Belloch is in L10 and when he sees Icabhod you wandering near the pretty reddish weed he pulls the confused companion to his right hand side.(M10)
Chuckling to himself.
Everyone, but Icabhod, can see several distinctive shadowing figures roughly 60 feet ahead on the drive. The tallest of the creatures appears to be some sort of wolf, or canine, and there are four short humanoids clad in dark cloaks that are pulled over their heads. There are two on either side of the four legged friend and each carry stick. In front of them, approximately 10 feet, it looks like the ground itself is moving or rolling in darkness.
I will roll out initiatives soon, but I Would like to know what each person is doing. Icabhod remember you don't actually see this yet.
F Gnome (Lava) Cleric 6 (HP 48/48, Current AC 26/26/15, F +8, R +4, W +9 Init. +1, Perc. +9)
Shine wonders aloud. Hold your area damage spells friends. I fear that the smaller shapes could be our missing children under some compulsion, .. or worse.
She will call out her concern and then ready to cast a spell (thinking fireball) if she can confirm that the smaller humanoids are not the children, or that they are but are now undead.
HP 44/44, AC 13/12/11, F +6, R +6, W +7 Init. +6, Perc. +0
After the loud fight, there was no point trying to be stealthy. Riggs calls out a greeting to the figures. "Hello there, friends. What brings you out this evening?"
Shine your black and white vision is not able to make out the detail regarding the small humanoids. The rolling ground stop and disappears. There is voice, "Hello, we are the caretakers of the property. That tree fire is dangerous."
HP 44/44, AC 13/12/11, F +6, R +6, W +7 Init. +6, Perc. +0
"You are right, kind sir. But unfortunately the tree that is now burning was much more dangerous than any little fire. Much the same as some of the other fauna here. Why would you keep dangerous plants like that here, where anyone could wander in on them?"
Sweet
Riggs
Icabhod
humanoid
Rats
Norjan
Belloch
Shine
Currently, there is a brief moment of translucent wisps of shadows as the ground stops rolling. The wolf and the four short humanoids clad in dark cloaks stop 50 and 55 feet away.
I know there are dancing lights, I need to know their location now. Along with any other lightsource.
Male Human Fighter(Two Weapon Warrior)/4 - Monk of Many Styles/2 - HP: 58/58; AC 20, FF 17, T 13; F+9,R+8,W+6/7; Init+5; Per+10
Riggs - generally it is easiest, just make one Knowledge roll and then post what that would be for any Knowledge you have ranks in. That always seemed like the easiest method for me. Anyway, when you have a question about stuff like this in pbp, always post what you think a good roll would be (Perception, Acrobatics, Knowledge) and let the DM make the call. That way you save one round of responses if you are right, and if you are wrong the DM will tell you.
Riggs, and others, I prefer the individual know/skill rolls. When in doubt to speed up the process itemize in a spoiler or a list (like Icabhod did above) your rolls.) In this particular case know: Nature, local, arcana.
Riggs tell me where on the map you are placing the pit.
I put 50 and 55 feet in front of nearest members of you party, sweet and Norjan. That would make it L23 and then J24, K24,M24, N24. That should be on the map posted, I'll double check to see if coordinates were on the map.
Riggs Only:
Your Know nature reveals this is a direwolf, Your Know arcana reveals there is magical quality.
Know- religion or Know-planes may provide some information too but you would need a perception check to accompany those rolls. Ichabhod don't bother rolling for I've already accounted for your previous roll.
You know these are from another plane, most likely from the plane of shadows. They interact with the shadows well. They seem to be able to move between corporeal form and incorporeal form. That is why they are translucent. Based on your roll, you know it's hard to damage them in their current form, you are not certain of how to damage them. Incorporeal creature tend to damage abilities rather than causing physical damage. In addition to the incorporeal traits these have swarm traits and you know that swarms don't miss.
Ichbhod yells, "Undead! Use anti-undead powers against them!"
You definitely know you are being attacked by some sort of rat swarm, that is very hard to see they are translucent and blend in the shadows. They are not causing you physical damage but rather ability damage.
F Gnome (Lava) Cleric 6 (HP 48/48, Current AC 26/26/15, F +8, R +4, W +9 Init. +1, Perc. +9)
Perception:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
Knowledge Planes:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Knowledge Religion:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
DM Question on a Spell:
How would you rule Ghostbane Dirge working on a swarm? Target is "One Incorporeal Creature" so it might not work, but it might be that the writer just never considered an incorporeal swarm. I am good either way.
Also is the swarm a 5X5 or a 20X20 like most swarms?
Based on your knowledge roles you would know ghostbane dirge will not succeed on a swarm. (p 313 Bestiary) I don't give preliminary ruling...it's trial and error that is how characters learn a spells effect on various creatures. However you rolled high enough on your religion.
This is a 10 by 10 swarm. You are positive they are undead, from the plane of shadows and have the ability to go from corporeal to incorporeal form. While in incorporeal form they only do ability damage rather than physical damage. Normal weapons have no effect, magical weapons and most spells have half damage. Most corporeal spells that do not cause damage only have a 50% chance of working on incorporeals. Force spells do work normally.
F Gnome (Lava) Cleric 6 (HP 48/48, Current AC 26/26/15, F +8, R +4, W +9 Init. +1, Perc. +9)
Shine's eyes flash red gold as she intones divine vocalisms. Her small hands wave in an intricate pattern and a pull of yellow powder appears in front of her. People near her smell sulfur as a bead of fire flies from her hands and lands behind Norgan but close enough to burn the 20x20 swarm.
Fireball:7d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 3, 2, 4, 6, 6) = 32 DC is 16
Posting from my phone. Hard to see map. I would like to place the fireball so that it also burns two of those wisdom draining plants.
There is sparkle of bright blue light that comes from the second floor of the house, as Shine has one of those Sarenrae moments, a sudden sleet storm crashes down covering each of the characters in hail of frozen water covers all. Vision including darkvision is blocked and all torches and small lights are extinguished. The storm continues for 5 rounds.
An Acro DC10 is required each round to move half distance, failure by 5 or more means you fall.
Sweet - shot the wolf with a arrow.
Riggs - cast pit
Icabhod - touch attack CMW on undead rate swarm
humanoid - held action but eventually casts Sleet storm.
Rats - swarmed norjan
Norjan
Belloch
Shine - cast fireball.
Currently the PCs are caught in sleet storm. Vision is blocked and movement is hampered DC10 Acro needed to move half distance. the storm is crashing down.