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I'm not sure we want to leave someone outside, but if Tacitus insists I'm fine with that. If so, I propose our crawling order should be: Cadmus (he can either turn or Hold Person, as needed) with a torch, Alfius and Decimus.

There's an assumption there that whatever lies within is either dead, or a person. Won't help if Cadmus finds himself facing an angry badger!

I guess that Cadmus has the same armor as the rest of us; if he wants to lead, then so be it.

thirdkingdom wrote:I'm not sure we want to leave someone outside, but if Tacitus insists I'm fine with that. If so, I propose our crawling order should be: Cadmus (he can either turn or Hold Person, as needed) with a torch, Alfius and Decimus.

I can't help it, man. I just have a real bad feeling about this whole thing.

EDIT: Like, there are so many different ways this could go wrong, you dig?

Wyzard wrote:

thirdkingdom wrote:I'm not sure we want to leave someone outside, but if Tacitus insists I'm fine with that. If so, I propose our crawling order should be: Cadmus (he can either turn or Hold Person, as needed) with a torch, Alfius and Decimus.

I can't help it, man. I just have a real bad feeling about this whole thing.

EDIT: Like, there are so many different ways this could go wrong, you dig?

Yeah, but I'm willing to bet we're geased or something, and it's too late to do anything about it.

Please note that I have edited the IC post (shortly after posting it) due to math errors.

If Cadmus doesn't hear anything he'll proceed.

Cadmus will cast Detect Magic before anyone sits in the chair.

Chair?

Julius Sleazer wrote:Chair?

I thought they were sitting in chairs for some reason.

thirdkingdom wrote:

Julius Sleazer wrote:Chair?

I thought they were sitting in chairs for some reason.

Ah, sorry. Nah, they were presumably sitting with their backs to the wall.

(I was looking back and wondering if I had made a chair/coin typo).

BTW, while Cadmus detected no signs of enchantment, it would certainly be reasonable for him to have an eerie feeling. Like, he is in a chamber with thirteen dead guys. I didn't really want to post anything about feelings IC, since that seems too much like puppeting. I mean, I see my role as a referee more as informing you that a reasonable person would have just cause to feel alarmed and uneasy in this situation; you as a player decide how exactly your character reacts and to what degree they express those feelings outwardly.

Julius Sleazer wrote:

thirdkingdom wrote:

Julius Sleazer wrote:Chair?

I thought they were sitting in chairs for some reason.

Ah, sorry. Nah, they were presumably sitting with their backs to the wall.

(I was looking back and wondering if I had made a chair/coin typo).

BTW, while Cadmus detected no signs of enchantment, it would certainly be reasonable for him to have an eerie feeling. Like, he is in a chamber with thirteen dead guys. I didn't really want to post anything about feelings IC, since that seems too much like puppeting. I mean, I see my role as a referee more as informing you that a reasonable person would have just cause to feel alarmed and uneasy in this situation; you as a player decide how exactly your character reacts and to what degree they express those feelings outwardly.

I think it was more of an image in my mind's eye thing, or maybe something I remember from a similar setup in another adventure I've played in. Anyway, rest assured that Cadmus is creeped out.

Hey, as a rules question, do undead register as magic in your world? I never really thought of it before, but I think if I was DMing I would probably rule that they did, at least somewhat. Like, you'd see the magic holding their skeletal bones together or whatever.

Julius Sleazer wrote:

thirdkingdom wrote:

Julius Sleazer wrote:Chair?

I thought they were sitting in chairs for some reason.

Ah, sorry. Nah, they were presumably sitting with their backs to the wall.

(I was looking back and wondering if I had made a chair/coin typo).

BTW, while Cadmus detected no signs of enchantment, it would certainly be reasonable for him to have an eerie feeling. Like, he is in a chamber with thirteen dead guys. I didn't really want to post anything about feelings IC, since that seems too much like puppeting. I mean, I see my role as a referee more as informing you that a reasonable person would have just cause to feel alarmed and uneasy in this situation; you as a player decide how exactly your character reacts and to what degree they express those feelings outwardly.

You know, I have that same problem. Especially because I tend to take a slightly novelistic approach to the world, where I think sometimes it makes sense for characters to "sense" things even if they don't have any explicitly supernatural senses on their sheet. Certainly, the laws of physics don't have any reasonable way for a person to know they're being watched, but that doesn't mean I can't post that the PCs "Feel like they're being watched."

Similarly, if the PCs are in a place that is, I dunno, cursed to fucking hell and back, or a sinkhole of evil ala ACKS, I want to be able to say stuff like "This place feels very, very wrong to you in a way that you can't put your finger on." And have it understood that what I am doing is describing a sensory impression of a sort rather than dictating a reaction or mental state per se.

Similarly, as I've written before, I like to assume that PCs are canny as hell, and might pick up on things that I don't transmit well via text. So, same idea, I don't think there's anything wrong with saying "Your character feels like something is wrong with this situation" or "This guy seems sketchy to you." With the caveat that the player has the ability to contradict that and say, "Nah brah, my character thinks this is exactly how shit is supposed to be."

Hmm.

Also, just to declare this ahead of time so I'm not metagaming:

If Tacitus sees no clear sign of the other PCs, he'll wait for three days and three nights before giving up on them. He would probably go collect the horses at some point in that process.

thirdkingdom wrote:

Hey, as a rules question, do undead register as magic in your world?

Maybe for something that's an "Ethereal Plane" or "Negative Material Plane" creature. Generally not, though. An orc was presumably magically genetically engineered far in the setting's past, but wouldn't detect as magic. Same thing with an owlbear. Like, the orc isn't the proximate result of a spell or enchantment, and neither are most undead.

Hell, even a magic-user wouldn't show up as "magic" unless he was under the effects of a buff spell or the like. A guy in a pointy hat carrying a magic wand wouldn't necessarily register as "magic", but presumably the person casting Detect Magic would be able to infer that the guy in the pointing hat carrying a magic wand (which would trip the spell) knows some spells.

Wyzard wrote: With the caveat that the player has the ability to contradict that and say, "Nah brah, my character thinks this is exactly how shit is supposed to be."

Hmm.

Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. I don't want to say "your character is terrified out of his mind" or whatever (barring a fear spell), because the player might be like, "No, Fongor the Fearless is never scared."

Wyzard wrote:Also, just to declare this ahead of time so I'm not metagaming:

If Tacitus sees no clear sign of the other PCs, he'll wait for three days and three nights before giving up on them. He would probably go collect the horses at some point in that process.

Cool. Noted. I don't feel that's metagaming.

Julius Sleazer wrote:

Wyzard wrote:Also, just to declare this ahead of time so I'm not metagaming:

If Tacitus sees no clear sign of the other PCs, he'll wait for three days and three nights before giving up on them. He would probably go collect the horses at some point in that process.

Cool. Noted. I don't feel that's metagaming.

Well, it could be eventually. Like, at some point it might be pertinent how long Tacitus would wait. And at that point I would probably have access to information that my character wouldn't re: the reason for the delay. Like, whether they are all dead, or held by Sepia Snake Sigils, or whatever.

Wyzard wrote:

Julius Sleazer wrote:

Wyzard wrote:Also, just to declare this ahead of time so I'm not metagaming:

If Tacitus sees no clear sign of the other PCs, he'll wait for three days and three nights before giving up on them. He would probably go collect the horses at some point in that process.

Cool. Noted. I don't feel that's metagaming.

Well, it could be eventually. Like, at some point it might be pertinent how long Tacitus would wait. And at that point I would probably have access to information that my character wouldn't re: the reason for the delay. Like, whether they are all dead, or held by Sepia Snake Sigils, or whatever.

Cool, I get what you're saying.

Todd: what's Cadmus using to dig? Length of time planned to spend on digging?

Julius Sleazer wrote:Todd: what's Cadmus using to dig? Length of time planned to spend on digging?

Haft of his mace? Extinguished torch? Let's say one turn.