Immersive Ink

Dame Simonetta likes Dougal's idea and is ready to help hold the rope for him (and pull him up if requested). She warns him not to touch the web, however! He will need some light, she suggests we could lower a lit lantern down on a second rope beside him.

A Quick Note about Climbing

For the benefit of the new players, let's take a moment to talk about our climbing house rules.

Inspired by the climbing mini-game in Veins of the Earth (artwork by the Scrap Princess), every climb has a difficulty rating from 1-6.



Abseiling or rappelling down a rope is the easiest type of climb. Taking their time under non-stressful circumstances, a non-thief will succeed 5 times out of 6, and a thief will automatically succeed.

Therefore, Dougal's maneuver ought to have a 100% success rate. If the situation changes (for example he is attacked) then he would have to make a new climbing check, with the appropriate penalties.

Another nice thing about being a Thief is that, even if Dougal fails his climbing check, he gets to make a thief-skill check as a sort of 'saving throw.' In other words, a thief's special climbing ability is in addition to the normal chance of success. Thieves do not fall unless they fail both checks.

Knowing that they would have a very high chance of success, if not 100%, do any of the party's other Thieves wish to join Dougal's adventure in the third dimension?

Dougal is confident that his friends Willie and Dame Simonetta will pull him up in case of danger. Dangling from his new silk rope, Dougal resembles a spider himself.

First order of business: By the light of the lantern-on-a-string, Dougal is able to verify that the Spider-Goat is truly dead, no signs of life. Its body is caught it its own web, which prevents it from plummeting into the void.

Pausing for a moment to see what Dougal wants to do next, and hear from the other players...

Knowing a bit about normal spiders, Dougal examines the web to see if there are sticky strands and non-sticky strands. The non-sticky strands are usually the stronger ones that radiate out from the center of the web. He also looks around for anything that might resemble a lair (aside from the web) or any alcoves where the spidergoat may have secreted sparkly items.

Kiplyn would be willing to head down after Dougal. "Two hobbits are better then none"

Beppo looked up from pushing his rock. "What? It's dead already? Hmph. You have to move fast as an adventurer..."

He looked over the edge again. "I think I could climb that. With rope I'm sure of it," but Kiplyn was already heading down, and Beppo saw no need for three of them down there. He stood ready to help haul anyone up if there was trouble, though!

Noh helps with holding ropes and ensuring the more stealthier types don't fall. "Should we tie them around your waist?" Then turns his head to smile at the raven, "you feel comfortable flying down and taking a look Carc?"

A Quick Note about Investigate Checks

Since our Mythos/Investigate system is a bit wonky, I wanted to play this hand with all my cards on the table, for the benefit of the new players:

An Investigate check is a milder version of a Mythos check. If encountering Cthulhu in a dark alley is a Mythos check, then researching Cthulhu at the library is an Investigate check.

Roll d6 to determine the amount of information the investigator discovers. A higher roll gives more clues and information, but on a roll of 6, the investigator learns a little too much, and the roll escalates to a higher-stakes Mythos check. Arguably the 'best' roll is 5, because that is the maximum information you can discover without risking your sanity.

For a new player joining the game, or a new PC with a Mythos score of 0, I would not generally spring an unannounced Investigate or Mythos check on you. I would give you plenty of warning, and then it would be your choice whether or not your PC crosses the sanity threshold. In this case however, I already have my hooks in Dougal to the tune of 3 Mythos, so I am comfortable going ahead with the roll on behalf of ehiker133.

Rolling 1d6 for Dougal's Investigate check to examine the web: 5, an excellent outcome. I will explain what that looks like (both to Dougal himself, and to Kiplyn who is next on the scene) in my next post.

@rredmond, watching this play out, do you still want to send your animal companion down the hole? If so, I would roll 1d6 and make an Investigate check for Carc, like I did for Dougal. Since Dougal already rolled 5, here is my situational ruling: On a roll under Dougal's 5, Carc learns nothing new. On a roll of 5+, his keen animal senses pick up something that Dougal missed. But on a roll of 6, Carc learns a little too much, and Noh's Mythos increases to 1.

@mgtremaine, since Kiplyn doesn't have keen animal senses, and Dougal already rolled so well, I don't recommend that Kiplyn try any further Investigating. Maybe just watch the scene that is about to unfold, and piggyback on Dougal's success...

bilfur will help his team steady the rope