Roll perception+awareness
[Hugh got an 8]
Hugh spots a cookfire, currently extinguished and well out of the direct line of sight of the entrance, and there is a pile of bones in one corner of the room. As he looks about he can hear the scraping of claws on stone from the entrance they just came through.
Hugh pretends to be unaware, walking quickly to the far side of the cave and pulling Alva by the hand, but as he goes he whispers to Alva, "Something's coming in behind us."
You reach the far side of the cave as animal forms emerge into the faint light reaching the entrance- the first one through is a bear, followed by a pair of wolves, but something seems off about them, and they reek of magic.
Hugh says, "No idea. But I think it's time for fighting."
He casts a spell, making loud gestures and chanting, and the smoke in the cave from the fire becomes acrid and dangerous, burning those within.
[MuAu spont to turn the air in the cave into poison, but casting forcelessly so it won't penetrate our MR - Rolling on Discord - spell success, base 8 MuAu for +8 damage.
14 damage total from roll on discord - no Pen]
There is no fire in thecave- light is coming from Alva's cloak, and there are the remains of a fire, not an actual fire.
I wanted to make the air in the cave toxic, I'm not clear if I can just change the air or if I need to find some distinguishing subset of air (like smoke or fog).
You can transform the air itself.
As the jet of acid sprays the bear giving it a light wound one of the wolves advances around the bear, charging towards Alva, and the problem with Hugh's tactic suddenly becomes clear, as the rotting flesh on the wolf's head makes it apparent it has been dead for some time.
it is made up of stone, at the narrowest it is about 2 paces wide, but the bear and two wolves are already past that point. It does look like there are others coming behind them though. Where the bear and wolves are at it has already widened to 8 paces wide.
Does Hugh's Scent of the Active Magics give him enough information on the effect to tailor a dispel and get level instead of half-level? It's got the +2 detail magnitudes from Sight of the Active Magics, but scent-based (and only detects above Mag 3)
The scent of the active magic does not give you enough information, you would need to know something of the general process, not simply the feel of the spell being used. For example "Muspelli necromancy" is what you would have to have some familiarity with, not simply the feel of this particular spell.
In addition to the warping the spell does create clay, but a thin slippery clay rather than the wall she was going for, and it quickly spreads over the entire floor of the cavern, giving bipeds a -3 penalty to actions that involve movement and an extra botch die to the same, while giving quadrupeds a -1 penalty along with the extra botch die.
As this happens the bear lunges for Alva, it has an 17 for it's attack score (didn't include the light wound on the dice roller).
As the bear lunges for Alva, Hugh attempts a sudden, rapid casting of spell in her defense.
[Fast-Cast defense - PeVi to dispel the effect he senses on the bear. Rolling on discord.
13 on fast-cast initiative, dispel effect up to half of level 33]
This is not powerful enough to de-animate the bear.
actually the bear hits, but it's claws fail to penetrate her parma, surprising her but doing no damage.
Initiatives: bear:6, wolf:7
Hugh has 5 init.
It is 20 feet high.
The wolf charges next- we already know how this turns out, either it hits and does no damage or misses. The bear and Alva have the next turn...
yes, it is...
the bear has now taken 3 light wounds.
Hugh will wait until a wolf attacks him, and cast dispelling touch on it. (assuming it's not hard to touch an attacking wolf.)
[cast successful (formulaic) dispelling total 48 (halved)]
As Hugh casts on the attacking wolf, both wolves, the bear, and the figures stalking through the entrance all collapse.