Timer Trigger....

There is a spell in a MUD called Insomnia. With this the victim will be unable to go to sleep (For HP regeneration, etc.) for 12 game hours. However, like the clever fellows the coders are, they set the hours to go by randomly anywhere from 25 - 35 (On average) seconds to be unpredictable. After this 12 hour period, the victim then falls asleep for 4 hours, leaving them vulnerable to more spells (Once you find where they're sleeping). Now, my question is, is there anyway you can make a timer so that you will know when the time is up and they're now asleep. I'm almost sure there's nothing one can do to time it exactly right, or even in the general area though.

The message is as follows, when you successfully cast the spell on them:

You manage to infect a [Insert name] with insomnia!

You could make two (or four, depending on how you look at it/do it) timers.

First one is Shortest amount of time (25secs * 12, then it gives a warning about them now possibly being asleep, and then 4*12 and then it gives you a warning about them being awake possibly). And then a second group of 35 * 12 and then a message about them possibly being asleep, an then another one about them being awake for sure.

Its hardly a workable solution. But it might be what you need.

Or you could assume that on average, the hours are going to be 30 seconds (since youve got 12 of them, it could average out). And then do the timers accordingly.