My PC's do not have much going in the way of diplomacy and have managed to make all NPC's except Jask unfriendly or hostile. Sasha stormed off and was encountered at the first dimorphodon nest. The flyers Dinos got three lucky hits on her and she went unconscious. She died six rounds later, as nobody really tried to reach and stabilize her.
Ishirou has been largely left alone, and Aerys has been steadily consuming the supply of alcohol the party brought with them.
Gelick went hostile as well and started using prestidigitation to make the food taste awful. PC's caught him at this and beat him to a bloody pulp. When he recovered and the PC's were away from the campsite, he took almost all of the remaining food and left.
Any suggestions on where to go from here? Not really sure what Gelick should or would do, but actually being assaulted merits leaving the group, in my opinion.
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My PC's do not have much going in the way of diplomacy and have managed to make all NPC's except Jask unfriendly or hostile. Sasha stormed off and was encountered at the first dimorphodon nest. The flyers Dinos got three lucky hits on her and she went unconscious. She died six rounds later, as nobody really tried to reach and stabilize her.
Ishirou has been largely left alone, and Aerys has been steadily consuming the supply of alcohol the party brought with them.
Gelick went hostile as well and started using prestidigitation to make the food taste awful. PC's caught him at this and beat him to a bloody pulp. When he recovered and the PC's were away from the campsite, he took almost all of the remaining food and left.
Any suggestions on where to go from here? Not really sure what Gelick should or would do, but actually being assaulted merits leaving the group, in my opinion.
That is tough one. Remember the npc are not vital to the success of the adventure. Personally I would have let the players RP the diplomacy checks rather than let the dice control their fate. Especially since none of them had the skill.
One thing you can do is have Jask and Ishiriou approach the PCs about Aerys drinking problem and ask for help. Jask could suggest the nettle plant as a cure. I think if the PCs did this it should make both Ishiriou and Aerys friendly and open their quest.
As for the gnome that is tough call. It does not sound like the PCs will be to forgiving of his behavior. However if he gets abducted by the cannibals, it would give the pcs a chance to make him friendly by rescuing him. As well as letting them advanced the story.
Well, this AP does tend to lend itself more to a non-heroic/mercenary party than most do (not to say that a heroic party wouldn't do just fine). So if the players want to play that way and you as DM can handle it just fine, I see no problem. Sure getting the NPC's to be friendly or helpful can be a good thing, but is by no means necessary. I guess you won't have to worry about them running around with a scroll of raise dead already!
Not having the next Module to go by creates a little bit of an unknown on how the fate of these npc's play out in the long run. I am hoping they can play a role with the teams forming up in the Racing to the Ruins, as various allegiances will come into play. Perhaps they will join other teams or be the party's spies, all depends on how they were treated. But that might be hard on the module planners as it is possible that these npc's don't survive to make it off the island. A few days more till I have the pdf, but I hope to integrate something like this into the next adventure.
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Not having the next Module to go by creates a little bit of an unknown on how the fate of these npc's play out in the long run. I am hoping they can play a role with the teams forming up in the Racing to the Ruins, as various allegiances will come into play. Perhaps they will join other teams or be the party's spies, all depends on how they were treated. But that might be hard on the module planners as it is possible that these npc's don't survive to make it off the island. A few days more till I have the pdf, but I hope to integrate something like this into the next adventure.
Actually I suspect that's the case and I dislike it intensely. It encourages players to baby the NPCs and puts them in non realistic situations on the off metagame chance that they'll get a payout later. Also it kinda restricts me as a DM if I want to play up the drama and have a npc brutally murdered to emphasize the dangers of the island. If I do I'm taking away from the future part where they're written in.
Here's an example. In my game Ishiriou pretty much went to hostile straight off the boat. Eventually he snapped and challenged one of the PCs to a duel. Another PC, a budding assassin, Neutral Evil, tackled him and pinned him while the others tied him up. I found this odd since we're talking about a guy who skins summoned animals for "practice". He only went non lethal because he wanted the payout later.
So eventually Ishi over a couple of weeks went back to indifferent and apologized, but over time slowly slipped back into hostile. So one day while the PCs are off doing their thing Isiriou picks a fight with Aerys. She and Sasha fight him off mortally wounding him. When the PCs get back and they find out what happened the assassin picks up ishi's sword and says "I knew I should have killed him the first time". After finding the map on his body and the fact he was all holding out on them the rest of the PCs emphatically agreed. Yes they got the treasure later on their own btw.
Oh and Aerys eventually bought it herself when the PCs fought a large ambush of cannibals in the jungle. The PCs eventually won but in the melee Aerys got dropped to negatives, carried off and eventually eaten later. So sad. Heh.
Having looked at Race to Ruin, I'll say this...you're right that they play a role in it. But they don't have to do so. It's useful to them if they managed to befriend any of them, but not essential. Personally, if I was playing I would have been doing my best to befriend all of them, even without the incentives. The slight benefits simply makes it better.
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Not having the next Module to go by creates a little bit of an unknown on how the fate of these npc's play out in the long run. I am hoping they can play a role with the teams forming up in the Racing to the Ruins, as various allegiances will come into play. Perhaps they will join other teams or be the party's spies, all depends on how they were treated. But that might be hard on the module planners as it is possible that these npc's don't survive to make it off the island. A few days more till I have the pdf, but I hope to integrate something like this into the next adventure.Actually I suspect that's the case and I dislike it intensely. It encourages players to baby the NPCs and puts them in non realistic situations on the off metagame chance that they'll get a payout later. Also it kinda restricts me as a DM if I want to play up the drama and have a npc brutally murdered to emphasize the dangers of the island. If I do I'm taking away from the future part where they're written in.
So far both Gelik and Aerys met their nasty ends in my game, and Sasha almost became a cannibal snack. Though having them alive would have given the PCs more options in the next book, I wasn't going to pull punches. The party chose to force them to come with them in their exploration, and some were not up to the task.
From what I have read in the next book though, having the castaways make it alive is not all that important.
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So far both Gelik and Aerys met their nasty ends in my game, and Sasha almost became a cannibal snack. Though having them alive would have given the PCs more options in the next book, I wasn't going to pull punches. The party chose to force them to come with them in their exploration, and some were not up to the task.From what I have read in the next book though, having the castaways make it alive is not all that important.
Bravo, pull no punches.
I'm curious as to if my players will take the remaining three npcs with them into the temple of blood. They've already finished all the subquests so I think they consider them expendable now. Mercenary indeed. }; )
Wow. Is our group the only group to get every single NPC off of the island alive?
Ice Titan wrote "Wow. Is our group the only group to get every single NPC off of the island alive?"
No. My group sheparded the NPCs quite well and everyone made it off the island with the party members having created some lasting bonds with the NPCs.
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Day 6 and all of the NPC's have a friendly or better attitude, and every single one of them is hopeful morale. They've only been involved in one fight where Ishorou horribly ganked a constrictor snake.
The random encounter dice love this group, and the morale rolls seem to like them too. The befriending isn't a surprise, they have two good diplomancers.
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A littel unorthidox. But because our playing group fell apart here a short time back. I have a gm who is running me solo threw at least the smuggelers shiv arch. I ve got the main quest done and had to do it with nothing but the help of the npc's. None have died, though they and I have come close many, many times. I did not have diplomacey as I started out as a 1st level elf barbarian but managed to littel by littel win the entir group over. Levels of rouge and +1 cha mod helped but it added to the depth of the game.
I hate to see players miss out on this. But they dont sound realy nice and to shake things up. You could have gelek flat turn agenst them. There are places and persons he could find and allie with. This could make for interesting development for later.
I say let them play as they will and let them reap the resulsts. Good or bad. You, just have to be ready to role with it.
So, big spoilers here, but thought people might be interested in seeing how this turned out.
Gelick did wander off and get captured by the cannibals. He did level up on the way, and while imprisoned learned their language and took skill focus diplomacy. Over a period of three weeks, he used a combination of diplomacy and prestidigitation to talk his way out of jail and into a position of honor in the tribe. Natives really liked it when he could make their food taste better.
During this time, the PC's were wandering around the northern end of the island off the rails and fighting off various jungle diseases. Ishirou was caught about two and a half weeks into Gelick's stay, and Gelick persuaded the islanders to infect Ishirou with the glow fungus instead of eating him right away.
PC's finally made it closer to the trails and ran into a cannibal patrol. They killed two of the three, but one got away to report back. Meanwhile, the PC's set up their campsite on one of the abandoned former campsites right on the trail. They then send all three fighter types and Sasha out to investigate a wreck for a day.
During the time they're gone, the cannibals attack in force with 12 men. The Areys, and the Druid, ranger and cleric all surrender and are taken back to camp and put in the prison. Gelick gleefully comes in and helps infect some of them with the glow fungus, and the Druid gives him some back talk. Gelic gives the party druid a choice of which finger to have cut off.
The PC's do escape, but leave Aerys behind to be eaten by the cannibals, and a large portion of their equipment. It has been very entertaining, and when the PC's finally did overrun the cannibal camp, Gelick saw which way it was going to go very quickly. He hid all of their remaining gear and surrendered to the (LG) party cleric. In return for his life, he'll give them their gear back.
Going to be very fun to have the Pathfinders as the main opposition party to the group, with Gelick joyfully leading the way.
just for my two cents.
We made all the NPC's hostile or unfriendly to us.
We joined NO faction and are on our own.
It took a bit for my players to even begin to warm up to the NPCs but eventually made them all friendly. It helps that two are beautiful women ... I've got several members flirting with Sasha, and another trying to figure out the best way to approach Aerys without getting beat up.
I played my PCs hard. Each NPC from the get-go got their own voice, mannerisms, facial expressions, by the end of the first session my PCs could tell without difficulty which NPC was talking to them, or when the NPCs started arguing amongst themselves exactly who was doing the shouting and who was winning. That and I only have 2 PCs and a GMPC.
My PCs realized real quick that they needed the NPCs just for basic survival, a blood-drained goat falling out of the sky directly into the campfire started that. Having only one guard at a time able to see the ghosts in the surf made it strong. The trapped snares drove it home. They wouldn't have survived some of the more difficult challenges if they hadn't accepted the NPCs into their party as not just necessary but equals. Living equals.
My LE monk of the Devil Nuns is attempting to bring Sasha back from chaos into the structure of law. Gelik is traumatized from that one time he almost got swallowed by a constrictor. Jask is getting awfully paternal over my CG witch, who's just happy to be somewhere she's never been before. Aerys is attempting to become a better person and entertains the group with poetry readings accompanied by my N GMPC bard's bongos. Ishirou is getting depressed about figuring out what he has left to do with his life.
Definitely missed out on the Lord of the Flies possibility.
Aerys: Was briefly friendly with the party's TWFighter Mattrum, because he had alcohol, until she realized that he was trying to get into her pants and the son of one of Kassata Lewynn's pirate lord rivals. Her alcoholism was cured by viperberries gathered by the voodoo theurge Makaan, as were her periods of intense fear and worry (Aerys consistently failed all morale saves for the first three weeks they were on the island), leading to an odd sort of infatuation. Aerys cares for the bizarre juju-man, but is incapable of actually expressing it in anything more than a firm handshake and the occasional friendly threat. Her poetry is well known throughout the survivors of the wreck, although she forbade Mattrum from reading any of it.
Gelik: Nobody liked Gelik at first; he was pushy, lazy and bossy, a bad combination in NPCs. He related the story of the wreck of the Nightvoice as more of an ironic joke than anything, and was quite pleasantly surprised when the PCs came back with its log and tales of murderous vegepygmies. Gelik proved himself in the campaign against the cannibal camp, using speak with animals to get the Shiv dragon charmed by Makaan to leave the camp in peace and using his satire (I built him as a court bard from APG) to keep the cannibals from tearing the party apart. He accompanied the party to the temple of Zura, although he was not particularly helpful there, and has realized that the PCs are his ticket to fame and renown within the Pathfinder Society.
Ishirou: Poor Ishirou can't catch a break. Most of the party thought he was kind of creepy at first, although they were eager enough to get in his good graces once they learned about the treasure map. He and the blind oracle Akachi get along fairly well, both being taciturn outcast-types, and it was only via her that the treasure map came up. The expedition to the treasure nearly killed Ishirou twice; he almost drowned in the water trap after being paralyzed by ghouls and Zavreliella the harpy tore out his right eye and was about to eat him before the PCs intervened. Ishirou gained a reputation as the best fighter among the non-PC castaways, but his dour attitude, pessimism and fumbling attempts to impress Akachi with his elaborate traps have earned him little regard otherwise.
Jask: The party was fairly eager to believe the worst of the corruption inherent in the Sargavan government, so (although the alchemist Meg had some reservations) Jask was let free at the first possible opportunity. His friendly demeanor and knowledge of the healing arts made him many friends, and he saved PCs and NPCs alike from many a disease on Smuggler's Shiv. Jask enjoyed philosophical discussions with the ascetic dwarven monk Losk, and was especially devastated to learn that Losk was in fact a devious paranoid assassin (this was discovered once Losk murdered Mattrum for ruining his attempts to build a new monastery/training ground on Smuggler's Shiv by angering the dryad Ayecina). The ship that rescued the castaways from Smuggler's Shiv, the Red Gull, had been commandeered by the Sargavan law to track down Jask for his "attempted escape", and so the PCs were very eager to see justice was done. Upon reaching Eleder, the newest member of the band, the Saerenrae-worshiping paladin Cron, called in a favor with a high-powered defense attorney to make sure that Jask went free (thank you, Plot Twist Cards). Jask has left the service of the Sargavan government and is currently seeking work in the private sector; perhaps he will join the Pathfinder's expedition to Saventh-Yhi as a bookkeeper.
Sasha: After being rejected by Aerys, Mattrum began to pitch woo at Sasha, capturing for her a dimorphodon before she could even bring up the subject. This succeeded in getting him into her pants, and the couple was quite happy together for most of the duration on Smuggler's Shiv. Sasha was the only castaway to be captured by the cannibals, so sick she was with dysentery at the time. Mattrum led a bold rescue attempt, even though he also came down with the disease in the process. Sasha was most eager to attack the cannibal camp, and was very disappointed that she failed to strike down a single cannibal during the grand melee--she contented herself with slitting throats and burning bodies to ensure that none of the Thrunefangs returned as ghouls. Sasha took Mattrum's death harshly at first, but is now more concerned with her own safety. She alone of the castaways viewed the return trip to Eleder with trepidation, and she has not been seen since their return.
Pezock: The castaways had a love-hate relationship with Pezock. They first spied the tengu spying on them while investigating a shipwreck and enlisted his help in exploring the hull in exchange for a share of the treasure. The twitchy tengu agreed, but soon after retreated from the zombie horde found within, stole rations from Akachi and Makaan, and tried to flee. He was caught, intimidated and allowed to live only in exchange for the return of the rations and information on the island's interior--he told the PCs about the presence of traps on the game trails and that the cannibals lived on the southwest point of the island. Mattrum became obsessed with killing Pezock and taking his sawtoothed saber as a trophy for Sasha, but the rest of the party intervened. Hence, Mattrum was not allowed into Pezock's crab hut when the explorers stumbled across it, and Pezock played a somewhat erratic host on a number of occasions, acting obsequiously to avoid the wrath of Akachi, who terrified him. Pezock was happy to leave his island home behind when offered rescue on the Red Gull, and is now somewhat overwhelmed by the new world offered to him by Eleder.
Good stuff, Demiurge! Here’s what’s happened with the NPCs in our game.
Right now we’re half-way through Racing to Ruin and the PCs have just reached Kalabuto.
Aerys: The PCs were uninterested in helping cure Aerys’s alcoholism on the island, so she has remained indifferent to them. While on the island she struck up a close friendship with Pezock (a fellow pirate, after all) who introduced her to the vipernettle berries. After escaping the island, the two of them joined Captain Lewynn’s expedition to Saventh-Yhi. Though the pirates aren’t directly opposed to the PCs’ expedition (Pathfinders), they’re not actually allies either.
Gelik: Gelik earned a reputation as a teller of long-winded tales. A consumate “one-upper”, he was initially disliked and avoided by just about everyone. On the island, Gelik proved to be lazy and a bit of a trouble-magnet. The PCs were almost relieved when the chupacabra abducted him, even though the PCs rescued him several days later from the monster’s nest. After escaping the island, Gelik won the PCs over after introducing them to the Pathfinders in Eleder. He also helped them decipher the serpent folk woman’s notes. Unfortunately, it was his carelessness in hiring less than reputable research assistants that allowed the notes to fall into the hands of the rival factions. Gelik is now on good terms with the PCs, though they think he’s a little annoying and is a terrible judge of character. He joined the Pathfinder expedition as well, though he’s remaining in the rear with the main expedition contingent. He also hired Ishirou as a bodyguard, and the two have struck up a fast friendship.
Ishirou: Ishirou quickly proved his worth by helping the PCs locate the loot in the Treasure Pit. His skill with the katana was also admired by the group. He escaped the island and joined the Pathfinder expedition as Gelik’s bodyguard, which keeps him VERY busy. The Aspis Consortium has tried to re-recruit him, but he has stayed loyal to the Pathfinders … so far.
Sasha (Satasha): (I renamed her Satasha for our game.) A bit of a braggart and loudmouth, Satasha remains indifferent to the PCs after she earned the enmity of the party cleric (a female dwarf cleric of Bolka). At one point, the good-aligned cleric even proposed taking her out to restore order to the party. The other PCs talked her out of it. Satasha’s attitude got darker after the death of Jask (see below), which she blamed on the PCs (“You went out treasure-hunting and left us to die! They ATE him right in front of us, you knaves!”) After escaping the island, Satasha gave the PCs the one-finger salute and prompty disappeared. Then, one night while the PCs were camped on the open plains of Sargava, she shocked everyone when she walked into their camp dressed in the armor of the Red Mantis. She offered the PCs a deal on behalf of her mysterious master. She promised the PCs a “great reward” in exchange for helping the Red Mantis locate the lost temple of Achaekek in Saventh-Yhi. She claimed the rest of the lost city was theirs to plunder, and that the Red Mantis just want the temple. She then vanished into the night. The PCs are unsure whether to trust her or not.
Jask: Poor Jask. Though the PCs liked him and helped him get out of his irons right away, he got sick early and couldn’t do much to help the PCs. Things got worse for him when the cannibals raided the camp while the PCs were out exploring and abducted the NPCs. Though the other NPCs survived the ordeal, Jask was eaten by the tribesmen.
Pezock: The PCs enjoyed interacting with the half-mad tengu, who helped foster a little comic relief. Well, all of them except for the party's ranger, who just couldn’t bring himself to trust a madman (err, -bird). Pezock remained aloof on the island until the PCs erradicated the cannibals. Then he appeared and offered to let the PCs use his ship to escape the island (he had a cobbled together a barely sea-worthy boat during his stay on the Shiv). The PCs accepted and spent a harrowing four days at sea trying to get to the mainland. After reaching Eleder, Pezock joined Aerys, and the two of them are now scouts for the Shackles Pirate expedition. Pezock has grown very protective of Aerys, his “pretty, featherless bird”.
@Demiurge and Tom Q - well played with the NPCs. Some cool Ideas with Pezock and the castaways.
The players initially made friends with Sasha by getting her the baby dimorphodon (which should have been an egg, I know, but I made a mistake there), but if the party rogue doesn't stop pinging her with pebbles when her back is turned, she might get surly again. (Sigh.)
Jask: Was freed on the first night, and made hostile by a clumsy attempt to win him over on the next morning. Stormed off into the jungle, cursing the PCs for being imperialist oppressors. Ended up being captured by the vegepygmies where he died of their fungal disease and was thrown into the ocean.
Sasha: Made hostile in the first few days, went off into the jungle. The PCs never investigated any dimorphodon nests, so she ended up being fed to baby dimorphodons.
Ishirou: The PCs found the treasure on his map, but he ended up being beheaded by Narak Voad the cannibal wererat before he could teach them any swordplay tricks.
Gelik: The PCs have investigated the fungal island and completed his quest. However, Edward the (LE) half-orc zen archer monk has it in for him after Gelik turned his longbow pink with prestidigitation...
Aerys: After she confided in Ellafaer the half-elf witch about her drinking problem, Ellafaer gave her the potion of remove disease from the wreck and cured her on the first night. She has been having severe morale problems however and has run away from about 90% of the fights.
Pezzock: Attacked the PCs after the cleric botched his attempt to get the tengu onside. The were able to defeat him and he gave up his beloved magic sawtooth sabre in exchange for his life. He is scheming to get it back, however, and now that all the cannibals are dead he has taken over their ambush point to try and capture one of the PCs and trade their life for his sword. Looks like the PCs may not pass that way before they get rescued from the island.
Let's see, my group got all 5 NPCs off the island. They have good relationships with Jask (who became a mentor/sounding board for our tiefling cleric of Pharasma), Sasha, and Aerys.
Ishirou and Gelik they were indifferent on, but did get off the island.
Pezock, the group met peacefully with... Unfortunately for Pezock, Sasha snuck back to the crab house and killed him for the sawtooth sabre... But she has a issue with people she thinks are crazy enough to eventually do her harm.
We've had our second session now. The NPCs are still alive. Aerys got her berries and shared her poetry, which seemed to spark an idea in our fighter, Ben, who started working on his OWN poetry to eventually show to Sasha. Poor guy had a 7 CHA as his dump stat, so actually talking to her didn't help. The poetry did, however, once he'd rolled sufficiently high on his craft check and they are currently sleeping together, to the chagrin of Ben's sister Val, the party rogue.
Sadly, Val is not getting on so well with the NPCs. At all. There is mutual bad blood between her Jask, mostly due to the fact that Ben and Val were transporting him as prisoner back to Sargava and Val was very much the Bad Cop of the pair and was rather, ah, threatening at times. Probably the fact that she kept his weapon even after Jask got the rest of his stuff didn't exactly help.
Things aren't exactly good with Sasha either (combination of Sasha's annoyance at Val for repeatedly pinging her with pebbles for the lulz and Val thinking Sasha was annoying from the start, even before she was sleeping with her brother), plus Ishirou is a little annoyed at her currently for giving her bad advice. And she doesn't get along with Gelik, but to be fair NO ONE likes Gelik, not even the other NPCs.
Well. At least Aerys sort of likes her.
(... and as Ben told her when she was being a bit emo at the end of the session, at least the people actually do anything--by which he meta-gamely meant other the PCs--actually like her.)
For the group I am GMing, Gelik mercilessly picked on the gnome cleric of Gozreh PC. One day when the PC’s were out exploring, the party runs into two dimorphodons eating a meal. The cleric casts speak with animals and tells the dimorphodons that if they want a good meal they can eat the one who looks like him and is dressed in purple back at camp. The next morning Gelik goes out to uh “take care of business” and does not come back. After a while the PC’s search for him and only find his pen and parchment lying scattered on the ground. Since Gelik had made fun of all the PC’s, they are not motivated to look for him and decide to go exploring instead. The two dimorphodons return to the camp the next morning and the gnome cleric promptly casts speak with animals. The dimorphodons tell him that the food they told them to eat tasted horrible. The gnome promises to leave food out for the dimorphodons. This goes on for a couple of days until I had the chupacabra leave two bloodless dimorphodon corpses in the PC’s path – with a gnome skull (or as the PC’s said numbskull to get the last laugh on poor Gelik)