Enjoy your sleep.  

When you return, I want you to confirm the spells that you're casting.  I'll provide that information.  

The villagers don't really have anything helpful that will matter - nothing jumps you on the way to the cave.  

The Entrance
The cave itself is set into the side of a cliff.  It appears to have once been a burial vault, ancient in it's construction.  The massive marble doors have collapsed outward over the centuries, too heavy by far for the stout oak hinges.  

The opening lies unobstructed, but two figures can clearly be seen.  Both are wearing saffron and orange robes, but both are just as obviously dead.  Blood stains the robes.  One is posed leaned against the wall, one arm upraised as if waving.  The other looks to be beckoning you forward, the hand frozen in a 'come hither' position by rigor mortis.  Between the two, written in blood now turning the color of rust is the word 'WELCOME' in common.  In smaller letters, almost illegible is the addition, 'please wipe your feet'.  

Both the figures and the writing is inside the doorway - not a single drop of blood has crossed to your side of the threshhold.

1) Augury only effects the immediate future. To quote, "The augury can see into the future only about half an hour, so anything that might happen after that does not affect the result." So unless you think you are going to save the people in 30 minutes, then that's not a very good question to ask.

2) Augury/Divination have an expensive material component, so if you are going to be casting those a lot, you should account for it.

3) That whole noon casting trick you think you are doing doesn't work:

"As with arcane spells, at the time of preparation any spells cast within the previous 8 hours count against the number of spells that can be prepared."

From the Preparing Divine Spells section of the SRD.

Quote from: Kaelik;5721093) That whole noon casting trick you think you are doing doesn't work:

"As with arcane spells, at the time of preparation any spells cast within the previous 8 hours count against the number of spells that can be prepared."

From the Preparing Divine Spells section of the SRD.

Thank you.  I had forgotten about that, but now that you mention it, I remember it being true.  When Spike returns, I'll have him declare which spells he is casting (if any), and whether BEFORE noon or AFTER noon.  

In any case, as I understand it, his plan is to arrive in the afternoon of Day 1, then enter the Dungeon in the afternoon of Day 2.  

This will give him a chance to cast some spells on Day 1 and reacquire them before entering on Day 2.  Obviously, such a delay would give cultists time to do as they please with captives (assuming any are still alive).

Quote from: Kaelik;5721091) Augury only effects the immediate future. To quote, "The augury can see into the future only about half an hour, so anything that might happen after that does not affect the result." So unless you think you are going to save the people in 30 minutes, then that's not a very good question to ask.

:duh:  Damnit, I knew that! bah. I'm sure I can rephrase them to be a bit more immediate.

Quote2) Augury/Divination have an expensive material component, so if you are going to be casting those a lot, you should account for it.

Not really, no. Not for tenth level characters anyway. And also:not much on the casting 'alot'. The real question should be 'does Jurgen have 100xp above minimum for 10th level to cast Commune? I think its fair that he does, but DeadDM should make that call, so I'll defer to him.

Bah: Focus vs components on scrying. If there is a temple with a font in it, Jurgen will scry instead of Ambrose, otherwise just skip it. I'm tired of back tracking because these characters have never been played before so are scrambling to have simple shit... doubly since they'll never be played again.

Quote3) That whole noon casting trick you think you are doing doesn't work:

"As with arcane spells, at the time of preparation any spells cast within the previous 8 hours count against the number of spells that can be prepared."

From the Preparing Divine Spells section of the SRD.

Huh. Sure, that makes sense. Guess I should pass that on to the GM I pulled it under.  Anyway, all that does is very slightly change the time line to a safer but potentially less informative 'cast the night before, travel in the morning, pray at noon and assault. The true seeing and detect evil can be used either before or after noon the first day without interfering with the planned divination spells.  Contact Other Planes is being kept in reserve until after all other divinatory spells have been cast due to risk factors. Its teh 'oh shit, now I need one more answer!' spell...

Rephrased Augery might be: "If we delay now, will it cost villager lives" which is an immediate question (leave now or not) though I can work on further tightening it down if thats still too open for everyone.

THe big two are the divination and Commune, followed by the longshot scrying attempt, and I still need to provide the 'top ten questions' for commune. Targets for Scrying and Divination have been thrown down already, so we're looking to see how Fate is rolling today.

Bah: Ambrose's prying eyes are slightly more challenging this way. Really need an extra hour, but I'm just gonna have to take what I can get. Still cast before bed, roll out after 8 hour rest, use the two hours left to avoid ambushes and hope there's enough juice/distance to scope the cave, but not holding my breath. Figure the party will leave around dawn-ish, so they'll have a few hours for Ambrose to study while they wait for Jurgen to pray.


EDIT EDIT::: I freaking hit save six hours ago and come back and find it still waiting? Sunofa!!!

Spike,

I understand that I've made this a little more 'campaign-like' in feel than a standard 'Thunder Dome', but I felt that the community here felt that including some of the factors about a 'real campaign' has a 'real impact' on what a group of PCs can or cannot be expected to do - and part of real campaign play is not always having unlimited time to scope out your enemies.  

When you arrived in town, you spent the morning gathering information through mundane means.  

You borrowed horses and went to the Dungeon.  You're standing outside the Dungeon now.  

It is afternoon of the first day.  You have had a chance to prepare different spells if you wanted to (Ambrose in the morning and Jurgen at noon).

It sounds like you wanted to cast darkvision, followed by arcane eyes before leaving town.  If that is the case, you have several hours of the spell duration remaining when you arrive.  
 
What would you like to do?  

Are you casting any spells?  Assuming no imminent danger, do you plan to rest overnight?

That sounds like a misunderstanding.  I only added the night movement when I misunderstood the prayer rules. Since that was in error, I was going back to the original stated plan, which was to do the divinatory casting in town, moving out first thing in the morning and praying/memorizing and hitting the cave straight after noon, fully prepared and armed with all the information I could squeeze out of God.

Currently, I have Jurgen having blown his Auguries on questions about the necessity of moving out right away(that is before morning) and about Gareth's side mission in the woods, which we already knew failed.

I had also cast Divination but hadn't gotten and answer.

I hold myself to blame for the confusion as I've been rushing thoughts and questions all at once and planning two and three steps ahead of myself while looking for angles to squeeze.

THe purpose of the vision spells was to use during scrying, since Ambrose is going to have a chance to rest and rememorize his spells. The morning movement works better as it allows spell list refinement based on answers to magic questions.


Hopefully that clears up the confusion.  If not, the fucket, I enter the cave. I'm tired of wrangling (what is this, day three of talking about what happens in town? Ugh...)

In town, the group attempts to use augury to learn if the lives of any villagers can be saved by an immediate rescue.  The augury reveals that it is too late to save anyone, but it is not too late to avenge themselves on the killer.  

Divinations reveal nothing of any help.  Perhaps the Order of the Phoenix has been careful to keep their actions hidden from the Sun and Pelor can offer no useful advice.  
Low is good (1d100=89)

Ambrose is unable to successfully scry on any Cultists, even with a sketch.  

With no need to hurry, the party makes their way to the cave, resting overnight and waiting until noon to prepare the most advantageous spells.

Day 2
It is noon of Day 2.  Ambrose and Jurgen can prepare whatever spells they want.  It has been more than 8 hours since they last cast a spell, so they have all spell slots available.

Getting ahead, boss. Still have my ten questions from Commune to work out. Bummer about the divination.

Ah, screw it. I'm fucken knackered, drawing a blank on the ten yes/no questions and no one had any advice.

What do I have?

1- Oh great pelor, do you want me to do this quest?
2- are there undead here?
3- Is the primarch an immediate concern to clearing this nest of cultists?
4- are we fucked?
5- how many questions?
6- Is it bigger than a breadbox?
7-...




Yeah... not great progress.  Been too caught up spreading myself over some 36 hours of planning, casting travelling and camping all at the same time. I'm thinking Linear time IS all its cracked up to be, after all.

Yeah, I got like... 2... half decent questions in there and one purely formal RP question that should probably be used for something important.  Somehow I think asking 'is this a trap?' is a bit... over the top?

Hmm... are the cultists 'mortal'? sort of a wonky wording given D&D's cosmology.

I think you can tell I don't play 20 questions very often... Is it a... CAR?!

Anyway, I'm guessing the scrying failed? Damnit, I need hooks to frame my questions on! Either that or I'm secretly a mind reader and am being baffled by my inability to read your thoughts through a computer screen.  Is it... three wavy lines?

Gah. Done typing. Starting to sound drugged...

Scry did fail.

1) Yes
2) No
3) No.
4) No?
5) Yes?
6) Yes!

Those weren't REAL!!!!! Oh NOES!!!! :eek:  

Quote from: Spike;572462Those weren't REAL!!!!! Oh NOES!!!! :eek:  

I'm having trouble telling what's 'real' and what's not.  Speak to me like I'm an idiot.  That's easiest for everyone involved.

I am on your side here spike, but I think if you post it, it should stick. My suggestion is the list was incomplete, so let him finish the list. Because the DM already issued some useful information based on the post. So a full redo wouldn't quite work here I think.

I was going to say that while 2 and 3 were real questions (and 4-6 where way the hell out of whack (5 wasn't even a yes/no), obviously me just misfiring my tired ole brain (hey, have you SEEN the output I've done in the last two days over in Design???), and 1 was a semi-serious RP question... that the fair thing to do would be to pay the dumbass tax and ask the obviously question (duh, do the quest) and the two obviously real questions...

... but if my being stupid costs me four questions I obviously haven't thought to ask yet, the so be it.

7: Will Flying be necessary on this quest?

I originally asked if flying monsters would be a significant challenge, but I changed it. Now I get to know if there is some sort of 'flying only' obstacle in there PLUS see below:  
I figure: If it flies but there is no overhead, then flying isn't the problem. If there is overhead but it doesn't fly, then no problem. If it flys, and overhead or reach doesn't matter (small shit like striges that will come straight at us), then... it doesn't matter.  I think that phrasing is pretty good for the nature of the information we'd need, and it can shape spell list choices.

Best of all: The new version not only gives me a clue, it specifically addresses the necessity of the cure.

No, no, I'm sure its not perfect, and I'm sure a cruel GM could fuck me over. Hey, I already paid the stupid tax for this commune, m'kay?


8:  Are there any significant, dangerous illusions in there?

9: Are the Orange Robes more than what they seem?
(still struggling with the best way to ask this, "human?" bad call, may be elves which is still 'who cares' territory. But I want to move on, so I guess I'm stuck with the idiot box question.

Lessee... eliminated a major catagory of monsters (which means, coincidentally, that I'll be altering my spell list accordingly).  I'm tempted to ask if silvered weapons will be necessary, which would mean busting out the silversheen early.  That or intangibles (which were mostly, but not entirely, eliminated by the undead question...).  Or I could go to the wide open 'outsiders'... maybe narrow it down to 'evil outsiders', as this party would have a good shot at parlaying with good outsiders, what with being good and all...

Hmm...

fucket.

10: Will silvered weapons be necessary on this mission?



I've bolded the actual questions for 7-10, so I got a real RP question in there (a STUPID RP question, since the chances of Pelor NOT wanting the party to do this falls somewhere along the lines of winning the 100M jackpot lotto...), and only lost three questions to utter stupidity.

And I did it all before bedtime?

Yes, yes, a pro at communing would do much better. Fuck you, I get to replace three (four?) spells that would have been useless even before I get the next answers. Even if I managed to screw this up, I got some spells out of the deal, AND I got peace of mind about this mysterious "Primarch". :cool:

Augury is supposed to be mostly 'if I do this, will it be good or bad' with a 'weal' or 'woe' response.  In defference to the fact you 'lost' questions, I'll aim to be a little more helpful, still considering them generally 'yes/no'.

7) No
Not in and of themselves
9) No
10) No

Sweet. I'll provide the finalized spell list based on these answers in a couple hours, followed by my cave entry tactics.

I mean, I've pretty much got my plan of attack already, but I'v learned my lesson about talking out of order.