Haunting of HarrowStone (GM Reference)


Carrion Crown

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Hi all.

First post from me and just want to say a big thanks to everybody on this thread. I have stolen all of your ideas and claimed them for myself :)

This is my long term group's first pathfinder advenure and I thought I would share some of the photos I took of the first level of Harrowstone prison.

We use all the great stuff from Dwarven Forge - worth checking out. I tried to get it as close to the map as posible.

Hope this link works.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90213379%40N05/sets/72157632046902685/


It's beautiful!

Liberty's Edge

I am so jealous right now. That is just cool.

Sczarni

markymarkmark wrote:

Hi all.

First post from me and just want to say a big thanks to everybody on this thread. I have stolen all of your ideas and claimed them for myself :)

This is my long term group's first pathfinder advenure and I thought I would share some of the photos I took of the first level of Harrowstone prison.

We use all the great stuff from Dwarven Forge - worth checking out. I tried to get it as close to the map as posible.

Hope this link works.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90213379%40N05/sets/72157632046902685/

That is amazing.

The Exchange

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Well, I've started up HoH, but on my first meeting I had a couple players who could not make it. Not really a problem later, as I expect to have a player or two miss each session - so I started with 6 players.

I did though, want to have everyone there for the reading of the will - so I padded a bit on the start. I figured the players had to get to town SOME way, and they were likely to meet each other in route... so I put some thought to it and created a Barge service. Makes sense to me, a Boat/Barge runs from the small Dock house on the river - down stream to a larger city to sell produce. Probate Laywer (Barister) arranged to get 4 of the 6 players on the same barge, the other two players will be arriving overland (stage maybe?). One of my players wrote an account of the trip, let's see if I can post it here...

A barge trip to Ravengro:

29 Rova, 4711
Boarded the river barge Vistear Runner for the journey to Ravengro. The captain, a jovial man who says to call him “Bob” (like a fishing float), says that we can expect to dock in Ravengro on the 5th of Lamashan. We were told the funeral is to be held on the 6th of Lamashan. The Runner has a crew of two deckhands as well as the captain. These three, as well as three other passengers will be my companions on the trip.
Captain Bob – a varisian human, overly happy. Seems very talkative on any subject – perhaps he is a bit of a gossip.
Crewmen
Pher’Red, a red headed older man with a loud voice – talks about his time in the River Kingdoms a lot.
Joh, a large boned, strong woman – silent, I haven’t heard her say anything at all, though Captain Bob did not say she was a mute…
Fellow passengers:
Elgin, a large strong man, plainly a warrior of some type – perhaps with one of the Iomedae orders as he wears her symbols. Dressed is exotic armor, and plainly with non-human blood about him. Perhaps a Celestial in his ancestors? Anyway, he carries a BIG curved sword. What is it with guys and big swords?
Beltin, human man, talks with the accent of southern Andoran. Introduced himself as a Cleric in the service of Iomedae - he and Elgin seem to know each other? Dressed in the same exotic armor – is this some resent style of armor in one of the Crusading orders?
Liam, a Halfling man. Shy and retiring like many of his race, he often appears to be skulking about the boat. As uncle Hugo was heard to say, “Halflings are easily overlooked”.

30 Rova, 4711
Captain Bob sets a fine table, though it appears to be wasted on two of the passengers. Perhaps the two Iomedae’ians are not used to Varisian foods? Or perhaps it’s just a bit of sea-sickness, though the river seems to be smooth as a tabletop to me. Today I spent part of the day in the cabin, crafting a scroll.

1 Lamashan, 4711
Elgin took a turn at the pole today. Winds were not favorable (according to Captain Bob) and the crew spent several hours this morning poling the barge to make progress. Pole up to one bind in the river, then sail a few hundred yards, only to pole more to the next bind. Our travel this morning seemed to be in spurts.
This evening we stopped at a farmstead. Three families’ dwellings clustered near a small dock – little more than a couple planks sticking into the river. We have tied up for the night, and the families are hosting us to dinner. I got to practice Harrow with the farm wives, and amuse the children with simple Prestidigitations. Elgin got to show off to a “young lady” doing some wood chopping.

2 Lamashan, 4711
A rainy day overcast and dim. A great day to stay in the cabin and read. Anchored in midstream for the night, we join the crew on security watches thru the night.

3 Lamashan, 4711
This evening we again stopped at a farmstead. So much like the first one two days back that I might have thought we had turned around, except this one had twin girls for Elgin to show off to with his wood chopping. I overheard the farmer commenting to Bob that he would need to lock the girls in their room tonight.
Liam tried his hand at juggling, much to the amusement of the children – some of whom stand taller then him! They were most amazed to see so strange a sight as a grown-up smaller than them.

4 Lamashan, 4711
Another drizzly rainy day overcast and grey. Captain Bob says we will be into Ravengro on time. Again sleeping in midstream, and watching an uneventful night pass.

5 Lamashan, 4711
It appears the good captain may have jinxed himself. The day dawned with favorable winds and we were actually running ahead of time. He was looking forward to “a fine cooked meal at home this evening” when we hit a snag in the river. The sudden stop snapped the mast and nearly threw Joh into the river. Most of us were thrown down, and Beltin took a nasty tumble down the stairs.
The snag punched a hole into the hold of the ship, and we began taking on water. Elgin took up a third pole and aided the crewmen to push us back off the snag, while Beltin cast mending to start patching the hole. The Captain had the crew pole us over to a small island, and grounded us on a sandy mud beach so that he and Beltin could affect repairs, a patch on the hole. During the examination of the snag, and with soundings using the barge poles we concluded that we had hit the broken mast of a sunken boat.
While the boat was being repaired, the rest of us remained on deck, and with the crewmen using the poles to keep us snuggly against the bank. While waiting, Liam noticed lights in the brush on the island. When he drew my attention to it, I recognized it as a form of haunt called an Orb or Globe haunt. Mostly harmless, though often frightening, and a form of undead.
This is where I learned that the two Iomedae’ians on board are not members of one of the Demon hunting orders, but rather to be undead fighters of some sort. Elgin in particular, seemed to feel it was a requirement to hunt down these lost souls and “free them from their accursed state”. He did though, agree that it would wait until Beltin was done and the barge was again in the river. But then insisted on jumping into the water and wading ashore, Beltin close at his back. I noticed that Liam seemed even more reluctant than me to tromp into the brush covering the island, at least until I mentioned that it would be sad if the two “holy warriors” failed to recover anything that might be valuable. At that point he said something to the effect that we should “go along to help keep them out of trouble”.
On the island we found an old hidden shack, trapped, but with very little of value. We were not the first to have found it thou, for just inside the shack was the body of one Dmitri Karsova. He seems to have been ship-wrecked here, and had entered the shack for shelter, but had been slain by a trap on the door. We avoided this fate thru the skills of Liam, who seems to know something of the workings of such devices. Letters and a locket on the body of Dmitri seem to indicate that he was from Ravengro, so I fear that we will be bringing bad news with us when we arrive there.
We headed back to the barge to see if Captain Bob might have something useful in digging a grave, perhaps a shovel? As we reached the shore, we where attacked by two zombies that stumbled from the river. Stinking corpses that appeared to be those of drowned sailors, these creatures fell to Elgin’s blade, but not before one battered Beltin badly. In the middle of the fight, a stirge appeared from the brush. The creature was one that I recognized from my studies of swamp dangers, so I loosed an arrow at it, but missed. In the excitement, I failed to utilize my magical attacks, relying instead on the more mundane weapons of my youth. It latched onto Elgin’s back, and began to pulse with blood drawn from him. Much to his credit, he ignored the lesser danger and struck the second zombie down. A second arrow from me pierced to creature, but failed to kill it (curse my weakness!), and Liam failed to connect with his attack. Its blood sack inflated as it continued to draw more blood from Elgin. At this point, with the other threats down, Elgin twisted around and struck the stirge a blow that battered it senseless. He then drew it from his back and killed it with his hands. The fight over, we took a few moments to recover, and access our current status. It may have been my imagination, but Elgin seemed slightly pale from the blood lost.
A check of the Zombie bodies turned up little other than a fine long sword. A family weapon perhaps, very distinctive in its decorations. Any other equipment on the bodies had not faired well from an extended time in the river. Upon showing the sword to the crew of the Runner, Pher’Red named another ship owner as the sword owner, with Captain Bob stating that perhaps that was the wreck that we had snagged on. Though he had no reason why they should be here, as they were never on this river, and mainly sailed another stream that drained into Lake Lais.
Getting a shovel from the barge, we went back to the bodies and buried them in graves just outside the small shack. Beltin said a few words over the graves; we put up markers and solemnly went back to the barge. We had originally started on this trip to attend a funeral, had already attended three, and have another day’s travel still ahead of us. Tomorrow will be another, the funeral for the Professor in Ravengro. Altogether a sad end to an overcast, rainy week.

(PS: Just before dawn) During my watch, Liam surged out of his hammock, certain that he had seen the building on the hill upriver on fire (the Harrowstone, some miles away). That he had in fact heard the shouting of many people and saw the fire – but that he had done this while on watch on deck. The problem with this being that I was standing watch not him, and he was asleep. I calmed him, pointing out that it had just been a dream and sent him back to bed. But after he drifted off to sleep, I noticed the faint smell of burning on the wind….

Sczarni

nosig wrote:

Well, I've started up HoH, but on my first meeting I had a couple players who could not make it. Not really a problem later, as I expect to have a player or two miss each session - so I started with 6 players.

I did though, want to have everyone there for the reading of the will - so I padded a bit on the start. I figured the players had to get to town SOME way, and they were likely to meet each other in route... so I put some thought to it and created a Barge service. Makes sense to me, a Boat/Barge runs from the small Dock house on the river - down stream to a larger city to sell produce. Probate Laywer (Barister) arranged to get 4 of the 6 players on the same barge, the other two players will be arriving overland (stage maybe?). One of my players wrote an account of the trip, let's see if I can post it here...

** spoiler omitted **...

Great writeup! :)

The Exchange

I may have missed this in the thread above, but... I'm in the process of Preparing for "Event 5. Smoldering Revenge" - and looking at the procedures for the Fire. This is going to be HARD! I started doing the math, going to figure out how my (slightly oversized group) will be handling this - when I noticed something. I will have 5 PCs for this session. There are 5 fires - each setting an additional square on fire each turn... So...

1st turn - 5+5=10 sq. on fire, and the PCs get to act. It's a DC12 to put out a square - so say my PCs just fight fires and have a few bonuses and get 3 fire sq. put out. now...

2nd turn - 7+5=12 sq. on fire, and the PCs do the same... and roll well and put out 4, only missing one. and now we go to...

3rd turn - 8+5=13. Wow... the PCs are doing GREAT and still losing ground.

In fact - there seems to be NO WAY to get ahead of this.... Unless the PCs "gang up" on one source early and get it out, and then switch to the next and work on it till it's out and so on.

Does anyone see something I'm missing? How do 4 PC groups do this? Thanks for your advice!


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You basically have to either hit them early, or gang up on individual fire sources. If each PC squares off against a different fire source then at best they'll make no progress while at worst the fire will spread faster than they can fight. If a group focuses on one fire until it's completely gone, ignoring the others, they can reduce the amount of spreading that happens each turn, and move on to one of the fires they ignored once their first focus no longer holds any risk of spreading.

The key thing you're missing in terms of your calculations is that there are 5 separate fires, and entirely extinguishing a fire source reduces that +5 burning squares each round to a +4, doing it again reduces it to a +3, and so on. That's how it's manageable; you have to look at the total number of tiles in each individual fire source, not the total number in all of them combined.

Editing your math example to show good firefighting strategy, my edits are in bold:

Quote:

1st turn - 5+5=10 sq. on fire, each fire has 2 burning squares, and the PCs get to act. It's a DC12 to put out a square - so say my PCs just fight fires and have a few bonuses and get 3 fire sq. put out. Assuming at least 2 of the three successes were on the same fire, they've successfully extinguished one source now...

2nd turn - 7+4=11 sq. on fire, three of the fires have 3 burning squares, the one that was partially-extinguished last round has 2 burning squares, and the PCs do the same... and roll well and put out 4, only missing one. Assuming the PCs took the smart route and focused on the smaller one, they've now extinguished the second fire and put a big dent in the third one, and now we go to...

3rd turn - 7+3=10 sq. on fire, presumably two of the fires (the ones that haven't been worked on yet) have four burning squares, and the third one has two. Assuming the PCs once again focus on the small one, they successfully team up and extinguish it, and can then move on to one of the remaining big ones. They team up on that one to extinguish it, leaving only one fire left. That last one will have gotten pretty big by the time they get to it, but it's the only fire left and the group is free to focus 4 or 5 rolls per-round on it while it only spreads by 1 each round. Any round with at least two successes lessens the fire more than its spreading increases it, and it eventually gets extinguished as well.

The Exchange

Ah! "Russian Tank Doctrine"! like everyone shot at the same target till it's down, then move on...
My PCs do that for monsters - we'll see if they do it for fires too!
Thanks!


markymarkmark wrote:

Hi all.

First post from me and just want to say a big thanks to everybody on this thread. I have stolen all of your ideas and claimed them for myself :)

This is my long term group's first pathfinder advenure and I thought I would share some of the photos I took of the first level of Harrowstone prison.

We use all the great stuff from Dwarven Forge - worth checking out. I tried to get it as close to the map as posible.

Hope this link works.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90213379%40N05/sets/72157632046902685/

I'm jalous. I want a prison for Christmas :)

That's pretty cool!


just started this last night- got off to a slow start actually- some of my adhd players got bored after we went from the will to the journals to the research.

One of my players is a half orc necromancer who controls undead. I think we may quickly move to the "angry mob" option on the list.

The Exchange

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My players caught up with the Monument Desecrater tonight. Lots of RP leading up to it, and finally 4 of them (all still 1st levels) catch him splashing the Gazebo in the town square (they were detected at the other targets). In the conflict, the cleric hit him with a Protection from Evil... wow... it gives another save? he'd hit the Lady ranger once already, and the cleric for a shave of HP... and then while he was trying to figure out what he was doing in the town square in his night shirt, with the strangers trying to kill him... the wizard slept him. End of fight.

Lots of smiles and pats on the back, until they saw that he'd gotten the blood from Old River...

Anyway - the lead up to that midnight was lots of bad visions/dreams. Here's what they got - each of 4 players got one of these as a handout, which they got to read while creepy music played as background.

The Ranger named Seda, on stake out at the Monument:

(a paper folded over at the bottom)
The Ghostly Wagon
This event can occurs as Seda waits and watches the monument at about midnight on the night of (Day 5) 8 Lamashand,. For the moment she is alone…

Faintly you hear the sound of a horse drawn wagon rolling past behind you. As you turn around to look, you see a set of tracks forming in the dust of the road,

(STOP! MAKE A SURVIVAL CHECK)
Check the DCs below to see what you learn….
… and the tracks fade away, vanishing before the you can draw anyone else’s attention to this strange occurrence.

each DC was behind a fold with the number on it needed to unfold it.

DC 0?
You realize the tracks lead away from you, but not TO you, it’s as if the wagon started from right where you are standing.

DC10?
Means you can determine from the shape and depth of the tracks that it appears to be the trail of a wagon drawn by a pair of heavy horses, making its way south away from you.

DC 15?
The horses have distinctive horse shoes, each shoe having an HPA cast into the metal.

The HPA lead them to Jurfa at the Forge -
Horse shoes like that haven't been made in over 50 years - the HPA stands for Harrowstone Prison Authority.
Down by the dock there's an old patch of cement with the impression of a couple of those shoes made when the landing was being built... if you want to go check 'em out.

on a side note, no one commented on the fact that the wagon was headed south - tword Harrowstone. I'm not sure if they didn't notice that, or just didn't comment.

A Gnomish Bard named Glim:

A Vision, or a dream?: For Glim
In the middle of the night of (Day 5) 8 Lamashand, after a day of “research” at the Laughing Demon, your sleep is disturbed.
Something has awakened you, you are not sure what and a glance to the outside window reveals an unnerving development—the window is now barred! As you look around the darkened room, you notice how some pieces of furniture that were there just a moment before are now missing, while others have been replaced by something one might find in a prison cell. For example, after you get out of bed to approach the window, you look back at your bed, only to see that the bed is now a pile of moldy straw. A tray of leftover food from your late night dinner that is sitting on a bench by the door has turned into a bowl of wormy gruel sitting on a stone floor. The only light in the room comes from a full moon outside the window. A glance back out that now-barred window reveals an entirely different view from what you saw earlier tonight, for now, the view looks out over a mist-shrouded hill, in the distance of which can be seen the flickering lights of a town.

(STOP! MAKE A Knowledge (geography or local) SKILL CHECK)

DC 15? See note below &

(CONTINUE)
Cries for help from you bring no response, and no amount of hammering on doors or bars budges them. As you grow more and more desperate, you notice letters slowly appearing on the wall above where your bed used to be, one letter at a time, written in dripping blood.
“G” - A rush of shadow as a cloud streams past the moon momentarily causes the light from the window to flicker.
“L” - Sound of footsteps outside the door, the clink of heavy chains…
“I” – Sounds of a key ring, and key, the sound of the lock on the door turning…
“…”…The cloud covers the moon, plunging the room into darkness.

Just then you waken in your bed, in a cold sweat, as if from a bad dream. Yet as you look to the wall where the letters were appearing in the dream, the bloody message remains in full view, the last letter still unformed, just a bloody smear. (The blood itself is non-magical and remains on the wall until cleaned away.)

The following is the note that he did NOT make the DC for, and had to discribe it to someone (the party wizard), who had to make a DC20 to get this note

NOTE:
Knowledge (geography or local) SKILL CHECK)
DC 15 - identifies that town as Ravengro as seen from a high vantage point from the south of town—but the town appears smaller, and some of the outer fields are forested.

on a side note, no one commented on the fact that the was from the Prison - even though they all KNEW it. I'm pretty sure they noticed that, and just didn't comment.

Cleric named Beltin:

Rest in Peace - For Beltin:
In the middle of the night of (Day 5) 8 Lamashand, after a day of aiding Keela in Research at the Temple of Pharasma, you are having a dream. You realize this is just a dream, but perhaps it is a memory too? In this dream, you are back at the grave site of Professor Lorrimor and Father Grimbarrow is saying the eulogy. You glance past the other mourners, past the Father and his diggers, to a cluster of weather-beaten tombstones.

Gazing at the tombstones for a minute (Taking 20), you notice something disturbing—an epitaph that reads,

“Dare you come to my world,
and be as I;
as I am now,
soon you will be;
embrace your end and witness me.”
“Died ... Lamashand, 4661 ar”.

It is when you realize that the stone bears the name of Elgin and you glance to him. Glancing back to the stone, the inscription appears to be weathered away, as if the eerie inscription were never there in the first place.

on a side note, no one commented on the fact that the DATE was the same date as the fire - they did do the math and figured the grave would be 50 years old.... Currently, I'm pretty sure they didn't connect that.

Keela - Elven Wizard, planning to be a Harrower - fortune teller:

A Vision?: For Keela:
On the night of (Day 5) 8 Lamashand, after a day of in Research at the Temple of Pharasma, you stop at the Laughing Demon to pick up Glim, who has been doing his own kind of “research”. He is in the middle of a group of locals and signals you to wait a moment. Sitting at a table near the door, you glance at a common deck of harrow cards someone has left there. Smiling to yourself, you pull out your much nicer deck, and shuffle them.
Time seems to stop. The felt table top seems to fall away and you are looking down – down a hallway? Looking past your friends, Elgin to the left, and Beltin to the right, looking down a darkened hallway. Is it a vision? The darkened hallway lightens in greenish spectral light as a creature there begins to cast a spell…
(STOP! MAKE A Spellcraft SKILL CHECK)

At this point her handout was folded over and a slightly trimmed down picture from page 55 (of the Splatterman? thowing spells?) was concealed. Everyone had related there "Spooky story" when it came her turn and so we all got to see her eyes bug out when she unfolded the picture. "Goodness... He looks like some undead creature..."

The spell craft was a DC19 - to get that he was casting a Magic Missile - a Maximised Magic Missile (4th level spell)

So... feel free to use these - they seem to work best when in town to set the mood, and I had each player read thiers out loud (with spooky background music). A real mood setter!

Sczarni

nosig wrote:

I may have missed this in the thread above, but... I'm in the process of Preparing for "Event 5. Smoldering Revenge" - and looking at the procedures for the Fire. This is going to be HARD! I started doing the math, going to figure out how my (slightly oversized group) will be handling this - when I noticed something. I will have 5 PCs for this session. There are 5 fires - each setting an additional square on fire each turn... So...

1st turn - 5+5=10 sq. on fire, and the PCs get to act. It's a DC12 to put out a square - so say my PCs just fight fires and have a few bonuses and get 3 fire sq. put out. now...

2nd turn - 7+5=12 sq. on fire, and the PCs do the same... and roll well and put out 4, only missing one. and now we go to...

3rd turn - 8+5=13. Wow... the PCs are doing GREAT and still losing ground.

In fact - there seems to be NO WAY to get ahead of this.... Unless the PCs "gang up" on one source early and get it out, and then switch to the next and work on it till it's out and so on.

Does anyone see something I'm missing? How do 4 PC groups do this? Thanks for your advice!

It does seem a bit undoable at first but if the PCs gang up on one fire and let the others spread you will have one fire completely put out and the others will most likely grow and merge into one. Per the rules, 2 fires spreading into 2 squares will become 1 fire spreading into 1 square. If the PCs should put the now larger fire out in such a manner that they break it into 2 fires again, it will start spreading at a rate of 2 squares a round again.


my players are really drawn in to this mod, probably more so than other ones we've done. Their only complaint is with the church of Pharasma. Lots of "OK, so there's a temple of the goddess who hates undead- and they are doing what to help here?"- I finally decided that the church's role was to prevent further skeletons and zombies from coming out of the Restlands.

My town hall encounter went fairly well, though I accidently did four fires instead of five and semi accidently placed them in a manner where no peasants caught fire initially.

Three of four party members attempted, and failed, intimidate/diplomacy rolls (holy cow they are high in this mod!) to get everyone to leave faster the first round. Then they fought four skulls while the cleric pulse healed fallen peasents (who were being dragged by the sheriff).

I wound up having one super skull who knocked out two party members before being brought down. By then everyone else was outside.

When they finally healed back up and got to the fire it covered half the building, but they had create water and ray of frost, so they were averaging 3 squares out a round- while the fire had gotten to a point where it was averaging 2 squares a round. I wasn't sure how many squares it took for the building to burn down, so I didn't worry about it. We did this for two rounds before deciding that the probability was they were going to put the fire out.


My party's paladin asked the priest at the church to help keep watch for more undead and to go around consecrating the graveyard (after the professor came back as a zombie), and then ultimately the entire area after we had more skeletons appear. So in my game, the party had those worshipers working quite a bit considering how much ground they covered. For that I put an end to those random encounters for their solution.

As for the fire, I had Kendra there helping in addition to the three PCs. I also had one of the other council members helping put the fire out while the sheriff was getting people out (my party is high charisma between a bard, paladin and a sorcerer, so they had no trouble making the DCs). We used mini marshmallows for the spreading fire and people ate what they put out. I got that idea from someone else on these forums, and it helped. After everyone was outside, I had them start a bucket brigade to help put the fire out, which the PCs then helped once they were done with the fires inside.


So This is my first time running a game in over 15 years. I am four or five sessions into this. Everything is going well and we are having a lot of fun even though two of my players know the rules better than I do (which creates a little meta gaming but that is just fine)

I have been throwing a lot of my own stuff in the game mostly come up with on the spot but it seems to be building to something and I want to see what you guys think.

so most of my sessions have been in the town and the RP has been a ton of fun there, plus falling into the well, discovering a traitorous acolyte at the church and robbing the tavern keeper. getting chased by the guards, seducing the alchemist (and the blacksmith)

So one session I had a player missing (a sneaky Changeling Ninja) , I sent the other two (Half Elf Summoner and Ancestor Oracle on a side mission to get a wagon unstuck for a merchant who had some trouble. So long story short they get attacked in the woods by 8 small undead woodland creatures. The raccoon giving them some trouble. (I dropped the DR on these to 2 because they are small) this was really fun and started to set up the dead rising theme.

Just this last session I had them defend some fleeing farmers (just before the town meeting and fire which managed to destroy the hall) The farmers were being attacked by their dead dog two skeleton chickens and a truly dangerous zombie cow. this was fun as well.

They will be going into the prison this next session and I was thinking of having Kendra pull them out with the terrible news of her dad all zombied killing people and stuff.

What I am getting at is I am thinking of setting up the final battle not in the prison but in the town itself. What would have to happen is the power of the prison in the last battle to somehow be released (possibly some involvement with the wardens wife here) or the splatter man finally taking complete possession of Gibbs. Then having the party have to rush back to town to defend it form the hoard of undead creatures that are besieging it.

what do you guys think?

oh
one more thing, the Summoner has a little obsession with capturing dangerous creatures. He had the Blacksmith make him a cage for the Stirge, which he feeds with a chained pig, and he keeps an undead squirrel in a wooden box. I want this to bite him in the ass. Ideas?

Sczarni

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Glad you're having fun, Giant Little!

Giant Little wrote:

What I am getting at is I am thinking of setting up the final battle not in the prison but in the town itself. What would have to happen is the power of the prison in the last battle to somehow be released (possibly some involvement with the wardens wife here) or the splatter man finally taking complete possession of Gibbs. Then having the party have to rush back to town to defend it form the hoard of undead creatures that are besieging it.

what do you guys think?

That sounds like a fun move, especially if your players are really enjoying Ravengro. My advice: be careful your players don't feel like they failed at the prison (unless of course they *do* fail!). Set things up so that they feel that their actions at the prison made the final enemy vulnerable, and that the final showdown in the town is a desperation play by the last enemy.

If you want to really have a spectacular final encounter, check out the idea for a "Furious Five" haunter here: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2p06z?Question-about-The-Splatterman-Spoilers#1 4

Giant Little wrote:

oh

one more thing, the Summoner has a little obsession with capturing dangerous creatures. He had the Blacksmith make him a cage for the Stirge, which he feeds with a chained pig, and he keeps an undead squirrel in a wooden box. I want this to bite him in the ass. Ideas?

Heh, simple. Where does he keep the wooden box? He awakens one morning to find the box empty. No matter how frantically he searches, he can't find the squirrel.

Wait for later in the campaign, whenever the party finds or buys their first bag of holding. The first time they open it up, BOOM RAVENOUS UNDEAD SQUIRREL INSIDE


Funniest comment from last night:
"Hey, this prison doesn't have a kitchen! No wonder the prisoners rioted!"

Funniest combat:
The flying manacles- they do one point of damage per round (maybe) but are really hard to hit or damage. Combat took 11 rounds.

What's got me nervous:
Party includes a necromancer with a high investment in control undead. Hope he doesn't get control of a certain NPC damsel in distress, but that could also be amusing.

Grand Lodge

Having an semi-intelligent undead Lorrimor come back for the players to hunt down could be fun...

He misses Kendra so he sneaks back to peek in windows but when confronted by anyone else he kills them... He has enough of himself in him to know he is dangerous and so hides but much of him is gone... and he is angry, oh so angry...


someone made theyre own pawns?

i need a litle help here!!

Grand Lodge

Sorry Juda - more details pls


Helaman wrote:
Sorry Juda - more details pls

for carrion crown pawns!!

im searching and made some but its a lot of job to do, i was wondering if someone here as made some, many or all of them (to share and make evrithing for everyone more easy)


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I am getting ready to run this for the first time. I have looked through the threads for ideas, and there's A LOT of good stuff. I have made some plans that I would like to share. Maybe they can give ideas to someone else. If you find something that you recognize - let me know, and I will give due credit and apologize sincerely. A long post, and so I have hidden it behind a spoiler tag. And of course - all of these things will change immediately when the PCs decide to burn down the prison, take Kendra prisoner and travel to Korvosa.

Spoiler:
The funeral
The PCs will find Kendra abandoned by the coffin at the entrance to the Restlands. Her hired helpers have not arrived. There are not many guests at the funeral. This will instill some compassion in the party, hopefully. And a sense of isolation in town.

The ceremony will be held at dusk. In my mind, Pharasmic burials show the journey from day to night. It is considered bad luck if the sun disappears before the ritual is complete. The thugs will delay the proceedings, father Grimburrow will be uncomfortable and this will foreshadow the return of the Professor later on.

An adversary in Ravengro
A bit of a Stephen King-mood here. These things can only happen if the PCs stay a while in Ravengro. If they go straight to the prison, I will do something else. But there are good suggestions in these forums on how to motivate them to stay in town. I will portray the councilwoman Mirta Straelock as someone who isn't happy about her place in this backwater town. She aspires to greater things. She doesn't take part in the farming events (market, catch-the-pig, pumpkin contest), but take pleasure in the official side of her position. Judgments, weddings. And she was befriended by a member of the Whispering Way. With promises of a new, cosmopolitan Ustalav. And a career opportunity. All she has to do for now is be on the lookout for spies and do-gooders come to investigate the Professor's accident. The cultists hide their dark plans under some noble cause, of course. Mirta Straelock is not important to them. They just want someone to keep an eye out.

Mirta Straelock will be a strong, visible, outspoken adversary to the PCs. She is on good terms with the sheriff (a small-minded man). Together, they try to hinder the PCs progress. "We cannot have these strangers go stir up evil in the ruins. Let the sleeping ones be left alone."

There will be a confrontation at the end of the module. Mirta Straelock, angry (or perhaps horrified after she has seen the truth): "I have told them. I have told them everything. They know you are coming."

Straelock is not evil. More of a tragic persona.

A worsening mood
As the events in town escalate, the sheriff will deputize some thugs. He tries to keep order with an iron fist.

Depending on the PCs actions, Gharen Muricar (councilmember) will oppose the sheriff. And make the PCs "marshals of the county" or something. This will be useful in the next module, and motivate their role as defenders and investigators in the trial of the beast.

And, on a side note: As the mood in town grows worse, the PCs will be affected as well. They have to make Will saves to avoid anger management issues. Kind of like a fear effect.


Welcome!

If they try to burn down the prison have the fires go out. It has been burned down before; there's not much left to burn. It is also, uh, protected by the ghosts of those who died containing and putting out the fire... so yeah, no setting the place ablaze.

Kidnapping Kendra for what purpose (though it shouldn't be a big issue if they want to... they just lose out on money and xp and there isn't anyone alive to actually pay a bounty)?

Korvosa is fine; mention that it is a very dangerous trip and then attack them with a phase spider (first encounter of book 2's trip to Lepidstadt).

Funeral sounds good; hopefully you can play up the sympathy. You could even have the mob intimidating Kendra and her helpers waiting down the road not willing to get involved in the conflict. This is a hard scene because players will probably want to kill the mob. Have Kendra provide lines about not killing them.

I'd kick Mirta's promise down to a position in cosmopolitan Lepidstadt as another hook to get players to go there at the end of book 1. I do like your idea, but for some variety I'll toss this idea out...

Spoiler:
You could have the true Mirta dead and stuffed into one of the rooms in the prison basement. Instead have the Mirta in town be the skinstealer Vorstag... Vorstak... The other half of V&G chymic works in Book 2. When the players figure this out, he's run off and left evidence that he was a skin stealer and heading back home. Should make for some fun times!

Neat ideas with the town feeling. Marshal of the county is likely above Ravengro's station, but deputizing them is definitely valid. Going to Lepidstadt to report to Judge Daramid what happened in Ravegro is a great 'last duty as deputies' and way to get them up there and talking to her.

It is a fun adventure. Definitely spend time with the haunts and exactly how you want to run them and what can and cannot harm them. I found that they can cause trouble if you're having to look up rules and decide if a vial of X or potion of Y may do it. Personally, I allowed holy water and CLW potions to work, as well as any positive energy spell cast on the general area where the haunt was occurring.


Thanks for the suggestions, and for the feedback! I like the idea that the mob is keeping the pall-bearers away.

Spoiler:
It would be great to use the skin stealer like you suggested. Could be a good finale, especially if the PCs and the Sheriff are heading for a showdown of some kind. And if Mirta has been a visible opponent throughout the adventure. A tense moment when they bring the news (or the body), and the sheriff "just saw her a moment ago". I would have to give the skin stealer some good motivation for doing it, though. My only worry is that it would lessen the effect of the revelations in Trial of the Beast. Maybe I will save the gist of it for that module, and expand the Vorkstag character in more ways there. Skin stealing could lead to some nice paranoia ...

Thanks for the advice concerning the haunts, as well. I like the mechanic, and want them to set the mood for the prison. Did they work out in your game?


The haunts were a stumbling block for me because I didn't fully understand how I wanted them to work and how I wanted to let my players handle them.

For us, I allowed them to be damaged through any positive energy effect applied to the area (casting CLW, cleric's channeling) as well as liquid based attacks (holy water, CLW potions) thrown on the ground or against the haunted item.

Alternatively, if they 'solved' the haunt (like the bones in the furnace), they shut it down immediately. I allowed knowledge religion checks to figure out what to do. I also made the haunts immune to detect magic until manifesting.

The only haunt I had to take out was Father Charlatan. I really like the idea and how he works, but it is effectively impossible to divide the group in a way that neither side knew what was happening to the other person. I never got to try it out though; right after the players caught him, they went back to town and met with Grimbarrow to get some healing, at which point I had the priest exorcise the ghost.


Nice touch that Grimburrow exorcised Father Charlatan. Almost makes you feel sorry for the ghost - after all that planning and waiting ... :) I will use the same methods for hurting the haunts as you (clw, positive energy). Will try to increase the creepiness of the haunts by removing the initiative round. All PCs that make the perception roll will have a hurried chance to act. No placing in initiative order. Maybe too chaotic. We will see.

The haunts are a really good storytelling device, as others have said. Looking forward to this.


And regarding Charlatan. I will run it mostly as described, but will not separate the PCs. It's ok that everybody hears, in my opinion. Like a cutscene in a movie.

Silver Crusade

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I agree. They won't buy the "Well, you just died!"-shtick anyway, since we play with hero points.
"You die." - "I use my two hero points!" - "Errr, well...I don't care, you die!" - there is no way this will work ;)
Instead, I might run it as a mass possession - they will think they just got hit REALLY bad with negative energy and will regain conciousness in the temple, where Charlatan will explain some bullshit story about how he got them out of there. Thing is, he will simply not know many details of the town, like Old River or Father Grimburrow - and every time one of the PCs notices some details that are just plain wrong they get to make a save. He won't be really dangerous, just some kind of mindscrew encounter. The only way he can win is when they really DO abandon their mission and go on to leave the town, and I really don't see them do that.

Or else I will run him as written and use it as a exercise for role playing. "Yeah, your character is getting crushed, but he DOES NOT KNOW THAT...please play accordingly."

On another not, a tip for all new game masters running the module:
Consider carefully if you want to start the adventure as written. I did, and because it takes me some time to get into the flow (I have no problem speaking in character as a player, but as a game master it takes some effort at first) I really, really screwed up the first scene. It was hectic, not very immersive and when the characters finally reached Kendra's house they realized they don't even know each others names.
Yeah, I should have put another scene before this one, just to warm up.


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Thanks for the tip. It's a good idea to give the PCs a chance to get to know each other a little bit before the funeral.

A thought: I also want to start the module with an action sequence that binds them together as a group. And set some sort of rural european Dracula mood at the same time.

Someone on these forums suggested a carriage ride, where the PCs are travelling together to reach the funeral in Ravengro.

Again, a wall of text. Thus, a spoiler tag to give people a choice :). Here's what I'm thinking:

Spoiler:
A closed carriage with small windows. A driver and some horses in front. The ride gives me an opportunity to describe the land and the setting. "The woods close in on either side of the carriage, barely leaving room to pass. Dry branches snap against the walls, making the horses nervous. The afternoon light does not reach all the way down through the trees. Small clearings of farmland show low cottages, yellow light in the windows. And then more forest. Dark and still, except for the hooves on the hard packed ground."

The PCs will get a chance to describe and introduce themselves. Then something happens to make the horses panic. The PCs don't know what. The driver is gone, and the horses are galloping hard. Everybody rolls initiative. The carriage gets initiative 10. Creative solutions are rewarded. Skills and abilities will be used.

On the carriage's initiative, it will crash into trees (reflex saves), be on the verge of falling over (strength checks to stop it).

The key to this, I think, is to keep it hurried. Each player only has a couple of seconds to decide what to do. Then a fast dice, and a fast outcome.

Example (I apologize for all possible cheeziness here):

GM: The carriage hits something, and is thrown to the left side. X, what do you want to do? You have 3 seconds.
X: ... climb out? Through the window, trying to reach the roof of the carriage.
GM: Acrobatics.
X: 12+3=15
GM: You get halfway through the window and barely manage to hold on, as the carriage swings back. Group – you see Xs feet lifting from the ground. Y, what do you want to do? 3 seconds.
Y: I try to hold her legs, helping her reach the roof.
GM: Strength.
Y: 8+1=9
GM: You hold her. X - you get a hold on the edge at the top. The horses are neighing at something, and the carriage hits a bump.

And so on.


Sounds good. Are you thinking to show them what spooked the horses or just have them get the carriage under control? It may be fun to give them the choice to get things settled down or to try and make out the shadowy shape heading towards them.

As for options: Stirges or Undead. Include some faint haunting pipe music. You know, for the fun of it!


Stirges it is. Good thinking. Two of them, attached to one of the horses. Gross, and something to fight against. And foreshadowing.


does Charlatan's haunt have a range? It's looking like the next time the party takes damage will be Gibs.

I'm still having trouble with the mechanics of haunts as well. Hard time explaining why they couldn't use the ghost touch arrows on the Piper of Illmarsh.


As wonky as it might seem, Charlatan's range is unlimited... meaning that the haunt effect could occur if a character is in town (via accidental falling damage or other effects) or worse, linger until a really bad encounter (like the Lopper or the Splatterman). There's lots of ways to detect it, but if your PCs don't think to do it... then..yeah.


I can report that the carriage ride went down nicely (mentioned in an earlier post). The PCs introduced themselves, and got a chance to fight against a common enemy right away. Thanks for the suggestion about the stirges, Murphy. It led to some good foreshadowing when they told an old lady in Ravengro, and got the reaction "Ah ... seems like you've attracted the Piper."

Also, the arrival of a beaten up carriage and a dead driver led to some interesting questioning by Benjaen Caeller. Starting the long road of mutual suspicion and loathing between the party and the Ravengro Sheriff's office.


Glad to help; sounds like things are off to a thematically appropriate start!


I hope so. The sheriff came across as a strict and incompetent man. Like a school bully that is in over his head. The PCs have absolutely no trust in his ability to look into the professor's death, and their superior crime-solving skills have made the sheriff lose face in front of his deputies. And so ... he will now recruit additional disgruntled farmhands to handle the "disrupting ELEMENTS in town".

Thus endeth the self-indulgent tale of my own campaign for now. :) If I find the stamina, I will write a campaign summary and post it in the right place.


do stirges do con damage the round they hit or the round after? I was a little confused by the wording. I played it the round after, and it was kind of too easy.


Seems to me they do the con damage the same round they hit: touch attack - attach - blood drain.

"When a stirge hits with a touch attack, its barbed legs latch onto the target, anchoring it in place /.../ A stirge drains blood at the end of its turn if it is attached to a foe, inflicting 1 point of Constitution damage."


Great discussions so far everyone. We'll be starting this scenario soon using the wfrp3e system. I hope to have some play reports shortly.


..which makes me wonder: Will we still like the scenario without being hung up on game mechanics? Does the game system matter?

jh


Did I get something wrong, or is flaming sphere REALLY a good Lopper killer?

he was only taking 1-2 fire damage a round, due to saves and incorp., but it made things easier.

Silver Crusade

Well, I suppose it is. Every encounter has some kind of weakness, that's the nature of Pathfinder - if the group figures out his, good for them.
My group didn't even try fire, though I'm not sure if this is because the enemies directly before the lopper were burning themselves or because their only fire spell was an area effect, but still.


yeah, I was happy for them- they figured out using fire, using the axe and preventing bleeding. So it went well.

They are NOT veteran players, so this is actually a good training AP, since the combination of research and knowledge rolls is sort of encouraging them to consider how to beat the various bosses.


HERE is the thread for GMS to use for Harrowstone, bumping it for fun, yeah, baby, yeah!!.


finished the splatterman last night and it went well- couple observations

1. The mosswater haunt is REALLY confusing to players- "why can't I shoot a ghost touch arrow at the ghost dwarf?"- I finally just let them to that, but boosted its hit points up a bit. Guy with the hammer missed two saves and almost killed the wizard.
2. love the stash of masterwork armor. "We loot it all"- ok, you move, really, really slowly. Want to come back for it?
3. The iron maiden haunt went funny. Player missed his first save. Another player used a haunt siphon. So the player ran into the maiden and just stood there. Cool.
4. Splatterman fight was fun and went well. I kept him in the room, but moved him around well. Five round fight. He took most of his damage from the spellbook and the ghost touch arrows.


This thread really helped me prepare for running the Haunting of Harrowstone. Thanks. It’s been tough not responding to every year-old post that alerted me to a pitfall!

So far my players seem to be enjoying themselves, despite terrible Diplomacy that has kept the town deeply suspicious and unhelpful. They’re fond of Kendra and some of the shopkeepers, however, so they’re determined to protect the town despite a campaign of harrassment by the sheriff.

One player has groused a little about what he sees as capricious variations between the undead, haunts and animate objects--why can he use Disrupt Undead on the scythe and not the manacles? Why can he Turn Undead the skeletons but not the Piper? Why can he target the slamming portals with holy water but not the cold spot? I pointed out that this makes his Knowledge: Arcane and Knowledge: Religion skills more useful, and he seems to have accepted that. The variety and unpredictability of the encounters has been a big plus in my opinion.

My players have impressed me several times. After a moment of panic when they realized the tactics they used on the incredibly resilient and rather dangerous headman’s scythe (holy water, disrupt undead) weren’t working on the equally impervious manacles, they sussed out its weakness to cold with a knowledge roll, grappled it, pinned it, tied it up (in a bag) and hauled it into the cold spot haunt.

I’m quite looking forward to their encounters with the other four prisoners.


SCC, quick tip, convert all the Cure Light Wounds potions into 50gp each. Your players will likely want to buy things, what with the 20% off they can get if they rescue lots of NPC's at the fire.

Second, put some scrolls of magic weapon into the game, as they will need them once they go up against the incorporeal types!!!

Third, I've just examined the next adventure, and there are lots of incorporeal types in it. Thus, have your warrior PC types invest in Ghost Touch weapons ASAP. They are gonna need it. At the very least, get +1 weapons!

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