In the final scene of The Haunted City (the Terrinoth adventure provided by FFG in Player Resources on the Genesys web page..), Mavaris Skain is conducting a ritual (described in the sidebar on page 16 of the adventure). The ritual continues as long as Skain remains engaged with the dais and performs an action each round to conduct the ceremony. As one example, let's say Skain wants to cast his Wall of Bones spell (a barrier spell). Would taking the action of casting Wall of Bones constitute an interruption of the ritual? I'm not clear on exactly how the casting of this (or any) spell would interact with the notion of the ritual being "interrupted" (since it requires an action of the part of Skain to keep the ritual ongoing..).

It seems like Skain could use his first action in a combat encounter to cast Wall of Bones or any other spell. But I don't know if doing this immediately would be considered an interruption. (That is, when the PC's first encounter Skain, is the ritual considered to already be underway, and then any deviation from the ritual interrupts it? Or is it just getting started when the PC's come onto the scene?) The Wall of Bones spell can be maintained with a Concentration maneuver. So it seems to me that Skain could initially cast Wall of Bones, and then on his second turn use his action to conduct the ritual, and use a maneuver to concentrate and maintain the Wall of Bones spell. But in that sequence it seems like the ritual would thereby get pushed back one round before being completed.

This may sound like overthinking it, but as the GM, I'm expecting to have to answer these sorts of questions. If anyone reading this has experience with this encounter, I'd be very appreciative of hearing your insights! Thank you in advance!

I think you can run it anyways you like but i understand the question though. Here is the text from the adventure.

"The ritual continues as long as Skain remains engaged with the dais and performs an action each round to conduct the ceremony. While the ritual is ongoing, the swirling shadows grant 2 ranged defense to all characters in short range of the dais. If the ritual is interrupted, Skain and Farrow each suffer 4 strain. If the PCs do not interrupt the ritual by the fourth round, Skain performs an action to slay the sacrifice on his turn, completing the ritual; remove Eliza Farrow’s Sunlight Sensitivity and increase her wound threshold by 4."

I can understand why you ask though because what is an interruption on behalf of the PC ? since even if attacked Skain could just keep using an action to complete the ritual. I think it was intended that he should keep using an action each round for 4 rounds +1 round to slay if he fails to do so its interrupted. But as you say nothing to prevent him from casting his spell before the combat starts if he is aware of the PC in some way that would IMO be totally up to the GM. Make sure your PC is aware of it though either they hear him casting or the see the wall very clearly.

Thanks for the response, Archellus! It sounds like we're pretty much on the same page. I agree that it's up to the GM, at the end of the day. But I always feel a pesky obligation to stay within the rules to the extent that those are known, which maybe they aren't in this case beyond a certain point. As long as the GM and PC's are in agreement, and everything is transparent, I guess it doesn't really matter all that much.

Yep, totally agree with Archellus' read on it.

Sorry to open up an old post, but I'm getting ready to run this again, and ran across it. Have to disagree. When the players arrive, the ritual is already taking place. The ritual continues if Skain is engaged with the dais AND he uses his action to continue it. If he casts a spell, that is an interruption. Unless somehow Skain is expecting the PCs to show up, he wouldn't have wasted his magic on holding up a spell when he needs to focus on the ritual...which as far as I'm concerned would require enough focus to break the concentration of a previously cast spell. If you're really adamant about saying he's powerful enough to do such a thing, he'd still have had to cast it long enough before the players arrive that they wouldn't hear it.

There are minion groups of undead to keep the players busy and they should make it difficult to get to Skain. However, the intent of all PCs should be to stop the ritual, and once that is [likely] done within the 4 round timeframe, *then* Skain should start popping off every spell in his arsenal.

8 hours ago, dfrost303 said:

Sorry to open up an old post, but I'm getting ready to run this again, and ran across it. Have to disagree. When the players arrive, the ritual is already taking place. The ritual continues if Skain is engaged with the dais AND he uses his action to continue it. If he casts a spell, that is an interruption. Unless somehow Skain is expecting the PCs to show up, he wouldn't have wasted his magic on holding up a spell when he needs to focus on the ritual...which as far as I'm concerned would require enough focus to break the concentration of a previously cast spell. If you're really adamant about saying he's powerful enough to do such a thing, he'd still have had to cast it long enough before the players arrive that they wouldn't hear it.

There are minion groups of undead to keep the players busy and they should make it difficult to get to Skain. However, the intent of all PCs should be to stop the ritual, and once that is [likely] done within the 4 round timeframe, *then* Skain should start popping off every spell in his arsenal.

At the end of the day its not that much of a difference. Which is why i said the vague answer almost a year ago of "its up to the GM" so if your PC are coming down guns blazing and you want to give him slightly more staying power have him maintain a barrier if not let them fight their way through. Reason why i said the PC should be aware so they have a chance to deal with the barrier could be dispel or something else but. But you could have ELiza cast something instead if you really wanted . But ye at the end of the day the challenge is to fight your way through the minions an then confront Skain while keeping Eliza busy.