[OOC] Heart of Darkness (Part II)

[secretID]

Thinking more about it, I think I'll prefer NPC(s). Much as I'd love to take Urdo out again, these are currently my two favorite PCs, and I'd feel torn about which I was "really" playing.

[Mindsiege]

FYI, I'm ready to post for this game again. Right now we're only delayed by my schedule, but I'm currently having this game right near the top of my list.

[secretID]

Hi MS. Finally got to reading that epic post. I took notes on some of the dynamics among the elders in case they become relevant. Jimmy and I have a few thoughts; maybe you can let me know whether they can/should stay here or if you'd prefer a post.

Given that there has been no looting and that the darklings are effectively inedible, the most likely scenarios, in order, seem to be:
1) someone wants to remove the darklings and take their territory for some reason;
2) an inside job for some purpose;
3) smaller groups of darklings are in the way of some goal, e.g. someone is looking for something within darkling territory;
4) someone just hates the darklings; or
5) the darklings serve as some other resource, like their souls are being sucked or something.

I've seen everything about there being no discernable pattern, but there is a slightly related question regarding the manner of the attacks, specifically the routes taken: Is it possible that each attack came directly from the outside, or are there some that could not have come from the outside without somehow bypassing other darkling groups? The latter would suggest some special access to darkling territory, or simply an inside job.

[Mindsiege]

So, about the pattern of attacks, I think you could not see any particular vector of attack or specific route taken. The incidents popped up randomly across any map of the colony without happening in each other's vicinity, and at no time at all during the last few weeks was there a breach in any of the colony's borders, which all have outposts and are supervised. So if there is an actual creature/enemy inside the colony that's doing this, it has made its way into the colony bypassing all the dubh sidhe's defenses while remaining unseen. In other words, there is no evidence that this an attack from the outside, yet there's also no evidence about any perpetrators.

[secretID]

Hm. So that suggests to me either an inside job or something with some kind of teleportation or very special (like extraplanar) movement. It seems unlikely that something could successfully slip by with perfect consistency.

[Mindsiege]

Feel free to discuss your options for moving forward with the NPCs or with me.

[secretID]

I think the next thing to do is either to subtly join any camp still remaining deeper inside, or to set one up as a target.

[Mindsiege]

If you already have ideas, I don't want to say too much OOC and Jimmy can propose them IC.

[Mindsiege]

Before I get to the rest of the post, for what intent do you want Jimmy to buy the flour? I would need to roll a percentage die on your luck whether they would have any flour at the colony (considering that they don't use fire), but possibly there is something else around that they could hand you to serve the same purpose. Maybe chalk powder?

[secretID]

Yeah, any fine powder that might be of some use against invisible enemies.

Question: Darklings don't need fire for light, but do they use it for warmth? Jimmy would presumably know this from his time with Boanagh.

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

Yeah, any fine powder that might be of some use against invisible enemies.

Sounds good, they should have some chalk around that they can hand you as little baggies that you could throw at people.

However, after reading the spell once more I'm leaning towards ruling that such a powder would count as "wearing or carrying on your person" after it's been dumped on an invisible creature, meaning the powder on the creature would turn invisible after making contact. So the advantage created through powder will be rather temporary and will probably only aid in tracing/highlighting the creature's footsteps. To be fair I've never ruled on this before, so there might be something that I'm overlooking.

Originally Posted by secretID

Darklings don't need fire for light, but do they use it for warmth? Jimmy would presumably know this from his time with Boanagh.

For the most part, dealing with fire is a major hassle for them and generally they are not supposed to. It's very rare that a darkling would make a fire and it's not commonly used for warmth in the colony.

[secretID]

The dust/invisibility thing is of course your call, but I've always understood the spell text to be referring to things on target's person at casting. As it happens, these support that view:
https://www.sageadvice.eu/if-an-invi...ome-invisible/
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questi...on-the-subject

A creature power may read differently than the spell, of course.

[Mindsiege]

Originally Posted by secretID

The dust/invisibility thing is of course your call, but I've always understood the spell text to be referring to things on target's person at casting. As it happens, these support that view:
https://www.sageadvice.eu/if-an-invi...ome-invisible/
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questi...on-the-subject

A creature power may read differently than the spell, of course.

This is one of the few cases where I feel like Crawford's decision is made arbitrarily, however I very much did like the second answer to the stack overflow that you've mentioned. I agree that the illusion spell should react to the intentions of the caster concentrating on the spell, so the invisibility should only extend to objects that the invisible target decides to wear or carry. I think there is a good argument to be made that getting splashed by some marker doesn't count as wearing or carrying that substance, so I'm going to allow the use of chalk to thwart the invisibility, alas I'll probably give the attacked invisible being a DEX saving throw to avoid being revealed in its entirety. If the DC is beaten the being will be partially revealed for the purposes of trackability, but they would still retain the benefit of being attacked at disadvantage. I'll also keep that items intentionally picked up or garbed after the initial cast will also become invisible because there is no wording in the spell that suggests any limitation against that.

@edit:
I'm thinking that the DC that I mentioned should match the character's passive Sleight of Hand, so in Jimmy's case it would be a DC 12. Depending on what you'll do I would also require a successful attack to hit first.

[Mindsiege]

As you know from our other games, I've gotten pretty delayed last week. I've had difficulties to calmly sit down and write, but currently I have only two more posts scheduled before getting my update out over here. I'm just letting you know to keep you up to speed with where I'm at.

[secretID]