Action Thread 11

[Argennian]

Me thinks you need to embrace your Chaotic Good alignment, Argennian. Come! Join the Chaotic Neutral thief and roll around on the ground in the plundered gold and put rings on your fingers and grab swords and daggers without a second thought!

Help me help you.

Help ME help YOU!

LMFAO!

Heh, now THAT would be funny! Good show, Al!


(... who knows? If Yosef gets more jaded through in this endeavor, like attacked by any more sneaky spiders or dirty dwarves, he'll likely drift from CG towards CN anyways... )

[rredmond]

Day 15 – 3:00p


.

Getting the camp moved to the tower is no problem. Derek is unhappy to learn that the hirelings had a nice quiet, spider-free, day. Van expresses concern about the stables to the north, he feels it should be checked out before dark; but doensn't push the issue.

Bruard and Yosef inspect the scrolls, feel that they are safe to take out and read. They look at the scrolls in their hands, look at each other and then switch scrolls with a chuckle.

PM sent. You could deal with spell memorization/prayers now and then not have to worry about sleeping shifts... if nothing comes to harass you that is. Anything else folks want to do before nightfall?

HPs: Jeloon - 22/29; Till - 33/36; Yosef - 9/10; Bruard - 15/19; Derek - 32/40
WIH: Till: short sword (15' radius light); Jeloon: Longsword (20' radius light), shield; Derek: Longsword (20' radius light), shield; Yosef: bow and arrow [or long sword]; Bruard: Mace, shield; Van: +1 ogre spear, shield; Eyman: +1 Battle Axe, shield
MO: 1- Jeloon & Derek; 2- Till; 3- Bruard & Eyman; 4- Ancor, Rosin, DAMs; 5- Yosef & Van
Consumables: Lantern - (Till) 2 hours, 25 minutes left (off), 30' radius; Torch, 58 minutes (off), 40' radius; Torch, 60 minutes (off), 40' radius.
--------Spells: Yosef: 1-0/2, 2-1/1; Bruard: 1-3/5, 2-4/4

[Alethan]

OOC: I don't know about anyone else, but I'd rather be back at full magical strength (i.e. Yosef and Bruard at full spells) before doing anything else. We got some lucky rolls that last spider encounter and finished them off faster than most of the others. I'm good with NOT pressing our luck this time.

Till suggests doing the best to make sure the entrance to the tower is closed up and barricaded. If that involves getting any heavier objects from some of the other outsheds, like the old desk or the barrels, then that's fine (as long as they're checked over carefully and deemed empty first).

With the door secured from the inside (again, if that is possible), it might be good to put the two-person watch up at the top of the tower and have them monitor the area from there. For anyone on watch without any kind of night vision, maybe Bruard's helm could be used to aid them? I think the infravision capabilities don't have any limiter on them, do they? So we could use it all night long with great success.

(Oh, wait... Maybe before we end the day Bruard could use his helmet's other ability (True Sight) once to do a quick scan of all of the buildings (including the northern building, from the doorway) to see if there is anything hidden in them that we missed? I guess it would only show things like secret doorways or hide-y-holes and the like, but... might be worth trying.)

Opinions? Other options? Suggestions?

[rredmond]

sorry, saw something sig worthy...

[Alethan]

lol... what can I say? Every now and then, Till has to make his WIS roll, right?

[ToniXX]

With the door secured from the inside (again, if that is possible), it might be good to put the two-person watch up at the top of the tower and have them monitor the area from there. For anyone on watch without any kind of night vision, maybe Bruard's helm could be used to aid them? I think the infravision capabilities don't have any limiter on them, do they? So we could use it all night long with great success.

(Oh, wait... Maybe before we end the day Bruard could use his helmet's other ability (True Sight) once to do a quick scan of all of the buildings (including the northern building, from the doorway) to see if there is anything hidden in them that we missed? I guess it would only show things like secret doorways or hide-y-holes and the like, but... might be worth trying.)

Opinions? Other options? Suggestions?

Good ideas. If we use the True Sight feature of the helmet, would Bruard be able to scan everything from the safety of the tower? It has a range of 120 feet (I'm assuming it's the same of the cleric spell of the same name), but does it 'see' thru stone, etc?

[ToniXX]

After examining the scroll, Bruard announces what's on it: 3rd Level: Continual Light, 4th Level: Exorcise, 7th Level: Restoration... Not a bad find, I must say!

What's the rule with found scrolls that contain high-level spells? Can Bruard use them? Or can he only use them once he's the appropriate level?

[Alethan]

"Aye, that IS a good find, indeed, Master Bruard! You could cast that light spell on a small stone, then we could put that stone inside a shuttered lantern and have a never ending light source! Or maybe just cast it on the wick inside the lantern so it doesn't rattle about? Or maybe onto the end of a torch for a similar effect - we'd just have to cover it with one of the sacks or something when we didn't want it to be seen. But that would end our days of worrying about light sources, would it not? I don't right know what that exorcism spell is good for, but I sure hope to not ever find out..."

[ToniXX]

Agreed, Till. A continual torch or lantern would be a great help. Does any of us have a shuttered lantern?

[Alethan]

"Well..." Till thinks for a moment, eyes wandering over the DAMs, "Aleful looks like he has a hooded lantern affixed to 'em. Would that do the trick?"

[Argennian]

Yosef smiles as he finally finishes inspecting the scrolls. The smile feels good. It’s a smile that he has not enjoyed for some time. Their journey has been ominous at times. He looks up warmly at his friends and is thankful that they have all made it this far. “A good find has been made here as well, friends. It’s a scroll with three mage spells upon it: Slow(3rd), Teleport(5th) and Antipathy/Sympathy(8th). Any one of these spells could come in very handy, indeed!”

After examining the scroll, Bruard announces what's on it: 3rd Level: Continual Light, 4th Level: Exorcise, 7th Level: Restoration... Not a bad find, I must say!

"Indeed!" declares the elf with eyes and smile wide.

What's the rule with found scrolls that contain high-level spells? Can Bruard use them? Or can he only use them once he's the appropriate level?

OOC: From OSRIC,pg35

Spell Scrolls

Spells are also sometimes found written on scrolls. It is not
possible to memorise a spell from a scroll, although magic
users and illusionists may copy the spell from the scroll into
their spell books, if they understand the spell. This process
always erases the scroll. This is the primary means by which
magic users and illusionists will acquire new spells for their
spell books.

Alternatively, the spell may be cast directly from the scroll, in
which case the scroll is erased as the spell is cast. In this case,
it is not necessary for the caster to know the spell beforehand,
and indeed it is possible to cast a spell from a scroll even if
the caster does not know the spell or is of insufficient level
to use the magic.

In extreme cases (such as when a character casts a spell from a
scroll well above the level he or she could normally memorise)
the GM will assign a chance that the spell will fail.
A character must be of the correct class to cast a spell from
a scroll. Thus, only clerics or paladins may cast spells from
clerical scrolls, only druids or rangers from druidic ones, and
so on. (Exception: Thieves and assassins may attempt to cast
arcane and phantasmal spells from scrolls.)

So I would say that Bruard could cast the 3rd and 4th level spell off the scroll at his current level (4th?) without issue or modifier. On the 7th level spell though, see the last paragraph quoted. A cleric would have to be 16th level to cast that 7th level spell! Ron will have to weigh in on that here. Now that doesn't mean Bruard couldn't cast it off the scroll regardless, it's just that there would be a modifier applied and percentile chance of potential failure.

With Yosef, he's in the same boat only he's just 3rd level, so he'd have to be 9th level to cast that 5th level spell. I would probably see a modifier there. If he waited, he could copy them into his spellbook. Of course, he'd have to wait till 5th, 9th and 16th levels respectively. (little hint: yeah right!). I'm sure Ron will give us a modifier or at least a ballpark if we need to crank those off.

[Argennian]

OOC: I don't know about anyone else, but I'd rather be back at full magical strength (i.e. Yosef and Bruard at full spells) before doing anything else. We got some lucky rolls that last spider encounter and finished them off faster than most of the others. I'm good with NOT pressing our luck this time.

OOC: agreed. We've got the time and need to regroup.

Till suggests doing the best to make sure the entrance to the tower is closed up and barricaded. If that involves getting any heavier objects from some of the other outsheds, like the old desk or the barrels, then that's fine (as long as they're checked over carefully and deemed empty first).

With the door secured from the inside (again, if that is possible), it might be good to put the two-person watch up at the top of the tower and have them monitor the area from there. For anyone on watch without any kind of night vision, maybe Bruard's helm could be used to aid them? I think the infravision capabilities don't have any limiter on them, do they? So we could use it all night long with great success.

Yosef considers this and looks over to Van...

... Van expresses concern about the stables to the north, he feels it should be checked out before dark; but doensn't push the issue.

Yosef, being the stereotypical elf paranoid, agrees that Van's thoughts have merit and that Till just deduced a way to accomplish this and more. He gives his halfling companion a wink and turns to look at the cleric of Shinare. "If you are willing to do so, friend Bruard, you could certainly use the Helm to accomplish that task! Van was right to offer the precaution. In fact, it could reveal things we might have missed!"

(Oh, wait... Maybe before we end the day Bruard could use his helmet's other ability (True Sight) once to do a quick scan of all of the buildings (including the northern building, from the doorway) to see if there is anything hidden in them that we missed? I guess it would only show things like secret doorways or hide-y-holes and the like, but... might be worth trying.)

[Argennian]

"Aye, that IS a good find, indeed, Master Bruard! You could cast that light spell on a small stone, then we could put that stone inside a shuttered lantern and have a never ending light source! Or maybe just cast it on the wick inside the lantern so it doesn't rattle about? Or maybe onto the end of a torch for a similar effect - we'd just have to cover it with one of the sacks or something when we didn't want it to be seen. But that would end our days of worrying about light sources, would it not? I don't right know what that exorcism spell is good for, but I sure hope to not ever find out..."

Agreed, Till. A continual torch or lantern would be a great help. Does any of us have a shuttered lantern?

"Well..." Till thinks for a moment, eyes wandering over the DAMs, "Aleful looks like he has a hooded lantern affixed to 'em. Would that do the trick?"

"I would consider using a flat stone or coin for this, friends. It could be worn on a necklace or bracelet or carried in a small belt pouch for convenience. It is much easier to both carry and hide than a lantern. It could be held in a palm or attached to something and used on one side, like a bulls-eye lantern does. Just my 2 coppers here, friends. It is a good idea regardless of how we use it!"

[Alethan]

"I would consider using a flat stone or coin for this, friends. It could be worn on a necklace or bracelet or carried in a small belt pouch for convenience. It is much easier to both carry and hide than a lantern. It could be held in a palm or attached to something and used on one side, like a bulls-eye lantern does. Just my 2 coppers here, friends. It is a good idea regardless of how we use it!"

"Och! There ye go! You are indeed wise beyond your years, Master Elf. Would rather that it was a coin already pierced, that we could string it on a throng of leather, but an unpierced coin is just as well. We could easily stow it away if we didn't want any light for the time being."

OOC: Here's a thought - completely off the top of my head, mind you - we could cast the spell on a short stick that fits into one of the scroll cases. THEN, we place the stick into the scroll case. We attach the lid of the scroll case securely to the case so as to not lose it. When we want light, we just take off the lid and shine it like a MagLite. No light? Put the cap back on. What do you think? I just came up with that.

Or... we could just cast it on a coin and put the coin in the hooded lantern.

I couldn't find any good descriptions of lanterns in the OSRIC manual, nor in LL (it just said all lanterns could be shuttered). In 2e, it says...

A hooded lantern (30-foot-radius of light) is a standard lantern with shuttered or hinged sides. It is not directional, as its light is cast equally in all directions. A bullseye lantern (60-foot beam of light) has only a single shutter, the other sides being highly polished to reflect the light in a single direction. Both hooded and bullseye lanterns can be carried in one hand.

3e, naturally, says something similar...

Lantern, Bullseye: A bullseye lantern has only a single
shutter. Its other sides are highly polished inside to reflect the light
in a single direction. A bullseye lantern provides clear illumination in a
60-foot cone and shadowy illumination in a 120-foot cone. It burns
for 6 hours on a pint of oil. You can carry a bullseye lantern in one
hand. See page 164 for more rules on illumination.
Lantern, Hooded: A hooded lantern has shuttered or hinged
sides. It clearly illuminates a 30-foot radius and provides shadowy
illumination in a 60-foot radius. It burns for 6 hours on a pint of oil.
You can carry a hooded lantern in one hand. See page 164 for more
rules on illumination.

I assume, because it says a hooded lantern is shuttered, that we could close all light from coming out of it, just that the mechanism is such that it is all-shuttered or all-illuminating. We couldn't, say, shutter three sides and use it like a bullseye lantern.

[ToniXX]

I like the idea of the 'maglite'. It's easily stow-able and is a quick solution.

Bruard will then lower the visor of his helmet and speak Who will go with me to examine the stables and whatever of the rest of this camp we can examine? I agree that Van's worries about the stable should be vetted.

[rredmond]

Van agrees to go with you in the new thread HERE.