[IC] Graveyard Shift: Session 2

Any other thoughts on the 7 advantages? I can certainly work with CESN's idea if that's what y'all want. It wasn't a despair, so you wouldn't be in immediate danger.

Can I notice a very subtle clue/item which would of great benefit to us?

That sounds right. It will require a separate spell to communicate with it, though.

Sure thing.

Easy (P) Knowledge (Lore) with a boost on the water. Magical identification will provide different information, of course.

Clarification: The holy water is not at all unusual. It's just something nice to have in the tomb, like flowers or incense. I didn't mean to suggest it was put there specifically to ward off demons. It's just an expected (but potentially useful) bit of scenery. Nekurr's difficulty is one purple to see if it's been blessed properly. It's a basic Utility spell.

Advantage use?

Sorry, I misread it as Nrera seeing it inside the coffin. Makes much more sense now :D

Could the advantages maybe reveal what the goat-demon would be interested inside this crypt? Are the fonts actually blocking the path to something? If not, I can just recover strain for now

Well at the moment I'm just going to send it down to see if anything happens but what are we looking at for communicating with it? My gut says Utility spell, base difficulty based on range (Short = Easy, Medium = Average, etc) with a setback if it's out of sight how's that sound to you?

Will use the 2 of the advantages to offset the Strain from casting the spell and can I use the other two to get a banked boost to cast a spell to communicate with the dog

I'll work with that, CESN. You can use 2 of the advantage to recover strain. Same for Hildar: You can use 2 advantage to recover strain, but ONLY if you are down strain BEFORE casting the spell. The strain cost of a spell only takes effect after all effects are resolved, so if you're currently at full strain, there's no way to offset that. (Minor point of order, but folks say it's crucial to balance the magic system that advantage can never offset the cost of the spell currently being cast.)

So, communicating with animals is kind of a gray area. It feels like something that is more Primal-focused, so I'm thinking it falls under Augment, which Arcana doesn't have access to. Maybe an Arcana mage can brute force such a thing, but it should be more difficult than it would with Primal. Say base Hard (PPP), plus regular range increases (+P for short, +PP for medium, etc.). Agree about the setback for it being out of sight. But all this is to say that you might have better luck just detecting magic on the dog in a bit to see where it is rather than trying to communicate directly with it.

Yes, let's say Hildar has been able to magically impart a fairly complex order to the dog-thing: Follow the tunnel and look for danger. At any rate, another decision point:

Hard (PPP) Athletics check to remove the lid, boost if you use the tool. We can still use Barvek's strength on this, as he's technically still present (GGGG Athletics). Let me know if you prefer to try something else or to do nothing.