Radu's Carrion Crown Campaign Storytime


Carrion Crown


Following the example of some of the excellent and entertaining campaign logs, I am going to post my own here.

NOTE: This is told from a GM perspective and will have spoilers and my motives behind it.

My party comprises of 5 members:

Bahahdur, a tiefling Fighter from Qadira. His weapon of choice is a truly massive fauchard. While his face and neck are very human-looking, the knotted cords of muscle on his chest, back, and upper arms bristle with almost thorn-like hairs and patches of scaly, reptilian skin. He could never pass for human without his shirt, but between the multi-layered robes and veils of his home country and a bit of applied makeup, he has manage to keep his true race a mystery for the time being.

Ergrag'k, a half orc bard from Ustalav. Ergrag'k is a reserved, thoughtful man, frequently lost in his own thoughts. He was rescued from certain death by Dr. Henri Meirtmane, Dean of Sinkomakti School of Sciences in Versex county, as a very young boy, and raised as the Doctor's own son from that point forward. It was only years later that the half orc learned that his entire upbringing was a gentleman's wager between Meirtmane and a peer intended to settle the question of whether an orc could ever "truly be civilized" or not.

Zordlon, an elf alchemist from Kyonin. While he fancies himself a quite dashing and dapper figure wandering the countryside selling potions and alchemical wonders, Zordlon lacks the social graces to truly pull it off. His primary motivation is to give aid wherever it is needed, attempting to patch the somewhat tarnished reputation of his people in Ustalav and perhaps uncover a few interesting formulae along the way.

Genivene, a human cleric of Shelyn from Ustalav. Genivene is something of a rarity in the Immortal Principality: she survived her childhood with her innocence intact. Her family sold her to a temple when she was very young, as they could not afford to keep her and knew the priests and priestesses would take good care of her. She grew up in the temple of beauty and knows little of the sometimes ugly life that her countrymen lead. Professor Lorrimor was always one of her favorite tutors, and his summons to Ravengro was too strong for the young priestess to ignore.

Calphes, a half elf scrollmaster wizard (generalist) from Ustalav. Calphes is named for the city of Caliphas where he was born. When he displayed a strong potential aptitude for magic, his wealthy parents spared no expense and paid for his education at the University of Lepidstadt where he met Professor Lorrimor. Calphes has a strange sense of humor, and his schoolhouse pranks were legendary. While he doesn't openly consort with evil powers, openly wearing wizardly robes and his unpredictable nature breeds suspicion wherever he goes.

So far the party has managed not to kill each other or engage in infighting- a good first sign!


The story so far:

I posted this on my group's campaign website:

You are still not certain exactly why the Professor was asking for you, specifically, out of all the hundreds- perhaps thousands- of students, partners, employees, and acquaintances he had made over his career, but your heart swells with pride nonetheless. That he would remember you among all the others he had dealt with is, perhaps, a reflection of the deep affection that he held for you and your talents, and of the friendship that developed all those years back when you first met him. You still think back on that first meeting with a bittersweet smile, recalling how out of place the youthful twinkle in Professor Lorrimor's eye seemed in his careworn face. Even then the man would never see sixty again, but he seemed so vibrant and energetic it was hard to keep up at times. You look at his personal seal at the bottom of the note and read it one more time before holding it over your lamp:

"My Dear Friend,

Forgive me for contacting you so abruptly, but current circumstances make haste the superior virtue over propriety, and I strive for virtue in all things. I look back upon our prior association fondly, and, Pharasma wiling, our possible future enterprises, because it is in the spirit of re-kindling an old friendship that I write to you now. I am presently engaged in research of the most fascinating and delicate variety, on the efficacy of certain animal waste products as fertilizer, and how they may best be optimized for greater productivity in the farmlands of Canterwall. I hereby formally invite you to visit me at my new home, where I can share with you the results of my latest line of inquiry. It would surprise me greatly if you did not find it as fascinating as I do. I trust you will find your way to me in due time, and until then I wait with bated breath.

Yours in friendship,
Petros Lorrimor, Prof. Emeritus, University of Lepidstadt, Dept. of Cultural Preservation"

Were it not for the code phrase, "with bated breath," you would never have thought to heat the paper, revealing the secret message Professor Lorrimor encoded therein. Several key letters appear emphasized and previously hidden symbols appear, confirming your suspicions.

Shivering, and not from the chill night air, you cast the paper into the fire and depart for Ravengro the following day, dreading what the Professor couldn't trust, even to a cipher.

Be ready with the lighters for the first session to find out what the Professor's secret message was, players! If lighters won't work, any heat source should suffice- a lightbulb, a hotplate, a heating pad, or maybe even a window if the sun's bright enough. Until then.... enjoy the tease!

The secret message in the professors note warned of great danger and an enemy he could not speak of. It asked them to come to Ravengro as soon as possible.

Conveniently enough, all 5 of the party arrived on the same day, only to learn on arrival that the good Professor had died in a tragic accident only a week before. Gathering at Professor Lorrimor's home they met each other for the first time and learned that their letters seemed suspiciously similar... though they were sent out at different times. Zorlon had the farthest to travel and his letter dates a full 2 weeks before the other missives. The Professor wanted to bring them all here at the same time, obviously, but with his death it isn't clear for what purpose.

The party missed the wake, but could participate in the funeral. Zordlon, Bahahdur, and Calphes all volunteered to be pallbearers for the Professor's casket, and Ergrag'k offered to give the beloved Prof. a eulogy. Encountering the surly locals in the Restlands, the party managed to successfully talk them out of a fight, and by the time Father Grimburrow arrived the thugs had dispersed peaceably. The Father was extremely pleased with them for defusing a potentially violent situation. I awarded the party 2 trust points for their diplomacy (bringing them up to 22)

The burial went well, with Ergrag'k sharing a moving story of how the Professor inspired him to press on and continue his education in the face of unrelenting bigotry at the University. To the departed, Ergrag'k was not a half breed mongrel pantomiming civilized mannerisms, he was a brilliant and insightful young man desperately seeking his place in the world, and the half orc feels a debt to the Professor he knows he will never be able to fully repay. Several other players shared snippets of improvised stories explaining their own connection to Petros, drawing on their choice of campaign traits as inspiration. It was a pretty cool twenty minutes of off the cuff storytelling as everyone took turns improvising details, and a bonding moment among the group. I awarded them 2 more trust points for turning the sorrow of the burial around into a celebration of the Professor's enduring legacy, bringing them up to 24.

At this point, I informed the party of the trust mechanic at work and explained how they had just gained 4 precious points due to their uncommonly good behavior, and cautioned them that trust is far easier to lose than to build.


More on the way soon


Very cool log Radu! Sounds like you got yourself a fun group.


The party retired to the Lorrimor home and read out the will. I had a lot of fun playing up Vashian's stammering surprise as he read aloud, particularly when he got to the part about the books in his chest being entrusted to the party and the incredible reward offered for their delivery.

Taking inspiration from Spacelard's very fine work with the books, here is my elaboration:

Serving Your Hunger: this is essentially as Spacelard posted before (http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/adventureP ath/carrionCrown/servingYourHunger&page=1&source=search#9)

The Umbral Leaves: This leatherbound book is made from the hide of a shadow mastiff. Holding it in your hands, you become far more aware of the play of light and shadow in the room. At the surface it seems like merely another holy text, but after a week's study previously hidden connections become clear. You gain a +4 insight bonus on Stealth checks, but this knowledge comes with a price: when you first become hidden, you must make a DC 11 Will save, and another each minute thereafter at +1 DC. You become convinced that you are being stalked by a pack of shadow hounds and their baying calls get ever louder the longer you remain hidden. Upon failing your a save you are shaken for as many minutes as you were hidden and cannot use the Stealth skill until you regain composure. It takes another week's worth of study to regain the insight bonus when this happens.

On Verified Madness: This book is bound with some unknown substance- not quite leather, not quite chitin, but definitely something organic. While under direct observation the book is quite plain, when you view it in your peripheral vision it seems to blend into the background somehow. Perhaps that is why the corners were bound with shining mithril, so that the book might be more easily found. It is written in a nigh-indecipherable amalgamation of languages and requires a week's worth of study and 3 separate DC 20 Linguistics checks to decipher the hodgepodge of Aklo and archaic Taldane, but once made the book can be used as a reference for any Knowledge: Dungeoneering check to identify Aberrations or their abilities as well as any Knowledge: The Planes, Knowledge: Arcana, or Knowledge: Religion checks involving The Dark Tapestry or the mysterious Great Old Ones. You can re-roll any failed Knowledge check on these topics once per day after spending 1d4 hours consulting the insane ramblings inside.

In addition to these 3 books, the party found a number of less incendiary treatises on necromancy, anatomy, and magical theory. While taken individually the collection is nothing extraordinary, together with the 3 specific books above it is clear the Professor was researching something truly horrendous, and his please to keep his daughter ignorant of his inquiries is more understandable.

Lastly, concealed in a poorly hidden secret compartment the party found a hideously warped iron box. After wrenching it open, Bahahdur found it contained only a single small sphere of some indeterminate metal. The sphere was unbelievably heavy for its size, and its polished surface reflects a subtly distorted version of its surroundings. The whole thing seems... just wrong. After studying the strange object, Calphes was able to determine it has some sort of influence on the Ethereal plane, but exactly what it does and how is unclear, as it doesn't radiate any magic aura at all.

My players found a ghosttrap, from Monte Cook's excellent book, Chaositech. In my game, chaositech is a "gift" from the Great Old Ones, designed to pave the way for their return from exile in The Dark Tapestry. This particular ghosttrap holds a fragment of a powerful consciousness inside... and my players have inadvertently released it when they figured out how to "open" the trap. From here on out, all undead in Harrowstone have max HP as they are bolstered by the sudden wave of violent emotions. It was great to see their faces. They could tell something terrible had just happened, but didn't know what. I think they fully expected to be murdered in their sleep by a vengeful spirit or something like that.

Cue Event 1!

The players awoke just after dawn the next day to a horrific scream. A local had discovered the desecration of the Harrowstone Memorial on the outskirts of town. Something had caught a rabbit and used its blood to scribe a ragged "V" on the memorial, then scattered its guts about the place. The players arrived on scene to find the Sheriff already there, trying to calm an increasingly agitated press of onlookers while his deputees cleaned up.

Of course, having a bloody big foreigner (Rahahdur), a pointy eared snake oil salesman (Zordlon), and a damn fool witch wearing voodoo robes (Calphas) didn't help matters any, and for their own safety Benjan requested the party accompany him to "the clink." The players were very confused until Benjan explained "there's only 1 Prison in Ravengro, and it ain't nowhere nobody wants to be foolin' with, so we call our jail 'the clink' instead."

As it happened, the Sheriff was trying to save face for himself as well, as I am playing him as something of a drunkard and he had a mammoth hangover. By taking the recent arrivals to jail "for questioning" he bought himself time to sober up and kept the locals from forming a lynch mob out of fear and suspicion.

Another brilliant interlude of off the cuff RP followed, as the party convinced Benjan to make them "officially unofficial deputies of Ravengro." After all, a gang of 5 suspicious outsiders (with halfbreeds and witches and foreigners to boot!) would arouse suspicion, but when Benjan had his deputies introduce the party as "Auxillary Investigators" here to assist him with his duties the attitude of Ravengro brightened considerably. After a three day baby-kissing tour of militant good deeds, I gave the party another Trust point (25 total now) to reflect the new credibility of their (very much made up) office.

(as an aside: the influence of Harrowstone is so strong throughout this adventure I am ignoring the loss of 1 trust point a day, and instead am finding ways to include references to the prison in most descriptions. Since it was built on the highest ground in the area, there is literally nowhere in town you can go to escape seeing it, and regular glances at the corner behind my players while I am playing out NPC interactions keeps drawing their minds back to the prison's silent presence anyway. I KNOW my players are thinking about Harrowstone, and it's too hard to make them CARE about Ravengro the way I want to if they're constantly fighting to maintain the status quo.)

This was my chance to run through the map of Ravengro and point out areas of interest. I wanted to introduce them to the townsfolk and let them know that there were all of the various business and merchants around, as well as give them a chance to do some freeform exploration. Harrowstone is fairly linear and site specific, so letting them drive now will give them a better sense of control. They met Old River, Jorfa, and the proprietors of The Unfurling Scroll, The Silk Purse, and the General Store. They visited the moneylenders and actually purchased some of the jewelry used as collateral. Rather than keep it, they gave it back to the farm family it came from. I gave them 4 trust points for that action after word got out that they had returned an old family heirloom with no strings attached. (Trust total now 29, enough to grant access to most research locations and they don't even know it yet!) During these few days they have been keeping a watch over the Memorial from a distance to see if the desecration happens again.

By this point, Splatter Man had recovered enough to possess Gibbs again, and the party saw him shuffle toward the memorial with a bizarre gait. It became clear why as they ran to get closer- he was struggling to maintain a hold on Old River and keep the dog silent. By the time the party arrived at the memorial, Gibbs/Splatter Man had already killed the dog and was finishing up scrawling an "E" on the monument. Making a Sense Motive check they determined that Gibbs was not in control of his body and in fact seemed sound asleep. A trip and disarm and a few non-lethal strikes and he was out... but Ergrag'k used his bardic performance to bolster the party, giving me a solid gold chance to have Event 3, the stirges, attack at the same time. While the beasts were defeated, the party noticed how they seemed to dance to a strange cadence and were hesitant to attack the bard.


Man... these take longer to post than I thought. I'm out of time for right now but there's lots more excitement to come! We're maybe 1/3 through the module and getting ready to assault Harrowstone itself. Stay tuned!


Looks like I forgot a few things, like event 2: the Skipping Song (had the party make their choice of Perception, Perform, or Sense Motive to notice the stirges in event 3 choreographing their movements to the same cadence. Really creeped my players out when I said the flapping wing sounds were the same rhythm.)

After taking Gibbs to the clink, they noticed that when he awoke he seemed to have no idea of what had happened or why he was behind bars, but he grew terrified beyond speech when he saw Ergrag'k scribbling down notes (as he has been doing throughout the whole adventure. He wants to become more famous than Ailson Kindler someday and is taking notes for his as of yet unwritten but too-good-to-fail novels). He collapsed in fright and then rose up suddenly, eyes rolling into the back of his head. I chose to have Splatter man communicate with the party here instead of at the memorial, since I thought it would be far more terrifying. It was. "You cannot stop it! SHE cannot stop it! We are coming!"

Gibbs bit off the top of his index finger and began scribbling a "G" on the wall before the party knocked him out again. Now everyone is TOTALLY rattled.

Skipping forward a few more days, the party has been engaged in furious research, trying to find the last few details about the riots and the fire. They have gained permission from Father Grimburrow to go raid the secret crypt... which is fortunate, as in the intervening days they had already done so, but it's easier to seek forgiveness than permission, right? With a little bit of distraction and a few theatrics, no one is any wiser about the slightly premature crypt raid and now they have all of the ghostbusting equipment the Pharasmin church has to offer. That's good, because as I noted earlier: all the rest of the undead in this adventure will have max HP, and I'm considering maybe giving them a +1 profane bonus to AC and saves to reflect the malicious intelligence the party unknowingly released.

When they purge Harrowstone of its evil, this intelligence, too, will be purged, but until then I am having fun playing up the menace. I describe nearly everything as "you're momentarily distracted by the scent of blood, coming from the Prison, but you snap out of it" or "you can hear sobbing coming from underground. It sounds like someone is screaming to be let loose... but there's no basement in this building."

Since Gibbs is now out of Splatterman's reach, the next few days passed with no more writing. The party was visited in their dreams by the psychopath though. They all gathered around the breakfast table with bandages on their fingers and that's when they realized they all had the same dream: waking up with a start it seemed like they were in their room, until they looked out the window- the barred window, and saw the view was not from their own room. Hearing jangling keys, they saw a rotting hand clutching a keyring sticking through the bars of their... cell? Jail cell? Splatterman's voice rang out, "your name for your freedom. Tell me your name!" They heard themselves speak their name and Splatterman laughed, spelling it back to them instantly. They all woke up to a start to see the first letter of their own names spelled out in their own blood above their beds- they had gnawed through their fingers just like Gibbs. Before the shock wore off they all heard, distantly, "I know your name..."

The last part of the session was spent desperately scrambling to get the final pieces of information on Slatter Man over the next few days, wanting to stay ahead of his (apparently) regular 3 day schedule (I've rolled very consistently on the time frames so far, so it looks like a fixed number and not a variable to the party. Fluke of the dice but fun.) They decided to relocate their camp to the Temple of Pharasma, reasoning that it should have magical defenses against the ghosts of Harrowstone that the Professor's old house lacks. Father Grimburrow agreed, but asked them to please wait until a few hours after sunset so church business was not disrupted and the townsfolk were not unduly alarmed. As the party's bags were just finished packing there was a knock at the door.... Professor Lorrimor had returned home, shattered skull and torso and all, and he brought a few skeletal friends with him. I actually drew a scream out of one of the players when they saw it. A brief fight scene drew the session to a close, with everyone on edge and now desperate to enter Harrowstone and put this business to rest.


Well 2 weeks have finally come and gone and we're on to session 2!

Since the party was so close to leveling up last game, I told them all to create level 2 characters and we'd worry about "catching up" later. Tonight we also introduced our last player, Jitter Ann!

Jitter Ann is a gnome summoner. She's a very aptly named, excitable woman who talks very, VERY fast and is always trying to do things with her hands. She's got pure white hair, a remnant from a prior experience with The Bleaching, and she's got no desire to go through it again. She gives the dearly beloved Professor Lorrimor credit for helping her discover how to summon her eidolon (an electric blue saber toothed cat with a prehensile tail she's named Puffer). Her link to Puffer gives her the emotional peaks she needs to avoid Bleaching.

The party has taken it upon themselves to do a little detective work about town to see if there's any connection between Harrowstone, the recent spooky events, and the townsfolk. They discovered today that there's a certain flesh golem manual for sale at The Unfurling Scroll, and it bears the glyph of one Montaigne Crowl on it, the same as the three books the Professor tasked them to return. They tried to use their muscle as sheriff's deputies to "confiscate" the book as stolen property and we had an interesting experience with Ustalavic... hospitality. My party has a Kelish fighter (who is really a tiefling- much worse!), a half-orc, a half-elf, an elf, and a gnome. There's only 1 "real" citizen in the group, our Varisian cleric of Shelyn. I got to play the "damn foreigners meddling in our affairs" card and the "you're not even real HUMANS!" card, to great effect. The party all but assaulted the man right there.

Wisdom won out in the end and they decided to fetch Benjan, who so far in my game has been portrayed as a man tormented and harried by the stress of serving as the law. His frequent visits to the apothecary have given him quite a drug habit, and so he typically seeks the resolution most likely to avoid conflict or paperwork on his part.

Benjan, hearing that the party seemed to be wantonly abusing their power, stripped them of their deputy badges and assured Alendru that all would be put right. Leading them away, he gave them a stern dressing down, emphasizing how he put his trust in them because the Professor did, and he always respected the man, but he won't stand for his citizens being harassed. The purpose of deputizing them in the first place wast to give them the ability to solve the supernatural hoodoo going on in town without being lynched by nervous Ravengro citizens. The party was less than pleased at this, but took it as a sign that tensions are growing higher and they needed to put a stop to whatever was happening at Harrowstone. (net result: -2 trust)

In the end, they got Alendru to agree to sell them the book for 4000 gp. (I know that's an incredible discount on a powerful item, but I don't think they have any intent to keep it, and while I know they can get 6000 from Crowl when they return it, they don't. They think it's either stolen from the Professor or from Montaigne, and either way want to return it.)

That being done, they thought they'd best lie low for a while and get out of sight of the villagers, so off to Harrowstone it was!

They first circled the entire outer curtain and probed the lake. A brief fight with 4 skeletons ensued, but never lasted long enough for them to catch on fire thanks to a constant Detect Undead infusion from the Alchemist. He maintained concentration on that spell throughout the exploration and relied on the party to navigate him and watch for other dangers. Smart play, as it gave them 2 rounds of warning when a rock thrown in the lake disturbed the skeletons inside.

I had them all roll Perception checks, and had the highest PC hear creaking wagon wheels and clopping hooves. He turned around to see dusty hoofprints rising up in front of fresh wagon tracks. No one else in the party seemed to notice it, and when he was about to point it out, the spookiness vanished. "You look again and it's gone." "Of course it is! Damn creepy prison. (mumble mumble)"

The party decided the best way to proceed was to hire Zokar's son (whose name I can't remember and don't have my book at the moment) to post a notice for a town hall meeting that night.

PERFECT!

I didn't even have to arrange it, so when nastiness happened, it seemed much less suspicious. The fires are pretty nasty, by the way!

Since I have 6 players and they're all veteran gamers, I upped the ante a bit by including 4 burning skulls instead of 2, and randomly placed 5 fires in the room. Every turn each fire square would expand by 1 square, and for convenience sake any townsfolk who was in one dropped unconscious immediately. Though it was a very, VERY close call, with many reflex saves made to avoid catching on fire from the PC's and a few well timed bellowing threats and pleas for order (Intimidate and Diplomacy) the whole town was evacuated safely... unfortunately, by that time the fires had raged out of control and the rest of that night was spent watching the town hall burn down. The players organized a bucket brigade to help out and it was nice to play out the mixed feelings of resentment and hurt at losing the town hall and appreciation for the heroics of the party in saving everyone. (Since I'm doubling trust gains for everything and leaving trust losses the same, it's a wash: +2 for saving everyone, -2 for losing the hall)

That night is the same night that Splatter Man was able to send a vision again. Knowing that Gibbs was unavailable, he found a suitable replacement: Zokar's son. He's waging a dual campaign of terror with this act. Not only does he get to spell out the next letter (S) of Vesorianna, he took advantage of the grief and anguish of the townsfolk and now they're in a state of frenzy. The players are heading into Harrowstone to emerge as heroes or looking down the barrel of a panicked mob of citizens scared beyond reason by powers beyond their control. With this next letter spelled out, the players are absolutely set on ending the Splatter Man's terror campaign for good.

The next morning they returned to the prison. Playing up the tension of the haunts really works quite well- I described them feeling uneasy, like Harrowstone itself was watching them. When the slamming portal haunt triggered it split the party and really scared them though ultimately it was pretty harmless. They dealt with it by simply battering down the doors. Exploring further, they found the Warden's office and spent several hours correlating and organizing all the paperwork in the administrative area. They feel better now about losing the town hall, since I told them the papers would give a +4 bonus on Knowledge checks relating to the prison or prisoners. They don't know that they've discovered everything the module provides and may have more questions, so they can do their research there.... under the watchful eye of the prison... yeah, that'll make them happy.

The cold spot haunt was great. The party neutralized it using a haunt siphon and gave the negative energy bomb to the alchemist. The fight in the training room with two skulls was trivially easy, and helped make the PC's feel pretty confident; Confident enough to continue on to the furnace and face Ember Maw. The scorching rays at this level are really, REALLY lethal. I dropped Ergrag'k down to -7 hp and Genevene to -3. Another swift burst of haunt siphons and disrupt undead cantrips and Ember Maw was once again dormant. As I've been giving out XP per encounter this session thanks to the handy new GM screen I have (THANKS PAIZO!) the players got curious why I wasn't handing out XP for these haunts, too. I suggested they use the spirit planchette to communicate with the spirits of the dead to find out how to put them to rest. After reviving everyone with a few infusions of Cure Light Wounds from the alchemist and some channeled energy from the cleric, that's exactly what they did. Ember Maw won't be haunting anyone else now.

Dealing with many haunts in a row really drained their resources, and so we only got as far as the chapel and the ensuing fight with the spiders before we called it a night. This session was very combat heavy, but the tension of the burning town hall was really great fun and everyone was pretty nervous about the outcome. At times it looked like I'd have a TPK on my hands thanks to the rapidly expanding fires, but they managed to pull through. I think next session they should meet up with Vesorianna and get some more background details on what's going on and how they can proceed. They've got motivation and they've got the tools they need to do the job, but so far they don't have any indicators of how to proceed. I'm hoping they explore the rest of the first level and meet up with her so I can give them that information. Plus, it'll be a great chance to play out a tragic romance and an undying love, and bolster the spirits of the PC's by showing them that their actions have an effect on BOTH worlds. They've already earned the respect and support of many of Ravengro's most notable citizens, and meeting Vesorianna will prove that they've had an effect on the ghosts of Harrowstone as well.

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