Kolyarut

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Half orc Ftr 8 /Clr 2
Human sorceror 11 / bard 1
Gnome barbarian 2 /thief 9
Human ranger 9 / druid 2
Human fighter 10
(NPC) Cleric 8

They're about to start Soul Pillars and have been going pretty well.


My party befriended the mimic too and fed it all sort of things (mostly dead enemies). I played it as quite child-like and always hungry. Because they move so slowly the PCs made some wheels and an axle and had the mimic shape itself like a cart while they wheeled it around. The mimic was fascinated by the world outside Jazidrune. The novelty enventually wore off and they found the mimic a nice new home. They still run into it every now and then and its probably one of their best friends!


I 'redesigned' the emblem too. It was too derivative of LOTR and foreshadowed the villain a bit too obviously (as did his first name - Orbius). The original symbol was also quite sinister for an 'innocent' trading town. My design is a mountain peak with a river flowing beneath and three stars above. Its a picture I found online actually.


Vhalantru has been a patron of my PCs since early in the campaign. They are about to start Soul Pillars. he has given them civic honours, medals, awards etc and the use of a house by the lake with a servant. The servant is a shapechanging spy who keeps his master well informed of the PC's activities. They consider him to be a friend and benefactor and he pretends to be very concerned about the chaotic state of Cauldron. He has occasionally given the PCs bad advice to get them in trouble. When the party wizard was on trial for some minor crimes, Vhalantru offered to pay for his defence and slipped him a fireball scroll to blast his way to freedom. The mage (Wis 8, CN) was sorely tempted but the other PCs got him (legally) out of trouble.

I'm looking foreard to the day they discover that their elevn patron is a beholder!


About 8' across seems right to me. His appearance after the defeat of Kazmojen was my favourtie moment of the campaign. The players could not believe I'd put a beholder up against a 2nd level party! However, they weren't willing to test how real it was. They still wonder why he rescued the oprhan. I also had him show up to collect Zenith Splintershield when the party got themselves wiped out by Dhorlot. The single survivor cowered out of sight as the beholder led Zenith away. They don't know what's going on but they are migthy suspicious of everyone except their patron and benefactor Orbius Vhalantru who has given them a house to live in and a servant (actually a doppelganger to keep an eye on them).


I used a volcano with gold coins over it and chain links beneath. I too thought the flaming eye was a bit cliched and a give-away since the players have seen the beholder a few times. In my campaign the beholder came to Cauldron more recently and aquired power so there was no reason the coat of arms would have any suggestion of a beholder.


I've been DM-ing for years so I have a pretty extensive miniatures collection. For things that aren't hugely important in the campaign (e.g the cryo-hydra) I just used a 'representative' figure like a dragon. I've bought some pre-painted WoTC miniatures from online auction sites. There's also a business in my country that sold individual figures. I bought quite a few common figures - kuo-toas, orcs, gnolls, bullywugs and they cover most humanoid encounters. For really important characters I usually convert or find a miniature. I made a Tongue Eater miniature (but turned him into a were-boar since I had a boar head). I converted a miniature for the red-haired female warrior/priest from the Ebon Triad, I painted an old dragon up as a black dragon for Dhorlot as he was a recurring villain the PCS kept running into. I too had an old grenadier Beholder who became Orbius. I used to get rid of old miniatures but always hang onto them now in case I need something for the future. My players really like it when I put a miniature down and my description of the character matches. With a few NPCs that became well-known (like Dhorlot) the arrival of the miniature on the table was enough to build up fear or outrage amongst the players.


The issue of building trust on Vhalantru is an interesting one. My PCs like him. They think he is an elven noble with a soft spot for adventurers. He has provided them with a lakeside villa to live in while in Cauldron (complete with a loyal servant to spy on the party), helped one of them out of a tricky legal situation and awarded them medals for their part in Flood Season. They don't seem him very often but think of him as a benefactor. They are suspicious of the city but not of him - suspecting the lord mayor and captain of the guard (though not enough to act on it). What fun!


Dhorlot the Dragonfather was the toughest encounter my party have had. I like dragons and try to play them to the full extent of their intelligence and years of experience. I think they tend to be over-used in SCAP so I dropped a few but Dhorlot gave the PCs a hard time. They fought him 4 times before beating him.

The first time they stumbled into him (due to not scouting ahead) the players nearly wet themselves. The thief with the high CHA managed to persuade him to let them live in return for all their traesure and possessions. Being sadistic, evil and with an inflated sense of his own grandeur, Dhorlot went along with their pleas. Most of the players were relieved but the half orc barbarian was outraged and ended the negotiations with a critical to Dhorlot's head with his greataxe.

At that point the party acted true to form and disintegrated. Dhorlot gave the thief a blast of acid, dissolving him on the spot. The half orc got ready to fight while the two priests fled. The NPC fighter dutifully advanced to help the half orc.

For some reason I'll never understand, the half orc then ran away too, leaving the 4th level NPC fight to deal with an enraged and slightly wounded black dragon. He did his best but didn't last long.

Dhorlot had great fun hunting down the rest of the party. He cornered the half-orc who strated to strip off his armour and possessions (don't ask). This made killing him that much easier for Dhorlot. He then found the elf priest hiding in the empty temple with a spectre advancing on him. Dhorlot let the spectre do its thing and then finished the elf off.

The only survivor was a human priest who spent many sessions trying to rescue the remains of his comrades which Dhorlot had buried under stones in the subterranean lake to 'cure' befroe eating them.

The party remained absolutely terrified of Dhorlot as their levels advanced. When they finally outmatched him they went back and killed him. Even then he took a PC with him. They have not been frightened of anything so much as Dhorlot.


Kale Farstrider - Male human priest of Farlanghn who is strong, dim and likes his ale.
Felice - Female human sorceress/bard - a bar wench turned adventurer.
Wee Wullie McBroon - Male gnome barbarian/thief - the archetypal pictsie of Wee Free Men fame.
Thorgin - Male Human Ranger - none too fond of other people and frequently annoyed by nature.
Dwain ("The Purple Cobra") Smithson Male dwarf monk ("wrestler") who has made grappling into a fine art.
Alfredo - Male elf priest of Obad-Hai - has just joined the group and seems disturbingly sensible.


Thanks for all these great ideas! I had wanted to run a Seige of Redgorge scenario but didn't get a chance. Now the PCs have finished Test of the Smoking Eye (in which the gnome barbarian became Master of Occipitus - but that's another story) I'm going to run the scenario thanks to all your great ideas.

In my campaign a retired PC (preist of St Cuthbert) challenged Terseon for the post of Guard Captain. The PCs rescued him from the Demonskar and stashed him in Redgorge while they did the Test.

I thought I'd had Terseon and the city guard march on Redgorge and give the PCs the chance to placate him. In my game Terseon is basically a good guy struggling to do his job in an increasingly corrupt city. So they should manage to turn him back. Just as they are breathing a sigh of relief Nabrathon and his demons and gnolls show up to lay seige to the town. The PCs and Chisel have to fight them off and do some of the other cool missions mentioned by other posters.


Yep, my party set the Lucky Monkey on fire too. I don't know what it is about that tavern but the idea of a big wooden building in the middle of a forest was irresistable to the level 5 wizard with his first fireball.


My group has a hard time coming up with names. They settled on "the Muffin Makers" of "Muffin Men", depite being labelled the Heroes of Cauldron, Saviours of Cauldron, Senechals of Cauldron by various civic figures. The story behind this rather unimpressive name comes from their ability to dither over the most basic problems until one of the more impatient players rushes off and does something rash. The party's half-orc barbarian Fug Rockjaw would often goad them, into action with the words of wisdom "We're not here to bake muffins" and hence a (rather pathtic) name was born!