GM Neirikr's "Academy of Secrets" (Inactive)

Game Master Neirikr

Short post, but I dropped a haste. I think that can speed up our positive energy output.

Just to clarify, I read that more alchemist bombs can be tossed when hasted.

Is this worth dropping a Symbol of Healing on? 2d8+13 positive damage.

Just to clarify, I read that more alchemist bombs can be tossed when hasted.

They can, though not during a surprise round.

And I'm not sure I want to use all of those potions if we have other positive energy available. I wish it didn't take potions to use, but oh well.

Alright, honeymoon over. Yesterday and the day before were really hard to post in, with all the transit flights and last minute prep and really bad one thing that almost ruined the entire trip, but the vacation was saved and I’m back for action.

Also yikes on con drain. I think I could turn the tides here, actually, but I dont want to retro the continuity (even if I didn’t post).

But on the off-chance I can, I would use Prescience to reroll my Fortitude save and Foretell to give everyone (including Anethra) a +2 (for Laree and myself +3) luck bonus to their save.
Both do not cost actions, and Prescience is on when I roll.

Fort: 1d20 + 9 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 9 + 3 = 32

Hurray. Also, my ship has WiFi, but for some reason it’s only though my phone, so if my posts are one sentence, that is why

Also yikes on con drain. I think I could turn the tides here, actually, but I dont want to retro the continuity (even if I didn’t post).

But on the off-chance I can, I would use Prescience to reroll my Fortitude save and Foretell to give everyone (including Anethra) a +2 (for Laree and myself +3) luck bonus to their save.
Both do not cost actions, and Prescience is on when I roll.

The +2 won't save Anethra, but the nat 20 obviously preserves Viridel from the drain. Without retconning, let's just say it wasn't as bad as it first seemed. ;P

We'll need to come up with a system for Prescience. Otherwise it's going to be really awkward to run in PbP.

Squeaking this one under the wire, but just finalized my spell list. Sorry I wasn't able to get to it earlier.

Lesser Restoration: 3 = 3

This is ability drain, not damage. As such, lesser restoration is not enough to remove it.

Viridel casts detect magic to locate the key light.

Aside from a residual aura left behind by the haunt, there seems to be no magic in the room. The light filtering out of the crate might well be magical, but the wood and soil look thick enough to block detect magic.

This is ability drain, not damage. As such, lesser restoration is not enough to remove it.

Thanks for the clarification. I'll use my regular Restoration, then.

Also, boss, I wasn't able to follow-up on this but I don't remember I've had an answer.

Post

I wanted to know which direction Maganrad’s spell took him.

I wanted to know which direction Maganrad’s spell took him.

There's no real way to know without casting a spell (trace teleport or something like that). However, based on your Perception roll, Viridel would have noticed that when Maganrad wasn't looking at the crowd or Laree, he was stealing glances at the Hall of Summoning.

Well there's a spell so circumstantial and high level I'm never going to cast or see cast in my entire life xD

Thanks for the heads-up, though.

an abundance of caution is good. But I think the Haunt has been defeated at least temporarily. So Heroism might be overkill (although there's no kill like overkill). I could very well be mistaken, but I think we only need to worry about mechanical traps on the

box

And since this is a magic academy I think most traps will be magical in nature and since we've already neutralized one magic trap(haunt) we should theoretically be in the clear

this house is clean

With such a long duration, heroism will be active for most of the remaining key-light challenges. It probably won't go to waste.

There was still potential danger in the room, though with such a perceptive party, there wasn't much risk of you digging in the wrong box. :P

Alright team, I don't have Contact Other Plane prepared, but do have Greater Dispel Magic, which can counter the trap.

It seems that the mirrors allow us to contact other planes, however, and I think this is a puzzle somehow--like get up close to a mirror, and reach out your mind to another plane and ask a question, until we get enough clues to get the key-stone and maybe a few premonitions or omens.

@DM: Is that what Viridel thinks as well or is it presumptive on my part?

My guess is we're meant to disarm the trap before it sends our minds out into the depthless yonders. My vote, pending the DM's guidance, is to dispel the trap.

If we're stumped, I can cast a Divination for guidance.

@DM: Is that what Viridel thinks as well or is it presumptive on my part?

It's a bit speculative, but not too much of a stretch given the evidence—you don't have all the information, however. I will note that since contact other plane is potentially harmful to the subject, it might very well just be a danger to avoid, rather than the solution.

Laree pulls out her Spectacles of Understanding and attempts to study the writings as well, without the ability to detect magic. Perhaps there is some clue that can be utilized here that can tell or perhaps even betray which mirror is the correct one? Often people will spend far more time accurately writing out the correct version of something that they often disregard doing so with the mockeries. She also thinks to those who she saw earlier yesterday and their known specialities. Perhaps there is something here that can betray who worked on this and what the likely effect would be.

Knowledge Arcane: 2 + 24 = 26 (Using knowledge from yesterday gleaned by discerning various staff involved with these processes to figure out what this may do)
Perception vs Forgery: 13 + 30 + 5 = 48

Sorry, but there's not much info I can give you without detect magic. The runes do seem to have to do with divination magic, and they are very much authentic. All of the mirrors are connected—there is just one trap, not several. Laree doesn't have any special insight into Dean Norva Allesain's methods, since she is fairly new and an outsider (or at least I have to assume that she's an outside hire, since the Acadamae doesn't allow their own students to become specialised diviners.) She has a good professional reputation but somewhat resents how the Acadamae disregards her chosen school, so she is unlikely to half-ass a chance to prove her faculty's expertise.

That's fair. I was just trying to use the tools I have. :)

I am wondering if using an Iron Spike of Safe Passage will create an illusionary barrier that will keep them safe from being seen from the other side of the mirror, but allow them to see into the mirror would work if Viridel's way doesn't? hmm...

Alright, time to do something Viridel isn't used to doing: NOT trying to outsmart a problem and tackling it directly.

If we don't get some character development in yet, I'd be biting myself.

Next on the list is the Hall of Lies. Any preparations? Obviously, true seeing would speed the search greatly (as well as affecting my descriptions).

Anethra's going to put up True Seeing just before she goes in.

"you're left with the Hall of Charms (enchantment), the Hall of Induction (evocation), and the Hall of Shaping (transmutation)"

Where to folks?

My vote is for evocation and then enchantment. I'd like to avoid the dangerous school of transmutation with spells like disintegrate and flesh to stone.

How about evocation next? Nice and straightforward.

Sounds good.

Likewise. I still have a dispel magic for emergency.

(She can identify magical reagents within without the need for detect magic. I would think she therefore has all skills needed for this, but if not, here is her portion of the roll.)

You'd have to sample the liquid, which you're not able to do. The info in the spoiler assumes you're theorising based on superficial evidence + the info given by whoever can cast detect magic. If you could get a sample, you would be able to use the lab to run tests for more exact identification, et cetera.

I was more referring to this line in the alchemist class:

My understanding it isn't experimenting, but just holding the vial. She's touching the alembic to trigger this ability. However, if it is still something that takes other skills, that's fine. I'll defer to your ruling :)

@DM: Does Knur have any loot on him? Any other potions he won't need?

@DM: Does Knur have any loot on him? Any other potions he won't need?

In a normal adventure without an audience it's automatic for the party to loot any bodies encountered. However, here with an audience looting Knur's body seems like poor taste as his beneficiaries/next of kin should be easily reached IF he had anyone that he cared about or more doubtfully cared about him

Perhaps, but merely knowing what he prepared for the test can help us anticipate other threats down the road.

For example, if he has some anti-construct item, we know that he knew he expected it down the road.

fair enough. Hadn't thought about that.

@Everyone: So, what's the plan? Do you want to use the wall of force or not?

@DM: Viridel will use the spell if he believes that Laree is acting overconfidently or is unsure of whether she will be hurt by the explosion.
He will definitely not allow his student to be hurt.

I rolled an Alchemy check, so I think this can roughly assess if Laree's plan can work.

@Laree: Be careful, grasshopper.

I can't think of anything else to do. I was just thinking of a show where a bad guy had a bomb and they blew him up with a water bomb and it diffused the explosion before it could do what it was meant to do. In the same way, she's hoping minimal reaction will occur.

Apologies for the radio silence recently. Published a book last week, and that's been eating up all my energies, creative or otherwise. Things are slowing down now, and I should be able to catch back up to speed.

@Anethra: Congratulations on the publication!

@Laree & Viridel: Sorry for skipping some of the planning there, but I'm a bit frazzled and want to keep things moving. Viridel's Craft roll wouldn't have revealed much (it's basically a gamble), but triggering the trap from cover/range is a sound plan in principle. If you had a bomb that dealt all four elemental damage types at once (or something like that), it might have worked to counteract the effect somewhat, I suppose.

@Anethra: Great job!
Part of the black gate or another series?

Thanks! First in a new series.

Congrats! Can't imagine the mental energy that goes into writing a novel, much less a whole series of them.

Phil's work is pretty good, ngl. He's pushing out books like Stephen King.

Good job, Anethra!

@Bayard: I wanted to know if you're up for being launched around the battlefield out-of-character. I can use Telekinetic Charge if necessary after you loose your animated shield.
I ask since I cast the spell on Bayard, but I can change it to something else if you don't want that in our team tactic.

Usually, sure. But in this case I was already within reach of one of them, and I didn't even think about it, sorry.

No problem, I'll just not cast this turn.

A note on Bayard's energy resistance: I took the human paladin FCB, +1 energy resistance, spreading it evenly among all 4 types (Fire 4, all others 3), then bumped them by another 2 with the Unscathed trait.

A note on Bayard's energy resistance: I took the human paladin FCB, +1 energy resistance, spreading it evenly among all 4 types (Fire 4, all others 3), then bumped them by another 2 with the Unscathed trait.

Clever!

GM: It looks like 5 zaps of 5 damage each? I have electricity resist 5, so that would completely negate if it's 5 hits. But I only hit 4 times, the 5throll was the crit confirmation. So I'm slightly confused.

It was 4 zaps for 2d6 damage each. With the resistance, you'll take a total of 8 damage from your second and third attacks—first and fourth are completely negated.

Yeah, it's one of my favorite traits, I almost always pick it up if playing a character with multiple types of energy resistance, unless I need another magic trait more (usually because I'm a Magus and want Magical Lineage or I'm multiclassing and need Magical Knack to keep my caster level up).

One more to go. Grymwold seemed to be of the mind that you should avoid the Hall of Shaping and head for the Hall of Charms next. Any objections?

Since the conjuration light was claimed, we can’t take it right?

And how many halls will that leave? I am fairly confident in our chances, and barely spent resources.

I have no objections.