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So I decided to spice up Bonewrack Isle by having the PCs encounter the very much still living -- not undead -- Aaron Ivy. I figured it's way more fun to encounter a survivor with some panache rather than a boring ol' monster. Here's how I did it.
The PCs approach the stockade along a narrow, closed-in trail. It's rigged with a series of traps: a simple noisemaker, a spiked snare, a pit trap with a zombie inside it (one of the undead Infernus crew that got caught there earlier), and a hornet's nest trap that's no longer active (it drops the nest, but the hornets have long since died). The final trap is on the stockade door, rigged to drop three vials of alchemist's fire when someone opens it.
They finally reach the inside of the stockade. It's eerily quiet. I moved the vine chokers to the jungle between the stockade and the grindylow cove.
Inside the hut, they behold the scene exactly as it is written in the book, with a body hanging from the rafter. But there's also a piece of paper lying on a table, next to a large glowing red potion.
The note reads:
I, Aaron Ivy, the last living survivor of the Chelish scout ship Infernus, do hereby make my last will and testament.
I do so bequeath all my worldly possessions to whomsoever drinks this potion.
Go on, drink it!
The potion detects as a cure serious wounds potion -- and that's exactly what it is! It's actually a trick that Aaron has set up to make sure that his visitors are not undead. As soon as one PC drinks it, he springs to life! He's not a ghast, he just rigged up a rope harness to appear that he's hung himself. He grabs the PC who drank the potion and screams, "Take me with you!!!"
How the PCs proceed next is up to them. :)
I like it!! ;D
Fun idea!!
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Nasty ! Shame for the group, that part of the campaign has come and gone already.
But of course, consider the idea stolen, ahem "borrowed with neglible intent to return" for another "lone survivor" setting^^
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damn my group just finished this part 2 hours ago...
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This is awesome to read!
My players were having massive troubles in the grindylow cave, so I created a character to save them and add a bit of fun to the slow grind of the grindylow cave. He was another member of the shipwreck that had a swivel gun and a raft that he used to avoid the ghouls. After half the party died or were captured by grindys, he floated in the cave shouting "Ye derned fools! Are yeh tryin tah get kilt!" He then proceeded to give the party ranged support as they rescued everyone. It also alowed me to share some of the back story that they normally wouldn't hear.
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This is awesome to read!
My players were having massive troubles in the grindylow cave, so I created a character to save them and add a bit of fun to the slow grind of the grindylow cave. He was another member of the shipwreck that had a swivel gun and a raft that he used to avoid the ghouls. After half the party died or were captured by grindys, he floated in the cave shouting "Ye derned fools! Are yeh tryin tah get kilt!" He then proceeded to give the party ranged support as they rescued everyone. It also alowed me to share some of the back story that they normally wouldn't hear.
I like that solution! :)
It seems to me that Paizo's adventures often feature awesome back stories that the PCs have no possible way to learn about. It's fun for me to read them as a GM, but I want my players to enjoy them, too! :)
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I did this last night, and tweaked a few of the encounters to make it a little different. I removed the swarms from the island because the party would get smothered really quickly.
After befriending Sharron Ivy (I made her a girl cause I killed Rosie & Sandara already, and the party needs more girl power), the party decided to rest inside. Halfway through the night, I made the person on watch duty roll perception and hear scratching coming from outside the stockade. Suddenly, ghouls start breaking the walls down and it turned into a scene from the Walking Dead. It was pretty dramatic, and the poor halfling bard was eaten.
The players seemed to love it, and they get a cleric (which they needed badly) out of the deal.
thanks again for the idea.
Thanks for this it fired the imagination a bit, although I have not used the idea you have and kept him alive I have written a handout as a suicide note which will be on the door of the cabin.
I called it as the title of the thread and used it as a journal too so the interesting backstory of the Infernus is not lost, as you say it's a shame not to metion it in some way.
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My group is going to reach Ivy's joint today. I am going around tryin to figure out how the hell the gahst will grapple an PC.
Question: If the ghast has a 10' radius stench (EX), how the PC's are supposed to "get close" to the it so it can attempt to grapple/escape?? There is no practical reason for it. Even if the make the safe.
Is the stench an at-will ability?!?!?!
THX
The most obvious reason that I can think of is to retrieve some of the treasure in the hut. I think we can assume that some of it is near the ghast. Also, most adventurers will probably want to examine the body itself for loot. Especially if they've already found some loot on the dead bodies down in the fields.
The ghast can't turn off the stench ability, but it really doesn't smell any different than a normal ripened corpse, at least to the untrained nose.
I recommend that when your PCs enter the stench radius, just have them roll the save and tell them it's because of the body's overwhelming smell. If they can somehow figure out it's a ghast, good for them. But don't tell them!