First, and I may be reading a bit too much into the usefulness of this particular ability, but could my Speak with Spirits power be used in order to gain information. The way I read it is that I am aware of the spirits at the very fringe of our reality, and if that is the case perhaps one of those spirits knows where the Hall is, or perhaps even died there in the case of a more ghostly sense of the word spirit. And if nothing else I can use it to augment the nature or perception check to get the lay of the land/find tracks and determine which way would be best for this particular challenge.

Second, the small pile of rocks you mentioned to the east, about how far is that away, and would it be so far from the rest of the group as to be foolish and/or dangerous to head that way alone in order to get a moments brief silence to focus and open my mind to the spirits?

I'll likely have to post tomorrow if not much later tonight, depends on when I get answers to these questions I suppose... I can at least post personal thoughts on the trip while waiting for answers though.

I guess rolling is something I hadn't really thought about. Do we have a dice roll mechanic built into the forums, or do I just roll some virtual dice somewhere? Or do I roll my own and we run on the honor system?

And with these skill challenges, what am I rolling? I mean.... I have a +9 to perception.... so am I rolling a D20 and adding 9?

I reiterate.... never done this before. I'm eager to learn the basics though.

Usually, as a rule of thumb, you let the DM of the game roll his dice for you, since he has your skill bonus, and that way, there is not chance of cheating. This isn't saying you're going to cheat, it's just a precaution.

But to answer your other question, yes, it would be the d20 + 9.

gboy is right, except it's less about cheating and more about me being able to add hidden modifiers. Plus it's easier if I can just roll a ton of checks in a row.

I'll post more tomorrow, but remember that characters don't always act in the order that players post, so as a rule of thumb don't bother rolling dice. It just makes it easier. If you feel you must roll your own dice then use the RDInn diceroller with the option to email the results to me.

I'll post more about rules tomorrow. I'm exhausted.

short answer, yes to question 1 and no to question 2.

Long answer tomorrow

A word on actions. Each round you get a standard, a move and a minor action, as well as unlimited free actions. You also get one immediate action that can use in between your turns.

You each have at-will, encounter, and daily powers. You recharge your daily powers after 8 hours of sleep, and you recharge your encounter powers after 5 minutes of rest. Since this skill challenge is an encounter you can use any powers you might have. Most skill checks are standard actions.

Never assume the actions of another player or assume your action succeeds. Always word your posts in generalities.

"I jump over the rock, climb the tree, and yell down that a monkey is up here. My companions ready themselves for battle."

That makes too many assumptions.

"My character will attempt to leap over the rock and climb his way up the tree. If there is any danger along the way he will alert the others."

That is much better because it gives me at least three rounds of actions to work with (a jump check, climb check and perception check). This makes it much easier to plot the encounter out.

Since we're all learning and many of you are new this isn't a big deal, but it would be good to start phrasing our posts like this. You don't have to assume your character is incompetent - you can do basic things like slowly climbing a ladder, running a short distance, drawing a weapon, etc.

You can always PM me, but it requires a skill check or a die roll then chances are you shouldn't assume your character can do it.

Lets try to get that last post in (or at least a PM sent with the skill you want to use). I would hate to lose our momentum.

I'm going to update tomorrow. Night Monkey get me a PM or post or I'll just assume a skill

Let's shoot for a goal of a Tuesday or Wednesday and a Weekend update schedule.

Sounds good to me, really enjoying this so far, its been a learning experience, both on the 4e front and the online DnD front.

Just to make it known, I'll probably be posting again in the game Sunday, maybe Monday at the latest. I have a lot going on today (Friday) and I am going to Renaissance Festival tomorrow.

I'm fine with my ranger heading in second or third. His perception is crazy high, so it makes sense to have him near the front so he can get a look at what we're walking into.

Assuming no objections to the posted marching order I'll run with it (hopefully) tomorrow.

Ah Ren-Faire, such fun. I think I did rather well for only having $50 to spend, made it out with a katana, two knives, a pendant of some sort whose meaning is lost on me, and a [badly made] cat-o-nine tails [whip] and a dragon statuette all for $40.

Working on getting a map of the room. I have to make my own considering the image provided is copyrighted.

The room is pretty much square with a small hallway straight ahead (behind the pit with ooze) and a hallway to the right.

First course of action is to call my spirit into being close-ish to the foe, assuming it isn't assumed he has been present all this time. After that, find a way to stay out of the way while the more melee oriented people take care of the kobold while my spirit does what helping he can to keep health up thanks to the Spirit's Shield Power, or other useful healing powers.