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So I've been running my gaming group through CotCT on and off for a few years now. They all have enjoyed the game when it's been based in Korvosa, as I think I've done an OK job creating the city and giving them all the opportunities to roleplay and explore within the framework of the story. Even though some of them were happy to Escape from Old Korvosa, a majority of them weren't really too pleased with venturing out into the Cinderlands, but a few of them did come around. What my group didn't really dig was that they felt railroaded a bit by the quest nature of History of Ashes, and I did my best to modify that to alleviate some of their frustrations.
We are at a point where I've been told flat-out that they want to return to Korvosa to start the uprising and get rid of the queen. They've worked out deals with the Sun and Moon clan to send troops to help support the citizens in revolt with the hopes that there will be some sort of path to peace once Neolandus is back and a rightful ruler is restored to the throne. I also know that my group is not really the biggest fan of a massive dungeon crawl. To that end, I'm thinking I want to skip Scarwall.
"Wait a sec, Rosey" you are saying, "You need to get Seriathal!" I've already worked knowledge of the sword into the story through their discussion with the Sun Shaman, and I've dropped many hints and hooks that the sword was recovered from barbarians some time ago and is sitting dormant in a forgotten chamber below Castle Korvosa, waiting until it sensed the time that Kazavon returned and would make its presence known (which was done when three of my players used the globe in the Acropolis).
So, I want to skip Scarwall, have them get the sword from below the castle, then continue with freeing the city (and everything in Episode VI). The party consists of the following 9th level characters:
- Human cleric of Sarenrae
- Human fighter/rogue
- Human sorcerer (arcane bloodline)
- Gnome druid (w/ tiger companion)
- Dwarf fighter
- Half-orc barbarian/oracle/rage prophet
- Human bard
Has anyone done this successfully? What are some pitfalls I need to watch out for? Will my party get themselves TPK'd if they go into Episode VI without another level or two? Any help would be most appreciated!
My group didn't do it this way, but go for it. You have 6 PC's so they should be ok. The finnale might be difficult but if you think so have one of the NPC's tag along as a red shirt.
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Here's a summary of how I'll be playing chapter five.
Spoilers ahead!!
I'm also skipping Scarwall completely to refocus on the city and the resistance against Ileosa.
When the PCs gain the trust of the Shoanti, they don't point them to Scarwall to find an ancient sword, but they tell them to locate the bones of the Shoanti cleric who aided Mandraivus in defeating Kazavon and who took the dragon's teeth to the great mastaba. The PCs are given a flame that needs to be breathed into those bones to revive them, so they can ask the cleric for help. The ghost of Zellara should be able to help them find the cleric's tomb.
When the PCs arrive in Korvosa, they find the place as described in chapter 6 of the AP, with the queen in complete control, except for a small group of rebels. When the PCs contact Zellara's ghost, something goes wrong and the Varisian fortuneteller's essence gets sucked into the Harrow deck.
The PCs then proceed to find the resistance through a confrontation with the false Blackjack (as in the beginning of chapter 6,though I'm using a devil instead of an efreet for the false Blackjack to enforce the idea of Ileosa's infernal contract) and the real Blackjack, who is also a rebel.
The rebels hide out in the Gray District. Their leader is Illrem Bromathan, lord Valdur Bromathan's brother and a former officer in the Sable Company. Illrem has a personal request for the PCs: he asks them to free his nephew (Valdur V) and his sister-in-law, who have been placed under house arrest in their manor. While fighting some of their Gray Maiden guards, the PCs discover that some of the queen's guard aren't real women, but rather blood clones, who convert to pools of blood upon being slain.
Next Illrem asks the PCs to also free the Leroung family from house arrest. Still, the attempt goes awry when a devil assassinates lady Eliasia Leroung during the rescue, making it hard for the PCs to regain the Leroung family's trust (they need the Leroungs and their extensive library to help them find more information on where the Shoanti cleric might be buried).
The PCs learn that the production of blood clones for the Gray Maidens takes place in the temple of Asmodeus. They storm the temple and put an end to the malicious production of the clone army (which requires the blood of real girls and devil).
The second in command at the temple of Asmodeus betrays highpriest Ornher Reebs in the hopes of becoming the new leader of the Asmodeus church in Korvosa. If the PCs agree to let her live and give her permission to keep the temple of Asmodeus open, she offers them information in return.
She tells them that the queen has entered into an infernal pact with a contract devil in the Acadamae. This has made the queen even more powerful, so if the PCs want a fighting chance against Ileosa, they'll need to break the contract first. If the PCs want to trace the contract devil, they should go to the place where Ileosa signed it, the Acadamae. She also gives the PCs information on contract devils and on how to break the contract.
The PCs gather information and learn that the Acadamae's best kept secrets are hidden in the Hall of Wards. So in order to find these secrets, they will have to gain entry to that building, just as the competitors in the Breaching Festival (conversion of the module 'Academy of Secrets').
The PCs contact the thieves' guild (through Glorio Arkona) to learn more about the breaching festival and the 'theoretical' way to gain entry to the Hall of Wards. Armed with this information the PCs will be ready to play the adventure. They also enlist the aid of the pdseudodragon population of Korvosa to distract the dozens of imps who guard the Acadamae.
Inside the Hall of Wards the PCs encounter the contract devil Chyvvom who holds his version of the infernal contract with queen Ileosa. If the PCs manage to find Ileosa's version and destroy both, they will weaken her considerably, ending her alliance with 13 powerful devil servants and her bond with one particularly powerful devil whose powers are partly transferred to the queen.
A next (optional) mission for the PCs is to convince the temple of Abadar to abandon their support for the queen and join the rebels.
An unfortunate turn of events finds the rebels betrayed by one of the desperate Leroung nobles (the widowed father, who has negotiated a deal: he betrays the rebels in order to see his children forgiven by the queen). Red Mantis assassins and Gray Maiden storm the place and kill or capture everyone inside, forcing the PCs (and whoever they can save) to flee and hide.
Ileosa decides to kill off the captured rebels in the arena, for all of Korvosa to see (she actually hopes to draw out the remaining rebels in doing so). Most of the prisoners are reportedly being held at the Longacre building until the arena games, so the PCs infiltrate the place (possibly with the help of judge Zenobia Zenderholm), where they confront more of Ileosa's devil allies and even a dragon before freeing a number of their rebel allies.
Other captured rebel allies have already been transported to the catacombs of the Kendall arena, so the PCs need to free them as well, either before or during the games. When the PCs are in the arena, they receive a sign from Zellara (who is still captured by the Harrow deck), triggered by the fact that the Shoanti cleric's tomb is near. The fortuneteller begs the PCs to help her, before going quiet again.
The PCs travel to the Harrow Realm (another dimension, as described in the module 'The Harrowing'), where they encounter all of the creatures depicted on the Harrow cards and finally manage to free the spirit of Zellara, who was captured by the most powerful of them, a blue dragon (who falsely believes himself to be an incarnation of Kazavon).
When the PCs return to the real world, Zellara guides them to the caves below the arena, where centuries of collapses and landslides have drawn the Shoanti cleric's tomb into the sinkhole below the Kendall arena.
The PCs revive the cleric's bones and have to convince him to give them the power to fight Kazavon (or his current replacement on earth, Ileosa). The cleric burns runic tattoos into the PCs' arms that will give them extra powers when fighting Kazavon or his followers (these powers replace the sword Serithial in my campaign, so all the PCs will have some extra powers instead of just one). The runes will only stay for a couple of days, so the PCs don't have much time to act.
When the PCs storm castle Korvosa, as in chapter 6 of the AP, they should try to find Ileosa's version of the infernal contract first, before confronting the queen herself. If they do so, they will be facing a less powerful version of the queen. In my campaign the real Ileosa will be in the castle. I'll be skipping the Sunken Queen chapter.