Quoth the Raven help - SPOILERS ahoy!


Dungeon Magazine General Discussion


Yep, Quoth the Raven is one cool adventure. Perhaps too cool, because my L7 self is having a little trouble following some of the connections that would lead the players to the ultimate showdown. Can y’all help me connect the dots?

  • Is figuring out Stars in Darkness pt. 1 really just a factor of a skill check from the PCs? How do you get the players involved in this beyond just a coin flip to see whether or not they get to start the adventure? Even if I get a chance to introduce Star or the Glitterdust earlier in the campaign, is there more of a link to those in the manuscript than I’m seeing?

  • I’m no Raven. Has anyone posted a sample of what they created to be part three of the manuscript? I understand that it needs to be about my PCs specifically, but I wouldn’t mind a model to work off of (especially the opening part about the actual killing)

  • At the silversmith shop, the PCs find a “clue” that leads them back to his apartment. Any suggestions of what that “clue” might be? Is this supposed to be legwork in the city to track him down?

  • Contributor

    Fletch wrote:

    Yep, Quoth the Raven is one cool adventure. Perhaps too cool, because my L7 self is having a little trouble following some of the connections that would lead the players to the ultimate showdown. Can y’all help me connect the dots?

    Yeah, as James can tell you, we didn't have a chance to put as much polish on the last issue as we would have liked. I'll do my best to give you a hand though.

    Fletch wrote:


  • Is figuring out Stars in Darkness pt. 1 really just a factor of a skill check from the PCs? How do you get the players involved in this beyond just a coin flip to see whether or not they get to start the adventure? Even if I get a chance to introduce Star or the Glitterdust earlier in the campaign, is there more of a link to those in the manuscript than I’m seeing?
  • At some point, the impetus for going on the adventure has to come from the PCs. Hopefully they are motivated enough to start looking for the new serial killer on their own. Once they get to that point, in addition to the skill checks listed, you could have them make some Gather Information checks to locate Mordreia

    Furthermore, since Viktor's (and hence Raven's) ultimate targets are the PCs, if they are totally clueless or can't figure it out themselves, you could have Vrinn contact them (under the guise of Mordreia of course) and beg them for help (this works especially well if they are the ones that caught Viktor). Vrinn could arrange a meeting at Mordria's apartments, where they run into Jalros directly (never going to the club), and from there head on to the rest of the adventure

    Fletch wrote:


  • I’m no Raven. Has anyone posted a sample of what they created to be part three of the manuscript? I understand that it needs to be about my PCs specifically, but I wouldn’t mind a model to work off of (especially the opening part about the actual killing)
  • The other manuscript fragments should give you something to go on here. But I'll see if I can get Nick to drop by and post something.

    Fletch wrote:


  • At the silversmith shop, the PCs find a “clue” that leads them back to his apartment. Any suggestions of what that “clue” might be? Is this supposed to be legwork in the city to track him down?
  • The simplest idea here would be one of Mange's possessions that identifies him as being a resident of Ashblack. Perhaps his clothing bears the mark of a particular tailor that resides there, or he has a scrap of stationary with an identifying watermark, or his shoes are covered with ferrous powder from the forges of the Cogs.

    From there, it would be a relatively simple matter of questioning a few local residents to discover his exact location.

    Contributor

    Hey Fletch!

    The problem with fragments 4, 5 and 6 is they should be about your PCs specifically (since they are the targets), and should include details on the "loved ones" imprisoned in the death traps too. I'll tell you what though. I'd like to set up a thread where we can help each other out with this. Anyone playing the adventure could post up what their PCs did and we could think-tank a cool Raven manuscript fragment about them. Let's do that. It would be fun.


    I have a question about the guillotine trap. It says that any pressure applied to the stone wall sets off the trap, that being said I cannot see how this is gotten around fairly. I definitely like the other traps quite a bit, but this one honestly as me a bit buggered.

    That being said, I enjoy the concept as a whole, and look forward to the next installment.

    Contributor

    The Last Rogue wrote:

    I have a question about the guillotine trap. It says that any pressure applied to the stone wall sets off the trap, that being said I cannot see how this is gotten around fairly. I definitely like the other traps quite a bit, but this one honestly as me a bit buggered.

    That being said, I enjoy the concept as a whole, and look forward to the next installment.

    Hi Rogue!

    You can use Disable Device to render the trap inert. I imagine the guillotine is housed in a plate in the wall above the victim with a thin slit to let the blade drop. Basically by succeeding on the Disable Device check you somehow block this slit quickly with something to halt the dropping blade. Of course stone shape or like magic could save the victim, as would dimension door, gaseous form, and a slew of other spells.

    Of course this doesn't help the party if they just start smashing away at the wall to free their friend...which is why I made the Search check to notice this trap really low.

    Personally, I hope that at least a couple of the hostages die when people run this...it really raises the emotional stakes both in the fight against the Raven and later in "Hell's Heart." Heroes aren't heroes unless they've fought and lost something dear to them in the process in my opinion.


    Jeremy Walker wrote:
    At some point, the impetus for going on the adventure has to come from the PCs. Hopefully they are motivated enough to start looking for the new serial killer on their own.

    I'm actually already looking at reorganizing the timeline a bit to bring this idea to the front. I would like to start with the Cowardly Shifter's call for help and lead that to the PCs discovering the similar murder of the professor and the threats against the dancer.

    Jeremy Walker wrote:
    The simplest idea here would be one of Mange's possessions that identifies him as being a resident of Ashblack. Perhaps his clothing bears the mark of a particular tailor that resides there, or he has a scrap of stationary with an identifying watermark, or his shoes are covered with ferrous powder from the forges of the Cogs.

    How Holmesian. I don't know that I ever made the leap of seeing the Inquisitive as being so sleuthy, but that's my disconnect. I like the suggestions you've made about laundry marks are forge dust...

    Nicolas Logue wrote:
    The problem with fragments 4, 5 and 6 is they should be about your PCs specifically (since they are the targets), and should include details on the "loved ones" imprisoned in the death traps too.

    Fragments 5 & 6? Where'd I miss those? The last fragment I can find is the note with the clue to the trap with the third fragment the one that needs be customized to the PCs.

    Anyhoo, here's my attempt at writing Part Three...let me know if there are some key elements you expected to see in the note that I left out. Any suggestions anyone has to make this sound more in the voice of the Raven would be appreciated too.

    -----

    She stares at her rescuers, worms forming a smile just as frozen as the gleaming silver fear of their last failure.

    The fading starlight promises no dawn for the fourfold champions for whom time passed too quickly. The last minute still looms, passing by the shifter and dancer before coming to roost on the lives of these four.

    Perhaps the last minute can be found by the Animal Fury in the face of blood's printed word.

    Perhaps the last minute can be found by the Faceless Nature in the spoken history of the sundered nation.

    Perhaps the last minute can be found by the Seaborn Mannequin in the melody of heart's last note.

    Perhaps the last minute can be found by the Making Lord in the mocking face of the mimicking magpie.

    But since these four would rather read my words in the Star's abettoir, the Last Minute may pass for them as well.

    -Quoth the Wannabe-Raven :}

    -----

    Just for the sake of background, my Eberron group consists of a changeling druid, a shifter barbarian, a warforged fighter (with a swashbuckler/nautical theme) and a human artificer of House Cannith. Hopefully y'all can figure out which clue applies to which character.


    Nicolas Logue wrote:
    The Last Rogue wrote:

    I have a question about the guillotine trap. It says that any pressure applied to the stone wall sets off the trap, that being said I cannot see how this is gotten around fairly. I definitely like the other traps quite a bit, but this one honestly as me a bit buggered.

    That being said, I enjoy the concept as a whole, and look forward to the next installment.

    Hi Rogue!

    You can use Disable Device to render the trap inert. I imagine the guillotine is housed in a plate in the wall above the victim with a thin slit to let the blade drop. Basically by succeeding on the Disable Device check you somehow block this slit quickly with something to halt the dropping blade. Of course stone shape or like magic could save the victim, as would dimension door, gaseous form, and a slew of other spells.

    Of course this doesn't help the party if they just start smashing away at the wall to free their friend...which is why I made the Search check to notice this trap really low.

    Personally, I hope that at least a couple of the hostages die when people run this...it really raises the emotional stakes both in the fight against the Raven and later in "Hell's Heart." Heroes aren't heroes unless they've fought and lost something dear to them in the process in my opinion.

    Thanks, and good points about the loss of some of the hostages. I wholly agree.

    The Exchange

    I don't have the magazine in front of me, but IIRC, Viktor uses Bluff and possibly other skills in his encounter with the PCs. I assume he's statted up in "Chimes at Midnight", but for those without that issue, what should Viktor's vital stats be like for this adventure?

    Contributor

    Fletch wrote:


    -----

    She stares at her rescuers, worms forming a smile just as frozen as the gleaming silver fear of their last failure.

    The fading starlight promises no dawn for the fourfold champions for whom time passed too quickly. The last minute still looms, passing by the shifter and dancer before coming to roost on the lives of these four.

    Perhaps the last minute can be found by the Animal Fury in the face of blood's printed word.

    Perhaps the last minute can be found by the Faceless Nature in the spoken history of the sundered nation.

    Perhaps the last minute can be found by the Seaborn Mannequin in the melody of heart's last note.

    Perhaps the last minute can be found by the Making Lord in the mocking face of the mimicking magpie.

    But since these four would rather read my words in the Star's abettoir, the Last Minute may pass for them as well.

    -Quoth the Awesome-Raven :}

    -----

    Hot.

    Extremely hot.

    Your PCs are lucky!

    Nick

    Contributor

    Occam wrote:
    I don't have the magazine in front of me, but IIRC, Viktor uses Bluff and possibly other skills in his encounter with the PCs. I assume he's statted up in "Chimes at Midnight", but for those without that issue, what should Viktor's vital stats be like for this adventure?

    Viktor's only gotten stronger and sharper behind the bars of Sharn's most notorious holding pen for murderers and psychopaths.

    Bluff +19, Will save +7...straight from the Heart of Hell y'all.

    Community / Forums / Archive / Paizo / Books & Magazines / Dungeon Magazine / General Discussion / Quoth the Raven help - SPOILERS ahoy! All Messageboards

    Want to post a reply? Sign in.
    Recent threads in General Discussion