That's a very valid point, Nothing - thanks for reminding me. Honestly, I don't think it's too much of a deal - your darkness is not yet so deadly that allies entering it unaware is an immediate death sentence; for now, it's just mildly inconveniencing, so I would say there's no need to worry about it.

As someone currently in it, may i ask what it would do? ^^;

At the start of Nothing's next turn, you'll be taking 1 point of CON damage. In theory, if you had enemies trapped so they couldn't escape the darkness, Noghing could eventually kill everybody by herself with just this ability, but as things currently stand, the battle will likely be over well before then.

And even if it somehow wasn't, you have the highest CON on the battlefield (Farrah and Grumblejack both have less than you do), so you would still be the last woman standing and Nothing could stop the ability before it killed you. Dryssa's berries can heal Ability damage, so whatever happens isn't gonna be permanent, and while Nothing could just dismiss that part of the effect and make her darkness harmless, I think it'd be better for you as a team if you just took the damage so that the enemies can be weakened.

Also, the ability targets Fortitude, and your Fort save (which is 17) is also the highest on the battlefield, so if Adrika knew the darkness had a weakening effect, it wouldn't be weird for her to think she might withstand it; however, Nothing rolled 22 on her spell attack roll, so you are in fact not strong enough to resist the effect.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:43, Thu 22 Aug 2019.

So, in theory, this turn at least Farrah and the cleric should be 'Blinded' by being in the darkness right? So their AC is -2 and missing Dex to AC as well?

Also - would another blob of darkness between Elise and Grumblejack block her line of sight to shoot at him?

In order:

Farrah, yes, assuming she's a human like she looks to be.

Shylla, no, assuming she's a tiefling like she looks to be, then she probably has darkvision.

Creating a cloud between Elise and Grublejack would indeed block the line of fire, but depending on how the darkness is positioned, she might be able to move around it and then shot at him afterwards.

Grumblejack has darkvision so he could be fully covered by darkness without negative effects - well, other than Nothing's CON damage, that's active on everybody.

K, thanks. Just planning my initiative...

Of course! As I said more than once, answering questions and clarifying things is part of the GM's job - and asking questions is part of the player's job. So, never be afraid to ask anything. :)

Speaking of which, how do you all expect this battle will develop? I'm curious about your general take on how dangerous the current situation is and how it'd be best solved - outside of the obvious "we need to kill the kobold" aspect of it.

Given what this campaign is all about for context... I think it's very dangerous for those who went back to the other side of the canyon.

Cetaen expects that we'll be able to kill the dogs and probably the kobold and one or two of the others. With the kobold and dogs dead they won't be able to track us and we're home free.

He also fully expects Grumblejack and/or Adrika to either be killed or re-captured since they've gone over there. If Eric joins them then he thinks those back on the other side might survive.

Honestly, I don't like our chances here. They have a healer AND a tank and that's a bad combination tbh.

We need to take out the kobold, yes, but he's a little piece of shit and needs to be flat-footed first (Dryssa maybe could do that?) I think we NEED to take out that priest before her healing scccrrewwwss us over royal--she can heal off any damage we do.

Then there's the I-was-hoping-we-wouldn't-fight Farreh (whatever her name is). Her AC makes her really hard to hit; we need to take out some of that AC somehow before we can reliably start to whittle away her health.

Personally . . . . I'm a little worried.

Farrah is the most durable character in this battle by a mile, because she's a Sentinel (that's a Spheres of Might class). You probably want her to remain in the darkness the longest you can manage it, to minimize her ability to really get her footing.

Shylla is honestly by far the softest target in the group, and since, as Carmen rightfully said, she's fully capable of keeping everybody else in the fight pretty much by herself, she should really be your second priority once the kobold is down. Or even before, if you think she'd be easier for you to hit than he would be.

The mooks aren't any harder to kill than the others you murdered on your way out of the prison, so I don't think they will be a problem in any way other than forcing you to divide your attention.
EDIT: I realized there was a mistake with the area the darkness was covering, so I updated the map - which included correcting the position of Adrika on it and removing the dog which died. It all should be exact now.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:52, Thu 22 Aug 2019.

Well, there's no real way you could know what my darkness will do without feeling it for yourself or having Nothing tell you about it, but it seems a little late for me to mention that now.

Also, how come its area of effect has been all changed around on the map? The power description says it has a radius of two squares plus one for my bonus "levels" due to my Feat (well, okay, it says ten feet plus five feet but I prefer to count things the easier way :P). Which should be a 5x5 square (one in the middle, then two out in all directions from that). How come it's now show on the map as some weird wibbly shape that's way smaller than that?

Count the squares, and you will see that it is actually the same number; the total size is the same. However, areas in Pathfinder are not square, they are supposed to be round, and since you can't represent a sphere properly in squares, the romboid form I have on the map is the proper one.

You can find the rules for representing areas here, if you need them:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/

You should find the templates under the "aiming a spell" voice.

Oh you all are on the new site...the old one lacks the updated map. Weird.

Am I in the right place tho? I moved next to Adrika last turn, so shouldn’t I be near the tree??

Also circles on a grid are fuuunnnn XD

...I don't think we are on the new version of the site? I'm in the old one. I know I set up the map this morning, so the one right now should be the most up-to-date one.

And yeah, you should probably be next to the tree; I forgot to update that. I will do it now.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:35, Fri 23 Aug 2019.

....ya I think my account is slightly bugged, I also couldn’t see most people’s avatars on the old site. Well whatevs

And ok!

No problem! Connection problems happen to everyone. :)

And the map is now updated for the moment - check for me if your position is where you wanted to be, Carmen, could you?

In reply to Carmen Gorgon (msg # 937):

Happens on occasion. Basically, the server the avatars are stored on needs to reboot every once in a while to keep the temp internet files from building up and filling up the site's hd quota, making the site inaccessible.

If they're not showing you just got here during a cycle and they should be showing up again after about five minutes tops, so don't worry about it :)

The old one has the new map, sometimes I have to hit ctrl+F5 to do a forced refresh on the browser cache you're using.

I'm still on the old site and I had to do that to get the updated map.

Yep, that looks right GM!

No the avatar thing is a fly only on desktop, and it’s been that way for months... I’ll try clearing my cache again when I get off my phone.

And thanks for the tip Cetaen, that cleared it right up!

Yeah, until Cetaen explained that to me, I didn't knew it either; it's a very useful bit of information.

By the way, I've spoken of this with a few of you, but if you survive this meeting with the s and make it to your destination, I'll eventually be asking what are your plans for your character development for the future. This isn't meant to be in character (I mean, you will be asked about it in character as well, but that's a separate thing), but rather what you as a player want to get out of your characters in the long term.

This game is about your characters rising from nobodies to nightmares, becoming veritable dark lords that will be talked about for centuries, and to achieve that kind of fame, your character will sort of need to have some overarching goals/ambitions they want to achieve for themselves. Again, this doesn't need to be something the character themselves even actually know, let alone have planned out, but as players, it is your responsibility to start thinking about it right now.

I won't ask for an answer now - I will wait for you to make it to your destination before I get into actually detailed talks over this - but it'd be better if you start thinking about it; again, much as I said when I asked for crimes, go overboard. I know that most of you didn't took me seriously on that, since I did read all the applications to join, but it wasn't as important then, so I let it slide because the characters were all very interesting despite that. That's not so here; I really need you to aim for becoming evil lords like none before. Paint a picture in your minds of the most memorable villains you could imagine your character become, figure out a reason they'd get there, and when I ask, give it to me so I can help you plot a road to get there that works with what the game will be throwing at you.

This will also be the chance for you to drop from the game most easily, if you so wish. I would rather enjoy keeping everyone of the six of you, because you're all great in your own different ways, but if, once we get to your destination, you feel like you don't actually want to follow me in this adventure, that you're unable to keep up to the commitment for whatever reason, or anything else, you'll have the chance to drop off the game there; in character, you will be asked to sign a contract, but if you do not want to continue playing, just have your character say no, and for you, the game will end there.

I think by then, with the prologue over, you should have a good enough grasp of what this game'll be like going forward, but know that if you stay, I want players who are committed: who interact with each other to build a solid team that works together, who interact with the NPCs to learn about the world, the setting, the plot and in general everything the game has to offer, who have a personal goal for their character to achieve and personal suggestion on how to make the story more immersive for everyone and the setting itself more suited to their personal taste, who keep up with the game's requirements and don't keep me or the other players waiting, who do their best to point out to me when the game might be showing weaknesses so I can shore them up or even help me with it, the whole package. This is, in my opinion and experience, the only way a roleplaying game can work, and I know that you all are up to the challenge of making it work; it's all a mater of wether you want to. I do hope you all will - I certaily have had no reason to doubt it, so far - but nevertheless, I wanted to clarify what I expect going forward, because I don't want people to force themselves into continuing if this is too much for them.

Think it over, and when the time comes, let me know! ^_^

Sounds fun!

SF - have you heard anything from Eric? We're just waiting on him to roll attacks before we can move on, he hasn't checked in a couple of days and hasn't posted since monday.

I can see the log times, so I know that as well as you, Cetaen. I have it in the rules that two days from the last IC post is the time limit I'll wait for; those two days aren't over yet. If tomorrow morning (for me, I mean - right now it's late evening here) Eric hasn't posted, I will push things forward, just like I did for the last turn; you don't need to worry and push me on that, I am paying attention, I promise. :)

In fact, I can already tell you, now that I know Eric has a crossbow, if he doesn't post before then, I will have his action for the turn be to shot the last surviving dog, and since last time I mistakenly forgot he could, I'll roll a second crossbow shot for him and retcon it in. So that's what's gonna happen with Eric's turn if he doesn't post himself in the next 12 hours, and you can make your plans based on that.

To answer a previous post: Yeah, i know sending Adrika over was putting her in danger, but it was an IC thing for her to do. Both because she's mentioned having been rear guard before, and for having promised Grumblejack less than five minutes ago that she'd go hunting with him the next time they fought people, which happens to be now.

So yeah, fully IC. Would still appreciate someone like Eric getting sent over before we can get focused down though. Walder's doing just fine with his cannon, and don't worry about hitting me, i have +2 AC vs. ray attacks :P

In reply to Adrika (msg # 945):

I'll send Eric over on my next turn, I just couldn't send over two people and move in the same turn (and even if you were next to me, that would spend my last SP and I wanna save one to send Dryssa over at the end so ya guys don't get stranded).

Walder has been targeting the dogs specifically because they don't have cover. Once the dogs are all down, he'll aim for Farrah, which again, means he won't need to worry about cover or hitting any of you.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:39, Fri 23 Aug 2019.