[OOC] Heart of Darkness (Part II)

[secretID]

Dice Arcana:

1d20+5

(16)+5

Total = 21

Dice Guidance if possible:

1d4

1

[Mindsiege]

I can confirm, it really sounds a lot like a beholder. Jimmy would recognize as much.

@edit:
Please narrate casting Guidance simultaneously with listening to Gwynn's explanation. It's definitely possible, but rather compulsive behaviour.

[secretID]

Originally Posted by Mindsiege

I can confirm, it really sounds a lot like a beholder. Jimmy would recognize as much.

Well, fortunately I don't think Jimmy would be any less cautious with a beholder than with gas spores. I'll assume that he at least knows that beholders are evil, intelligent, and very dangerous.

[Mindsiege]

Recognizing gas spores would certainly be more of a nature check.

But yes, beholders don't fit the description of harmless or compliant at all. The description of a single eye would also only fit in if it were some sort of lesser beholder, but even then those are typically intelligent (as well as evil) and these have been surprisingly quiet. Plus Gwynn keeps referring to them in the plural, which would be a bit curious in concert with everything else. Jimmy would be prone to consider the inconsistencies.

If you want to have Jimmy make that nature check, I don't mind. He can even do another Guidance, though I'll say that for Jimmy the DC is pretty difficult.

[secretID]

Dice Nature, w/Guidance:

1d20+2	(15)+2			Total = 17
1d4t	1	Running Total = 18

I think we've bumped into a slight stylistic difference. I imagine it as Jimmy IC wondering, "What could that be?" then the DM telling the player what check is needed to identify it. Anyway, you can let me know whether Jimmy experiences it as two different checks (and Guidance castings).

[Mindsiege]

Probably a difference in style. I like to consider the backstory, narrative progress, and skill proficiencies of a character while making knowledge checks. I don't really like producing knowledge from thin air, but in the WM there are little backstory or lore established, so a lot more handwaving needs to happen. In this case the adjudication went as follows:

1) Declaration of intent for Jimmy to recognize an existing creature based on the given description
2) Multiple more or less well-known creatures are possible with no character knowledge canonically established or announced by the player
3) Checking the skill proficiencies, Jimmy has Arcana but not Nature, each predicting what he could know about
4) Beholders fall into arcane research and are more well-known, so Jimmy rolls on it
5) With a terrific result, Jimmy receives confirmation that the description fits a creature type which he recognizes well
6) The player confirms further scrutiny of the result at a time when Jimmy's result allows him to recognize inconsistencies
7) Given that the player considers alternative answers as possible and together with Gwynn's hint that Alysha would be an expert, Jimmy has enough cause to reattempt with a Nature check
8) Jimmy fails the Nature check, but it's close enough to deliver some partial knowledge or to deliver the correct result with an added complication

In this case, I'm choosing to resolve Jimmy's knowledge as a recognition that this is most likely not an aberration. He is not aware of what a Gas Spore is or about its abilities, but he has heard rumours of floating plant-based creatures that would fit better with this description than a lesser beholder. You may move forward with that as you will. Yes, these were two checks and two applications of Guidance. We aren't in Initiative, so we don't need to assume that it took Jimmy 12 seconds. It was probably more like 7 seconds spent in thought and praying soulfully.

[secretID]

I won't post until tomorrow at the earliest, but I thought I'd check in on my RP-related thinking. Independent of rolls and OOC knowledge, to my ear she's just being objectively suspicious, or at least obnoxious. She sounds like a high school bully or mean-spirited practical joker at best, so I wouldn't have any of my reasonably intelligent PCs fall for this. I don't anything OOC is affecting that for me.

[secretID]

Originally Posted by Mindsiege

I took a bit of liberty here because with any maneuvering to get a good look, Jimmy would have gotten closer to Gwynn and the darklings. As well the intent seemed to be clear about him Investigating the scene while getting a better look, and although you didn't mention it you were consistent in letting him follow spiritual guidance whenever there was the time and it wouldn't have been conspicuous. This was the case here, so I chose to be beneficial while saving time on a back-and-forth which would have been an unlikely negative reply from you.

Perfect.

Would you please tell me a bit about distances? Ceiling height? Gwynn is the closest to the party? How close? And how close is bundle?

It sounds like at least some broke formation. Who in the party is closest to Gwynn, et al.?

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

I won't post until tomorrow at the earliest, but I thought I'd check in on my RP-related thinking. Independent of rolls and OOC knowledge, to my ear she's just being objectively suspicious, or at least obnoxious. She sounds like a high school bully or mean-spirited practical joker at best, so I wouldn't have any of my reasonably intelligent PCs fall for this. I don't anything OOC is affecting that for me.

I trust you to play your character and I would be surprised if Jimmy took everything at face value here. The critically failed insight only means that Jimmy can't detect any insincerity in her expressions and speech, which would be at odds with how insincere Gwynn looks to be from the outside. How Jimmy interprets that is up to you. My RP tip, focus on any inconsistencies and don't let Jimmy drop his caution, that way it should all flow naturally.

Originally Posted by secretID

Would you please tell me a bit about distances? Ceiling height? Gwynn is the closest to the party? How close? And how close is bundle?

It sounds like at least some broke formation. Who in the party is closest to Gwynn, et al.?

The ceiling gets higher deeper into the cavern, but within your current area it's roughly 25' while the maximum it goes is about 40' in the center. The tarp ceiling is about 12' above the ground. The "bundle" takes up a big portion of the tarp to the southeast. For the rest I drew a crude map. It doesn't fully suit my vision but I didn't have more patience, so let's go with that.

 

[Mindsiege]

The point is, failing an Insight check doesn't rob the character of their rationality and anything that's obvious doesn't need to be disregarded only because of a bad roll.

[secretID]

Thanks! - this helps. You said the bundle is in the SE - did you mean SW? - right above Jimmy?

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

Thanks! - this helps. You said the bundle is in the SE - did you mean SW? - right above Jimmy?

Yes, I meant southwest. Jimmy would assume that he has just passed it and isn't directly beneath it any longer. Sashaya would be just at the edge, presumably.

[secretID]

Ah. I'm glad I asked for the visual - I had no idea that it was overhead at the entrance. IIRC, the party knows how to retreat and come around to approach from...the NW? Or am completely misremembering?

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

Ah. I'm glad I asked for the visual - I had no idea that it was overhead at the entrance. IIRC, the party knows how to retreat and come around to approach from...the NW? Or am completely misremembering?

That's unfortunate, I was hoping that my narration was explicit about the contraption's arrangement.

Boanagh can guide you to take any of the other two entrances, however it's far more of a detour than the current distance suggests. At least an hour of travel, but I'd have to look at it more closely, it might take longer.

About the other two entrances, Gwynn had claimed to Jimmy that her party has barricaded them.

[Mindsiege]

Quick correction, I just noticed in my notes that the elder's name is Glynn not Gwynn.
I'll edit it in the IC thread at least, that's an annoying mistake.