the new guy will get thrust into the action with my next post - which will happen . . . tomorrow.

Hammer - Just checking, but as I read your post Dok is NOT RUNNING.  Is that right?  As always, I'm not trying to sway your choice but as everyone else has posted that they are running I wanted to double check this one.  I will post tomorrow (Tuesday) based on this assumption unless I hear otherwise.  

One week since my last post - two posts up.  Lets get things posted!

A qujick reminder of game mechanics:

If you do run away as Hornet has suggested, remember that Thaoran and Dok are engaged in melee.  Retreating would result in an attack of opportunity against them unless they use their action (meaning forego attacking) to disengage.  I'm not trhying to encourage or discourage anything, just to make sure that you know the implications of your actions.

You asked about a current HP update.  I went back and double checked all of the posts to be sure my numbers were right. 

Thaoran   -13   out of 28    Current total:  15

Hornet    -18  out of 26      Current total:  8

Silver    -10  out of 21         Current total:   11

Dok     -27  out of 30           Current total:  3

Soledad    -11   out of 20    Current total:  9

Sleeping is going to differ a little depending on if you are standing over them or 20' away.  If you are right over them and essentially able to put a knife to their unconscious throat - I'd go with the "ahything but a 1" concept.  But if you are shooting at something at a distance it is more like attacking something that is grappled or otherwise unable to move.  (Technically the target is also prone - which should give you disadvantage on the attack, but in this case that seems silly.)  So I ran it as an attack with advantage. (Roll two d20 and take the higher roll.)  The chances of hitting were extremely high - but I remember the actual rolls - a 1 and a 4.  I groaned for you.  

I'll get some updated HP numbers shortly.

Webs, sleep spells, arrows, spears and rapiers – the battle continued to rage in the gulley before the Vargolg. Having retreated deeper into the brush Thaoran fired an arrow at the last goblin both alive and awake on this side of the web.  The creature was about to bound after the retreating party when Thaoran’s arrow took it clean in the throat.  The creature dropped to the ground adding one more to the tally of dead goblins. 

               Hornet saw the goblin fall and determined to make sure the sleeping gnoll never rose – he lined up a shot o the sleeping creature’s eye and let loose his bolt.  But luck was against him as an intervening branch caught the arrow and sent it winging off into the brush.  (Yes, even with advantage on the shot the roll wasn’t even close.)  Cursing his bad luck Hornet moved deeper into the woods and attempted to hide.  He wasn’t sure hiding would work in the midst of combat, but if the enemy was distracted at all they might focus on others and not notice him.  It seemed to have worked, but he couldn’t know for sure. 

               Silver decided to launch a firebolt at the cave entrance,  Archers periodically popped out of the entrance to shoot and she aimed to greet one of them with a firebolt.  But her aim was a bit off and the blast of magical fire instead smashed into the door next to her target.  The creature seemed surprised to find itself the target of a blast, but was unhurt.

               One of the gnolls leapt forward and smashed his spear at Dok who was took a solid blow but stood his ground.  (-5hp)  The dwarf took a step back but this was not his first battle.  He was able to maintain his concentration on the spiritual weapon.  Meanwhile the lone goblin still trapped in the web stared at the oncoming flames, the whites of its eyes proof of its terror.  It struggled mightily against the pull of Soledad’s magical threads but could not escape.  Its screams echoed down the gulley as the flames caught the creature and quickly silenced it. 

               Having maintained his concentration on his spiritual weapon Dok used the weapon to slash at the gnoll that had just hurt him, but his timing with the weapon had not been good all combat.  It missed.  Looking past the large beast the dwarf aimed a guiding bolt at the entrance to the Vargolg, hoping to stem the flight of arrows piercing his companions.  Just as he fired his blazing bolt a pair of goblins stepped forward to launch their arrows.  The one on the right took the guiding bolt square in the chest as it raised its bow.  No shot would be fired as the creature was blasted backwards into the cave.  Dok didn’t really see it die, but he was sure no goblin could withstand that square of a hit. 

               Soledad saw the gnolls move forward and decided to launch a firebolt at the closest.  Her bolt flew forward but only glanced off the large hyena-like creature.  A miss.  She grimaced but knew that she still had work to do – her web would likely last for one more turn and she needed to maintain it – it still held back the hordes of the Vargolg, if only briefly.  She moved another 30’ back along the trail and into the brush.  She was close to the limit of her range on the web, but it only needed to last for one more turn.   She could still make out the gnolls to target, but nothing else of the battle was visible to her. 

               Arrows continued to fly from the cave, coming in waves even as one of the archers fell to Dok’s bolt.  5 arrows came, but none was able to find its mark amongst the partially concealed party.   The other gnoll now bounded forward and lashed out with his spear at Tharoan.  The elf staggered back as he took a blow.  (-7hp)  It was a hard blow, but he stood his ground knowing the gnolls needed to be taken down quickly. 

Overview

The web should hold back whatever is in the Vargolg for one more round.  After that the path will be clear.  Most of you are a little over 30’ from the cave entrance – Soledad is a bit more than 30’ beyond that.  The only creatures alive and awake are two gnolls who are in melee with Thaoran and Dok.  2 goblins and 1 gnoll are also asleep.  For a description of the broader gulley look back to the previous post. 

Total Killed so far:

Goblins:  16 goblins and 1 gnoll

Currently asleep:  2 goblins (1 wounded) and 1 gnoll (wounded)

Well, if the game continues, Mathjis will be here.

I should get the next post up Wednesday evening.  

We need a Silver post and things can move on.

I will be working iwth the new character through PMs to get him up to the current game state.  When appropriate we will drop him into the campaign to post on the thread.  In the meantime - the rest of you can post.  

I need a couple more posts.

For the most part you are welcome to use any of the books and different class features you want.  There might be some things I will veto, but I'm trying to be open.  I'm a little inclined to leave Eberron out as the mechanical stuff really doesn't fit this campaign, but even that I might be able to work with.  

I typically don't worry about encumbrance or ammo unless it becomes silly.  Try to carry an entire armory and I'll put in some limits.  Keep things reasonable with a big sack of loot and I'll ignore encumbrance.  Shoot a ton of arrows and I'll make you buy more, but in general don't waste time with it.  

Welcome to the Red Dragon Inn.  I love play by post and hope you will enjoy our game.  You are certainly welcome to join the game.  You can send me a personal message if you want through the site if you want - it will likely be the easiest way to get thigns set up.  The first question I have is simple - how much 5e experience do you have?  Some folks I can just say "go make a character" and others need a bit more help.  Either is ok.  

The party is third level at the moment - and fighting for their lives.  (Why does everyone always ring the doorbell on every dungeon?  Do they really think the monsters won't respond intelligently?)  I would  suggest reading the first post in the Q&A thread as well as the start of the main game thread.  You are certainly welcome to read them all (Or maybe just my posts since they incorporate much of what the players wrote.) to get caught up but that might be a lot.  But at least check out the first couple to see how we are doing things.  I believe it is the top of the Q&A that will give you some basic game function stuff.  We do have the characters set up on the D&D Beyond site becaue it is an easy place to look them all up, but that isn't strictly necessary.  I can get you a link for our campaign.  

So . . .what type of character do you want to run?

****The rest of you - posts are still needed.  We do not need to wait for the new player.  He will get put into the campaign as soon as he is ready and I have a good spot.  For now, you need to survive this fight if he is going to have a party to join.  

Well, there is a new post for you to respond to!

Well, as for the embed site, that is a bummer.  If there is another way to get you images let me know.  I'll look into doing it on D&D Beyond, I just prefer to keep the game here.

As for fancy footwork - this is why you need to keep me on my toes.  Glad the attack didn't hit!  Feel free to include details like this when doing your posts so I don't miss them.  I try to look at character sheets every time, but it is easy to miss.

If anyone knows how to get a picture loaded on this site I'd love to hear it.  When we first started this game I was able to load a couple of images using the bytenbit site that Tann told me about.  But now the last several times that I try to use it to generate a link I can embed it just sits there spinning.  Ihave a drawing of the gulley to make things clearer for you guys, but I can't post it!  

The battle rages on.  The web, starting to smoke and burn near the cave entrance still stood between the group and whatever numbers the Vargolg still had to spew.  But even so there were monsters in front of the party and attempting to work their way through the web. 

               The first to act was Thaoran who retreated back into the trees.  The group needed to evade the arrows  and fight from cover.  He was prepared for arrows this turn in case any came his way, but it seemed likely that they would target those more exposed.

               Silver had two goblins near her and reached out with her blades to touch someone.  The first landed a solid blow and took down a goblin, who seemed surprised to find a rapier sticking out of his chest.  The other took a blow across the arm – damaged (-3) but not badly.  Hearing a call for retreat and recognizing the wisdom of such a move, Silver slipped back amongst the trees.  The eyes of the goblin she had just wounded lit up as his enemy appeared to flee and he swung his blade at the retreating elf.  (Attack of opportunity from one foe) but missed. But she could tell her retreat would be pursued. 

               Hornet launched what he hoped would be a critical attack on the wounded gnoll’s vitals but discovered that the creature’s armor was better than it appeared as his blade skittered harmlessly to the side.  It was no killing blow.  With the creature still alive and swinging in front of him he disengaged and moved back into he woods.  Surely the gnoll would follow him, but if it gave the group a respite from the arrows it would be worth it. 

               All of this retreating left Dok as the only character still standing tall (for a dwarf) in front of the brush and he was thus the target of the first attacks of the beasts.  One goblin swung at him and missed, but the gnoll did not miss.  The creature charged and planted his spear squarely on the sturdy dwarf.  Many a fighter would have been done in by such a blow but the dwarf, though staggered, still stood.  (-10 HP) Even more impressively, though knocked backwards a bit into the brush he was able to hold concentration on his spiritual weapon spell.  (Con save made.) 

               Dok was ready to attack but before he did the witch got back into the fight.  Still holding her critical web spell steady she threw out a sleep curse hoping to take down as many of the enemy as possible.  Aiming to target those on the party’s side of the web but not snare any of her group mates, there were still 5 enemies directly in her target zone when she fired off her curse.  Even amongst the brush she pumped her fist when she saw the wounded gnoll topple over.  Two goblins, including the one Silver had wounded, also succumbed.  That left two – the gnoll that had attacked Dok and one goblin alive and fighting on this side of the web.  Of course, there were still those in the web and in the cave. 

               Seeing the wounded gnoll he was about to attack fall asleep Dok shifted his spiritual weapon attack to the other gnoll but couldn’t connect.  His mortal axe, however, dealt a heavy and mortal blow to the lone goblin still standing directly in front of them.  The creature was flung to the side by the force of the blow.  Dok now found himself with nobody directly in front of him.  The gnoll was there, but a bit off to the side.  Seeing the rest of the party retreat and free for the moment of a melee opponent the dwarf followed the lead of the others and slipped back into the woods.  (FYI – Hammer did not specify retreating, but since (A) everyone else retreated, (B) he was not currently engaged in direct melee to provoke an attack of opportunity and (C) it is hard to change plans in mid round as events unfold in a posting situation, I made what seemed the obvious choice.  It seemed highly unlikely that a player would want to leave their character standing alone as the only target for 6 archers and perhaps other attackers.) 

               Still in the web were 2 goblins and 1 gnoll.  Seeing enemies in front of them and flames behind them they strove to break free from the web.  The first goblin seemed to only ensnare himself further and failed to escape, but the other goblin and the last of the visible gnolls broke out of the web and rushed towards the party’s position.  There movement was accompanied by a flight of arrows from the cave.  The arrows smacked into the trees around them, but somehow two still found their mark – Hornet and Silver (-4hp each) both took shots. 

Overview

You have now all moved 10-15’ back into the brush/trees.  From this point you have partial cover from any arrows shot at you.  (This means they roll two attack dice and use the lower of the two rolls.  It is a lot harder to hit but as you noticed, hitting is still possible.)  None targeted Thaoran so he did not use his shield spell.  On your side of the web there are two uninjured gnolls and an uninjured goblin.  Asleep on the ground are 2 goblins (one injured) and 1 gnoll (badly injured.)  They are currently 10-15’ away from you and so not in melee, but they will easily be able to reach you and attack next turn.  (At least one of those gnolls moves before Dok and Soledad.)  Soledad is another 5’ back from everyone else.

               In the web there is only one goblin.  The web is now clearly burning.  If the goblin does not escape the web next turn he will get burned.  Your best guess is that it will take two full rounds for the web to burn completely away leaving the path open from the cave entrance.  If there were no web in the way you are a little over 30’ from the cave mouth.  FYI – most humanoids move 25-30’ per round so that once the path is clear anything from inside the cave could reach you at the start of the second round.  6 more arrows came from the cave this entrance. 

               Bigger picture:  The gulley was about 20’ wide at the end – where the entrance to the Vargolg is located.  It does widen out slowly as you go towards the river.  There is about 80’ of gulley behind you.  Except for the path it is full of brush and scrub and is difficult terrain – but you can move through it.  Right at the end the brush gets very thick, and you must go through the gap/entrance in the brush to get out of the gulley.  At that point the brush is very thick (If you remember, the intent was clearly to make the gulley unseen.) and attempting to get out by pushing through the vegetation would be possible but very slow and difficult.  The river is about 20’ beyond the end of the gulley, which puts it about 100’ from your current location.  At this location the river is quite shallow – easily fordable.  But it gets much deeper quickly either upstream or down. 

Total Killed so far:

Goblins:  13 goblins and 1 gnoll

Currently asleep:  2 goblins (1 wounded) and 1 gnoll (wounded)

Gotcha

I knew it was in there somewhere and there was a reason I let it happen before . . . .

Post coming.

I was working on the post and have a couple of qujick questions.

1.  Tann - why does Silver get two attacks?  Sneak attack gives extra damage if a foe is engaged with an ally, which they are.  But that is extra damage not an additional attack. 

2.  To be clear - only Thaoran is actually moving back into the woods?   

3.  Hornet - There is no point in disengaging if you don't move.  Disengage is what allows you to move out of melee without provoking an attack of opportunity, but if you don't leave combat it does nothing.

4.  In tabletop you would know the initative order - you can sort of identify it here.  Thaoran, Silver and Hornet go first.  Then maybe some from the web.  It is a little unclear because the exact individuals have changed.  Then Dok and Soledad.  The archers go last.  I mention this because it matters.  If Thaoran is one of the first to go and he retreats, then he will be gone before the archers shoot.  They won't shoot at him.  Whoever is left up front will be the target of arrows.  I'm not saying you should change your plan, I just want you to realize the implications of the archers going last.  You would know that detail if we were sitting around a table.  

5.  The other thing about your going first is that the three at the top would go before anyone else - this includes before anyone else could move out of the web.  

6.  It will likely take a couple of rounds for the fire to take out the web.  So it won't go immediately, but its days are numbered.  

You do not need to change any of your actions unless you want to do so.  I am simply making sure that I understand your decisions and in a few cases making sure you understand the implications of turn order.  

I'm hoping to post soon.  4 of the 5 of you have posted.  We are missing Thaoran, but he has been asking some questions so I know he is tuned in and just trying to figure out the fight move.  

D&D does allow for some pretty amazing healing when you take a rest.  The concern right now is if you will make it to that rest.  

I will send you a PM with Thaoran's info.

Terrain - the gulley extends back 100 feet or so towards the river.  It gradually gets wider.  The path winds a bit as you go and the bully is filled with brush and brambles.  Right now you are right on the edge of the woddy stuff - there is a 20' or so open space between the last of the brush/trees and the cave opening.  That space is filled by the web - and you and a few monsters on the edge of it.  If you backed a way into the trees you would escape the arrow fire. 

Go 10' or so and you will have partial cover.  (This means they attack with disadvantage - they roll two attack rolls for each attack but use the lower number.)  

Go 20' or more and you will have full cover - you won't be targetable by arrows from the cave opening.

Three things to consider.

1.  If you go 20' back or more you will no longer be able to see the cave opening.  

2.  Soledad needs to stay within 60' of the spell or it will dissipate - it has a 60' range.

3.  Look at what I posted above - moving back does run the risk of provoking an attack of opportunity.  

Yes, Dok can keep the spiritual weapon and bolt at the same time.  What he can't do is cast another spell that requires concentration.  If he cast bolt he wouldn't be able to attack with his act.  He gets one action (either his normal axe or a spell like bolt) and a bonus action - which would be attacking with the spiritual weapon.  He can also move.

If the group thinks about retreating remember that if you are in melee with an opponent and you leave melee - they get to make an attack of opportunity against you.  You can prevent this by using your action to "disengage."  But then you don't get to attack as that was your action.  You can also run - this takes both your action and your movement.  In this case you would move double your movement rate, but get no attack - and potentially provoke an attack of opportunity.  If that doesn't make sense or you want to be sure how it would work just ask.  

If running is the plan just be sure you coordinate as that is the sort of thing that could get ugly if someone is left behind.

Do you have the character sheet for Thaoran?  I sent it when we first started.  It lists all of Thaoran's equipment among other things.  You have one potion of healing.  You can take a potion as a bonus action.  You get movement, attack and one bonus action per turn.  So you could attack and take the potion on the same turn if you wish to do so.  

By ringing the doorbell on the Vargolg this is a big and dangerous fight.

The first to act was Thaoran.  Frustrated by his failure with the bow and again facing a goblin directly in front of him, the elf switched back to his rapier and in one smooth motion brought it out of its scabbard and sliced down the front of the creature in front of him.  The beast snorted a bit of smoke and toppled over.  (-7HP, dead.)

               Silver pushed the attack on the goblin in front of her.  Surrounded by enemies the goblin didn’t know if it should worry about Dok’s axe or Silvers’s blade.  It made the wrong choice.  When it attempted to duck under an expected axe blow, Silver’s blade caught it on the upswing and literally sliced the thing in half from bottom to top.  (A crit 20 on a sneak attack?  Now that ain’t fair.) Somehow surprise was written all across its face – both halves of its face.

               Hornet was now faced with a gnoll directly in front of him.  The creature already sported one of his bolts sticking out of its side and now the elf added a matching wound from his rapier on the other side.  (-5hp).  The creature was bloodied, but not out of the fight. 

               Two goblins remained directly in front of the group and they now sought to land some blows of their own.  The first struck at Dok but found the dwarf hard to hit.  It was a clean miss.  It was hard to tell if the screaming ball of darkness impacted its movements or not.  But as Silver admired the two halves of the goblin bemusedly falling to the ground another goblin slashed at her and gave her a cut on the leg.  It wasn’t deep (-3hp) but it did remind Silver that the fight was still not close to being over.  The gnoll in front of Hornet wound up and rammed his massive spear into the ground where the elf stood.  Had stood.  Hornet had swiftly stepped back after wounding the creature and avoided a blow that would have done a lot of damage had it connected. 

               Dok used his spiritual weapon to swing at the gnoll but again was frustrated as the beast dodged the attack.  But the goblin in front of him was not so lucky when facing the dwarf’s more earthly weapon.  It seemed the dwarf had gone to the Silver school of wounding as his blow took the goblin’s head clean off.  Goblins it seems aren’t all that much taller than dwarves and this one certainly wasn’t any more.  (Crit 20 for -10HP, dead) 

               Soledad hunkered down in the brush to present as small a target as possible.  When Dok’s axe hit she saw the victim of her illusion fall.  There was now just a black spot of darkness and screaming hovering in the middle of the battlefield.  But with no one in particular to be its victim she dispelled the minor illusion and threw a similar ball of darkness at the gnoll facing Hornet.  She still wasn’t sure if it had done much good, but looking at the two halves of the one previously targeted she could at least assume it hadn’t helped the beast. 

               And now those in the web fought to gain freedom.  With three dead goblins the group again faced only one but that was not to last.  Of the 5 goblins in the web 3 of them broke free and charged at the group.  There were also two gnolls still in the web – the two that had charged out of the cave mouth last turn.  One of those struggled with the web and failed to get free.  But the other was luckier and in a burst of strength broke free and stumbled out of the web directly towards Dok.

               But there were yet more enemies in this fight.  Again, arrows came at the group in waves.  Two, then two more, then two more.  Smart enemies were always an annoyance on the battlefield.  Three of those arrows flew true.  Thaoran took the hardest hit.  (-6 hp)  But both Dok and Silver found themselves feathered with shafts as well.   (-3HP each.)

               Even more disturbing, a goblin appeared to be reaching out with a torch to light the web on fire.  As they had seen before, the web would burn, but not in one quick flash.  It would take a couple of turns to burn away if they got it alight, but it would burn.   There were still two goblins and one gnoll caught in the web and such a fire would not be enjoyable for them at all, but they still had a little time to escape.  But if the web burned, the path from the Vargolg would be opened for whatever remained inside.

Overview

The basic situation hasn’t changed much.  Four of you are lined up across the gulley with Soledad hidden behind.  Three goblins were killed this turn, but you now face on your side of the web 4 goblins (1 survivor and 3 new ones) and 2 gnolls (One badly injured).  In the web are 2 goblins and 1 gnoll.  In the Vargolg -6 arrows came at you and one goblin holds a torch while hunkering down in the doorway.  You don’t know what else. 

Total killed so far:  11 goblins and 1 gnoll.

***Neither Silver nor Soledad posted this time.  I basically just had them repeat their actions from the turn before.