Exam: Chamber 2 (OOC)

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Oh, please, no. Not a murder-hobo game.

(also, that make me actually laugh out loud.:)

Seems Weird to me. Probably Wild too? :)

It is a success. How do you hide or disguise that you are using Druid magic? If you can't hide it, then add 1 to Wild.

Would we have preferred for me to hide the Room Type Dice result in the first post? I realise it may have been a bit of a giveaway, but had not looked at the list again till after I rolled and deduplicated.

I figure it would be revealed pretty soon anyway.

I don't look up the result in the book anyway, so either way is the same to me

You tell Alak she can fight the stones, obviously :D

I did check out of curiosity, but it's so freely interpretable and you don't reveal everything anyway, that it doesn't really give anything away

That's sorta what I thought, too.

I think may be in a very different.time zone than the rest of the group....which is unfortunate. I wake up to a flood of posts.

Anyway go disguise it she pulls a Wand from her hat and swishes it.

It happens to the best of us unless we're American.

The only solution is to never sleep again.

Also, Alaks could definitely beat up a rock. Although... judging by her rolls so far

Fair enough. In this case that sounds like enough, you are not doing anything overtly 'druidic' --just using your senses.

Did the wand come with the hat? Or is it a more druid-orientated stick?

Perfect use of Slowish Fall.

I was going to ask if Hooligander was athletic enough to climb easily, but Alakassandra can definitely lift him out, so no extra rolls needed.

Well done all. I hope they like team-work. :)

I modeled Hooligander off David Brent from The Office, so definitely not athletic lol.

I figured. Good thing you have muscly help, then. :)

You two can go ahead and narrate it.

Already did 😎

Depends how you measure time?

it was totally a package deal and came with the hat. or my crow stole it because it was vaguely shiny

That depends on what you are doing. This just allows you to do it through your Familiar. This also puts your Familiar at risk, though it can't 'die' so you won't lose it forever if things go wrong.

If you are casting one of the Wizard Spells through the Familiar, then you would use Wizard, of you were doing something else of note, then you would use Wild. Exactly the same as if the Familiar was not involved.
Yes, but it is still just a Prop, mechanically it can't do anything on its own and has no real abilities. If you want to get results, you will have to act and roll the dice.

not seeing anything on the wizard list that fits the bill. wild it is

Well, we just crossposted.

Also, may I say, that was my first success so far in this game. But I guess with my stat continuously rising, it had to happen sooner or later

Keep them high? High stats are good, right? :)

I hope you don't mind that your first success seems a bit watered down. I was not sure what to do with moving the rocks, so did a bit of a reveal.

The Glitter works. I wonder if you can see the snow-eating boy checking the program to see if 'the big lady just said her own name!'. :)

Nah, doesn't seem watered down to me. All good! :)

Good. :)

I think that is pronounced 'an aerodynamic shape'? :)

Even a big raven can't carry a person without magical assistance (and it is just a Prop). What are you doing to make this work? I am not sure Slowish Fall makes you lighter (it just slows your descent?), so you might need to employ some Druidcraft?

That's what I was thinking, using the colors of the wind to lift me I'll make a wild roll....or say I'm using druid craft to give myself flight.

Ah, well... A 5 with 3 Wild is a fail. Roll `1d6` to see how bad it goes.

Depends on the result.
Wild is not raised by merely casting the Spell, so it only goes up once.

Describe how it works, and what does wrong.

You using the Cover mechanic to cover for Abby? That means you add 1 to your Wild (you are revealing a lot of magicianness which makes it harder for you to pretend to be a Wizard) instead of Abby adding 1 to her Wild.

ahah why not! living dangerously with 5 point on each skill now xD

Because it is dangerous to live dangerously?

Hey, that means you almost can't fail. Seems perfect

Sure. That adds up.

I'll totally be stuck with two 6s very soon and just become a farmer

And drag your whole party down into the mud with you. :)

Sure. Though you may need to talk me through the details. I am guessing this 'Mario'? I have heard of that, but that is all.

Sure it is. :)

Actually, yes.
The Spell is a dud, though, so it is not that the judges were immune or anything. What did it look like? Would they guess that you 'attacked' them?

Is it a good thing that you flubbed the spell?

yeah I think you get +1 wizard as nothing happens
well, "stomping mushrooms" is the game in a nutshell xD

No. The rules are explicit about when to increase the Stats. If it succeeds there is a clause to 'add 1 to Wizard', but that is part of the success wording. If it fails you follow the fail rules and they say when to 'add 1 to Wild', and 1-2 is not one of those cases.

---

And how do the mushrooms get in the nutshells?

If you want to add mushrooms, maybe you should have brought some from the other room? Or did you? Or are they here already and you need to find them? Or are they a metaphor?

There has to be a reason every wizard wears a hat...

@CESN: Are you just jumping blindly, hoping the next stone is 'real'?

I am not sure how to decide if it is, but maybe, assuming you acted on an instinct, a Hunch Spell will tell us if you are right or not? Or some Wild instinct/'magician's eye towards fakery' if you would prefer to roll Wild. Methinks Wild seems a tad more appropriate, here?

@bowlofspinach: You are all huddled on the next stone along from the one you moved (even, Hooligander, though we don't know how he got across (unless you are implying he is still on the last one and needs to move over here now that Ari has made space?)).

If everyone is off that one, you can try throw it.

If you want everyone to get off this rock we will have to deal with the potentially trapped ground around it. This 'second', knee-high stone is also larger than the last, ankle-high one, so it will be hard for even you to throw it any distance, but that is what Wild is for... if you can convince the dice to like you for a moment.

I am pretty strong, so that's what my wild magic would be for. Since the stone moved, the ground immediately around it should be safe, which is why I figure everyone can just get off. Or, I guess they could follow Ari if they don't die through their jump.

I offered to help everyone across who needs it, which I figured included Hooligander when you moved us ahead.

Indeed. Still, it is sticking out the ground to knee-height and probably the same or similar amount underground, and it wide enough around for all of you to be standing in a crush upon it (or a few of you comfortably). So it weights a TON. But that is what Wild is for, and will impress the judges. :)
That was the previous stone that you threw the people from. Presumably you threw them to the next rock you revealed with your magic. The ground is not safe.
Me too, since they did not act. I left it vague so they could say how they got across, or if they hadn't.

Ah, I got that mixed up then. I thought this stone had also moved.

I guess I could jump back and use the previous stone instead while the others work out the route forward, since the jump isn't a problem for me.

Since abigail said "real", Ari is totally blind jumping into a trap! I'll add a roll as I'll probably need one to avoid the said trap xD

Sure. No roll needed for that jump.

What are you actually trying to do with the stone-throwing?

To be clear: The 'fingers of stone' are (or were meant to be) like the one you are standing on. They are not (or were not meant to be) something new... unless we want them to be, then just say the word and they can be... actually, I am liking that more.

Does anyone mind if we change the 'fingers of stone' to be a new thing, distinct from the rocks you are standing on? I don't want to confuse things.

I guessed she was talking about the judges?

She was, but she wasn't being specific

Yeah. That is one of the reasons why I would like to turn them into a new thing in the scene. Makes that course of action the correct one... by pure chance. :)

It is OK for the characters to misunderstand each other. Just so long as the players meant for their words to be less than perfectly clear to the others, I don't want to 'punish' players for possibly-rushed posts.

It works out for you. Tell us what happens.

I hadn't actually seen that post with your question. I was still responding to the one before.

I don't mind. Do what feels best to you, I'd say.

@CESN: Since your Wild is already 5, I suggest you try, in your narration of what happens, to disguise this as Wizard magic. :)

If no one objects I will make more of the 'fingers', but I don't want to 'change reality' if it will disturb anyone. (Also: Anyone can PM me if they prefer.)

Me? at the moment nothing. just distracting bowl from killing the judges :D I'll be playing the floor is lava until there's another idea
she did... but she only said real out loud xD
I thought it was smaller stones that were far away and unreachable, since it's all an illusion anyway. I'm totally ok with it being something we can break :D

That is a good point. Since is a sort of comedy game, I may be taking Abi's words a bit too far from what was intended xD

Oh I need to think a little about this one (and check the rules). I'm at the point where I need to plan somehow resetting the stats

I can still change my mind about where I throw the stone 😝

Officially? No. You are not allowed to attack your teammates... but you could accidentally miss... :)

The judges are my teammates?

No, but you are not allowed to attack them either. If you did, do you really think they will give you good marks?

yeah! and they are real wizards with real wizardry spells!

... you assume. :)

😱
There wouldn't be any point in attacking them anyway. The only reason I did something adjacent was to confirm whether they are real. Which we now know they are.

Definitely wizards are interested in being judges because they wouldn't want to let anyone who isn't definitely a wizard to make it through.

The reason they don't recognize our obvious wild magic is because they have no more idea about what magic is than we do.

Wait, what if wizards don't exist? Everyone is just faking it and assuming everyone else is for real.

Definitely!...? :)

So, you think no one like you, after making it through, would ever become a judge and help others like you? :)
You think you are the first to ever try what you are trying? Could be.

No comment. :)
I said: No Comment! :)

There are as many comments as real wizards

oh I, as a player, was being vague on purpose. Abby was assuming the others were smart enough to think the nutters others she's working with would understand

@CESN: We are still waiting for your to show us your successful landing on the real stone that you jumped to, and how you disguise it as being definitely nothing other than Wizardly power that you used to get there. [ref]

If you want me to take over narrating your landing and what you find, let me know.

---

@bowlofspinach: We can assume you get your hat back and can throw the stones if you want to. [ref] Go ahead.

---

What is everyone else wanting to do? It is fine if you want to wait for the resolution of the above actions.

I'm sure Ari will be impressed by your genius

Lol if some people are impressed by Musk, then it will be no problem for Hooligander!

Rather just add a new post with the new stuff, that way we can all see what has been added and don't have to guess, and the answer comes after the question (and after the roll that allowed it). You had to add a new post to explain anyway, just put the new stuff there?

Cool, fixed again.

oh! I totally forgot about this post!
Some geniuses were simply born to impress :D

Hey. I was just saying that those were the odds of getting rude gesture. I was not hinting that it was something you should do. It will not have any significant effect on the outcome. :)

But if we can magically make a bird appear, then that should impress the judges a lot, right?

True, true.

But think of the children!

Abby can make birds. just not that kind

@The_Librarian The stone fingers that you are 'moving' are different to the stones you are jumping to. Though Alakassandra did 'move' one of the jumping stones and throw it at the stone fingers.

Apologies for in case there is any confusion.

Any chance we can get a sketch of the location? Lol it is a bit hard to visualize.

Not likely... unless you guys make one.
I will try for a better description. Details not provided are undefined and you guys can use that to your advantage.

1. The floor is lava! (Well... technically 'trapped'.)
2. Only the stones are safe to step on.
3. Not all stepping stones are safe, some are illusions.
4. In the near-distance there are stone fingers sticking up from the ground.
5. You have found that you can move/manipulate the stone fingers.
6. You don't yet know what the purpose of the stone fingers is.
7. The mountains are fake.
8. The trees appear to be red herrings... though not literally.

So totally hit me that the finger are like levers or something which switch the illusions on and off so we can jump past the lave floor 🤔 still! Release the birds!

Possibly... There is still the unrealised (now revealed as 'make something up') 'Added Challenge' dice to deal with. :)
OK. They are now. :)
And maybe do other things if you get the wrong/right combination? Yeah.
If you insist. :)

yep I was confused. thanks for clearing it up!!

What are you trying to do?

Anyway, it fails spectacularly, you must add 1 to Wild (you were not very convincing:). Please describe your intent and, if you can, describe how it fails.

Oh no, Ari! Abigail took your place 🤣

well, someone is going to be accidentally falling off a cliff soon...

It is probably the size of a small car. Even with 'magic', do you think it is reasonable to be able to throw it? I won't disallow it, but this game does not have mechanisms for adjusting roll difficulties based on the task, so if you can try it, that makes is 'as easy' as the smaller stones.

I think there should be a limit on what we can do. But am open to hearing all y'all's ideas.

I'm okay with saying that it's unreasonable and trying other things. Just rolling to throw a rock over and over is not a very fun resolution anyway. Better to have to try multiple different things.
So that's why I'd rather throw Abby this time 🙃

Closest but not close enough to jump there right?

Yep. That is why they are getting bigger and bigger.

With the right magic you could try jump to there. You want to try land on the finger?

The stepping stones could get you right up close if you can find a safe route.

Not to mess up this nice symmetry......but potentially dumb question: How did Ari get their Wizard stat down to 2. I can't find any rule that lowers Wizard

got it up to 6 and then managed a wild stunt :D

It's on the "how to be closely loosing but not really" part of the rules (page 4)

Ah, got it

Just make some more In Character posts. Though it will take a lot to get a nice symmetry again.

Yeah, it can get a little scary when Wild gets up high with low Wizard.

Remember, other people can take the consequences for you with the Cover move, so that can help a little when the Wizard magic does not want to cooperate.

You can also use your Prop to reduce your Wild by 1, but that gets harder and harder the more you do it and the judges catch on to what you are doing.
Slowish Fall makes you fall slowish, it is a very weak spell that does not really help you jump further. Maybe someone can help boost you up and over there, then Slowish Fall could change the angle you descend at to get you more distance once you have the height?

I offered to throw Abby, but I could just as well throw Ari.

I know, I just keep throwing things, but that seems like the most useful application of my muscle magic in this test 😄

I was thinking as if going down is slower but horizontally is the same speed… then I should get a bit further 😅 not much… but still

Absolutely, still you still need the height. Someone could help you with that.

We can devolve to that, it does work. Hooligander is over there with Ari, though, and I would like to see more from them, maybe?

Huh, that's funny because I'm trying my best to avoid rolling dice lol.

Coward? :)

Maybe Abigail can help instead? Though her Wild is pretty wild.

If not then Alakassandra can try to help, but she will need to get over there and there is not much space (which is not a comment on her size).

It's what my character would do :P And I think Ari made a roll that we are waiting on. I'll make the next roll!

Sure, but stopping an important test to roll some dice would not be responsible for a character. he judges would look at them and say: "Is that a critical? Well, done, but now there is work to do." :)
Is this the 'next roll'? Because Ari's roll needs this one (to get the height). It could be argued that this one is the previous one, not the next one, though, and I would not argue with that. :)

Yeah I have no idea where we are on this roll vs next roll or last roll lol. Do you need a roll? I'll make a roll if you tell me what you need.

Ari is using Slowish Fall, but that only helps with falling more slowish, so someone needs to get them up high so they can coast down to the Fingers. Hooligander is the logical choice since they are right there with Ari when they 'jump'.

If you don't want to be the one to boost Ari up and over, then someone else can do it.

She is a petite, dainty lady

Hooligander will do it.

Or will he?

Why not. :)

Since we know Ari gets up there, why don't we say it works well enough to do that part, but there is a cost. Maybe the thunderstone explosion blows Hooligander off the pillar and they have to deal with the ground and getting back up? There may be some consequence for Ari as well.

@nezzeraj: Add a roll for the Consequence, mainly to see how bad it is, and whether you have to add 1 to your Wild.

Ok added.

By the rules 'The spell peters out and doesn't do anything', but that would violate causality (or someone else would need to boost Ari) so are we OK with having the stone work, but slightly inconvenience both characters?

Oh, I see you added a failure to your post. Those can be hard to notice and can get ignored. If you instead add a new post then it is clear to everyone that something is new (and what).

Who will step up and give Ari a hand to get up and over there?

I'll take a look when I'm home from work
Or unmark the minor edit box. That also makes it obvious

I did unmark the minor edit box. Also I usually post when most others are asleep so they'd be unlikely to have seen the first post before the edit.

That only helps with 'that' not 'what'. We still have to guess what was changed or is new, or notice that more than just the mentioned roll was added.
There is no way you can know that. Once something has been put out onto the internet we have to assume it has been read.

Well I don't have the energy or time to argue about it. I'm not really enjoying the game anyway so I'm just going to withdraw. Best of luck.

Sorry to hear that.

How is everyone else feeling? This has run a bit longer than I expected. Do we want to finish this test/Chamber and treat it as the final one to deiced your futures, or go on to the next one after (possibly as the final)... or call it quits here?

I'm OK with calling this the last chamber

Yea, I'm okay with ending it after this challenge.

But does this mean Ari's love will forever be unreciprocated? 😢

OK. We will pretend two chambers was always the plan.

I just hope it does not give them some sort of dread complex.

@CESN: I don't see much attempt to hide your use of Wild Magic, or make it look like Wizard Magic [ref]. There really was not a lot of time.

Can you think of how you might hide it, or does your Wild go up to 6?

I was thinking about the magic words and the showmanship to distract everyone from paying to much attention is if works. Though I only added the confetti after I posted xD Let me know if that works

Surely your 'showmanship' is part of your non-Wizard Magician background/Class, it is how you do you Wild Magic. Your using that is why it draws their attention to your action and increases their suspicion. That is the opposite of 'disguising' your actual Class.

Remember, you can use your Props to reduce your Wild, though probably not until you have a quiet moment. You can also use your Props to increase your Wizard, making you more likely to succeed at proper Wizard Magic, thus reducing their suspicion and bringing your Wild down to 2.

Obviously badly failing a Wizard Spell when your Wild is at 6 is dangerous, since that can increase your Wild. But others can choose to Cover for you and take the consequences to their Wild instead (if that makes sense in the story).

Sorry a bit busy this week and forgot to answer this post! I'll try to get back to it during the weekend :D

No worries.

So, does anyone have any ideas how to proceed from here? I thought closing the hand was a good idea, but that's all been undone now since it can just move itself again. What else could we even do with it? I guess give it something? But we don't have anything.

So I'm just entirely out of ideas.

maybe we can sit on the hand? I have no idea either

You never finished closing the hand before approaching it. (Though that might just change it from slapping to punching?)

'Real' Wizards definitely get Hunches? (hint, hint)

If we want to subvert the setting a bit, there was definitely something to the idea of this being fake (or absurd, as Abigail put it most recently). If you all choose to go to 6 Wild at once (you are poised for it, so now is the time), something unexpected might happen?

To be clear, I don't have a solution in mind (I just come up with problems:).

Alakassandra (just bearly) succeeded at this Hunch Spell, so she will learn a valid way forward that will let us finish this in a way we want.

We can decide here and now what that is, whatever we come up with will be 'correct', no matter how simple or illogical.

From the tone of this game so far, I did think about ways to have an 'official failure' turn out to be the 'better outcome', so if we decide we want to make that happen we can all do a Wild spell with little-to-no disguising it --which will bring us all up to 6-- and I will 'fail' you and we can see what happens. But if you want to do an official successful end, then we can come up as simple or complex a final move as you want to finish it.

Ahah I don’t think the characters would want to fail 🤣. If this is a fake challenge then something as simple as dispelling it could work 🤔 which is a spell we don’t have 😅

Well... this is an out of character discussion, so we might not care what they want. What do they know anyway. :)

If the players want to end it that way, all it would take is for each of you to do a Wild Spell and for the disguise to 'not be good enough' (because the judges have been watching you carefully?) and it would be done. Your characters could think they are trying their best.

Also, Abigail might have been hinting at something like that in character?

It is just an option.

I'm not a fan of the idea of just throwing the game. If we lose naturally, that's a fine outcome, but just failing on purpose would not be an enjoyable way to end the game.
I'm not asking for a solution. Not having a prepped solution is a perfectly valid way to run a game. I guess what I'm asking for is the problem. Because we are literally just in some vaguely defined space and have zero idea what we're even trying to achieve. We threw some rocks at one thing because that was at least doing something, but now that that was thrown out, I'm just standing there again not even knowing what to do.

Having a goal and not knowing how to achieve it can be fun. Just standing around and not even knowing what my goal is supposed to be is not.

I generally agree. It just seemed particularly apropos at this point when everyone was at 5 Wild, to add that at a possible 'good outcome', just in case people were worried and tying to avoid action to avoid 'losing'. I was uncomfortable mentioning it at all, it might seem more appropriate to let players 'fail' and then offer a life buoy... but the players had mentioned the idea already.
Good, good.
Yeah, sorry about that. I came up with ideas for the 'problem' for the previous room, but then the players did a much better job of coming up with something of their own. So I tried to leave this problem up to the players as well and it did not work.

The game's prompts were not very useful either. They don't care about 'the point', just the set decorations.
Agreed. I really should have fixed that a while ago when it became clear there was no goal to the room. It is my responsibility, not yours. Sorry.

---

If anyone has a goal or problem they think would be cool to address in this, we can do that. Else I will make something up tomorrow and present it to the group.

maybe if we inactivate the hand... there's a button to turn off the illusion 🤔 it's magic, but also tech... very thematic 😂

Pretty much. You are not 'most people'. :)

What's that? A Hunch? A Wild Magic effect? Roll it and, if it was Wild and you disguise it, describe it.

Far enough to be a challenge, but close enough that you can get there with one 'move'?
Sure, you're tough.

That seems right.

Remember you can reduce your Wild back down to 2 by casting a Wizard Spell, or back to 5 by using your Props (if there is time and opportunity).
That would raise Ari's Wild by one, which then puts them at 6. This would be very useful if Alaks even has to raise her Wild again, though.

Distracting the hand might be useful, though, as it then won't have the 'brain-power' to also think about Abby?

I figured my attack would keep it busy to let Abby to her thing

I'll let Abby do her thing first. If she doesn't immediately get us through the force field, I'll have to cast a wizard spell, which... might bring me down to safe Wild levels again or end the game in failure 😅

Which Wizard Spell are you trying to use? You are not a Wizard (though still Definitely a Wizard!), by the rules you only know the Wizard Spells listed in the book, anything else is Wild Magic.

You can use Wild Magic and make it look like you are casting some other Wizard Spell if you are creative with how you cast it.

there's a wizard spell called dim sight that let's you see through dim light/darkness, I thought it might help.

That is not in the rulebook, but I do see it listed in the older, partially-upside-down 'printable' one, it could often be a useful spell, so I suppose it is allowed, though this is not 'darkness', so the effect it not significant.

yeah that's the one I was looking at. weird that it's different

Half the text was upside-down and I was not printing it, so I did not look at that one in enough detail to see what else may be different. I just went with the PDF that was readable and the most recent. In this case it does not mater-aside from the brief confusion, and the Spell is fine.

Did you do anything to disguise this Wild Magic as being Wizard Magic? Describe it.

Remember that you are at 5 Wild, if you hit 6 --which happens if you don't convince everyone that you are Definitely a Wizard and only using Wizard Spells here, or if you don't roll well-- we move straight to endgame and you officially 'fail' and are taken away by the authorities.

Weigh your actions value against that real and immediate risk. Do you want to retract that 'look at the papers' action? They are probably your Certificates of Wizardness, and while looking at them might give you hope, it will also take time and require the others (who are at 6!) to act again to keep the hand off your back.

I'll retract it, thank you.

Haha, I was just trying to end on a dramatic post-credits scene 😅 It was not my intention to turn this into a full thing

Yeah, else we would have to start asking ourselves what ruleset to use for that break-in. :)