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After much head-scratching, we decided to run _Second
Darkness_ "backwards": PCs as direct agents of the
Winter Council from the start. This was the best way we
could find to solve motivation and information problems
throughout the AP. (Thank you to tbug for this idea.)
The PCs were three relatives from a town in the deep
Mieriani: two elves, and a drow raised as an elf (an
experiment on her community's part). The elves were
a cleric/ranger and a ranger/fighter; the drow was a
wizard/bard. They were much higher level than intended
for the modules, but somewhat suboptimally multi-classed.
We felt that Winter Council agents should be pretty capable
people, and we wanted to reduce the pressure to optimize.
Shadow in the Sky:
I gave Riddleport an elven agent of the Winter Council,
Kytel, and made him Samaritha's father as well as a
friend/relative of the PCs. We intended from the start
that Samaritha would end up as a permanent party NPC.
I made a timetable of enemy actions, ending with Kytel's
kidnapping by Saul and sale to Depora about five days
before the PCs' arrival. The PCs were in town to follow up
on reports of freaks of nature, and also to check on Kytel.
The PCs followed out the clue chains, confronted Saul to
find out what had happened, went after Depora and captured
her. (My PCs always capture people and interrogate them,
so the "BBG diary" elements are irrelevant.) Most of the
module went unused; the PCs were totally uninterested
in the Gold Goblin. That was okay by me as I did not
want to have them commit when the upcoming modules leave
Riddleport permanently. We did have a bit of wererat
politics, but basically this was a short mystery scenario.
The starfall and subsequent chaos in the city was very
nice. I had no use for "St. Crispian" and thought it
was dull.
Children of the Void:
As written this module starts several weeks after the
previous one ends. My player didn't let that happen; as
soon as it became clear where the star had hit, the PCs
were in the ship market. To my amusement, they came up
with the same plan as one of the crimelords--nab the first
ship to hit harbor--and when I rolled for relative timing,
the PCs were there *just* before the crimelord and sailed
off in his ship. (The PCs had set this up by recruiting
unemployed sailors in advance, so that when they took the
ship, they had a crew for it.)
However, the PCs "knew" that there must be a major drow
stronghold on Devil's Elbow, and believed they couldn't
handle this without backup from the Council. So they
attempted to prevent all other groups from reaching Devil's
Elbow until their backup arrived. This led to a lot of
ship combat. Thank goodness for "Teeth of Araska"--I
desperately needed those ship maps and sailor stats.
Most useful side adventure ever!
The PCs went out as far as Devil's Elbow and captured
the drow transport (this ship must presumably exist
though it is never mentioned--"Teeth of Araska" again.)
With their two-ship fleet they then fenced with all four
of the other groups trying to reach Devil's Elbow, and due
to spellcaster concentration were able to drive them back.
(They sent Zincher's ship a note that said "I prepared
Explosive Runes this morning." Boom.) The Cyphermages
tried again with a more prepared expedition and the PCs
let them through, figuring it would be too dangerous to
stop them.
It became apparent that having the PCs leave Riddleport
permanently after this module would not be a problem, as
they are now personae non grata in Riddleport. (Though a
lot of folks love them for embarrassing the crimelords.)
Finally the PCs' backup arrived--six rangers and two
wizards from Crying Leaf--and they went back to Devil's
Elbow. Nothing ran as in the module, of course, since
most of the factions had never arrived. But the PCs
straightforwardly beat the akata and drow. They found
Kytel in Shindiira's collection, badly psychologically
scarred. They couldn't touch the demon, so it escaped.
They negotiated with the siren and freed her lover's ghost
much as expected. They then collected all the people who
knew too much about drow (mainly, the crew of the drow
ship) and headed off for an Elven community where they
could be brainwashed.
(I don't love brainwashing, but you have to assume the
Elves do it, or this whole secret thing is not going to
be sustainable.)
The Armageddon Echo:
I tried to run "Requiem for Crystal Rains" as a stand-alone
in the mountains outside the Mieriani, but the PCs were
having none of it. They bypassed it and marched the human
sailors to their hometown, Findaladlara's Watch, north
of Celwynvian--I positioned that town as the main HQ of
anti-drow efforts in the Mieriani. In town they learned
that drow had taken a Shin-Rakorath patrol recently, and
also that the town was seeing a lot of haunts. They were
asked to go after the patrol and see if it could be saved.
Halfway to Celwynvian they found that a powerful faery
had hit the drow-and-prisoners party and taken an elf
and a drow, charming them to see if they could be made
to get along. They extracted the elf and uncharmed her,
then fought the faery and her animals until she withdrew.
They hope to deal with her later. I was trying to touch
on a key character question here: can drow be redeemed?
Are they always evil, at least if raised among drow?
Will the drow PC go bad the way her fellows do? What kind
of evil does drow evil entitle us to commit in response?
There was also a subplot about Kytel's attempts to decide
a proper revenge on Shindiira, touching on the same themes.
The PCs trailed the rest of the drow, with prisoners,
into Celwynvian itself. They bypassed the set-piece
locations, hit a random encounter which triggered a patrol
which triggered a second patrol (quite a long fight but
never in doubt) and then went in to the Academy of Arts,
still trailing the prisoners. They eventually ended up
fighting everything at the Academy at once.
This didn't go well. The player was in military mode,
but the Academy is not set up as a rational military
base--it's a dungeon instead, and he didn't realize that
quickly enough. He lost his wizard to the fireball trap
and Samaritha to the vrock. I disliked this dungeon very
much--I should have rewritten it as a drow base camp.
It contributed to an unpleasant sense that nothing in
Celwynvian was real. I was starting to see a lot of
no-roleplaying combat mode from my player, which was
disappointing after pretty good roleplaying earlier.
We had a metagame discussion of how to proceed, and I
ended up having the PCs' sponsor on the Winter Council,
Perelir, arrive to raise the dead characters. There was
an interesting conversation between Perelir and the drow
PC: Perelir sees this PC as a test case for whether her
friend Allevrah can possibly be redeemed.
The PCs asked Perelir and her bodyguards for help
clearing out the Echo. They went in through the Gate,
located Novelniss, and fought an inconclusive battle at
the Observatory. They were convinced that there were far
more drow than there actually are, so when they were badly
hurt they withdrew without finishing Novelniss. (They also
expected he'd be 14th level--it's a logical deduction from
the fireball trap. An unpleasant false clue.)
They captured Arkaxis the assassin and questioned him
with charm magic. I reasoned that Novelniss is a terrible
commander and a smart assassin like Arkaxis would resent
that. So he was willing to deal for his life, and the
PCs recruited him for the greater goal of getting into
Zirnakaynin. This touched nicely on the "can drow ever
be trusted?" theme. Reassured that Novelniss was not 14
level, the PCs went back and trashed him.
Future directions:
I expect that we will now do some mutant version of
_Endless Night_, but I am waiting to hear the PCs' planning
session with Arkaxis before I decide if the House writeup
I'm given will stand in for Vonnarc or Azrinae. I have to
think hard about the Winter Council intrigue here. I don't
want Perelir to go to Zirnakaynin; the easiest explanation
is that she has a dangerous enemy on the Council and cannot
afford to (a) be gone a long time and (b) be suspected
of being in league with Allevrah. She isn't telling that
latter to the PCs, of course, so I need to figure out what
she does tell them. It's lucky that the PCs accept her
authority to order them to Zirnakaynin, because frankly I
am not sure they would go otherwise; they think it should
be done by top-rank Winter Council operatives. It hasn't
dawned on them how close to top rank they themselves are.
The AP makes coherent sense with the PCs working for the
Winter Council; personally, I can't see myself making
it work with the "standard" setup so I'm glad we ran it
backwards. I don't know how the fifth part will work out.
I need to come up with a diplomatic goal for the PCs in
their interactions with the ruins of the Winter Council.
The module as written has nothing useful for the PCs to do,
which my player will not tolerate.
I may try to have the PCs gain a lot more levels in
Zirnakaynin, so that if _Memory_ is mostly skipped they
will be of the correct level for _Midnight_. But it's a
pity not to involve Winter Council PCs in the resolution
of the Winter Council situation. We'll see what happens
in Zirnakaynin.
I wonder if Perelir still believes that Allevrah is trying
to call down Earthfall *on the drow*? That misconception
could bear fruit here.
The PCs flatly refused to go into Zirnakaynin as drow. Even the one who *is* drow. So they came up with a truly strange plan:
They asked Perelir to cast Planar Ally to call a succubus in the service of Calistria. (I used Quillindra--yes, she's too high level, but it just felt right.) They bargained with the succubus: 18 hours a day she'd be Magic Jarred, 6 hours a day she could play in Zirnakaynin as long as she didn't jeopardize the mission in any way. While risky, this plan struck Quillindra as so much fun, it had to be tried....
They killed two half-fiend satyrs and used Recorporeal Incarnation to give those forms to the other two PCs. Only the party NPC, Samaritha, agreed to become a drow. The plan was that she and Arkaxis would infiltrate Vonnarc (conveniently getting the two NPCs offstage) and the other three would work from a base in the city.
So the PCs are living in a tower near the Pale Market, going about openly as a succubus and two half-fiend satyrs (and using hats of disguise whenever that's not convenient). They've been very involved with the environment; they have a clan of young drow rogues working for them as runners and information sources, they're running errands for House Sardavic, their Vonnarc infiltrators are sending them information (mindlink), they're skirmishing with Orvignato, who wants protection money, and they're generally stirring the waters to see what emerges.
Their main concern is of course Azrinae. I've depicted that House as nearly gutted, controlled by a single male noble backed mainly by constructs and auto defenses. This is leaving a huge power vacuum in the city, and stirring things up. The PCs have dossiers on all major Azrinae, mainly the Circle of Nine (the 9th level priestesses in _Midnight_) and the Matron's daughters.
A Second Daughter of Azrinae has gone rogue and is somewhere in the city plotting. I meant this as a hook to get the PCs necessary inside information about Azrinae. I had no idea they would find out about this person's existance, be unable to locate her, and *decide that she is in fact Perelir.* They have an elaborate story about how a drow got onto the Winter Council. (It's clear that a spell which could permit this exists, isn't it?!)
I put a Gate to the Land of Black Blood near House Azrinae, because I don't want to deal with the journey there, and we don't have Wind Walk/Teleport/etc. in this game. The PCs need a gatekey. Their current plan is to nab one of the Nine who is expected at Vonnarc shortly in order to dicker for needed magical supplies. (I didn't like the idea that the head Azrinae are completely and permanently gone: it would frustrate the player too much.)
They have stirred the political pot a *lot* by offering this not-yet-caught priestess to House Dolour when they're done with her. They have a meeting with Dolour next session to bargain over this.
In the meantime, they have Dominated a flunky of the First Son of Azrinae and have been very openly parading him around town. Kardinnyr hasn't got a lot of people-power so he's going to hire someone to squish them; I expect that fight next session too. (They know this, and are deliberately provoking it to measure Kardinnyr's strength. I hope they haven't underestimated him.)
This is working out better than I dared hope for. The roleplaying is very interesting; the drow PC is liking Zirnakaynin, the other two are not! (And Samaritha is being seduced by the arcane might of Vonnarc--she wanted to be a Cyphermage but these folk make them look like dabblers.) Arkaxis gives the PCs enough cultural background that they can function in the city. Of course he'll betray them in the end, but for now they've convinced him of one of their own conclusions:
Allevrah never meant to come back to Zirnakaynin, or she wouldn't have left her House dangling, its political power bleeding away day by day. (Well, spell-cycle by spell-cycle. I'm trying to teach myself never to measure time in days.) In fact, she may plan to destroy Zirnakaynin as well as Kyonin. The worst, and not unlikely, possibility is that all of this is an attempt to free Rovagug.
At some point in the future the PCs will hear, via their mindlink with her, that Perelir has been condemned by the Winter Council and imprisoned at Thorn's End. I hope this will cause the events of _Memory of Darkness_ to more or less happen. If they don't, I have a level problem for _Midnight_ and will have to invent some in-between adventures.
I haven't been able to use any of _Endless Night_ directly--not a big surprise--but the stat blocks and city writeup are useful. The Houses are quite nicely done. In my own descriptions I'm trying to emphasize the beauty of Zirnakaynin over its depravity; I actually think that'll upset these PCs more. In some ways drow are what Golarionese elves only dream of being (compare what we know of Kyonin society with Zirnakaynin and you'll see what I mean). The PCs went to a performance at the Cyclic Sublime and found that it was a retelling of a traditional elven legend, only hyped up 100% and completely blood-drenched and done better than any performance they'd ever seen. They were shaken by this. (I'm picturing _Ran_ here.)
Mary
Mary, thanks so much for posting this!
I'm starting my "SD with WC PCs" campaign in a week, and I'm very glad to be able to read this first.
Do you have any comments about what to allow/require/forbid during character creation? In particular, do you think that someone playing a drow when everyone else wasn't (as opposed to your system of multiple PCs by one player) would have too much/too little spotlight time?
Mary, thanks so much for posting this!
I'm starting my "SD with WC PCs" campaign in a week, and I'm very glad to be able to read this first.
Do you have any comments about what to allow/require/forbid during character creation? In particular, do you think that someone playing a drow when everyone else wasn't (as opposed to your system of multiple PCs by one player) would have too much/too little spotlight time?
The drow PC is certainly the dominant one, but this is more because she's a very strong personality than as a straightforward consequence of her race. The PCs started with hats of disguise and have consistently used them (they have two sets of names, which took me forever to learn) so she's only known as a drow in very specific circumstances--she was a Varisian human through #1 and #2 and an elf through most of #3. And of course in #4 she's a succubus....
I think that having a PC playing the role (taken by Arkaxis in our game) of native guide to Zirnakaynin would be really problematic. Our drow wasn't raised in drow society so she doesn't do that. I wouldn't recommend native drow.
A couple of recommendations:
(1) Give the PCs a patron on the Winter Council (I chose Perelir) and introduce that person, at least obliquely through messages, much earlier. This helps set up #5.
(2) Avoid the kind of cleric who focuses strongly on spellcasting as "what I do." They are problematic in Zirnakaynin. (Possible exception for a god the drow would tolerate, but my PC is a priest of Findaladlara, which really won't do.) And if you do a paladin--I don't recommend it--make sure she is flexible. Moral flexibility will be helpful in general. If the PCs are too straight-laced they will not have fun interactions with Zirnakaynin, which would be a shame. It's the best part of our game so far.
(3) Think in advance about what the party will look like as drow. If just one is a female, that player will have more power than usual in Zirnakaynin. Is the resulting power dynamic going to be okay with your players? (Alternatively you can change PCs' apparent gender with the bodychanging spell, but many players won't go for that.)
(4) The PCs can do their job a lot more easily--at least as I conceived that job--if they have some mind magic and some good disguise capabilities. This also helps encourage them to develop into people who will actually be willing to try #4.
(5) I don't think the PCs should all be Shin-Rakorath. It might be fine if one or two are, but I see that organization as expendible outer-layer flunkies of the Winter Council, and also too organized to make really good PC fodder. I'd make the PC party a special ops team instead, or at least have it rapidly become one.
And a couple of points on the adventure:
(1) You will have to rework the drow expedition seen in #1-#3 so that it makes sense--how did they get there? Why is Depora alone, and shouldn't Depora and Shindiira be reversed? Why is Depora still chipping on the Cyphergate when Novelniss has had all he needs for months? How long has everyone been in place? What are they waiting for? How do they plan to get home? It's the PCs' job to investigate this, and these questions are either unanswered or answered in illogical ways in the modules.
(2) The big logic problem of the series is how the elves actually keep the drow secret, especially as the drow clearly aren't cooperating (Depora is just relying on a veil to keep her secret!) I don't have a good solution, though I did give them massive memory-erasing capabilities. My player agreed not to challenge this point too hard, but it's a real weakness.
(3) In my hands, for elf PCs, Celwynvian (#3) did not live up to potential at all. If I had it to do again I would make interacting with the past elves much more relevant. We began to develop a subplot about the Princess who chose to stay in Celwynvian to the bitter end. If the PCs had had to convince her of something in order to get at Novelniss that would have been so much richer. (And then she could have turned out to be a famous drow ancestress, revered in Zirnakaynin.) My player also suggests that the PCs should have to see enough Celwynvian politics to recognize Zirnakaynin politics as a mirror of them. Having some past elves with drow-House names would be a start. But above all, get the PCs to interact with the past elves. Otherwise this entire adventure is pointless.
(4) Be prepared for the PCs to be in Zirnakaynin proper, rather than immured in a drow House. The plan to go into Vonnarc is not a particularly good one, and PCs with any initiative may come up with something else. Zirnakaynin is a wonderful city--might as well enjoy it! The Houses are actually sickeningly isolated.
For me personally, the Winter Council concept made this game work where I think it would otherwise have been a total flop. Good luck with it! I'll want to hear reports!
Mary
Mary, thanks again for your insights. They are most helpful!
I took your advice and didn't allow for any drow PCs. I've allowed grey, high, wild, and wood elves. I've allowed Forlorn, along the lines of Worf always trying to be more klingon than any of the other klingons we saw.
i have one player (my wife, in fact) who really wanted to play a paladin. She's really lawful and only a little good, according to her, and I've stressed how important it is to a secret agent to be flexible. She isn't a follower of any specific deity; she's more of a paladin of preserving elf ways.
I also took your advice about special ops. The PCs worked their way through the ranks of the Shin-Rakorath to become what they are, and they recently lost a bunch of levels (and their officers) and are without direction. I'll add that in (along with a Council patron--thanks for that idea too) when they finally get back in touch with people who know what they're doing.
I'm painting Depora as competent and cowardly (or at least not overly brave). It says that she's not on Devil's Elbow because she's not sure how hard it's going to be hit and wants to be a safe distance away. I think she knows about the Winter Council, and has sent demonic flunkies to watch known trouble spots. I had one encounter the PCs, and it proved surprisingly little trouble to them. This is probably because I gave them all cold iron longswords, but it only seemed logical that a group dedicated to fighting drow would be equipped to combat demons.
I'll be keeping a campaign log, of course. Thanks again for the input!
It looks as though the rest of _Endless Night/Memory of Darkness_ for the Winter Council PCs will look like this:
(1) Hit one of the Azrinae priestesses for her gatekey.
(2) Hit House Azrinae with Second Daughter Miralwe's help, planning to kill Kardinnyr's succubus and force him to turn over the defenses to Miralwe. This plan will be oddly simplified by the fact that the House defenses have been set to go after Miralwe above any other target--Allevrah's parting curse--and that makes them easy to divert.
(3) Pry Samaritha out of Vonnarc, where she is getting much too settled.
(4) Go back to Celwynvian, recruit Giseil, and head off to rescue Perelir from her imprisonment and upcoming trial for treason by the Winter Council.
(5) Go into the Land of Black Blood after Allevrah, with any and all available allies.
The PCs are too low level for this plan to work directly. They can probably do #1-4 but #5 will kill them, unless they have a *lot* of help. I'm looking around for something to interpolate. We don't use EXP, but I can't just level-jump the PCs; they need to learn how to use their new abilities, and that requires play time. Currently they're 11th; they need to be more like 16th.
Other than that I'm happy. The PCs are mostly driving events, with about the right amount of outside pressure. Miralwe is a fun character; she's a natural ally but has *totally* different priorities than the PCs, leading to interesting kinds of friction. (When she finds out that they PCs have offered to sell the Azrinae priestess captured in step #1 to House Dolour, there will be trouble.) Miralwe is going to save House Azrinae from its incipient doom, and incidentally make herself Matron Mother. She petitioned Abraxas for aid in carrying out this audacious plan, and Abraxas, in great amusement, gave her the hint that let her find the PCs.
It looks as though the rest of _Endless Night/Memory of Darkness_ for the Winter Council PCs will look like this:
(1) Hit one of the Azrinae priestesses for her gatekey.
(2) Hit House Azrinae with Second Daughter Miralwe's help, planning to kill Kardinnyr's succubus and force him to turn over the defenses to Miralwe. This plan will be oddly simplified by the fact that the House defenses have been set to go after Miralwe above any other target--Allevrah's parting curse--and that makes them easy to divert.
(3) Pry Samaritha out of Vonnarc, where she is getting much too settled.
As of last night's game, #1 was handily accomplished.
However, they probably should have reversed the order of #2 and #3, because Alicavness has found Samaritha and picked her brains, and the result of Miralwe and the PCs raiding Azrinae (if they succeed) is that they're going to turn around and find Alicavness and a substantial Vonnarc force just behind them. On consideration, Alicavness thinks that keeping Azrinae viable but totally under her thumb would be a great outcome (she wants the Azrinae libraries, too) and Miralwe probably has little choice but to play along.
So Alicavness will close the Gates, trapping Allevrah in the Land of Black Blood, and give Miralwe time to consolidate in Zirnakaynin.
If the PCs ask her very nicely she might let them go through at some point. She has no love for Allevrah.
(All of this will make more sense if you know that we don't have Teleport or any related spells. It's Gates or a 200 mile walk.)
My biggest worry here is that the PCs will go to Kyonin and demand help. It's a real logic issue in the AP: last time the Elves were threatened by Earthfall they had enough advance warning, and organizational moxie, to evacuate an entire planet. Why aren't they doing anything about it this time? Yes, the Winter Council has gone rogue, but there have to be other elves who know what the portents mean.
I wish I could have Alicavness say, "You can go through if you want, but you must go now. I'm not going to open the Gates again." That would handle my plot problems perfectly--except the PCs are 12th level and they need to be about 16th. I guess they could be 13th after hitting Azrinae. It's still a big gap. They are powerful for their level, and have a dragon helping them, but I'm still not sure I can run _Descent into Midnight_ for 13ths.
One alternative is to have the PCs go ahead and call in help. But it's hard to run if done in detail, and dramatically unsatisfying if abstracted. And the player is almost guaranteed to react to the unsatisfying ending by wanting to continue--with the drow PC's plans to resettle Celwynvian with "re-educated" drow. I'm not sure I know how to run that.
A somewhat lame-ass alternative is to try to get the PCs to rescue Perelir, and then the next time they go through a Gate (probably meaning to go to Kyonin) they find themselves in the Land of Black Blood, courtesy of Alicavness and Areshkigal. I could at least get a level raise or two in there if they do Thorn's End.
One thing I do like about this whole continuation is that Alicavness has motives I can believe--killing Allevrah, getting Azrinae under her thumb--and needn't care about Earthfall at all. In my hands, PC/NPC alliances are more fun when the PCs and NPCs do not have precisely the same goals.
Hm. Wizard 12/Bard 1, Cleric 12/Fighter 1, Fighter 11/Ranger 2 (or something like that). Samaritha adds Wizard 8/Rogue 4. A Young Adult silver dragon, a Young copper dragon, and six Wyrmling bronze dragons. A couple of Dominated drow fighters around 9th level, if they dare take those (one Dispel Magic could ruin their whole day). Possibly a Dominated Cleric 9 of Abraxas (same comment). I could maybe see adding Perelir, who is Cleric 13; or Miralwe, who would be Cleric 12 by then. Can this group possibly do the Land of Black Blood? I'm no judge of high-level play.
My main problem is not how to get the PCs to Thorn's End (they are there now) but how to keep them from going to Kyonin afterward.
_Descent_ as written has the Elves completely helpless and passive; they offer the PCs some money but that's it. (And complain if the PCs ask for more!) Even the surviving Winter Councilors don't offer constructive help. This is going to go over like a lead balloon with my player. It suggests that Elven society is so hopelessly degenerate that Allevrah's plan might as well be allowed to go forward--they know now that it will not wreck the rest of the world. It also suggests that if the PCs do stop Earthfall, the next step is the PCs' overthrow of the Elven government. I don't want to run this. It's ugly.
But a reasonable Elven response will lead to the PCs having a lot of backup going into the Land of Black Blood, and that will be painful to run. There *must* be some elves of 14th+ level in Kyonin somewhere. Given the level distribution we're shown elsewhere, it's impossible for me to rationalize that there aren't. And they really ought to care that their nation is about to be flattened by the drow. I understand why the Queen won't send an army, but I can't see why she won't send 3-4 very high level agents.
The best answer involves keeping the PCs out of Kyonin. I can just about live with them having three of the Councilors in the party going into _Descent_, but I really don't want more.
But my player is saying to me, out of band, that it's getting increasingly difficult to rationalize why the PCs aren't going. They know what level Allevrah is. They've seen the results of her casting _miracle_. They are themselves 12th level, and know perfectly well that they ought to lose that fight, so it's natural for them to look for help, or better yet, someone else better suited for the role. They hoped to find that at Thorn's End, but found madness and despair instead. So of course they should go to Kyonin.
The player's suggestion is that they do go to Kyonin, and the Queen says that she has a team all ready and is sending it. And then that team fails, and it's too late for anyone but the PCs to step in. I'm not really comfortable with this--it sends such a clear "This is too hard for you" signal.
The backup seems to be that the PCs go ahead into _Descent_ with Perelir, Arlindil and Malindil as backup. This probably means the raid on Azrinae won't happen, to my disappointment, as the Winter Council alliance is not strong enough to survive side adventures. It will mean an awkwardly large party in the Land of Black Blood. Tactically, none of the Glyph fights are likely to be interesting except the last one. (Someone else posted an end-of-game summary and came to the same conclusion: the scenarios don't allow for flight/invisibility/defenses combos. So they probably won't be interesting even with the core party.)
My player seems more interested in what happens after Allevrah falls than in the scenario of _Descent_, so maybe I should abstract large hunks of _Descent_ and then go into a post-endgame with a very different emphasis and pacing. The drow PC is thinking of resettling a bunch of drow in Celwynvian. That should provide plenty of political, if not combat, action. I couldn't do this in a multi-player game because one of the PCs has no scope in such a continuation, but for a single player game it may work.
I knew going in that _Memory_ would be a problem, but I hoped to find a solution before I got here. I'm still struggling. The Winter Council scene itself was really great, and I'm not sorry the PCs got here, but I wish I didn't have to choose between making the Elves out to be idiots and sabotaging the last episode. I do want to see a PC/Allevrah confrontation.
Having captured one of Allevrah's priestesses, the PCs retreated to Celwynvian. They caused consternation among the Elven defenders, who saw a succubus, two fiendish satyrs, a fleshwarped drow, and five regular drow. (And a silver dragon, a bronze dragon, and six baby copper dragons.) It took some Shin-Rakorath passwords and a lot of careful talking to smooth things over. Kavashiel, the Shin-Rakorath commander, was cut off from contact with the Winter Council and had to make a call on his own; he chose to cautiously treat with the PCs (and send Animal Messengers hither and yon).
The PCs sent messages of their own to Giseil and enlisted him in getting to Thorn's End. They had lost communication with Perelir and Giseil felt strongly that she was in danger; they also hoped to find help there.
Some very intense roleplaying here around the increasingly strange, and strained, composition of the PC's group. Also, they tried to question their captive and found that she'd been on the receiving end of a Miracle and was not sane any more. This scared them badly.
They went to Thorn's End, the whole lot of them plus Giseil and his skeletal dragon, and found the demon seige in place. They drew off the vrocks and beat them, then applied death from above to everything else. When they had nearly cleared the courtyard Armistril and his men came out to help. Another difficult piece of negotiation ensued. Everyone wants to know why the PCs, if they are really disguised Elves, don't drop their disguises!
The PCs *almost* agreed to let the Recorporeal Incarnations lapse. I was holding my breath, because if Samaritha tries to do that it won't work; Alicavness made hers permanent a little while ago. (Samaritha is working for Alicavness; she just doesn't know it yet.) But they settled for taking off the amulets, so they wouldn't read as chaotic evil, but not sending them far enough away to break the disguise itself.
The core PCs, Samaritha and Giseil went in, leaving everyone else outside, and talked first to Malendil, then to Malendil and Arlindil (memo: change those names, they are confusing!), then to the full Council. The Council believed that Perelir had gone mad, allying with drow and demons. The PCs pointed out that it looked a lot more like Domination than like madness, and forced Hyalin to drop the spell. Perelir promptly admitted that she *had* been allying with drow (starting with the drow PC) and demons (Quilindra). The conversation got very, very complicated. Hyalin had a lot of verbal ammunition to use against the PCs, starting with their own drow alliances and access to elf-into-drow magics. And Perelir, surprisingly, was ready to meet him halfway. So Arlindil and Malendil got pulled back and forth, and Hyalin was able to fend off any kind of resolution for hours on end.
We had to stop there, halfway through the conversation. (Downside of not being a teenager anymore; I can't play all night.) At this point I don't know if the raid on House Azrinae will ever happen. I'll be sad if it doesn't. I really like the character of Miralwe Azrinae, and the setting of Zirnakaynin, and would like more play there. The Land of Black Blood is less interesting to me. But the PCs are getting very goal-focused.
I have discussed with the player the likelihood that we will switch the campaign to a diplomacy/building focus after _Descent_, following the drow PC's attempts to resettle Celwynvian and build her own House out of exiles, surface drow, and renegade elves. It'll be a tough transition and I'm not sure we'll succeed, but the player is very keen.
We are hitting the point where combat is time-consuming and not necessarily interesting anymore. We abstracted the last third of the demon fight. Looking ahead, at least two of the Glyph fights will probably be abstracted as well. Ropers in the open? There's no need to fight that. What was Allevrah thinking? Or maybe I need to redo her defenses, though it will be a big pain.
Politics back in Zirnakaynin are really heating up. The player and I talked through them, which was quite entertaining in itself. Kardinnyr is under pressure to recover the missing priestess, which of course he can't do. Everyone is looking for the PCs, who aren't there to be found. Alicavness has captured the Azrinae delegate to the Council of Widows and is plotting an attack on House Azrinae itself, for its libraries. Miralwe is wondering where the PCs are and how long she can afford to wait for them. Arkaxis got a message from Kardinnyr appealing for help, which has him wickedly amused (though wondering how Kardinnyr found out where he was; the PCs think that Allevrah must have True Resurrected Novelniss. Maybe so.) Dolour has decided to protect the PCs' chattel in the lower city in order to curry favor. The market price of dragons has tripled.
Unless Allevrah comes back, which she won't, Azrinae in Zirnakaynin has only spell-cycles to live, and the main question is whether Miralwe or someone else moves first--and whether, if Miralwe does move first, she has a snowball's chance in the Abyss of holding what she takes. Maybe she should fake up some PCs, to keep people guessing! She could summon a succubus and have it impersonate the lead PC....
I want to be back in Zirnakaynin, that's what I want. What an excellent city! The late adventures in this AP don't, in my opinion, work at all, but Zirnakaynin is a fine piece of work and worth the price of admission by itself.
The PCs negotiated with various surface-world allies--a gold dragon, a slime creature from the Storvall Deeps, the ruins of the Winter Council--and started thinking seriously about the Land of Black Blood. As the player is painfully aware, they're too low-level for it.
Miralwe Azrinae offered them reading rights in the Azrinae libraries if they'd help her take over her House, and they agreed. I used House Vonnarc, souped up with a whole lot of golems (nimblewrights, stone and iron golems, stained-glass golems, web golems) and a few other auto defenses. The attackers used the fact that the House defenses were set to react to Miralwe in preference to anything else to very good advantage, and won handily, Dominating Kardinnyr and killing his succubus lover. (She was, unfortunately for her, listening at the door the PCs came through, so they grappled her severely and she wasn't effective.)
At this point, the triumphant attackers discovered Alicavness Vonnarc in the Azrinae library-tower. (The PCs should not have been surprised; they were the ones who tipped off Vonnarc as to the right time to attack. But somehow they had not expected Alicavness herself.) The PC priest nearly lost his head over the prospect that Alicavness had, or would soon have, the Earthfall secret. But he realized he had to join the dickering between Miralwe and Alicavness or he wouldn't have any say at all.
So, a council: Alicavness, Miralwe, and two of the PCs. The PCs managed to make a good argument that Allevrah's next target after Kyonin would be Zirnakaynin, and get the drow to agree that she had to be stopped. They found, to their horror, that Alicavness had inherited the Master Key of the elf-gate network and could open or close gates at whim. She offered to trap Allevrah in the Land of Black Blood, which would have made Miralwe happy, but not the PCs. They finally convinced her to go off and verify for herself the nature of the threat to Zirnakaynin, and then consider joining with them in their plan--
For some reason, the PCs have become convinced that the Echo is key to Allevrah's plans, and to how to stop her. They propose a joint strike at Allevrah in the Land of Black Blood now, and wherever the glyphs are in Celwynvian-past. One of these gets to be done by NPCs, I think! Though maybe not--I have to look at the drowned city in Savage Tide and see if it will stand in for the aboleth glyphs under Celwynvian.
It is slowly dawning on the PCs that Alicavness has subverted Samaritha somehow, and probably Arkaxis as well. I like Alicavness, and am happy to see her having a richer role than she does in the actual modules (where she is mainly an annoying deus ex machina).
So, next will be a dual effort to get the Council of Widows and the Elven Court to help. I can't keep the PCs out of Kyonin after all. I give up trying. But maybe we can have the Elves do one of the two paths, and the PCs do the other.
Fun sessions, especially the council meeting.
I still don't give Miralwe a snowball's chance in the Abyss, though. Allevrah has really wrecked her House. This worked in the PCs' favor, as it was what convinced Alicavness that Allevrah might really mean to destroy Zirnakaynin.
For anyone who plans to do combat in House Vonnarc, either as itself or as a stand-in for Azrinae: it needs magical defenses *badly*. It's a total pushover for even midlevel PCs otherwise, which won't make sense in the gameworld.
Did you do anything different with Perelir based on the fact that she was moving around Varisia instead of trapped inside Thorn's End? I suspect that she would have been a lot more emotionally balanced/stable as a result of being able to leave occasionally.
Again, thanks so much for posting this thread!
After going back and forth with it for a long time, I decided that Perelir and Hyalin were both drow, having done too many black deeds in the Winter Council's service. This helped explain Perelir's tolerance of Hyalin in our Council Meeting scene. The PCs never did find this out about Hyalin--Recorporeal Incarnation is hard to detect--but managed to get a confession out of Perelir in a moment of weakness. They were more shocked than I expected. They hadn't believed that Allevrah just turned into a drow spontaneously, as it turns out; they'd assumed it was either an illusion, or revelation of what she'd been all along.
The game ended shortly after that, though. High level D&D is agonizing for me as a GM. Much as I liked the plot and characters, it just wasn't enough to make up for the prep burden and increasing difficulty of making things hang together. The player was becoming obsessed with preparing for what Allevrah actually ought to do (particularly, Planar Ally) and it was tearing holes in the gameworld reality.
A note if you're going to run #6; it is schizophrenic about its map scale. The printed map has a *huge* Land of Black Blood. There is no way that Allevrah's troops can move from one sigil to another in less than days. But the text seems to assume that things are much closer than that. Having Denrelwe over a hundred miles from base, with no transport, no support, no supplies, and no strong reason to be there, is very odd. (And if you are all alone like that, killing your own bodyguards is...stupid.)
Mary Kaye
Wow, that would really be a shocker! Thanks for sharing!
My thought is that by the end of chapter five I'm going to have at least three PCs who are actual council members (or at least members elect), but that this won't give them many more resources. They'll need to break the siege and get in more guards and finish the Land of Black Blood, then return to their on-going duties.
I'll ponder the additional drow question. I have six PCs and it would certainly be interesting to turn the six of them into the new council. :D
Again, thanks so much for posting. Your insights and experience have been very valuable!