Quote from: Arkansan;778820Caden pauses to think for a second and turns to Hanalee "maybe we should put out the light and creep our way up to the light up ahead."

OOC: Just an FYI. The hooded lantern, when hooded, sheds only 5' dim light, which is very, very low. Way lower than a torch or lantern. Darkness is filled with very bad things, like Blindness which auto-fail every sight based check, Disadv. when attacking, and Adv. when being attacked.

May that help your strategy.

Downtown Alleyway

Alric

"Oh, it was horrible!" Her dress is bloodied and torn, she is quite shaken, but there is fear & adrenaline in her eyes. She wants nothing to do with the dwarf, but seem overly concerned that he's dead, that you finished him off, and you could get in trouble. The rush also makes you both strangely and urgently aroused.

"To my room. You must lay low now!" She drags you by the hand into the maze of alleys. "Oh my God, I almost died. I almost lost you." "You saved me, kiss me! No!, we must hurry back." "They'll get you and string you up. But they might as well kill me, too." "Who will believe us?" She breaks her run every few 100' to turn back and latch onto you, as if for stability, muttering her anxiety and conflicted emotions.

You end up in her room, up a flight of stairs, in a building undistinguishable in the dark. Lips all over, worried whispers, clothes undone, you finish your night a torrid affair...

OOC: Only the purplest of prose for my players.

"Let's leave it on until we get closer," Hanalee says. Since the edge of the light we're aproaching is 600' away, Hana will wait until they've gone about  580', and then proceed to hood the lamp and approach with caution to see the light's source.

OOC: I do feel like the asshole repeating hooded lantern stats and making you care about lighting in an RPG. But really, it is good practice for other tricks in the future. Tricks that I too will eventually be playing on you. I just don't want that "Wha? But how did they know we were here? Dick GM!" conversation.

Hooded lanterns create Bright Light for 30' radius, and Dim Light for an additional 30' radius. That's 60'. Including UP (or at least upward angle). Akin to the edges of light halos you are witnessing 600' away.

Caden does have a point about keeping a low profile so close. But there is a difference between hooding a lantern with its 5' Dim Light radius, letting its full 60' shine until you're almost upon them, and blowing it out entirely while 600' away. There is also a lot of trail and land between here and there.

Let it not be said I did not try to clarify the RAW.

(OOC: Noted! Okay then Arkansan, do we want to go a quarter way hooded then blow it out for the rest of the way? We'll go with whatever you decide.)

OOC: I also am a big, softy pushover, too. You may want to note that Dim Light affects Wisdom (Perception) sight-based check — and I'll also relate it to Wisdom (Survival) tracking checks — by its Light Obscured area. Hint, hint, hint! I do this because I care.

(OOC: Sounds good to me)

Caden looks to Hanalee and ponders for a moment, scratching at the stubble on his face "Hmm I'll go with whatever call you make here. We can leave it on till we get closer."

Karni snores lightly for a moment, wrapped up in her blanket like a candy bar. She wakes suddenly, listens for a moment, then dozes back off.

Past the Old Graveyard

Hanalee & Caden

Hanalee's request to leave some open lantern light before you get too close, and Caden's adherence to stealth and caution, leads to a compromise. The lantern will be uncovered until you both reach the nadir of this next trough, hopefully masking the 60' radius nimbus before discovery. This will give opportunity to get a sense of your locale and terrain. Next you will hood the lantern to cautiously approach the remaining 300'.

OOC: I don't know what you plan to do about Hanalee's Disadv. Stealth due to armor.

There seems to be an escarpment rising up-mountain to your right of the trail, perfect for an ambush. As you both travel following the grim man's footprints, you notice a busy bunch of recent prints clouding the trail. Hooves, wheel tracks, foot prints, but these don't seem to head down to town all that much recently. There's a few animal prints mixed in there as well, but likely just the odd coyote or basking lizard. You're going to need a Wisdom (Survival) roll to tell if the grim man's tracks continue on before you hood your lantern.

Hooding the lantern, with new info of the situation you plot the rest of the way to the next crest... The grim man's tracks go off into the grasses, likely to flank this upcoming crest. The escarpment up mountain of the trail would be a great ambush point, but seems to be unoccupied. The recent trail activity continues busily to the crest, as if gathering supplies?, but not further than the nadir.

(I rolled 13 in room)

Caden turns to Hanalee "that armor of yours is awful loud. Perhaps you could take it off and wrap it up in something till ya need it. If something comes up I can hold long enough for you to get it back on. Unless you can think of another way to make it a bit more quite?"

Hanalee pauses to hear herself clank ever so slightly. "Er...you're right," she admits sheepishly. She hands the lantern to Caden, begins to strip off her armor and takes off her black cape, now dressd in her magenta tunic.

"I forged this mail myself, you know," she whispers proudly to Caden, and intend to wrap the armor in her cape as a bundle, then decides it would take way too long. "Nevermind, I'll just let you scout ahead. Okay--let's go," she says, taking back the lantern.

(Wisdom/Survival check = 9. Track = 3, Perception = 9.)

Past the Old Graveyard

Hanalee & Caden

OOC: Holy fuck! 10 min to don, 5 min to doff heavy armor?! That's 100 and 50 rounds each! That's longer than the entire afternoon braw — the one to which you all ran half a mile! No, you both know there is not much you can do about armor except have Caden scout ahead.

Which reminds me, being armored and walking around town will attract attention. A spare shield or light armor may not be a bad investment for sheer speed and less town suspicion. Anyhoo, back we go.

Hanalee is not at her observant best.Caden seems a bit more at home in the dark and can puzzle out what should be the grim man's prints. They go off trail in an angle, just a bit from this nadir, into the grasses as if to flank the trail's crest. Caden has a passing, sneaking suspicion of being watched, but after looking about and unable to confirm, shakes it off as just nerves.

Hanalee nods and waits while Caden scouts ahead to the limits of the light. Not able to suss out anything further, he returns to Hanalee as she hoods her lantern. Sucking in breath together, Caden Helps Hanalee's Stealth, which granted Adv. cancels out her Disadv. Assuming they are unsuspected and alone, they crest the last ridge before the distant light.

Both roll DEX Stealth checks

You spy a large campfire 200' away, illuminating a good 60'+60', and see the mouth of a cave with lots of sound activity. There's a pile of wood supplies, shaft supports?, mining tools, and a cart to the far side of the firelight. There are a few bushes nearside, between this crest and the fire, but it will be an adequate challenge to link up a path to the large campfire's dim edge.

Rolled 15 in room.

Rolled a 5.

Unknown Claim

@ 7:30 PM

Caden & Hanalee

You both know perfectly well that that chinking of chain helps nothing. But at the crest no one attacks you, yet. Whoever they are they seem preoccupied by the mine mouth, which is obscured from here, both from angle and intervening trees and shrubbery.

Caden notes passively a lull in the action there and pieces out a distant "Well, lookie here..." (Passive Perception)

"Damn you!" you both hear, from even here.

What do you do?