My Changes to RRR - Hargulka's Monster Kingdom

[pennywit]

OK, here's my revised idea for Hargulka and friends. Following Dudemeister's idea that Hargulka is running a kingdom, not just a troll gang, it makes sense to me that he would have something of a ruling council as well as people.

Hargulka will be an Advanced Troll Bard 5/Marshal 3. He will have his Necklace of Fireballs as well as a Ring of Fire Resistance.

Balagrug, a Hill Giant Barbarian, is Hargulka's bodyguard and general yes-man.

Ekgrar, a hobgoblin fighter, leads a the Bonescars, a tribe of hobgoblins that has thrown itn its lot with Hargulka. He is also Hargulka's de facto infantry commander.

Gr'Beb, a crazy goblin alchemist, who is the Grand Muckety-Muck of a group of goblins who scavenge and live on the fringe of Hargulka's society. He's in charge of education (such as it is) in Hargulka's Monster Kingdom.

Bai'Gren, a goblin cavalier. Another prominent goblin leader. In battle, leads a company of goblins mounted on worgs.

Nagrundi, a two-headed Savage (mythic) troll. Unchanged. He often insists on accompanying Hargulka into battles because he considers himself a master strategist.

Kargadd, a rock troll. Given his sunlight allergy (which Hargulka calls his "delicate condition," never leaves the caves. Also serves as a guard for Hargulka's caves.

Sednera, a goblin Witch 5/Archmage 1. Despite her small stature, she's been one of Hargulka's most trusted advisors for years. She handles his money and logistics for the kingdom.

Now, what about unnamed folks? These are Hargulka's resources, organized by monster type:

Trolls. 60. 50 combatants, 10 noncombatant children.

Hill Giants. 5 -- three combatant, 2 noncombatant children.

Hobgoblins. 750 -- 400 combatant, 350 noncombatant wives and children.

Goblins. 500 -- 200 combatant, 300 noncombatant spouses and children

Armies. I don't have stats available immediately, but drawing from the above, Hargulka has the following personnel available for armies:

50 trolls
3 hill giants
400 hobgoblins
200 goblins.

This is a lot of army for early in the AP, but the individual armies themselves are not that large, provided the players meet them with armies of their own.

Over time, the armies might improve with such things as masterwork equipment, healing potions, and such, as Hargulka builds out his kingdom.

Hexes and such. I want my players to feel like leaders of a kingdom, so I want to avoid turning this into an adventure where the parties fight Hargulka's minions in caves, then face him down in his throne room. Instead, they ought to meet on the field of battle.

Shortly after PCs meet Hargulka, his kingdom (starting from his home hex) will expand at the rate of one hex every three months. These hexes will generally be turned into farms, sawmills, or mines (as appropriate).

Farms. These farms, mines, and sawmills are generally worked by human slaves. In a given hex, there will be about 20-25 human slaves, overseen by a troll and five to ten hobgoblins.

Urgleton. The area in front of Hargulka's caves won't just be a trail leading to to the mountain with Hargulka's fortress. This is actually a thriving (sort of) town, Urgleton, with tenements, shops, trash heaps, and so forth.

Taking Urgleton will be a matter of defeating whatever army is there. If Hargulka's armies have been defeated, then any council members remaining will take refuge in Urgleton. If players attack an army-less Urgleton, then Hargulka and his fellows (excepting Korgadd) will not wait in the fortress to kill them. Instead, Hargulka (who is convinced that Nyrissa has given this land to him) will meet the players in Urgleton itself along with whoever remains of his ruling council, and he will battle the players to the death in Urgleton's streets.

Victory Condition. In order to defeat Hargulka's monster kingdom, the players must do more than defeat Hargulka. They must also defeat all of the named PCs above (excepting Kargadd). These individuals make up Hargulka's ruling council.

Each of Hargulka's armies will have one of the named council members commanding it, with Hargulka himself leading an army of trolls as a shock force. During such battles, if PCs can make a DC 25 Perception check, they can attempt to seek out the leader of the opposing forces and dispose of him. If PCs rout an opposing force without defeating the leader, their army will capture the leader, and PCs can do with that leader as they will.

[DundjinnMasta]

I made plans for Hargulka's council to be missing some titles as to apply a bit of a hindrance to the Kingdom. Maybe over time if the PCs don'f react than he will recruit enough monsters to fill out the Council and be a grave threat to the stability of the PC Kingdom.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Yeah, Hargulka shouldn't have a complete council (in my opinion). He has grand ambitions, but is a fairly terrible ruler and doesn't share power lightly.

[pennywit]

Good point; I'm not so much looking at "councilors" as "henchmen."

[pennywit]

Now that we're far enough along in the module, I've used part of this, and it's going alright so far.

At last session:

1) Trolls invaded the Fangberry hex. My players took their army of 200 1st level fighters and took out the trolls.

2) My players interrogated the last remaining troll, so they decided to hightail it down to the trolls' hex and see what's up. Along the way, they rescued Tig, killed Vesket, and told the remaining lizardfolk that they were now under human rule.

3) In the trolls' hex, my players scouted the community via the druid's wild shape. They saw "about 50" trolls (actually closer to 75), a lot of activity, and a host of human slaves. They saw a couple trolls heading out from the community and ambushed 'em. Or ... they tried to. Turned out the trolls were carrying a message from Hargulka to the PCs. He wants to meet the players in one month at Candlemere. If they dont' meet him ... he's going to kill Dovan and Auchs, who are prisoners of the trolls.

Thanks very much for these ideas, Dudemeister. I'm trying to figure out what to do next. Specifically:

1) What does Hargulka want at the Candlemere meeting?

2) How else might Hargulka makes the PCs' lives hell? I want my players to really, really hate Hargulka and his kingdom. I'm thinking an army of trolls might raid another hex or two in a hit-and-fade designed to draw the players out.

I've actually pared back from my grandiose plans above. I don't think Hargulka needs the massive forces above, but I do want some goblin hangers-on, and maybe a couple giants. And some goblin sorcerers, just for the Fire Sneeze spell.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

1) Food. His kingdom doesn't have much in the way of farming, and remember the raid on Fangberry farm was desperation on the troll's part. They wanted something (and someones) to eat. Hargulka will want monthly tributes, 10 BP a month (if that is easy for the PCs to accomplish, then choose a truly unreasonable amount), and he wants it formally recognized that all hexes south of Candlemere are formally recognized as Hargulka's kingdom.

2) When the PCs arrive at Candlemere, have Hargulka arrive with Dovan, and a sack. The sack contains the bones of Auchs. Hargulka's trolls got hungry, but Hargulka was magnanimous enough to save the PCs the bones.
Have Hargulka drive some of the forest monsters North, since the trolls are stripping the forest of resources the monsters come North looking for food, and attack the lizardfolk perhaps, giving the players the Lizardfolk to deal with.

[pennywit]

If the trolls eat Auchs, my players are going to go postal ... that could be a good thing or a bad thing.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

pennywit wrote:

If the trolls eat Auchs, my players are going to go postal ... that could be a good thing or a bad thing.

As a storyteller, the most interesting thing you can do, is the thing the character least wants to happen.

Brian Michael Bendis, on writing Daredevil was asked, something like:
"You've revealed Daredevil's secret identity to the newspapers, and put him through this horrible gauntlet of awful things happening to him. Why do you hate him so much?"
BMB responded with: "Because the most interesting story to tell, is to put the character in a situation they'd least like to be in. I could write a story about Daredevil eating a nice sandwich, but who'd read it?"

I love my players, but as a GM, it's my job to challenge their characters not just physically but emotionally. Make sure Hargulka has plenty of his heavy hitters with him when the PCs meet him at Candlemere.

[pennywit]

Ain't that the truth.

Systemwise, I played around with Hargulka, then decided to keep him as a Troll fighter, but on the Guardian mythic path.

As far as the Candlemere meeting, I think I like your idea of killing Auchs, and of putting my players through the wringer. A couple additions:

1) A vassal kingdom, a group of Erastil-worshipping paladins and such, has set up shop around the Temple of Erastil. They have good relations with my players, and are sworn to their service. They've asked about officially merging realms, but my players didn't address it. Next game, if the two kingdoms haven't merged, they'll receive a message from the Erastil-worshippers asking their liege-lords (my players) for protection (i.e., station an army).

2) At the same time Hargulka meets with the players, one of his armies will raid the vassal kingdom. I'll play out that battle cotemporaneously with the Candlemere meeting.

3) As far as Hargulka's heavy hitters, I'm planning to have Hargulka, two mythic trolls, and a few will o' wisps on hand at the Candlemere meeting. I think that will be enough.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Sounds like fun. Let us know how it turns out.

[pennywit]

Will do. Right now, it looks like RRR is going to have a hell of a finale. My players chased Grigori out of town, then told Dovan, their spymaster, to track him down (which is how Hargulka got hold of Dovan and Auchs). Meanwhile, I've decided that Grigori (for whatever reason) is working for Hargulka, not Irovetti. Aaaand .... several sessions ago (assuming my players were paying attention) Hargulka received a magic flute as a gift from the fairies. Said magic flute, in turn, can awaken the slumbering Talonquake.

[pennywit]

Quick Q. How much XP should the Fangberry attack be worth?

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

By this point in the campaign I'd stopped tracking experience.

But if you do want to give the PCs XP, then the ACR of the Trolls is 1, so that's worth 400 xp. When the players perform the "Retaking the Barn" mission then that's CR 8 and thus worth 4,800 xp.

That's a total of 5,200 xp.

Don't forget to give the troll army their bonus 5 hit points (their hp total should be 9), otherwise the battle will likely be over after a single lucky die roll.

[pennywit]

My players already had that battle. We didn't have the "Retaking of the barn," but there was a scuffle with some will o' wisps. Thx.

[pennywit]

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

Sounds like fun. Let us know how it turns out.

Aargh. The parlay consisted of a mythified Hargulka, two mythic trolls, and four will o' wisps. Hargulka showed up with Dovan and with Auchs' bones. My players were angry with him, and they tried to sneak the casting of some buff spells. Hargulka called them out on it ...

...

And then combat began. It was a long, bloody combat, but my players emerged victorious. Hargulka and company managed to push most of the players into unconsciousness, and a couple into death ... but the druid managed to use his Relentless Healing mythic ability to bring them back from the brink of death.

The party survived (barely) because the druid managed to get creative with his summons and with his wild shape ability.

Simultaneously, Nagrundi attacked a settlement in the PCs' vassal kingdom, but his army was repulsed by an army led by Akiros ... though the vassal kingdom's tiny paladin army was decimated.

The session ended with Hargulka's head speechifying briefly, and a cutscene of Grigori with a magic flute awakening the mythic Talonquake. Talonquake promptly Grigori and crushed the flute.

Here's what we're left with:

A) The trolls still have their redoubt, but the main troll force has been defeated. This leaves about 25-30 trolls and their goblin hangers-on.

B) The Talonquake is at large.

What happens next?

First, there's the small matter of the mythic Talonquake. In my notes, he's going to rage through about one hex per week for the first week, then he's going to settle back and become a kingdom event until the players kill him.

Second, there's the matter of the trolls. I think Nagrundi is a natural to lead the remaining trolls in a last-ditch pillaging and war effort against the PCs' kingdom, but leftover trolls and goblins will make their way to Pitax. As an aside, I think they're going to take most of Hargulka's treasury with them.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Ah the joys of a sandbox. This is a feature not a bug. At this point the players just need to do some clean up. Perhaps explore the near abandoned Hargulka capital. Give your players some time to finish Talonquake and continue building the kingdom.

[pennywit]

Yeah, and i think it'll be fun. By the way, thanks for this awesome addition to RRR. It's created a much more dynamic module than "Trolls raid your border, and Hargulka waits in his throne room for you to come kill him."

I think that for the trolls' capital, I'm going to reward my players by making the battle a bit easier now that Hargulka's dead. I'm tempted to have the "central command" be Nagrundi backed by a goblin witch. I can't shake the image of this little goblin witch cackling as she hexes the players.

[pennywit]

We finished the last bit of the aborted Troll War arc today, and it ended in an interesting way. I had originally planned for the Talonquake to attack while my players were laying siege to the troll settlement, but given that my players slew Hargulka at parlay in Candlemere, that wasn't going to happen. My players instead faced down a mythified Talonquake on the shores of the Tuskwater. After a battle that included no small amount of aerobatics, my players dropped TQ, then backtracked to his lair to clean it out.

The troll front ... was kind of interesting. After pumping Dovan for information about the troll settlement, my players realized that if they attacked it, they'd be in for a hell of a siege. They were confident their armies could take on the remaining trolls on an open battlefield, but not so confident that they could do a protracted siege. So ...

My players took an army and 2BP of livestock to the troll settlement. They offered the two-headed Nagrundi (and his goblin witch advisor) a deal: The trolls' human slaves in exchange for 2BP worth of livestock. The baroness, with her mythic ability Display of Charisma, rolled some ungodly Diplomacy numbers, and an exchange was made.

As we close out RRR, things are fairly satisfactory for my as a GM. My players have a hard-earned victory to their credit, and I, as the GM, have an antagonist I can pull off of ice at sometimes in the future. After all, a troll settlement at the edge of the players' territory isn't something that will just go away.

[kadance]

Perhaps Mivon will get mad that the players' kingdom is allowing a hive of dangerous monsters to flourish on their border...

[IdiotDogBrain]

I just used Dudemeisters ideas and the PCs met Hargulka in the Sootscale caverns. I played him up as the most eloquent troll ever thanks to the crown given to him by the fairy queen.

A few days later the characters stumbled over a Shambling Mound attaching "Hargulkas empire. No humans allowed" signs to trees at the border of the characters kingdom. They had long and fun conversation with the thing, even though it cant speak and I only talked with improvised sign language and groans.

Yet another few days later they encountered a troll scout in the south, finished it off with a fireball, feared that the whole troll empire heard the explosion and rode straight back to theyr capital out of fear to get overrun by angry trolls.

Now the chars are sending their first army to the south are preparing another one and completely left their construction schedule behind (the player of our king is a project developer for an international facility acquisition company and always has a two year build plan including simulations of build point revenue and progress charts and stuff) and are fortifiying the stag lords fort and the sootscales lair.

All the while Ghlaunders rot spreads to one of the kingdoms settlements, but there is no money for the sick anymore. War is coming.

I think my players are pretty spooked. Thanks for the great ideas DM!

[pennywit]

Turns out the troll war isn't quite finished in my campaign. We spent all of last session kingdom-building, about half a year of claiming hexes and setting up buildings.

The Troll Twist:

Meanwhile, I implemented something I'd toyed with a little bit -- after my players killed Hargulka and decimated the troll armies, enacting a cold peace with Nagrundi, the troll settlement has attracted new monsters. Over time, the troll settlement is going to become a majority goblinoid settlement.

After a few months of kingdom-building, my players sent Dovan (who now wants to eradicate the trolls) down to the Troll kingdom to scout it out. After he narrowly escaped the troll patrols' attention, my players learned that the trolls were planning to raid the lizardfolk settlement.

My players moved an army down to the lizardfolk ... and then things got interesting. I wasn't sure what elements I wanted to introduce with the battle, so I lay four Plot Twist cards face down in front of a player and told him to pick one. He flipped over "Hidden Secret."

Battle!! The players' army, a group of rangers (around 200 of them), did battle with the trolls. The Kingdom army was making a pretty good accounting of itself, although the trolls' regeneration kept them in the fray.

Then .... the hidden secret: BETRAYAL!! A lizardfolk army emerged from hiding and ambushed the Kingdom army. Outnumbered and out-sworded, the Kingdom Army fell.

I've statted up a couple armies for the troll settlement:

* An army of troll berserkers, all that remain of Hargulka's trolls;
* An army of goblin irrregulars; and,
* An army of hobgoblin cavaliers.

I realized the other day that the Dancing Lady's tower has stood vacant for about eight months ... and I think a hobgoblin troop (or possibly some bugbears) will take up residence there.

[Inneliese]

So... I've been focusing mostly on Candlemere, Vordakai, and Irovetti the past couple of weeks, but I returned my attention to Hargulka today and had a thought. What if I rebuild Hargulka as a Skald?

Certainly the oral traditions implied by a skald would fit for trolls, and a charismatic troll who could inspire fellow trolls into a rage would make for a pretty effective warlord... but also one who could be quite eloquent and convincing when needed. Hargulka could therefore engage in actual diplomacy with factions like the kobolds and lizardfolk, rather than relying on the intimidation factor of being, well, a troll.

I've also been considering updating various other characters to APG/ACG classes, such as Auchs as a brawler or Malgorzata as a witch.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

If you do update Hargulka to a Skald make sure he has some troll allies to enrage with his bard song.

[Spatula]

I gave Hargulka an advisor in the form of a green hag bard. I have 6 players, so that was instead of giving him another level to increase the CR of the encounter.

Later on I decided to give him a whole allied hag coven to play up Gyronna's influence in book 2. So in addition to the green hag bard, there's a river (sea) hag witch, and an annis hag warpriest of Gyronna. The players have yet to run into any of them yet. I was planning on the bard introducing herself and announcing the existence of Hargulka's kingdom when they go back for the next kingdom turn. But they just picked a fight with the lizardfolk village and I might have the witch show up there if things start to go south for Vesket's warriors.

[pennywit]

IMC, Hargulka's dead, but his kingdom's remained with goblinoid and troll citizens. My players negotiated with Nagrundi (their new leader) a couple times and kept him hemmed in with military might, but didn't want to take the troll capital without siege engines.

Wanted to get some feedback on what I'm doing.

The Story So Far:

To set up VV, I decided to introduce a new religious faction: the Cult of the Red Eye, a group that worships Vordakai as a god, though they don't know him by that name. As my players hemmed in the Monster Kingdom, the Red Eye gained popularity among the monsters, who are having problems with food. Sacrifice yourself to the Red Eye, and you get a new life. Some hobgoblins have fled to Fangwood Keep (relocated to the Mivonese border for my purposes) and just want to be left alone. Meanwhile, the Monster Kingdom is slowly becoming an Undead Kingdom.

Nagrundi (the putative king) took advice from a goblin witch named Brocatta. Slowly, she's gained influence while Nagrundi has become a pathetic figurehead(s), leading the community in name only.

My players have not really engaged against the trolls and goblins, so last session, I up the stakes. In addition to usual kingdom-building events, each month there's a chance that the trolls/goblins/undead assault one hex. Last session ended with an attack on my players' capital by a small army of skeletons led by a divine (mythic) troll. My players pretty easily repulsed the attack, although the magister is currently a bird. Don't taunt the enemy general, folks.

He kept his magister's brain, so he flew back to the troll city to do some reconnaissance. I described for the magister a pretty hopeless situation for the goblins/trolls, but one where the undead are becoming more dominant under the command of Brocatta and Deska-Tur (the enemy general above).

So, here's ...

What Comes Next:

I think my players will be ready to assault the monster city (named Urgleton) next session. I'm thinking of running the siege this way (no stats here).

Assuming my players attack in daylight, the goblin/troll forces will include:

* A rather large army of skeletons (mix of goblin and troll, homogenized as a mass of undead);
* A small army of trolls
* A small army of goblin alchemists.

I assume my players would use siege engines and stick with their ranged troops at first. The mosnters, meanwhile, would use ranged attacks from their alchemists, but send out the skeletons and trolls to do battle.

Now, comes the tricky part. I think my players will be strong and/or clever enough to take down the enemy in mass combat. That's not hard. I'm thinking of the following sequence after mass combat is over:

1. Players move in to conquer the city.
2. Players move up to fort, and encounter Nagrundi and a few living trolls still inside the fort. During this final combat, Nagrundi's going to be crying a LOT.
3. After night falls, the REAL combat begins. An army (not sure how many) of vampire spawn break out of hiding to attack the players' army, commanded by Brocatta (now a mythic vampire). This would be the REAL BBEG battle my players have been looking for, played out in the streets of Urgleton (which I will have to detail somehow), with my players moving through difficult terrain (crowded city streets with lots of fighting), occasionally having to deal with vampire spawn, until they catch up to her. I'd run this battle between players and BBEG at the same time as a battle between armies (resolving that as mass combat).
4. Brocatta will do her darnedest to escape if combat goes badly for her and for her spawn.

Does this sound like a good plan? Any suggestions about it?

[T.A.U.]

IMC the party is now at the beginning of RRR, ad I'll heavily use what's in this thread together with a Mythic version of Hargulka and some others additions. Thank you Dudemeister!

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

pennywit wrote:

IMC, Hargulka's dead, but his kingdom's remained with goblinoid and troll citizens. My players negotiated with Nagrundi (their new leader) a couple times and kept him hemmed in with military might, but didn't want to take the troll capital without siege engines.

Wanted to get some feedback on what I'm doing.
** spoiler omitted **

So, here's ...

** spoiler omitted **...

This is pretty far off book so there's not too much feedback I can give you. I've run Mass Combats concurrently with regular combats before and it's always been fun for my group.

Let us know how it goes.

[pennywit]

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

pennywit wrote:

IMC, Hargulka's dead, but his kingdom's remained with goblinoid and troll citizens. My players negotiated with Nagrundi (their new leader) a couple times and kept him hemmed in with military might, but didn't want to take the troll capital without siege engines.

Wanted to get some feedback on what I'm doing.
** spoiler omitted **

So, here's ...

** spoiler omitted **...

This is pretty far off book so there's not too much feedback I can give you. I've run Mass Combats concurrently with regular combats before and it's always been fun for my group.

Let us know how it goes.

I'm not sure whether my players went off-book or I went off-book first. It's a sandbox. Wheeeee!!

[Galeazzo]

Finally PCs faced Hargulka's army… and they lost!

First of all: thank you Dudemeister; this adventure enhancement helped me a lot to give a soul to Hargulka, the trolls and all the southern green belt, plus beating down a little my Arrogant Evil (new alignment for them) PCs, so strong that they have no rival in a fight (they actually embraced the idea of killing an entire army of trolls with their hands).

First PCs lost an army against a tiny army of trolls. The two armies killed each other, but PCs could win the battle by killing the remaining trolls on the battlefield. Then, in front of Hargulka's village, their defeat. A memorable defeat with hundreds of deaths. Now they have to decide what to do next: they have no more armies, they have to partially rebuild a reign shattered by war, and with about 50 trolls lurking in the south. I'm sure they will think up something, while I have Christmas holidays to decide Hargulka's next step. There are many elements to use: an almost destroyed lizardfolk village and their fugitive spirit, angry trolls, rescued hostages, etc.

This is my experience, until now, I wanted to share with you. I hope to share more about this module and the following ones. Meanwhile, any ideas about Hargulka's plans are welcome!

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Awesome. I'm off to GM a Jade Regent game right now, but I'll come back to you with thoughts soon.

[Rathendar]

My group has voted Kingmaker as their next AP of choice for me to run them through when they finish The Savage Tide(2 chaps to go!). I have started my refresher perusal and subsystem tinkering that i always do, and wanted to let you know that i like the ideas you have here as revisions to book 2. Thanks for taking the time to post them here for us!

[Galeazzo]

I thought about it and here is what i got in mind.

Hargulka's move:

Quote:

Finally PCs faced Hargulka's army… and they lost!
[…]
First PCs lost an army against a tiny army of trolls. The two armies killed each other, but PCs could win the battle by killing the remaining trolls on the battlefield. Then, in front of Hargulka's village, their defeat. A memorable defeat with hundreds of deaths. Now they have to decide what to do next: they have no more armies, they have to partially rebuild a reign shattered by war, and with about 50 trolls lurking in the south. I'm sure they will think up something, while I have Christmas holidays to decide Hargulka's next step. There are many elements to use: an almost destroyed lizardfolk village and their fugitive spirit, angry trolls, rescued hostages, etc.

Hargulka's goal remains the same: expel humans from the greenbelt, steal their city, find food. He will never attack the city directly with his army, it's too dangerous and he is too weak. He prefers to attract PCs' army outside and wait for the owlbear to do the dirty work. Maybe his tactics are not perfect, but this is good, since he is not so intelligent.

I divided events to make them coincide with kingdom events, replacing them, month after month. They are increasingly serious events, which should spur the players to action. First phase coincides with the first phase after the PCs' defeat.

Phase 1: the Will-o'-wisp
After the battle, trolls fed with human corpses in front of their lair, this can satisfy them for a little time. Hargulka knows PCs are weaker now, but he doesn't know if they have further armies in the city. Lizardfolk's will-o'-wisp, escaped from the village [players don't know what happened there, and they don't even know about the will-o'-wisp, just about a mysterious spirit], contacts him and he proposes him to make remaining lizardfolk slaves so he can replace lost slaves. At the end of the phase Hargulka, with the help of the Will-o'-wisp, convinced lizardfolk to work for him: this is the only way, according to Stisshak, lizardfolk can recover from the war and save their king [captured by PCs]. If PCs visit the hex, they find the lizardfolk village desert, the hex teems with trolls that settled here in a place strategically advantageous (+2 DV), fortified with lizardfolk work.

Phase 2: Guerrilla
The army of 50 trolls, guided by Hargulka, moves to the hex next to the southernmost hex of the PCs' kingdom [Which is right next to Lizardfolks village, on the hooktongue lake] (Loyalty check to spot their position). A small contingent, half a dozen trolls, is sent to loot the hex on the right. Will-o'-wisp warns the trolls (he can fly really fast) if PCs or an army is coming, so the contingent can withdraw among their companions and then together towards Hargulka's lair. Their hope is to attract the PCs' army deep in the forest, in their lair preferably, where they can easily be defeated, and let the owlbear do its work.
Trolls contingent behave like a Monster Attack event (+4 Unrest if not resolved). Plus, a Loyalty check is needed to avoid a +2 Unrest due to the fear of the troll army.
If PCs send an army, trolls withdraw. If PCs go alone [my players think they can beat an entire army, recently] troll explorers tend an ambush in a fishery, to allow the army to get closer and ambush the PCs from the hills.

Phase 3: Kobolds' spirit
The will-o'-wisp replicates his strategy used with the lizardfolk: he acts as an ancient spirit of a dragon, the legendary Druma, and incites kobolds to rebellion, to take back their dignity [they are friends with the PCs]. A fight among kobolds arises, Chief Sootscale is imprisoned with his allies, while the rebels, considering him responsible for Druma's reproach, try to gather the kobolds under a single flag to create an army.
The event is considered as a Monster Attack, in fact some men working in the mine have lost their lives. Meanwhile, trolls continue their tactics, depending on the previous event evolution.

Saving the Chief
The same night PCs know about kobolds situation, Mikmek sneaks into the castle to wake them up. He tells them about what happened with Druma and Chief's misfortune, and how he escaped. He asks for help to avoid further deaths for his people. He says Varran, trap expert and rebels' chief, decided to kill Chief Soothscale if PCs don't pay a 5 BP ransom within the month.
Sneaking in to save the Chief is the best way to save him, if they don't want to pay the ransom. The main entrance is barricaded, and is continuously surveilled, secondary entrance is surveilled by a couple of distracted kobolds. The Chief is imprisoned in a new area, beyond Y5, which expands parallel to the long left corridor. Saving the Chief or paying the ransom doesn't make the Unrest increase.

Phase 4: degeneration
If PCs have successfully saved Chief Soothscale and deposed Varran, Druma loses his grasps on kobolds. If Varran keeps leading the kobolds, and the ransom has not been paid, Chief Soothscale has been put under trial and executed on the last day of the month, under Druma's suggestion. Plus, Varran prepares an army (see Ultimate Campaign example army) at the service of Hargulka. This army settles in the hex, and it works as a Monster Attack event. Trolls keep their strategy until they can plan a coordinated attack with the help of the kobolds.

[Keydan]

Ok... so we finally started RRR. I gave my guys 7 months of downtime to get the kingdom going...

Long ago I decided that I will adapt a few points from "Hargulka's Monster Kingdom" into my game, with a bunch of changes, to fit the narrative I am trying to build.

So Mikmer (who is Sootscale's eldest son in my game) came into town one night, and tried to get though to PCs, got caught, and brought to see the council.

He asked everyone to go and see Sootscale, to talk about relations and something about some trolls wanting to speak to Sootcale, and he would liked PCs to be there.

They came, tried to honey-up the kobolds with gifts, praise, promises... around evening came Hargulka.

Now, we have 6 characters, a Wizard, a Magus, a Witch, a Cleric, a Monk and a Barbarian, all rolled for stats, all had optimized builds. I converted Hargulka into a Druid to fit the story I was going for, added afew levels of fighter, so made him a good boss for the end of the chapter, send the two-headed troll as well, and troll-guard with 2 Warrior levels. Added 2 Trollhounds, and thought "now this is intimidating".

They killed them. The party killed all but one troll who managed to escape. Sure it was bloody and hard. And they probably would have died if the slumber hex wouldn't have disabled one of the trolls for a few rounds. But the CR of the encounter was APL+6.

And they won, 2 players were below 0, others - badly beaten, they used up a powerful artifact but still they WON... Poor Kargadd is all alone now...

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Welcome to the Sandbox. I did put the suggestion of Hargulka collapsing the cavern if battle broke out. Still there is still things you can do.

By this point Hargulka has collected a small army of trolls, and without Hargulka's discipline and rationing to hold them back raids on the PC's kingdom are going to get more common. The troll armies might be undisciplined but will be more desperate and cruel. Also there are some trolls you could promote to leadership roles.

Even so, your players did well, and I'm sure they had fun. The adventure as written will still be enjoyable I'm sure.

[Keydan]

Yeah, I am going to play it as though Big H was the one thing that kept all those trolls on their leash, and they kind of understood the concepts Big H taught them, so they will start rampaging as soon as word reaches them. Divide into 3-5 bands, with distinct leaders and terrorize the countryside. Kargadd will be the keeper of the old dwarven outpost for for now.

N won't be pleased with thios developement as well. She underestimated the settlers twice now. That, and I am playing as thought N is acting though agents. She brokered an alliance with a dozen local Hags, who have more influence in the region than any other creature. Even among human communities. I introduced an Arcane University of sorts, in Restov, whose secret headmaster is an evil Hag as well.

Good thing is, it doesn't really change the story in any way, RRR is the most open-ended of all the chapters I have read so far.

[Galeazzo]

I want to share my RRR finale here, since so much of our story developed from this enhancement.

Spoiler:

• Hargulka is dead, using the strategy that I explained in the post above, even if I'm a bit unsatisfied by it because it sounded a bit artificial.
  
• Kobolds have been destroyed in combat. Chief Soothscale, political refugee, has been killed during the owlbear attack. Mikmek is in volountary exile, maybe he will come back later somewhen during the adventure.
  
• Lizardfolk have been exterminated by PCs, even the last lizardfolk slaves.

Best Revelation Character: Stisshak. He led two population to death, he abandoned the trolls, and now he is frequenting PCs, attracted by their malice. Moreover, inspired by Centaure Graveyard Trust Score, I started an experiment, tracking Stisshak trust score, giving PCs evil quests, to see where they push before understanding what real evil is.

And, since I loved Centaur Graveyard Trust Score so much, I created various political and religious parties, each one with its own trust score and different goals. Players are struggling to make them happy, trying to obtain benefits from them. If the experiment goes well I will write a thread on it. Wait for more on Centaur Graveyard thread, I'm sure the story will develop in something unexpected.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Fantastic, love the idea for trust scores for various factions. Congratulations to the party and their kingdom for weathering Hargulka's attack.

[RobRendell]

My players met Hargulka at the Monstrous Feast last night. I felt it went very well, although in slightly unexpected directions.

The paladin in the party was very restrained - he didn't start smiting on sight, given that Chief Sootscale had extended hospitality to *all* his guests. However, when Hargulka and the Baron (a LN bard and worshipper of Abadar) started to discuss boundaries and trade between their realms, the paladin objected to making deals with Evil, and challenged Hargulka to a duel outside.

The terms of the duel were wrangled - Hargulka would try not to kill the paladin, and the paladin wouldn't use fire or acid (and no outside interference, obviously). The party's witch started up a betting pool with the Sootscales, and the baron made a personal 50 gp wager with Hargulka as to the paladin winning (although he didn't have much hope for that). They also agreed that if the paladin won, the player's Barony would own the land north of the Little Sellen river, but if he lost the Monster Kingdom would own the land south of the Gudrun River. The baron even managed to fast-talk Nagrundi into wagering something, and Nagrundi put down his

pretty rock:

dusky rose prism ioun stone

betting that Hargulka would win.

The Sootscales marked out a 40 foot circle using lit torches in the evening gloom, and everyone watched while the paladin was beaten into unconsciousness in four rounds. Hargulka kept his fists closed so he didn't use his claws and sucked on the -4 penalty for dealing non-lethal damage, and still trounced the paladin (who admittedly was rolling abysmally).

With the paladin unconscious, negotiations of territory on the west side of the Greenbelt and trade resumed. The Sootscales stayed as "free members" of the players' Barony, but Hargulka got an agreement about boundaries between the realms and a trade agreement. The Baron came away feeling that Hargulka was very honourable and "evil is as evil does".

So, now I have to decide how Hargulka's kingdom is going to progress with regular shipments of food coming from the players' barony, and also what he might send up north in trade. Also, Grigori is going to love this :)

[Chuckbab]

That is... unexpected!

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

FAN-tastic.

Too me Hargulka is someone who bites off more than he can chew. With the influx of food and supplies, Hargulka might recruit even more trolls and giants to his banner. Again outstripping what he can provide. Hungry rogue trolls or giants might start raiding nearby farms, perhaps even against Hargulka's wishes.

He also captures travellers and traders coming North from Mivon, enslaving them to build his kingdom. When the players find out about this they may want to renegotiate terms. Remember slavery is against the most important River Freedoms and trading with a slave taking nation of monsters may jeopardise diplomatic relations with other river kingdoms and Restov.

In any case sounds like a fantastic session, can't wait to find out how the rest of the adventures pan out.

[Philip Knowsley]

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

FAN-tastic.

+1

[RobRendell]

Thanks - excellent suggestions!

I'm also wondering how safe the traders from the players' Barony will be when delivering goods. Hargulka doesn't want to mess with the trade deal at this point, but how disciplined are his troops? I wouldn't be surprised if some... unfortunate incidents happen at some point.

Would it be too cruel to have the trade goods that the trolls send north in payment for the food be the minor magic items and personal wealth of the enslaved immigrants from the River Kingdoms that they're collecting? That will really sting when the players eventually find out. The Paladin might never trust the Baron again :)

I could also tell that my players were going to explore the entire Greenbelt map in fairly short order - they were alternating kingdom turns with a bit of exploration, and probably would have uncovered the whole map within the first year. Now that there are defined boundaries between the Monster Kingdom and their Barony, I'm hoping the psychological barrier of "that's Monster Kingdom territory!" will keep them out of that part of the map for a bit longer.

Thank you so much for this whole concept of a proactive Monster Kingdom, Dudemeister! It really does look like it will turn RRR up to 11, lifting it from something enjoyable into something really memorable.

[Chuckbab]

RobRendell wrote:

Would it be too cruel to have the trade goods that the trolls send north in payment for the food be the minor magic items and personal wealth of the enslaved immigrants from the River Kingdoms that they're collecting?

Yes, it would.

So you absolutely have to do it.

[Norin d'orien]

sooo..
yesterday my players did something a bit out of the expected...
they killed hargulka at the kobolds' dinner.
sure the asmodean cleric died (only because i ruled that the trolls would not get down untill they'd reach negative CON in hp..tough i must say the conflagration of the necklace would have killed him anyway), and akiros (now a cohort for the baroness) got severely hammered by nagrundi.. still they managed to overpower the trolls.
I've already played the boggard and the lizardfolks scenarios..
now the questions:
considering that my players are just shy of 8th level (being a group of three and using the fast advancement track has its drawbacks from a GM perspective), should i stick with the plot line and keep the rock troll (maybe adding a couple fighter levels) as a new-risen boss for the trolls? should i rule that the armies disband and only said troll remain in the lair, essentially using the dwarven outpost as written in the AP? any suggestion is highly apreciated!

[Chuckbab]

Or maybe Hargulka's authority was the only thing preventing hordes of hungry trolls rushing north in search of food?

I also think I would create 3 or 4 "lesser Hargulkas" all claiming to be the rightful heir of their original warlord and waging war in the south to reunite the now-disbanded Monster Kingdom.

[pennywit]

Wouldn't it be something if wily ol' Sootscale brought some of the trolls under his thumb?

No trolls are going to submit to a kobold chieftain's authority. However, if Sootscale promises some of the trolls security and shelter, then maybe he'll have some allies who'll be handy later down the road.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

I'd have some smaller rampages along the kingdom's southern borders. Without Hargulka to unite them, there's nothing stopping the trolls from playing to type and raiding farms for food and fun.

[pennywit]

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

I'd have some smaller rampages along the kingdom's southern borders. Without Hargulka to unite them, there's nothing stopping the trolls from playing to type and raiding farms for food and fun.

And profit!!!

[Norin d'orien]

I'm going with the rampages, and follow the attack on fangberry, trapped slaves and dungeon almost exactly as written..
since my players ar almost at 8th level i want to shrink the end of the chapter.
the slave camp is going to get pushed together with the trapped slaves (among the slaves there will be one of my players mother and his future cohort). before that there will be the attack on fangberry farm.
lastly the dungeon and the owlbear (tough i think i'll just erease all those xp pignatas in the lair...)..

[Norin d'orien]

The game went almost as planned.

the players met Maegar Varn ans his happy gang of adventurers. 4-5 months of K. building followed, most notably leading to the construction of the castle where staggy's fort used to be!

After that during a tournament in wich maegar and the ranger of the group were competing in the archery final (i made him a Ranger 8)
they received the news of the attack. preparation delirium followed (shall we summon a devil to help? damn asmodeans..).

the kingdom army blasted away the troll army in the ranged phase, ending the fight with not a single casualty! Maegar warn was with them as well and contributed.

the interrogation was followed by swift execution by the ranger/warden player and the group set with their now high in their hopes army to set siege to hargulka's.

the slave scenery was condensed with the hostage one and the players found it rather interesting for they were truly afraid of hurting the slave (even the asmodean priest, for his mother was among them...long story).

after that the army annihilated the trolls again in the shooting phase. man are those rules silly.
the players decided to rest ouitside and thus advanced to level 8th.

NOw, i think that all the trolls will be escaping at night (one will be awakening the owlbear) but for the rocky one.
In my game stisshak escaped and is now hiding in the fortress..nyrissa will meld the two creatures to create a single monstrous advanced troll with high AC and immunity to magic! during the fight he will be treathening the players and say what hargulka was supposed to say. alternatively they can still be two different creatures, but stisshak might actuallyt escape again! what do you think?