Expedition - Blackjack/Logging Trip- 02 May 2021

[Marullus]

The roller has been broken all day so I had to wait until I could get home and get real dice.

Alcide is pale. "Grumpbear... Never been this close to one." The grumpbear munches greedily and noisily on the deceased prisoner. Alcide takes up the position specified by Blackjack and braces his spear. Earc leads Pingu quietly behind the lines. Blackjack takes up his axe and tosses the firebrand onto the pile of oil-soaked tinder wrapped in a bedroll.

The fire catches for a moment, then flares, roaring to life. The grumpbear is startled, leaving the corpse aside. It then snarls in anger, looking at Blackjack with the focus of a low, mean intelligence. It lunges at Blackjack and Alcide with another roar, leaving the second prisoner humming and unscathed behind him.

Actions?

[Alethan]

Earc Orctongue

Hoping it works better on the creature than Alcide, Earc brings one of the hollow tubes to his mouth and fires a dart into the bear-ish creature.

(On my phone right now and pressed for time; if you want to roll for me, that's fine. Otherwise, I'll get it maybe later this evening.)

[Spearmint]

Blackjack Amistad

Seeing the beast lunge, Amistad will try to step to one side to avoid being crushed by the creature. He will then swing his axe at the bear.

Axe melee [1d20+1] = 11+1 = 12 Axe damage [1d8+1] = 1+1 = 2

That should hit AC6. Can Amistad attack and use his totem power in the same round?

[Marullus]

Can Amistad attack and use his totem power in the same round?

Nope, need to pick one, and need to choose before rolling dice. We'll swing the axe this round.

[Alethan]

Dart [1d20+1] = 10+1 = 11 Damage [1d4+1] = 3+1 = 4

[Marullus]

The bear lunges at Blackjack, a twelve-foot tall mass of fur and teeth. Blackjack dodges deftly to the side, the bear's teeth closing on nothing. Blackjack swings his axe around as well, but a glancing blow - to his dismay, he shaves a mat of hair off the creature's flank but his axe doesn't break its thick hide. Alcide quails as the creature charges, his braced spear nowhere near the creature's path. Earc uses the metal dart launcher, but the shot goes wide; a practice shot with a new tool. (subtract one of the special darts.) The captive remains humming, Pingu backs up in concern; the bear continues its frenzied pursuit of Blackjack.

Rolls:

Bear's initiative [1d6] = 6
Group's initiative [1d6] = 4
Bear attacks: [1d20] = 6 [1d20] = 3 [1d20] = 3
Alcide attack [1d20] = 2 [1d6] = 3

[Alethan]

Earc Orctongue

Earc tries again...

Dart [1d20+1] = 6+1 = 7 Damage [1d4+1] = 3+1 = 4

*sigh*

[Spearmint]

The crawler still humming bugs my mind. Either it is in a trance doing a death wake until he is eaten or it is communing in some way, with what or whom? The bear is clearly a hybrid creature, do you think the crawler summoned it even though it attacked one. Maybe it had not taken full control of its' mind yet?


Blackjack Amistad

Amistad dodged some very dangerous attacks, the claws and bite of the bear. He realizes his luck will not last out and needs to do something different. Amistad shouts to Alcide, pointing at the tied up captive crawler. Shut that creature up, he may be coercing it in some way.

Then Amistad drops his battleaxe and having dodged the bear and should at least be flanking it, he tries to take up a position where bears cannot get at foes due to their short arms....he is going to attempt to jump on its back and scream a 'wild lion' totem inspired war cry down into the bears ears....

not sure what to roll...

difficult dexterity roll: [4d6] = 15 even if he grips the beast and falls off, i hope he gets the earshot away. Maybe it will drown out his own death screams....

[Marullus]

Blackjack yells for Alcide to silence the humming captive. Earc launches another dart at the bear, a second of the custom projectiles skittering off into the trees.

Blackjack, his tribal totem gripped in his fist, leaps from the bear's flank. A mighty, manly move certainly worthy of legend, he makes it halfway up the grumpbear's back in that leap, clinging to its fur for only a moment. In that moment he opens his mouth and, to Earc and Alcide's shock and surprise, the immense roar of a lion erupts from his maw. A moment later, he lands on his rump.

The grumpbear quails and breaks. It turns abruptly and flees into the night, branches snapping in the darkness as you hear it go. Alcide heaves his spear across the campsite after it, but misses. As the bear's crashing gets further away, the captive stops humming and sits silent, unmoving next to the bits of his partially-consumed companion. Alcide steps to retrieve his spear, then stands a moment listening to the bear recede and looks at Blackjack with a confused expression.

Day: 05 May 2021
Time: 1:30 am
Light: Campfire (Sunrise at 5:21am; Moonrise 6:04am with 5% illumination)
Status: Alcide mildly injured.

[Spearmint]

Blackjack Amistad

Amistad beats his chest like Tarzan. "The spirit of my warrior fathers' dwell in me, we shall know no fear." He brushes himself down, bruised from the fall and gathers the weapons. "My father would have ridden the beast and broke his spirit, I should pray more for their strength and courage. Well done guys that was close."

I don't think leaving in the dark is wise, so some new fire bundles and a new watch over the camp and captive. We can leave after sunrise.

[Alethan]

Earc Orctongue

Earc leans against a rock, hand pressed to his chest. "By the gods..." he mutters, trying to catch his breath and stay upright as the rush of adrenaline passes through his body.

After a moment, he carefully retrieves his gear, morning the loss of the two darts. Then he thinks to check on Alcide to see how the scout is doing.

"I don't even know if I can rest enough to recover my spells at this point, but I can try..."

[Marullus]

Alcide thanks Earc for his concern. "Ain' never seen a grumpbear up that close. Worse than I've heard described. Ain' never seen a man roar like a lion, either..." he comments to Blackjack. "You got some strange blood, to be sure."

The group settles back in fitfully. Alcide offers to trade watch shifts with Blackjack to allow Earc uninterupted rest. The sun rises early, but Earc sleeps in to refresh himself for another day of the unknown. Earc rises finally and studies his tomes. Alcide helps Blackjack pack up the supplies and take Pingu to harness up the logs. All is ready about 10:00am for the journey home.

Day: 05 May 2021
Time: 10:00 am
Temp: 60 F
Wind: 9-11 mph SSE
Light: Sun.
Status: Alcide mildly injured.

Confirming: you intend to keep the sledge on land (1/4 movement), but follow the Orctongue River's course southward. You'll be cautious by the Cyclops Trail, but are not going half-movement to search/explore along your route. You'll work your way southward to the Halfling's Mill on the ford, then follow the road back to the town. Correct?

[Spearmint]

I think that is about it. With the movement rate being so slow / rate, surely we can do some exploring or get Alcide to hunting some small dinner on the way?

We will be pulling the captives as well, chained to the logs. I did ask before about how far it was and estimate the length of time it would take by this longer route, so we could plan rations. Aiming for a nights camp at the ford before last leg of journey. Use one herb concoction on Alcide to heal him up. Blue Tormentil marked off and rations from sheet.

[Alethan]

We will be pulling the captives as well, chained to the logs.

OOC: There is only one captive at this point. The other done got himself et.

Maybe taking the logs by the halfling community isn't a bad thing? Look for buyers there for them?

As long as it only takes two days to get back, Earc is good with rations. But anything more than that and he'll be going hungry unless we take the time to hunt/forage.

So we're already at 1/4 movement because of the sledge with logs? What is the anticipated arrival time at that rate? And would exploratory movement be 1/2 of the 1/4 rate? So... 1/8?

[Marullus]

Judging by your map...

• It is complicated by the river bending away from the town as it does, partway along your route. If you leave the river at the forest's edge and go straight overland, it is about 22 miles to the city gates.
• If you follow the river to the Halfling ford, that is 24 miles, then it is another eight to the city gate, for 32 miles total.
• I think I quoted you a faster rate of movement for floating the log raft, but that it split the group because someone has to take the horse on land. Going the longer distance at almost twice the speed could be a better future option. (System-wise, this treats the river like a Road for travel.)
• Pingu is a draft horse. His movement speeds are here. He can carry 450 normally, 600 with a cart at full speed, 1200 with a cart at half-speed, or 1200 with a sledge at quarter-speed. We're assuming you loaded the sledge to its normal max weight with the wood (which bends physics slightly) and he is at 1/4 speed.
• As a draft horse, his original speed was only 90, not the 120' of humans. So, he moves at 1.5mph base. x 1/4 for weight x 2/3 for forest = 0.2475mph, or four hours per mile to drag this sledge through thick forest and your map estimates 12 miles to the forest's edge.
• So, we'll say that using the river is like using a cart. Same weight but twice as fast because of not dragging. So, if you roll the logs into the river, you could move at 1/2 speed instead of 1/4, or 0.495mph, 2 hours per mile with Pingu towing along the forested riverbank.
• When you get to the forest's edge, you move from forested (* .66) to plains (*1). You can continue towards the Halfling ford for another 12 miles, or overland to town for 10. Overland is 1.5 x 1 for fields x .25 for weight which is .375mph. Along the river with floating logs to the ford goes (1.5 x 1 for plains x .5 for weight with the river counting as a cart) = .75mph to the ford. Then you are using a road for the eight miles from the ford to town which is 1.5 x 1.5 for road x .25 for weight as a sledge for 1.78 hours per mile.

You can calculate the travel times for your desired routes and estimate days-needed from there. Please let me know which route you pick.

[Alethan]

Why are we 12 miles from the river? Or are we near the river and I am misunderstanding what you are saying? If we are 12 miles from the river, then we're leaving the logs. We have to. Because we don't have enough rations to even get the load to the river. If we are near the river, then taking them down to the halfling ford might be do-able. Might even be assumed that they are using the water for things like water-powered mill grinding and saw milling, so we consider selling them there. But it is unrealistic to consider taking the logs back any other way. We are talking more than two weeks of travel time if you count sleeping and rest breaks.

[Marullus]

Sorry for the confusion. First, my math was twice as slow as it should be. Moving in the forest reduces your speed by 1/3, not to 1/3. So, we need to multiply by .66 when in the forest, not by .33. I fixed all those errors and made things a little clearer in the post above.

To your question, you are not 12 miles from the river. You are right by the river, as that was your plan. The river runs 8 to 12 miles downstream through forest before it reaches the plains. Going is harder in the forest.

Lets take a look at the revised map, because a visual will help:

• It is four miles into or out of a hex center. It is four miles along a hex face. It is eight miles across the center of a hex between any two non-adjacent phases.
• Following the river from the juncture in the woods, it is 12 miles SSW to where the river bends. From there, it is 12 miles SSE to continue along the river to the halfling ford (#3), then eight miles to use the road to get from the ford to town. OR, you leave the river at the bend and continue SSW overland 10 miles to the town's north gate.

Does that help?

[Marullus]

I think that is about it. With the movement rate being so slow / rate, surely we can do some exploring or get Alcide to hunting some small dinner on the way?

Yeah, I guess that seems fair. He's got 75% of his day free, I can allow a hunting check. Plus, you do get a Foraging check for the group every day anyway. I only mention it when it is fruitful.

[Alethan]

yep, much more clear. I think Spearmint should make the decision, as Blackjack is the logger. As long as we don't run out of food, And stay relatively safe, Earc doesn't care which way, though he would prefer the fastest route.

[Spearmint]

Not sure I understand your maths and certainly if you think it is going to take him 8 hours to move. 1 mile then we are certainly not spending 96 hours or four days just to get out the forest! ....by your calculations it would practically take 10 days just to get to out the jungle...? I think your calculations are wrong.

Reading the stuff I understand that the horse moves at 90 ( carrying up to 450lbs), but can carry 900lbs at half speed? A draft horse can drag, not carry twice as much with no penalty. So dragging 9 logs at 100 lbs each on a sledge should keep him at 90 ft per round modified to 60 ft per round due to the 1/3 reduction of the forest.

As a racehorse owner I work in furlongs which are 1/8 mile or 660 feet, so at the above speed the horse will drag the logs that far in 11 minutes and therefore drags 1 mile in 90 minutes give or take. So 18 hours concentrated continual dragging to clear the forest then ...direct to logging yard...unpenalized speed of 90 ft per round dragging the 10 miles equates to less than 9 further hours to Gaul.

I think that is reasonable to do?

If we start now we could be back in town for early evening tomorrow.