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We're in the middle of EaBK and my group is about to head into the Mistmarsh in search of Marzena - but they don't have a tracker. Since the terrain is shallow bog with a track DC of 5 modified further to a DC 2 for, what appears to be, 10 individuals being tracked (4 prisoners and a team of 6 lizardfolk)I was just going to wing it and let them make Survival checks to follow the obvious trail without much difficulty.
But then I noticed in the adventure it reads, "..and the PCs are trailing a group of lizardfolk with prisoners, so even a party without a tracker can find it under these circumstances, though it takes longer." This sounds like there are rules for tracking without someone having the Track feat. Can someone direct me to these rules - if there are any? I have a couple of rules-lawyers in my group and I want to make sure I've done my homework before getting into an argument.
Also....geesh, my guys are gonna get hosed on this trek to the lair. They are all a bunch of shorties and half of them are at medium encumbrance so they're moving at 15 and only traveling through the swamp at 6 miles per day (not counting any successful Survival rolls). If they had a tracker, they'd be at half speed, dropping them down to 3 miles per day and then the adventure says following the trail without a tracker will take even longer! It'll take them over a week to cover the 23 miles to get to the lair at that rate!
The point is for the party to find the lair, and spend a couple of days getting beaten up by the nasty environment before they get there. Make the lair be two days travel into the Mistmarsh, however far that is for your characters. Have there be a kind of indistinct trail heading for the lair, maybe with some possibility of getting side-tracked and ending up at the lair of one of the beasties on the wandering monster chart or a rival tribe of lizardfolk, if they blow their survival checks.
Otherwise, tell them they can't follow the tracks at all unless they find a tracker, and see what answer they come up with to solve the problem.
You're right, Peruhain. I'll make it two days regardless of what they come up with. But, I'll make them sweat enough to at least reconsider dumping gear in order to travel light. And maybe I'll just make one or more of the surviving soldiers have Track. Hmmm....this group should probably not just dump their excess gear but SELL it and then buy some durn horses..err..ponies or warpoodles or something like that. Thanks for keepin' me on track. =)
The point is for the party to find the lair, and spend a couple of days getting beaten up by the nasty environment before they get there. Make the lair be two days travel into the Mistmarsh, however far that is for your characters.
I couldn't agree more. Unless you want the trek to take longer, don't get hung up on the distance specifics. The flow of the plot is more important than how many catoblepas riding green hag random encounters you throw at the party. Swamps/marshes/bogs/bayous are pretty dangerous places to begin with...don't exacerbate the danger at the cost of the driving objective of the scenario.
As for "non-trackers taking a little longer", this isn't so much a hard rule but the assumption of Mr. Reynolds that the trail would get lost, found, lost again, and this process would cost time where as a ranger with a +12 Survival and a water walking spell would cover the ground a lot quicker.
There are some really nice suggestions on these boards about this adventure. Just use "blackwall" to search the archives.
You should certainly have a look at:
http://paizo.com/dungeon/messageboards/ageOfWorms/howIChangedTheBlackwallKe epAdventureSPOILERS
and my own thread:
http://paizo.com/dungeon/messageboards/ageOfWorms/maximizingTheEncounterAtB lackwallKeepExperience&page=1#166262&source=search