Old Ways OOC III

[Matthew]

Yes, indeed. Lots of choices, I do not think we are dead set on one course of action. Might be that the cure is amongst the possessions of our enemies!

[Nevaera]

That's right! I really think it's in our best interests to press on.

If we can capture the dark priest guy, we can try to coax him into fixing us! :D

We'd have to travel as soon as bandaging has been finished with. Mycah and Aditi, or just Mycah, can follow the tracks from the point where we last saw the priest.

He probably doesn't have any more snake bag tricks or even the magic left to activate them. He fled cause there was little to nothing that he could do still and he didn't think he could protect himself beyond what he had already done. He is probably seeking safety with allies, but I doubt Ederick is going to be with him as he's probably at the Immortal Spider site and working on that. Otherwise, he might have been here with the priest to help out.

I'll bet Ederick is over a day away and we can press on to find the dark priest tonight. The short term afflictions will be worn off and there are still a couple spells available to us, plus potions for emergencies and a wand of paralyzing too. We'll have the advantage.

That's what I think. Any takers?

[Frivolous]

Roland, just to be sure and because my head hurts a bit, how many days' travel is it to Verge?

[Koren n'Rhys]

I don't recall the mention of us being three weeks out of Verge already. If that really is the case, then there is no use turning back now. Anyone who is diseased won't make it that long - I think Alanna would be able to tell us that much. No, we need to press on and try to find a solution as we go.

I have a feeling you're right about the priest being out of magic, else he'd have stayed longer to try and finish us. Mycah should be able to track a horse with eth extra weight of a rider, I'd hope.

[Roland St. Jude]

Roland, just to be sure and because my head hurts a bit, how many days' travel is it to Verge?

Eight. Approximately. You're on your eighth day out of Verge with no delay due to weather or combat until now.

It took you six to seven days to get from Threshold to Verge.

[Nevaera]

Oh, good. I'm glad. It seems I must have misread the information before. I was in a hurry, so I didn't have time to check first.
I've checked now and of course it is as Roland said, ~ a week from Verge and two weeks from Threshold altogether.

Awesome. Two solid votes to press on.

[Frivolous]

Roland, may I ask if the dead men had any armor?

If so, the hirelings might be able to trade up. The best they have is chain mail, as I recall.

[Roland St. Jude]

I'm going to err on the side of caution in moving things along. Let's say we're 10 minutes after combat by the time people are basically done tending wounds.

Though the characters don't know it, Ash still has about 70 minutes of paralyzation and Athos has 100 minutes of silence.

Also unbeknownst to the characters, the dome is continual darkness, so it's permanent.

[Kish]

Which means that Aditi says her last line whenever she can catch Alanna outside of Athos' silencing radius.

[Nevaera]

Alright guys, make some healing checks, tend to the horses, build a fire - whatever you have to do to make some time pass. I'm running out of internal monologues!

Happy Halloween!

[Roland St. Jude]

Happy haunts!

Indeed, let's have some action. I don't like to suggest options, lest this become a choose-your-own-adventure book, but do you want to move out immediately or wait for Ash and Athos' obvious problems to wear off.

Aditi's problem is more subtle, and if she doesn't reveal it, it's unlikely to be apparent to others.

Finally, waiting out the dark dome will result in a long wait.

But it matters for purposes of timing how long you stay here as well as where you go next.

[Kish]

Actually, Aditi's still at 4/12 hit points. She'll reveal that she's not being healed as soon as she finds out someone's already tried to heal her.

[Roland St. Jude]

Wait out Ash's condition or go now? Mycah and Nathros seem at odds. Let's have a swift player decision and get this game moving!

[Gwendol]

Press on!

Also, I travelling this week and next which may impact my online presence. I should be able to post once a day.

[Kish]

Go now. If we're going forward, giving the priest who just decimated* the party hours to get away would be disastrous; if we're going back, we have no reason to wait.

*Anyone who is thinking about making a joke about this not meaning what I think it means, please look it up in a dictionary first.

[Nevaera]

I say we press on after the priest.

I don't think we should allow our party to overlap with his until our temporary disadvantages have worn off and a proper account has been taken of everyone's condition and remaining spells.

I suppose Ash could be put in the cart for now.
Everyone could also maybe be split into three groups along the trail with:
Mycah, Alanna, Bran/Nat, Neela at the front
Athos, Ash, and the horses in the middle with the Silence effect occurring a safe distance from the others
Brandon or Nathros at the back with the hirelings and Penny

Aditi could pick where she goes.

Also, maybe we need some actual heal-skill checks?

[Koren n'Rhys]

Move on it is then - Mycah is a reasonable fellow and can be convinced.

I wonder if we should put Athos in the middle to take advantage of the silence radius to cover our travel while it lasts. We can hear outside noise while within the area of effect right?

[Kish]

I'm not sure how the Healing skill works here. Can Aditi try to heal herself?

[Roland St. Jude]

We can hear outside noise while within the area of effect right?

Oddly, yes. Sound generated outside the radius can be heard even by those inside. So it's less like Silence 15' radius and more like No Sound Generation 15' radius. I think I might have to houserule that in the next BECMI game I run, because I think that's silly, but not problematic enough to change on the fly.

I'm not sure how the Healing skill works here. Can Aditi try to heal herself?

Yes. If you have the Healing skill, you can roll (skill checks are roll under your relevant attribute) and, if successful, heal 1d3 hp. Not that on a natural 20, the healer inflicts 1d3 hp of wounds. This skill can only be used once per set of wounds, so it's often better to let the person who is best at it go around and heal everyone, time allowing.

I also ruled very early in this game that this skill could be used mid-combat. In case that ever comes up.

Finally, a heal check can be used to determine more about diseases.

[Gwendol]

I have healing +1, whatever that means. Does it make me the designated healer?

[Kish]

Guessing relevant attribute for Healing is Wisdom, so Aditi will not bandage herself.

If Alanna doesn't explain why Aditi's become immune to magical healing, Aditi will try to figure it out, but I doubt it'll come up.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Oddly, yes. Sound generated outside the radius can be heard even by those inside. So it's less like Silence 15' radius and more like No Sound Generation 15' radius. I think I might have to houserule that in the next BECMI game I run, because I think that's silly, but not problematic enough to change on the fly.

Just for curiosity's sake - what was the spell he used, then? Not actually Silence, 15'r? Was it done via Command instead?

[Roland St. Jude]

Guessing relevant attribute for Healing is Wisdom, so Aditi will not bandage herself.

If Alanna doesn't explain why Aditi's become immune to magical healing, Aditi will try to figure it out, but I doubt it'll come up.

Actually, it's Intelligence.

Just for curiosity's sake - what was the spell he used, then? Not actually Silence, 15'r? Was it done via Command instead?

No, the cleric definitely cast Silence 15' radius. I'm just saying that, having re-read the spell to confirm this little oddity, it certainly functions more like "no sounds generated in a 15' radius" than actually creating silence in that radius.

I'd prefer it did the latter, so in my next game, I'll probably houserule it to do that.

[Frivolous]

Roland, can any of us figure out if the gems we found are really valuable, or do we need a nonweapon proficiency none of us have?

I'm asking because it may be we have the snake charmer's pay in our possession.

[Roland St. Jude]

Roland, can any of us figure out if the gems we found are really valuable, or do we need a nonweapon proficiency none of us have?

I'm asking because it may be we have the snake charmer's pay in our possession.

The rules suggest a Profession: Jeweler/Assessor or something of the like is needed. I'd also accept a background in the gem trade or the like. I don't think anyone has the experience to really say, though if your party dwarf wants to take things in a "dwarves love gems" direction and claim some history there, I'd allow it.

Otherwise, they're nicely cut and look attractive, but beyond that you can't really say.

[Matthew]

I am happy whether we press on or not, but it looks like the ayes have it!

[Nevaera]

Brandon Bor...
[COLOR="Blue"]"This is going to sound weird, but.... I'm thinking about hiring him."

Ooh! Kind of like Mal hiring Jayne Cobb!

How to roll the healing skill check:
Roll under your Intelligence score (after modifiers) and you have a success. Then, if you've succeeded, you can heal an automatic 2hp or opt. to roll with a chance of 3hp, though there's the risk of getting a 1.

The idea of using the silence spell's effect to obscure our noise as we ride is pretty good. I don't think it'll be active on us by the time we reach the priest, but it'd be cool if it were. (We could even use it against him! :D ) But we won't be able to hear each other at all, so that'd be a downside.

Good luck, guys!

[Gwendol]

Heal checks (1d20+3)[12]
(1d20+3)[21]
(1d20+3)[10]

[Nevaera]

Hmm, I think you are supposed to apply your bonuses to the DC (your Int score) and then try to roll Under that. Rolling high is good with fighting or saves, but Low is what you need for Skills.

Also, perhaps designate who you're healing with each roll (usually accompanying your rolls on the same post).

Sorry for not thinking to elaborate and be more clear on this stuff earlier. I was in a hurry to go pick up my daughter. >.<

Edit: By my calculations, the middle one would have failed, but the first two should have succeeded.

[Roland St. Jude]

There are no bonuses to the roll. Having a high Int is its own reward because that's your roll DC. The only possible bonus (other than situational DM-adjudicated ones) is if you spend additional skill slots on an existing skill, you get a +1/additional slot.