MrVergee's page

So, after a break of half a year, we've picked up gaming again. Although we won't be playing as often as I would like to - once every two weeks instead of once a week - I'm very excited to finally start my Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign.

We're kicking off with a couple of 'prelude' sessions, five years prior to the actual campaign, in which the PCs are still kids. My players have all chosen humans, who are 13 years old now. Here are their adapted stats:

SHAOBAN, LN small human
Init +0; Senses Perception +2
Languages Common
AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 11
hp 5 (1HD)
Fort -1, Ref +0, Will +2
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee dagger (small) +1 (1d3/19-20)
Ranged dagger (small/thrown) +1 (1d3/19-20)
Face 5 ft. Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +0; CMB -1; CMD 9
Abilities Str 10, Dex 10, Con 8, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 18
Feats Simple Weapon Proficiency
Skills Appraise -1, Bluff +4, Diplomacy +7, Disguise +4, Fly +2, Heal +2, Intimidate +5, Perception +2, Sense Motive +6, Sleight of Hand +6, Stealth +4, Survival +2
Possessions dagger (small)
Child of the Streets You grew up on the streets of a large city, and as a result you have developed a knack for picking pockets and hiding small objects on your person. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sleight of Hand checks, and Sleight of Hand is always a class skill for you.
Ease of Faith Your mentor, the person who invested your faith in you from an early age, took steps to ensure that you understood that what powers your divine magic is no different than that which powers the magic of other religions. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Diplomacy checks, and Diplomacy is always a class skill for you.

QUINTILIAN, CG small human
Init +2; Senses Perception -1
AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 11
hp 5 (1HD)
Fort -1, Ref +2, Will -1
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee dagger (small) +1 (1d3/19-20)
Ranged dagger (small/thrown) +3 (1d3/19-20)
Face 5 ft. Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +0; CMB -1; CMD 11
Abilities Str 10, Dex 14, Con 8, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 16
Feats Simple Weapon Proficiency
Skills Acrobatics +2, Appraise +2, Bluff +8, Diplomacy +7, Disguise +3, Escape Artist +2, Fly +4, Heal -1, Intimidate +3, Perception -1, Perform (Comedy) +7, Ride +2, Sense Motive -1, Sleight of Hand +8, Stealth +6, Survival -1
Possessions dagger (small)
Child of the Streets You grew up on the streets of a large city, and as a result you have developed a knack for picking pockets and hiding small objects on your person. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sleight of Hand checks, and Sleight of Hand is always a class skill for you.
Fast-Talker You had a knack at getting yourself into trouble as a child, and as a result developed a silver tongue at an early age. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff checks, and Bluff is always a class skill for you.

BALIAN, CG small human
Init +5; Senses Perception +1
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 11
hp 6 (1HD)
Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +1
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee club (small) +3 (1d4+3, two-handed)
Melee dagger (small) +3 (1d3+2/19-20)
Ranged dagger (small/thrown) +4 (1d3+2/19-20)
Face 5 ft. Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 14
Abilities Str 14, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 7
Feats Simple Weapon Proficiency
Skills Acrobatics +3, Appraise -2, Bluff -2, Climb +2, Diplomacy -2, Disguise -2, Escape Artist +3, Fly +5, Heal +1, Intimidate -2, Perception +1, Ride +3, Sense Motive +1, Sleight of hand +9, Stealth +11, Survival +1, Swim +2
Possessions club (small); dagger (small)
Child of the Streets You grew up on the streets of a large city, and as a result you have developed a knack for picking pockets and hiding small objects on your person. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sleight of Hand checks, and Sleight of Hand is always a class skill for you.
Reactionary You were bullied often as a child, but never quite developed an offensive response. Instead, you became adept at anticipating sudden attacks and reacting to danger quickly. You gain a +2 trait bonus on Initiative checks.

Although I haven't even started playing this wonderful AP yet, I've been preparing it for play and customizing it for my group's style and taste. My preparations finally reached the end of module 6, but I feel there are still some roads that remain to be travelled.

Hello, Moonbeam, since you’re about to start the fourth installment of this AP, I’m letting you know what I have planned for it. Warning, there are many spoilers ahead.

So here’s an overview of my version of A History of Ashes. This adaptation is not meant to diminish the merits of the original adventure. I just allow myself to be inspired by all the great things Paizo has published, using what I feel fits my group best.

- I’m starting the adventure with a great escape from the city. Kalepopolis has been freed, and since he is an ex-marine of the Sable Company, he wants the PCs to help him free the hippogryphs from the Great Tower. They also use the flying mounts to escape the city in style.

- The PCs will then stop at Harse and travel to Janderhoff to negotiate with the dwarves. Depending on the result they can secure the dwarves’ sympathy or aid in harboring fugitives, providing weapons for the resistance or even promising to provide military aid if necessary. The PCs will also be able to do some magic trading in the city.

- The PCs make for Kaer Maga. While travelling up the halflight path, they are attacked by a Red Mantis assassin and some half-orc hirelings. In the city they can also do some magic trading, visit an augur and pick up the first rumors that the Shoanti are massing for war.

- The PCs hike into the Cinderlands to visit the Skoan-Quah. They meet Krojun of the Sklar-Quah, who is here to summon all able-bodies warriors to war. After an innocent game of Sredna and the Bone Council, Krojun challenges the PCs to an alternative version of the Burn Run. They have to outrun a stampede of aurochs through a small canyon.

- Afterwards Thousand-Bones invites the PCs to sit with him and the council in a steam hut, where they lose consciousness and visit the spirit world. The Shoanti spirits approve of the PCs and grant them a vision of what might happen if the Shoanti attack Korvosa. After the vision one of the PCs is briefly contacted by someone else who has also entered the spirit world and who is seeking aid. He is the son of the Quahjothka (clan chief) of the Sklar-Quah and he needs help in Urgir, the capital of orc infested Belkzen.

- To be able to get into Urgir, the PCs need a token from one of the orc chiefs. They negotiate with chief Kroghut of the tribe of the Broken Spine and are given a mission to obtain a token. The PCs have to pay a visit to one of Kroghut’s subordinates who has gone incommunicado, only to find out that his village has been plundered by harpies (a reprisal for the theft of one of the harpies’ bracers). The PCs defeat the harpies and free the surviving orcs, which gets them a token from the Broken Spine tribe.

- The adventure in Urgir is based on a Dungeon adventure, “In the Shadows of Spinecastle” from Dungeon # 148. The Shoanti they are looking for is a spy in the city who has disappeared. The PCs have to suffer the maltreatment of the orcs while searching for the Shoanti spy. When they finally locate his home, they discover his diary, in which they find clues to trace him to old, secret underground dwarven crypts. The PCs enter the complex and fight the rogue Pathfinder Arnois Belzig and his orc allies, who are searching for an old dwarven artifact (a key that opens some doors in the city that cannot be opened without it). The Pathfinder has captured the Shoanti spy, who came snooping for the key as well, thinking it might aid him in his spying business. The PCs free the Shoanti and flee the city.

- The PCs return to the Skoan-Quah, where most warriors have already left to join the Shoanti army. The village is attacked by the Red Mantis, who traced the PCs to this place and have been awaiting their return (it also makes more sense for them to attack the village when its warriors have left).

- The PCs are joined by Thousand Bones when they travel to the place where the Shoanti army is gathering for war. Their past deeds (especially saving the leading chief's son) are sufficient to grant them an audience with the war council. They learn that the Shoanti are gathering an army of over 4,000 warriors and shamans (including rocs and mastodons) and are planning to leave for the plains of Korvosa in two weeks, when all their allies have arrived. In their negotiations the PCs have two objectives: learning what the Shoanti know about the great evil in the mastaba and buying more time before the army goes to war.

I’m also planning on skipping ‘Skeletons of Scarwall’ in favor of returning to Korvosa and aiding the resistance while looking for the burial grounds of the old Shoanti ally of Mandraivus, whose bones they will have to infuse with the breath of life (given to them by the Sklar-Quah sunshaman). He will then tell them how to combat the evil from the mastaba (instead of going through Scarwall to get a sword).

Dear Cosmo or Alison

Please cancel my Pathfinder AP subscription.

Thank you.

MrVergee

I'm getting ready to play the last two installments in the Age of Worm campaign. The penultimate adventure suggests Kyuss' monolith has just been stolen from Dragotha's Writhing Sanctum, so that now there is only a gaping wound on top of the ziggurat in the dracolich's lair.

I'm toying around with the idea of having the monolith still be present when the PCs invade the place. (I know the adventure states that the presence of the monolith would have been their undoing, but as the DM I can easily overrule that. Instead the negative energy that fills the place could originate from the monolith itself.)

Only when the PCs slay the dracolich, Lashonna can actually intervene and steal her prize. Upon Dragotha's dying breath, a black interdimensional hole opens up above the monolith and sucks up the stone. This way the PCs realize even better that they have enabled the theft of Kyuss' prison.

Would this be a good idea or am I overlooking anything that could mess up the grand finale of this wonderful AP?

The Prince of Redhand (#131) – Modifications

Apart from swapping Alahaster for a Forgotten Realms replacement, I made the following changes to this adventure.

I’ve written out a number of one-line events to set the mood of the city. the PCs notice these things when walking around.
Apart from the obvious, such as the crow, the statues of Zeech, the worn-out watchtowers, the large number of ‘evil’ humanoid races or the faked smiles on the citizens’ faces; I’ve added things like:
- the streets are open sewers;
- a procession of Bane (Hextor) passes and people kneel;
- a human and an orc fly through the window during a bar fight, when they land on the streets, they look up anxiously and scurry away;
- a woman chases crows from a dog’s dead body, only to eat the meat herself;
- young women offer themselves to the PCs;
- the market offers overripe fruits and rotting meat and fish;
- a toothless beggar sells some children a dead rat – the children start eating it hungrily;
- …

The adventure offers some more elaborate events as well: the encounter with B’kruss the hobgoblin and the execution of the Ebon Triad cultists. I’ve kept these, but I’ve added a third one and I’ve also written out a small flyer – the latest issue of the ‘Sinchaser Report’, the anti-establishment newsletter. The PCs get this while attending the execution.

The extra encounter is a piece of puppet theatre the PCs witness on a street corner (performed by Miomay and her friends form the playhouse). The play is titled ‘The Wolfskinner’. It’s the story of a man who loses his love to a pack of wolves. He kills a wolf and skins it, wears its hide and infiltrates in the pack. When he’s alone with the horrible pack leader, he slays it. Upon death the animal’s victims burst forth from its mouth, including the man’s lost love.

Zeech’s party is actually something I’m looking forward to. I’ve left out Montague Marat and Shag Solomon as his guests, fearing that their presence might give me more trouble than anything else during play.

I’ve made Maris Quemp into Alahaster’s public prosecutor, and I’ve given him some lawyer jokes to entertain the crowd:
- Bane (Hextor) steals the soul of Alahaster’s last follower of Tyr (Hieroneous). Tyr threatens to go to the godly court, but Bane laughs in his face, asking him where he’s going to find a lawyer: they are all in the Abyss.
- Maris Quemp is prosecuting a lady for not paying her taxes. When he asks her whether she knows who he is, she says he does: he’s a liar and he cheats on his wife and he’s no more than a pencil pusher.
When he asks her if she knows her own lawyer, she says she does as well: he has an alcohol problem, his practice stinks and he’s slept with five married women, including Maris Quemp’s two wives.
Then Prince Zeech, who is the judge, has the two lawyers approach the bench. He says: “If you ask her if she knows me, I’ll have you both arrested for contempt.”
- A lawyer fall overboard in a sea full of sharks. His fellow passengers panic as they see how the sharks swim towards the man. Then the sharks form two nice rows back to the ship, allowing the lawyer to swim back. He tells his surprised travel companions: Just a matter of professional courtesy.
- When Prince Zeech captured a neighbouring city two years ago, the king of that place imprisoned 100 lawyers, threatening to release one each hours if Zeech didn’t release his POWs.
- How many lawyers does it take to light an oil lamp? – How many can you afford?

At the party, the Ominous Fabler is wearing a red leather coat and a black hat. I’ve changed his garb to a typical fool’s outfit. This way the PCs will be less suspicious of him.

The Fabler entertains the crowd form time to time. I think it is a pity the adventure does not describe these in more detail, so I’ve changed them.

The play (event 8) ‘The Harliquinade Mortificatio’ becomes ‘Memento Mori’ (Remember you must die). The Fabler acts in it and has the only speaking part. It is an adaptation of the Bergman movie The Seventh Seal. You can find the plotline on Wikipedia.
The Fabler is the squire of an aphetic knight, who challenges Death to a game of chess to keep from dying until he has refound faith in the gods. The Grim Reaper agrees.
The man travels to his former home and has some significant encounters along the way. Hr witnesses a witch being burn alive and asks her to show him the ‘evil force’ that inspired her witchcraft. She shows him an apparition of Mystra (good aligned Forgotten Realms deity of Magic), but he can’t see her.
He also intervenes when an angry mob is trying to kill a young travelling actor and his family, but despite his squire’s insistence that this miraculous rescue is proof that the gods exist, he is not convinced.
When he reaches is old castle, Death is waiting for him and they play the game of chess. The knight loses and Death kills him instantly. The Fabler sighs: “Nothing escapes Death.” and a Dance of the Dead (skeletons doing the Dance Macabre) starts on stage.

After the first course of dinner, the Fabler tells a story, but again the adventure only sketches the vague plotlines of this tale. So I’ve replaced that as well, with Aesop’s fable of ‘The boy who cried wolf’ (with an unhappy ending of course). A young shepherd is herding the village flock on the hill. He is bored and decides to create some action, so he cries: “Wolf!”
The villagers hurry up the hill, to find out the boy was joking. They warn him never to cry wolf in vain.
the next day the boy is bored again and cries wolf again. The villagers come to his aid, but see he was making fun of then once more.
The next day the villagers hear the boy again, crying wolf. They are sick and tired of his games, so they stay in the village. When the boy does not return at night, they go up the hill and find the young shepherd’s mangled body.

The Spire of Long Shadows (#130) – Modifications

Apart from replacing Mage Point by Longsaddle (Forgotten Realms setting), as suggested in the conversion notes, I made some small changes to this adventure.

The wood elves, who built the Obsidian Wall 1,500 years ago, still live here (at least, their descendants do). When the PCs arrive at the ruins, they are met by the wood elven guardians of the site and their chief. I based this character on Cutter, Blood-of-Ten-Chiefs, from the comic Elfquest. He is the leader of the tribe of ‘Gaians’ who protect this unholy place. The Gaians are the descendants of the druids of the Order of the Storm. One of the PCs (the druid) is a Gaian from the north, who didn’t realize there were other Gaian tribes left in the world.

These ‘short-lived’ woodelves are the tenth generation since the Obsidian Wall was built. They have forgotten much of the knowledge of their forefathers, but still hold true to their duty as guardians.

Chief Cutter says that his forefather Lorn Hopeseeker was the one who managed to drive the enemies of Kyuss into the pyramid and who built the wall with the help of heavenly Eladrin. Lorn paid a high price for his victory though. In order to push back the enemy, Lorn made a deal with a dark force of nature in the Forbidden Zone. Cutter does not know what this deal entailed, but the price is still apparent: Lorn has been absorbed by the father tree of the Gaians (much like William Turner in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ is part of the wall of the ship).

Cutter can point the PCs to the Forbidden Zone, but refuses to accompany them there. The dark force of nature in the Forbidden Zone is Amarantha the dryad from ‘The Amarantha Agenda in Dungeon # 123. She is a corrupted dryad who possesses a powerful artefact: the Greenbound Harp.

When played by a bard (at least 13 ranks in perform or UMD DC 33), the Greenbound Harp changes the recipient(s) into woodland creatures, magically bestowing certain powers on them (the most important of which is natural armor +7, which makes the skin immune to green worms!). The effects of the harp last for 24 hours.

A creature can enjoy the effects of the Harp more than once, but a second use calls for a Fort save DC 20 to be able to change back. Each subsequent use of the Harp increases the DC by 2. When the save is failed, the recipient loses 2 dex and needs to make a new save (cumulative DC +2) after 24 hours or lose another 2 points of dexterity. When his dex reaches 0, the recipient permanently and irrevocably changes into a tree.

So far my PCs have chosen not to go to the Forbidden Zone, since their druid has spells to give everyone natural armor +5 anyway.

Inside the Spire of Long Shadows, the PCs find an old torn backpack with Balakarde’s family crest. Inside they find a note referring to Alahaster and Lashonna (cf. Dungeon # 131; p. 51, the note Manzorian gives the PCs at the beginning of ‘The Prince of Redhand’). I never liked the idea that Manzorian made so little effort to find his lost pupil. After sixteen years, he should have found this note a zillion times already. So I placed the note inside the ziggurat, so the PCs could find it themselves.

The Champion’s Belt (#128) – Modifications

I’ve never been happy with the 24 teams in the games and the weird way in which the PCs have to reach the finals. So I made 16 teams and worked with the normal knock-out system: 16 => 8 => 4 => 2 => 1. I also briefly worked out all the teams: there were basically three kinds of teams: 6 local teams (from Waterdeep in the Forgotten Realms setting), 5 arena teams (from famous arenas all over the Realms) and 5 city teams (from neighbouring cities). The PCs formed one of the local teams.

During the Free Dinner the PCs got a full description of all the other teams and got the possibility to interact with them. I also worked out the rules of the games and had Talabir Werik go over them. The PCs also have to sign a contract to state that the organizer of the Games is not responsible for any accidents or deaths.

Finally I also wrote out the words of the Apostelic Scrolls. The words describe the ritual to create an ulgurstasta from a normal green worm. One of the steps in the ritual included the offering of a righteous soul. This referred to a former companion of the party, the paladin Mélinde (from Diamond Lake, and the girlfriend of one of the PCs). When the PCs were captured in The Hall of Harsh Reflections, Bozal Zahol paid them a visit and took the paladin with him to offer her to Kyuss. The PCs find her dead body under the arena, beyond resurrection.

After ‘The Champion’s Belt’, I inserted another Dungeon adventure: ‘And Madness Followed’ (issue # 134).

In my version of this story, Sophia Lasilaran became a follower of Kyuss, having been reformed by none other than Ilthane the Black Dragon. The play Sophia wrote was called ‘The King of Worms’ and told the story of how the mortal Kyuss came to power, of how he met the Harbinger who gave him the first green worm and how he tried to ascend to godhood in the monolith ritual. at the climax of the play, a portal to the past opened, allowing green worm to flow into the theatre and kill the spectators, drawing their life force through the portal (and through time). Each soul would make Kyuss stronger, maybe giving him the power to break free of his monolith.

The PCs come across the first remnants of a performance in Sophia’s hometown, a small hamlet between Waterdeep (the Free City) and Leilon (my Forgotten Realms replacement of Diamond Lake). In Sophia’s house the PCs find notes giving them a lot of background information on Kyuss. The also come across the name Ilthane.

The trail leads to Leilon (Diamond Lake), where Sophia already finished a second performance. Among the many victims is the mother of one of the PCs, as well as a host of important people from Leilon. Balabar Smenk did not attend the play and grabs the opportunity to gain even more power in town. The PCs fight some of the remaining Kyuss undead, including a powerful Sword of Kyuss (stats from Spire of Long Shadows) – the former captain of the Lances turned undead.

The PCs hurry to Waterdeep (the Free City) to stop Sophia’s performance for a large audience in the bard Academy (of which one of the PCs is a member).

I left the next adventure ‘A gathering of Winds’ (#129), more or less unchanged. I only had Ilthane kidnap one of the PCs to lure the others to the Whispering Cairn to kill them. Obviously her plans failed.

While working on my preparations of the Age of Worms campaign it strikes me that the further you get in the AP, the less interesting adaptations these boards offer to the adventures as written (certainly past ‘The Champion’s Belt’). This can certainly be explained by the fact that the adventures are very well written and therefore need little adaptation. Even then I consider a campaign a living thing, with the PCs as unfixed factors that might warrant some changes here and there.

I’ve prepared the campaign up to ‘The Prince of Redhand’. My players are currently in the Spire of Long Shadows. I’ll post the modifications I’ve made to the adventures. For convenience sake; I’ll post them in different threads per adventure (to facilitate searching afterwards).

Since my personal note are all in my mother tongue, not in English, I’ll only be posting a summary of my changes.

Four issues into the new Pathfinder series seems like a good time to make a first thorough evaluation. What do you think of Pathfinder so far? Does it meet your expectations?

My general impression of Pathfinder is definitely positive. The last years of Dungeon had set a very high standard to which the new series had to live up, and I think Pathfinder delivers!

Let’s start off with the cover art. It is truly excellent. The artwork is top quality, the background drawings are inspiring and invite you to read, the iconics are intriguing. It is a very exciting prospect that we’ll be able to buy them as minis in the near future.

The interior art seems to vary more, both in style and in quality. Although it is never bad, it ranges between mediocre and fine. The maps on the other hand are great, displaying well thought out and well rendered settings.

The writing is compelling, definitely one of the strong points of Pathfinder. It is always a pleasure to read the adventures. Still the language has a possible downside. The vocabulary used in Pathfinder is of a certain standard and sometimes quite difficult. This limits the number of potential non-native speaker customers to a rather small group, which might be considered a pity. But then again, the quality of the writing makes reading pathfinder somewhat of a literary experience.

The strongest point of Pathfinder, in my opinion, is the mood. Paizo has gone out of its way to make every adventure ooze with atmosphere. It’s this effort that lifts good adventures to an even higher level. Of course, this blade cuts both ways. The mood in Rise of the Runelords leans heavily on the gothic. The element of horror is strongly present in this adventure path, and as other threads on these boards have shown, it puts off some readers. Strangely enough, I largely agree with them, feeling that Rise of the Runelords is too much horror for my taste. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good horror movie once in a while, but at the gaming table I tend more towards the classic heroic campaign with a compelling and intriguing storyline than towards the horrific. That’s why I’m really looking forward to the next AP, which will be right up my alley. I hope Paizo can breathe the same amount of atmosphere into this adventure.

The second half of each Pathfinder module exists of extra material. This section generally pleases me less than the first half. Overall I feel that everything that is published in this section should be of direct use to the DM at the table. That doesn’t mean the DM has to use it all, but everything should be usable and should provide an added value.

Backdrops on locales certainly fit this description, but until now only the backdrop on Sandpoint is to my liking. Obviously Magnimar and Varisia require a lot more pages, so what we get is too general, too vague and fails to meet the need.

The descriptions of the stone giants, dragons or Desna are all interesting reads as such, but take up too many pages that could have been used better. A two page description of Desna would have sufficed for a decent background – the same goes for the stone giants. The article on dragons, while wonderfully well written and inspiring, does not add to this adventure path. It would have fitted better in J2 Guardians of Dragonfall, for which it seems to be a long advertisement.

Then there are the Pathfinder journals. Although I probably enjoy reading these the most of the module, I think they should have been written on places the PCs actually visit in the adventure. I can imagine a player choosing to be a pathfinder and consulting a pathfinder library on the places he has to go to. Ready-made pathfinder journal hand-outs on Fort Rannick or Skull’s Crossing would have been more useful to a DM and his players, and thus preferable.

When comparing my original expectations of the extra material section to reality, my biggest disappointment is that there aren’t more seeds of adventure. I had thought and hoped that the second half of the book would provide more adventure ideas that a DM could use and develop to create a broader sense of Varisia and its people. The article ‘Keeping the Keep’ actually gives some nice suggestions on a bit of side-trekking. I had hoped to find similar suggestions for Sandpoint or Magnimar for example.

So overall I’m very happy with Pathfinder. Although I’m probably never going to run this particular AP, I’m still on board for the series. I’m hoping to find the same quality and devotion in the next campaign, which will be more up my alley storywise. As for the extra material section, I would like to plead for a clear guideline: write articles on things a DM can take to his table.

Now tell me what you think.

- The Cagewrights, simply known as the Thirteen in my campaign, became an organization whose goal it was to free Adimarchus by opening a gate to the Abyss and summoning his cage through it. All the demons who would come along would form the army Adimarchus needed to get his revenge on mankind, since he considered man to be responsible for his fall. He would prove to the gods that man was inferior and deserved only death.

- The leader of the Thirteen, Dyr’ryd, was also one of the fallen angels, a former general in Adimarchus’ army. He also bore the sign of the Smoking Eye and had a cancerous growth on his right shoulder which was imbued with a twisted aspect of Adimarchus’ mind.
The other members of the Thirteen were mostly totally different from the original SCAP. Vhalantru obviously became one of the Thirteen, as did the Glabrezu Nabthatoron; Lady Rhiavadi, Fetor Abradius and Gau Kleeoch stayed on the team, all others were new. The PCs encountered most of the members of the Thirteen in one way or another before the final run of the campaign, giving the Thirteen a real presence in the campaign as a whole.

- Throughout their early level adventures, the PCs became true servants of Ilmater, the fighter became a champion in the arena and without realizing it, the PCs had their first run-ins with the Thirteen or their plans. There obviously is the rescue of Terrem in the Malachite fortress. But the PCs also get involved with Duergar (who replaced the Kuo-toa in the Zenith episode), who were stealing away all the mithril from the market to build cages for the Thirteen.

Let me start by giving some information on my campaign. The background story is based on the Lucifer saga: Adimarchus rebels against the gods because they have decreed that ‘mankind’ is to be placed above the angels in heaven. This rebellion is partly inspired by a false angel Layah, who is actually Graz’zt’s daughter. During a large battle in heaven, the rebellious angels are cast into hell, where they undergo a terrible transformation into demons. As the new ruler of Occipitus, Adimarchus starts a war with Graz’zt and is betrayed by Layah again; leaving him the prisoner of Dark Myrakul in Skullrot.

The XIII (as the Cagewrights are called in my campaign) want to open a portal to the dimensions of hell to summon Adimarchus’ prison to the prime material plane, where the magical powers of his prison won’t be able to hold him any longer. When the prince of Occipitus is free, he plans to wipe out the race of ‘men’, that was responsible for his downfall in the first place.

The leader of the XIII is one of the fallen angel-demons, Dyr’ryd. Dyr’ryd is a black-winged angel with the Sign of the Smoking Eye and a cancerous growth on his shoulder in which the face and will of Adimarchus is hidden. Of the original Cagewright members from SCAP only Thilfirane Rhiavadi, Embril Aloustinai, Fetor Abradius and Gau Kleeoch remain. Alternative members include Nabthatoron (the glabrezu from ‘The Demonskar Legacy), Viela (a succubus, based on the character from ‘The Iron Satyr in Dungeon # 108), Penfavasta (a marilith, based on ‘The Seventh Arm’ in Dungeon # 88), Drusalakas (a death slaad, based on ‘Headless’ in Dungeon # 89) and his elven sorceress companion Eldrua (also based on ‘Headless’), the human spellcaster Markosian and his demon ally Nyxthseht (based on the bad guys from ‘Strike on the Rabid Dawn’ in Dungeon # 111). The thirteenth member is Valanthru, the beholder.

Over the course of the campaign, the PCs have learned of most of the XIII and they have fought and beaten a few of them (fought more than beaten, of course).

My PCs have just finished Secret of the Soul Pillars. I'm going to use an extra adventure first "Strike on the Rabid Dawn" and then play through Lords of Oblivion.
At the moment I'm reading up on Foundation of Flame. In the part about the council meeting, it says that one of the PCs might come forward as candidate for mayor. I know my players will not go with this, but they might want Alek Tercival to take the position.

One of the PCs is a cleric of Ilmater (= St. Cuthbert) and has brought Alek Tercival back to life after his terrible demise in the earlier stages of the AP. The PCs have been wanting Alek to make true on his earlier challenge of the captain of the guard, but I've been holding that off, claiming that Alek needed time to contemplate his own life and find inner peace and forgiveness for straying from his true path in the past.

I think it might be a nioce twist to have Alek run for mayor. The PCs can back his candidacy in the council and if Alek would actually fill the position, it would also further strengthen the PCs involvement with the future fate of the city.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has done this or if anyone has any thoughts on this.

I'm currently playing the EaBK adventure. Let me start of by saying that I really like the adventure, so kudos to Sean K. Reynolds for writing it.

However, having read various threads about the adventure in the past, I learnt that with some twinking, it could be made even better. Let me try to make an inventory of the changes I've made or am still making. Any suggestions are welcome.

Some of the questions raised by various people concerning the adventure were:

- why does Allustan flee the scene at the first sign of trouble, while he would be a great help in the fight?

- isn't the attacking force of lizardfolk too weak (apparently many people who played the adventure thought so)?

- why have the soldiers of Blackwall Keep kept their transformed mage a locked up secret for so long?

- isn't it a bit useless to have the lizardfolk shaman negotiate a peace with the PCs at a moment in the adventure when the PCs have most likely destroyed just about the whole lizardfolk tribe anyway? The shaman won't have a tribe left anyway.

- what motivation do the PCs have to continue on to the egg chamber? Once they've defeated the lizardfolk king and located Marzena, there really is no reason for them to go on.

Add to that some of the questions I've had myself:

- why didn't the lizardfolk attack the keep a long time ago? Why did they wait until now?

- why would the lizardfolk allow 8 (relatively weak) draconic kobold rogues to watch their eggs?

So here are some of the changes I'm using:

- the link to Blackwall Keep is not Allustan, but captain Tollivar. Obviously he knows that some of his colleagues man a keep in the swamp and he refers the PCs to a personal friend of his, Marzena. He does not accompany the PCs. So there will not be a fleeing Allustan either ...

- I made the attacking lizardfolk and the defending soldiers stronger (lizardfolk got one level fighter and better stats; soldiers got better stats and full hp at lvl 1). We actually played the fight last session and it was a blast.

- As someone suggested on the boards, I'm going to try to have the PCs strike a truce with the shaman before they enter the Twisted Branch lair and blindly start killing everyone. I'll have the PCs come across a lizardfolk hunting party in which one of the opponents is shying out of the fight and tries to talk to the PCs on behalf of the faction of lizardfolk that don't agree with the king. He'll arrange a secret meeting with the shaman. I'll let it flow from there ...

- The lizardfolk shaman does not only disagree with the aggressive king, but (s)he also suspects that Ilthane is doing something to the eggs, after all (s)he is the shaman of the tribe, with a good knowledge of healing and (s)he is denied access to the egg chamber. So Hishka asks the PCs to investigate the egg chamber as well.

- I'm replacing the kobold guardians with one of Ilthane's dragon offspring, a juvenile black dragon - which is also a better way of foreshadowing Ilthane herself.

- I'm not using the locked up spawn of Kyuss, but I'm changing that to the following. A couple of days ago scouts from Blackwall Keep noticed a black dragon visiting the Twisted Branch lair (something Ilthane does once every couple of months).
After the dragon left, the leader of the scouting party decided to investigate, using the same entrance the dragon used (with a potion of water breathing). The juvenile dragon guard of the eggs, Velmane, spotted the intruder, who quickly fled the scene. Unsure of what the scout might have discovered, Velmane raised the alarm and had the lizardfolk king send out a hunting party to destroy the intruder(s).
The scouts were set upon by a ferocious party of lizardfolk and when the fight was finally over, only the leader of the Blackwall scouts was alive, but barely. He found a potion of cure light wounds on one of the lizardfolk and drank it, not realizing it was contaminated with a slow worm.
When the lizardfolk found out that their hunting party had been killed and as a consequence not all the enemies had been destroyed, Velmane considered what to do. If the humans had found out anything about Ilthane's plans they could not be allowed to tell the outside world, not when the eggs were about to hatch. Knowing that his mother does not forgive mistakes, Velmane decided to play safe and convinced the lizardfolk king to attack Blackwall Keep. The king readily agreed, for this was something he had wanted to do for a long time, but had been forbidden by his black dragon masters until now (the dragons had not wanted to draw any unnecessary attention to the lizardfolk lair). At the same time Velmane ordered more hunting parties around the lair to keep any new intruders out.
The Blackwall scout leader, who was still badly wounded, spent the next couple of days hiding (trying to gain some strength) and dodging patrols. When he realized he was getting sick, and thus not getting any better, he tried making his way back home in his feverish condition.
He does not know what is wrong with him, and supposed that his wounds from the fight got infected with some kind of filth fever. He reaches Blackwall Keep after the PCs have left.

- I'm using one of the fantastic suggestions from these boards to have my players play some Blackwall soldiers for a short intermezzo adventure. The scout reaches the keep, obviously in very bad shape. While most of the soldiers are outside, cleaning up the mess from the fight and burying their fallen comrades, my players play the soldiers inside the keep, who witness the terrible transformation of the scout into a spawn of Kyuss. Then the creature attacks them ...
This way I avoid the implausible plotline of a transformed mage who has been locked up for months without anybody doing anything about it.

Anyway, this is how I'm adapting the adventure. Of course I would like to thank Sean K. Reynolds for writing the adventure in the first place, as well as all the people who've given me some of these ideas on the boards. Any reactions of suggestions are welcome.

I'm in the middle of preparing The Champion's Belt and I'm wondering if anyone took the time to describe the competing teams a bit more in detail.

I'm playing in the Forgotten Realms and I would like to use teams coming from different parts of the realms to compete in this prestigious competition. Any suggestions are welcome.

Hi everybody

I wish you all a merry Christmas!

MrVergee

What's up with the site of late? It's been terribly slow. Am I the only one experienceing this? Yesterday it took me over two hours to download the Dungeon supplements and just loading any page takes a lot longer than it used to, to a speed that is annoyingly low.