A Narrow Escape (ADV)

As those of you who follow this blog will know, my wife's and my pet rabbit, Anakin died last Monday and so this week was always going to be hard for us. Therefore, I cannot let this first post after his loss go without another brief mention to him. While Jennifer and I will continue to live our lives without him as best we can, there will always be a hollow where he is missing from anything we do. This evening's play was no different, and that while I believe everyone had a "good" time, Jen and I were simply grateful that their were those present who understood our grief. I would also like to take this opportunity to say thank-you to those who have passed on their condolences and kind words, which have helped us a great deal at this time. Jennifer and I both hope that we will will continue to offer friendship and hospitality, even in our sad times.

There were no bugs encountered tonight. Everything played as it should have done, even when it looked like Karasten was being picked on again. ;) Another concern raised at one point was the inability to target a creature, but this had been down to the location of the PC and being out of a line of sight of the target. The only other concern raised was one to do with the Toxic Shield spell, but I cover this in more detail next.

Toxic Shield Soul Spell

During gaming, Karasten cast the Toxic Shield spell and entered a toxic area to recover some items. After leaving the dangerous area, the spell eventually ran out and Karasten started to take damage. This was raised as an issue on the night and requires a little more detail from me to explain what actually happens in these circumstances: When a PC enters either a toxic or Negatron area, toxins or Negatrons start to build up on the soul of the person, like layers or levels of toxins or Negatrons upon the soul. These levels gradually fade over time and is reported back to the player as the number of toxin or Negatron levels that remain. If any remain at a round end, then the PC will still take damage if they have no means of protection.

In the example of toxins that built up on Karasten, he was able to resist their effect all the while he had a Toxic Shield in place. In fact, if he continued to cast a Toxic Shield spell, then he could make his shield last longer than it takes the toxins to dissipate, and thereby not take any damage. Alternatively, (as he did on the night), he could take an anti-toxin potion to help remove remaining toxin levels that are still upon his soul and causing him damage. NB: Depending upon the number of toxic (or Negatron) levels that the PC suffers from, it may require more than one anti-toxin (or Positron) potion being required to remove all the remaining levels upon a soul.

The description of the Toxic Shield spell indicates that the PC is immune from all toxins while they are in the toxic area and while the shield is in place. What was probably not clear, however, was that toxins "cling" to the PC and add as "levels" of toxicity from which the PC will suffer after their spell runs out. I hope this explanation helps explain how toxic (and Negatrons) affect a PC now - and that all players are aware of how to deal with them in future. I apologise for any confusion, but at least it made for an exciting discovery on the night. (The evening synopsis covers this discovery from the perspective of the PC.) The Walk through also has this:

TOXIC AREAS: These are very harmful to your character and can have a cumulative damaging effect all the while they are within its area of effect.Therefore, only enter toxic areas if you have a good stock of healing potions, anti-toxin potions and/or a means of resisting toxins. The best way to deal with toxic build-up is to take anti-toxin potions one after the other until you get the message “ALL TOXINS REMOVED”. All the while the PC has toxic build-up, they will continue to take damage unless they are resistant to the toxins in some way.

SYNOPSIS SNIPPET: (REALM LEVEL: Third) REALM TIME: 7 Hours 45 Mins

"On the other side of the force-field, the heroes spied a Clinker Alarm post, but there was no Watcher guarding this one. Instead, there was a ring of pulsating light encircling the post that appeared and disappeared every few seconds . Cautiously, Grimbold stepped forward as the rest of the group waited to see what happened. At first, nothing did, but after a few seconds of silence, the dreaded alarm they feared sounded to life, going straight into the intruder alert sound."  

Download the full synopsis here.