Need DM Advice, Shadows of the Deep (Level Up #2)

[cnath.rm]

I'm running the Shadows of the Deep adventure from Level Up! magazine issue #2 (goodman games, the $2 hardcopy with free pdf is one of the best deals ever) it's an homage to Lovecraft and has an island with a Deep One
temple appearing a few miles away from a small coastal fishing town called Ensmoth...

Nifty battle on the island, excellent use of the Speak with Dead ritual to learn that there is a ritual of summoning going on. Battle inside the temple in which one players daily power has a storm raging and slowly damaging/destroying the trapped pillars (to either side of the opening leading further down into the temple) after having killed the enemy in the room, and another players power having blocked off the entrances more deep ones were entering through with a wall of thorns.

In any case, the party is in a room in the temple and has heard the chanting of a summoning ritual from the room below them. As they want to disrupt the summoning, they are planning on going directly forward without resting. With the room below being another encounter the storm and wall of thorns caused by the daily powers would normally end, but as they aren't planning on resting I'm figuring on letting it go on for a few more rounds at least. However I'm wondering how long I should let them go... I don't think I'm going to tell the players whatever I decide or roll, as I don't think the chars would know as the powers are being stretched. The party doesn't want to wait and rest, but I'm still figuring on it being a new encounter, with encounter powers refreshing.

Any thoughts? am I being unreasonable if I don't let him know how long his power is going to last? (he has to keep spending minor actions on it, I would just tell him that the storm was breaking apart and would likely dissipate at the end of the round) They are going up against some rather nasty customers already, and if they are not able to stop the ritual, are going to be facing a Shoggoth as well as the Deep ones already in the room, as well as three more from the last room who will either be breaking in through the wall of thorns (taking damage as they do) and hitting them from behind, or will have turned back from the last room and will be joining/re-enforcing the leaders in the last room.

I picked up the Lovecraftian Bestiary pdf goodman put out and am loving it what I've read so far. It fixes a few things in the Deep One stats and expands the refresh range of at least one nifty power of the "Deep One Priest of Cthulhu" from refesh 6 to 4,5,6.

So far both the players and I have been having fun, and I think the adventure has tested the pc's enough that the players will remember the adventure for awhile, which imho at least is always a good thing, I'm not one to hand things to the pc's without them having earned them by blood, sweat, tears, and damn good thinking.

I figured I'd post and ask for thoughts on things as I'm already stretching/breaking the rules as it is.

 

[cnath.rm]

Oh, thought I'd post pix of the foamcore/cardstock I put together for the room, the dry erase markers are filling in for the pillars, you can see the hole between them doing down to the next level, and the pools on the right from which more deep ones were arriving...

Yes, I suppose you could say that I had too much time on my hands, but it was only an hour or two as I'd already printed out the floor on the cardstock, would have been even less but I'm rusty... the players were impressed and I think it added to the overall enjoyment of the game so I think it was worth the time. (on the downside, they are expecting the same or better for the final room..... )

 

[Rechan]

I think when a power that has a duration is used outside of combat (like a Druid using a shapechange utility), the rule of thumb is Five Minutes.

That seems like a reasonable amount of time.

(Also, what daily was used btw?)

 

[cnath.rm]

I think when a power that has a duration is used outside of combat (like a Druid using a shapechange utility), the rule of thumb is Five Minutes.

That seems like a reasonable amount of time.

(Also, what daily was used btw?)

So would you then stretch the power from the one combat to the other for a total of five min?

I can't remember offhand which power, I just know that the storm was going to be wearing down the pillars (and anyone else in the area) by about 5/round, and the thorn wall did damage and took +3 squares of movement if you went though it.