(079) What a Gnome Knows

[Tonneau]

Zax, getting tired of doors that don't open onto treasure hordes, strides across the room to the door opposite and opens it. Surely this one leads to something more interesting than mouldy flour: a greenskin, a pile of gold, or combination thereof?

[ehiker133]

Finally seeing where they are, Leudigar passes a message up the line, "We've been here before. Go straight through the kitchen and through another ransacked pantry until you get to a T-intersection. The right passage slopes down and is unexplored. The left passage retraces our hobbet-party steps."

[Eris]

"Right." Freid says from near the front, "We're right behind you guys."

[The Red Baron]

Passing through the underground kitchen, Dopey feels almost at home...almost, not quite, he thinks noting the questionable food and grimy table.

[waysoftheearth]

Zax strides directly across the kitchen, up two steps to open the slightly raised door opposite. Beyond he spies yet another goblin tunnel... this one curving slightly toward the right, while 30-40ft along, another open archway forks to the left. Do these tunnels every end?

The Herald is right behind Zax, with the main party hastening to catch up; strung out along the passageway between the mess and the kitchen. Leudigar's advice is passed up along the line, but is yet to Zax's ears. If the gnome won't pause, those behind him will have to run to catch up!

The ref dices for a random mishap: 1d6=6, so bing!

The main group took an additional turn to search the mess hall, while Zax and the Herald pushed ahead without pause. Therefore Zax and the Herald are in front. The remaining 10 members are about 60-90ft behind them (that's about one move; it could be as much as two moves, but I'm assume the main party has already caught up by one move). So, assuming single file and roughly 5ft intervals between players, the main company of ten players is in line that stretches about 50ft or so.

The direction from which this encounter comes is going to determine who "is there" at the pointy end. Details forthcoming...

[waysoftheearth]

Can the assistant ref please update (currently missing Gerhard) and/or confirm the underworld marching order is correct? It looks like it has been nine months since it was last updated, so... I just want to be sure the players are still happy with it.

Please assume the tunnels are generally 5-7ft wide; good for single file on the move, or possibly two abreast defending a position.

Zax and The Herald are about to exit the Kitchen. The next player in the marching order is about to enter the Pantry, behind them. The remaining marching order stretches back in the passage that curves thru a 100ft arc from the mess hall around to the pantry door (with two other passages forking from the main arc along the way).

[Eris]

Freid got a start before most of the rest of the trailing group, so he should be near the front of the main group. Maybe not first (3rd behind Zax & The Herald), but pretty close.

[waysoftheearth]

Karl was keeping a watch at the first intersection as the rest of the players passed by, and Dopey had to run to catch up, so--unless their players tell me otherwise--I imagine these two would currently be at or near the rear the rear of the marching order.

Akbar and Fried both posted comments implying that they were closely behind Zax and the Herald as they pushed ahead, so I imagine these guys are currently near the front of the marching order.

[flightcommander]

Indeed — Akbar is ready to get "stuck in".

[waysoftheearth]

Here is a mud map for approximate orientation:

  Code:

```````````````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````+-----------+```
```````````````````````````|```````````|```
````````````````````___----+````Mess```+--`
``````````Dark---._/```````|```````````|```
```````Passage```/`````````+------I----+```
`````````````````d````````````````I````````
`````````````````K``````````````+-I-+``````
`````````````````a``````````````|```|Kitchen
`````````Main``/``G```````+-----+```|``````
```````Passage/````LWkfz-A-F````|```H-Z--``
``````````````````````````+---------+``````
````````````````````````````Pantry`````````

Z Zax the Gnome
H Brother Herald
F Fried the Fighter
A Akbar the Fighter
z Zem the Dwarf
f Faengol the Elf
k Kianna the Elf
W Wetzel the Fighter
L Leudigar the Tracker
G Gerhard the Medium
a Sister Arian 
K Karl the Fighter
d Dopey the Hobbet

The marching order has been fiddled; this is what we're going with for the imminent encounter.