[OOC] Heart of Darkness (Part II)

[Mindsiege]

After resolving the first round after Tink was pulled out, I've realized that there won't be an opportunity to skip any further turns from now on. I've tried to give Jimmy's party as much activity as he would have been able to achieve in the short time span.

[secretID]

Can entangle be cast on a wall or ceiling where individuals are walking?

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

Can entangle be cast on a wall or ceiling where individuals are walking?

I'll allow it.

[secretID]

I'm not sure I'll need to know this soon, but I have a few questions:
1) How far is it from the opening of the big area to the first bend in the cave Jimmy currently occupies? Is it just that little bit showing on the map you posted?
2) How do Darkness (15' radius) and a Control Flames-boosted torch (40' radius bright light), based on the same point (held object), interact? Does the bright light area exist outside the Darkness area - i.e., is the sum effect a 40' radius bright light sphere with a 15' radius Darkness center? That's the way to the spell reads to me, but I think other interpretations are reasonable.
3) How would targeting someone at range in the middle of Darkness work? There's obviously disad to anyone without a sense to perceive the target, but what about even aiming to the right spot? With total blindness, I would make a roll with a low chance to aim for the right spot; I think that came up recently in Getting There. Arguably, one could target the right spot by aiming for the center of the Darkness sphere. Personally, I think I would still require some kind of roll to choose the right spot, because though it's easier to guess, aiming for the center of a 15' radius sphere would not be guaranteed.

[secretID]

For purposes of writing my post, I'm assuming that Jimmy succeeds in calling Boanagh back; let me know if that's in question, and I'll adjust.

[Mindsiege]

1) I could go back and search what I've said before, but how about we just say Jimmy is 80' from the bend. Does that work for you? Either way, it's not on the map, the map shows the small bit of tunnel behind the bend.

2) The darkness from the Darkness spell drowns out all light. If a light source is swallowed by the darkness, it effectively produces no light. There are interactions between the Darkness spell and higher-level light spells that make a difference, but for the purpose of natural light sources or a boosted torch, Darkness wins out absolutely.

3) As you know, this part of the rules is annoying to adjudicate. I personally handle it like this: If the character can locate the creature sufficiently, I'll allow the attack as if under the Blind condition. If the character cannot locate the creature, they'll have to guess where to attack and I'll ask the player to tell me where they attack and then make the attack as if under the Blind condition. If they guessed correctly, I'll resolve the attack roll, if not then not. For NPCs I'll probably randomize it somehow since the GM would always guess correctly. Same for a player who can see the exact location of the target while their character wouldn't know it.

4) If you don't want Boanagh to get involved, you can just let Jimmy call him back. I'd prefer if you made it convincing somehow, because Boanagh is strongly motivated to protect darkling lives. Just like with Ilala, overruling him here might have implications for future interactions.

[Mindsiege]

I just read your IC post. Boanagh was sprinting at top speed, so shouting after him would be the appropriate reaction. If you change Jimmy's post to that, we can say that Boanagh comes to a halt after his first 60' of movement.

He'll still be down the tunnel and have to run back for Jimmy to involve him in a quiet/calm conversation. Anything at normal volume is probably audible to Glynn as well. I'll not make you roll any checks and let you succeed trivially, but do consider that with adrenaline running high, talking quietly is a bit difficult.

@edit:
By the way, Tink's initiative in your current post should be 10 due to the Guidance he had at the time.

[secretID]

Originally Posted by Mindsiege

how about we just say Jimmy is 80' from the bend. Does that work for you? Either way, it's not on the map, the map shows the small bit of tunnel behind the bend.

My memory was actually 70, so 80 is fine. But I was asking about the last part, before the open area. It sounds like we just have an L, 80', then the short bit before the open area as shown on the map. Let me know if I have that wrong.

I edited the IC post just a little. The first priority is stopping and communicating with Boanagh; keeping it quiet is secondary.

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

My memory was actually 70, so 80 is fine. But I was asking about the last part, before the open area. It sounds like we just have an L, 80', then the short bit before the open area as shown on the map. Let me know if I have that wrong.

I edited the IC post just a little. The first priority is stopping and communicating with Boanagh; keeping it quiet is secondary.

1) Yeah, basically it's an L.

2) Looks good.

[Mindsiege]

A few things to clarify about your last post:

1. To keep things easy, I'll go exactly with the graphic that you put up. If you want to improve it by starting Boanagh and Tink outside of the spider's square, you may.
2. Boanagh is following orders. He hadn't been able to rejoin the rest of the team because that was the same round in which I made him dash, so this was his first opportunity to cooperate. Had Jimmy beaten his initiative the first time, I probably would have allowed you to simply grasp his arm or something, but I figured he should act instinctively that one turn.
3. The spider is still on the upper end of medium.
4. Jimmy should be aware of the flashes, I think it was covered a few times.

[secretID]

Great - so this should be good to go. Let the slaughter of the innocents begin. (I'm thinking that "Glynn" executed some kind of mind control.)

[Mindsiege]

I'm assuming that there'll be a brief moment between the first and second cast of EB, so the darkling would have time to respond. Would Jimmy accept surrender? If not, that darkling is dead.

[secretID]

Hm. Very likely he would. I guess there might be some rewriting. If you want to give me detail here, I can tell you how Jimmy will respond, or I could hide everything other than the Readied EBs, and you could do an IC post.

[Mindsiege]

How about you change step 6 of your turn into Jimmy readies EB on the darkling, no need to define a trigger. Then I will let the darkling try to surrender with my GM update and you have the option of blasting him dead before taking your turn. Would that work?

[secretID]

Done - Readied it for the next hostile.