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Deeper (Dungeon Quest)

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10. Delve 8 - Otterly Audacious
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    • Delve 8 - Otterly Audacious​





    It has been a peaceful month. Crabs have skittered, lobsters have snipped, the forge has begun to heat through, and is a popular spot for cold crustaceans. The crèche has a dedicated Rota of Care and Dappled has been kept fed. She does eat ravenously though…
    [X] She is nourished enough (Dappled will be fed enough to survive)
    [X] We could feed her more… (write-in how much extra Depth to feed her with)

    Hm. It is time again. What will this Delve be like?

    Hostile Delver - Otter (Weight Class 4 - Predator - Eater of Crabs)​

    Oh. Oh dear…




    The Delve​

    Snippy Ponders under the light of the Radiant Daystar. He is still unsure of the gluttonous Dappled, but with the protection of the Brilliant Sky Pearl, he is sure the little ones will be safe, and that should she escape the Valorous Lobsters will be able to hold her off. For now, he is satisfied.

    Snippy wonders what those are?

    Snippy threat assessment DC 12/13: 6+3=9 (4, 5, 1, -1 vantage from Sheltered Upbringing)
    Fail: Snippy knows the otters are hostile, but does not know how dangerous they are

    Whatever they are, Snippy and his Siblings will see them off! The door is sealed, and the Siblings prepare to defend it.

    Snippy calls on the siblings to defend the entrance, but the defence is short-lived. The otters, standing on two feet, leap at the door as one, and the driftwood shatters into an unrecognisable collection of splinters.

    A hasty plan comes together, and Snippy calls on his siblings to gather around him. Claws at the ready, they snip angrily at the otters. Suddenly, things go awfully wrong. In one moment, the crabs stand ready, in the next, a Sandy-furred otter charges straight in. The otter blitzes through the formation's guard and suddenly there's half a dozen otters chomping through shells. Valiantly, the crabs strike back, but disorganised, outweighed, and outnumbered they accomplish little.

    Snippy feels a cold chill as an Earthy-furred otter crunches the shell of a sibling. Snippy has… Snippy has failed his siblings dreadfully. Snippy has… Snippy will withdraw. Siblings, to Snippy! Snippy Rallies his siblings to a fighting retreat. Snippy will not fail the living!

    Mercifully, the otters are distracted by the dead, and Snippy is able to slip away with his surviving siblings. The vicious sounds of crunching echo behind them as they rush to the water. Snippy sounds the alarm as soon as he slips beneath the surface. A frantic scramble takes place as the lobsters alert Skali, and form up on the mound as quickly as they can. The crabs skitter away, fleeing for the safety of the shrine at Snippy's command.

    Mere moments after the lobsters have gathered, the sleek forms of more than two dozen otters come diving through the surface. Snippy takes command of the black-blue lobsters, whose vicious claws snip loudly at the intruders.

    For a brief moment, the otters simply observe them, hanging back at the entrance. Then, as one, they come diving from the top, arching down towards the mound. The water swirls as the lobsters meet the charge with booming snaps a screeching cacophony. The Sandy-furred one splits off, and the stream of otters divides in two; one led by the Earthy-furred one, and one led by the Sandy-furred one with a shimmering ward.

    Earthy's otters crash into the spiny lobsters, sending them flying every-which-way. Sandy, on the other hand, slinks past the flank guards, and meets Snippy's Cordite lobsters head on. This time, Snippy is ready, and the lobsters strike. The powerful boom of cordite shatters the Sandy otter's Rallied warding, and small fragments of fading magic mingle with traces of blue and red blood. Snippy's lobsters are not unscathed, as Sandy's otters nonetheless make it away with 2 squirming members of Snippy's formation clenched between their teeth.

    The tide of battle seems to turn, and the otters swerve towards the exit as the cacophony of crustaceans looms. Despite best attempts, none of the otters are injured on the way out of the water.

    Snippy has a grim realisation: the lobsters are almost completely immobile on land*, meaning they can't follow the otters out, or retreat to the shrine. They're trapped!

    Snippy must move, or the otters will be able to drag siblings from the water unpunished. Snippy hopes the otters must close in to fight: the best plan is to force the otters to come to him and pelt them with magic and spines as they approach.

    A few tense moments pass as Skali makes her way down from the shrine and the otters remain out of sight. This time Skali hurls a glowing trident as the otters come swimming down, and strikes home! A glancing blow; the otter seems unharmed, and the next trident goes singing past dodging otters.

    The third trident strikes true! Slamming into the head of an otter and jolting it to the side. It recovers, but the nasty gash remains as the otters make their way up the tunnel to the room with the Pearl Maker.

    Another tense wait.

    Once more, the otters come barrelling down, and Skali once again hurls her tridents, and another one wooshes past as the otters weave out of the way. Her second trident thumps into an otter, but its Thick Fur keeps it safe from any serious harm. The otters disappear up the tunnel towards the empty room. Snippy needs a plan!

    Snippy Temper (DC10-1 from Skali) = 12 (6, 4, 2)
    Snippy Plan (DC 15/10) = 12+3=15 (4, 3, 2 +2 vantage Tactician, Help/Hinder)
    (Shoot and scoot (AK, 20) and move SE before the return dive)

    Snippy asks Skali what she thinks, as his mind races. There's an urge to hurt the sibling snatchers for what they've done, no matter the cost. Skali taps him on the claw.

    "Snippy, we need to focus."

    Skali is right, Snippy decides. What's important is to keep the sibling snatchers from snatching siblings. The plan comes together as Snippy makes his mind up, and with some help from Skali to polish it. Force the otters to come as close as possible to make hitting them easier, but stay away from their jaws. It's a simple plan: wear down the otters before they can properly fight, and then charge them with the booming claws of the Cordite Lobsters.

    The otters come back into the water just as they finish the plan, and the crustaceans scramble. Skali's trident goes flying again, but the otters are agile and continue to bob and weave, leaving Skali's tridents to make naught but glancing blows. Unfortunately, the otters seem unbothered by the hits. The otters charge right past, and a hail of spines join the trident!

    The otters, now resembling sea urchins more than otters, seem unfazed and continue past Snippy's formation, into the Shrine. Snippy hurries to enact the plan, calling for the lobsters to assemble around the forge.

    Another tense wait ensues, and Snippy's concern is tempered only by the Skali's shared knowledge that his siblings should be protected by the Brilliant Sky Pearl in the shrine. Then the otters come swimming out again, and Skali once more starts hurling tridents. The first trident pierces the thick fur around an otter's mid-section, but the otters nonetheless charge headfirst towards them.

    Skali's second trident is another glancing blow, and her third is joined by a second hail of spines. This time two otters grab at their faces as their vulnerable noses are struck by spines.

    With the range rapidly closing Snippy orders the counter-charge, and claw meets fang as the two groups collide. A hectic melee ensues and several lobsters perish at the teeth of Earthy's otters, who in turn are set upon by Snippy's cordite lobsters. One otter becomes surrounded and has its arm crippled by the explosive claws, but with the assistance of another otter makes it out.

    Seven of the spiny lobsters are carried away by Earthy's otters and the formation dissolves, pairing up with the other formations to stay in the fight. The other spiny lobsters set upon Sandy, whose formation panics and flees at the terrifying noise after flailing about, failing to hit any of the lobsters.

    Another trident strikes an otter, but glances off. Snippy's lobsters once more set upon the Earthy's otters, and multiple visible wounds including the lame legs of one otter tell of their success. Despite the setback, Earthy's otters successfully snatch even more spiny siblings, and Earthy himself, with a wriggling lobster between his jaws, takes a rock out from a pocket in his forelimb and smashes it into a spiny lobster but the lobster remains standing.

    With Sandy still in panicked retreat, Earthy seems to think better of staying in the fight alone and follows after Sandy. Skali continues to hurl tridents, striking home twice, once on Earthy himself, but though it clearly damages them, they push through and make it to the south-eastern exit.

    As the otters leave the water, Snippy orders the siblings to stay around the forge. The otters enter the water again, and Skali begins to hurl tridents once more, and another two strike home before the otters enter the north-eastern tunnel.

    Round 1

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (21) = 16+2=18 (4, 2, 6 +1 vantage Tactician)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 5+1=6 (1, 2, 2)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 14+1=15 (6, 5, 3)

    Declare
    Sandy's Formation (12) = Break Door (DC 10) = 17/14/11+3 (6, 5, 3)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Break Door (DC 10) = 15/10/5+3 (3, 1, 6)
    Snippy's Formation (21) = Hold Chokepoint (Door) (highest vantage only, chokepoint) = 13+2 (5, 2, 3)

    Resolution:
    The Otters break the door by so much we aren't calculating the damage.

    Round 2

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (21) = 14+2=16 (2, 6, 1, +1 vantage Tactician)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 10+1=11 (2, 2, 6)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 11+1=12 (4, 5, 2)

    Declare
    Sandy's Formation (12) = Formation Fight (Rally: Paladin's Protection) = 18/17/16+3 (6, 6, 5)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Formation Fight (Rout: Disdain) = 14/9/4+3 (2, 6, 1)
    Snippy's Formation (21) = Attack Earthy's Formation (Rally: Tactician) = 14/12/12+2 (5, 4, 3)

    Resolution:
    Sandy's Formation deals 2x6 to all locations (size disparity) reduced to 5 on the head and torso locations (Exoskeleton). 2 Crabs roll on the death table.
    Sandy's Formation deals 4x3 to all locations (size disparity) reduced to 2 on the head and torso locations(Exoskeleton). 4 Crabs roll on the death table.
    Earthy's Formation deals 5x3 to all locations (size disparity) reduced to 2 on the head and torso locations (Exoskeleton). 5 Crabs roll on the death table.
    Snippy's Formation deals 2x1 Damage to the torso location of Otters in Earthy's Formation, reduced to 0 (thick fur)
    Snippy's Formation deals 6x1 Damage to the legs location of Otters in Earthy's Formation,
    reduced to 0 (thick fur)

    Death Table Rolls (11 Crabs)
    2x (16, 15) Scar
    2x (13, 13) Unconscious
    4x (11, 11, 11, 11) Unconscious (check)
    2x (9, 8) Mortally wounded

    Crab Tile is cleared (dead/scarred crabs)

    Round 3

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (12) = 17+2=19 (6, 4, 5 +1 vantage Tactician)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 11+1=12 (3, 3, 5)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 9+1=10 (2, 6, 1)

    Declare
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Feast! (Death Table)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = Feast! (Death Table)
    Snippy's Formation (12) = Flee! (Rally: Tactician) 11+2=13 (1, 1, 5 +1 vantage Tactician)

    Resolution:
    All unconscious and mortally wounded crabs would roll on the Death Table again as the otters start eating them, but as they have 0 health on all locations (hit by 2x weight class) and are thus crippled and also grappled, they're pretty much dead.
    Snippy's Formation Breaks Contact.

    — Contact Broken —

    Snippy enters the underwater room.
    Cordite lobsters sound the alarm (DC10) = 9 (3, 3, 3 +2 vantage Cordite Claws, Enough Time) = Fail
    Snippy sends his sibling to the safety of the Shrine, and assumes command of the Cordite Lobsters
    All lobsters assume defensive formations on the mound
    Crabs reach tile (AJ, 20), raise the alarm (DC10) = 11+1=12 (1, 5, 5) = Success
    Skali starts to move from the shrine tile

    Round 4

    Sandy Threat Assessment DC10/11 = 11+3=14 (2, 6, 3) Pass!
    Earthy Threat Assessment DC10/11 = 11+3=14 (3, 4, 4) Pass!

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (21) = 12+2=14 (5, 2, 1 +1 vantage Tactician)
    Spiny Lobster Formation 1 (SLF1) (9) = 13+1=14 (5, 6, 2)
    Spiny Lobster Formation 2 (9) = 12+1=13 (5, 1, 6)
    Spiny Lobster Formation 3 (9) = 15+1=16 (5, 6, 4)
    Spiny Lobster Formation 4 (9) = 12+1=13 (4, 3, 5) (won coin toss)
    Spiny Lobster Formation 5 (9) = 11+1=12 (4, 4, 3)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 11+1=12 (5, 1, 5)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 12+1=13 (3, 4, 5)

    Declare
    SLF5 (9) = Hold Mound [Intimidate] = 6/[6]/5/4+1 (2, 1, 2)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = Attack Snippy's Formation (Rally: Paladin's Protection) = 13/9/5+3 (1, 3, 5)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Attack SLF5 (Rout: Courageous) = 6/5/4+3 (2, 2, 1)
    SLF4 (9) = Attack Sandy's Formation [Intimidate] = 17/[17]/12/8+1 (6, 5, 1)
    SLF2 (9) = Attack Earthy's Formation [Intimidate] = 14/[14]/13/12+1 (4, 4, 5)
    Snippy's Formation (21) = Hold mound (Rally: Tactician) = 14/9/9+2 (6, 1, 2 +1 Tactician)
    SLF1 (9) = Attack Sandy's Formation [Intimidate] = 13[13]/8/3+1(1, 6, 1)
    SLF3 (9) = Attack Sandy's Formation [Intimidate] = 17/[17]/16/15 (6, 5, 5)

    Resolution:
    A lot of Spiny Lobsters are dealing 1 damage reduced to 0 to various locations.
    Sandy's Formation deals 2x0 damage to all locations (size difference) on Cordite Lobsters in Snippy's Formation. Grappled!
    Snippy's formation deals 2x3 damage to main arm locations in Sandy's Formation, reduced to 1 (Thick Fur, Paladin's Protection) (otters 1 and 2)
    Snippy's formation deals 7x3 damage to off arm locations in Sandy's Formation, reduced to 1 (Thick Fur, Paladin's Protection) (otters 3 through 9)
    Otter formations, their side having taken damage, are feared (Flight)
    Earthy's Formation deals 2x2 damage to main arm locations on SLF5, reduced to 1 (exoskeleton), grappling them
    Earthy's Formation deals 4x2 damage to off arm locations on SLF5, reduced to 1 (exoskeleton), grappling them
    SLF5 dissolves, having lost too many members. Remaining members join other formations
    Skali reaches tile (AI, 20)

    Round 5

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (19) = 15+2=17 (4, 6, 5 +1 vantage Tactician, -1 vantage from "First Lobster Command")
    Spiny Lobster Formation 1 (SLF1) (10) = 12+1=13 (4, 5, 3)
    Spiny Lobster Formation 2 (10) = 6+1=7 (2, 2, 2)
    Spiny Lobster Formation 3 (10) = 11+1=12 (1, 4, 6)
    Spiny Lobster Formation 4 (9) = 6+1=7 (1, 1, 4)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 6+1=7 (2, 3, 1)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 10+1=11 (5, 2, 3)

    Declare
    SLF2 (10) = Attack Earthy's Formation = 8/7/6+1 (3, 2, 2)
    Sandy's Formation = Sprint! = 16/11/6+3 (6, 4, 1)
    SLF4 (9) = Attack Sandy's Formation = 16/14/12+1 (4, 4, 6)
    Earthy's Formation = Sprint! = 18/16/14+3 (6, 6, 4)
    SLF3 (10) = Attack Sandy's Formation = 17/14/13+1 (5, 3, 6)
    SLF1 (10) = Help/Hinder (Sandy's Formation) = 12/10/8+1 (4, 4, 2)
    Snippy's Formation (19) = Attack Sandy's Formation = 5/4/4+2 (1, 1, 2 +1 vantage Tactician)

    Resolution:
    Some Spiny Lobsters are dealing 1 damage reduced to 0 to various locations.
    Skali reaches tile AJ20
    Otters exit the water, where lobsters can't follow, and attempt to Regroup:

    Round 6

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (19) = 12+2=14 (4, 4, 1+1 vantage Tactician)
    SLF1 (10) = 15+1=16 (6, 3, 6)
    SLF2 (10) = 12+1=13 (5, 3, 5)
    SLF3 (10) = 8+1=9 (2, 5, 1)
    SLF4 (9) = 12+1=13 (3, 4, 5)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 11+1=12 (1, 5, 5)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 12+1=13 (3, 4, 5) (won coin toss)

    Declare
    SLF3 (10) = withdraw toward Skali
    Sandy's Formation (12) = Regroup Rally: Courageous = 17+3 (6, 5, 5 +1 vantage courageous)
    SLF4 (9) = withdraw toward Skali
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Regroup (+1 vantage from critical success on sprint) (DC11) = 10+3 (4, 2, 1)
    SLF2 (10) = withdraw toward Skali
    Snippy's Formation (19) = withdraw toward Skali
    SLF1 (10) = withdraw toward Skali

    Resolution:
    Contact is broken, Both Otter Formations Regroup. A few rounds pass as Snippy & co gathers with Skali, and move to (AK, 22) and Otters eat lost Lobsters.


    Round 7

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = 12+2=14 (5, 1, 2 +1 vantage Tactician)
    SLF1 (10) = 9+1=10 (1, 4, 4)
    SLF2 (10) = 10+1=11 (1, 3, 6) (won flip)
    SLF3 (10) = 9+1=10 (4, 1, 4) (won flip)
    SLF4 (9) = 10+1=11 (4, 3, 3)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 10+1=11 (3, 6, 1)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 7+1=8 (3, 3, 1)

    Declare
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Advance to mound 12/9/6+3 (4, 4, 1)
    SLF1 (10) = Hold (out of range for intimidate, conserve spines for closer target)
    SLF3 (10) = Hold
    SLF4 (9) = Hold
    Sandy's Formation (12) = Advance to mound (Rally: Paladin's Protection)
    SLF2 (10) = Hold
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs at Earthy's Formation (DC10) 12+3=15 (5, 4, 3 +0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = Rally: Tactician on Skali (loose at Otters) and his Formation

    Resolution:
    Skali deals 0 damage to the leg location to an otter in Earthy's Formation

    Round 8

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = 11+2=13 (2, 3, 4 +1 vantage Tactician)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 6+1=7 (3, 2, 1)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 15+1=16 (5, 4, 6)

    Declare
    Sandy's Formation (12) = Move to NE Corner
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) 11+3=14 (5, 5, 1 +0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = Rally: Tactician on Skali (loose at Otters) and his Formation
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to NE Corner 16+3=19 (6, 4, 2)

    Resolution:
    Skali Misses


    Round 9 &10

    Initiative
    No need

    Declare
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) 15+3=18 (6, 6, 3 +0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to NE Corner 12+3=15 (5, 5, 2)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) 9+3=12 (3, 5, 1+0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to NE Corner 18+3=19 (5, 5, 6)


    Resolution:
    Skali deals 3 damage to the Head location of Otter 1 in Earthy's Formation, reduced to 2 (Thick Fur).
    Otters reach (AN, 18), breaking line of sight.

    Otters roll to clear Barnacled Borehole (DC time check 18/12/6 for 3/4/5 turns) 8+4=12 (4, 3, 1)
    Takes 4 turns

    Otters go back into water.


    Round 11&12

    Initiative
    Otters make towards east corridor, Skali can loose twice (Lobsters conserve spines), initiative doesn't matter

    Declare
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) 13+3=16 (4, 3, 6 +0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to NE Corner 13+3=16 (5, 1, 3)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) 11+3=14 (1, 4, 6+0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to NE Corner 13+3=16 (3, 5, 1)

    Resolution:
    Skali deals 0 damage to the off arm location an Otter in Earthy's Formation.
    Otters break contact to explore SE room.
    Snippy Temper (DC10-1 from Skali) = 12 (6, 4, 2)
    Snippy Plan (DC 15/10) = 12+3=15 (4, 3, 2 +2 vantage Tactician, Help/Hinder)
    (Shoot and scoot (AK, 20) and move SE before the return dive)
    Otter Plan (DC 15) = 13+3 = 16 (5, 3, 3 +1 vantage Help/Hinder)
    (AN, 23 exit)

    Round 13 through 16

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = 11+2=13 (2, 3, 4 +1 vantage Tactician)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 9+1 (6, 2, 1)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 12+1 (1, 5, 6)

    Declare
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) = 14+3=17 (4, 5, 5 +0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to W Tunnel = 14+3=17 (6, 1, 2)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) = 7+3=10 (4, 1, 2 +0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to W Tunnel = 6+3=9 (2, 1, 2)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) = 11+3=14 (5, 4, 2 +0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to W Tunnel = 11+3=14 (3, 4, 3)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC5) = 15+3=18 (1, 3, 6 +1 vantage tactician)
    SLF1 (10) = Loose Spiny Shot Earthy's Formation (DC5) = 9/6/3+1 (1, 1, 4)
    SLF2 (10) = Loose Spiny Shot Earthy's Formation (DC5) = 17/15/13+1 (4, 5, 6)
    SLF3 (10) = Loose Spiny Shot Sandy Formation (DC5) = 15/11/7+1 (6, 3, 2)
    SLF4 (9) = Loose Spiny Shot Sandy Formation (DC5) = 12/8/4+1 (5, 2, 1)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to W Tunnel = 16/12/8+3 (4, 6, 2)
    Sandy Formation (12) = Move to W Tunnel = 8/6/4+3 (1, 3, 2)

    Resolution:
    Lots of Lobsters do 0 damage to various otter locations
    Skali does 0 Damage after reductions
    Otters break contact

    Sandy helps Earthy consider what the shiny barrier is (DC10) 14+3=17 (4, 5, 4 +1 vantage Help/Hinder) = Success

    Does Sandy know the language Dappled speaks? (DC16) 8+3=11 (3, 4, 1) = no
    Does Earthy know the language Dappled speaks? (DC16) 14+3=17 (6, 5, 3) = yes

    Snippy & co move to (AK, 23)
    Otters return to (AI, 20)




    Round 17&18

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = 8+2=10 (3, 2, 1 +1 vantage Tactician)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 9+1=10 (6, 2, 1)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 10+1=11 (2, 2, 6)

    Declare
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs at Earthy's Formation (DC10) = 14+3=17 (5, 3, 6 +0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Sandy's Formation = Advance towards Snippy
    Earthy's Formation = Advance towards Snippy = 11+3=14 (3, 4, 2)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs Earthy's Formation (DC10) = 14+3=17 (6, 4, 4 +0 vantage Far, tactician)
    Sandy's Formation = Advance towards Snippy
    Earthy's Formation = Advance towards Snippy = 13+3=16 (5, 3, 1)

    Resolution:
    Skali deals 3 damage to the legs of otter 9's legs/tail, reduced to 2 (Thick Fur) in Earthy's Formation
    Skali Deal 0 damage to Earthy's Formation.

    Round 19

    Initiative
    None required.

    Declare
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs Earthy's Formation (DC5) = 11+3=14 (3, 2, 4+1 vantage, tactician)
    SLF1 (10) = Loose Spiny Shot Earthy's Formation (DC5) = 18/13/8+1 (6, 6, 1)
    SLF2 (10) = Loose Spiny Shot Earthy's Formation (DC5) = 13/9/5+1 (5, 1, 3)
    SLF3 (10) = Loose Spiny Shot Sandy's Formation (DC5) = 6/5/4+1 (2, 1, 2)
    SLF4 (9) = Loose Spiny Shot Sandy's Formation (DC5) = 17/12/7 (6, 5, 1)
    Sandy's Formation = Advance towards Snippy = 13/10/7+3 (5, 2, 3)
    Earthy's Formation = Advance towards Snippy = 14/13/12+3 (4, 5, 4)

    Resolution:
    Many Lobsters deal 1 damage reduced to 0 to various otter locations
    Critical! Spiny Lobster Formation 1 deals 2x1 damage to the Head location on Otters 7 and 6 in Earthy's Formation.

    Round 20

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = 18+2=20 (6, 6, 3+1 vantage Tactician) Critical Success! Unfortunately there are no special rules for this… Yet
    SLF1 (10) = 17+1=18 (6, 6, 5)
    SLF2 (10) = 6+1=7 (3, 1, 2)
    SLF3 (10) = 9+1=10 (4, 3, 2)
    SLF4 (9) = 8+1=9 (1, 6, 1)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 8+1=9 (4, 4, 1)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 9+1=10 (6, 2, 1)

    Declare
    SLF2 (10) = Charge Earthy's Formation [Intimidate] = 8[8]/7/6+1 (2, 2, 3)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = Attack SLF4 (Rally: Paladin's Protection) 6/5/4+3 (1, 2, 2)
    SLF4 (9) = Charge Sandy's Formation [Intimidate] = 16[16]/11/6+1 (4, 1, 6)
    SLF3 (10) = Charge Sandy's Formation [Intimidate] = 14[14]/10/6+1 (1, 4, 5)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Attack SLF1 (Rout: Courageous) = 18/16/14+3 (6, 6, 4)
    SLF1 (10) = Charge Earthy's Formation [Intimidate] = 14/11/8+1 (4, 2, 5)
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = Attack Earthy's Formation (Rally: Tactician on Skali and own Formation) = 13/9/9+2 (1, 5, 3 +1 vantage Tactician)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs Earthy's Formation (DC5) = 14+3=17 (1, 5, 4 +1 vantage, tactician)


    Resolution:
    Earthy's Formation Deals 2x6 and 5x3 damage to 7 Lobsters in SLF1 in all hit locations, to 4 and 1 respectively on the torso and head, and 5 and 2 respectively, for the limb locations. Grappled and Crippled!
    Snippy's Formation Deals 4x3 damage to Otters 9, 10, 10, 10, reduced to 2 (Thick Fur) to the off arm location: on the second attack Otter 10 loses the use of the off arm until healed. Third attack is redirected to the main arm
    SLF 4&3 intimidate Sandy's Formation. Flees!
    Many Lobsters deal 1 damage reduced to 0 to various otter locations
    SLF5 dissolves, having lost too many members. Remaining members join other formations.

    Round 21

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = 11+2=13 (4, 3, 2+1 vantage Tactician)
    SLF2 (11) = 6+1=7 (3, 2, 1)
    SLF3 (11) = 7+1=8 (3, 2, 2)
    SLF4 (10) = 9+1=10 (1, 4, 4)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 9+1=10 (6, 2, 1)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 5+1=6 (2, 1, 2)

    Declare
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Attack/Defend/Follow Sandy's Formation (Rout: Disdain SLF2) = 12/12/9+3 (3, 6, 3 -1 vantage Help/Hinder (SLF3))
    SLF2 (11) = Charge Earthy's Formation [Intimidate] = 7[7]/5/3+1 (1, 3, 1)
    SLF3 (11) = Help/Hinder Earthy's Formation
    SLF4 (10) = Help/Hinder Sandy's Formation
    Sandy's Formation (12) = Sprint towards SE Corner (Rally: Courageous (Intrepid)) (DC17) = 9+3=12 (6, 2, 1 +0 vantage Courageous, Help/Hinder) = Fail
    Snippy's Formation (19CL) = Attack Earthy's Formation (Rally: Tactician on Skali and own Formation) = 11/10/10+2 (3, 4, 3 +1 vantage, Tactician)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs Earthy's Formation (DC5) = 13+3=16 (2, 5, 3 +1 vantage Tactician)

    Resolution:
    Skali deals 1 damage to the leg/tail location of an otter in Earthy's Formation, reduced to 0 (Thick Fur)
    Earthy's Formation deals 6x3 damage to 6 Lobsters in SLF2 in all hit locations, reduced to 0 and 1 respectively on the torso and head, and 2 respectively, for the limb locations. Grappled and Crippled!
    Earthy deals 1x2 to lobster 1 in SLF2 on all hit locations, reduced to 0 on the torso and head and reduced to 1 for the limb locations
    Snippy's Formation deals 5x3 damage to the legs/tail location of Otters (11) (11) (6) (1) (10), reduced to 2 (Thick Fur). Otter 11 is Crippled

    Round 22&23

    Initiative
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = 18+2 (3, 6, 6 +1 vantage Tactician) Critical Success! Unfortunately there are no special rules for this… Yet
    SLF2 (5) = 11+1=12 (3, 2, 6)
    SLF3 (11) = 10+1=11 (1, 3, 6)
    SLF4 (10) = 10+1=11 (1, 4, 5)
    Sandy's Formation (12) = 17+1=18 (6, 5, 6)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = 9+1=10 (5, 1, 3)

    Declare
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Sprint towards SE tile
    SLF4 (10) = Regroup
    SLF3 (11) = Regroup
    SLF2 (5) = Regroup
    Sandy's Formation (12) = Sprint towards SE Corner (Rally: Courageous (Intrepid)) (DC17) = 9+3=12 (3, 3, 3+1 vantage Courageous) = Fail
    Snippy's Formation (19CL+Skali) = regroup & loose (Rally: Tactician on Skali and own Formation)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs Earthy's Formation (DC10) = 10+3=10 (1, 2, 4 +0 vantage, Far Tactician)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs Earthy's Formation (DC10) = 12+3=15 (2, 4, 6+0 vantage, Far Tactician)

    Resolution:
    Skali deals 3 damage to the off arm location of otter 6, reduced to 2 (Thick fur)
    Skali deals 3 damage to the main arm location of Earthy (Otter 13), reduced to 2 (Thick fur)

    Otters break contact to eat lobsters.

    Combat resumes as otters return to water on tile (AM, 20)

    Round 24 through 28

    Initiative
    None Required.

    Declare
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) = 12+3=15 (6, 3, 3+0 vantage Far, Tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to NW Tunnel = 12+3=15 (1, 2, 5)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) = 14+3=17 (6, 6, 2+0 vantage Far, Tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to NW Tunnel = 8+3=11 (3, 2, 2)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) = 13+3=16 (5, 4, 4+0 vantage Far, Tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to NW Tunnel = 13+3=16 (3, 1, 5)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) = 11+3=14 (5, 1, 5+0 vantage Far, Tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to NW Tunnel = 18+3 = (6, 3, 6)
    Skali = Loose Prophet's Prongs (DC10) = 14+3=17 (5, 3, 6+0 vantage Far, Tactician)
    Earthy's Formation (13) = Move to NW Tunnel = 11+3=14 (4, 3, 2)

    Resolution:
    Skali deals 3 damage to the off arm location of otter 9 reduced to 2 (Thick Fur)
    Skali deals 3 damage to the leg/tail location of otter 6 reduced to 2 (Thick Fur)

    Otters leave

    OTTERS LEAVE​

    Tally
    9 dead crabs, each 1kg
    2 scarred crabs
    2 dead Cordite Lobsters, each 7kg
    19 dead Spiny Lobsters, each 15kg
    15 barnacles, each 1kg
    1 Clam, 4kg

    Delve Objective 327kg / 330kg eaten/stored (within 1%, goal achieved)

    Sandy's Formation
    • Otters 1&2, main arm, 1 damage
    • Otters 3 through 9, off arm, 1 damage
    Earthy's Formation
    • Otter 1, Head & legs/tail, 2 damage
    • Otter 6, Head 1 damage, legs/tail, 4 damage (crippled), off arm, 2 damage
    • Otter 7, Head, 1 damage
    • Otter 9 off arm, 2 damage, legs/tail, 2 damage
    • Otter 10, off arm arm 4 damage (crippled) main arm, 2 damage, legs/tail, 2 damage
    • Otter 11, legs/tail, 4 damage (crippled)
    • Earthy (Otter 13) main arm, 2 damage

    This combat showed that ranged attacks interact strangely with Hordes and Formations - in future, defend rolls such groups make will lose 1 vantage for being a large target

    If you can read this: congratulations, that makes one of us.

    OTTERS LEAVE​


    After what feels like a cycle of the Radiant Daystar and the Brilliant Sky Pearl, Snippy takes stock of the situation. The sibling snatchers are gone. He checks himself, with Skali: Shells litter the floor, and the door is a mess. Snippy does not know what it will take to fix it.

    The door is unrecognisable, but not irreparably broken…
    [X] Fix the Door (4 Depth)
    [X] We could use this wood for something else… (Door is recycled, gain Driftwood)

    After that, Snippy checks on the Siblings. So many were lost. There may not be the same number of spiny siblings for a long time… (one tile of Spiny Lobsters was Eradicated)

    "We didn't win this one, did we Snippy?"

    Snippy knows Skali is right. Too many siblings were lost, and not even a single Sibling Snatcher was brought down. Snippy Snips in frustration.

    Snippy goes to check on the siblings he sent to the shrine. They made it there alive, and the sibling snatchers could not snatch them! But what they say after worries Snippy - they say the Earthy one seemed to speak to the imprisoned Dappled! They do not know what was said though, since the strange noises were indecipherable…

    When they check the room of the Pearl-maker, it is devastated. Broken and empty shells are scattered about, and only the hole remains (Barnacled Borehole was Cleared).

    Recycle: Gain Shells: 1 Clam, 12 Barnacle, 7 crab, 2 Cordite Lobster, 11 Spiny Lobster

    Replenishment Timer (next individual):
    • Crab: 8 days
    • Cordite Lobsters: 5 days
    • Spiny Lobsters: 15 days





    Decisions, Decisions​


    Those two crabs with scars were lucky today…
    [X] They have strong hearts (become Snippy's Personal Guard: they will gain the "Interceptor" skill).
    • Interceptor – You can intercept attacks with targets near you by declaring intercept without knowing what you're intercepting or protecting (being lower in initiative). Additionally, may choose to interpose yourself even if your total is lower than your opponents (and thus may take damage). You may choose the strike or defend that's part of intercepting as you decide whether to intercept or not (Knowing how it will resolve). (Martial)
    [X] What they have learned, could be taught. (Gain Crustacean Crèche Teachers/Guardians as a tier 1 background)
    [X] Their luck could be useful around the dangers of the forge. (gain Forge Crabs as a tier 1 background)
    Note: these crabs will no longer be part of the Crab tile, and will not count against the maximum number of crabs there, but will contribute to its replenishment.

    We have 72 Depth: (at the end of each Delve, for each uncleared feature, score 1 Depth per Delver level for each Delver)

    Recycle
    [X] 10 Depth
    [X] Brown Algae Seeds? These will bloom one day, maybe even soon! (may be useful for Crabriculture)
    [X] Do something with all these feathers and shells? (Does nothing this turn. Please wait warmly while crab clothiering is perfected)

    [X] Expand sideways (1 Depth per tile) X tiles (write-in)
    Clarification: you can make rooms with irregular shapes, and expand existing rooms

    [X] Relocation move existing creature feature(s) around (Write in)

    Crab Construction
    [X] Driftwood Doors! We know about these! Where to put them?     (must be placed between two tiles: when closed, all creatures lose 1 vantage on stealth checks passing through the door (has 2 health - can be sealed and take this much damage before being unsealed) (Write-In placement)
    [X] Driftwood Poles! What do they do? Not sure… But, they can be useful. Soon?

    Crab Forge
    [X] Try to make something with Normal Sand
    [X] Try to make something with Black Sand

    Features (Pick up to 1):
    [X] Permanent Air Pockets (7 Depth):     This room is permanently protected from flooding (cannot be applied to the starting room)
    [X] Catfish     (Aquatic, Weight Class 3) (23 Depth): These gluttonous creatures known for their ability and willingness to eat just about anything. Larger specimens are known to prey on even bulls and buffalo. Legend says that a catfish that can scale a waterfall will turn into a dragon…
    • Barbels: These creatures have whisker-like outgrowths which serve as a sensory organ that always detects creatures at reach X, where X is your weight class (removing any vantage loss from blindness/deafness within that reach).
    • Gluttonous Growth: When these creatures are expanded they may gain one weight class, to a maximum of weight class 10. This ability stops taking a slot when they reach their maximum size.
    • Any 2
    • Unarmed and Dangerous: Lacking arms, any hit on an arm location deals half damage (rounded down) to the highest health location (head, torso, legs (tail)). This damage is still affected by armour on that location.
    [X] Tide pools (11 Depth) Tiles in this room have pools where sea creatures live. Sometimes there may be treasure there. Increases Attractiveness to Delvers

    Upgrades (Pick up to 1):
    [X] Homeridean Heuristics (14 Depth):     All True Lobsters (i.e. not Spiny) gain the Martial Experience 1 skill.
    • Martial Experience 1 - This skill can evolve, granting a new Martial skill, given enough time. When this skill Evolves, it adds a new Martial Skill, and removes this skill. (Martial (+1)).
    [X] Crustacean Crèche II (20 Depth) - This upgrade allows the nursery to provide 1 additional surviving creature to each crustacean creature feature for the purposes of replenishment, and increases its footprint by 1 tile
    [X] Crab-Fu 2: Electric Boogaloo (28 Depth) - Any number of crustaceans with Crab-Fu 1 gain the skill "Spellstrike - (Lightning)".
    • Spellstrike – You can deliver a spell via a strike, throw, or loose. If you do, the spell is cast as part of that attack, doubling the weapon's normal range (double reach for melee) and deals +1 max damage of the spell's type (if it has one). When you learn this ability, choose a damage type: If you don't know any spells, or choose not to cast one using this, you still gain the +1 max damage of the type chosen. (In your character sheet, mark this as "Spellstrike - (Type)"). (Magical, Martial)
    Damage type: Lightning - When you deal damage, excess Lightning damage travels to the torso location - if all the damage in a hit is of this type, this includes when you would normally hit a disabled location.

    Crab-e Diem (Pick up to 1):
    [X] *Crickets* every tile is busy replenishing (nursery is helping)

    Note: learning an ability does affect the modifiers of non-named characters

    *Lobsters can barely move on land. It takes a lobster several minutes to move a few metres.

    A Mulligan will be offered next turn which (spoilers) will be a Seclusion in light of the changes to Rallying (which can now be done as part of a Basic Action in a significantly weaker form)

    Vote by Plan! Or Snippy WILL snip you!
    Also please show your work when planning Depth costs to help us spot errors and enact plans :V (Welcome back to school kids, we open at 8)
    Trivia: The rolls for this update are so bizarrely aligned that klinkerking felt the need to start checking the rolls, despite the deep trust between us :V
    Also Trivia: "If I didn't know any better, I would've assumed we paired the high rolls against each other." - Angus
    Also, also Trivia: We have a horrible suspicion something's fucked. Please let us know if you spot anything.
     
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    • Scheduled vote count started by KlinkerKing on Feb 19, 2022 at 5:33 PM, finished with 41 posts and 7 votes.
    togrowstrongerbetter55depth thunderstruck41depth Default
    • 5
      [X] Plan: to grow stronger, better (55 depth)
      -[X] We could feed her more… feed two extra depth
      -[X] Fix the Door (4 Depth)
      -[X] What they have learned, could be taught. (Gain Crustacean Crèche Teachers/Guardians as a tier 1 background)
      -[X] Driftwood Doors! We know about these! Where to put them? Hallway in front of the mound
      -[X] Brown Algae Seeds? These will bloom one day, maybe even soon! (may be useful for Crabriculture)
      -[X] Try to make something with Black Sand
      -[X] Flood the hallway connecting the shrine room to the lobster room
      -[X] Catfish. Put them in the 4x4 room
      --[X] make that room permanently underwater as well as the connecting hallways
      -[X] Crab-Fu 2: Electric Boogaloo (28 Depth)
    • 1
      [X] Plan: Thunderstruck (41 depth)
      -[X] We could feed her more… feed two extra depth (2 Depth)
      -[X] Fix the Door (4 Depth)
      -[X] What they have learned, could be taught. (Gain Crustacean Crèche Teachers/Guardians as a tier 1 background)
      -[X] Driftwood Poles! What do they do? Not sure… But, they can be useful. Soon?
      -[X] Brown Algae Seeds? These will bloom one day, maybe even soon! (may be useful for Crabriculture)
      -[X] Try to make something with Black Sand
      -[X] Permanent Air Pockets (7 Depth): This room is permanently protected from flooding (cannot be applied to the starting room)
      --[X] Put it in the big room to the right of the main room.
      --[X] Also flood the corridor to the shrine, so the lobsters can retreat as well.
      -[X] Crab-Fu 2: Electric Boogaloo (28 Depth)
    • 2
      [X] Learn and stand again (58 depth)
      [X] Learn and stand again (58 depth)
      -[X] We could feed her more… feed two extra depth
      -[X] Fix the Door (4 Depth)
      -[X] What they have learned, could be taught. (Gain Crustacean Crèche Teachers/Guardians as a tier 1 background)
      -[X] Driftwood Poles! What do they do? Not sure… But, they can be useful. Soon?
      -[X] Expand sideways (1 Depth per tile) X tiles (write-in)
      --[X] The underwater room, another 9 tile, south in a 3x3 pattern (9 depth)
      ---[X] Also flood the corridor to the shrine, so the lobsters can retreat as well.
      -[X] Brown Algae Seeds? These will bloom one day, maybe even soon! (may be useful for Crabriculture)
      -[X] Try to make something with Black Sand
      -[X] Catfish (Aquatic, Weight Class 3) (23 Depth)
      --[X] Put them in the underwater room.
      -[X] Crustacean Crèche II (20 Depth)
    Click to expand...
     
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    • 11. Seclusion 2 - Deeper
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    • Seclusion 2 - Deeper​

    The shrine is Skali's Place, so it is Skali who talks to Dappled every day:
    Dappled Conversion attempt (Skali) (DC10+8+3-1 = DC20) = 16+1=17 (6, 6, 5 -1 vantage from Language Barrier) = Attempt to decipher language progress (+17 roll, +3 Wise Hermit) (20/50)

    Skali's claws tap lightly against the stone cage. "Dappled, are you awake?"

    The dappled eel lifts a fin lazily and nods lightly. A smattering of unintelligible words comes from the eel, and Skali tries to focus. There's a pattern here somewhere, but she's not quite able to figure it out.

    "Well, I've got some extra food for you today." Skali pushes a few pieces of mackerel through the bars.

    The eel slurps it down like a maelstrom, clearly enjoying the flavour of the fish.

    The clerical crab once again tries to communicate with Dappled, but the language barrier complicates even basic concepts. After a few hours, Skali decides to call it a day. Perhaps next time will be more fruitful.




    Snippy ponders under the Radiant Daystar. Snippy made a terrible mistake that killed many siblings. Snippy is unhappy. These sibling snatchers left with barely a handful of severe wounds. Snippy could not defend the Benevolent Sleeping Shelterer. How can Snippy do better?
    [X] Snippy's friends are so wise - it is time for Snippy to be wise too (Gain Life Altering Experiences - Philosopher of the Crabby Cave)
    • Life Altering Experiences - Gain 1 tier 1 background area of your choice (Background) (Skill)
    [X] The Magnificent Sleeping Shelterer has need of many talents (Gain Jack of all Trades)
    • Jack of all Trades - gain all trade backgrounds as tier 4 background areas. (Background) (Skill)
    [X] Sibling Snatchers have tried to surprise Snippy, and Snippy will not allow it. (Gain Alert)
    • Alert - Gain 1 vantage on all rolls to detect hidden creatures and other things that move (Background) (Skill)
    [X] Write-in (Snippy gains a Background Skill related to the write-in (we'll interpret - don't overthink it))




    That evening, Skali and Snippy oversee the planting of algae seeds. There's nought to do but wait for the results after the small seeds are planted in the sandy soil.

    [X] Please wait warmly, seeds are being planted. Soon we will see the fruits of our labour!




    Two lobsters carry some black sand in a stone bowl towards the forge, and Skali's curiosity gets the better of her.
    Put Black Sand in the Forge
    Forging Project "Iron Forging" (DC 5/8/12/18):     10 (4, 2, 4)
    Forging Project Safety (DC 6/10/14): 11 (5, 2, 4) (minor injuries only)
    The heat and light is an interesting experience. Skali watches as the two lobsters pour black sand into a shaped stone. It begins to glow as the heat from the forge draws near. A plug is applied to the socket stone, and presses the sand together, and molten liquid flows out, dangerously close to the lobsters.

    A third lobster tells Skali the next stop will take some time. "That's fine, I'll go and see Dappled in the meanwhile."

    The cordite lobster booms loudly in acknowledgement, and Skali makes her way to the shrine.

    When Skali re-emerges from the shrine, two lobsters holding pieces of coral are managing a glowing hot, but very solid piece, and hammering down on it with a new rock.

    Unlock! Iron Smelting (Basic) and Ironworking (Basic)!

    Snippy surveys the borehole. The barnacles have mostly returned, and a new clam sits in the usual spot. Snippy hopes it will open and show its bright and shiny pearl; the closed shell is a stark reminder of his failures. Snippy returns to his siblings. Snippy knows a crab cannot change the past. Snippy will do his best going forwards!





    Mulligan
    ​
    In the initial version of the rules, Radiant Rally was just "Rally" and was the only way to Rally. However, with a closer examination of the system, we felt that making two specific Leader Skills the only way to play leader was removing creative and interesting builds, especially when it came to formation combat.

    As such, We have made Rally and its hostile counterpart Rout a suboption of the "Communicate Clearly" Basic action. This Basic version only lasts a single round, can only extend 1 benefit/harm, and cannot by default include another action, but is still extended to a number of creatures related to your leader modifier as before.
    In light of this, The Leader skills have been reworked to be functionally the same as before - including the attack/defend, increased number of options per use, and increased duration.
    However, we feel that with the change, your earlier choice to take (Radiant) Rally is not as strong or obvious a pick, especially since Snippy at his current size is more useful as a Leader of Crustaceans (although it is still a viable and valid one, especially in the future as you gain more Leader skills to reap the benefits more strongly)

    In light of that, we're offering you the choice again - this will not affect previous updates, and will represent a shift in focus rather than a retroactive change if you do decide Radiant Rally is not for Snippy at this time. Choose away:
    [X] Snippy keeps Radiant Rally
    • Radiant Rally – Your Rallies gain the following: (Leader)
      • Benefits last a number of rounds equal to your leader modifier
      • You can extend a number of benefits equal to half your leader modifier (min 1)
      • You can take the defend action as part of the rally action
    [X] Snippy gains Vanguard, losing Radiant Rally
    • Vanguard - You fight on the front lines with a commanding presence. When you or a Formation you are commanding is engaged in melee, the closest hostiles (or hostile Formations, if you are commanding one), up to your leader modifier that are near (or closer), cannot take strike actions against any target except you. Rallied allies gain 1 vantage on attempts to intercept hostiles targeting you. Routed hostiles lose 1 vantage on interception rolls against you next turn. If a hostile would be affected by this ability twice, it is affected by the leader with the highest modifier (Leader, Martial)
    [X] Snippy gains Paladin's Protection, losing Radiant Rally
    • Paladin's Protection – you do not age (though you can choose to let your appearance age, and as an action return to youthful looks), cannot become poisoned or diseased, and take 1 less damage from all sources. Additionally you may grow a magnificent beard and/or hair, even if you otherwise couldn't (Magical, Leader)
    -[X] Is Snippy growing his hair/beard? (Write in)




    There is a future to be had… After a nap…
    [X] We grow…Deeper
    -[X] Place a Staircase on a shrine tile.    ​




    [X] Relocation move existing creature feature(s) around (Write in)

    Trivia: with the winning vote for Crab-Fu 2, we almost called this update "Electric Boogaloo"
     
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    • Scheduled vote count started by KlinkerKing on Mar 7, 2022 at 5:34 PM, finished with 22 posts and 4 votes.
    • anewsagegrowsthierbeard
      [X] Plan: a new sage grows thier beard!
      -[X] Snippy's friends are so wise - it is time for Snippy to be wise too (Gain Life Altering Experiences - Philosopher of the Crabby Cave)
      -[X] Please wait warmly, seeds are being planted. Soon we will see the fruits of our labour!
      -[X] Snippy gains Paladin's Protection, losing Radiant Rally
      --[X] Yes, he grows a magnificent beard, one that is easy to maintain and practical.
      -[X] We grow…Deeper
    Click to expand...
     
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    Cancelling the Hiatus?
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    • Hey everyone! It's been uh… 2 years which....whoops. Sorry about that, we weren't trying to leave you hanging without declaring an actual hiatus, but the situation developed (in a manner which was not necessarily to our advantage)

    So we have some good news and some bad news:
    The good news is, we're back at it!! We're shoring up the system, writing the next update, and doing some long term planning that will....Hopefully make this a lot easier and prevent any more ridiculous soft hiatuses for everyone's favourite collection of crabs

    The bad news is these overhauls are a lot like rolling over a rotting log and collecting bugs. Constructs & Cages (the system I started design work on many many moons ago) is a mess. An awesome, incredible, worthwhile mess, but a mess nonetheless. Ya boi @KlinkerKing has poured blood, sweat, tears (courtesy of @TheCount 's greed), and ichor into it with me, and we are going places with it. What was once a system for Dyokinians to duke it out in is shaping up to handle units of all sizes, creatures of all shapes, and physiologies mundane and magical with a modularity that should frighten the Great Space Crab themself!

    I want to briefly touch on what ground us to a halt and what's brought us back now of all times

    2022 was a rough year for both of us. We ended up in a situation where the stress of our offline lives was affecting our ability to fix the clunk charm of Constructs & Cages, and making it a lot harder to reach the mighty and powerful QM consensus we need to punt out updates with any regularity.

    So why now? Well it turned out that we needed a few secret ingredients to scuttle out of our seclusion (in no particular order):

    I had to go away and play Lancer. Turns out experiencing more ttrpgs can really help you figure out solutions to major flaws in your grand designs

    We needed something to do together again - Klinkerking and I are great friends but we've not had a lot of hobbies in common recently. Turns out that our desire to spend time together will make us look at Constructs and Cages and say "yeah, yeah, we can totally fix this this time"

    We love the Crabby cave!! We actually have another quest that's on hiatus (Mercenary Boot), and it was ah...Not much of a competition for which one we were going to call back from beyond. Sorry Italy! We love you, but carcinization really has come for us all!!

    On that note: My life is inescapably tied to researching crabs for completely unrelated reasons! Once for the Crabby cave? Could happen to anyone! Again for a Lancer Mech? Pfft, coincidence!! A third time for a Pathfinder character?? Ok my life is a joke and I have been consumed by the Great Space Crab. (did you know I have a favourite crab species now? I know the scientific name and everything!!)

    So what are we doing? How long until we open the doors? Are the Sheltered critters of the Crabby Cave cruising for another bruising?

    Yes, yes, we can neither confirm nor deny these allegations!

    Ok but more seriously:

    We're dramatically improving our back-end documentation it wasn't *bad* before, but it was a little...cluttered? So we're getting more docs, more spreadsheets, the whole shebang. Some of them have autocalc features!! We might even experiment with a roll20 game where we can have macros for our rolls instead of....Ah, doing it all manually

    We're changing the resolution mechanic and vantage. It's a bold choice, but 3d6 and messing around with which dice you keep is way more computationally expensive on our poor brains than my limitless ambition bargained for! It turns out less rolls =/= less calculations, at least not always - in future we'll be rolling d20+vantage, where vantage is a smaller dice that gets bigger and more reliable when stacked (smallest sits at a d4, largest at d12, with no less than 8 steps each way compared to the old 3. Basically, old vantage was hella stronk, and insufficiently granular: this will make it a lot easier to reward you for decisions you've made, but will nerf a few traits, skills, and features that grant vantage - we might increase the amount of vantage they grant if they feel too weak!

    We're giving everyone more skills!! Ok, technically we're increasing the skills per level and formalising levels into an officially tracked thing. Basically this lets us cost skills more appropriately, create skill chains that make sense, and sidestep some nasty limitations on skill design that were causing our greed to choke on its tears. This will possibly lead to mulligans, but we're going to be extraordinarily sparse with them, because it's actually really hard to tell what in the blazes half these changes are going to do on a micro level, and we want to avoid a slew of votes over it, as well as any major disruptions to continuity. If there are any specific changes we announce that you feel will lead to past choices screwing you about, we will be happy to discuss them, and we'll run a vote on what changes want mulliganing if there's a popular enough demand (that vote is waaaay easier to run than an actual mulligan, and gives us time to prepare for any likely mulligan votes)

    As for how long… I won't speculate too concretely. We've picked up enough momentum that I don't want to keep everyone in the dark, and the next update doesn't require the full suite of modularity, so with a fair wind and a smile from fortune, we could maybe, just maybe, make your collective greed choke on its tears sometime towards the end of the next two weeks… Conversely, we could hit an evil dastardly snag that rings our next update out to the end of the next two months

    And for the last question… Well, actually, we really can't confirm or deny these allegations!! Stay tuned!!
     
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    • Snippy, the Bearded One (also, Angus)
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    • I love and remember all of you and your contributions

    I don't do much forum questing, but I read a fair bit of forum fiction, and when authors apologise for hiatuses, or slow updates or anything really, I tell them that we'll be patient - to take the time to live well and pop out updates they're happy with… and my goodness it feels amazing to have the community out here with the unstated equivalent of that. Thank you all so much for joining us on this quest!!

    And without further ado, have a crucial vote to help you wait warmly!

    We've asked you about the shape of Snippy's Beard, but what's it made of?

    [X] Hair of course! It's a     Beard
    [X] Barnacles! Snippy is a great (tiny) ship on the sea of life!!
    [X] Feathers, the soft and fluffy kind - luckily waterproof!
    [X] Seaweed, as befits a snipper so in tune with the Abundant Sleeping Shelterer!
    [X] Write-in
     
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    • Vote closed
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    • Scheduled vote count started by KlinkerKing on Mar 20, 2024 at 12:20 PM, finished with 13 posts and 10 votes.
    • [X] Colourful soap bubbles that never pop because he's cute and magical like that.
      [X] Sea Anemones - Of course the beard is made of the Greatest Allies of the Crab Nation
      [X] Seaweed, as befits a snipper so in tune with the Abundant Sleeping Shelterer!
      [X] Feathers, the soft and fluffy kind - luckily waterproof!
    Click to expand...
     
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    Skills & Traits - the new system's outline
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    • Hey everyone, bringing news from the frontline of Rules Documents here. Our main rules document has ballooned in size since we last posted in the thread, as a result of us bringing new flavour, as well as skills and traits with more advanced options and more progression with more granular power levels. We're making steady progress but there's a lot of work to chew through after we made the changes to the rules and systems at the start of this process, so while we can't get you an update just yet, I want to give you some insight into how we're pushing the traits system while you're waiting.



    As you can see, the traits here are lined up with Fire 1 coming first, and for a Trait like Fire Heritage it uses regular numbers instead of the Roman numerals we use for Skills. In addition, this new chain system allows progress through the fire heritage trait, providing new bonuses as the trait evolves. One part of the chain, Fire 3, also grants an activated ability which can be activated by paying the cost of 1 vigour and taking a Zero Action (an action with no cost, but that needs to be declared) - and the cost is denoted by the ";" that shows you what must be paid to take an action.
     
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    • Introducing Character Traits
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    • Hey folks, we've got another peek behind the curtain for ya!



    That's right, we've got personality traits with (mild) mechanical and (more impactful) narrative effects! This is the personality traits we've lined up for one of the characters in the quest. At the risk of it being obvious, would you care to take a guess :V ? Obviously this category will be part of the new character sheets when we update those

    ...Edit: In hindsight we have been informed we were not entirely clear, but these are traits we've decided on for a character in the quest, and that character will have these traits when they appear in the quest next time :p
     
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    • Dungeon Creator 2 - By the Light of the Pearl
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    • Dungeon Creator 2 - By the Light of the Pearl​


    QM note: we're not ready to go back to a regular upload schedule, but we do have a good portion of the next delve firmly underway! We're going to take the next little while to update the character Crabacter sheets and get all our ducks crabs in a row while you have this update (and maybe some apocrypha!) to chew on









    The shrine is a strange piece of our dungeon. At once, it is a sanctuary for our littlest crabs and a haven for the creatures of the dungeon in times of crisis, but it is also a pillar holding up the gates to a new floor.

    Skali has taught us many things about the Brilliant Sky Pearl since that fateful day Snippy sat on her shell:

    She started as the Mother of Molluscs, watching over her wards since the earliest days. In this duty, Nulumi reached out to the moon and coated it in reflective nacre. She became the Tide-Giver by her command of the moon. Truly, an impressive Kami.


    With the support of the Brilliant Sky pearl, we can support a new floor. Are we going up or down?
    [X] Down of course! We're going Deeper
    [X] Up! We Rise with the Tides!


    Something strange happens when we think about the prospect of a new floor, like a flood of memories we always had that were never there before. Crabs and crustaceans abound on our first floor, yet something tells us that the second floor could easily become a taiga or jungle, or even a mineshaft or haunted mansion! How strange…

    A new environment with new critters, or a continuation of an ocean of ideas? What a novel choice, but an oh-so-difficult one. Bah, decisions, decisions!

    What theme will our new floor have?
    [X] This is the Crabby Cave! We will have crabs and caves!
    [X] Write-in

    Oh, it's more to it than before? We have tiles to place? Ack, why is it so much work to go deeper?

    We have 9 free tiles to place, how will we arrange them? (the room the staircase is in will be part of the Shrine to The Brilliant Sky Pearl - meaning you will have a 3x3 basic shrine room to start off. See map for details)
    [X] Write-in

    Obviously, the tiles need something to go with them, that goes without saying. The question is, what?

    Choose a starting feature:

    [X] Mural of the First Reflection - A mural depicting the triumph of the Brilliant Sky Pearl. It is a beautiful set of carvings and etchings decorated with nacre and running water. They glimmer brilliantly when light shines upon them, and one large piece even shines in the dark... (Greatly Increases our Attractiveness to Delvers).
    -[X] Place the Mural (Room)

    [X]     Overgrown Toolbox - A toolbox, covered in local flora. It's completely rusted shut, and will need opposable thumbs to even try and operate the locking mechanism. Can't be opened by cave creatures, but it does look nice with hues of red and green. Increases attractiveness to Delvers.
    -[X] Place the Toolbox (Tile)

    [X]     Shaft of Sunlight: a small shaft in the dungeon which provides a lot of bright light to a room. This light has different effects depending on the environment and creatures inside of the room, from the obvious (creatures with light sensitivity may struggle) to large (plants grow faster, ice melts and refreezes, becoming slippery, etc.).
    -[X] Place the Shaft of Sunlight (Room)

    This is too much thinking, we should…
    [X] Go to sleep now. We'll be awake again soon enough…
    [X] Rest… just for a bit…
    [X] Take a nap, Snippy and Skali will wake us if it's important!
    [X] Write-in

    Vote by Plan! Or Snippy WILL snip you!
     
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