Tanea, Halfling Shaman (female)
... only to explode back into motion as the rats come to an abrupt halt a short distance away, twisting their heads right and left and sniffing the air curiously. All of them! I stand and stare until the sickening sounds of violent deaths snap me out of it and I swirl around trying to figure out how the others are faring. To my horror, I can see Web crouching by Origi's body and .... WHAT IS HE DOING?! No words ... I have ... no words ... for ... this. Through the fog in my mind, it slowly registers that the Dwarf Cleric, Roosevelt calls him Gilius, and Loradan congratulate me while Gods Challenge is uneasy about this. Aparently the silent Drow took control of one of the nightmares too. And Roosevelt killed one of the nightmares, but he seems shocked when he tells us. Like Loradan, he wants us to leave, only he wants it, because something broke, and he wants to cover our backs against the remaining nightmares. Gods Challenge wants us to stand out of his way, as he throws his hammer "Flaming Hammer" into the dark tunnel in hopes of shedding some light on possible dangers awaiting us ahead. I clear my head and after he threw it, I tell the rats to go a little ways up ahead, back the direction they came from to stay away from the trap, that Shins is considering to rearm. Their behaviour should also warn us, if something else tries to come at us from deeper in the tunnel. And of course, by them staying away from the main chamber, I'm hoping we won't get noticed by that giant centipede. It sure would do no good, if it came our way. I stay with Shins and BenKii. Alert and my staff ready. I might not be able to kill an assailant, but my staff and reflexes might let me avoid taking a hit, so I'm hoping. This is when I notice the silent Drow pass, oddly enough, giving all of us a wide berth, like we were contagious. Well he isn't silent anymore, as he says to the Half-Orcs to stay close to him to maximize their chances of survival. I don't know what to make of that.

Tanea, Halfling Shaman (female)
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58 - FlockeSchnee - Tanea - Halfling Shaman
As for now:
I stay with Shins and BenKii, determined to use my staff and reflexes on anything and anyone that might attack us.
After Rufus threw his hammer, I send the rats a little ways back up the tunnel (the direction they came from) so they stay away from the trap and the centipede and their actions then may at least warn us, if something else is coming our way from up there.

Strigon- Drow Necromancer

Do we let the controlled rats move towards nightmares and make them fight each other OR send the rats into the chamber where they start attacking other players ?

So what is the group consensus regarding formations ?

One team:

38 - ZyloxDragon - Roy Jenks - Half-Orc Battemage
4 - sasuke12 - Strigon - Drow Necromancer
63 - Genocide2099 - Fish - Half Orc Berserker
74 - runnerex - Yeenwi - Drow Necromancer

Other team formation:

13 - paladin181 - Roosevelt - Human Paladin
25 - BenKii - BenKii - Human Warrior
40 - Pouyou-pouyou - Gilius - Dwarven Druid
45 - phaolo - Loradan - Elven Mage
57 - ConsulCaesar - Siegfried - Human Paladin
58 - FlockeSchnee - Tanea - Halfling Shaman
67 - Testor0 - Rufus - Human Cleric
76 - Lemon_Curry - Shins A'Hoy - Halfling Thief

Is that what everyone wants for the bonuses ? Numbers are very uneven though.

(The "problem" is that Shins seems to be the only one able to detect traps. So either the small group walks up front alone and into possible traps or Shins with you and might get killed, when one of his saving throws fails or the big group walks up front and will lack firepower, when it inevatably comes to the next fight. At least that's what our options look like to me. The tunnel is 6 people wide. Regarding proximity Doc stated "Next too or within a few feet of". Would it work if both groups walked two abreast left and right? But then the big group would be four rows of two. How would battle work? Especially with keeping the distance from the other group in the heat of battle.
I'm just thinking out loud, here. I have no idea how to solve this.)

( IMO the side-by-side idea doesn't work, we would still be affected by the penalties.
So it's only one group ahead and the other one behind.
If drows & orcs are able to resist their fighting urges, they could follow us at a distance as a rearguard.

This, however, after we deal with the remaining Nightmares.
As I said before, 2 of them never left the ceiling, so it would be good if we managed to avoid provoking them.
Just kill\control the last one and then leave )

Yeah, one scout type character will make things a little more challenging. I'm going to agree with my orc brethren on using a rat or two as fodder, sending them in front of us to set off some traps. Their size/weight might make that harder though.

I'm going for having the team formations bing more mixed with different classes. If the all drow/orc team gets hit, that's a big chunk of magical firepower that could disappear quick with a few bad rolls.

As far as these leftover nightmares... if one's on the ceiling decide to attack, I'll cast a Web at them. Otherwise, I'll if the dwarf is still having issues with the 2 nightmares, I'll throw a web at the one that looks the least hurt.

( IMPORTANT: I read here that Doc changed the rules for spellcasting.
Before you had N casts in total for the entire game, but now it's only for 10 turns and then they recharge. )

Current Actions Summary:

40 - Pouyou-pouyou - Gilius - Dwarven Druid
I order my stone elemental to go back, charge and smash the nightmares to help Peloquin to reach us.
Meanwhile, I'm waiting for the others to go forward to follow them.

45 - phaolo - Loradan - Elven Mage
"Good job Tanea, that was impressive!" Loradan said triumphantly to the halfling shaman.
"Now people, let's move ahead in case these animals will decide to snap out of their trance."
"And someone kindly check our path for traps, please."

13 - paladin181 - Roosevelt - Human Paladin
++ROOSEVELT WILL ATTEMPT TO HELP PELOQUIN BY GETTING RID OF THAT NIGHTMARE, THEN RETREAT WEST FURTHER INTO THE TUNNEL, GUARDING THE PARTY'S BACK AGAINST THE NIGHTMARES++

74 - runnerex - Yeenwi - Drow Necromancer
Yeenwi orders the Nightmare under his control to attack the second Nightmare that is attacking Peloquin. then quietly starts moving down the tunnel in order to go past the group of confused rats, while at the same time taking care not to be too close to the others going the same way to avoid them having the -2 negative effect. While doing that, he says to Fish and Roy Jenks: "Stick close to me, guys, if you want to maximize our chances of survival."

57 - ConsulCaesar - Siegfried - Human Paladin
I will wait until the result of this spell (Yeenwi's Control Undead), then if any Nightmares are still attacking us, cast Turn Undead and attack with my silver sword. If there are not a danger anymore, then I will run with the others.

68 - Peloquin - Dwarven Thief
1. I recoil from both Nightmares, keeping an eye on the one determined to attack me. If there's a shadow nearby that I can conceal myself with, then I do exactly that.
2.I swap my Light Hammer for my Shortbow. Will my enchanted arrows work on these two Nightmares and paralyze them?
3.from the cover of the shadows, I shoot the first arrow at the Nightmare not under the Drow's influence. And if I miss, I shoot a second.

67 - Testor0 - Rufus - Human Cleric
Rufus places himself for avoiding any partner.
He launches his Silver Light-Hammer on Fire toward the end of the dark tunnel, budgeoning any creature that would be there. He looks accurately the way and retrieves the returning weapon.

25 - BenKii - BenKii - Human Warrior
I stand next to and follow Shins A'Hoy protecting him from any dangers he may face.

58 - FlockeSchnee - Tanea - Halfling Shaman
As for now:
I stay with Shins and BenKii, determined to use my staff and reflexes on anything and anyone that might attack us.
After Rufus threw his hammer, I send the rats a little ways back up the tunnel (the direction they came from) so they stay away from the trap and the centipede and their actions then may at least warn us, if something else is coming our way from up there.

38 - ZyloxDragon - Roy Jenks - Half-Orc Battemage
As far as these leftover nightmares... if one's on the ceiling decide to attack, I'll cast a Web at them. Otherwise, I'll if the dwarf is still having issues with the 2 nightmares, I'll throw a web at the one that looks the least hurt.

63 - Genocide2099 - Fish - Half Orc Berserker
Fine. I'll stick with the drow necromancer for now. I don't trust any drow or anyone who controls the dead. Any sign of a double-cross, I'll bite your head off and keep it is a reminder not to trust your kind.

4 - sasuke12 - Strigon - Drow Necromancer
Strigon realized that his close presence was hurting Siegfried the human paladin, so Strigon decides to follow Yeenwi - Drow Necromancer down the tunnel.
Unless, Siegfried says that he wants Strigon to stay behind him as a back up, the Drow Necromancer will follow closely others down the tunnel.

Haven't taken turn yet:

76 - Lemon_Curry - Shins A'Hoy - Halfling Thief

Awesome at-a-glance recap. Thx! ;)

( Well, my implied action at this point was to simply move forward with the group, after the last Nightmare has been dealt with.
I'm confident that 5 people will manage to defeat the last one on the ground.
However, if the other 2 on the ceiling will start descending, I could cast some spells. They seemed quite ineffective before, tho. )

( What?! I missed this. That's a bad idea IMO, we should keep the rats behind us.
What happens if you lose control of them and then we'll end up between those rodents and the centipede?
The greatness of your previous success was that the group could move on!
We should just leave those beasts in the middle of the tunnel. If they'll snap out of the spell, they'll just stay there with noone in sight. )

Fish - Half Orc Berserker

Fine. I'll stick with the drow necromancer for now. I don't trust any drow or anyone who controls the dead. Any sign of a double-cross, I'll bite your head off and keep it is a reminder not to trust your kind.

(I think I found your action. It was where Loradan was talking to the group so I guess what he was saying could be implied as to what he was going to do next.)

(Also added Fish's action.)

Action Summary Updated

Strigon realized that his close presence was hurting Siegfried the human paladin, so Strigon decides to follow Yeenwi - Drow Necromancer down the tunnel.

Unless, Siegfried says that he wants Strigon to stay behind him as a back up, the Drow Necromancer will follow closely others down the tunnel.

Action Summary Updated

If you need help to survive a fight I won't hesitate to lend you a sword, but for the time being this would be a more efficient way to stand formation.

~~~~~~
Siefgries the Human Paladin