[OOC] Heart of Darkness (Part II)

[secretID]

Originally Posted by Mindsiege

I wouldn't be able to tell you what course of action Glynn would take in response to this encounter.

I wasn't (I'm not?) sure whether she's part of the main plot. I'll see if these darklings have any valuable info regarding her.

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

I wasn't (I'm not?) sure whether she's part of the main plot. I'll see if these darklings have any valuable info regarding her.

That's right. Jimmy doesn't know what's going on in the colony. With Mulkok, the hobgoblins, and the derros at least he can be pretty sure that they aren't pertaining to Boanagh's quest. At best they've been a reminder that the West Marches are a bad place this far out from West Haven.

[secretID]

I'm wondering about the timing of Glynn's disappearance relative to Tink's movement. Does it seem strange that he doesn't see her. I.e., does it suggest hiding or magic, as opposed to just running away?

[Mindsiege]

Good question. Tink did not hear Glynn speak up again after Jimmy quieted his party, and he didn't hear her running away. Right now Tink is at the tunnel opening of the campsite cavern, but is unable to see her. There are fairly few hiding spaces in the campsite, but the simplest explanation would be that she has snuck behind one of the stalagmites and is lying in wait. Either way, it's clear that Glynn couldn't have fled from the scene through mundane means, because the noise of sprinting away at the speed it would have taken her to outpace Tink like that should have been audible. So she is either still hiding there or she did something tricky. At the least there hadn't been an audible spell incantation.

[secretID]

Can the darkling stand and walk a short distance? Jimmy just wants to talk to him while the party moves into the big chamber.

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

Can the darkling stand and walk a short distance? Jimmy just wants to talk to him while the party moves into the big chamber.

He could force himself to make the walk, but carrying him would be faster if that's a concern for you. He won't protest either way.

[secretID]

Mindsiege, I think I wasn't clear in my last post. Jimmy and Boanagh will go forward to get their own view of the big chamber. Do you want me to just do that in a post now, or...?

BTW, there are literally no bodies in the chamber other than the two conscious "darklings?" I would think there would be lots of dead darklings.

[Mindsiege]

Sure, feel free to narrate that they enter the campsite with your next post. The darklings are right in the open, so it would make sense for you to address them. They will not attack you on sight.

As for the battlefield, there are two dead spiders but no dead darklings. Jimmy would know that darklings combust and leave behind no bodies when they die.

[secretID]

D'oh. Of course.

[secretID]

Nothing noteworthy about either darkling's eyes?

Re a test, I don't think it's too hard, but it could get a little annoying to try different things PBP. Boanagh is a handy control.

Would "How many fingers?" work? If not, how about, "Which arm am I holding up?" Maybe "Tell me when I have entered into a crouch." The fact that they can perceive invisible Tinkerbell suggests the ability to pick up very small differences in their surroundings. If they can't distinguish that kind of thing, that raises some questions about blind sight, e.g., how they could tell friend from enemy in Darkness.

[Mindsiege]

That's correct, when Jimmy is checking out their eyes they seem to be those of your typical darkling. I suppose that I should have assumed that he would be checking that.

The darkling's blindsight is indeed good enough to perceive minute changes in their environment. I didn't envision coming up with a test as a particularly challenging thing for Jimmy to do, I just wanted to clarify that Jimmy needs to take action if he wants to confirm anything beyond their current idle state which a blind creature still might have been able to fake.

Writing this out, I probably should have instructed you to skip any back and forth. It's a minor challenge for Jimmy to figure out that these two possess darkling senses, but it's not much of a challenge for you as a player. So we can head straight to the conclusion that Jimmy can confirm their blindsight. Please include in the narration how far Jimmy goes until he feels sure of that as well. The darklings would comply with any of the three tests which you've mentioned.

[secretID]

Mindsiege, I just want to confirm that you rule that Detect Magic allows one to sense the presence of active magical abilities - not just spells - within 30'. (I understand that that's not the same as, say, seeing an aura around an invisible creature.)

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

Mindsiege, I just want to confirm that you rule that Detect Magic allows one to sense the presence of active magical abilities - not just spells - within 30'. (I understand that that's not the same as, say, seeing an aura around an invisible creature.)

I agree with this. With Detect Magic you will know if an invisible creature is within 30' feet of your character, even if it won't allow you to locate it directly.

@edit:
For the purpose of this to work, I suggest ordering Tink to leave Jimmy's radius because he would seriously mess up his intent to discern whether Glynn is invisible. At a live table I would not have given the hint, but I think here in PbP the false negative would have amounted to a big waste of time.

[secretID]

Yup. He has to avoid Boanagh's Darkness as well.

[Mindsiege]

Right, and probably any magic items that Jimmy would usually carry on his person. This is the first time that I'm looking at Detect Magic this closely. It's a lot less practical than I thought. Your typical adventurer will always have some magic on their person. I'll check the net if maybe the intent was different...

@edit:
This question for example is pretty relevant. Technically the spell should detect itself and make the detection feature completely useless if it doesn't differentiate between multiple effects.

@2nd edit:
Another thing I just read is that Jeremy Crawford rules that the Detect Magic spell shouldn't be able to detect an animated golem, because that's a creature and not a spell. What's your take?