[sblock=Rules Update]
That round was much easier than I intended. In a face-to-face game, I would negotiate with the players over their actions. "Yes, you can use Bluff to raise your comrades spirits, but that wouldn't give you a success, it would just give the next player a +2 to their roll. Maybe if you roll really well it would give everybody a +2. Want to do that, or try something else?"
But that doesn't work too well when we have to wait between posts (and when changing your mind involves changing an action you've already described). And the DM unilaterally deciding, "No, that counts as an assist and not a success," is unfair. That's why I allowed FourMonos to gain a success, when in a face to face game I would have counted that bluff as Aid Another. For Neil1889's scouting, I would probably have asked him to roll a Stealth check, and then a Perception check with a +2 if he succeeded at the Stealth or a -2 if he failed, as part of the same action, and counted the success if the Perception check succeeded.
So from now on, I'll be tightening things up a bit: I will post a list of skills that can definitely be used to gain successes. (And some of these may be Primary Skills, which give you a +2 to your roll.) If you want to try to gain a success on the challenge with a different skill, describe what you want to try in an OOC post and I'll tell you if I'll allow it or not.
Any skill that doesn't seem totally unreasonable can still be used for Aid Another.
[/sblock]
OOC:
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As a free action, which doesn't have any effect on the challenge, you may make one (only one) of the following rolls, to see the hidden info. You may Take 10.
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[sblock=Dungeoneering 15]
The rock here is not native to the island of Daunton, and certainly not Stargazer Hill. You've clearly been transported some distance away. You can't tell whether the rock is native to one of the Proximate Isles - although you can rule out Kytheria, the living plant island - or one of the Near or Far Lands, or if it's a place nobody's ever heard of before. Or another plane entirely.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Nature 15, or 12 for Artemis]
The creature you're following is a "wombat", and it's native to the island of Allaria, which is a few weeks travel away from Daunton. It's possible that one of them was transported here by ship and got loose in some caves, but considering the magical effects you've experienced in the maze, it's also possible you've been transported far away from Stargazer Hill to somewhere beneath Allaria.
[/sblock]
You follow the tracks that Lilli found, which lead through a maze of natural tunnels and then suddenly break out into a worked passage, wide enough for two carts to pass abreast. (You can tell by the two sets of cart tracks on the floor.) Looking up the slope, you see the tracks end hanging out over the side of a huge abyss. You cannot help but picture solid rock sheering away and falling into the void, as must have happened some time in the past.
The muddy paw prints turn and head down the passage at galloping speed. As you reluctantly follow them downwards, you see that the left hand track's wooden ties are splintered and many are missing, and even the metal rails are knotted and sometimes melted. The right hand track is almost pristine. (You wisely walk between the two sets of tracks to avoid catching your feet in the ties.)
The tunnel soon ends in a large chamber whose southern half is buried in a wall of rock. The paw prints end in the center of the room, with no sign of the beast that led you here. There is, however, a large rusted machine sitting on the left-hand track with its nose sticking half out of the rockfall. It has a large rotating drill, a bucketlike metal scoop, and a complicated system of gears and pulleys connecting the drill to metal wheels that grip the track tightly. It looks as if the machine is meant to move along the track grinding through stone as it goes. It also looks as if half the gears have jammed or fallen out of their place.
There is no way to continue through this cave without moving some of the rock. However, you passed several more natural cave openings which the paw prints ignored, so you could backtrack to those to re-enter the maze.
[sblock=Skill Challenge]
3 successes so far. Everybody may act once here. Before you do, make a group decision whether to try to get through the rockfall or return to the maze.
Rockfall: since this is a new situation, you may reuse skills without taking a penalty. Skills you may use include:
Acrobatics
Athletics
Dungeoneering (primary skill)
Endurance
Thievery (to get the machine working - primary skill)
Maze: since you are continuing the same type of exploring you did earlier, remember you get a -2 penalty to skills anyone has already used. Skills you may use include:
Acrobatics
Arcana
Athletics
Dungeoneering (primary skill)
Perception (primary skill)
[/sblock]