TBA's page

I've got an old copy of Dungeon 126 which has sadly lost the poster map (it was donated to me)

Does anyone still have a copy of the ground floor of the Keep? Searched here and all the links are from 8+ years ago and are all dead.

Hi all, we've had a significant change in my parties luck in this weeks session during the Whispering Cairn, and I'm quite stuck on what to do next. First, backstory... (apologies for length)

The party are/were as follows : (all level 2 now)

- Half Elf Alchemist (it's relevant that his father works in the Dourstone Mine as a demolitions expert, mother lives in the Free City, Grayhawk in this case)
- Sylph Rogue (recent addition, player started with an Elf 'Good' Necromancer but had moral conflicts with the rest of the party and also, he died)
- Halfling Bard (local boy, the 'knows everyone, talks too much, annoys everyone' type)
- Human (I think) Oracle
- Human Paladin (also a local boy, 'rich' parents live in the town)
- Gnome Sorcerer
- Aasimar Monk

The lead up to last night (over several sessions)

The group have investigated the Whispering Cairn (kicked off by the Necromancer coming to town with the rival group looking for local cairns to investigate). They had fully explored the Cairn all the way up to the ghost of Alaistor Land, and agreed to go return his bones to the family graves

This (as expected) led to the Land farmhouse, the owlbear, the arm with the tattoo on it, and Kullen's gang at the Feral Dog. As last week ended, they party had waited out for the gang to leave the Dog (about 3am) and head home, where they trailed Kullen back to his house.

Last night went like this : (DM dice ran hot, so it was an unlucky time for the party)

The rogue managed to get into Kullen's house via jimmying a window, then opening the front door. Kullen was fast asleep drunk, the rogue and paladin woke him and asked him for information about the graves. This conversation went wrong for three reasons...
- They explained why they were there by telling him their entire backstory, which confused and bemused Kullen in his drunken state
- They attempted to bribe him with a very low bribe (30gp)
- They fluffed their diplomacy roll

As there were only two people confronting him, 'drunk Kullen' become 'raging Kullen' and he went for his axe. The paladin attempted to subdue Kullen, but a lucky crit put the paladin down. Kullen was subsequently bludgeoned to death by the Monk. They quickly searched the place, got the Paladin back on his feet and fled the scene.

The following morning, totally unknown to the party, Kullens corpse was found, brought to Smenk where he was questioned (using a Speak with Dead scroll) and the Monks description given. This with informants around town gave Smenk an idea to all of the parties involvement (with the exception of the Rogue and Sorcerer)

The party decided to split their efforts at noon that day, as the party had determined that Kullen worked for Smenk, the rogue and the sorcerer (who is stealth specialised) headed over to case Smenks manor.

This led to the rogue being spotted (twice) and being run off. The guards suspicions were reported to Smenk who told one of the guards to put the rest of the gang on alert. As that guard left, the sorcerer trailed him and managed to pinpoint the house of one of the gang (although the sorcerer is not sure who's house it is). At this point he lost the guard and returned to the group. The rogue by this point had found a better spot to watch the manor, so he wasn't involved in what happened next at the Dog.

Meanwhile, the Alchemist used one of his abilities to concoct a Disguise Self potion, which he drank and disguised himself as one of the gang. He headed into the Dog, and the barman (clearly going to be a big burly well connected type) instantly realised that the Alchemist was a fraud (more good opposed rolls on my part). So the barman talked to the Alchemist, while signalling to his friends in the bar that something was amiss (by calling him 'my friend') and the Alchemist was lynched and beaten unconscious.

Twenty minutes later the party knew something was off, as they knew the disguise would have expired by then, so they planned to go in via the back door. At this point, the Bard decided that because everyone liked him, he go in the front door as a distraction. As the main party realised that the back door was locked (and the rogue wasn't present to unlock it), the Bard had gone in, found the bar as per a normal day, then annoyed the barman that much, that the patrons lynched him too.

At this point, the rest of the group (all bar the rogue) decided to assault the bar via the back window. A quick fight later and two patrons were dead, the Paladin was bleeding out and the rest of the party had fled. No-one left in the bar could tell that the Paladin was still alive and so he did bleed out. His body (along with the other two) were stripped and subsequently delivered to Filge.

Later, the Alchemist was brought round and with the Bard unconscious and at knifepoint, was questioned (by the barman with Smenk and Filge watching, but they didn't know this as it was a specifically lit cellar). He gave detail to the rest of the group, and the reasons to what they were doing and why. He was knocked out, and the Bard was questioned in the same way. The Bard practically gave his life story, and overhead Filge talking about the 'bones' (again he couldn't tell who this was). In the end, the Bard was told that he and the Alchemist must leave town and never come back or there will be repercussions to his friends and his friends families. The Bard was then knocked out.

The Alchemist and Bard come round (stripped of gear) on the road outside Diamond Lake, determined that they will go back (the Alchemist is vowing revenge, and burning the Dog to the ground), and skirted town and met back up with the rest of the party (missing the Paladin) at the Mine Office near the Cairn. The rogue has snuck back into town to meet the Alchemists father to get some basic gear. His father is sending the Rogue back with a note to the Alchemist asking him to not get involved and leave for the Free City, as 'he doesn't understand what these people are capable of'. I fully believe that the Alchemist will ignore this note.

The party are now licking their wounds in the Mine Office and trying to work out their next step... I'm not sure what that step is yet, and I've yet to talk to the Paladin player offline about what he's going to do next.

As it stands, the party thinks that Smenk is likely the kingpin, and think that most of the muscle in the town are either allied to him or paid off by him, and that they have few (if any) allies in town. They don't know about Filge yet (or Allustan), but they've determined that there is a mage involved.

My question is, what would Smenk, Filge and crew do next?
- I would assume that most of the muscle (everyone bar Smenk and Filge) would assume that they've done enough to scare the rest of the party off.
- Smenk will have the parties family members watched for three to four weeks, so that they don't try anything out of the ordinary.
- Would it make sense for Smenk to somehow call on his new 'allies' in the TFoE Cultists (even though he's terrified of them) to help deal with the PCs? Would he track the PCs to the Mine Office and approach them early to deal with the cultists?
- Could Smenk make a threat against Neff to coerce Allustan to make a move on the PCs? Either in an effort to scare them away from Diamond Lake (I don't think Allustan would agree to kill them) or recruit them to deal with the Cultists?

What would you think Smenk / Filge would do next? I'm trying to play them as close to as written as possible, any ideas will help!

This week, my players completed Savage Tide and defeated Demogorgon. A great ending to a great campaign playing for approx 4 hours a week for two and a half years.

As for how things ended, Obox-Ob reclaimed his position as Prince of Demons, meaning Tanar'ri will be fleeing the Abyss for years to come. The major players in the temporary alliance returned to their planes, ready to deal with the upcoming power shift of the lower planes. Iggwilv managed her plans to resurrect Thanaclan.

Meanwhile, for the players :

Kellen (Human Wood Mage 20) - The leader of the group and rarely with his head out of a book, returned to Greyhawk to work with the sages there to track down the remaining Shadow Pearls and prepare for what they refer to as the 'Obox-Ob Problem'

Rethel (Half-Elf Rogue 20) - Kellens half brother, resumed his relationship with Lavinia Vanderboren, and decided to go into politics, moving to Greyhawk

Apertit (Half-Elf Dragon Disciple 20) - Decided to travel the world, looking to exact his level of justice (he's very LN)

Ajah (Eladrin Dervish Dancer 20) - Trusted warrior of Gwyharwyf, he returned to the Court of Stars under Morwels command

Buntflung (Human Oracle 20) - Declaring that spending the last year trashing through the Abyss, he was sick of dealing with demons, and decided to leave civilisation and live as a hermit somewhere remote

Rikki-Tikki (Phanaton Monk 20) - During the campaign, Rikki-Tikki was temporarily the only member of his race. He struck a deal near the end of the campaign with Ehlonna to return a number of his species back to life. His payment... his own life, he was ascended to Celestia to serve by Ehlonna

Sir Tremane (Human Two Weapon Warrior 20) - Sir Tremane was Malcanthets proxy during the battle for Wat Dagon, and when he failed to become the new Prince of Demons, Malcanthet abandoned him. Partly to pay for his crimes (for being the proxy) and save the lives of his friends, he atoned and accepted the position of replacement of Shami-Amourae with Ahazu, so once his affairs were taken up, he returned to the Wells of Darkness and willingly become prisoner. In his honour, his colleagues ensured he was credited with the slaying of Demogorgon and was canonised, becoming Saint Tremane of Farshore.

I'd like to thank Paizo not only for a great campaign (there's so many options for a sequel, I really want to carry that on) but the fact that they have these forums which has been a massively useful source of information. Also, anyone here who has gave me ideas, advice, stats or even listened to me rant here (you know who you are)

Savage Tide is a great game, I would recommend it to anyone. I get to put away my DM hat for sometime now (other people starting campaigns now) so it looks like the next time I DM will be for a sequel, which may or may not be in PFRPG (whatever we'll be playing then)

If anyone has any questions to how we played something, what my players did, or want access to my campaign notes (I got stats for adventures 1-7, I used Charlie Bells for 8-12), then feel free to give me a shout.

What are people's view on allowing a melee rogue to make sneak attacks at more than 30 feet range using Gloves of the Shortened Path?

i.e. Rogue stands 100 feet away from enemy and uses GotSP to flank enemy with a colleague...

Would you say he can sneak? or not? (saying his eyes to see vital spots are too far away)

My players think that this is all pretty and that, but now they want to sell it...

Anyone come up with a value for it? I can't see any valuation in the adventure. They're not looking for a side quest to find a specialist buyer either, they've got people for that already...

Any ideas?

My group have found the whereabouts of the Wreck and had the party rogue scout out the place (very high stealth + invisibility potions means he wasn't spotted, although he did set off an alarm spell, but he didn't get found)

So, they've retired to one of their safehouses to plan an attack... one of which is quite an interesting idea.

The party Wood Mage has access to Liveoak, so one of the questions he asked was 'Is the tree supporting the wreck an Oak tree?'. I said no (a saltmarsh isn't where you'd expect to find an oak)

However, the party are looking at ways of transporting living Oak trees to either in or next to the Wreck, so that the mage an turn it into a Treant. From there, the Treant can either wail on the Wreck, or (by far the better idea) animate the Wreck itself (using its Animate Trees ability)

I think the idea is sound, and happy to run with it (and work out the consequences, like the anchor points and the treasure room staying where they are)

Question is, by RAW, do you think this is a sound tactic?

My group is currently in Scuttlecove, but have got wind that Lavinia is held in a place called Divideds Ire in Gaping Maw, largely because I allowed a Discern Location to point out that place

This was mainly because I don't like the fact that they use an 8th level spell to find her and then it duds out due to 'reasons'. Also, them using this spell allows them to keep within the 'smash and grab' nature of the adventure. They still need to find where Divided's Ire is, and then find her, but it gives them reason not to hang about in Gaping Maw for too long.

My question is, and this is primarily because I've never seen the spell used in PF, is there any way of the group detecting the Forbidance effect over the prison without simply walking into it? Detect Magic only? (which they're unlikely to have running at the time)

My group is due to wander into the room where the Nimbus Bow is kept tonight (going slighlty off track to deal with Khala and cronies without finishing off Ulioth and crew), and I've just noticed that Tonatiuh appears again here.

The group encounters a Couatl called Tonatiuh in the Rakasta weapons cache back in Tides of Dread, but then he again appears in City of Broken Idols, as a god... eh?

Is this just coincidence on the naming? Is Tonatiuh actually a god?

I've looked at the Living Greyhawk deities pdf on the Wizards site, and Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca are both there, but no Tonatiuh...

Any ideas why this is? Did people swap him out for another Olman god? Huhueteotl (fire), Hurakon (water) or Tlazoteotl (earth) maybe?

Need a bit of advice...

My group is currently in TLD, have negotiated 'something' (they're not actually sure what) with Emraag, and failed in their attempt to talk their way pass the Troglodytes.

This then involved them freeing Irgzid and Jakara, but getting into another fight with the Troglodyte priests, where they have succeeded in beating enough of the tribe to convince the remaining to leave them alone. They've subsequently healed Jakara and plan on meeting him in Farshore later.

Irgzid has (as per the book) agreed to escort the PC's below, however met an unfortunate end to the elder black pudding.

As the party feel that they're not best equipped to be traversing the underdark (no-one is a tracker and a series of poor survival checks has gotten them struggling to work out which way they should be going, but they have been leaving a trail to find their way back), they've come up with the idea of getting the Heretic raised.

The cheapest way to do this is to meet up with a (ex PC) druid, who they scry'ed in Tarantoa and get a reincarnate. We left the session at the point the druid was casting reincarnate.

So, my question is... do you think that Irgzid would want to return? and if so, what would his reaction be if he returned as a different race?

I'm thinking that he's got unfinished business to deal with, but if he's moved on to the afterlife, would he care anymore?

Done a quick search and can't find anything, but has anyone given more effects to the Tooth of Ahazu?

One of my players (halfway through the battle at the end of ToD) is THIS close to jamming the thing in his mouth, and I'd like to have some more effects (good and bad) to simply pluses to grapple checks

Can add some myself, but wonder if someone has done it already

My group is heading for the shipwreck at the end of SWW, and I'm not very happy with the transition into HTBM

Firstly, I've completely cut out the Masher Reef, and have replaced it with the second storm being created by Emraag the Glutton. Effectively Emraag will create a storm using Control Weather, force the ship towards the shore, and once the PC's attempt to engage him, he'll submerge and proceed to hole the ship. Effectively the PC's options will be crash on the IOD, or sink.

So, at the point they crash, I don't want to have the line 'The ship rolls, the sea plunges over, everything goes dark' as my players will cry foul. ALL of them knocked unconscious by a wave? Sounds silly, and obvious railroading (even though the end of SWW is all railroading)

So I want them to potentially stay conscious through the wave (Fort save maybe?) and whoever does has the opportunity to nurse the ship to shore. I don't want them to save many colonists, but when the storm picks up the colonists will get pushed below decks which means when the ship gets holed, Emraag can use his breath weapon through the hole, killing everyone there (and many of the supplies)

Planning to have this all occur just before dawn, so by the time the ship crashes the sun is just coming up, allowing the storm to pass. Anyone still awake can start the salvage operation, anyone washed overboard awakes on the beach a short distance away.

Does this all sound plausible? Did any of you run this any different to the book?

After ideas, need your help... :)

One of my group is a half orc Fighter 1 / Paladin of Heironeous 4, and currently on the Sea Wyvern heading to the IOD. She was going fighter to start with but is now loving the Paladin, and has now asked me if she can drop the Fighter level for a Paladin level.

So, I 'could' just let her swap the level, but I think that'll be all too easy, so I've been looking at the rebuild quests idea from the 3.5 PHBII, and I like the idea of Heironeous himself charging the Paladin with a quest as the rebuild quest.

I want this quest to be something related to the IOD, it doesn't have to be soon (i.e. probably something to occur between the end of ToD and before SoS), but I'm struggling to find something suitably 'Heironeous'y'

I was tempted to do something relating to the Infamous Seven (loving the idea that my group might go hunting for them, and I'm going to use Emraag to cause the shipwreck at the end of SWW, brilliant idea to whoever come up with that on these boards), but I can only think that would fit would be finding and slaying Xiureksor (as that's the only one that seems to me as a proper intellegent evil creature)

Also had the idea of the quest to defeat the false believers (i.e. the Pelorian Camp in CoBI) but that's part of the main story, and I'd like to have something away from that.

Read up as much as I can on Heironeous (which is great as the dogma 'Duty to a Lady' pretty much has the Paladin doing Lavinias bidding) but can't think of anything that he would pick as a suitable task on the IOD.

So, any ideas on what Heironeous would get my Paladin to do?

Hi all,

Has anyone done any conversions of the ships in ST to Pathfinder rules?

I've got a group currently halfway through BWG, and they've already come across Caravels, Brigantines and Sloops, and are now getting interested in actual detail on these vessels.

The PRD (and GMG) gives detail on several ships, but none that really map across (with the possible exception of Brigantine to Sailing Ship).

I'm thinking that I'm going to have to convert (using the PRD and Stormwrack) the Caravel and Sloop to PF statblocks, but has anyone already done this?

If not, I'll probably do so and post my attempts here.

Cheers

TBA

So my group following the events of this post did find time to head out to Kraken's Cove before the ball at Castle Teraknian. Once there, they found the place mostly empty with a couple of Crimson Fleet lackeys 'on guard'.

In an effort to keep diplomatic ties open, they explained that they understood that Vanthus was planning on stealing from the fleet through Brissa, and all they wanted was to take Vanthus back to Sasserine to pay for his crimes. They had no problems with the fleet itself, they purely wanted Vanthus

Vanthus or the fleet didn't show before the group had to return to the ball, so the group took the lackeys back to Sasserine, set them free in the city (as a show of good faith to the fleet) and headed to the ball.

Now, I've got a whole different sub-plot going on with the ball right now, but once the group is done with that, they will go back to Kraken Cove. So, while the party were at the ball, one of the lackeys made it to the Fleets emmisary in Sasserine and told him everything that happened. I'm going to have the emmisary get a message to the fleet that Vanthus isn't to be trusted, so the events at the cove (prior to party arrival) are slightly different.

The idea I have is that Vanthus turns up with Brissa with the intention of springing the trap as planned, yet to make sure it goes well has drank a potion of Glibness. The Fleet (Harliss Javell) orders him to be taken prisoner, but Vanthus manages to talk himself out of it long enough for the trap to be sprung. During the initial choas, Javell pursues Vanthus into the Slippery Eel where they accidently set off the Savage Tide. Vanthus managed to flee, and the events of the cove unfold as described

As the party knows the layout of the cove, I'm going to have to make some slight alterations, for example, the party weakened the walkway in their initial visit, so that will have collapsed (most likely impailing a unlucky pirate in the process)

One thing I've not planned out as yet is how does Vanthus escape? He can't head back to the city, he can't escape via the back of the cove (my PC's are likely to come in that way, and if they do, I'm going to move Harliss to a different room) so where does he go? I'm tempted to have him escape with a couple of the mercenaries he hired using a Folding Boat (we're using PF rules) and head east (to where he gets picked up by the Brine Harlot and taken to Scuttlecove)

Does that seem believable? Any advice would be handy!

My group is coming to the end of TINH, and I expect them to turn down Rowyn's offer and then find the letters from Vanthus. I will have them find the map of Sasserine with the Lotus Dragons pins in it (hoping that they'll use it to investigate the Lotus Dragons safehouses and allies) and also have them invited to the banquet and dance at Castle Teraknian (where I can get them introduced and talk to some notable NPCs, like Avner for one)

The problem I have is that as soon as they read the letters from Vanthus, they'll immediately hightail it to Kraken's Cove, stopping past Vanderboren Manor to give Lavinia a quick update on events before leaving the city.

So has anyone else come up with any ideas to keep the PC's in the city for another week? (and delay the start of BWG)

There has been suggestions to use a storm to prevent sea travel, or some kind of religious holiday where the sailors won't leave port for a few days, but I don't want to use either of those... my players will cry foul.

I've got the following ideas so far :
- Alter Vanthus's letter so that it doesn't give a time when the smugglers will be at Kraken Cove
- If they do immediately go to Kraken's cove, they find it nearly empty, the main group of smugglers (and Vanthus) haven't arrived yet. There are a couple of pirates there, but they're just nothing more than guards, there's nothing more there to discover there at this point.
- Lavinia states that she's used what influence she has with the Dawn Council for the watch to keep a lookout for Vanthus, and she gets informed that he's headed out by sea to the east the day after the ball.

Thanks!

I've got a player who currently doesn't know who his father is, and I've made it one of the Meravanchi clan (most likely Manthalay), and he's about to start investigating them to find out whatever he can about them.

So, scouring the books, I can only find three Meravanchi's mentioned by name (Zebula, Avner and Manthalay), and I need to flesh out the clan a little more. Have I missed any others?

Has anyone added others to the clan? Any suggestions about how I can add people and have them tied into both Sasserine and Farshore?

I've searched the forums and couldn't see this question asked before, so here goes...

How do you deal with players asking how damaged an enemy looks?

Reason I ask is that I have one player who tends to play the damage dealer who regularly asks me this, and it's starting to rub off on the other players. His view is that after taking some damage, you should be able to determine an enemies rough status.

I don't remember seeing any rules on this in any D&D/PF book.

I've kinda come up with my own process that we've used in my previous (3.5Ed) campaigns, where I give them a simple response :
'Fine' - Not hit
'Hurt' - Hit but over 50% HPs'
'Under half' - Under 50% HPs but alive
'Dead'/'Unconscious' - as seen

I know that there is a spell that does almost give this info (Deathwatch) but it's pretty pointless with the houserule I've used above.

We're about to start a new (PF) campaign and I'd like to get this right. Is there a rule I should use? What do my follow GM's do?

So last night my group defeated the Runelord and ended his threat to Varisia. After two and a half years, we bring our 3.5Ed RotRL game to a close.

The heroes return home to the Magnimar region significantly more powerful and wealthy. Kate the Sorceress becomes Mayor of Magnimar within four years, Pippen the Assassin becomes chief 'facilitator' of the assassins guild (think Jonathan Teatime from 'Hogfather' by Terry Pratchett), Viv the Spherewalker and Brandon the Knight settle down in Sandpoint together, and Ammeretti the Druid returns to the Hinterlands to keep the local goblins (and anything else that threatens the area) in check with Shalelu Androsana.

My thanks to James, Richard, Nick, Wolfgang, Stephen and Greg for such a great AP, and everyone who posted ideas here that we could use. The group particularly enjoyed Thistletop, Skulls Crossing, Jorgenfist, Runeforge and the Vekker's Cabin, however the highlights for the group were clearly Misgivings and the Sandpoint Raid in FotSG, which were both an absolute blast to play.

One thing that has been mentioned here about the lack of treasure in the AP, we didn't find this at all. I didn't add in anything extra to what was printed and the group of five PC's were very well kitted out for the campaign. It probably helps that my group is very much a 'Pinch anything that isn't nailed down, and even if it is, remove the nails and pinch it anyway' type of group. They even stole the golden throne in the Pinnacle of Avarice.

Our next campaign moves back to the world of Greyhawk, and they take on Savage Tide, and encounter some older characters from our old Red Hand of Doom campaign. We officially are moving to PFRPG rules now, and all the fun that brings :)

Tony

This come up in our game this week...

If a PC successfully uses Disintegrate on a Vampire, is it destroyed completely as the spell, or turns gaseous as the vampire ability?

What does the assembled community here say? Would like to know how we played it agrees with the consensus...

My group last night managed to finish off Mokmorian with a Baleful Polymorph, turning him into a squirrel (with a few Thassalonian rune tattoos). It made Karzougs speech more interesting.

The group have now kept Mokmorian as a pet.

Has anyone else managed to 'remove' a key enemy in such an amusing way?

Oh, and she's going to be fuelled by revenge, as the group killed her sister.

Actually, once cured, she 'could' go get a scroll of raise dead, and get the clerics to raise Lucretia. Still, would there be an appropriate template to add to either Matriarch, or both?

I'm running Runelords for one group, with five PCs and the campaign is going good so far. I was planning on DM'ing it with another group, which was a family where I've been friends with the father for a long time. This chap has played for years, and the rest have played a little.

However, the family unit has split up (on very mutual terms) and I still want to run this for my friend. Even though the break up is good, playing with the whole family isn't really an option. As we're in the UK, and there are very few players in our neck of the woods, I'm thinking of running it with just the two of us.

So, I'm tempted by using Gestalt rules, and would like anyones opinion who has used it before. I've read up on it a lot, but never actually played with the rules.

Would it be safe to assume that three gestalt PCs would be roughly equal to four regular PCs? (That way he can run two major PCs, and I'll run a third minor PC)

How does other GM's experience fare? Thanks in advance!

The cleric of Desna in my campaign has multiclassed into Spherewalker, and I'm tempted to allow her to go past the regular 5 levels in it (if she so chooses). She could get to 7 or 8 by the campaign end.

Even though leaving BAB, Save and Spell progression as it is seems powerful enough, would you think of any other added abilities that the class would have post level 5?

Hey everyone, I'm after some fellow DM's ideas on what would happen next after the events of last nights game. Any ideas would be welcome!

We had a PC death, and once the party had teleported out and reincarnated the rogue/assassin, the game ended for the night (we play again in two weeks). Details are here. The group teleported to Magnimar, and spent a couple of days there recovering. So I'm wondering what ideas people would have to Xanesha and the Kreegs would do in the day while the PC's aren't there.

The group has so far managed to kill off Lucretia, all the ogres on the main floor of the keep, the all ogres in the new barracks and two or three of the unnamed ogres in the courtyard, but thats all.

As for the Black Arrows, I'm taking that they were pinned down by Xanesha at the point where she spotted the group sorceress, and they were hurt enough to retreat while Xanesha's attention was diverted. I'm going to assume that they were heavily wounded at this point, and as I don't want to kill off Shalelu and Jakardros (Shalelu is 'friendly' to the party druid, and prime for cohortship later). I'm tempted to have Kaven flee for his life (and turn up later?), and take it that Vale was killed (maybe, not decided yet, as Vale would be best placed to take over leading the Fort once recaptured). I'm assuming that given enough time, the Black Arrows can go to ground to avoid Xanesha and the ogres for a few days if needed.

So, once Xanesha discovers that Lucretia is dead, and she knows the party teleported out (as she saw them do it), she's going to assume that they've either gone to Turtleback Ferry or Magnimar. As far as I can tell, she's go no way of getting to Magnimar quickly, so she'll go looking for them at Turtleback Ferry. As she won't find them there, do you think that in a fit of rage she'll kill several townsfolk? or something more sinister?

Also, once the Kreeg boss (forget his name) sees the aftermath, how would he rearrange his defences?

My group (here) are currently playing through Skinsaw, but have taken a little bit of a tangent away from the expected path.

Being a mix of Sandpoint and Magnimar residents, they are all currently 4th level and had managed to capture both Tsuto and Nualia in Burnt Offerings and take them to Magnimar for trial. Both were sentenced to death by Justice Ironbriar, but using the idea suggested on these forums, Ironbriar sprung both of them and has been using them for his own schemes.

The group were working through Skinsaw as expected, all signs pointed to Aldern as normal, and they headed to the manor, experienced a couple of haunts, and decided to hightail it out. (Using entangle to hold off the Ravenstorms long enough to get away)

Back at Sandpoint, they decided to go to Magnimar to try and find out more about Foxglove. They did, found the townhouse, broke in and with a good search roll, found Alderns cache, and they broke in. I could have simply said that they found nothing, but I'm all for rewarding my group if they show some intelligence to investigate instead of barging in.

This led them to the Sawmill, which they managed to raid when most of the cultists were out, including Ironbriar. Some strongarm tactics later and they were searching his office, and swiped his journal. They reported all this to the watch who clamped down on the place, and as you would expect, Ironbriar got wind of this very quickly.

I then judged that Ironbriar discovered that his journal was missing, and knowing what was in it, his first priority was to get it back. So, he sent Tsuto and Nualia (levelled up a bit) and a few cultists after the group. As we finished last nights session, the group had killed Nualia and drive off Tsuto. Also, they'd used some magic to decipher the journal, so they were aware of Ironbriar and the link to the Shadow Clock.

So, my query is what to do next, the group is still 4th level, and going straight to the Shadow Clock is going to be almost certainly fatal to them. I don't want to weaken any of the enemies, as that would seem like a cop out.

So, I'm thinking that Ironbriar, fearing the worst would retreat to the Shadow Clock, with Tsuto and the two of them could be the first encounter there, maybe the Scarecrow wakes up halfway through that fight. Also, Aldern is still on the loose in Sandpoint, so I'm tempted to get Hemlock to get a message to the group saying there had been three more murders, and he'd sent a few men to the manor and they'd not returned. Hopefully this pleading from Hemlock will get them back to the manor to get some more XP before heading to the Shadow Clock.

I was also thinking on swapping Xanesha and Lucretia too (as suggested), but more likely having Xanesha fleeing once discovered and her trying to ambush the party on the way to Turtleback Ferry in the next adventure (by then they'll have some more cash to buy some better gear)

Does anyone have any other ideas to get the party running around a little more before heading to the Shadow Clock?

Dearest A.
I write with an excited hand, after several dull weeks of preparation, the Swallowtail Festival went off with a bang, literally. Halfway throught the evenings revelry, the town was raided by goblins! Lots of the stinky little buggers were running everywhere, and the general public just fled..! I thought that the townsfolk of Sandpoint had more backbone!

Anyway, I managed to corner one of the little blighters on a wagon, and he even managed to cut me! I soon finished the cocky sod off though, who says that women can't fight?

Once the fracas had died down, I found myself in the company of some new friends. They seem alright generally, Pippen is a half-elf working for his cousin Nisk down at the alchemy store, Kate is a visiting mage from Magnimar, Ammeretti is some local druid and Dilbert is a really likable (and rather stupid) dwarf who seems to fight with a sword thats bigger than him!

We'd rescued some Magnimar noble from some goblins during the raid, Aldern Foxglove (where do I know that name from?) his name was. Both Kate and Pippen said that Foxglove is a fairly well known family in Magnimar, so I guess its good to do the nobility some favours! He invited us down to the Rusty Dragon so he could thank us properly. I thought that it would be a good idea, it'd been a while since I'd caught up with Ameiko anyway...

Father Zantus asked me to help out with blessing the fallen in the Cathedral, which I can't say was the most exciting job, but necessary. He then found out that the remains of Ezakien Tobyn had been stolen from the graveyard, you should have seen his face..!

Sheriff Hemlock was called and informed. He'd managed to capture a couple of goblins, but hadn't found out any useful info out of them. In his usual dour mood he surmised that the raid must have been a diversion. The sheriff asked the group of us to hang around for a few days, which I was happy to anyway, even before Father Zantus agreed for me! He said the folks from out of town could stay at the Rusty Dragon, and made arrangements to get them lodgings there.

The last two days have been quiet again, we seem to still be the talk around town, getting the occasional gift or even discounts at the stores... The Sheriff seems to be trying to work out if the raid was just the tip of the iceberg... I guess we'll soon see.

We had a good incident earlier today where Shayliss Vinder (the blond loose one) managed to lure Pippen into the basement of the general store with a story of a 'rat-problem' before ripping her clothes off and jumping on him. Gave the young lad a bit of a start, especially when her dad Ven turned up and bellowed at him and chased him out of the store! He'd even managed to land a blow on the boy, his cheek will be red for a day or so, I could have easily removed the mark with a spell, but I thought it better to leaving it for now.

Did manage to catch up with Ameiko, she took us down to the Hagfish, and got Pippen to have a go at Norahs challenge. He totally wimped out of course (probably because he's an elf!) but Dilbert stepped up and with some brevado had a go himself. And he only went and bloody done it! That got the crowd going! Problem was the dwarf can't write, and had to etch a large X instead of his name in the bar!

Returning back, we ran into Aldern again, and he asked if we'd like to go hunting in Tickwood. He asked if we thought that Ammeretti would go, with being a druid and all that. Maybe she will, we'll find out tomorrow...

Yours, Viv

Hey guys, we had an incident at our gaming table the other night during our RHoD campaign, which almost flared up into something nasty. It all revolved a disagreement between myself (as DM) and one of the players (the party rogue).

We'd got to the start of chapter 5, and the party had been given a couple of scrolls of teleport to go find and dispatch Azarr Kul, when the party rogue stated that the party sorcerer could use the scrolls to teleport to a bigger city (Greyhawk in this case) and sell some kit, buy some better supplies, more scrolls of teleport, and come back. Everyone thought that it was a good idea, and started to think of what kit they'd need.

The disagreement come in that the rogue wanted some Holy Arrows, and had seen in the DMG that getting 50 of them would be a +2 bonus, meaning ~8k gps (in his view). I stated the rule that you need to have +1 arrows first, before making them holy, meaning a total of +3 arrows, so ~18k gps. He wasn't happy with that, saying that buying +1 Holy Arrows means that the +1 will not stack with the +1 of his bow.

I re-read the DMG on the subject at the time (I don't have it to hand now) and found the rule on it to be a little vague (but more exact on the online SRDs, agreeing that they would need to be a total of +3)

Thinking about this afterwards, I thought that 18k for 50 arrows that only do +2d6 damage was a little steep, but then realised that these affect ANY evil creature, so its fairly wide ranging.

Anyone think that this cost is a little screwy? Or houseruled it?

Thanks!

Hi, I'm after a few ideas about how to deal with a minor spinoff that my PC's are looking to take the fight to the Red Hand before the Battle for Brindol.

So far, I've played the book as written, and the party have done excellently in completely derailing the Red Hands plans, with only one PC death. They've done the following :-

- Captured Koth, got Sertien to interrogate him, and leaving him with the townsfolk to kill off and bury
- Destroyed Skull Gorge bridge, killing the dragon defending it
- Captured Saarvith and drove off his dragon friend (this is where one of the PCs died)
- Left Saarvith with the Kiri Tikor, securing the alliance with the elves
- Survived the ambush left for them
- Visited Brindol and met with Jarmaarth and Tredora
- Disrupted the Ghostlord alliance, killing Ulwai by catching her troops unaware
- Drove off Abithirax when encountering him on the way back to Brindol
- Met with the Defence Council and made the decisions on the upcoming battle

The group are all level 8, and has a Human Sorcerer, Elven Rogue, Human Cleric, Half-Orc Barbarian and a Human Paladin (with Trellora the Elf Bard as a Cohort), and they're in Brindol with about 4 or 5 days before the horde reach Brindol, and they're coming up with ideas with taking the fight to the horde before they reach the city.

Such as having the Sorceror with Greater Invis, flying over the horde encampment dumping fireballs all over the place. As they've met up with Abithrax already, the dragon has a good idea of what the party is capable of, so I'm playing that the dragon will brief Wyrmlord Kharn on the party.

I'm after ideas on what Kharn can do next. I think that the RH clerics will be casting See Invisibility on Abithrax at regular intervals so that he'll be able to see the Sorceror on the bombing run.

Any ideas what Kharn is likely to do to try and take out the party, or ambush them when they turn up?