Lonely Tylenol
2014-02-25, 06:37 AM
OK, so in my long-running E6 group, I have two members of the party who are essentially on solo adventures in the coming week: The first player is a blind Vow of Poverty monk (who has, being voluntarily blind, made some accommodations to his character to adapt to his blindness). The second is a Shadowcaster who is temporarily blind.
The situation is as follows:
The party (which consists of eight people) traveled by flight for several hours to find a portal to the Plane of Shadow so that they could attune the Shadowcaster to her staff. When they finally got to the portal, they cleared out the there creatures that had been corrupted by the Plane of Shadow, and then--just as they were stepping through the portal--the monk declared that he had no desire to join them in the Plane of Shadow, and went back down the mountain on foot. The rest of the party joined the Shadowcaster, so the monk was left to go alone.
Following the lore of her weapon, the Shadowcaster and the rest of the group sought out the Blinding Tower, and were able to make it there with relatively little difficulty. When they made it at last to the Blinding Tower, the entire party ventured into the light--and every last one of them was stricken blind. The Shadowcaster listened for guidance from the staff, and alone was led to the location of the actual tower, where she awaits the final trial to ascension.
The result of all this is: I now have two characters who are completely separated from the rest of the party--and also completely blind.
The reward for this Shadowcaster is something I concocted a long time ago (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250972) (the third tier of the weapon's legacy, and the upgrade from Shadow to Shade as described here). As such, I would like the inside of the tower to actually have some meaningfully difficult trials, and perhaps even consciously incorporate the blindness aspect--but I'm not sure exactly how I should go about this.
There is no reward for the monk here; he simply made a decision that caught me flat-footed, and now he's several towns away, in the wilderness, alone, and blind. Saying "you arrive in town a few days later" seems like something of a cop-out, since navigation itself will be difficult, so maybe I will use this opportunity to throw him some largely environmental challenges, and perhaps an encounter that develops his morality a bit (ambushed by impoverished bandits, or something; he can choose to simply fight them down, or, if he hears them out, help them).
I guess I wasn't expecting to have to challenge two players to overcome their characters' blindness in two very different ways at exactly the same time, so I'm caught more than a little off-guard here. Do you have any pointers?
The situation is as follows:
The party (which consists of eight people) traveled by flight for several hours to find a portal to the Plane of Shadow so that they could attune the Shadowcaster to her staff. When they finally got to the portal, they cleared out the there creatures that had been corrupted by the Plane of Shadow, and then--just as they were stepping through the portal--the monk declared that he had no desire to join them in the Plane of Shadow, and went back down the mountain on foot. The rest of the party joined the Shadowcaster, so the monk was left to go alone.
Following the lore of her weapon, the Shadowcaster and the rest of the group sought out the Blinding Tower, and were able to make it there with relatively little difficulty. When they made it at last to the Blinding Tower, the entire party ventured into the light--and every last one of them was stricken blind. The Shadowcaster listened for guidance from the staff, and alone was led to the location of the actual tower, where she awaits the final trial to ascension.
The result of all this is: I now have two characters who are completely separated from the rest of the party--and also completely blind.
The reward for this Shadowcaster is something I concocted a long time ago (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250972) (the third tier of the weapon's legacy, and the upgrade from Shadow to Shade as described here). As such, I would like the inside of the tower to actually have some meaningfully difficult trials, and perhaps even consciously incorporate the blindness aspect--but I'm not sure exactly how I should go about this.
There is no reward for the monk here; he simply made a decision that caught me flat-footed, and now he's several towns away, in the wilderness, alone, and blind. Saying "you arrive in town a few days later" seems like something of a cop-out, since navigation itself will be difficult, so maybe I will use this opportunity to throw him some largely environmental challenges, and perhaps an encounter that develops his morality a bit (ambushed by impoverished bandits, or something; he can choose to simply fight them down, or, if he hears them out, help them).
I guess I wasn't expecting to have to challenge two players to overcome their characters' blindness in two very different ways at exactly the same time, so I'm caught more than a little off-guard here. Do you have any pointers?