman »

Abigal can't carry that mirror. Other than that your plan is good. Let's see what happens.

You reach F15 in safety. You are camped on the east bank of the Lower Swell. Nothing happens overnight. You all get back 2hp (Fido 1).

No sign of activity in the mirror. Stuff is dumped in the wizard's lair as requested.

The 5th of September. Weather improving, even a touch of sun. You cross the creeks of the Lower Swell with ease, and make it back to Carr Farm by nightfall!

Yes, I did actually roll all that. (This is an adventure simulator after all). No encounters.

You're out.

I'll have to spend a day or so in real-time figuring out how long you were out, and also what might have happened while you have been gone. Also, EXP.

I think I'll keep this chapter open so we can do any denoument role-play stuff here, and then do your trip to Brant (?) in a new chapter.
Woe
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Re: RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Post by Woe »

I love it! However, that's sooo... anticlimactic! :)

Everyone is at full health. Did Abigal choose to wander into Red Oak with us, and does she intend to go as far as Brant?

I had an interesting thought as well. I don't need to continue to base at Red Oak. I can take this mirror to Brant, rent a room high up in a tower in the Elven Quarters, and head in/out from there. It'd probably be safer and could probably negotiate something with Ember to get access to a locked and never used supply room. It'd be very C. S. Lewis.
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

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Longman
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Re: RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Post by Longman »

Talin is pretty sure that if you don't swing my RED OAK and report this time, your relationship with the ROR is pretty much over. (You didn't report back last time either, remember). I think you may have sent a few letters to or via Emlin, but not appearing in person at this point would be pretty rude.

The Carrs are present in their farm. The Nisha are no longer deemed a threat. The Carrs tell you that there has been further activity in Cyn Dol and the undertaker and a few other shady types have fled the town and gone south to Bowen, after two known bandits got arrested and taken to Red Oak. So the Nisha are a long way out of the picture right now.

They also tell you that Sir Bors of Nore and his foppish retinue have gone back to Nore after taking the watchtower in late July. They have left Marshall Stack in charge. Marshall stack has taken a decent sized force and pushed all the way to the mountains at J06 and J08 and beaten the goblins there. A large area north of the Swell has been pacified. Marshall Stack has been asking to meet with you, and find out more about what lies south of the Swell.

So, you could probably get a coach that would take you to Conis Water and then on to Nore, avoiding Red Oak. But missing Red Oak would have consequences.

On another note - I have literally no idea of when I last leveled you up, or when I have you exp in any way. Can you remember what point the game was at when you last levelled up?
Woe
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Re: RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Post by Woe »

Haha! No idea. I'll figure it all out tonight, loot + exp + anything else missed since the last major accounting.
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

Red Oak map
Red Oak loot
Woe
Posts: 3953
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 6:45 pm

Re: RED OAK: Beyond the Mirror

Post by Woe »

Ye Greate Summary of Walking Into A Looking Glass

Combat
Mimic x2 (that's it!)

Exploration
Map 3b: 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 5acde, 6, 7, 8, 9a, 10, 11, 12, 34, 35
Map 3a: 3a, 13ab, 4abc, 5
Some Salenish culture stuff learned along the way

Loot not totally listed in the loot thread yet
Coin box, 100 Old Sader coins approx 200gp+
Two tomes of obviously spell book variety, Salenish runes
Four books of notes (making robots, sylvan creatures, making zombies and skeletons, dwarvish stuff translated into Sader)
Magnifying glass, monocle, abacus, quills, ink, bookmarks
Keyring with keys to many locks
Various rubbings of Mundina carvings
Crystal chandelier, ~100gp
"Valuable" stuff from the pantry, which I'll claim was just the metal keys, carving tools (20gp), lighter (for coolness), the Old Mundine book, and the bronze tankard (it's a dwarven thing)

Days spent
Started on August 31
Three days (!!!) underground
One day waiting for rain to clear
Two days home
It's now September 6. There's a full moon on Sep 9 and the Festival of Impending Doom on 23rd.

My highlight of the party interaction:
[Bruce] "Besides, someone has to stay up here and guard Freya and Tiana. You can guard them up here while I guard you down there. Everybody wins."
[Tiana, whispering to Freya] "That's a uniquely dwarven conclusion."
[Kilian, after recovering from the comment that he needs to guard Freya] "My beard's longer. I'm going first."
[Bruce] "Yes boss."
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

Red Oak map
Red Oak loot
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