My party kept trying to disbelieve Gottrod, because fighting a red dragon at their level was crazy, crazy I tell you. And probably because some of them spotted Crazy Jared use his wand to transform himself into kingly robes.

You too? I had the party cleric disbelieving the dragon for 3-4 rounds before he was finally convinced it was real. It was only when the party was caught in a breath attack that he finally decided that, yeah, these burns are probably real.

Party took Gottrod down pretty easily at that point. We had a party archer get in several good shots from far away. The party's lack of flight was a bit of a problem, but between the archer and wizard, he went down pretty fast.

Session #5 - The Forgotten Legacy

5th Planting 594 CY

Silas' scream was still echoing in the room as the girl vanished. I turned to follow our patron, leaving Kenya and Cristof to deal with our supernatural apparation. Jharvys followed on my heels as we reached the ground floor and emerged into the daylight. Silas stood at the threshold of the house, his face white and his hands trembling.

He was mutering something to himself as he stumbled out into the yard. I approached and could only hear a fragment, "... is dead. Koryllis is dead..." over and over again.

"Who is Koryllis?" I asked him.

Silas looked at me, apparently realizing for the first time where he was.

"She... she was my sister. My older sister." He looked around the yard uncomfortably. "I don't actually remember much about her. She died when I was very young."

"Then how did you recognize her?" I asked.

"Paintings mostly. After she died my mom grew ill. Eventually the plague claimed her too. My father sent me to live with my aunt and uncle in Keoland. He sent many paintings of my sister with me."

I looked back at the house where Jharvys was watching the door. He caught my glance and shook his head, no sign of our companions.

"Listen, wait here. We'll go back inside to look around. If you hear or see anything, find the watch."

Silas nodded and walked slowly to the carriage. As he turned I saw his eyes flicker up towards the second floor windows. My gaze followed and I caught sight of a pale figure pressed agains the flass. A girl.

Silas bolted. Slamming the carriage door closed, he ordere the driver to flee. Meanwhile, Jharvys and I darted inside. Kenya had just reached the bottom of the stairs when we barrelled past her. Sighing, she followed us back up.

Reaching the top of the stairs, I followed Cristof's shouts into one of the upstairs bedrooms. Standing in the middle of the room was the ghostly girl. Cristoff stood at the door, his hands clutching his holy symbol as a busrt of divine light swept the room. The ghost seemed unphased. Shrugging, I hefted my bow and let an arrow fly, where is slammed into a beam inches behind the girl's head.

She vanished.

"She didn't even flinch!" Cristoff said.

"Well she is a ghost. I didn't really expect my arrow to do much."

The cleric shook his head, "No, not the arrow. Kord's blessing. Even a powerful spirit would have flinched from the brawler's touch." He cast one of his spells. "Perhaps it's a different kind of magic we're dealing with?"

"Illusion?" Jharvys mused.

"Perhaps."

Cristoff walked through the rooms, his eyes picking up the faint aura's of magic still lingering in the air. "Yes, illusions."

I made my way back to the stairs. As I did so, I caught a glimpse of movement from the foot of the stairs. Three identical figures in ragged cloth stood there. "Mongrelmen!" I growled.

We all rished the stairs as the mongrelmen began to weave a spell. For a moment I felt as though the skin on my arms was about the rot away, but I shook away whatever spell he was casting. I could hear him curse as he vanished.

Cristoff was about halfway down the steps as I bound for th railing. I slid down, hitting the landing and swinging my bow in a wide arc, hoping to strike the mongrelmen.

The rest of my companions reached the bottom of the stairs and we all started to scan the room for the spellcaster. Finally Cristoff managed to hear some chanting coming from a nearby corner. Taking a chance, I pulled out a vial of acid and tossed it to where he was pointing. It struck true and there was a curse, followed by the acrid smell of acid-burned skin.

Kenya rushed in to swing her blade at the unseen opponent, but she missed. As she and Cristoff sought to trap the mongrelman, Jharvys and I tore down an old tapestry, and stretching it between us, started to sweep the main hall. Hopefully, we would catch the wizard in our trap.

We all spotted the door to the kitchens open. Rushing through we started searching the kitchen for any sign of our missing enemy. Unfortunately, we were played for fools. A moment later we all heard the sound of the front door slam shut. He had managed to trick us and escape.

With the mongrelman missing, we decided the least we could do was search through the rest of the house, and make sure there were no other uninvited guests waiting for us.

Alas my notes and session writeup for our first foray into the refinery sits on a USB drive that forces my PC to reboot every few minutes. Hopefully I will be able to post it once I get it fixed. And even worse, I will not be present at the battle against the Drow, so any TPK that results in us confronting the fiend is not my fault... at all...

Ok, here's my first entry into this campaign journal, from the point of view of the elven scout Caelam:

I slept … how odd it is to think of sleep… poorly last night. During my trance I fell into a rare slumber. There my dreams were haunted, plagued by shadows. These were not the memories of childhood I was so accustomed to, but had a surreal quality I found most distasteful. I stood within the city square, Quatraine Square it is named, with something lurking in the unseen darkness. Even after coming to, my mind felt burdened.

I had a headache when I met my companions for breakfast the next morning. It was distracting and left me churlish. Downstairs in the common room, pancakes made from potatoes were being served and already two of my companions were enjoying a meal. Cristof, a priest dedicated to Kord was helping himself to his third, as I would later find out, helping of breakfast, while Kenya ourt quiet dwarven companion was finishing her own. A few moments later Jarvys joined us at the table.

“So, what do we do?” It was Cristof who opened the discussion. We all knew what he meant. Last night’s unusual visit was still on everyone’s mind. And with dawn fast approaching, we had to make a decision quickly.

Kenya shrugged, “Don’t care really. I had nothing else planned for the morning though.”

I nodded agreement. “We should look into that attack last night. We’re not in town more than an hour and already we’re being drawn into the city affairs.”

Even Jarvys, normally slow to make any decision, agreed. “It doesn’t hurt.”

So with that we finished a quick bite, and left for the Gryphon’s Arms. I will say that while the murk and grime of a human city is still distasteful to me, this establishment was like an island of paradise. Fine music greeted us as we entered and a beautiful, at least by human standards, woman was on hand to welcome us.

“Will you be needing rooms for the day? Or just a meal?” she asked of us.

“We were asked to meet someone,” Cristof began. I tried to cut him short, but to no avail. I’ve since learned that he is prone to being rash and naïve. Charming traits.

“Ah yes,” the woman replied, “You must be the adventurers. Please follow me, there’s a booth in the back.”

She led us through the ornate lounge to a curtained booth at the back. Waiting for us was a young man, his clothes smartly groomed. The table was filled with delicately arranged food, and several decanters of drink were waiting. He rose to greet us, but I cut right to the point. It was early, and I was still suffering from a headache.

“What do you want?”

He seemed surprised at my directness. “We have business to discuss, of some importance. Please sit. Enjoy the food while you listen, it’s on me.”

He introduced himself as Sylus Irak, a man from nearby Keoland. As Cristof helped himself to his, I believe his fourth breakfast, Sylus explained that his family were once nobles in the city of Istivin, and that during the troubled times they were forced to flee the city. Since the passing of his father, he has returned to reclaim the family’s noble title. However, either through mischance or carelessness, he was unable to find any official declarations of the family titles in his father’s estate.

“I don’t believe my father would be so careless. I came into contact with a man named Erepoth Greytallow, the very same man you found murdered last night, to research these claims. He had discovered that my father had a family vault constructed within the city before being forced to flee. I believe he had finally found the location of the vault and I was to meet him last night to find out where. Of course you know the rest.

“I sent my man, Kyzer Finch, to track you down last night. If the vault exists, I want you to find a way inside.”

“What do you expect to find inside?” Jarvys asked.

“There’s a box that, according to the research Erepoth did, can only be opened by a member of my bloodline. In this case, with the box I can prove my claim. I want you four to retrieve the box.”

“Why us?” I asked. “Why do you think you can trust us?”

“Because you were kind enough to stop and try to help Erepoth last night. And I’m willing to pay.”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see my companions eyes widen. I admit, the prospect of some easy coin by finding a box was intriguing. Something nagged at me though. Perhaps were I clear headed I would have asked more questions.

Sylus continued, “I‘ll pay you 1000 gold apiece; a hundred up front and the rest when you return the box.”

“What about the mongrelmen from last night?” I asked him. “Do you know who sent them?”

Sylus shook his head, “No, but I don’t imagine they’ll stop coming. Even with Erepoth dead, you four have become involved in this. Perhaps if you can find the vault, you can find out who sent them.”

Cristof paused in his eating, “Well we did find a scroll with what looked like an address on Erepoth last night. Do you still have it Caelam?”

I shot Cristof a dirty look. Again, his naivety shown through. “Yes, it said ‘Refinery – Old Quarter, 21 Granite’” I’ll need to talk to Cristof about subtlety in the future.

Sylus looked thoughtful, “That makes sense, my father was involved in refining ores from the nearby mines. It bears investigating.”

I was anxious to finish the deal, get the money and get moving. Apparently nightmares and headaches made me ill-tempered that morning. “Very well how do we contact you? And do you have our money?”

Sylus nodded, “I’ll be staying here for the foreseeable future. And I’ve already asked Kyzer to bring the money down.”

We discussed a bit more about Sylus’ family history, but he was somewhat evasive. Finally Kyzer arrived with money for each of us. With coin in hand we bid Sylus fairwell.

“So to the Old Quarter?” Cristof asked. Already I could see his impatience. “By Kord’s curly beard, I need to get some exercise in”

“Soon enough, first I need to do a little shopping” I replied. If we were going to start traipsing about hidden vaults and magic boxes, I was going to need some tools, and the ones I had on me were in rough shape. “It shouldn’t take long.”

Jarvys offered to help me look for someone able to sell me the lockpicks and tools I needed. Had I known it was going to take as long as I did, or be as pointless as it was, I wouldn't have bothered...

I'm currently playing Caelam the elven scout in this campaign. We just finished our second session last night and once I look over my notes, I'll post an update to this journal of my character's experiences in the city of Istivin. Here's a hint... elves do not like falling asleep!

Way to go, Frozen! I've got a bit to go still. I get to broil my group in Foundation of Flame at our next session. But Age of Worms is coming soon and I get to sit back and enjoy the ride as a player, too.

Be sure to introduce your new DM to these boards and theRPGenius.com so he can get all the same mischevious, make that brilliant, assistance that you did.

Raise a frothy mug!
Koramado

Well my DM for Age of Worms is Hagen who dropped in just a bit higher up. I know he's been spending the last year or so preparing for AoW, on this site and RPGenius as well. My only fear is that the DM's on those boards will have as many, or more, devious ideas as the ones posting here. I tremble in anticipation to see what we'll face.

One way is that one of the party has just become a Strider. With that group knowing about the Cagewrights I think it's only fair that he should be informed of the group. I don't see how it would adversely affect anything anyway.

Definitely agree. One thing I tried differently in this campaign compared to previous ones, was not leave my players in the dark as much. It helped that one member of the party was a diviner dedicated to Istus. But in my opinion, it is better to err on the side of giving the PC's more info that less. Learning about the Cagewrights and their plans early only emphasizes the importance of stopping them and makes them seem a credible threat. I find players are less motivated to actually stop the villains if they don't know who they are or what they are planning.

Congrats frozen! glad you guys enjoyed the campaign. We'll miss you on these boards. I think we have another 6 to 9 months to go before we finish the SCAP. Right now, we're at the start of lords of oblivion, but I want to have at least a couple side treks involving occipitus and the haunted dreams.

I recognise the format you used from extremetech or a similar website. Is that where you got the idea, or am I way off?

No, I normally try to organize my thoughts when writing, and this format seemed the best way to do it.

I would heartily recommend some side-quests like the ones you mention since I've found throughout the adventure path that occupitus is one of the more disconnected elements of the campaign. It's an interesting plane and if you can make it more important to the story-line, you'll eliminate one of the few problems I know I and my players had with the adventure path.

And so, after nearly 2 years, my players and I finally completed Shackled City last night. What began as an impromptu pick-up game between me and a few friends at GenCon 2005 eventually resulted in our group's longest running D&D Campaign.

Last night the party finally confronted Adimarchus within Skullrot. After defeating the warden of Skullrot in a previous session, the party managed to rest while they recovered their spells. The next morning the party's rogue, a halfling named Penelope (and only member to bear the Smoking Eye), smashed open the cage that held Adimarchus. While the battle against him lasted most of the night, the party did admirably well. The only change I made to the demon-lord was to give him divine rank 0 (in my opinion all Demon lords have at least divine rank 0), with the subsequent benefits (AC bonus, immunities, etc...)

He tried to use blasphemy on the party, but the cleric managed to counter it using a ring of spell battle. A subsequent Word of Chaos, however, drove about half the party insane. In fact, the only death in the party occured when the party's warblade was confused, attacked and killed Penelope. However, one thing ended up saving the PC's, the Iron bands of Billaro thrown by our party's archer. These managed to imprison Admiarchus again, long enough, for the group to launch a counter-offensive.

Final Thoughts

So in the end this was one of the best, and most satisfying campaigns I've ever DM'd. I am, however, glad it's over as I've been itching to pick up the dice as a player for months now. We begin the Age of Worms next week.

The Good

• Some of the most interesting NPC's and villains I've ever had in a campaign. Inparticular I very much loved Vhalanthru, Tifraine (who was one PC's love interest for most of the campaign), Jenya and the Stormblades.
  
• The Eruption in Cauldron. This adventure, while difficult to run, was probably one of my favorites in the campaign. Amazing use of events to guide the PC's and a frantic night for the characters that stretched them thin.
  
• The focus on Cauldron. For the first time one of our campaigns was based almost entirely within a single city. I think this did a lot to tie the party to the campaign and motivate them to take a more proactive approach to running their characters.
  
• This board. The Paizo boards and TheRpgenius web site were some of the best resources I found during this campaign. While I obviously couldn't use every idea, they were inspiring to read.
  

The Bad

• Forshadowing, while it existed, wasn't really prevalent as much as it could be throughout the campaign. The Cagewrights are introduced too late in the game, and Adimarchus only comes into play late as well. I did my best to incorporate future campaign elements as early as possible, but I wasn't always successful. Vhalanthru was well foreshadowed, but that was about it. Everything else I had to pretty much do on my own.
  
• Trip to Occipitus. The Test of the Smoking Eye was a hard adventure to include and justify in the adventure path. It comes out of left field, has very little reason for the party to accept the adventure, and the payoff is a long time in coming. Many changes (like many suggested on these boards) could have been made to improve the adventure.
  

The Ugly
Honestly, nothing comes to mind in this category.

This has been one of the best-written campaigns I've ever had the pleasure of DMing. I say congratulations to Paizo and all involved in crafting some of the best entertainment my friends and I have had for the last 2 years. I look forward to Age of Worms and every Adventure Path to come.

I've been DMing shackled city since may for a party of six, and looking at the power level of some of the Cagewrights (especially Dyr'Ryd) it seems that cleaning out the cagewright's base is going to be walk in the park. Have any of the other DMs come to this conclusion and what changes did you make to the NPCs?

I'm about to start this chapter and to me it seems quite the opposite. While the Cagewrights are not, individually, on par with the players, I think the fact that the PC's will need to complete the entire adventure without resting is going to play havok with a normal group. Sure, if the PC's confront Dyr-Ryd at full power, he's a push-over. But by this point in the adventure they will have likely faced several powerful NPCs, Moltenwing, elementals and outsiders. Remember, if the PC's stop to rest, the ritual completes. The other question I'd have is, how soon after Foundations of Flame will you be running Thirteen Cages? In my case, I started the adventure immediately, giving the PC's only enough time to rest and recover hit points, but not enough time to gain new spells, or craft/buy items.

However, if you do find the Cagewrights lacking in menace, there are two suggestions I'd make. The first is to simply add a few levels to some of the Cagewrights. A level of wizard or cleric here and there will make a noticeable difference. The other option is to include more allies in the form of gated in, or bound demons. Perhaps Dyr-Ryd has more of his demodand bretheren with him. I personally find that a larger group of enemies tends to be more effective than simply boosting the power levels of a single foe. If you are worried about characters with dismissal or other effective way of removing outsiders from play, perhaps include a few constructs as well.

I believe the Cagewrights were able to craft a shield guardian as a gift for Thifraine (or was this only in my campaign... it's all a blur at this point), it might make sense for there to be additional construct guards within the Fiery Sanctum.

I couldn't find where the invisible tattoo of the Carcerian Sign is located on the Shackleborn. Anyone know if this is noted anywhere? I have the hardback version. Though the party is just entering Chapter 2, one of the characters is a warlock and has the See the Unseen evocation (darkvision and see invisible). So what is the chance that he noticed the sign on Terrem? He also happened to have noticed the beholder's assistant.

I don't believe it's specified as existing in any particular location on the body. In my campaign, most individual who bear the sign have it located on their face, meaning it is relatively easy to notice by anyone who can see invisibile.

Our party Warlock had the same ability and noticed the assistant. Of course later in the campaign, after meeting Celeste, she vanished, and the party is convinced that she was the one assissting the beholder.

Ehran's Fate part II
He awoke hours or days later, it was hard to tell. He was sitting in a chair, his arms bound behind his back, and a table in front of him. Lanterns bathed the room in a harsh yellow light. Behind him he heard movement and a young woman stepped forward. She was plain to look at, with simple homespun clothes and brown hair. She carried a tray with cups and a jug.

“You’re awake.”

Ehran nodded, finding himself unable to speak due to a cloth pulled tight around his mouth. The woman poured water into the two cups, and set one of them in front of the elf. “You’ve caused quite a bit of a stir amongst the Last Laugh, quite a bit.”

Ehran struggled against the ropes, but they were too tight. They were cutting into the skin around his wrists, and he could feel something warm run down his hand.

“Please don’t struggle, it’s not going to do you any good. After all…” suddenly the woman’s skin seemed to pulse and shift, darkening to a sickly red. She gained nearly a foot in height and her body thickened. A pair of bat-like wings emerged, and instead of a woman, there stood a cruel looking man. His fiendish nature was apparent even to Ehran.
“… even if you were free, you wouldn’t be a match for me.”

The creature stepped forward, and pulled the cloth from Ehran’s mouth. “Better?”

“Who..?”

“Velior Thazo, at your service, Jester of the Last Laugh.”

“Jester…?”

“That’s right, Jill said you wanted to meet… of course, I doubt you would have ever asked that had you known about the mark.”

Ehran wasn’t sure what Thazo meant. What mark? Velior was looking at him with an almost amused grin. “What are you talking about?”

“You really don’t know. A pity. Orbius was so sure you’d be aware of your own lineage.”

“What lineage, what are you talking about?”

Velior eased in closer to Ehran. The elf could smell the sulfuric odor off of the half-fiend. “You’ll see soon enough.”

Velior turned and left the room, leaving the cups and water behind, out of Ehran’s reach. He waited there for minutes, and then hours. He struggled against the rope, but it only grew tighter and tighter. He could feel the skin of his wrists rubbed completely raw.

Finally, as time slipped away from him, Ehran heard another sound. The door behind him opened and he heard footsteps.

“Oh yesss…. Here he is… hehehehe…. Just like you promised…. Oh joy of joys!” The voice was high-pitched, touched with cackling madness.

“As promised,” the second voice replied, it was Thazo. “I hope your masters will find him of use?”

“Of course, of course, of course….” Ehran felt the ropes loosen around his arms and legs, but still he remained tied at the wrist. “We have just the perfect place for him too!” The creature cooed with madness as Ehran was jerked to his feet. He was turned roughly and a heavy bag pulled tight around his head. In the instant before everything went dark, he did have time to see the new arrival. The creature stood barely 3 feet in height with dark, sooty grey skin and gleaming white hair. His eyes were wide, luminous and definitely those of belonging to a deranged mind.

“Take him Kravichak. But I expect to be well paid,” Thazo said.

“And the other? The other of course, we must have the other one.”

“The boy? Don’t worry, I’ve already sent one of my best agents to ensure his return. That mongrel half-dwarf was never supposed to take him, I assure you.”

“Goodey, goodey, goodey,” Kravichak cackled. Ehran could here the dwarf chanting a spell, one he wasn’t familiar with. Suddenly he felt the temperature of the room change, growing hot.

“Welcome, welcome! Oh yes, you’ll love it here. Welcome to your last home, hahaha…”

The next few hours were a blur. Always blindfolded, Ehran was lead through corridors and tunnels, up stairs and through doors. All the while he could feel the heat surrounding him. He was finally brought into a large room, the echoes of his footsteps reverberated off the walls.

“Here he is, I’ve brought him to you! Just as I said I would!”

Ehran heard movement, something large. “Of course Kravichak,” a voice said, deep and gravely. “Excellent work. You have your uses after all.”

“Told you! Heh heh heh, I told you we would be a great team!”

Ehran was shoved forward. Suddenly he could feel hands pressed against his face, and he could feel slime left behind. “Perfect. We are only missing two more and the tree will be complete!”

“Take him away!” a new voice cried, this one lighter, like that of a child. Hands grabbed Ehran and dragged him from the room. “Prepare him like the others,” the second voice said.

From there he was dragged some unknown distance. Brought to a room where the bag on his head was finally removed. It was a small room, with shackles on one wall. He was thrown forward, his arms and legs bound and he was hung upside down. A balding man and a cruel looking woman stripped him of his clothes. For the nearly a week he hung there, hunger and thirst driving him to near madness. Occasional morsels of food were given to him, but it was never enough.

He almost welcomed the torture as his captors would “prepare” him. They carved strange sigils into his skin, doused him strange alchemical recipes. He burned, he froze. Sleep was a luxury he measured in minutes, and even then, nightmares of a twisted, ruined landscape dominated by immense skull with a burning eye were all that greeted him.

Days slipped now into weeks, and weeks into months. Each day he would pray that Torrek would find him, free him. Each day he was met with only the bitter realization that help was not coming. His friend had abandoned him.

Ok, the long promised fate of Ehran, Torrek's long missing friend and companion from the early days of the Shackled City Adventure Path...

Ehran's Fate
Ehran screamed.

The fingers were like ice, molding to his body and gripping him like iron. He hung upside down, sweat pouring down in rivulets. Once he had struggled against the chains, only once. When his captors saw him trying to slip through the metal, they quickly smeared his body with the poison from a purple worm, sapping his strength.

For three days he hung there, in the dark, with only the cold hands of his mysterious captors as company. They brought no light, and made no noise. Not even the sound of their breathing.

Finally the hands released him, and in a few minutes he could feel the warmth return, slowly, to his skin. He almost craved the numbing cold as the pain returned. He tried to turn his mind from the agony, tried to remember what had brought him here in the first place.

It was a little over a week ago when he and his good friend Torrek Spellmason had been exploring gnomish and dwarven ruins under Cauldron, looking for several kidnapped children at the behest of the church of St-Cuthbert. They had figured that the Last Laugh, a guild of thieves in the city, was somehow involved in the kidnappings. As such, Ehran had decided to try and contact the guild, to see what they’re involvement would be.

He had made his way towards the lakefront. From what he knew of the city’s underworld, the Last Laugh was said to operate out of the area. He made his way through the crowd, watching for the tell-tale signs of pick-pockets. He spotted a few, rank amateurs however, and not the kind that the guild would use. Had he been paying more attention to the rest of the people and less on the petty thieves, he might have noticed her approach.

“Looking for someone?” she whispered in his ear, as the blade of her dagger slid against his skin. She was good, probably better than he was.

“Someone,” he nodded, “Yes I am, although I think I may have found who I was looking for.”

Ehran slowly turned, feeling the dagger slide along his throat. The woman standing beside him was slim and had a delicate build, with long black hair. She was also surprisingly young. His eyes were drawn to the golden medallion around her neck, a symbol showing Oldimmara. The jester god’s face was a mixture of silver and gold. “Who are you?” he asked.

“Possibly a friend. Depends on you. I hear you’ve been asking some questions lately.” She slid an arm around his waist and started to walk, pulling him along side her. The dagger at his throat dropped, but he could still feel it pushed against his side.

“About the missing children? Yes, and I take it you have the answers.”

She laughed, “I have some, but I’m warning you. You’re biting off more than you can chew. Just leave the situation alone. I promise you, the kidnappings are going to stop.”

“I’m sorry, that won’t be good enough. We made a promise to find the children and bring them home.” While walking and talking, Ehran was slowly thinking over the spells he knew. He wasn’t a powerful sorcerer, but he had some talent. He could try dazzling her, that had worked on the gnome, or even stun her and give him enough time to escape.

Even as he considered the spells, she guided him towards a nearby alley. She released his waist, and let him take a few steps forward. He turned, his hands raising to cast a spell when he saw a crossbow pointed at his throat. The girl was good.

Three men stepped from the shadows. A fourth, a Halfling with a scar running down the left side of his face emerged from behind some crates. All bore signs of Oldimmara. “No need for spells,” the Halfling said, almost lyrically. “You let lady Jill talk and maybe you go on your way with your entrails intact.”

“No need for threats Flint,” Jill said as she lowered the crossbow. “We’re just here to talk.”

Ehran looked at the five of them. One or two he might be able to handle, but all five? He really wished Torrek was here right now. “Then talk!”

“It’s simple, really. You and your friend mind your business and we leave you alone.”

“We?”

“The Last Laugh. Don’t be ignorant. You’re lucky you get a polite warning. That priest was making the same mistake you are.”

“Why warn then? Wouldn’t it be easier to just kill me and be done with it?”

The Halfling, Flint, looked up, a smile creeping along his face. “It would be, wouldn’t it.” His hand reached into his shirt, emerging with a long, slightly curved dagger.

“No killing, the Jester doesn’t want more attention than necessary,” Jill cautioned. She turned back to Ehran, “Do we have a deal?”

Ehran considered it for a moment. If the Last Laugh was involved, these kidnappings were obviously more organized than they originally had thought. And he had heard of the Last Laugh before, and this seemed out of their normal pattern. Something wasn’t sitting right with him. “Who’s making this deal? You or your boss?”

“Me, on behalf of my boss.”

“Then let me hear it from him.”

“Are you sure?” Jill asked.

“Of course,” Ehran nodded. If he could find out more about the people behind the kidnappings, maybe he could bring the entire group down.

“Ok, if you want.” Jill also nodded, but it was only too late that Ehran realized it wasn’t in his direction. Two of the three men rushed forward and grabbed his arms, while the third slammed something heavy onto the back of his skull. Everything went black.

Are you planning on running AoW after this campaign? You could easily use her as a springboard for it.

I've been thinking about this myself, and if the AoW campaign I'm playing in ends before my SCAP game does, I may up the power levels of AoW into Epic levels and have those PCs follow clues from Cauldron to the Free City and on into adventure...

I could easily see her linking up with the Hextorites in Diamond Lake (we just encountered them in my own game - too cool) or just running to the Free City and getting involved there.

Unfortunately I will not be running AoW, one of my player's has already laid claim to that Adventure Path, although the players have been joking that they might run into Triel in that adventure as well. I might just ensure that she escapes to live another day, so the AoW DM can toss her into that campaign. Might be an interesting link between AP's

I'd turn Triel into one of "random" bad guys from Oblivion, maybe Bonesworn or Velior Thazo.

This was one thing I was considering. I figure, this would be a good point in the campaign for Triel to make her return. However, I'm still not sure as to the best way to advance her in levels. I figure I could boost her up to 10th or 11th level.

One thing I've been considering was that following the events in the Kopru Ruins she would try and join up with another Ebon Triad cell. However, I like James' idea of her splitting with the cult. This was making me think, that her having split from the main Hextor faith, and no longer a member of the Ebon Triad, she might abandon her divine path completely. I was actually considering that she might adopt the Ur-Priest prestige class in response.

My other option, is that she continues advancing as a cleric/fighter and I enhance her combat abilities. There are some interesting options in the PHBII that I might add to her.

Plus, since she does have Leadership, I might want to include a new cohort to accompany her.

Hi all,

My players are currently nearing the end of the Secrets of the Soul Pillars, and so I am gearing up for Lords of Oblivion at the moment. One running plot thread in my game up to this point, has been the PC's tracking of Triel Eldurast. They managed to defeat and capture her in Flood Season, but she subsequently managed to escape from the party. She fled Cauldron with plans to return and seek revenge.

Since that time they have been keeping tabs on her, usually using scry spells. Of late I've been hand-waving the results of the scry spells (leaving them to out-of-game emails) since I am not really sure what she would be doing at this time. The last the party saw of her, she was exploring some unknown ruins seeking an item of power. I haven't really had a good idea of what she's been doing of late, so I'm holding off on the results of those scry's for the time being (since my players wouldn't have any means to react to her anyway).

My idea is to have her return in Lords of Oblivion at the meeting of the various villains in the city, upgraded and ready to payback the party for her previous defeat. I'd like to solicit some ideas on how she might have changed in the time since Flood Season, what feats, or possibly prestige classes she might have adopted. Possibly a new cohort.

Since she is a member of the Ebon Triad I think it would be good to have those elements enhanced. The problem is, I will be a player in the Age of Worms AP so I cannot reference how the Ebon Triad is presented there for any ideas.

So does anyone have ideas what a 10 - 12th level Triel might look like?

Yup, I've only heard cool things about this setting. I've never seen any of the original Chainmail minis (I much prefer the current line of DnD minis) but everything I've read about the setting seemed cool.

Plus, gnoll armies... you can't go wrong with Gnolls... ever.

Yarrr, good times indeed. Twas a memorable night. I got m'first kill!

Ah yes, good times. Now, the next post will, I believe be of particular interest to Torrek, as we finally delve into the mysterious whereabouts of his long missing friend and companion, Ehran.

Frozen DM was right on the money there Sir with one small change, it has to be cast within 1 round of the victims death. It originally appeared in the Miniatures Handbook iirc. It is one fantastic 5th level Cleric Spell.

and it's saved my player's on a couple of occasions, the latest being during the assassination attempt in the Tipped Tankard. If it wasn't for this spell, the party wizard would be 6 feet under.

Grunk wrote:

The final battle with Adimarchus had every character going into negatives at least once, only to be healed/revivified. It was also by far the longest battle we ran.

I don't have the Spell Compedium, so what is the general gist/purpose of the spell 'Revivify'?

Basically, if cast within the same round a character is killed, it restores them to -1 hit points, stable, with no level loss or experience loss. But it has to be cast right away to work, or so I understand.

First Encounters
Ruphus Laro

It was a cold and wet night when Brother Ruphus Laro of the Cudgel first met Torrek and Ehran. The thugs had cornered him in an alley on his way back from the Lantern Street Orphanage and were about to do a lot worse than threaten him when a voice called out from the street.

“Lay yer hands off him lads,” the voice called. It was deep, and Ruphus could almost hear the ale on his breath.

The dwarf stepped forward, an axe in his hands. Even as he did so, a flash of dazzling light blinded the thugs as an elf emerged from the shadows. The pair made short work of the three thugs, and in a moment the alley was quiet.

“You have my thanks friends,” Ruphus said. He said a prayer to St-Cuthbert to thank him for delivering these agents of justice, and healed the dwarves minor wounds.

“Aye, not a problem. Although it’s a good thing them thugs had nothing more than these needles,” the dwarf replied, kicking a short sword. “Me name’s Torrek, and this here is my friend Ehran.” The elf nodded.

“And I am Ruphus, brother in the order of the cudgel.”

“A cleric of St-Cuthbert? And what would a cleric be doing out on a night like this?” Torrek asked, wiping a splatter of blood off the blade of his axe.

“Well, you’ve no doubt heard of the kidnappings in the city?”

“Aye.”

“Well I was just on my way back from one such scene, the Lantern Street Orphanage. Several children were taken the night before last.”

‘They’ve kidnapped children now!?”

“Four. In any case, I am on my way back to the temple to speak to the priestess about this. Would you care to join me? It’s not far, and we could provide you with some food and drink, as thanks for your help.”

“Drink?” Torrek smiled, “Aye, perhaps we can join you.”

Ruphus lead the pair back to the temple, stopping long enough to hand the 3 unconscious thugs over to the city watch. Perhaps, he thought to himself, these two might be the types that Jenya has been looking for. He knew that the priestess had been growing ever more concerned about the disappearances. Unfortunately, with Sarcem away in Sasserine, she had little time to look into the matter herself. Ruphus had done his own investigation, but he was running into dead ends.

The trio reached the temple in a few moments and Ruphus lead them inside. From the doors of the temple he could see the dim lights of the city reflecting off Crater Lake, although the clouds obscured any moonlight. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of movement from a nearby rooftop. Jumping at shadows, he thought and closed the door.

“Let me get you something to eat, and I will bring you to see Jenya. She is acting high priestess while Father Saracem Delesharn is away in Sasserine.” Ruphus left the pair and made his way to the kitchens. He stopped a young acolyte, Armis, and asked him to find out if Jenya was still awake. In the kitchens Ruphus picked out some bread and sausage, as well as two tankards. He filled them from a small keg and brought the meal out to his rescuers. Ruphus saw Armis open a side door and nod.

“If you’ll excuse me, I will speak to Jenya. I’ll be back in but a moment.” Ruphus left the pair and made his way to Jenya’s office. It was Sarcem’s office actually, but she was using it at the moment. Inside Jenya was waiting, a prayer book lay open in her lap and she seemed lost in thought.

“Excuse me, but I have some people here that you might wish to see.”

Jenya looked up, “Ah Ruphus, you look a little worn. I didn’t think the orphanage was so far away?”

Ruphus smiled, “I was attacked on my way back. Three thugs jumped me in an alley. But a pair of locals were kind enough to help. In fact, they are the people I think you need to talk to.”

“And why is that?”

“I think they might be the perfect people to look into these kidnappings. They seem honest, and they were more than willing to help a complete stranger, even when outnumbered.”

“But they are strangers. We know nothing of them.”

“I agree, but with Sarcem away and Alek out on one of his quests, we have so few people who can look into this matter. We need to have some faith. I’m sure they’re aid is a sign that they can bring justice to whoever has been committing these crimes.”

“Very well, show them in, but I hope you are right about this.”

Ruphus nodded and returned to the hall. The dwarf had finished both tankards, while his elven friend was sitting on the side, “You know you’re disgusting.”

“Aye, so ye’ve said, but why let such perfectly good ale go to waste?”

“My friends,” Ruphus said, stepping into the main hall. “Jenya will see you now.”

He watched as the pair made their way to see the priestess. They looked unruly, and unkempt. Not exactly the sort that the church would normally employ, but for some reason, Ruphus had a good feeling about the pair.

if you want to make life really suck for your players check out two of my entries to therpgenius.com

http://therpgenius.com/shackledcity/GameMechanics/NPCActionSheets/tabid/110 /Default.aspx

my players are strong combatants and I try to always come up with a way to challenge them.

interesting tactics. I also tweak a lot of encounters for my players, to either make them really challenging, or just to take advantage of other rule books I own. For instance, I've modified Ike to focus him slightly more on his clerical spell casting, although I'm not sure if I made it too hard or not. When I get home from work I might post the tweaked Ike.

But basically, the changes include swapping out his weapon prof. feats for Divine Spell Power (adds his turn check result to caster level) and Profane Boost (turn check to maximize any inflict spells you cast on targeted creatures.

I figure with these two abilities, and a few spells from non-PHB sources, the battle with Ike will be quite difficult. Mostly since it'll allow him to easily rejuvinate himself and the undead easily. In addition, I factored in his full array of possible buff spells, which pretty much gets his AC up into the low 30's, and modifies his attack modifier into the high 20's.

Unfortunately (for my PC's) two of the assassins (the sorcerer and rogue/cleric) escaped and are now waiting with Ike to finish off the party. However, I don't expect the bone devil to be much of a challenge. My party is heavily geared towards fiend killing, and mops the floor with evil outsiders. (basically the dwarven fighter should be able to deal out at least 60 - 90 damage on a full round of full attacks on his own). I just have to use ice walls to keep them seperated.

So, last night my players finished up "The Demonskar Legacy" by driving off Nabthatoron and saving Alek's life. Alek still had 33 HP when Nabthatoron teleported out. The adventure says that Alek should fall into a coma but since he still has more than half his HP I don't really think that that is very realistic. So now I have a dilemma, what to do with Alek. Kaurophon should be showing up soon and whisking the characters off to Occipitus. Will Alek go along? How will he deal with being transported to a plane of the Abyss given his fragile state of mind? Should I steer Alek towards becoming a martyr for his cause and sacrifice himself in the plasma gusher? Would Alek willingly help the party complete the Test of the Smoking Eye? I'm not sure how to handle this.

Any advice?

Thanks,

Stickboy

Here's how I dealt with Alek. In my game the players were well on their way to defeating Nabthatoron. Alek was still alive. I decided that rather than die, Nabthatoron's spirit would actually seek out and possess the weakened paladin (due to his low will save from madness). This was, in my game, what causes Alek to fall into a coma during the battle.

Another option, if Alek is to remain alive and well, is that he would feel a great deal of responsability to Redgorge and Cauldron and would seek a way to return there in order to lift the siege. At some point the Chisel might perform a sending for the party, and could possibly arrange to teleport them (or just Alek) back to Redgorge/Cauldron.

But if you decide to take Alek to Occipitus, I would definitely play up the madness. After all, the plane is the domain of the demon lord of madness. I would have the plane completely infect Alek, slowly turning him into a raving madman that the party would need to deal with. Ultimately I could see him sacrifice himself into the plasma gusher, but I would be careful with that as a DM, since ideally it is best that one of the party members makes the sacrifice. But perhaps Alek could be used by Kaurophon in order to gain the smoking eye template.

well at this point, I think this would be a great time to add a new cool NPC "inquisitor" prestige class of the WeeJas church to come to Cauldron and investigate the goings on there in the church; perhaps to bring a modicum of respect and order back to the city's temple and the religion in that region.

Robert

This is a great idea. I can have him arrive from the main church in Sasserine to investigate the Cathedral, possibly even become a new ally or antagonist to the party.

Cool site. I just uploaded my character. Now I can stop worrying about my DM's apartment going up in flames.

To be fair, while fire is a possibility, I'd be more concerned about my place being broken into and all my campaign books stolen.

But having the characters online is a good idea. I'm also considering the idea of setting up a Yahoo Group so we can place characters there, along with the player's guide I wrote up and handle stuff such as treasure division, spell preparation and other book keeping tasks.

For spellcasters, it's handy to have "sets" of spells - a set for underground adventures, another for urban adventures, another for jungle, arctic, facing outsiders, nonlethal-focused, etc. For example, as a cleric, I would be more likely to prepare restorative spells rather than offensive ones if I were going into a jungle (for healing poison damage, etc). If I would be spending a lot of the time in a city, I would switch to my "Urban" set of spells, which would include things like hold person as anything more lethal than that would probably get me in trouble with the guards. For spellcasters, choosing spells eats up a LOT of time, so if they've already got spell "sets" for the day, all they have to say to me is "Okay, today, I'm going to prepare my Urban Set." Two seconds as opposed to...a lot. :)

This is something I've been trying to encourage spellcaster players to do. In addition to having pre-defined spell lists, depending on the day, they should also pre-calculate any buffing spells that they will cast that last the entire day (such as extended mage armor spells).

However, it seems that every session the group spends a good 30 minutes to an hour preparing spells. And its not just the spell-casters, since all of the players will come in with their own suggestions on which spells to prepare, how many, etc... This not only takes up the time of the spellcasters themselves, but also the additional players. This type of discussion is really something I'd like to see carried into out-of-game e-mail.

Hmm . . . looks like I might be a little too late to throw my two cents in, but another thing to keep in mind that is happening in the SC campaign I'm in.

You mentioned one of the PC's is associated with the Church of Wee Jas . . . well, once the members of the church that are in league with the CageWrights get found out . . . boom, instant promotion in the church heirarchy.

Possibly, except the Holy Warrior in question has been undergoing a major crisis in faith for the last few adventures, and has, in fact, turned his back on Wee-Jas. In fact, the character has begun to offer prayers through Nidrama as a means of finding a new faith. I do not think Wee Jas will look kindly to him trying to rejoin her faithful.

For combat: 30 seconds time limit when it's your turn. It does hurt spellcasters somewhat since they have more options but should keep things flowing well for fights. If your character doesn't know what to do, then assume that it's delaying its action.

This is something I'm considering implementing, but with one change. I think 30 seconds is ok in minor combats, but for important and/or climactic encounters I may put the limit to 1 minute. I'll have to experiment and see just how this will work, but I don't want to overly penalize the players (especially spellcasters). I think this is a case where playtesting will help.

Ok, I'm facing a relatively new dilemna in my DMing career, higher level game play in D&D.

Me and my group have been playing 3rd Edition in its forms since it was first released. However, for a variety of reasons, we have not really experienced the higher levels of D&D as part of a regular campaign. A few one-shots, for sure, but nothing ongoing. We are currently running through Shackled City, and the group is around level 11. Now we're starting to encounter some growing pains. I'm afraid as the campaign unfolds, we will accomplish less and less each session.

Specifically, I'm finding that running the game is becoming increasingly complex, and the game is slowing down. Character have far more options available to them (in terms of spells, items, skills and feats). As a DM, my NPC's are becoming equally complex, if not more so. In addition to the longer lasting combats, the plots are becoming more complex, as rival adventuring parties, allies, villains and NPCs work in the background for and against the characters.

what I'm really looking for is a way of streamlining the game, and simplifying things. Suggestions on how to keep the game moving more quickly, both for the players and myself.

Now our group does get bogged down in out of game conversation, but since we're all good friends, game night is also one of our major socializing times, and that's not something I want to lose. But once we do get into the game, things can grind to a halt.

Finally, since I want my player's to read and post to this thread, I want to keep any Shackled City spoilers out, and just focus on some general strategies.

Alright, well last night my players took the initiative and finally decided to assault the Cathedral of Wee-Jas. After scrying on the remaining assassins, and performing divinations, the pary learned that the Church of Wee Jas was directly responsible for hiring the assassins.

I also decided, that since the party wizard is Zachery Aslaxin's brother, that during the Stormblades confrontation with Fetor Abradius, he would cast a sending to alert the party of their troubles, and instead of Todd being killed, I chose Zachery. The party rescued the Stormblades and raised Zachery, foreshadowing Fetor's appearance in the rest of the adventure.

thanks to everyone for the suggestions on keeping my party on track. Now I just need to prep the final encounter with Ike, the remaining assasins and his allies.

Well, after much cajoling from my players, I've decided to begin posting to this thread. Specficially, I thought I would provide a glimpse into how the Company of the Copper Coin has impacted the people in the city of Cauldron.

Over the next little while (I make no scheduling promises) we will see how individuals such as High Priestess Jenya, acolyte Ruphus Laro, Lieutenant Skylar Krewis, the nobles and merchants of Cauldron see the Company of the Copper Coin.

In addition we will visit with Dagmar Anvilheart, reserve member of the Company of the Copper Coin and current master of the Malachite Hold. And finally, we will take a look into the life of the long-missing Ehran, former friend of Torrek Spellmason who has been missing for over a year since attempting to infiltrate the Last Laugh.

All in all some interesting suggestions...

I would prefer, as much as possible, to stick to the campaign as written, if for no other reason than I have only a limited amount of time to work on the game and making large-scale changes to the structure of the campaign would take too much time.

Right now the party is aware that Embril is currently away and Ike is the one in charge. So even though I've foreshadowed Embril as being a very powerful spellcaster, they are aware that they won't need to face her directly.

I like the idea of the party learning that ike and Embril represent a "rogue" faction of the church earlier. Perhaps I can have a low level accolyte approach the holy warrior with his own concerns that the temple in Cauldron is up to no good.

I think at the moment, if the PC's do not deal with the church, I will have more assassination attempts made against them, especially if Vhalanthru becomes increasingly annoyed that Ike is not dealing with the party correctly.

If I need to force the issue, I may just have Alek return from his recuperation in Sasserine (where the party left him after the rescue) and work with the party to bring the church to justice. I may even try to work in the priest of Pelor (forget his name) in convincing the party that something must be done about the cathedral.

I think one of the biggest fears my party has (particularly the noble-born wizard who is campaigning for mayor) is the political fallout of attacking the cathedral, since it is unlikely this attack can remain a secret.

Well, our campaign has been progressing quite nicely, and the group has finally reached "Secrets of the Soul Pillars". But right now I'm facing an interesting challenge. My players seem adamant that they won't/can't face the church of Wee-Jas.

Some background...

Throughout the campaign I have been seeding the game with hints that the Church of Wee-Jas is up to no good. It started with Flood Season and their refusal to help control the rising waters. Later, at the end of Zenith Trajectory, one of the characters (a holy warrior dedicated to Wee-Jas ironically) hitched a ride on Kravichak after the insane derro kidnapped Zenith from the party. He was polymorphed into a toad at the time. I decided, to foreshadow Embril's involvement with the Cagewrights that the derro would teleport to the cathedral where Zenith could be raised (since he had been killed just before being teleported away). While there, the holy warrior discovered Embril and Ike are in league with the Cagewrights and the beholder.

Later, after Alek Tercival is placed into a coma during the battle with Nabthatoron, the party was forced to turn the paladin over to the church of Wee-Jas for care, in exchange for the lifting of the siege in Redgorge. Eventually, through scrying, the party learned Alek was being prepared for some foul arcane ritual, teleported into the cathedral and rescued him (too late though, I've decided that Alek has already been possessed by some demonic entity, possibly the spirit of Nabthatoron himself)

So to date the party knows the following:
1. The church of Wee-Jas is a powerful supporter of the corrupt government in Cauldron.
2. The church (or at least Embril and Ike) are involved with the Cagewrights and the beholder.
3. The church was trying to perform some evil ritual on a paladin of St-Cuthbert.

And now, the party has been attacked (and almost killed) by assassins. However, since one of the assassins was a priest of Vecna, the party is convinced the Ebon Triad is responsible. Now, I know that the group will use divinations to find out who was behind the assassination attempt so I can point them in the direction of the church that way, but the party is just too scared to go up against the church of Wee-Jas.

They are convinced that the church is too powerful politically and magically, and would be impossible to attack. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can, subtely, guide them towards that confrontation? I think finally taking down the church, and Ike, will really make them feel like they've accomplished a significant goal in the campaign. I've let them know that they've entered a phase of the campaign where they are expected to be much more proactive, but I don't know if they'll actually decide to finally confront the church once and for all.

We just started "Secrets of the Soul Pillars" and I have to say, the opening encounter was brutal on my party. The group, having finally had some down time following the Test of the Smoking Eye were relaxing in the tipped tankard, but the party dwarf was still under almost constant surveillance from Ike. While their guard was down, the assassins came in.

The party was caught surprised, and by the end of the 2nd round, the party wizard was dead, the cleric badly injured and the dwarf fighter (unarmoured to boot) was cut off from the rest of the group.

The party, due to some lucky rolls on the part of the rogue, managed to take down the half-orc fighter/rogue, but the other two assassins managed to flee. All together, the party was soundly beaten down, and very nearly were all killed. Fortunately for the party, the sorcerer never got off his cone of cold due to the silence, but his scorching rays took down the fighter. If it wasn't for the Revivify spell from the Spell Compendium, I'm sure this would have been a TPK.

Interesting that Dugobras has been mentioned a couple times when the book specifically mentions that he views combat as an absolute last resort.

This is true. In retrospect I played Dugobaras wrong, and went into combat mode when I should have had him try and talk to the players. I wish I had gone that route even moreso since I have one player who is really orienting his PC as being a diplomat and usually prefers talking his way out of things.

After the first near TPK I tried to have Dugobaras talk to the party, basically telling them that he tired of battle and would prefer to be left alone. At this point the party ambushged and slaughtered him. Oh well.

Our hardest encounters to date have been Aushanna and Dugobaras. Both nearly resulted in TPK's for my group. Surprisingly, Nabthatoron was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be, but that is because the party is very much geared towards combating evil outsiders.

Other hard encounters included the cryo-hydra which forced the group to flee and cost the fighter his cohort, and the battle against Tongue-Eater at the Lucky Monkey because the group essentially caused every encounter in the inn to happen in one room.

Yeah, both dwarves are chaotic good worshippers of Clanggeddin, although the holy warrior and wizard are both lawful. On the other hand, they didn't join the fight until after the dwarves attacked. I still might consider how their alignment will slowly be drifting, since the group as a whole tends towards the chaotic.

I really wanted to use him as a means of feeding the party some information on the Cagewrights and possibly Alek. Up until now they've been pretty good at talking to certain NPC's, but this time around, the group was adamant that they would kill the giant, no matter what. They know I give full xp for nagotiating encounters as well, but they had vengeance on their minds.

Dugobras is tough, and I was concerned what he would do to just three players. However it says specifically he is not looking for a fight. He just wants to use his pay from helping the Ebon Triad to make himself a suit of Masterwork Full Plate. He just likes to use the spellweaver furnance to help with smelting and forging, because it gets so hot. In theory he could work adamantine in it.

Well here's the result of my player's planning. They returned to Vaprak's Voice, where they found one of the player's shields hanging from the main gate and a note attached inviting them in to talk. I decided Dugobaras was tired of the fighting, and wished only to complete his work in peace, especially now that the hags were killed.

The party, still cautious, let the invisibile, silenced rogue sneak in. When she got to Dugobaras' room, she found him asleep on his throne. She managed to sneak up and steal the wands he carries on him. Then she decided to open the treasure chest.

She failed to notice it was trapped (by 1 point too) and it explodes, immediately waking up the giant. He is angered at be woken up, but manages to calm himself. He eventually goes to the dungeon entrance and tells the group that he has no interest in fighting and killing them over and over again. He just wishes to be left alone. He even returns the belongings of their fallen friends as a means of trying to deal with them.

The group accepts his offer, arms themselves, buffs up and returns to his room. While the holy warrior and wizard try to talk with the giant, the dwarves (invisible and silenced as well) sneak up behind him. The wizard angers the giant, and as he moves in to grab him, the dwarves attack. At this point, the giant is unarmoured (his armour was destroyed by the explosion from the chest) and lacks his wands. He goes down pretty quickly.

The player's eventually make their way to Alek and encounter Nabthatoron. Sadly, they make short work of him too, but that was due to one player rolling about 4-5 natural 20's in the one fight (suspiciously lucky, but he always rolls 20's when things start looking bad for the group), while smiting and using deadshot (a ranged combat ability from Book of the Righteous) which was actually against the rules. I'm not too pleased about that result, but haven't decided how to handle things. I've decided to let the defeat stand, but I still want Nabthatoron to be a threat to the party, so demonic possession is now an idea I'm toying with.

2. Consider developing a side-adventure to give the players some experience between chapters.

This is one thing I'm trying to figure out now. As it is, they will not be at the correct level for Test of the Smoking eye. I would like to introduce a side adventure at this point to help boost their level (probably 1-2 levels for some PCs). However, I also don't want to lose the momentum that happens between the defeat of Nabthatron (assuming the group survives) and Kauphoron's appearance.

Ideally I would like to have them stranded in the desert for a time, although that will depend on whether the wizard learns teleport as his 5th level spell when he levels up or not. I'm thinking I might introduce Kauphoron have him plane shift them to an abyssal portal town (time to dig out my planescape books) and have them try to reach Occipitus from there. I'm thinking I might make Occipitus a much more restricted plane until someone passes the test of the smoking eye.

Then I can run a small side adventure and try to get the party back to a level that will let them continue along the adventure path.

Frozen DM,

It was good to hear that your group came back and were successful recovering their friends with some solid preparation and just a wee bit of luck. :-) I especially liked your use of Surabar to enable the dwarves’ resurrections along with using the encounter with Cauldron’s founder to foreshadow the things to come. I wish you continued success with your campaign and I look forward to hearing how your group finally takes down Dugobras.

Good gaming,
Mark

Well at the moment the players are furiously e-mailing each pother back and forth trying to come up with a possible plan of attack. So far they seem to focusing on a plan where, invisible and silenced, the rogue sneaks in and tries to catch him asleep to try and coup-de-gras him.

However, I've been thinking about Dugobras' motivations at this point. The hags are dead, so he is no longer bound to work with them. And at this point I don't think the demons of the Demonscar will have contacted him yet. He only wishes to use the magical forge to build his armour. So what I'm thinking of doing, is when the PC's approach for the 3rd time, they will find a message from the giant offering them a chance to talk. I don't think the players will be at all prepared for a possible diplomatic solution, but I'm sure our noble/wizard will enjoy the chance.

This also gives the PC's a chance to approach Alek Tercival and the final encounter in the adventure with full resources. I just haven't decided yet if the giant is going to return the equipment from the two dead dwarves, or if he will keep it as raw materials to use in fashioning his armour.

In our last session we finally dealt with the results of the near-TPK against Dugobras.

The surviving members of the party managed to regroup at the entrance to the old tunnels that lead into Vaprak’s Voice. They decided to mount a rescue operation and at least try to recover the bodies of their fallen comrades. At this point, the surviving party consists of Ander (Wizard), Sorin (Ranger), Penelope (Rogue) and Gwydion (Holy Warrior).

The party makes their way through the tunnels to Vaprak’s Voice. Before exiting the pipe, the wizard casts invisibility on himself, Penelope and Gwydion, while Sorin takes an invisibility potion.

The party sneaks around to the rear entrance and shifts the wooden wall aside and enters the ruins. Inside they find signs that the bodies of the hill giants and ettins had been taken care of, they also hear the sound of someone working at a forge.

The plan is for the party to sneak up to the fire giant, the ranger (who has the fastest movement) to distract him while the other recover the bodies of their friends. Penelope decides to sneak ahead, which causes the door to the forge to open. She sneaks in as Dugobras realizes something is wrong. He manages to use his wand of displacement, and then strains to hear. He gets an idea of where the Halfling may be, and tries to use his wand of dispel magic. He can’t get it to work however. The group is disappointed to find that the bodies of their friends are not in the workshop.

The rest of the party watches as Dugobras keeps trying to find the intruder into his lair. He finally manages to get the wand of dispel magic off, and dispels the invisibility on Penelope. Luckily, at this point she was already around a corner, so the giant did not know where she was.

However, she soon set off a trap that had been set on a nearby door, alerting Dugobras to her presence. He tries to go after her, but the wizard sets down a cloud kill spell between them. The rest of the party moves to intercept the Halfling, while Dugobras eventually manages to dispel the cloud.

Eventually, the ranger’s invisibility is broken and he leads the giant on a chase outside of the ruins, giving the rest of the party a chance to explore Vaprak’s Voice. They eventually discover that the ettins and hill giants had been raised as zombies, and guard parts of the ruins. They also find the room with the elixir, but resist the urge to try it.

Because they were able to sneak this far into the ruins, they surprised the 3 hags and despite a challenging battle were able to defeat them. They also found the bodies of their two fallen dwarven companions.

Meanwhile, outside of Vaprak’s Voice, Dugobras has been throwing boulders at the fleeing ranger, and manages to knock him unconscious (almost killing him).

The party takes the bodies of their companions, and the hag’s treasure, and leaves Vaprak’s Voice. They also recover the unconscious ranger. They avoid a third encounter with the giant. They force march back through the tunnels and towards Redgorge hoping to be able to raise their friends.

That night, in the halls of the dwarven heavens, the spirits of the two dwarves, Dagmar and Torrek, encounter the spirit of Surabar Spellmason. He tells them that their battle is not complete and that he can interfere on their behalf this one time. Nidrama appears in an effort to prevent a breach of Celestial law, but she is rebuked by Surabar, who uses his power to restore Torrek and Dagmar to life. He also tells them that finding Alex is vital and that they will soon meet another that they must follow, despite what their best instincts might say. The fate of Cauldron could depend on it.

So now the party is preparing for their final foray into Vaprak's Voice. And I'm sure they will spend between now and the next session brainstorming ways of deafeating the giant.

My players will likely face this guy next game (which sadly won't be for another 2-3 weeks).

It should be a challenging fight. Even though the dwarf will have a 36 AC vs him, that first +25 attack has a good chance of hitting and with Dugo's 250ish hit points he should be able to dish out some hurtin while they take him down.

Not to mention the amount of damage this guy can dish out in a single round. Being able to do anywhere from 19-33 points of damage per hit (not to mention criticals) can take out even the sturdiest fighter in a couple of rounds. I hope your spellcasters have cold magic, or enchantments with high DC's prepared, because he's a tough encounter without them. Even worse is if he manages to grab a PC and toss them into the magical flames. The biggest reason my group got defeated was that the wizard was out of spells and none of the character's were buffed

Devilfish wrote:

Gwydion? Gwydion?! Hey, that's my character's name, and he's not even a D&D character!

I demand satisfaction! A roll off, at twenty paces, for the honor of bearing such a distinguished appellation. Choose your die, sir!

Indeed. ;)

I will definitely speak to my player about this, I had no idea that he was going around usurping other identites for his own purposes, although I assure you, he has only the noblest of intentions :-)

How about the Stormblades helping out?

Felian and Fellorian (or whatever those darn elves names are)?

I considered the Stormblades (since they've actually "saved" the party a few times, mostly as a running nuisence) but I already established that they were being sent on a mission by Lord Vhalanthru to recover an ancient text. This plays into their next appearance in the Cathedral of Wee-Jas in chapter 7.

The Striders may be another possibility, although I have the same difficulty of introducing them at this point as I would introducing any other adventurers in the area.

*ack* other survivors are too cliche, but since one of your pcs was in a cage, perhaps someone else also was. If not a pc then maybe a cleric with raise dead spells who will trade the spell for an escape (that's a two-for-one). Or perhaps the two are ghosts. A disembodied voice that only one of the other PCs can hear. They can not attack, defend, cast spells or anything, but can make spot and listen checks to help whichever of the groups they were fleeing with. I like the idea of an intelligent sword, perhaps hanging out in the sewers is such a blade. When in combat use the dead pc stats, when not in combat use the living pc stats. Lest this overpower the party, when the sword accomplishes its goal the "intelligence" will leave, leaving only a masterwork weapon. The goal could even be the slaying of the giant. This brings your party back to where they were before all the deaths O:)

This is an interesting idea. I already established that the holy warrior was the only person caged (in the prototype soul cage) so other prisoners would have to be elsewhere in the ruins. Maybe a prisoner of the hags.

We also considered the idea of ghosts, maybe even make us of ghostwalk, but neither player is very interested in that approach. Right now they seem to prefer creating either new characters, or temporary characters that can be used as part of the rescue mission.

I'm not certain how you handled the PCs knowing that they killed. The adventure does offer Nidrama as a possible escape. She might have stabilized the PCs in order to protect them.

Well the party's dwarf fighter was reduced to -21 hit points. As the rest of the party tried to escape, the dwarven cleric was reduced to -24. Eventually both bodies were left behind, and the last thing the ranger saw was Dugobras picking up their corpses and returning to Vaprak's Voice (I figure he would want to collect their weapons and armour for raw materials).

She does have the spell like ability to raise dead 1/day. If your PCs don't think it too strange, I would probably have the hags put the dead PCs on spikes outside the front door. She would raise dead first one and then the other.

I considered Nidrama, mostly because both dwarves possess the Scion of Surabar trait. I'm not sure if I can justify her interference in mortal affairs, but I will consider this. I don't want to have her come to their rescue too much though, as I would like to see how the Player's resolve this problem on their own.

They'd be in bad shape (probably without magical equipment) but they'd also probably have a strong desire to get revenge. Any items that weren't immediately useful might have also been put out.

Perhaps even better is if the hags put the dead PCs out in plain view as part of a trap. Nidrama doesn't want to raise them in a trap, but she can warn the PCs. They overcome the trap and she raises them over the next couple of days....

Good luck, in any case.

Yeah, definitely no equipment. The way I see it, the fire giant would be using their magical gear (mithril armour, cold iron axes, etc...) as raw materials for his full plate armour. Their other items will probably either be given to the hags as tokens, or kept with the rest of Dugobras' treasure.

Frozen DM,

Sounds like that was a heck of session ending as far as running fights go. Hopefully, your group of players are jazzed to see how thing shake out, even with the two fallen party members.

Yeah, the player's were pretty much on the edge of their seats trying to find any way of preventing a complete TPK at that point.

To help with your players whose characters are awaiting recovery and resurrection, how about having a couple of other adventurers be in the area that your players could run for the session? These two adventurers could be operatives of the Church of St. Cuthbert looking for Alex, members of The Chisel sent for Alex, or just fortune hunters trying their hand in a very dangerous local. Just be certain that these new adventurers are going to be predisposed to helping the survivors take out the giant and recover their fallen companions. ;-)

This was one thing I was considering, I just want to make sure if I use this approach I don't make it seem like too much of a coincidence that they are in the area. I can't use the Chisel since I already established that the reason they asked the PC's to find Alex is that the Chisel's resources were stretched thin. I think another band of adventurers looking for glory might work.

Better yet, maybe I can tie them into a later part of the campaign, possibly a group looking for Spellweaver ruins.

To ease the burden on yourself, you could have your players design these temporary characters themselves, pending a review by you before the next session. Just give them the guidelines concerning the stats (I suggest the elite build since they’ll only be two of them), suitable classes for the two adventurers, level to be created at, starting funds to purchase equipment, limit on the money to be spent on magic items, etc.

Yeah I might have them do that. I can have them generate out a couple of temp PC's (luckily, the two players are the two who most enjoy character creation in D&D, so I know they won't mind) and have them find the survivors. I might even make them the survivors of a different attack (demons most likely), so they band together for mutual survival & defense (and then the PC's can help them finish their quest which will net them some much needed extra XP).

thanks

Ok, so the expert also happened to be a fire giant, but that’s besides the point. First I will set the scene, then ask for some advice.

Party Composition
Ander (8th level human wizard)
Torrek (8th level dwarven fighter)
Penelope (8th level Halfling rogue)
Dagmar (7th level dwarven cleric)
Gwydion (8th level human holy warrior)
Sorin (7th level shifter ranger/barbarian)

While the party is at a slightly lower than recommended level, we use a number of house rules to help bolster the group, including action points.

In our last session the party entered Vaprak’s Voice to find Alex Tercival. They were able to deal with the hill giants and ettins relatively easily. At this point the party decides to press on, instead of resting as the wizard’s player recommended. The cleric still had about half of his prepared spells, but by this point the human wizard was down to his wands and a few low level spells.

The party continues and faces Dugobras, the fire giant blacksmith. Even as he starts heaving fiery anvil pieces at the group, the two dwarves and the ranger decide to engage in melee, while the rest of the party hangs back using ranged attacks. Unfortunately, even Torrek’s optimized AC vs giants (at 37) wasn’t enough to keep Dugobras from pounding him into submission. When the dwarven fighter (the tank and meat shield as it were) went down (at 6 hit points and took about 27 points of damage), the party really kind of realized that they were doomed. Provoking an attack of opportunity, Sorin grabbed the dwarf’s body and tried to run. He got hit and was dropped to 1 hit point. The holy warrior decided to sacrifice himself by surrendering while the rest of the party fled.

Dugobras locked Gwydion up in the prototype cage and then chased down the party. Encumbered as they were Sorin and Dagmar were slow fleeing the ruins. Ander managed to escape and cast fly on himself to flee. Penelope managed to hide from the fire giant and wait for him to pass. At the exit to the ruins Dugobras caught up to Dagmar and killed him. He almost killed Sorin, but the ranger was able to just barely escape after dropping Torrek’s body.

Meanwhile, Penelope snuck back to check on Gwydion and found him locked up, she released him and the two snuck out, after Gwydion threw the cage into the magical fire, destroying it.

So here’s where we ended. Ander has fled, thinking he is the only survivor. He plans on resting and recovering spells, then returning to avenge his friends. Sorin is in the sewer pipes without a map trying to find his way out. Gwydion and Penelope have escaped but are still in the pit that houses Vaprak’s voice. Each of these 3 groups feels they are the only survivors of the massacre.

So now I need to figure out how to play this. The survivors don’t really plan on retreating back to Redgorge or Cauldron. I figure at the start of the next session (in 2 weeks) they will find each other so they can plan their attack. But, right now I have 2 dead characters and 2 players I don’t want to be sidelined for long. Ideally the group would like to rescue the bodies of Dagmar and Torrek so they can be raised (neither player wants to create a new character) but until that happens I need to find something to keep them involved in the game.

Any suggestions?

Anyway one of my group took noblity from character optional extra feats.

Was asking how people dealt with it? Did you attach him to any particular noble house or was it an extra one you created?

Did you give him a residence?

Was thinking of giving him one but also the costs of running a household, of course he is playing a monk so I'm not sure how this would work in Cauldron. Any suggestions?

Thanks Dave

In my campaignt he player who chose the Nobility trait was a human wizard. We worked together and decided he was the second son of the one of the main noble houses (the Aslaxin family). He isn't direct to inherit the family lands and title, which is one inspiration for adventuring.

I decided to allow him to play a member of one of the major noble houses for a few reasons.

1) Since the Stormblades are all children of the noble families, it creates a greater connection between them and the Player's adventuring group. Right now the sibling rivalry between Zachery Aslaxin and this PC has spilled over into the rivalry between adventuring parties.

2) My player wanted a chance to stretch his diplomatic muscles and roleplay the political side in the campaign.

3) By making the character closely associated with a noble family, it will alloow the player to have even more of an impact later in the campaign when it comes time for the meeting of the minds in Chapter Nine

We've found making him a member of a major noble house, as opposed to a new one, added more connections to the campaign and has provided numerous story hooks. As for handling the residence, as the son of the Aslaxin family I basically have run that he uses the Aslaxin manor in Cauldron. I don't bother dealing with the cost of upkeep, since that's a matter for his father, and our group isn't that detail oriented in the campaign.

Yep, my PC's felt the same.
As it turns out, they ended up killing Starbrow (Ghelve's familiar-- LONG story!!), so I fudged a bit and had Ghelve fall into a coma and eventually die as result.

This allowed the Stormblades to buy the vacant property out from under the PC's noses while they were in Drakthars' Way. it has worked out well, so far.

Tied up the Ghelve problem, added in a new thread to hook the PC's. Problem solved! :)

In our game Ghelve was arrested for aiding the kidnappers. I decided that Kazmojen (and his allies amongst Veril and the Last Laugh) wouldn't want Ghleve going on the record with anything, so they had him assassinated in prison.

This let the PC's know that there was more organization behind the kidnappings than just Kazmojen, and they possessed somewhat significant resources to reach Ghelve in jail.