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Cool! Thanks for sharing! Any new paper mini pics?
There has to be some for the next session! The Argorth! :)
Im looking forward to the next session, cause theyll end up fighting Black Magga when the dam breaks. Im going to foreshadow it a bit with local folklore, and when the giant nightbelly boa attacks, have one of the school children scream that its Black Magga. Once the snake is dead, one of Black Magga's tentacles will slither in and start the real battle. Should be fun.
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Cool! Thanks for sharing! Any new paper mini pics?
There has to be some for the next session! The Argorth! :)
Ive had the Magga cut out and all ready to go for awhile now. Ive also downloaded the roar of the T-rex from the first Jurrasic Park on my phone which will get played whenever it first pops up.
I know that this AP is full of journals and whatnot but you might plant a commander's log book of some kind where the old boss of the Black Arrows records among other things that Kaven had been disciplined more than once for going AWOL and gambling at the Paradise Barge (perhaps with a note that he has some suspected romantic relationship with the owner). That log would also note later on that Kaven uncharacteristically (favourably, interpreted by the commander as a change for the better in K's disposition) volunteered to be on the long range patrol right before the attack.
That sounds pretty good. I think I might do just that. Id planned on a number of months passing for winter with them being stuck in the Turtleback/Rannick area, and then pick the plot back up in the spring.
Im also entertaining the idea of having the PCs defend the Fort from Barl and the rest of his forces, instead of having them all sitting passively in the caves.
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Couple questions and a comment:
1) Did you post a link to your Black Magga? (my email's in my profile if you want to exchange that kind of stuff)
2) Are they all 8th level now? Were they mixed 7th/8th when they hit the fort the first time?
3) It'd be believable enough for the PCs to find a defiled logbook at the bottom of some ogre-garbage or something - explains why they find it in their off-time.
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I didnt post the stats Im going to use for Magga. I think another board member emailed them to me, but I'll email them to you tomorrow.
5 level 8s, 1 level 7, 1 level 6. The level 6 just recently switched characters just cause, so he took the 10% exp penalty from the lowest party member, who was 7 at the time.
Actually, the 6 and 7 might have leveled the other night. Not sure.
They were all level 7 (the 5 that attended) when they attacked the fort. I drastically increased the number of ogres in the yard and added Erylium and Malfeshnekor, but the PCs were aided by Orik, Shelalu, and two of the Black Arrows.
I'm about to run the retaking of Fort Rannik this weekend. 5 PCs (one guy has to work though) plus 5 NPCs: Shelelu, Orik (who they were delivering to carry out his sentence of life with the Black Arrows), Jakardros, Vale and Kaven. That's 10 characters, 5 PCs at 7th level, the rest around 5-6th.
Now if only I had time to finish painting those ogre minis I bought roughly 2 years ago...
I'm using the paper minis as either rank 'n' file ogres or for the named ogres that I don't get painted by Saturday. I really like having "official" paper minis, because if nothing else, they look like the character they are meant to represent, so no more "Lincolnhead" armies or "this d4 is really an orc" nonsense.
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I'm using the paper minis as either rank 'n' file ogres or for the named ogres that I don't get painted by Saturday. I really like having "official" paper minis, because if nothing else, they look like the character they are meant to represent, so no more "Lincolnhead" armies or "this d4 is really an orc" nonsense.
Is that an endorsement?
;-)
I'm using the paper minis as either rank 'n' file ogres or for the named ogres that I don't get painted by Saturday. I really like having "official" paper minis, because if nothing else, they look like the character they are meant to represent, so no more "Lincolnhead" armies or "this d4 is really an orc" nonsense.
Is that an endorsement?
;-)
It might be, but we'll have to wait until the pics are taken and posted to be sure!
Speaking of posting pictures.....
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Next session is this coming Saturday. Ive been thinking over if I want to alter the timeline of the book any. Also thinking of possibly sending a few of the players letters from the Pathfinder Society, asking them to join.
Not sure if I want to bother, though, or what all I should go into with it. Have any of you done something similar?
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My Bard has multiclassed into Pathfinder Chronicler. He did archaeological research in the Catacombs of Wrath and wrote his Pathfinder dissertation on that. Maybe a follow-up visit from an academic would be fun.
I haven't done anything with it yet but I was thinking in vague terms of having them supply a list of suspected lost cities or something - maybe a list of the Thassilonian cities and vague (incorrect?) indications about the borders or something. Maybe a top 10 lost knowledge/locations of the past of which Xin-Shalast is one (Saventh-Yi'd be another, I dunno).
Not exactly sure where to go with that but I like to give mini quests for those PCs that choose to have non-party associations and it'd be good to plant the Xin.
What timeline alterations do you have in mind?
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Since my group is in late fall/early winter now, I had thought about having them spend the winter in Rannick/ Turtleback, and then pushing the dam break until the spring, possibly getting the players to attribute it to the spring thaw instead of sabotage. The biggest gripe Ive heard about this book is the 'How are the players supposed to reach the town from the fort in time to help with the flood', and this would at least give me a chance of having them already in the town when the flood waters come.
I think that would work rather well, but I cant imagine Barl and the rest of the Kreegs sitting by for a few months having not heard from the ogres they sent to take the Fort. Sooner or later, I would think they would send someone to check it out, which would then give away to the players that there are other monsters in the area an they need to go up into the mountains to check it out, which would then accelerate the timeline back to its original state. Of course, I could say they have shown up months later, too, I suppose...
I am going to have them find a letter Lucretia had been writing to Mokmurian about the success of taking the fort, and her success at 'marking' nearly half the town of Turtleback, though she wont give a clue as to why that was important.
Dont know that itll work, but itll give possibilities of not needing to have Barl give the name to the PCs, and possibly tricking the players into thinking that Barl is Mokmurian.
I made it clear from the day they came to Turtleback Ferry that there was an ominous raincloud hovering over Hook Mountain for the past couple of weeks. The group just retook the fort, and without prodding they plan on checking out either the Hook or the dam. They already beat Lucretia and investigated the sunken barge/drowned bodies, so they have a pretty good idea of what her plan was.
Once at the dam, I intend for them to see Black Magga going over the top and a continuous flow of water spilling down. They can either fight the ogres right then, or race the wave back to the town (remember, there is still a LOT of water coming through that breach) and save townspeople/fight the Magga then.
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Session 15: "I babble incoherently."
Everyone was in attendance for the second half of the session, but Quinn didnt show up til after the encounter with the Black Magga. Pretty much everyone started on the same level as last time.
Session begins right where the last one left off, with the party standing over the bodies of Lucretia and Kaven. They search and loot the room, finding a note in the process. Adressed to Mokmurian from Lucretia, which she just hadnt sent on its way yet, since the Fort was under attack. Pretty well, it told them that she had 'marked' nearly half the town, and had gotten the information from 'one little fish' that got 'hooked', meaning Kaven, for how to bring down the fort. I dont think they got that part, but whatever. They discussed who 'Lord Mokmurian' could be before using Knowledge checks. I gave them that it was generally a male name for a stone giant who is a spellcaster', which they werent pleased to here. Im hoping to confuse them with Barl, and think they have taken Mokmurian out, but I'll have to wait to see how that goes.
Anyway, after heading back to town, the villagers thank them for stopping the ogres, and beg them to stay til Magnimar sends someone else to occupy the fort to protect them. The agree, and send Quinn, since he wasnt there yet, off to Magnimar to ask for troops and aid. Fast forward a few weeks while he is gone, and he brings back word that Magnimar will send aid, but cant get it there before winter sets in, so they would like the Heroes of Sandpoint to watch over the town til Spring.
Fast forward a couple of months. Shelalu leaves with Jakardos. vale leaves. Orik stays to help with fort repairs. Supplies come, as does mail from Sandpoint and Magnimar:
~The group receives a letter stating that money (a vague large amount) is sent to Sandpoint in each of the party member's names, and that they are now considered honorary members of the Magnimarian guard. No responsibilities, but some benefits.
~ Alanna received a letter from the Venture Captain of the Pathfinder Society who is stationed in Magnimar. She wants Alanna to apply for PFS agent status, by sending them her research from the Catacombs of Wrath. (When Alanna hit level 9 this session, she took it in Pathfinder Delver.)
~ Desba got a letter from Ameiko that asked how they had been, and was generally friendly. Since no one really has any romantic relationship with any Sandpoint person, I figured I could try to give Desba a bff, so there is at least one person with someone there to help tie the group to the town.
~Alek got a letter from his brother, who is searching for him to bring him back to their home in Cheliax, either alive or dead.
I found a really long character background survey thing on the Johnn Four website, and offered bonus exp if a player completed it. Two did, so I decided to use a bit of Alek's, since he put the work into it. Im thinking I might integrate him into the story someplace later, but Im not sure where.
~ Quinn received two letters. First one was from his concerned mother, who told him he was making his father sick with worry and to come home soon. The second was from his father that said "Your mother exagerates. Im not sick. Do what you have to. PS. Give 'em hell." He got a pretty good laugh out of it.
One day, after the spring thaw has set in and the rains resumed, part of the dam breaks, the town starts to flood. The heroes dive in after a boat full of school children. They kill a large constrictor snake, and then mistake a tentacle of the real Black Magga (the school kids had been yelling about the snake being Black Magga).
When it actually popped out of the water, it caught everyone but Alanna in the Breath of Madness. Almost everyone in that first full round rolled poorly on their Confusion check (3 rounds), and stood their, babbling incoherently. On the second round, Kida and Desba had to attack each other, and Desba crit with her bow, so I ruled they didnt have to do a full attack, cause I really didnt want to have a PC death because of this, which isnt really necessary to the plot of the story. Magga dropped the summoners eidolon, and he summoned 4 large squid into the water, to serve as a distraction, since the only person to hit it in 4 rounds was Desba, dealing only 15 damage. Seeing the squid, Black Magga grabbed them and swam off to eat.
This is where Quinn showed up.
The party went up river to see what had broken the dam and ran into an ettin. After is started attacking, Quinn failed a Diplomacy check to confuse the monster into arguing with itself (asking who has said what part of the statement, and asking why one head got to talk before the other). They argued for a second before resuming the attack, lol.
On top of the dam, they encountered a group of ogres, 7 barbarians and 1 level 8 alchemist. It made the encounter significantly harder than it could have been, but it was fun for all, I think. Since the wizard went first, he grabbed the paladin and D-Doored next to the alchemist ogre, on top of the building, while everyone else rushed the barbarians. On his second turn, the wizard cast Black tentacles, but the barbarians quickly broke out, and it gave them some protection from Quinn, who didnt want to charge into it.
After finishing off the ogres and taking outa room full of trolls (7 instead of 4), again made more difficult by the use of Black tentacles, they continued down into the lower floor.
They madfe quick work of Wet Pappa Grazuul, ignored the demon's cry for help for awhile, and largerly were confused about what to do. A successful Know: engineering check gave them let them know that the model of the dam probably does control the dam, but there is no power. They found the trap door at the bottom of the pool, and considered having the paladin go down it, where he believed the power source would be.
They questioned the demon, who answered mostly honestly, and the paladin was willing to allow the demon to leave, for the greater good, but inter-party conflict had him trying to disarm Desba, which hilariously didnt work, and tthe wizard cast Command, forcing the demon to give the info.
Once the party had the info, they refused to let the demon go, which the paladin had sworn to do. He served as the other life form in the opposing circle and saved vs the negative level, whereas the demon died.
I told him I wouldnt make him atone for it, since the book even says its a morally ambiguous decision, though if he does something like it again, I may have him do so, which he seemed ok with. I am however going to give him a Sin point for it. Not sure which one though.
We ended the session there. The players know we arent done with the book, but dont really know where to go from here. I REALLY dont want to do the fourth part of the book, so I might skip it entirely.
So, suggestions on:
~ What kind of Sin Point for the Paladin? Sloth? Greed?
~ As for the ending of book 3, since I dont really want to go through the swamp part, which is supposed to be a 'if they dont know what to do next' thing, I will have one of the new guards who've come to serve at Rannick ask the party if they had found the ogres lair yet. If that doesnt get them to go looking in the mountains, then I'll let them skip over it and move into book four right away, with the ranks of the Giants swelled by Barl and his forces.
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Is the sin point for going back on his word or for dealing with the demon in the first place?
Going back on the word would be Sloth (taking the easy road)?
Dealing with the demon might be Pride (thinking that he can make an ambiguous ethical decision and come out unscathed)?
I dunno.
As for the other part, do you have XP room to do some side-treks or some sandbox exploration stuff?
If so, you could do the giant incursion that starts off the next adventure as a series of reported giant activities, a few skirmishes and finally have the PCs get info from one of the surviving giants that Sandpoint is one of the targets, followed by a race to return home in time. The Hook Ogres could act as a red-herring in that kind of thread and could be the stage for where the PCs finally find out that there is a group about to attack Sandpoint tomorrow/tonight at midnight/something.
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The sin point would be for going back on his word. So, I think sloth it is.
Yea, they have room for side trek type stuff. The majority of the party just hit level 9 after the fight on the dam, with the other two still straggling behind cause of quitting/rejoining and changing characters on a whim.
I think their intention right now is to head back to Magnimar to sell loot, since they have so much of it. They havent sold anything since they started book 3, since Turtleback is so small, but I like your idea of the skirmishes.
I think itd be best to allow them to get to Magnimar unscathed and get new gear. After that, I could transplant Barl, a few extra stone giants and the ogres, along with maybe a few extra random encounters to break things up.
As a bonus to the players for finding solutions other than death for every bad guy (being the goblin druid who's name I cant remember and other goblins outside Thistletop), Im going to stat up a group of goblins and have those come to the aid of Sandpoint during the attack as a sign of goodfaith to the town that they want to make peace. I'll probably let the players run the goblins during the fight, despite that making the fights take even longer than they already were going to, lol.
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Ok, after actually reading the entire attack through a couple times, Ive decided to scratch the idea of actually having the goblins as playable npcs. I'll have them as background help, fighting out in the woods outside town taking care of some extra giants who will be otherwise out of reach. Basically, they help, but have no affect on how the attack actually goes.
Considering the number of players I have, obviously Im going to have to add some giants and bears, but Im not sure what to do about the dragon. Im considering upping it one age category (which would effectively double the exp its worth, which should fit about with my 'almost twice the size' party, so they get the right amount of exp from it.), though Im not sure, cause that one age category makes it significantly more difficult in several ways, which could result in several pcs dying if they dont all attack the dragon at once. Considering the nature of the attack, I think that seems pretty unlikely.
Also, Im looking for suggestions on how to handle EXP for the attack. Do you give the players full exp for every monster who was there? Full for those they kill and half for those that run? Half for those they kill and none for the ones that run? A flat amount to take them from level 10 to level 11?
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I do full XP for any critters my PCs kill or drive off unless it's a mutual retreat. I'd only give none for any giants they don't engage at all.
Another choice for the dragon would be the simple advanced template or calculating just +1HD or giving it a rider or just playing it smarter than described in the book.
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But would you give them the full exp for the retreating giants that are retreating only because the mission was successful and they decided its time to leave? The encountered but still alive when they retreat, I think, are my issue here. Itll probably come down to how it works out for what they need to hit lvl 11, then theyll probably get full. if they arent too far away without it, then I'll probably do half, and then the other half if they manage to track down and rescue the captives.
Im going to have the dragon stick to his hit and run type tactics, which I think makes the assault scarier by far (plus, itll likely draw attention from the giants in that several of my players will probably chase the dragon as much as they can, lol), but the advanced template sounds like a solid idea.
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Oh, I'm a notorious XP manipulating DM. If I want my group to go faster, I up the rewards, if I want them to slow down, I hold them back. In my view, the DM's job is the most difficult at the table so whatever you have to do to decrease your workload in terms of pacing your group with the published encounter difficulties is totally fair game, especially if you're hosting double the normal number of players or something.
I kinda let that little factiod slip in a PbP game I'm running that includes some of my tabletop players so they may be on to me but I don't care. For me, the story pacing is what's most important so if you want them to be L11, make it so. That said, I still mostly calculate by the book and then adjust things as needed once in a while when it's needed. I had to bump things up near the end of Skinsaw and I'm currently being a tiny bit stingy so I can run some of the Kingmaker RRR/VV stuff for my folk who just kept the keep tonight.
They're currently straddling L7/L8 and I'm back to one full session behind you but I'm about to fall many more behind I fear. I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to run the flood right away or not, I may turn the rain into snow and have yonder flood come in the spring.
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They're currently straddling L7/L8 and I'm back to one full session behind you but I'm about to fall many more behind I fear.
My group is only meeting about once a month now, thanks to busy schedules and most of us trying to run another game at the same time, so you very well may pass us up before too long.
I took a poll at the start of this AP and everyone agreed that we just handwave XP and level at story appropriate times. Since XP is no longer a type of currency for spells and magic item creation, and the AP is sorta "on the rails", they level up as needed when they complete story goals. It keeps them focused on the mission at hand and not worried about going out to kill a half-dozen chickens/goblins/livestock to get those last few XP to level before moving back to the plot.
I gotta say, while it wouldn't work for us in a homebrew game, it's perfect for this AP.
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Session 16: Four Stone Giants and a Wedding
Everyone was in attendance for this session, with 5 level 9s, and 2 level 8s, I think.
At the end of the last session, several players had been asking if they could take a trip to Magnimar, cause they were desparate to sell all this loot theyd been accumulating (meaning everything in book 3 so far). None of them specified interest in tracking down the rest of the ogres and trying to find out why or what was causing them to attack now, and I didnt want to push it too hard.
When soldiers arrived from Magnimar to hold down and rebuild the fort until the Black Arrows could regain numbers, the players were about to depart when they were asked if they had figured out the reasoning behind the attacks or where the ogres had come from originally, my one and only prod to actually finish this book. It worked, so up the mountain they went, managing to not have to fight anything on the way up the mountain.
Upon reaching the top they found a pair of ogres guarding a giant cave entrance, and four more ogres who were apparently just then back from a patrol along the side of the mountain (all of them the level 5 fighter versions). A couple drew bows and immediately downed the wizard and severly (crit!) hurt the barbarian, while the other four charged in.
After defeating them, there was, I think, humorous dialogue in getting the sihedron medallion off the gigantic statue:
Paladin: I take the medallion from around its neck.
GM: Its a 40ft tall statue:
Cavalier: Sharptooth(the t-rex) moves adjacent and I take the medallion.
GM: Its a FORTY FOOT TALL statue.
Summoner: My eidolon flies up and lifts the medallion off.
GM: THERE WE GO! That was an ordeal! Ok, so the medallion weighs roughly 20 lbs...
*The eyes of several players get big*
GM: FORTY FOOT TALL STATUE!
Anyway, all the ruckus caught the attention of the guards standing in the intersection of the cave complex, so the other ogres had plenty of time to prepare, and the group of 12 or so jumped the PCs when they worked their way into the intersection.
With that section cleared, they moved into the other rooms, first finding an icy looking wight standing menacingly over three frightened looking women. After the PCs moved into the room and attacked the wight, the woman dropped their disguises and the coven cast Baleful Polymorph at (determined by die roll for those in the room) the bard (played by my wife). She failed both saves and was turned into a house cat.
They found a shrine of Lamashtu, and finally moved into a room where they found 4 stone giants, one very gaunt one sitting in a chair who directed the other three to take care of the intruders.
Side note: I restatted Barl as an Oracle of Bones, since Im trying to work most of the classes in the game into this AP, so they fight alot of different stuff and not wizards around every corner. I went with the Bone oracle to keep the Necromancer type flavor, and also gave him the +1 CR stuff that only some stone gaints have, just to make him a bit harder to deal with.
A couple players moved up to base the melee giants before the bad guys got to go. Barl used Transmute Stone to Mud to drop the ceiling on all the players except 1, dealing 8d6 damage to the entire party (Ref half), and leaving them stuck in the mud (lowering their speed to 5ft). One melee guy fought the Eidolon while the other two tripped and then pounded on the barbarian (bringing her to single digit HP). The wizard moved adjacent to the paladin and D-Doored them up next to Barl. After taking ALOT of damage from the paladin's smite, Barl decided it was time to leave, and used Stone Shape to fashion himself a tunnel out the side of the cave (I dont know if Stone shape would have given him enough room to do that, but I did it anyway, and no one questioned me on it). He withdrew out the tunnel as the last of the guards fell.
Another D-Door put the paladin within striking distance again, but Barl still had about 6hp. He ran again, this time having to deal with the wizard trying to stop him with black tentacles. They didnt grab on, and Barl moved out again, but not too far that he was out of Lightning Bolt range, which successfully dropped and killed the stone giant caster.
Wrap-up for the book:
They went back to town, where they slept, leveled, and thw wizard learned Break Enchantment, returning the bard to her normal form.
The bard, apparently so thankful for the wizard saving her, accepted his marriage proposal. The wedding will take place 'off camera' I think, in the downtime before book 4 begins.
The group leaves Turtleback Ferry for Magnimar, after receiving many gifts of food from the townsfolk, and presents that the school children made for saving them from the Black Magga. (The ranger got a giant cat toy for her companion, the paladin got a rosary, the barbarian some makeup and perfume, the wizard a bookmark, the bard a scented candle, and the summoner and cavalier wooden carvings of the eidolon and t-rex respectively (action figures, if you will). )
They stopped by Sandpoint to pick up their letters of payment from the bank and headed to Magnimar to go shopping, with a grand total of about 32,000 in each persons budget. (The bard and wizard even bought rings for each other, lol. She bought him a Ring of Protection +2, he bought her a Ring of Maniacle Devices).
The bard finished her thesis and was accepted into the pathfinder Society offically.
Since they outright killed Barl and didnt have time to question him, they have no information from him at all. For all they know, he was Mokmurian, which is a name that they now have only heard once in reference from the letter Lucretia was going to send him. Also, they know nothing of his plans.
This ought to leave me, more or less, open to having the assault go exactly as lined out (but with more bad guys, obviously), since they have no prior knowledge that it is coming.
Im thinking of adding a caster type stone giant (maybe Barl's original build), if for nothing else than to throw off trail of Teranterik being the leader of the attack. Hmmm.
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Session 17: Assault on Sandpoint
In attendence tonight:
Alana: Varisian Bard/Pathfinder Delver/Paladin of Shelyn
Alek: Chelaxian Paladin of Iomedae
Desba: Shoanti Ranger of Desna w firepelt cougar companion
Quinn: Halfling Cavalier (Order of the Sword?) with T-Rex mount
Huxqa: Half-orc Wizard (Enchanter)
Missing:
Casteal: Gnome? Summoner with eidolon
Kida: Shoanti barbarian
The session began with the group having left Turtleback Ferry to head to Magnimar for some down time (about a months worth). Down time translated into different stuff for each person though:
~Alek was chosen to become a Second Sword Knight in the Church of Iomedae in Magnimar (basically, a Deacon in a regular church, is how I am putting it to him). I made sure to tell him that this does not mean he has an army of 14 other Paladins at his disposal to help at the drop of a hat, etc.
~Desba relaxed, got her firepelt cougar companion a nice grooming, and did a bunch of shopping for expensive new gear.
~Quinn moved his parents from Sandpoint(where they had worked for Mayor Deverin as servants) to have them manage the circus he started back near the end of Skinsaw Murders. The circus was currently stopped in Magnimar for a long show, so Quinn performed there and also decided to run for Lord Mayor of Magnimar against incumbent Grobaras (it’s spring now, and the election will be late in the fall). So far he is considered a longshot.
~Alana was turned into a cat by the witches coven at the end of Hook Mountain Massacre, but the spell was broken by Huxqa. She was so thankful for him changing her back, that she asked him to marry her, and he accepted. So they spent a good deal of time working on wedding stuff. Alana also took a new lease on life after being changed back, and decided she needed to be more about protecting others and not so much herself. She dedicated herself to the faith of Shelyn and has become a Paladin for the goddess of art and beauty. Also, she’s still a Pathfinder Society member.
~Huxqa, aside from getting married, decided to help Quinn campaign by standing in the crowd of people, and charming strangers into talking about how great of a Lord Mayor Quinn would make. Since no physical harm has come of it so far (and since they don’t think Quinn has a chance), the Hellknights are leaving them alone so far.
~Casteal and Kida weren’t present for the session, so I don’t know what they were doing.
So I did some extra prep work for this session, cause I wanted to make sure the urgency of the situation really hit the players, as well as making it seem like one long attack, instead of just a series of skirmishes.
First, I utilized a pair of maps that I found here on the boards, though I don’t have the links to them now. Both are maps of Sandpoint, one with the locations marked for where events happen during the attack, and on the round they happen (where the dragon lands and burns, where and when stone giants come in, etc). On this one, I mapped out the lead giant’s route through the town to make his way to the Old Light, so I would know, more or less, where he was every round, and be able to compare that to where my players were at the time.
The other map of the pair is just like the first, except it doesn’t have special markings for what happens where and when. It’s just a map of Sandpoint with building and street names listed. I blew this map up to fit on 9 sheets of paper (3x3), taped them together, and tracked the movement of the players on it, hanging on a wall, so the players would know where they were in reference to where I had indicated giants had been seen, what buildings were on fire, etc.
The other extra bit I did was to make a list of 7 NPCs that reside in the town (one for each player, though two went unsused since 2 players were missing). The players each drew one NPC, and were allowed to utilize them at any point throughout the night. The point was to make it seem like they weren’t the only ones fighting or helping out in the fight, but to keep them from asking for the militia to show up, etc.
The NPCs I used, and the benefit they provided to the player who drew them were:
Mayor Deverin: +2 morale bonus (like a Bard’s song) to all allies within for 1 round.
Sheriff Hemlock: +2 to your AC/CMD (Aid another) until the beginning of your next turn.
Ameiko Kaijitsu: +3 to any one skill check (Aid another) you make. (Didn’t get drawn)
Father Zantus: Channel Energy to all allies within 30ft, 3d6
Ven Vinder: Ven shows up at the right time with just the item you need! (He gives you (to keep) any one non-magical item worth up to 750gp). (Didn’t get drawn)
Shelalu Androsana: +2 Attack on your first attack this turn (aid another), and you deal an additional d8+2 piercing damage on that attack.
Desmond Vashtu (The half-elf turned gnome ranger who used to be played by the player who now runs the Summoner in the game): +2 attack on your first attack this turn (aid another), and you deal and additional d6+3 piercing damage on that attack.
Anyway, I actually began the session with the group meeting up to chat in Magnimar at a tavern, when Shelalu bursts in, and comes to sit with them. She tells them about giant activity in the farmslands between Magnimar and Sandpoint, and that Hemlock fears the town may be in danger. She was sent to ask them to come back to help defend the town. Being the heroes (and morally obligated paladins) that they are, they rode out at once. We handwaved the jouney, and the only amount of time we spent on it was trying to concoct some kind of way for the T-rex to not be fatigued (or exhausted) by the time they got back to Sandpoint, considering the long trip. We weren’t worried about the horses, cause none of the other players really ride their mount anywhere, except on handwaved travel time, lol. Anyway, since Casteal and his Eidolon weren’t present, we decided that the Eidolon had carried the dinosaur (not really feasible, I know, but its good enough), so the eidolon could be fatigued and not the dinosaur ( We hadn’t yet realized Lesser Restoration would cure fatigue, and Alek didn’t take the fatigue or exhaustion Mercy).
So as the group rounds the last bend in the road and are able to see the gate into town ahead, they could hear the Cathedral’s bells were ringing. A survival check told them, by placement of the sun in the sky, that the current time definitely was not right on the hour, meaning they are warning bells. The gate was opened and they could see flashes of grey and brown moving inside the gates.
Once in the gate, they were faced with a pair of dire bears, and a trio of stone giants, which they quickly took care of. They noticed each of the giants were carrying large burlap bags, and one had a pair of children in it. Now, they knew the giants were trying to take prisoners.
*Note: One consequence of using those NPC allies I had given to the players were that if they used the NPC, then there was a chance that the NPC would be captured. If they didn’t use their NPC, then I definitely wouldn’t have that one be captured.*
Before they were able to take out the first group at the North end of town, there was an attack going on further south as well, where they headed to, constantly stopping when the fights were slowing down to rescue the captured people from bags.
They noticed a streak of red fly through the air, but weren’t able to tell what it was, until they heard screams of ‘DRAGON!’. They tried to quickly make their way down the length of town engaging groups of giants and bears (with Huqxa successfully Charming a Dire Bear, and then failing his Handle Animal checks to really get it to do much for a long time).
When the dragon went towards the temple, and lit up the construction site (where they are adding a wing for the church of Iomedae), they finished up the current fight quickly, and headed back north to fight the dragon. They got there just in time to watch it fly off towards its next destination. After chasing him for about five rounds (with him moving just a step or two ahead of them each time), they gave up on him, and moved to engage more giants and bears. Had they succeeded in a few Perception checks, they might have noticed the lead giant heading towards the Old Light at this point, but alas, they didn’t.
About the time when they were finishing up the 3rd giant/bear group (where the lead giant starts from), they can see more another handful of giants and pair of bears coming across the bridge to the north of them (where the Round 3 guys come in). However as they begin crossing, the reinforcements are ambushed by a mass of goblins who had been lying in wait, including one who dove out of the sky in the form of a bird, changing back into his normal form just in time to stab the lead giant in the eye with his spear.
*Ive been wanting to get across to the players that their actions in the game do have an effect on their world at large, and this might be the first big proof of that which they have seen. Since they let Gogmurt (the goblin druid from the Thitletop tribe) and the remaining Bird Crunchers go back in Burnt Offerings, Gogmurt has been busy, trying to align the goblin tribes of the area, to form a peace with the humans. Here, he shows them that he means for the goblins to be allies of the ‘longshanks’.*
At this point, everything starts to fall apart for the group. The dragon has been sighted again (they gave up last time when they lost sight of him near the theater), the Cathedral, the Sandpoint Theater, the Hagfish, and Scarnetti Manor can all be seen ablaze or smoking. Alana heads back to the Cathedral to organize a bucket brigade in order to contain the fire, which takes several rounds to orchestrate. Alek chases after the dragon, angrily wanting to get in a fight which he thinks he could win cause it set fire to the construction site of his new church. Desba and Quinn head further south to take care of yet another group of stone giants who are pounding on the walls of Two Knight Brewery, demanding all the beer. Huqxa (and his new bear) Dimension Door over to Scarnetti Manor to put out the fire (with Cone of Cold, which no one even once suggested he use on the dragon, lol). Unfortunately, he gets in a fight with the giants who are looting the house. By this time, the stone giant leader has made it to The Old Light.
Several rounds later, Alana is the only one who is making much progress. She has organized a bucket brigade (Diplomacy 37 she made, so I said she convinced 37 people to help put the fire out, but only that many cause the bad guys had been cleared out from the area). Alek is still chasing a dragon who moves quicker than he does, and now the Sandpoint Marketplace is on fire. Desba and Quinn are still fighting, with Quinn getting pelted by rocks from giants. The fire in Scarnetti Manor is out, but Huxqa is getting low on HP, and his bear is trying to hold off a remaining stone giant.
On round 25, Huxqa and the bear are successful in taking down the last stone giant at Scarnetti Manor, and begin gathering unconscious and dead bodies on the cart of loot the giants had gathered. Alek and Quinn move close to the dragon to try to engage, with Desba and Alana trying to catch up. The dragon lifts off from the group, moving out of melee range, and breathes fire on them. All three of them (Alek, Quinn, T-Rex) fail the Ref save for half and take like 55 damage. Quinn is 1hp from dead, so Alek spends his turn Channeling, to save his friend’s life.
The leader has found what he came for, blows the retreat horn, and the dragon flies off, though he is hit by a pair of parting shots from Alana and Desba.
Despite decimating the stone giant and dire bear forces (15 and 6(including the charmed one) respectively), they didn’t even see the SG leader, and didn’t down the dragon, so they couldn’t cause a rout. The Cathedral’s construction site is messed up, but fixable. The Theater took heavy damage, but citizens also helped put it out, so it can be saved. Scarnetti Manor will need renovations, as will the Marketplace, and The Hagfish burnt to the ground.
At final count 26 citizens lost their lives (who they are, I will decide later), and no people (to their knowledge) were captured (though 1 or 2 will have been captured), since they killed all the stone giants who were trying to capture people (that they know of).
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Session 19: On the road again, I cant believe we're on the road again...
Everyone was in attendence tonight, not that it helped, cause we were not very focused at all. With one player coming in a half hour late, plus spend a long time on dinner, and a few players needing to leave early cause one was feeling sick, we got about 2.5 hours in, maybe.
We picked up right where we left off the last time. The dragon is flying away to the east, Quinn the Cavalier is almost dead in the street. Buildings are still on fire, people are hurt or dead in the streets, and other people are running around screaming.
They split up nd went in various directions doing whatever they could to help where they could. Some helped organize bucket brigades. Some helped drag the dead/ help the injured to the Cathedral. Those who were able to use wands of CLW where given some by Father Zantus and sent out to help where they could.
Also, Huxqa the Wizard, found the letters between Titus Scarnetti and Jubrayl Vhiski about the burning of the grain mills. He gave the letter over to his wife, Alana the bard/paladin. She gave it to the sheriff.
In the morning, they met with the sheriff who had a list of the dead for them, 26 townsfolk in all. The list:
~ 7 generic town guards
~11 generic towns folk
~ Alma Avertin (mother of the former town sheriff). Theyve had run-ins with Alma before and I believe they thought highly of her. Aside from killing Ameiko, Zantus, Shelalu, or Hemlock, I think is the closest I could come to killing off someone who they had come to know and love. She was killed by a stone giant who she had run into the street after, and was beating him with her rolling pin.
~Savah Bevaniky (owner of Savah's Armory). I didnt want to kill Hemlock, but I felt there needed to be an experienced fighter who might have led a group of the town guards in a fight, and sacrificed her own life during the fight. She died protecting a woman and her children in the streets.
~Gorvi (and 1 generic employee) were killed while running down the street after abandoning their trash cart by the edge of the cliff where they were going to dump it. He did in that manner, with those details, to provide the information that the giants had probed further into the town than they were previously aware of.
~Mrs. Ven Vinder was killed while running through the streets while trying to find her daughter, Shayliss. This was to set up that no one know where Shayliss was, which I'll explain a bit more of later.
~Nisk Tander, owner of Bottled Solutions, died when a giant threw a rock through his shop window, which caused a chemical explosion. This serves to set up so Alana's backup character (the daughter of Nisk Tander) is now the owner of the shop, and gives Flynngan (the gnome alchemist who retired from the group previously who owns the potion shop Oceans of Potions) a chance to put the Tander's out of business.
~ The proprietor of the Sandpoint Theater, who's name escapes me currently. He died in the fire set by Longtooth. Since the entire Theater didnt burn down, this sets it up so that Alana could purchase the Theater later on.
~The living brother from Two Knight Brewery, who's name escapes me, too. He died because I really liked the part listed in the attack where the giants were demanding all the beer. I listed his death as 'He died defending his brewery from the giants who wanted all the beer. They got none of the beer.' Aside from it being kinda funny, I wanted another sacrificial death by someone who might have actually been able to handle themselves in a fight. They knew of thise guy, but he hadnt played an important role yet. Unfortunately, he fit the bill.
I think killing several named PCs, most of whom theyve had dealings with in the game, really set the tone for the amount of destruction that this little raid caused, even moreso than the burning of however many buildings, which is what I wanted. I hope to have made this a bit more personal for them now, in that they really felt like they needed to get to the bottom of this before something else happens.
Hemlock also tells them that two people have been reported missing: Tomas Mvashti (made up grandson of Madam Mvashti by me) and Shayliss Vinder. No one has seen them since the previous morning. They (being boyfriend/ girlfriend, though no one in town knows that) had gone down to the beach to sit (among other things) in one of the caves in the cliff wall. When the attack started, they decided to stay there. Terantatek made his way to the Old Light, got what he was looking for, blew the horn, and went over the edge of the cliff to go out of town along the beach, where he encountered and captured the kids. He went back into the water to keep from leaving tracks for awhile, then cut back inland and headed back to Jorgenfist.
After some tracking by Desba, they found the footprints, and pieced the puzzle together of what had happened. They got some gold from Vin which they used to buy a Scroll of Scrying, and successfully Scryed on Shayliss, who was confined inside what appeared to be a burlap bag with some young man. But they still didnt know where the giant had gone.
The following day, they had Father Zantus cast Speak with Dead on a pair of the giants, though one made his save. They had three questions, which gave them all the information they really needed (thanks to high Knowledge Geography checks to know where the Storval Stairs is), and they took off. Well, they left right after Hemlock gave them a bag of 2000gp that the town has collected in thanks for bringing to light the deeds of the Scarnetti family.
So by this time, Terantatek has about 2 day head start. Expecting the session to go exactly like this, I had already rolled for 15 days worth of random encounter tables and typed up a brief bit of story for each one, so its not just wake up, ride, fight, sleep, wake up, ride, fight, sleep...
The first day, they came across a caravan that had been stopped in the middle of the road. At the front of it were a intimidated looking man, and a stone giant who was hunched down, and poking him in the chest while they talked. The other giant stood back about 40ft.
The part approached very diplomatically (surprisingly), and knocked the giant's attitude from Unfriendly to Neutral, then to Friendly.
The situation wound down with them waiting for the stone giant to finish talking to the caravan leader (though he didnt get to rob the guy), and then the giant willingly giving up information about Mokmurian and specifics for how to get to Jorgenfist from the Storval Stair. Basically he gave them what they would have gotten by questioning a giant who they had let live during the raid and questioned. The other giant tried to sneak off, but was seen, and run down before he could get away.
And that was all.
For the next session, I expect we will finish the random encounter trip (including an attack by Longtooth, cause I rolled a 100% W00t!) and maybe do some groundwork for the scouting of the area around the fortress, though I doubt they actually go in.
I just really hope (since they know that Stone Giants arent inherently evil) that they dont try to take out all the surrounding camps to milk the exp, cause that would be suicidal.
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Session 20: "Will yuou PLEASE drop a fireball on us?"
In attendence tonight:
Alana: Varisian Bard/Pathfinder Delver/Paladin of Shelyn
Alek: Chelaxian Paladin of Iomedae
Desba: Shoanti Ranger of Desna w firepelt cougar companion
Quinn: Halfling Cavalier (Order of the Sword) with T-Rex mount
Huxqa: Half-orc Wizard (Enchanter), married to Alana
Casteal: Half-elf Summoner with eidolon
Missing:
Kida: Shoanti barbarian
The session was the party making their way to Jorgenfist. I pre-rolled encounter tables to see what they might find on the way there.
We picked up shortly after the encounter with the 2 stone giants who gave them some info about Jorgenfist and Mokmurian. That night, their camp was attacked by a pack of wolves. If Desba hadnt heard them, they might have had issues, cause the wolves went straight for the horses, and almost brought 2 (of the 3 of them) down. Desba yelled for help in the suprise round, but since she rolled so well on initiative, more than half of the wolves were dead before the other players got to go.
The next day, while walking through the woods, they hear some rustling in the brush to their left, and two young goblins rushed out, almost running face-first into the party. At first the kids were scared, but then realized who the party was and asked for help, because of 'big bear and two flying ladies' were chasing them through the woods. The party was skeptical at first, but when they heard the sound of a tree falling (but it only made a sound cause someone was around to hear it, lol) and some high-pitched cackling they decided to trust the children.
A fight ensued, and both harpies (the flying ladies) sang a horrendously off-tune song about how they and the party were friends. The children, Desba, and Quinn all failed their Will saves not to become fascinated with the harpies and tried to make their way over to them to be with their friends.
After the bear went down and both harpies were low on hp, one tried to scoop up one of the goblin children and fly away, only to be killed by the long reach of the eidolon. The other withdrew as far and fast as she could, but Alana used Smite Evil and critted with her bow, killing it as well.
The party scolded the children a little for wandering so far from home, but Casteal and his eidolon decided to fly them home and then meet back up with the party. The children turned out to be the niece and nephew of Gogmurt, the Goblin Druid and chieftan of Thistlebird clan (Thistletop + Birdcruncher). Gogmurt was very thankful, but quickly sent the helf-elf on his way.
Unfortunately for Casteal, it took him a long time to figure out how to get back to the party, since he lacks any and all tracking ability.
A heavy spring rain came on that afternoon and lasted through the night, so by the time the party made it to the edge of the forest, the flatlands were like a grassy swamp. They wasndered into a nest of mosquitoes and stirges. Once they started taking Con damage from the stirge bites, Alek started hollering for Huxqa to drop a fireball on the party, which he did. No one died from the fireball, except the bugs, and Alek spent a little time healing the party back up before they continued on.
The next day, they came across a fence that had several posts broken on it, though the posts were broken in, and cattle were everywhere. When they topped a hill, they found a quartet of ogres. Two were standing back with large auroch's under their arms. The other two were busy chasing around a couple mroe auroch's that they hadnt managed to catch yet. The party handled them easily enough, though Alek did take about 60 damage during the fight, thanks to being slapped in the face with the world's largest side of beef.
Another day passes, and the party finally makes it to the Storval Step, where they encountered a group of 6 stone giants and a wyvern that really wanted to eat the firepelt cougar. It lost that fight after Desba took her turn.
From what they had been told perviously, they had to go due East into the mountains from the Storval Step, so on they went. While passing through a field of tall grass, Longtooth passed by overhead (I rolled a 100 on the random encounter table, lol). They failed to see him in the sky, so he circled around behind them, and moved quickly through the grass to disguise his approach. Unfortunately, they heard him moving through the grass and scattered a bit.
He got most of the party in his fiery breath, nearly killing Huxqa (from full to -9. He has 14 Con), but thanks to a few lucky criticals by the eidolon and a very solid hit by Quinn, the dragon went down.
They are in the foothills of the mountains now, and must make it through the mountain passes to get to Jorgenfist, which they are about 4 days away from, I think.
At the end of the night Alana, Desba, and Alek hit level 11. The rest are at level 10, which is about where I was hoping they would be by the time they got here.
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I reference the 6 player conversion, but dont follow it to heart. The encounters as presented in the book I do generally make more difficult, though it depends on what it is for how much I bother to try to toughen it up.
The random encounter table stuff I didnt toughen up. Just rolled 15 days worth of stuff (giving them a high percentage chance of encountering something, cause a couple of them seem to be a bit behind the curve) and then placed them in with a little bit of stroy. Didnt want a session of "Wake up. fight. Sleep. Wake up. Fight. Sleep."
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Session 21: "Are we even sure she's in there?"
Everyone was in attendance this session. Half of the party is already level 11, with the others closing in on it, putting us a little ahead of schedule as far as leveling goes. I decided to skip a couple of the less dangerous random encounters in order to speed us up to getting to Jorgenfist and to help keep the exp gained down.
Before the session started, I gave several of the PCs a present, in that I awarded all the party horses (for those that actually ride them) an npc level of 'Warrior'. The PCs have managed to keep the same horses around for a good while. I also gave Stickfoot (the giant gecko once owned by Ripnugget the goblin leader of the Thistltop tribe, which now belongs to Quinn and currently resides with his circus, unless Quinn needs him as a backup mount.) an npc level in 'Expert' for lack of something better, and made him a circus performer.
We started with the PCs marching on towards Jorgenfist, though they went a couple days before running into any fights. Either the giants werent looking for them, or they are just very bad at looking for them.
They stumbled upon a gorge, where they were ambushed and attacked by a group of hill giants that were out hunting. The fight went smoothly enough, with no one taking serious damage.
They finally got to the valley where Jorgenfist lies. After I described the place and the camps of giants and ogres, several PCs wanted to turn around and go home. They located Longtooth's lair without too much trouble, though I think they are going to have to come back for the loot later.
After a heated debate of how to get into the fortress ("I'll try to go parlay with them!"), or whether or not to even try ("Do we even know Shayliss is in there?"), or if they were even at the right place ("Can we just go around this thing?" (my response)"You could, but this is where you were headed in the first place...") they finally decided to check out the ravine on the back side. After finding the caves, they made their way in, fighting a pair of Deathwebs and then a trio of sleeping Night Wyverns.
I forgot to give them the treasure that was in those caves, so I need to make sure to let them know about that before the next session, lol.
They managed to find thetunnel that leads them to the cave level of Jorgenfist. Upon reaching the other side, they ran into a group of Redcaps, which gave them a heck of a fight when Huxqa decided to Dimension Door himself, Alana, and Casteal into the room. 3 of the Redcaps had delayed, waiting for someone else to come in, so they took advantage of the squishy people being right in front. I confirmed two crits in the same round with their scythes, dealing over 60 damage to both Alana and Casteal.
The fight was also made more difficult because it began with most of the party still squeezing in the tunnels, which meant Casteal didnt have access to his Eidolon, and was KOed before he could summon him, and Quinn had to leave his T-Rex mount behind in the Spider's den.
That's where we stopped for the night. I'm trying to figure out the right amount to increase the fights by, since I still have a party of 7, but one of the main damage dealers, Quinn, is without his mount, which makes him far less effective.
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Session 22: Can I ride one of the dragons?
In attendence tonight:
Alana: Varisian Bard/Pathfinder Delver/Paladin of Shelyn
Alek: Chelaxian Paladin of Iomedae
Desba: Shoanti Ranger of Desna w firepelt cougar companion
Quinn: Halfling Cavalier (Order of the Sword) with T-Rex mount
Huxqa: Half-orc Wizard (Enchanter), married to Alana
Casteal: Half-elf Summoner with eidolon
Missing:
Kida: Shoanti barbarian
The game picked up with the party healing up from their encounter with the redcaps that inhabit the tunnel. Once they were ready to go, they decided to move East. Hearing the sounds of movement from multiple doorways in the rooms that come off the tunnel they were in, and unable to decide which one to move into first, Alek decided the best course of action would be to bang his sword against his shield and loudly announce, 'We're here!'
A trio of stone giants wielding flaming hot spears (flaming like they were still in the process of being forged, not magical) came rushing out, followed by a group of 8 ogres from the other room. The ogres lines up perfectly for Huxqa to get a Lightning Bolt off on them. They all failed their saving throw, and he dropped 7 of them at once. The fight was over quickly thereafter.
In the room the stone giants came out of, they found a group of dwarves who appeared to have been captured a few weeks ago, and a young man who looked to have been recently branded with the Sihedron symbol. Realizing the young man was Shayliss' boyfriend, but that none of the presioners were in any shape to fight, they left the group where they were, promising to return for them later.
The group moved further east where they decided not to go down a fur-lined tunnel, but instead turn North.
They stumbled upon an incense-smoke filled room where a pair of lamia clerics awaited their arrival, doing their best to stop the party in their tracks. Huxqa managed to not become blinded by one of their spells, and a couple of critical hits later, both lamia's went down.
Continuing to move North, they entered another cave where they found a pair of young gold dragons, and were releaved that these might be allies they could use, until the pair decided the party would make a most delicious meal. They both launched their fiery breath, surprising the party and dealing out a good bit of hurt. Huxqa went down right away, and had I rolled a bit higher on the damage, I might have killed him outright.
Alek charged in towards one of the dragons, but failed a Perception check to notice that the dragons both had milky white eyes and had been marked by the Sihedron rune by prying some of their softer scales off, so he kept attacking. The eidolon, with it's amazing Perception score, easily made the check and noticed the signs of the dragon probably not being in his right mind, but didnt care. He was mad that the thing had attacked them, and decided not to share the information.
A few rounds later, someone else finally noticed, so Alek switched tactics, and successfully used his Lay on Hands ability (which has the Remove Curse Mercy) to break the enchantment over the pair of dragons. The dragons explained how they had been captured by Longtooth and brought in through the hole in the ground (which the party hadnt seen yet), but they were malnourished and would prefer not to help continue the fight, though they would be more than willing to defend the dwarves.
This decision was much to Quinn's dismay, as he desperately wanted to ride one.
At this point the party turned back South and headed into the furry tunnel, figuring that would lead them to another room in which they could try to 'camp for the night'. Instead, they were surprised by a pair of trolls wielding ranseurs, though they bought themselves some time with a pair of well-used Grease spells, making both trolls drop their weapons. When the monsters managed to pick their weapons back up, and I realized they had Combat Reflexes, the party started fighting a bit more defensively, though they still managed to bring down the pair.
They continued down the tunnel, winding deeper down into the earth, til they reached the next level of the dungeon (which I had to tell them, lol). They decided to head back up instead and push on, instead of camping.
Continuing on the same path they had taken before led them to the Sihedron Ritual Chamber, where they found a recently branded Shayliss chained, though the giant who branded her was nowhere to be seen.
After leadign her back to her boyfriend, they continued on their circle, where they ran into a female stone giant named Conna. She explained her story to them, asked them to kill Mokmurian, but to avoid killed stone giants if they could, and pointed them on the right path. Running low on resources and healing, they asked if she could manage to keep them safe while they rested for awhile, but she could make no such promise.
They pushed on, heading back down to the Library level of the complex, where they encountered a Runeslave Hill Giant, and became nauseated (and Huxqa shrank) because of the strangeness of the room.
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I made the dragons gold instead of red, to give them a change of pace. An enemy ot save, rather than to kill. Also, if they can get the dragons out alive, then they will come help the party get through Xin Shalast later on.
I think there was some item of treasure somewhere in this path where you could get a LOT more gold by returning it to the dwarven clan it was stolen from, opposed to just selling it. Though I cant remember which item it is (Im gonna have to look it up, lol), I'm going to have the dwarves that they rescued be from that same clan. Itll keep the players from having to make to the dwarves home, possibly anyway, and the dwarves will be yet more allies for later in the book.
Ive not had the party encounter the kobold barbarian yet. While she might be brave for her size, I dont think she is supposed to be insane enough to take on the whole party herself, so for now Im having her follow them. If the party does decide to camp, I think she will alert the stone giants to their location.
I moved Lokansir (the guy who does the branding) from the branding room to Mokmurian's chamber. He could be in there to tell Mokmurian that all the captives are prepared for the sacrifice.
I was looking for a way to increase the difficulty of the fight with Mokmurian without increasing his level, if at all possible. By moving Lokansir to his room, I think it will make two regular fights (one kinda hard) into one challenging experience.
Also, considering Alek's actions in the hallway (announcing the party's presence), I cant imagine that the giants from the B4 area dont know someone is in the caves.
Im not quite sure what I want to do about that yet. Maybe have them gather a group together and go after the party, chasing them down into the Library level? Have them set an ambush someplace? Not sure on that yet, but I intend for it to be difficult, as a sort-of punishment for just telling the entire place that youve snuck in.
Something else Im considering is that in Mokmurian's tactics, it lists what he will do should his HP go so low (teleport away, try to get healed, gather giants, counterattack), and I like that idea. However, if he is able to drop any of the PCs to unconsciousness but not dead, then I think he will make an effort to grab them before he D-Doors out, taking the unconscious body with him. If there is time, I think the PC(s) will wind up with a brand.
If they do finally decide to camp, I think the giants will start patrolling almost immediately, and I intend for Mokmurian to play a much more active role in trying to find them, instead of just waiting around for them to show up.
Just a quick note to say that I really appreciate your campaign reports. I hope to transition my Beginner Box players into Core by using the RotR AP so all of this heads-up info is invaluable.
- Niilo
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Next session is this coming Saturday. Had to miss a session cause of busy schedules and a local con which many of us were involved with in running Pathfinder Society sessions.
I'm still trying to come up with what I want the 'punishment' to be for Alek banging on the shield, which would attract the attention of every giant in the place.
Mokmurian's tactics suggest he D-Door's away if he gets low on HP, so Im thinking the party of giants who help him on his counter-attack will be prepared more quickly. If the party manages to kill him outright, then perhaps I'll use them to ambush the party while they are on the way out of the library level. Either way, I get to play up the possible betrayal of Conna, which could be interesting.
Also despite me having a larger than normal party, I dont think I am going to increase Mokmurian's level any. giving him Lokansir as a bodyguard in the room will definitely make the fight more difficult, and since they are obviously going to know the party is coming (thanks to the Headless Lord if nothing else), then I can always have them be pre-buffed for the fight.
Im also debating on how long to give the party between the end of this book and the beginning of the next. I havent actually began reading the next book, but I cant imagine it would need to start immediately after the conclusion of this one. I'm leaning someplace from 6 months to 2 years. Longer sounds better to me, though seems unnecessary, and seems like it's too forced. I just assume that since trouble doesnt come looking for them that they dont go looking for it for that long?
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I've been running perception checks adjusted for distance in that kind of case. Something like DC -10. If the giants know that there was any previous activity, they all gather together and come in en masse as soon as makes sense. A larger group can handle groups of baddies coming in from multiple directions.
I like my combats dynamic and interactive like that.
As for the time off, they may start looking for trouble if you wait too long and then you'll end up with the same kind of contrived situation you're trying to avoid. I'd lean towards enough time for the crafters to make the want to have stuff rather than the nice to have stuff, if you know what I mean, and make them react to the sinkhole mid-break but near the end of it.
I dunno, I'm running my campaign super-slow because of the kingmaker stuff and I've done both sides - more time off than they want, and not as much. When they get a really long I've off, PCs will start looking for trouble where you least expect it.
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Session 23: Could this fight have been avoided?
Everyone was in attendance for the session this time, which is probably the only reason we had no character deaths.
The group pushed on into the library level of Jorgenfist. Upon investigating the room with the giant cauldron, they discovered and quickly defeated the stone golem.
They moved on into the next room to find the Headless Lord and his minions who quickly engaged them in battle. The fight took awhile, as the Headless Lord has higher AC than most anything they'd fought so far, but he went down quickly to a pair of high rolled hits.
At the same time, however, the Scanderig (who I had been rolling a D8 for every time they entered a room to see which room he would be wandering around on the level) managed to find the party, where he enclosed them in darkness, almost tore through Desba's armor (she made the Reflex to move out of the way) and burned her and the eidolon with his Spewing Slag ability thing before disappearing into the floor.
Some time around now Quinn started riding Desba's animal companion as a replacement mount.
The group headed for the hallway where they made the mistake of trying to open the door to the library. Everyone except for Alek and Casteal were blinded by it's ability, and it took the group several minutes of conversation to realize I meant they were permenantly blinded. They finally brought it down (because I didnt continually have it teleport around to be a jerk) and Huxqa had one use of Break Enchantment left, which thanksfully he rolled well for.
Moving into the rounded room where they hounds of Tindalos were waiting, the group did a lot of waiting and readying while the hounds turned invisible and airwalked out of the blast of the fireball that Huxqa used in the room to try to down the invisble foes. Two of the dogs went down, but one was smart enough and quiet enough to slip past the group into the corridor and flee for an exit.
Upon opening the final door of the night, they discovered Mokmurian standing at the top of the stairs and Lokansir standing at the base of them. I wanted to make the fight with Mokmurian more difficult without simply leveling him up to have more spells and HP and without breaking the idea that he doesnt let the generic giants into the lower area. Using Lokansir gave me the extra beef the fight needed to make it drag out, as the eidolon fought against him leaving the others to deal with Mokmurian, and gave me one memorably difficult fight, opposed to two semi easy ones.
Mokmurian went 2nd in initiative, and used Reverse Gravity. The Eidolon and Casteal both has Overland Flight cast on them, so I didnt have them fall to the ceiling, and Alana and Desba made Reflex saves to catch the side of the doorway. Everyone else slammed into the ceiling, taking 10d6 fall damage, and left themselves in a strange predicament of figuring out how to get down.
Huxqa grabbed Alek and the pair of them Dimension Doored next to Mokmurian who then D-Doored away, to be floating in the air near the middle of the room.
Alana and Desba stood upsidedown in the doorway and fired their bows.
Kida the barbarian decided to climb down one of the columns, which took about the entire combat.
Quinn, riding the cat, 'charged' Mokmurian by running across the ceiling to the point where gravity reversed itself, and falling towards the stone giant wizard. He landed a very nice hit, but the cat failed to made the CMB to grab on, so the pair of them took some fall damage when they landed.
Mokmurian began firing off spells, and downed Huxqa with a Quickened Acid Arrow, which left a couple members of the party in serious distress while trying to heal him up so the continuing acid damage wouldnt kill him.
Casteal used Grease to slicken the spot that Lokansir was standing in, dropping the big giant to the ground, but before he could be dropped, Lokansir bellowed to stop the eidolon from attacking long enough for him to stand and resume the fight. It wasnt long after that that Desba plugged some more arrows into the larger foe and dropped him.
Mokmurian tried and failed to disintegrate Desba, but successfully turned Casteal to stone, which banished the eidolon as well.
Desba had a hard time hitting the mage thanks to his really high AC and Wind Stance, but Quinn had the cat (who had saved vs a Baleful Polymorph to be turned into a toad, which would have denied Quinn a mount and might have resulted in a tpk) jump from the top of the platform, where he landed another solid hit.
Mokurian would have ran off, but I was wanting to finish the book that night if at all possible and it was getting late, so he backed away from the stairs so he couldnt be lanced again, but Alek landed a critical hit on the mage, dealing enough Smite damage to drop the him.
Alek informed Conna of their victory who then convinced the giants that the party was over and leave. The army was scattered, and the party could enjoy their victory, after stabilizing Huxqa and having him bring Casteal back from being a statue.
So the group is done with book 4 save for wrapping up a few thigns here and there. The Black Monk is still in the tower, and I havent had them fight with the kobold barbarian, so depending on what they do next session, they may have to deal with those guys before heading back to town.
Next session: downtime, divvying up loot, and the beginning of book 5.
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No, I used the converssion stats someone else on the boards had done. It definitely felt like they had a hard time of it, and I think if I had been paying attention and moved further from the platform after being lanced the first time, that he might have wiped them.
Also probably could have wiped them if he had retreated for reinforcements like he was supposed to, but I didnt have him do that either since it was getting late.
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Session 24: 'Small Govenment' or 'Crawling in the Dark'
Everyone was in attendance, but we didn't really accomplish much. I blame a visiting friend who was in for the weekend. :P
The game began shortly after we left off from last time. The group had defeated Mokmurian, explored the library, and given Conna Mokmurian's head, in order to get the tribes to scatter. No fuss, no muss.
The group took a few minutes to explore the surface level of Jorgenfist, but expressed no interest in exploring the tower. Current creatures still at my disposal to mess with them later:
1. Rocs that have a nest someplace in/near Jorgenfist
2. The Black Monk and his followers
3. The kobold with Barbarian levels
4. Shining Child(s) in the door to the library, if they do it wrong.
If they ever go back there to do some research, which I'm guessing they'll do before trying to locate Xin Shalast, I'll make sure to come up with something so they have to encounter at least some of those.
They wished the dragons and dwarves on their way, and have received their reward for the finding of the lost crown of the dwarven clan (10k gp).
They headed home, but had different priorities, so they split the party. Quinn, Casteal, and Alek headed to Magnimar while Alana, Huxqa, Desba, and Kida went to Sandpoint.
Alek wanted to visit the church in Magnimar, and tagged along with Quinn an Casteal to make sure they didn't take more than their fair share of the party loot. After that, he spent equal amounts of time between Magnimar (preaching) and Sandpoint (overseeing construction of the wing being added to the Cathedral for Iomedae).
Quinn and Casteal worked on Quinn's campaign for Lord Mayorship of Magnimar. When they arrived in town, his supporters had all but disappeared, and Grorbaras making assumptions that he had 1) abandoned the town, 2) was dead, 3) was for cut backs on government spending and was for 'small' government (more as a shot about Quinn being a halfling than his politics). He threw a banquet for the city, and regained much of his lost support.
Once back in Sandpoint, Alana bought the land where the Theater had stood and began construction of a new one, in dedication to her deity, Shelyn.
Huqxa spent his time copying as many spells from Mokmurian's spellbook* as he could.
Kida did some training in the forest surrounding Sandpoint.
Desba helped with the construction projects and trained.
After a few weeks, when the entire group has been out of town for a few days, they receive word to head back to Sandpoint, and are told about the hole in the ground.
They venture in, using Scorching Ray to clear out the web-filled stairway, and trade some questions with Xaliasa, who is yet to reveal himself. After rushing into the main cathedral area, they ended up fighting with the Glabrezu, and Xaliasa using his instant summons to summon both a Shadow Demon and a Succubus for them to deal with as well. The Shadow Demon and Glabrezu went down fairly quickly, but the Succubus successfully Dominated Quinn, who attempted to impale the eidolon on his lance (I was going to have him attack Alek, but Alek had moved to an un-chargeable location), but rolled a 1 on the attack, and missed. Alek bagan attacking the Succubus, and it pleaded with Kida to save her, telling her that it could make her more powerful if she would kill her allies for it (it would have given her it's profane gift). Sadly, Kida refued, and finished off the demon.
They group searched the front end of the chambers and found 2 pieces of the riddle, which I am going to make them place in the correct order themselves.
They pushed on a bit, and fought against the Shadow Mastiffs, which was a long and annoying fight, thanks to the Shadow Mastiff's not being able to hit most of the party members who based them, and having a 50% miss chance thanks to their Shadow blend ability, which made the players miss A LOT.
We called it there as it was getting late.
*Mokmurian's spellbook contains all Cantrips from the Core. All levle 1-6 spells from the Core that are not Enchantment or Illusion, as those are his opposed schools (which is hilarious, cause Huqxa is an Enchanter). 5 7th level spells; 2 have to be Reverse Gravity and Limited Wish since he had them prepared when they fought him, and the other 3 are whatever Huqxa wants them to be, but they cant be Ench or Ill.
Next time:
They'll surely finish this area, kill Xaliasa, complete the riddle, translate it, and go after Runeforge. I'm hoping I can convince them to not actually go INTO Runeforge, as I want to wait for the new anniversary edition to come out and use that for this thing, so I dont have to convert stats.
Quinn and Casteal want to throw a debate between Quinn and Grobraras, so I'm trying to come up with some questions that could be asked using the current political atmosphere for inspiration (suggestions welcome!).
I am planning on having Vale Temros (the large Shoanti Black Arrow they rescued along with Jakardos) send a letter to Desba in town, more or less asking if she would mind if he writes to her. Basically to start a relationship between the two.
I feel a couple of the players are happy with the game as far as how it relates to their characters (Alek being recognized by the church and given a title because of it; Alana getting married, finding her faith, and deciding to rebuild the theater; Quinn running for Lord Mayor) but the others I think could be more tied to the place they are now, so Im working on getting them into relationships or at least having them find friends, etc.
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This summer has been busy for many in our group, so we still havent had a new session since the last one I reported on. We are scheduled to have another one, now that I finally have my shiny new RotR Anniversary Edition hardcover, near the end of August.
From flipping through the book, it looks like the party is a bit underleveled, which I may or may not try to fix as they go. It appears that they should be hitting 14th level about the time they go into the Runeforge, but it looks like at least half of the party wont even be 13th level by then.
Not fixing it would be far mroe simple, as I wouldnt need to add ridiculous amounts of bad guys to existing encounters to catch them back up to speed. On the other hand, if I dont, they may have a hard time fighting Karzoug at the end of the adventure, who now has some back-up with him for the final encounter.
I briefly explained the '7 dungeons in 1' part of the current book to my wife, who is one of my players, and she believes she can convince the others to go around one way or the other, clockwise or counterclockwise, so I really only need to prep for 2 of the 7, opposed to having all 7 of the dungeons prepped and ready to go before the next session. Hopefully she is right. :P
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You could always throw in some figure the riddle out XP, plus winning the debate XP (maybe someone is cheating with enthrall or something) plus Xaliasa, plus the white dragon, plus figuring out the entrance to runeforge. You might be able to eke a level and a half from that.
Maybe some of the bypassed baddies from Jorgenfist are pressed into a revenge attack squad that attacks the PCs on the way to Runeforge (or on the road to Magnimar)? I'm not sure about the CRs but you could make a decent scry and fry attack squad out of those cats - perhaps reskinned as Karzoug's agents somehow.
I'm glad you're still around. We were on roughly parallel tracks for a while and it's good to have someone at nearly the same point to bounce ideas off of.
I've mapped out the end game in my campaign now and it's totally backwards as usual.
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I've thought about the remaining enemies from Jorgenfist, but I'm not entirely sure how I want to go about using them. I think the party is going to completely write off Jorgenfist library until they either A) cant figure out how to get into Runeforge, or B) hit the end of book 5 and need some help trying to figure out where Xin-Shalast is.
Considering they didnt do much at all with enemies on the ground level, I am going to repurpose those into something for when they go back. I've got the Black Monk and his cronies, the rocs, the kobold, and maybe a group or two of stone/hill giants who are still hanging around or something, possibly being led by Teraktinus, since the group never faced him.
Yes, they do still have Xaliasa to deal with, and the dragon and such, but I dont think that alone is going to give them enough to catch back up.
I havent figured out how I might like to change much else yet, as this isnt the only PF game I handle. I am the local Venture Lieutenant for the Pathfinder Society Organized Play Campaign here, so I'm regularly running sessions for that as well. Even though they are all pregenerated scenarios that I'm running, it still takes up a lot of time to prep for it, especially since we meet two weekends per month. :P
As much as I've enjoyed GMing this Runelords game, I'm going to be very happy when it's completed (probably in 2013, lol), since that will be one less GMing responsibility on my plate.
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Session 25: Runeforge? Never Heard of It...
In attendence tonight:
Alana: Varisian Bard/Pathfinder Delver/Paladin of Shelyn, married to Huxqa
Alek: Chelaxian Paladin of Iomedae
Desba: Shoanti Ranger of Desna w firepelt cougar companion
Quinn: Halfling Cavalier (Order of the Sword) with T-Rex mount
Casteal: Half-elf Summoner with eidolon
Missing:
Kida: Shoanti barbarian
Huxqa: Half-orc Wizard (Enchanter), married to Alana
Last Saturday was our first session using the new hardback version of the Rise of the Runelords AP, much to my delight. Even though it had been a long time since our last session, I still could have used a bit more prep time, as I was still recovering from Gencon and still trying to get stuff organized (and still am) and set for our local single-day game con.
Anyway, the session began with the party still down in the lower levels of the catacombs under Sandpoint, trying to locate the Scribbler. They pushed through the foggy hallways, and Quinn on his T-Rex Mount charged through the door leading past the Suggestion trap, with the T-rex failing the Will save. Obviously the suggestion of Lamashtu having tainted his allies was a little too complicated for him, but I figure he probably could have gotten the 'your friends are going to kill you. I explained it to the player and told him to roleplay as he would. Yes, this could be potentially deadly trap (if someone ran off alone), but I didnt want to deal with that part, so I was using it more for party confusion, etc.
The player roleplayed it as the dinosaur trying to buck him off and being a little reckless, so Alek decided to try to grab the reigns to keep the animal under control. Sharptooth lashed out, rolled a 20 to attack, but failed to confrim, still doing a hilarious 25-30 damage. A few Dispel Magic's later (cause the Eidolon failed as well, lol) and the party was back on their way to the final room in the complex.
As they threw open the door to the final room and looked inside, the Scribbler poofed into the hallway with them, making several attacks at Alana (being in the back, lol). This caused much confusion, cause everyone else was in front of her, and couldnt draw LOS to the bad guy, since the hallways are foggy, though eventually they took him down.
After looting the body (and leveling for all present), they st about trying to decipher the poem to find Runeforge...and did so badly. They wound up making a side-trip to Jorgenfist Library just to find out where they were supposed to be going. As Ive said previously in this thread, there are several elements at Jorgenfist I could use to get in their way, but I didnt prep for any of that and didnt want to delay them any further, so we skipped over it. I have a feeling I'll be able to make use of it during the last book though, as they'll probably head back their to find any kinds of clues they can about Xin Shalast before heading into the Kodars.
So they arrive at the stones, thinking the line about casting a 'proper prayer' literally means the Prayer spell, which Alek casts in the middle of the ring of statues. It activates the one correct statue and they deduce from their that they need to cast spells of the correct school on each statue to activate them. As they spread out to activate the rest of the statues, the dragon comes down, catching everyone except Alek in the blast of his breath weapon. After the first round of everyone missing with every attack they through at it, he became a little cocky and attacked back. A few lcuky critical hits and a few buff spells later, and he was in trouble, but I couldnt get him out of the fight to do the grab, fly up, breathe, drop tactic before they took him down. A little underwhelming, I think. :/
They climbed the stairs and made short work of the earth elementals, since they went last in the round.
FINALLY, they enter the Runeforge and head to the left. We did a pre-session vote to decide 'right' or 'left', without knowing what it referenced, so i didnt need to prep the entire damn dungeon before this one session, lol.
I replaced the two doubles of the first four PCs fight with a slightly different version. I had created alternate 'evil' versions of the attending PCs, as a means of showing them what they might be like if they succumbed fully to their sin. I had them fight themselves, though the fight was fairly easy, as the evil PC's didnt necessarily work together towards a common goal, as they are only interested in self preservation, etc.
When they each died, I gave each PC a vision of a possible future:
A wave of immeasurable pleasure washes over you as a vision fills your mind. You lie naked on a bed, making love to a lean man with clawed, bloody hands. You know you shouldn’t enjoy it, but you simply do not care. You revel in the pleasure, unlike anything you have ever known.
The view of the vision widens. Huxqa lies on the floor nearby, dead, his throat ripped out.
The pleasure fades and the vision ends.
As the man dressed in black falls, your mind clouds as a feeling of overwhelming hate fills you. You stand atop a mountain, a lean man dressed in green dead at your feet. Looking up, your allies celebrate their success, though you feel nothing but contempt for them. Taking up your sword, you strike them down, one by one, with righteous indignation.
The vision changes. You stand in front of a mirror. Your gleaming armor decked in the holy symbol of Iomedae is gone, replaced by a black plate. Reaching down, you pick up a helmet with the face of a demonic dog. The seething anger wanes as the vision disappears.
A feeling of lethargy fills you and you turn from the fight, no longer caring what the outcome may be. A vision fills your mind.
You lie upon pile of pillows while servants fan you, bring you food, and move about, catering to your every whim. Looking closer, you notice the servants are your allies, all of whom appear distraught at their lot in life. Your closest companion, Raziel comes into view. Every faithful, he protects you from any would-be attacker and keeps the servants in line. But today he doesn’t come to protect, but to punish.
He picks you up with both hands. You try to defend yourself, but it has been so long since you have had to use your magic that you have forgotten how. He sticks his sword deep into your stomach, leaving you to bleed out on the floor like a dog.
The vision fades as the lethargic feeling passes.
An overwhelming sense of concern fills your very soul as you turn to check to make sure your companion is safe. Instead of the powerful, muscular figure, you see a decrepit animal, protected by a field of magic that appears inpenetrable. The cat is fat, no muscles push at it’s skin, and a glossy sheen covers it’s eyes. All hope of ever being free and running wild have left it. It sits in it’s cage, filled with sorrow at it’s lot in life.
With a shake of your head, the vision fades, and your companion as you now know her returns to view.
A desire for possessions fills your heart, stronger than you have ever felt, even when situations were at their most dire for your family. A vision clouds your mind.
You ride on Sharptooth down the streets of Magnimar, waving to the populace of the town you now rule. But it is not the Magnimar you know. Beggars are everywhere, your friends among them, while you ride by, decked in armor covered from neck to toe in jewels.
The vision changes. Your family lie huddled on the floor of a single-room shack, most of them shivering in the cold. Your parents try to protect your siblings from the cold with their body heat, but your mother lies still, a blue tint covering her lips.
The vision fades as the greed in your heart ebbs.
Partially, I did it as a thematic way to remind them they are supposed to be heroes and this is what they may become if they 'join the dark side', and partially its to try to scare them away from all wanting to make a weapon that is really good against Karzoug once we get to the runeforged weapons part...
Anyway, the night ended there, though they arent yet done with this wing of the dungeon.
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For the next session they should finish this dungeon, plus go into Wrath, and maybe the one after that. Should be interesting.
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A note about the visions. They were attuned to their own personal sin, not all about Pride since they were in the Pride wing.
Alana-lust (Huxqa is her husband, and fellow PC)
Alek- wrath
casteal- sloth
Desba- greed (regarding her cat)
Quinn- greed (concerning money)
Also, I had come up with one for the evil version of the dinosaur, being gluttony (cause its a freakin t-rex...it likes to eat) being something along the lines of "You get really hungry, but there is nothing around to eat except Quinn. You eat him, but you are still hungry..."