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Wealday, Rova 7th, 4708
The Sunken Queen
Since their conquest of Castle Korvosa, the Harrowed Company had taken some time to search it more thoroughly. In Togomor's quarters, they found a secret cache containing his spellbooks, quite a find for Hipazia. After a good night's sleep, the party was healed up, rested, and they prepared themselves for the next part of their adventure. Using a Wind Walk spell and following the indications on Togomor's map, they flew to Greenrust Reef and followed the Trail of the Frog for many miles through the swamps known as the Mushfens. Then, in the middle of a quiet marsh lake, they found the ancient Thassilonian pyramid known as the Sunken Queen standing askew, the ages having destabilized the wet soil below its foundations. On the side of the pyramid was still etched the outline of a beautiful nude woman - an image of Runelord Sorshen, the former mistress of this part of Thassilon, according to Hipazia.
Still in cloud form, the heroes circled the pyramid, looking for a way in. Although there were no visible entrances big enough for their solid forms, they found some air vents about two thirds of the way up the pyramid. Entering one of them, they found themselves in a room where a strange basin was filled with blood. Crystal tubes and alchemical equipment could be seen nearby, as some sort of bizarre experiment was going on, likely related to Ileosa's terrible scheme to obtain eternal youth. Within the pool of blood floated a feminine humanoid shape. After regaining their solid shapes and fishing her out of there, the heroes saw that she had no skin: she seemed like a half-formed clone of the queen. Kindrasius beheaded her.
Two corridors led to other rooms within that level of the pyramid. Because the entire structure stood at an angle, the floor was treacherous to walk on. Zeeva activated the flying power of her celestial armor and granted Air Walk to Manius and Hipazia. Kindrasius and Kaeso were agile enough to walk despite the steep slope.
In a large room at the center of the level, the group encountered four powerful erinyes armed with flaming tridents. A difficult battle followed. Manius and Kaeso rushed the closest she-devil and killed her, but the other three blasted the group with potent dark energy from the far end of the room. As the Hellknight (still of gigantic size, because of the Harrow) and the rogue rushed them, one of the erinyes charmed Kindrasius and commanded him to retreat to the room with the blood pool, removing him from the fight for a while. Meanwhile, Hipazia blasted the enemies with lightning cast with her own magic, as well as with Togomor's staff of evocation. Zeeva healed the group (who had taken much damage from the furies' evil magic), then went (running very quickly, also thanks to the Harrow) to remove the enchantment that was keeping Kindrasius out of the fight.
When the priestess of Pharasma and the Shoanti archer returned to the battle, only two erinyes remained, but Manius and Kaeso were both very badly wounded. Kindrasius killed one of the she-devils, and the rest of the group killed the other. The Harrowed Company had won again, but these four erinyes had been very dangerous indeed.
The companions healed their many wounds, mostly using some wands to keep their energy for other fights. Exploring the level more thoroughly, they found a well-furnished bedroom and a room with four chairs with straps. One room contained a huge sapphire on which Kaeso's name was written. Unable to avoid the temptation, the impulsive young man seized the gem, but immediately collapsed, unconscious. After examining him and his prize, Hipazia understood that his soul had been trapped inside the powerful magic of the gem. There was only one way to restore his soul: reluctantly, Manius smashed the enormous (and enormously expensive) sapphire, whose shards vanished as the magic stored inside it was released. Kaeso's eyes fluttered weakly, and within moments he was himself again.
The group then decided to explore the shafts extending from the central hall, flying, walking over air, and with Manius holding Kaeso and Kindrasius in his massive arms as if they were little children. The shaft that went down led to a submerged tunnel, so the group took the one that went up. It opened into a large room with two crystalline blue windows: most likely the eyes of Runelord Sorshen's carving (which had seemed opaque from outside). A large map was drawn on a wall of the room, showing a foreign land and forgotten places named in an unknown language: surely the realm of Eurythnia, the province of Thassilon that had stood here before the cataclysm known as Earthfall, ten thousand years ago.
But the strangest feature here was surely the huge blob of blood that floated at the far end of the room; it was thirty feet across, and more of the crystal tubes fed into it. The blob shuddered upon the characters' arrival, its surface taking the shape of Korvosa's skyline for a moment before getting destroyed as if by an earthquake. Then, various faces and limbs appeared in the red liquid, before it formed into a huge, familiar face: that of Queen Ileosa. She gave the adventurers a baleful look, and her lips parted into a silent howl of fury.
The ultimate battle of the Harrowed Company was about to begin!
This is a time for mixed emotions. I'm excited to read how you finish the AP, but sad to know that this wonderful tale will come to an end. I hope you have a blast in your ultimate confrontation.
Thanks :) I'm also curious to see how it goes... I'm really hoping we don't get a TPK, and I'm really hoping the fight isn't trivially won, either... :)
I certainly understand what you mean! My group and I finished our Kingmaker campaign a month ago, and the final battle was suitable tense, without being a TPK. I was quite glad! The summary is here if you're interested, and if you don't mind Kingmaker spoilers. :)
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This is a time for mixed emotions. I'm excited to read how you finish the AP, but sad to know that this wonderful tale will come to an end. I hope you have a blast in your ultimate confrontation.
Mixed emotions indeed, but at this point, I'm suffering from severe DM burnout, so I'm actually quite relieved that the campaign is coming to an end. Looking forward to spending my thursday nights in a more relaxed way, playing my Skull & Shackles pirate for a while... ;)
I'm glad you guys are still enjoying following our story, even though the quality of the logs and of my running of the adventures themselves degraded quite a bit (in my opinion) since the start of the campaign!
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I certainly understand what you mean! My group and I finished our Kingmaker campaign a month ago, and the final battle was suitable tense, without being a TPK. I was quite glad! The summary is here if you're interested, and if you don't mind Kingmaker spoilers. :)
Congratulations on finishing Kingmaker, that one seems quite intense to run as a GM, due to its open-ended nature and the amount of book-keeping required! I don't have time to read the campaign report at the moment, but I will soon. :)
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Wealday, Rova 7th, 4708 (continued)
Against the Queen - part 1
At the start of this epic battle, the Harrowed Company called upon Zellara's Harrow Deck one more time to gain some boons. Manius was granted strength from the Forge and intelligence from the Vision; Kaeso received wisdom from the Carnival and strength from the Uprising; and Hipazia's dexterity was bolstered by the Juggler.
Three translucent spirits emerged from the mass of blood and attacked the companions. Zeeva activated a protective aura to shield everyone from their otherworldly touch. Six identical figures then gently floated down from the red blob: beautiful women with crimson hair and magnificent silk dresses. They were all in the image of Korvosa's queen, and the adventurers understood that they were mere clone of the real ruler.
While Kaeso, Manius and Zeeva battled the spectres in melee, Hipazia used two mighty Chain Lightning spells to obliterate Ileosa's clones. Kindrasius used his draconic lightning breath to hurt the spirits as well.
Queen Ileosa herself then emerged from the sphere of blood, flying above the room in all her crimson splendor. The spectres were soon destroyed, and then the true battle began in earnest, and it was a very strange battle indeed. The queen was well-protected by the Crown of Fangs and the powers she had obtained by signing a pact with the powers of Hell. As such, she was almost impossible to hit with weapons, even by the mighty Manius, who was especially foiled by the mirror images floating around her. As for herself, the queen did not directly harm her opponents, but used devious enchantment magic to force them to fight one another. She charmed Kaeso to become her protector, and caused Hipazia to frequently attack the others (mostly by blasting the unfortunate Zeeva several times with lightning and Disintegrate, but Kaeso and Manius were also scorched by rays of fire). Manius turned on Kaeso, Kaeso attacked Kindrasius, Zeeva fought Manius, it was all complete chaos, as Kindrasius alternated between trying to use his magic and arrows against the queen, and babbling incoherently.
In their moments of clarity, the companions were able to remove all of the queen's magical protections, and Zeeva cleared Manius's confused state with a Heal spell. Seeing that Kaeso was actually trying to defend the queen, Manius disarmed Serithtial from his hands. The sacred weapon immediately grew into an enormous greatsword to match the gigantic Hellknight's stature. Although the sacred blade balked at being handled by the now Chaotic Hellknight (an oxymoron if there ever was one), she saw the big picture and still aided the Harrowed Company against the real enemies: Queen Ileosa, Kazavon and Zon-Kuthon.
Yet, despite his best attempts, Manius still wasn't able to cause a wound to the queen, even with Mandraivus's legendary blade. Queen Ileosa wasn't able to remove more than the mere Heroes' Feast from Manius with a dispelling attempt of her own, but she had succeeded in casting more mirror images around herself. She tried to paralyze Manius with her magic, and he would have succumbed to it had Serithtial not shielded him in her holy radiance, granting him Freedom of Movement. Zeeva also foiled several of the Queen's spells with a Silence spell.
The battle was a stalemate so far: the Queen was regenerating the damage she had taken from Zeeva and Hipazia's magic (two Destruction attempts and some Chain Lightning) and a lucky arrow from Kindrasius. Even after a full minute of combat, she had only suffered very minor wounds. Meanwhile, Zeeva was badly wounded by then, and Kaeso had also taken some hits. The spellcasters of the Harrowed Company were running low on spells (especially those that allowed to counter the queen's magic), and they were seriously hoping that the Queen was running out as well...
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Wealday, Rova 7th, 4708 (continued)
Against the Queen - part 2
Manius destroyed Ileosa's last Mirror Image, but he still did not wound her with Serithtial. Meanwhile, Hipazia used a potent scroll she had found in Castle Korvosa to open a Gate to heaven; she used it to call forth an old ally, the angel Artarius, who had aided the Harrowed Company during their adventure in Scarwall. Kindrasius, still confused by Ileosa's magic, attacked Kaeso and nearly killed him with his arrows. Kaeso approached the queen to defend her, and healed himself a bit with a wand. Manius was overtaken by the Confusion again, and began babbling incoherently,
The queen tried to use her enchantment magic to make the angel go to another level of the pyramid, but the good outsider resisted it and triggered his most potent ability, the one for which he had been called here: Antimagic Field. Now, Ileosa wasn't able to use her own magic anymore, only the Crown of Fangs', and her other magical items were useless as well. She was now much more vulnerable. The adventurers' magical items did not work within the anti-magic bubble either, but still, now they had a huge advantage over the queen.
Sensing that she had lost her chance to defeat the Harrowed Company, Queen Ileosa ran away from Artarius to get out of the radius of his anti-magic shell, getting wounded by Zeeva and the angel in the process. "This is not over!" she promised in a bitter voice before casting a Dimension Door spell and vanishing.
The companions hurried to look for her, hoping to catch her before she escaped too far. Kindrasius used his own Dimension Door spell to appear on the lowest level of the pyramid. It was flooded and dark, but close to him he saw a huge crystalline bubble that contained Korvosa's royal treasure, as well as an enormous squid-like monster called a devilfish. Thankfully, he was able to disappear back to the top level of the pyramid before the creature noticed him.
Meanwhile, Hipazia, Zeeva and Kaeso stayed close to Artarius, to make sure his protective field would prevent them from being affected by Ileosa's lingering mind-altering enchantments. They searched the third level of the pyramid in vain: the queen was not there. During this time, Manius remained upstairs for a while, babbling and maiming himself. Eventually, he regained his senses and headed down to be with the rest of the group, where they huddled close to Artarius and waited for the confusion spells to expire.
It seemed that Queen Ileosa had slipped away... Hipazia tried to scry on her using a mirror the group carried in their portable hole, but the spell failed. Alas!!
Returning to the top level, the group examined the huge blob of blood more carefully. Using her great knowledge of the arcane, as well as the books she had found in Castle Korvosa, Hipazia understood that this was the Everdawn Pool, a mighty magical creation that had been constructed by Runelord Sorshen more than ten thousand years ago. It had several powers, such as healing and the creation of undead, but it could also grant eternal youth at a terrible price: the lives of thousands of people had to be sacrificed. Clearly, that was what Queen Ileosa had been trying to achieve, by causing the death of the thousands of Korvosans whose blood samples she had used in the pool.
Manius approached the Everdawn Pool with Serithtial, still in giant greatsword form, firmly in hand. The holy sword buzzed with sacred anger at being in the presence of the Everdawn Pool, and as Manius approached, the blood sphere seemed to sense Serithtial's presence. New forms started appearing on its surface: claws, wings, even a draconic face. It seemed that Kazavon's essence had tainted the pool, and that it was now trying to be spawned once more by the magic contained within.
Snarling furiously, Manius pierced the Everdawn Pool with Serithtial. A great cacophony erupted on the top level of the Sunken Queen, and the ground began to shake as the form of Kazavon writhed madly within the blood. Finally, this climaxed in a huge explosion of blood and gore triggered by the holy radiance. Kindrasius, who had felt a great pull toward the images of Kazavon (his ancient sire?), was blinded by the holy radiance of Serithtial. But he was changed more than just in that way. Serithtial's influence solidified what had been growing in him for a long time now, as he risked his life in the service of Korvosa and its inhabitants: his soul turned to the light wholly and he decided that he would devote his life to helping Kaeso find and destroy the rest of Kazavon's relics.
The companions then explored the Sunken Queen more thoroughly and destroyed its remaining guardians: a group of six hulking boggard barbarians, as well as the gargantuan devilfish that guarded the treasure. Once the place was secure, they took Korvosa's treasure, but gallantly vowed to give it back to the city in its entirety.
The queen had escaped, but at least, now that the Everdawn Pool had been destroyed, Korvosa was safe! Returning to the city by magic, the heroes heard that the queen had not been seen back in the city since she had disappeared. She was gone. The Harrowed Company were now the rulers of the city, and a great cheer went up from the citizens assembled at the foot of Castle Korvosa as they gazed up at their heroes!
"All hail the Harrowed Company, the saviors of Korvosa!"
Against the Queen - part 3
After the group had a chance to rest and recover, Hipazia resumed her efforts in tracking down the queen. She finally located her in what appeared to be the city of Egorian, the capital of Cheliax. The group knew they had to stop her before she caused more mayhem and/or recruited new allies. With their magic, they traveled to Egorian and prepared themselves well for the fight ahead, now that they knew what Ileosa was capable of.
Artarius went with them, and with his anti-magic field, defeating Ileosa was now much easier. She had no chance to escape, this time. She was slain by Serithtial (this time, wielded by her "rightful owner", Kaeso), and the Crown of Fangs was destroyed.
Yet the actual Fangs of Kazavon remained... Kaeso took them carefully. He still did not know how to destroy them... He knew that a long and arduous path lay ahead of him. The magic of the Harrow Deck of Many Things compelled him to seek, until his last breath, the other remnants of Kazavon, and how to destroy them. Alas, it would take a long time before he would be able to settle down and enjoy an easy life of drinking and whoring, as his heart desired.
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Epilogue
In the times that followed, the city of Korvosa was at last given a chance to recover from the dreadful reign of Queen Ileosa. A short period of turmoil regarding the succession quickly came to an end when it became clear that Lady Hipazia Leroung would henceforth be the Queen of Korvosa. None dared defy her might, nor that of the Harrowed Company, which supported her. Many others backed her claim, such as of course the Leroung family, Cressida Kroft, Bishop Keppira d'Bear, House Zenderholm, and even Lord Toff Ornelos himself.
The first edict of Queen Hipazia, the first of her name, was to name Ileosa Arabasti "damnatio eternae", meaning that her name was wiped from the records of the city, as if she had never existed. The four statues that were being built in her image were torn down, and the stones were used to restore the Great Tower. The Sable Company was re-formed from its few members that were still alive. It would take a generation or two for the order to be restored to its former glory, but it was a start. Cressida Kroft was given back her post as Field-Marshal of the Korvosan Guard. She was also named "Hand of the Queen" to assist her in keeping order in the city. Neolandus Kalepopolis was also reinstated as the Seneschal of Castle Korvosa. He moved back into his quarters in the royal castle, after having them thoroughly cleaned, of course.
The order of the Gray Maidens was disbanded; some of its members were slain by the irate citizens of Korvosa, and others, who refused to yield, fought to the death against the Harrowed Company and their allies. But many of the warrior-women surrendered, and with the help of the healing magic of Zeeva Foxglove and Bishop d'Bear, their bodies and minds were healed of the horrible torture that had turned them into Ileosa's puppets. Thus, many clones of the unfortunate young women such as Elvira Kamworth, Marguerite Jeggare, Auralia Bromathan, the paladin Poss, and even Manius's sister Corella were rehabilitated into society.
Another form of evil remained in Korvosa besides the Gray Maiden; the Harrowed Company, now much more powerful than it had been a mere few months before, returned to Old Korvosa and raided Arkona Manor. They finally discovered that Lord Glorio Arkona himself was a Rakshasa, as was his sister Meliya and a number of their servants. Although the heroes spared Glorio's life and allowed him to keep ruling over Old Korvosa, they caught and killed Meliya, whose many disguises had included Vimanda, Gaedren Lamm's old ally, the woman who had killed little children; she had also once been The Baroness, the traitor responsible for the death of Kaeso's father. Another victim of Meliya's treachery, ex-Korvosan Guard Verik Vancaskerkin, was finally released from jail.
Trinia Sabor, Lady Zenobia Zenderholm and Ishani Dhatri were all brought back to life by magic. Alas, the body of Vencarlo Orisini (a.k.a. Blackjack) was never found. Kaeso would have liked to take up the role of Blackjack and watch over Korvosa's safety from the shadows, but alas, his destiny had been re-written by the Harrow. Not long after Hipazia's coronation, the young but powerful rogue who had once been her servant left Korvosa to continue his great quest. His heart was heavy, knowing he was leaving an existence of ease and joy behind, including the love of his life, young Ziria Fordyce. But at least, he was not going alone. He still carried the holy blade Serithtial, and his old companion Kindrasius, whose sight had been restored, would be joining him, as well as his loyal cohort Trinia.
A fourth person would embark on this great quest: Sabina Merrin. Her death had been claimed by many irate citizens, but the members of the Harrowed Company decided to show clemency, and merely banished her from Korvosa. To try and atone for the role she had played in Queen Ileosa's terrible reign, Sabina would devote her life to finding and destroying Kazavon's relics.
Zeeva decided to remain in Korvosa and lend her aid to solidify Hipazia's hold on the throne, and to help the citizens recover from the ordeals of the past few months with her healing magic and her wise counsel. Soon enough, the venerable Bishop d'Bear would pass from this life, and the great cathedral of Pharasma would need a new high priestess.
Manius was named "the Queen's Justice", and worked grimly as the royal executioner. He left the order of the Hellknights, since he was now under the sway of chaos, due to the effects of the Harrow Deck of Many Things. He spent most of his time in the castle the Harrow had given him; it was a mere half a day's ride to the east of Korvosa, so he could make frequent visits to the city. Due to the towering stature the Harrow had given him (he was now over twelve feet tall), he gained a truly legendary status among the common folk. Of all members of the Harrowed Company, the two most famous were surely Queen Hipazia and the gigantic black-armored Manius. Even though Kaeso and Kindrasius were the only ones who hadn't retired yet, most of their work was done incognito, and few in Golarion would know of their heroic deeds in the years to come, as they strove to prevent Kazavon's influence from returning.
In Korvosa, things would remain peaceful and pleasant for a number of years. But perhaps one day, Queen Hipazia's reign would be challenged, either by the merciless armies of Cheliax; by the mysterious and sinister forces behind the Acadamae; or even by Manius himself, now possessed of a lawless soul, and finding his castle too small a domain for such a mighty warlord...
THE END.
Hey Moonbeam, congrats on finishing the campaign. It has been a blast reading your log. I'll sure miss it.
I hope you'll get the chance to play for a while instead of being the GM, so you can recharge those precious creative batteries. Bye for now.
Congratulations, Moonbeam! That's quite a feat. Wasn't it too frustrating to have the queen flee in front of the antimagic field? But I guess your players enjoyed the possibility to prepare thoroughly and then quick the queen's but in Egorian.
I'd really like to run this campaign myself... Maybe for my next campaign! Which one did you prefer amongst those you GM'd or played through?
Congratulations too. You now deserve some down time as a simple player, ignorant of the mighty forces ruling the universe.
Go slay goblins !
(overall notes : the blood golems and the blood theme were a nice twist, much better than the original brainwashed maidens. Here, take a cookie.)
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Thanks a lot, guys!
<munches on the cookie for a while>
Having the queen flee before an antimagic field was frustrating, but less frustrating than a TPK or having her trivially defeated after only 1 or 2 rounds. I've come to expect such cheesy tactics in BBEG fights, alas... Not because there's something wrong with my players, but because the game allows it, and because such difficult fights almost require it.
Thanks for the positive comment on the blood clones, I thought that made more sense as well, and it tied in nicely with the blood magic elements in the last adventure.
So far, my favorite campaign was Rise of the Runelords. The first modules were really rich in flavor and interesting, and the later modules were truly epic.
I had big hopes for Curse of the Crimson Throne, an AP that really appealed to me, especially because of the first few modules, and how vibrantly Korvosa is described in the Guide to Korvosa. Unfortunately, throughout the entire campaign, I didn't get the feeling that the players got "into" the campaign as much as I would've hoped. I am left with a really lukewarm impression of the whole thing, and I think it's a real shame, given how high my hopes were. One another factor that might be at play is that we've been playing adventure paths for over 5 years now, and perhaps the novelty is starting to fade, and we're seeing the adventures through jaded eyes compared to how we felt in RotRL and Savage Tide. We still like them, but the initial excitement is gone.
I would say that Curse of the Crimson Throne is probably a very good campaign to run for a group of players who love to role-play interactions with NPC's. For such groups, then the AP can really reach its full potential.
Yep, each AP has its own quirks.
Crimson Throne is probably best for role plumbing actors, because of Korvosa and of the interactions with a foreign culture (hours of fun with the Shoanti if played out well !).
For instance, Kingmaker would be a dream with proactive players, because of its sandbox nature, and a looong nightmare with passive ones (the sort who waits for a NPC with the golden arrow over his head to give them directions to the next dungeon).
Tailoring a campaign to the players we get is a huge part of its success (tailoring the players to the campaign would be best, but is frown upon by various human rights conventions). We can't get it right every time, alas, and every campaign can't be way better than the previous one...
As I said, kobold bashing time for you, to fill up the accumulators !
Well, you can't blame this GM for not trying. Judging from your story you added quite a few roleplaying opportunities, so if your players didn't take the bait, too bad for them.
Now that I'll be stealing some of your great ideas in my upcoming CotCT campaign :-))
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Cool, I'm glad to have provided some inspiration!
I think one crucial aspect of role-playing is love. If the players see the NPC's only as obstacles to be overcome, or benevolent but useless fools to be protected, any campaign that hinges strongly around role-playing will fail at some level. It's very important that the players love the NPC's. And by love, I mean appreciate: you can "love to hate" a particular villain.
As an aside, something I did for this campaign, and which worked really well (don't remember if I mentioned this earlier), is that I printed many pictures of the NPC's for the campaign and posted them on a wall of the room where we usually play, at my place. That way, the players could at all times see the major NPC's of the campaign, and their names, as well as the big map of Korvosa that came from the "Guide to Korvosa". I strongly recommend doing this for any DM of this campaign, although I understand, of course, that those who are married might get "veto'ed" by their significant other who doesn't want to see pictures of weird people all over one of the walls of the house. :)
I stumbled across MrVergee's campaign journal (which I am now reading/following) and that lead me to yours.
I have to say, well done on this! It was a thoroughly enjoyable read, though I did miss Zeeva's thoughts and POV, I understand how hard it can be to keep a journal.
I'm running a CotCT campaign myself (though it's on hiatus while I take care of my sister's children until she cleans up her act), and this journal has helped me with great insight on where things are headed. My players are in the midst of Scarwall as we speak. My players are already 4 days into it as they have been badly hounded by the debilitating effects of the foes inside.
I wish I could have gone into as much detail as you did with making Korvosa 'real' for the players, but that wasn't possible this time around. Not only was it my first time GMing (ever), I was also became the GM at sudden notice. Originally, it was to teach some new players how to play the game, and none of them were very comfortable role-playing just yet. They bought the first Book and asked me to run it for them the same day, so we started the first book with 0 prep time. Still, things could have gone worse!
When I get the chance to run this AP again in the future, I'll definitely be stealing some ideas from both yours, and MrVergee's journals (along with some of my own ideas from this time around).
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Hey, thanks, I'm glad you like the report of our campaign!
Wow, it sounds like you were given quite a challenge by your group! I find that running an urban campaign is more complicated due to the large number of NPC's involved and the greater resources readily available to the players than when they are stranded in a regular dungeon. So this must really be a trial by fire for any new GM! If you made it to book 5 already, you must surely be doing something right!
I hope your sister cleans up her act for her own sake, that of her kids and for you and your players as well. Best of luck for the rest of your campaign!
Trial by fire indeed. First time GMing, all brand new players, and a party size closer to 10 than 5 (we averaged 8 players through-out most of the campaign).
It's been a tough time, but I can honestly say I've learned tons of stuff from this experience, both as a player and a GM.
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It's been a while since I've thought about this, but if I remember correctly, in my campaign, the Gray Maidens were created from a sample of blood and life energy from the original women.
For example, in the first adventure, the characters encountered "Esia", one of the first Gray Maiden prototypes based on Elvira Kamworth, one of Professor Karpangram's students at the Acadamae. Since she was an early model, she was unstable, and spontaneously dissolved into a pool of blood at some point.
After that, between the first and 2nd adventure, the characters met the real Elvira (still alive at that point) during the Breaching Festival at the Acadamae.
As the campaign progressed, the process to create the Gray Maidens was accelerated and run on many more subjects, at a faster pace. While Professor Karpangram's experiments on Elvira, if a bit creepy, weren't expected to have a severe negative impact on her well-being, once Queen Ileosa took charge of the program, she ensured that the process would be reproduced faster and more efficiently, creating brain-washed clones instead of a more gentle process that would allow the clones to retain their original template's personality. The physical prowess of the clones was also improved, which explains how non-combattant women of regular strength like Elvira or Marguerite Jeggare could within a short amount of time function as veteran warriors.
That "improved" process drained the hosts of all blood and life force in the process, killing them as a certain number (probably in the dozens) of Gray Maidens were created.
Also note that the more recent Gray Maiden models didn't dissolve into pools of blood anymore, they left behind normal corpses when killed.
Hope it clarifies things a bit. :)
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Just to clarify a bit further... so by the second half of the campaign, once the process of creating Gray Maidens from a certain host was finished, the original host was dead, having been drained of blood and life force.
Only women who were in the middle of being processed were able to be saved. If I recall, early in the 6th adventure, Manius's sister was saved like that.
How do you guys use Action Points in your game? I know you mentioned they can use it to save themselves from dying, but only once a level, my question how does this interact with spells and other things?
For instance, if someone is dying of Con poison, and they use an action point after dying, are they healed of the poison and left at -1 hp or something else?
Same thing with save-or-suck type spells, such as Flesh to Stone (followed by a sunder, seen it happen) or trap the soul and things like that.
I'm curious because I'm really considering using them in my game. I like the idea of heroes not dying all the time and needing to be replaced by new characters, or constantly traveling back and forth to cities for Raise Dead spells and the like (including Restoration spells for lost levels).
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Exactly, we use action points because we prefer to play a game in which the cast of heroes doesn't do a complete rotation by the end of each adventure. I think deaths can add to the adventure, but too many deaths can make an adventure silly.
For example, it would be weird if Lord of the Rings ended with a completely different set of characters than those who set out as "The Fellowship of the Ring" from Rivendell... and who somehow found the Ring on Frodo's corpse somewhere and thought it'd be a good idea to go cast it into a volcano or something. The death of 1 or 2 characters out of 9 makes the story more poignant. The deaths of 9 characters, then another 9, then yet another 9... makes it silly, IMHO.
Now, to answer your question more mechanically...
In the examples you listed, in both cases, I would rule it as "the adventurer's body overcame the affliction thanks to the action point, but was left weakened".
In the case of the poison: the character recovered from the poison, but collapsed from exhaustion due to the trauma. He is stable at -1, with no ability loss, and the poison is considered gone.
In the case of the petrification: I would say that the character was only temporarily petrified during the battle. By the end of the fight, the character's superhuman constitution was able to "fight off the petrification" and returned to its natural flesh state, but here too, the trauma was intense, and the character is unconscious, at -1 HP and stable.
Exactly, we use action points because we prefer to play a game in which the cast of heroes doesn't do a complete rotation by the end of each adventure. I think deaths can add to the adventure, but too many deaths can make an adventure silly.
For example, it would be weird if Lord of the Rings ended with a completely different set of characters than those who set out as "The Fellowship of the Ring" from Rivendell... and who somehow found the Ring on Frodo's corpse somewhere and thought it'd be a good idea to go cast it into a volcano or something. The death of 1 or 2 characters out of 9 makes the story more poignant. The deaths of 9 characters, then another 9, then yet another 9... makes it silly, IMHO.
Now, to answer your question more mechanically...
In the examples you listed, in both cases, I would rule it as "the adventurer's body overcame the affliction thanks to the action point, but was left weakened".
In the case of the poison: the character recovered from the poison, but collapsed from exhaustion due to the trauma. He is stable at -1, with no ability loss, and the poison is considered gone.
In the case of the petrification: I would say that the character was only temporarily petrified during the battle. By the end of the fight, the character's superhuman constitution was able to "fight off the petrification" and returned to its natural flesh state, but here too, the trauma was intense, and the character is unconscious, at -1 HP and stable.
Hmm... might be good for the poison to leave them at 1 ability point (and no longer poisoned) because, otherwise, it might actually be better to just let yourself die if spending the AP lets you return without the damage.
The temporary petrification is a cool idea. If that were to occur, I might let it go with something like making it vulnerable to dispel or remove curse, or even that it will wear off after 10 minutes (or hours) per caster level of the effect. We want to let them have a chance of restoring the statue after all.
It might simply come down to me having to decide on a case-by-case scenario I guess. Some things Action Points can be used on, others they can't, or maybe weird cases where the player is destroyed, but still alive. Could be cool.
Anyway, thanks for the responses!