Lord Torath (Private thread) Labyrinth of Madness

[TristenC]

Correct, even breaking the wall does nothing because they space beyond it doesn't exist for those without the sigil.

[Lord Torath]

Some weird, freaky version of "There/Not There" (Tome of Magic p32)

So are we now in some weird, alternate Oerth? If Stephen was standing outside the Hands room, sans tattoo, while Jag was inside, and they were communicating via mindlink, then Stephen used Life Detection, would Jag show up?

[TristenC]

The module doesn't elaborate on the exact metaphysical explanation. The comment "simply does not exist for them" is pretty clear to me that no detection of any kind from the outside (without sigil) trying to 'look in' would be sufficient. Mindlink will work 'across' it since the person inside has to have the sigil to be there in the first place.

Remember, the only clue they have to the master/maker/main influence of this place is Vytholus, a snake-like god from the plane of Pandemonium. It's supposed to be a little maddening

[Lord Torath]

That makes the Wormhole really interesting. Stephen is using Jack's/Landro's sight (I forget who's eyes he was borrowing at the time) to place the far end, which means he both has and does not have the sigil. The near end is placed from non-sigiled sight, while the far end is placed via sigiled sight. For Stephen, the far end would open on solid rock (presumably solid rock is what he would find if he tunneled through to the location of the Hands room). But someone with a sigil would see the interior of the Hands room and be able to pass through.

And that means that Stephen would have noticed this when he let Jag & Co. back through the wormhole on the afternoon of the 4th, and then have time to go get the sigil himself.

[TristenC]

That's basically how I would think of it. So it's simple enough to say he portaled just outside the room, got the sigil and then they went on from there

[TristenC]

When stephen reaches out to contact, he determines her mind is Closed as if she had psionic ability of her own! Please choose an Attack Mode

It doesn't seem perfectly clear based on the verbiage in the psychic contests section whether one has to wait until the next round to use a psychic attack mode if initial contact is opposed. I'm inclined to say it can be done the same round, i.e. The psionicist attempts to contact a mind but it is closed so he immediately launches an attack mode. Not sure if this is btb or not, so I would appreciate it if you know of any place this is clarified.

[Lord Torath]

I'm not sure it's clarified anywhere specifically. I always assumed it was a Next Round thing, covered under 'your intended psionic power failed this round'. If not, I'll go with Unleash Allied Anger - aka Id Insinuation.

And, naturally, I flub my rolls.
Id Insinuation (Wis-4) 17: [1d20]=20
Id Insinuation (Wis-4-1) 16: [1d20]=5.

The Nat 20 means I take a -1 to my power scores and attack rolls for ten minutes. I didn't include that on my 2nd roll (hadn't looked up the effects yet), but I modified the power score downward above (16 vs 17). That 16 will be further modified by Miss Scaley's defense mode, but I'm pretty sure a 5 still succeeds. But she'll need to roll pretty poorly on her defense check for that to give me a fingerhold (tangent).

[TristenC]

Ok, that makes sense about the power fail. So attempted contact this round R2, telepathic attacks intended next round R3

When he attempts contact, it is 8 psps (from HD) and no modifier to the mind-type. Apparently the Ms Scaley has a very humanoid mind...

[Lord Torath]

With Little Miss Scaley out of sight (and unContacted), Stephen can't target her with Id Insinuation. So those rolls never happen. Does sound pass through the dimensional door?

[TristenC]

Yeah, so far I have been operating as if sound passes through the door to give the players more information. Not sure if that is cannon or not, but with the visual element established it seems possible at least

[Lord Torath]

That's how I've generally ruled it in the past. Other than light and sound, I generally don't allow ambient environmental effects to pass through. So if one portal is underwater, water won't flow through out through the other portal. But attacks and directed environmental effects (Lightning Bolt spell, character-directed Decanter of Endless Water, etc.) will pass through.

Do the glowing green statues show up to Stephen's 'bat-sight'?

[TristenC]

Sounds reasonable (the effects, etc)

Bat Sight is not picking them up

[TristenC]

Thinking about the life detection:

So the power-score effect is 300 ft" in every direction" basically from the user's perspective. So everything in the room he is in, down the hall, etc obviously, and I would say through the dimensional door as well.

However, since he is bodily on one side of the door, I would think his detection ability 'through' the door itself might be limited to an arc, depending on how close he stands to the door (something slightly under 180 deg if he is just shy of touching the shimmering membrande of the portal itself. i.e. he might not detect something 'behind' the opposite side of the portal, for insance. Thoughts?

[Lord Torath]

That's about how I envision it working through the portal. He gains a wedge through the portal, but loses a similar wedge in his actual location.

[TristenC]

Sounds good