On Thu, Jan 8 2026 at 05:04:08 PM -0600, bss via Emerald Flame <emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org> wrote:
This plan sounds great, and just to state my understanding in case I'm wrong, the Nia and Dax are in the chasm, waiting for either the hurried but quiet all clear, or some larger commotion coming or going relative to the chasm, to let them know that it's time to move? All sounds good to me.
Seems right to me
The action here indeed seems to be on the success of the lure gambit. Not long after you prepare, the five people from the Company enter the chamber again, and make no notice of the grapnel. AT this point Gegren begins his gambit, making a convincing impression that he is surprised, and retreats to the library area, and the Company gives chase.
Gegren enters the library again, still as you left it from the last couple times passing through it hastily, the books still present and slightly scattered from when your last attempts to read them was interrupted. It is here that I assume Gegren attempts to hide in the shadows of the room, and make a convincing impression that his /hedge magic/-torchlight is still going further down the hall, deeper into the chambers.
Gegren tries to put some flourish on the torch movement as he hides in the relative darkness. He also gets a burst of inspiration from all the exploration we'd done earlier, and some brilliant ideas on how to keep the light moving in an interesting way. [Intelligence Enhancement Cypher used here, Int tasks eased by 2 for one hour, followed by an hour of Int tasks being hindered by 2]
[For the hiding I'll need a difficulty 3 Speed task, and the convincing magicing a difficulty 3 Intellect task. Feel free to use any relevant-sounding skills on this, as well. You can probably imagine which way the gig is up in the event you fail either.]
[Hiding Speed with 1 Effort succeeded, with a minor effect! (d20=19 vs. diff. 3-1)] Gegren finds a niche to hide in the library, out of sight and well into the deepest part of the shadows. [Can the minor effect be that I find a new cypher in the library?] [Int, Trickery with a torch (eased by 2, inability in tasks to persuade or deceive, 1 effort) succeeded! (d20=11 vs. diff. 3-2)] Gegren maneuvers the torch, floating down the corridor, doing a convincing impression of a surprised person running for their life, from memory following the corridor exactly. As he rounds the last corner, he douses the torch, and drops it to the ground with other debris. Once the company is past, he'll sneak back to the crack in the ground and hiss that we should get going or whatever we're going to do.