Togo's Planar Adventure set partly in Sigil (OOC)

[Togo]

Yay! <general rejoicing>

[Toliudar]

There's not a lot more that Godot can do until the blade barrier vanishes. Um. How long have we been talking?

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Originally Posted by Toliudar

How long have we been talking?

For too long ... .

Sorry, saw this post after my IC post, just had to .

[Toliudar]

Originally Posted by Autopsibiofeeder

For too long ... .

That's the loudest that I've laughed in several days. I actually had to explain myself to a co-worker.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Originally Posted by Toliudar

That's the loudest that I've laughed in several days. I actually had to explain myself to a co-worker.

Ye gods, you are working now? I am just opening another beer and urging myself to go to bed, since I need to start working in seven hours. Today's world keeps amazing me .

[Toliudar]

Well, an eight hour time difference will have that effect. I'd like to think that GitP is doing its own small part in assisting international harmony - by encouraging us to slaughter invisible enemies side by side.

[Togo]

Ok, 17 on a touch is actually a miss - unless anyone can think of any bonuses Derk might be missing?

Derk, you can try and catch her flat-footed, which would obviously make your job easier. I'd say either a bluff check to try and fool her as to your intentions, OR a straight initiative roll, opposed by her, to see if you can just be quicker than her, depending on whether you're trying to be subtle, or trying to be quick.

Sense motive 20

Spoiler

Vellia seemed very surpised when Ifni asked a question, almost as if she hadn't expected her to talk.

Toliduar, blade barrier shows no sign of dying down, but Godot can scooch around it, provided she's careful.

Ifni

Spoiler

The outercircle is a standard magic circle of protection, modified by rituals and glyphs to also protect against divination effects. You get nothing from inside the outer circle at all.

Vellia has active magical effects on her - faint illusion, and moderate evocation. No magic items that you can see, which considering her clothing, probably means no items.

Derk's curse appears to have faded.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Though I have a high charsma, bluffing is not Derk's style. I will attempt to catch her with my supernatural speed: (1d20+1)[15].

[Ifni]

(1d20)[3] Sense Motive let's try for the natural 20!

EDIT: Eheh. Ah well, glad that particular roll wasn't on something more important

@Togo:

Spoiler

If I step over the outer circle without breaking the glyphs, should it affect the protections at all, to Umbriel's knowledge?

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Originally Posted by Ifni

[roll0] Sense Motive let's try for the natural 20!

EDIT: Eheh. Ah well, glad that particular roll wasn't on something more important

@Togo:

Spoiler

If I step over the outer circle without breaking the glyphs, should it affect the protections at all, to Umbriel's knowledge?

If Derk had Umbriel's brains and Umbriel had Derk's (recent) rolls, we would have totally crushed this campaign .

[Togo]

@Ifni

Spoiler

If I step over the outer circle without breaking the glyphs, should it affect the protections at all, to Umbriel's knowledge?

No.

PLease note that there's only a few inches between the inner and outer circles.

@Derk
(1d20)[19]
No, looks like she saw it coming. And dodged. Only just, but she dodged. You have had some really rubbish rolls.

She then vanishes. I'm happy to edit the last post if anyone else wants to do or say something before she disappears.

[GuesssWho]

I think Sthrer will be going on an 'I'm surrounded by morons' rant any time now. She is totally facepalming at you people. Honestly, you have a farspawn in your party and you're upset about her being nice to a fiend. You should be feeling lucky that's the weirdest things have gotten so far.

Of course, if anyone asked her her advice would be to let everything out of the mirror, then lose it on an uninhabited layer of the Abyss with a notice-me-not curse on it. Which might not be the greatest idea, but better than some.

[Ifni]

Umbriel will probably say something, but one question first: does her blindsense or see invisibility pick up anyone still within the room, other than what we can see? Also, my Ring of Spell-Battle lets me ID spellcasting within 60ft even if I can't see or hear the casting (with a Spellcraft check, but I can't fail it); I don't know if spell-like abilities would count. In case they do, or in case that was a spell, can I tell what she did?

[Togo]

It was a spell-like ability, rather than a spell, so you can't work what it does save by it's effects.

You don't pick up any invisible people in the room.

[Toliudar]

So, my understanding of the situation is that Umbriel is just outside the room, Ssthrer is more or less trapped in an alcove by the spinning blades, Godot is flattened up against the wall, and Rhion and Derk are in the main part of the room. So, the only ones really able to interact with the abbot are Derk and Rhion.

Am I mistaken?

[Togo]

Both Godot and Sthrer can get out from behind the blades by squeezing. While dangerous in combat, this isn't particularly difficult if you're not rushing. Umbriel was, last time I checked, examining the magic circle. Certainly she can get into the room, again by squeezing past the end of the blade barrier, so I'd suggest people can move relatively freely.

The one thing you can't do is get a long inflexible object past the blade barrier and into the corridor. Such as furniture, the mirror or an Abbot who is still in full armour.

[Cespenar]

Originally Posted by Togo

It was a spell-like ability, rather than a spell, so you can't work what it does save by it's effects.

You don't pick up any invisible people in the room.

I'm almost certain that a spell-like ability can be detected the same via Spellcraft by RAW, but your rules.

[Toliudar]

My apologies to all. Was there a description of a warded mirror that I missed? I seem to recall a mirror in the room, but I don't remember picking up any special juju from it. It's all a bit blurry, so I'm happy to eat crow on this.

[Ifni]

Originally Posted by Toliudar

My apologies to all. Was there a description of a warded mirror that I missed? I seem to recall a mirror in the room, but I don't remember picking up any special juju from it. It's all a bit blurry, so I'm happy to eat crow on this.

Yeah, if I understood correctly, there's a mirror that matches the description of the one we were looking for, inside a double circle of wards. Umbriel has been examining the magic circles. She was avoiding mentioning the mirror or talking about her conclusions until Vellia left, since it seemed like the wards might actually be preventing her from seeing it (and if they weren't, and she was just assuming it was a decoy / playing with us, no harm done).

When nobody else in the party seemed to have registered the mirror, I was considering having Umbriel make a crack about the designers of the ward having apparently invented Magic Circle vs the Less Intelligent, and how much more vastly useful this would be than Magic Circle vs Evil/Good/Law/Chaos, but then Sthrer mentioned it

She's just checking for traps without using divination magic now - she can imagine a setup where there's something nasty in the inner circle, hidden by an illusion, with the aura cloaked by the anti-divination wards. Umbriel has a bit of a tendency toward paranoia If her search checks show up nothing, she'll check the desk for traps so you guys can look around there, and then step over the first circle of wards and start checking the second one. (She also thinks that one is harmless - people with good Sense Motive might pick that up, the tension she showed earlier was mostly faked - but she wants to double-check.)

[Toliudar]

Ah, thanks Ifni. If the mirror is in the desk alcove with Sthrer, then she might be the only one who can currently reach it at the moment.

[Ifni]

Here's the description of the room from when we first came in:

The wrecked door leads into a large, well appointed room. The north wall is dominated by a window seat, the faceted red glass bulging out over the street, and allowing a clear, if red-tinted, view of the world outside. The window is flanked with red velvet curtains the seat has black velvet cushions, picked out in gold brocade.

Beyond that, what must be a bed is set against the eastern wall. A red velvet curtain obscures the bed itself, falling to just above the ground. Unlike a four-poster bed, the bed is narrow, and the curtain runs on rails driven into the stonework of the walls. A large wardrobe fills the corner with the south wall, The door inlaid with a paler wood in a pattern that forms a highly stylised bird rising from a fire.

On the south wall there is a large mirror in a thick lead frame. The frame is decorated with a pattern of stick figures, tall and thin, twisted into strange shapes. On the ground in front of the glass are three semi-circles of wards, set in a pattern to suggest a barrier or part of a magic circle.

Next to that, in the corner of the south and west walls, is a writing desk. Various papers and manuscripts litter the desk, and a well worn chair with padded embroidary seat, back and arms, decorated with brass studs, is pulled up next to it.

On the west wall, sitting on a small table, is a tiny shrine. It consists of a backpeice and two side peices supporting a black iron symbol of Cyric in the middle. The peices are picked out in ivory and silver on the inside, and red laquer on the outside. The hinges and leather straps suggest the whole shrine might well fold up into a portable, if bulky, red laquer box.

So I was wrong, three circles of wards. Also, hah, that was a clue on the wardrobe and I entirely missed it. Phoenix-Abbot!

[Toliudar]

Wow, was I misremembering stuff. Thanks, Ifni!

[GuesssWho]

Originally Posted by Ifni

When nobody else in the party seemed to have registered the mirror, I was considering having Umbriel make a crack about the designers of the ward having apparently invented Magic Circle vs the Less Intelligent, and how much more vastly useful this would be than Magic Circle vs Evil/Good/Law/Chaos, but then Sthrer mentioned it

LOL this.

Oh, by the way, have you decided what kind of fiend our friend there was? Succubus or Erinyes?

[Togo]

Originally Posted by Cespenar

I'm almost certain that a spell-like ability can be detected the same via Spellcraft by RAW, but your rules.

I couldn't find a reference for this. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'm happy to be pursuaded.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Originally Posted by Togo

I couldn't find a reference for this. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'm happy to be pursuaded.

While, as a DM, I would intuitively rule as Cespenar did, I did a search and could not find proof of that position. Au contraire, even.

SRD:

SPELLCRAFT (INT; TRAINED ONLY)
15 + spell level Identify a spell being cast. (You must see or hear the spell’s verbal or somatic components.) No action required. No retry.
20 + spell level Identify a spell that’s already in place and in effect. You must be able to see or detect the effects of the spell. No action required. No retry.

SRD:

Special Abilities: A special ability is either extraordinary (Ex), spell-like (Sp), or supernatural (Su).

Spell-Like: Spell-like abilities are magical and work just like spells (though they are not spells and so have no verbal, somatic, material, focus, or XP components). They go away in an antimagic field and are subject to spell resistance if the spell the ability resembles or duplicates would be subject to spell resistance.

This leads me to think that one can not Spellcraft a spell-like ability while it is being cast, but one could Spellcraft the spell after is has taken effect (if applicable: Wall of Ice or Fireball, yes, Invisibility and Teleport, no).

[Ifni]

My Ring of Spell-Battle lets me spellcraft even if I can't see/hear it, which is why I was asking. But it says it lets you identify spellcasting, if I remember the wording correctly, and spell-like abilities are in kind of a gray area there. The ring would unambiguously let me ID a Stilled, Silent spell, I'm not sure on spell-likes, which is why I asked for a ruling. I'm fine either way.

[Cespenar]

Hmm. Autopsi's argument is logical. I stand corrected, but that Ring of Spell-Battle thingy seems to answer the only caveat that prevents the spell-like ability from being spellcrafted.

All in all, it seems like a RAW gray area, with RAI tending towards a positive ruling.

[Togo]

Sorry, didn't realise you were waiting for me. It's obvious in retrospect...

[GuesssWho]

Rings and third eye sound interesting. Sthrer will want to look through them once we have time, maybe take a couple.

[Togo]

Just to warn you, I'm away for most of the weekend, and may not have internet.