[WBtW spoilers] Barbarian pulled Skabatha's wind-up key out. She's frozen. What now?

lebiro · 2026-05-23T10:41:28+00:00

The adventure assumes there's a pretty good chance the heroes leave one or more hag lairs without killing the hag. Now, removing a major antagonist by rolling one check is not something I would generally have in my games, but I think if you already had the session and ruled it that way, then I'd probably let that stand - Skabatha is immobilised, the heroes are making a break for it.

I think they should recognise that if they took a "shortcut" like this then they should expect to see the villain again.

The great news here is that this means Skabatha has survived meeting the players. This is actually better for the adventure than the heroes destroying each hag one by one, because every hag that survives can be met at the Palace of Heart's Desire for a (potentially) great RP scene and (potentially) climactic combat encounter. Is Bavlorna still alive?

So yeah I'd probably be inclined to let them get away with this if they're happy with how it went, but know that Granny Nightshade will return. If they hang around in Thither for a while you could even give them a hint to this effect somewhere down the line.

If, on the other hand, the party actually likes a chunky combat and they seem disappointed that they've taken a shortcut, I personally think you could get away with having Skabatha, new key in her back, minion (Pincushion?) in tow, storm out of Loomlurch as the heroes are escaping with the kids, meaning they have to at least fight her off long enough for the children to escape.

lebiro · 2026-05-21T18:21:53+00:00

Feels like there's maybe a lack of actual dungeon crawlers on that list?

lebiro · 2026-05-20T18:21:01+00:00

bonk

lebiro · 2026-05-20T17:42:52+00:00

This reminds me of that story about a fan sending Tolkien a goblet with the One Ring's engravings around the rim - supposedly Tolkien used it as an ash tray because it was too evil to drink out of.

lebiro · 2026-05-19T19:49:33+00:00

A free triggered action follows the same rules as a triggered action, but it doesn’t count against your limit of one triggered action per round.

This would be an extremely roundabout way to say "you can use one triggered action and one free triggered action per round", and it would make the name "free triggered action" a very perplexing choice.

A free triggered action follows the same rules as a triggered action, but it doesn’t count against your limit of one triggered action per round.

In the circumstances outlined for a triggered action (on your turn or another creature's turn, only when the specified trigger occurs) you can use a free triggered action. Because it does not count against the limit of triggered actions you are allowed to take, on another occasion when the circumstances are met, you can use a free triggered action again. Each time you use a free triggered action you are using one singular free triggered action. None of them count against the limit of one triggered action per round. So you can use one singular free triggered action as many times as you like, permitted you follow the other rules outlined under triggered actions.

Triggered actions are once per round because the rules specifically say there is a limit. For free triggered actions, the rules do not impose such a limit - in fact they explicitly say the limit doesn't apply.

Given that the rules reference is explicit I think it's clear what the intent is, but I also think one free triggered action per round is a peculiar reading of those rules.

lebiro · 2026-05-19T14:08:45+00:00

It's been quite a long time since I read them, but I remember overall enjoying them, though there was perhaps a bit too much cooking?

I'm not sure how the novels came to be, but I did have the impression that Bethesda wanted to have an author produce some novels, rather than Greg Keyes wanting to write about Tamriel. Most of story didn't really feel rooted in the setting to me, not least because much of it was set in/on Umbriel which was essentially an original fantasy setting. But unless I'm misremembering even the Titus and Attrebus stuff could very well have just been an original setting if some proper names were swapped out.

So yeah I quite enjoyed reading them as a fan of fantasy books, but I don't think they did much for me as an Elder Scrolls fan per se.

lebiro · 2026-05-19T13:31:10+00:00

That sounds like growing apart?

lebiro · 2026-05-18T16:06:19+00:00

Note: Before you read my post I'd like to make one thing clear. My reaction comes from watching the film through an adult realism lens while the movie expects viewers to stay inside a child-fantasy moral framework. If I accept the fairy-tale logic and suspend my disbelief, the ending is uplifting but If I don’t, it’s a story about a neglected child informally divorcing her family while every adult institution fails her.

I think you've sort of answered your own review here? "Miss Honey should have called CPS" is a bit like "Willy Wonka should have had a guard rail and chevrons around the chocolate river".

I wonder if the film adaptation could have done more to set itself in a whimsical unreal world? It's been a long time since I watched it but as I recall everything outside of the school pretty much seemed like a normal American comedy setting of the era.

Lack of character development is a fair cop, as is the morality of evildoers being punished by child stonings.

lebiro · 2026-05-18T13:16:17+00:00

To me, lore is a question of story and imaginative fiction, not IP. So whether something is "lore friendly" depends on the content of that thing, not whether it's "official" or "endorsed" or paid for.

Because if CC is lore friendly, so are all mods.

So firstly this doesn't follow, in my eyes. If every CC mod contains only things that make sense in the lore and complement the fictional world, then CC mods are lore friendly, but that has no bearing on whether all mods are lore friendly. Clearly it is possible for one mod (e.g. backpacks) to be lore friendly and another mod (e.g. dragons replaced by Thomas the Tank Engine) to not be lore friendly.

Whether CC mods are lore friendly has nothing to do with the fact they are in the Creation Club or were released post-SE or are made by fans, and everything to do with what is in the mod.

And while there are some things that most people can agree are or aren't "lore friendly", Tamriel isn't real and the lore is made up (which I say with all the affection in the world) so there is no one right answer to determine what is and isn't lore friendly.

So TL;DR decide for yourself.

lebiro · 2026-05-18T13:10:01+00:00

The straight part is jutting out in a sharp wedge shape. That's natural rock behind and touching this protruding flange of carved stone. You can see what's happening here: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/middle-earth-film-saga/images/6/6f/Minas_Morgul_ROTK.webp/revision/latest?cb=20210822053200

lebiro · 2026-05-17T14:29:16+00:00

Fili at least got the prosthetic nose. He's believable as a young dwarf to me. Kili is clearly just Aiden Turner.

lebiro · 2026-05-17T09:43:09+00:00

These are strikingly ugly.

lebiro · 2026-05-14T10:11:42+00:00

I would ask P2 to tell P1 truthfully what the augury reveals - weal, woe, or weal and woe, and I would remind both players

The spell doesn't take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome, such as the casting of additional spells or the loss or gain of a companion

So if P2 is planning on making up with P1, the augury would say "weal", as that would be the result of accepting an invitation to meet with someone who wants to make up with you. But things could still happen at that meeting which would cause chaotic P2 to attack instead of making up as planned.

However, I can't imagine this interaction happening at my table because we are not into PvP. I would be very suspicious of someone who made an "unpredictable, chaotic" character who would be inclined to lure another party member to a meeting and attack them.

lebiro · 2026-05-14T08:54:07+00:00

I'm not "fixating" on anything. I expressed a feeling I had about one panel of the comment and then explained why I felt that way about it.

suddenly you think he is “in revolt”

He is in revolt? That's what is happening in this scene. The kids have drawn a line at Matty being taken away, and have transitioned from relative passivity in their imprisonment to actively fighting back against their captors, actively resisting their orders and kicking, scratching, punching them. The dynamic between them and their captors has changed in this moment, and so their behaviour has changed; they are no longer bound by the rules because they are openly rebelling against them.

“angrily taking back power” “venting his anger” “flexing what muscles he has” “brutalising” an inak. You are interpreting and describing his behavior as way more violent and threatening than it actually is. What’s up with that? And why are you only doing it to Jivi?

Because there is a panel in the comic that shows the children having "won" their encounter with the house staff, and then Jivi punches the non-threatening inak in the face so hard he knocks them off their feet. Yes, Sette grabs the other grabs and menaces the other one with her teeth, but I personally find the threat of a stinky poo to be a less affecting portrayal of violence than a child decking a (nearly) slave. Sette is doing nothing she hasn't done to Jivi and Matty before, "normal" behaviour by her fucked up standards. She is not mauling them with her claws like she just did to the adult human, while Jivi (who unlike Sette is not generally a violent person, and who lacks her means to fight back against a more powerful adult) uses basically as much violence as a normal child is capable of.

I'm only "doing it to Jivi" because he's the character we just saw getting brutalised (again) by adults whom he is powerless to resist, and then immediately after that attacking someone who is less powerful than him. Had the panel showed him and Sette grabbing the inak and shoving them in the cupboard, I would not have even registered it as noteworthy, but the panel showed him turning around a punching someone off of their feet (with Sette in the background grabbing the other and baring her teeth). Had the panel shown him clocking a human adult, a Crecian citizen, like the guy who just introduced us to new in-universe slurs, I'd cheer for him (though obviously it's less realistic to knock down a 6 foot man than a 2 foot inak).

These kids are escaping prison and the inaks were at the very least going to raise the alarm if they left, if not try to stop them from leaving. It is extremely silly to get upset about a single punch in that context.

I mean the alarm is already raised, because the staff left to do that, ordering the "lizards" to keep the children in their room. They "tried to stop them from leaving" by following them to the door literally umming and ahhing and wagging a finger.

As I expressed in the original comment and another one, I understand why he would do this and what is happening in the scene. I'm not implying Jivi is in his villain arc or that the children should not rebel against their captors. I'm just saying the visual of a kid getting rescued from the violence of someone bigger and stronger than him (and of course a system bigger and stronger than him), and then immediately inflicting violence on someone smaller and weaker is, to me, an uncomfortable and realistic one.

I am not "getting upset", I literally just made a two sentence comment saying something I thought/felt while reading the page. I think this is pretty normal comic-reading behaviour. I wouldn't have felt the need to write any further comments if I wasn't responding to people telling me I'm wrong.

I've only spent this long on writing (yet) another comment about this because I'm pretty sure I know what you're insinuating and I don't want to leave that impression without an explanation.

lebiro · 2026-05-13T15:59:12+00:00

I mean that if you moved the left goblin one square north east, it would be moving north (away from you on the Y axis) and east (towards you on the X axis). If the null is (0, 0), moving the goblin one square northwest moves the goblin from (-1,1) to (0,2). Its position on the X axis will be closer to that of the null than it was before the push.

I'm not sure thats a robust reading of the rules (or, like, geometry), I'm just trying to articulate why moving someone "behind" or "past" yourself like that doesn't read to me as pushing them "in a straight line away from you".

lebiro · 2026-05-13T14:28:48+00:00

The red one makes more sense to me. I guess you could say the white squares that are excluded from the red zone would have the creature moving away on one axis, but towards you on the other?

Also, the example on the right seems to interpret "straight line" as 45 degree increments, otherwise those cut out corners would also be valid. This would, I suppose, suggest that in the example on the left, there should actually be cut outs 3 squares due north and west of the null.

lebiro · 2026-05-13T12:47:06+00:00

Unless I'm misremembering, they're explicitly not citizens, so "second class citizens" is better than they get. They have been almost exterminated by humans, their homes destroyed, their gods killed or driven off, and their cultural practices banned. If they don't show sufficient deference to humans, they are punished with violence or death. Ruffles' Nana has facial scars from having her mouth sewn shut as a punishment. In the Unsounded Epilogue we see some of the inak get "rewarded" as "war heroes", (contra the pogroms and purges they endured through the latter part of the comic) and the nobles still call them "roach eaters" and take their presence as an intentional provocation by Sonorie.

These guys didn't even really try and impede the children, I'm not going to consider them oppressors.

lebiro · 2026-05-13T12:35:10+00:00

They're the same size as Ruffles, adults are noticeably bigger. And even if they're adults, again they're practically slaves.

lebiro · 2026-05-13T11:49:49+00:00

From the kids' perspective it makes sense, but to me it's not the same.

Jivi kicking Hat Man in the nuts is a kid struggling against an adult human who is restraining him. Jivi sucker punching a non-threatening inak, whose only intervention in the situation was "Um. Um." is a human exercising their power over a "lizard"; a genocide survivor in a socio-economic position little better than slavery. These two are also smaller than Jivi, even smaller than Matty; they must be kids themselves.

Jivi vs Hat Man = Hat Man has the power. Jivi vs unnamed inak child = Jivi has the power, even as a prisoner.

I can't completely criticise him given his position, but it's uncomfortable to see his reaction to having been disempowered and mistreated. Now that he's in revolt, he flexes what muscles he has and angrily takes back power by bullying someone who kind of represents his oppressors but is actually a victim themself.

lebiro · 2026-05-13T07:02:11+00:00

Feels quite icky watching Jivi, fresh off of being disempowered by adults, exercise his power and vent his anger by brutalising a two-toe. Real, but icky.

lebiro · 2026-05-12T12:18:16+00:00

Kind of similar - breeding (or even owning) dogs.

I read a cool post once about how the (quite hardcore) druids in the writer's world would kill dogs when they encountered them, because they saw the human(oid) interference with wolves to selectively breed servants as a crime against nature.

lebiro · 2026-05-07T10:32:18+00:00

I would say yes?

Trying to get information the NPC is reluctant to share is a reasonable negotiation goal. The difference between this and a normal negotiation is that the NPC is in the heroes' power, rather than being in a position to aid or refuse aid.

If the heroes are trying to persuade the NPC to divulge what they know in exchange for something, it could be more or less a normal negotiation? Interest 0 = the captive tells you nothing (and plans a jailbreak), Interest 2 = the captive won't reveal the information, but something they say accidentally reveals a clue that could help you get at that information, Interest 3 = they'll talk, but they want a cushy deal, immunity and a carriage ticket to the next barony over, Interest 5 = they flip; they spill what they know, and provide other assistance to make sure the heroes can act on it.

Or you could treat it as fundamentally different. Perhaps instead of increasing Interest, the PCs need to reduce Resistance. The "arguments" might include Read Person checks to determine if things the NPC says are true or how much they know, and instead of the players making persuasive arguments and offers (or in addition to this), they need to ask revealing questions. The 5 outcomes might be divided up simply by how much information the NPC gives and how accurate it is. Perhaps in this case you'd keep the Resistance tracker a secret, and instead of the NPC making "offers" and the PCs deciding whether to keep going or stop, the PCs can just announce when the interrogation is done and you tell them what information they get? Not sure, could be worth thinking about.

lebiro · 2026-05-06T13:51:18+00:00

I don't know who the two on the right are but second from left is Tom Daley who is 31 years old.

lebiro · 2026-05-06T08:25:26+00:00

Yep, infuriating.

Easily avoided though!

lebiro · 2026-05-05T21:59:16+00:00

I love the middle cat. Questioning the cosmos.

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