Chapter 4 / Interlude 1: Discussion

[Jeff]

It doesn't feel natural for any of the characters to use telepathy, so most people speak aloud to Matheu and he can understand that fine. But pseudodragons can't speak verbally, so they respond with telepathy. So while it doesn't feel natural to talk to him telepathically, you can. You just have to actively do so, and only he can hear it. But he doesn't forge a telepathic bond that everyone can use to have a group discussion. It's a one-way thing when speaking to him; he can, however, speak back to multiple recipients at a time.

Make sense?

[Ken]

Thanks for the clarification, Jeff. Yeah, I wasn't sure myself if I was stretching things a bit with Belarin's private mental message, so that why I wrote that Belarin was specifically concentrating on "talking" to Matheu.

[Darren]

Jeff, how does binding a caster work in 4E? I know that with 3.5 you had the various components that were needed to cast spells, so if you bound a caster's hands and gagged them, you could effectively stop them from casting. 4E doesn't seem to have the same requirements, so how do you keep a caster from casting now?

[mike]

He binds Alvek's hands behind his back.

Um, Darren? Torhak already did that quite a while back. Just sayin'.

ashlock.proboards76.com/index.cgi?board=gameplay&action=display&thread=90&page=36#6345

[Jeff]

A very good question. Until I fully understand how the new rules intend to address that, I'll say this: if you are sure to cover all the basics (restricting hands, fingers, etc., as well as the ability to speak) I'll say that's good enough for most spellcasting.

[Darren]

Heh. My bad, Mike. I thought you might have, but I wasn't sure.

[Ken]

Uh, Hellooooo out there?

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Now let's sober up, tie up poor Goran, and get out of here!

[Darren]

I agree!

[Jeff]

I'm here. But I'm mostly waiting, too. I need cited actions, not mere dialogue. When Person A says to Person B, "Hey, we should get out of here. This place is going to blow," I'm still waiting for actions. Person B might come back and say, "Wait. Who should lead us?" Still no action there, just deliberation. How are Person A and Person B getting out of there? Who's taking the initiative and going first, for the others to follow?

And in what direction will they go? I just need more to go on. As you guys should know by now, I don't like assumed actions. That's lazy!

And by the way, Marcy is probably off for a bit, what with her probably having her baby right about now! Wish her luck and good health!

You got that, Marcy (whenever you come back)!?!?!

[Darren]

Well, Kal has said that he's binding Alvek's sister (since Alvek is already bound) and wants to double back through the basement the way we came, so I guess I'm just waiting on everyone else's decision on if they think we should double back or try straight for the stairs.

[Darren]

Jeff, I can't remember....the area we are in now, was it behind the bookcase that used Alvek's book as the key? Or was that somewhere else?

[Darren]

Hey, guys. I just spent some time going back through the earlier posts in this chapter, and I wanted to mention a few things I picked up on.

First, the imp that we fought made specific reference to the fact that Alvek was trying to summon assistance to use against Malov. That might be useful to us.

Second, we never were able to open the metal grate that was in the bottom of the chest that had the acid ooze in it. We also never really discovered where that grate led to. We might want to ask Alvek about that.

Third, the door that we used to get down to the basement was opened with the key we found in the back of the statue. We now have Alvek's book, but we never opened the door that the book is the key for. I'm not sure if it leads to the same place or not, but it might be worth finding out, since we never found any other stairs leading up. The imp implied that the door in the study (opened by the book) led down to the "master's" lab, so it might go to the same place, but again, we never found any other stairs. I don't know about you guys, but I'd hate to leave this place having not fully explored it.

Besides, we've been adventuring for a while and haven't really gotten any good loot, yet. I think we're due! ;D

[Ken]

Darren, thanks for the reminders. I had forgotten about those. I wonder if the metal grate leads to the ladder that Alvek thought would be his escape route...? The distance between it and the stairs might match up, but we no longer have those earlier room maps to confirm that. I'd be willing to bet that the "master's" lab IS where we just were, considering Lady ir'Turien's fury when she thought the imp had betrayed her, but it's worth questioning Alvek a little more. He just might not be willing to give us any other info, considering he believes we'll toss him to the fey in any event. He might be willing to divulge more if he thought it would save his sister, however.

[Darren]

Yeah, I agree with that, Ken, except that there were no other stairs in that room. So if the door behind the bookcase went directly into that room....how does it get there?

[mike]

Seriously, Joe. Make with the healing.

Darren, you do know that you can spend a healing surge, right? You don't need Streko (or Joe) to do that.

[Darren]

Yeah, but I've only got two left for the day, and I may need them later when Streko's not around.

[Jeff]

Right. You can spend as many healing surges as you want, as long as you get at least a 5 minute "rest" between them. And of course only 1 per actual combat.

So Darren...do you prefer to not spend one, then?

[Jeff]

Also, most of a cleric's healing prayers require the recipient to spend a healing surge anyway.

[Darren]

I miss the old rules where clerics were just walking healing potions.

[mike]

What I'm thinking, Mike, is that we do the room to the north, then turn west to do the room by the front door, then the room behind where you placed the caltrops earlier (southwest corner). If we have time, we hit the guardhouse building. Sound like a plan?

Sure. That's fine.

[Jeff]

Thanks, Mike, for bringing the discussion to this thread, too, even though Darren tried to have it in the main thread.

[Darren]

Well, I figured it was relevant to the current discussion, and instead of having to read two threads, all of the information could be contained in one place. Excuse me for trying to be efficient.

[Joe]

Darren, I miss those cleric = healing days as well...as it is, Streko is spent in terms of healing stuff...unless there is more to fight, then he can tack on some healing to some furious butt-kicking.

Sorry, man.

[Jeff]

I might also actually allow Streko to use healing word—an encounter power which heals a person 1d6 hit points if they use a healing surge on their own as well—as long as Streko legitimately stops and rests for at least 5 minutes before each use.

I'm still myself a little fuzzy on how encounter powers work in 4E outside of combat. But I do know that that 5 minute rest period is the only way you'll get to do another encounter power again.

[Jeff]

You're all looking in your private threads now, right?

Off topic for a second: I have a new idea, which might make accessing your character sheets easier (for both you and me). Have any of you used Google Docs before? It's a pretty good sharing tool.

If you have a gmail email account (which you could easily create if you don't—you wouldn't have to actually use it as an email account), then I could create a new document which would shared between us. We could link to it right from your post signatures and immediately access a document that both you and I could modify. Might be easier than using the message board posts as a character sheet.

What do you think? Wanna give it a whirl? I could set it up. But I'd just need you to make sure you have a gmail account.

[Joe]

If everyone else goes for it, I won't complain. However, I already have half a dzoen email accounts and a few of them I think I check once every six months or so when I remember to do so. With my office move happening in two days and a script I need to write, I'm not sure I will remember unless I am consistantly reminded. I will leave it up to the rest of the gorup though as to whether or not everyone wants to do it. I will go with the majority vote.

[Jeff]

My theory, Joe, is that you'll only need to create the account, accept it when I initiate it, and never really check the account again. It'll just be a link that you'll be able to access but no one else will but me.

Believe me, I sympathize on having too many emails.

Let me play around with it a little bit first and then I'll give you more details. Should be easy, though, if it works out like I think it will.

[Ken]

Fine with me. I already have a Gmail account, as I think you know. :-)

[Josh]

Can do.

[Darren]

It's okay, but I'm not sure why it's necessary. What's wrong with the way we're doing it now? I especially like it because when I check the game from my phone, it's not hard to get to my character sheet since there's usually a link somewhere on the same page.