[SPOILERS] Land of the Linnorm Kings Based Reign of Winter Campaign


Reign of Winter


Last night, I just started running a Reign of Winter campaign with the starting point based in the Land of the Linnorm Kings. I placed the town of Heldren in the Northwest edge of the Grungir Forest.
Why the Land of the Linnorm Kings? I wanted the players to have more of a stake in what happens during the campaign than if they're from Taldor, I really like the Viking theme, and I wanted the characters to have a little bit of a wintery background.

Spoiler:
Another goal was to really play up the fey aspects of the adventure path. So, it was pretty cool to find, when reading up on Grungir Forest that the veil between the First World and Golarion is thin in the Grungir. And, after reading through Fey Revisited, I really wanted to use the Norns somehow, and, hey, look, they are most likely to come across in the Grungir. It really seems like a whole lot of themes are coming together, and I was able to use the sample Norn from Fey Revisited to great effect as an extra encounter.

I want to use the mythic rules, and I had already had the idea that getting the black rider’s mantle would be the moment of ascension. I got a bunch of great ideas from the threads on this forum for when mythic trials will occur. (I love the community input, I can already see how hearing of other DM’s experiences with High Sentinal Lodge and the Winter Portal are going to help me run those encounters… immensely) As part of the general “mythic”-ness of the campaign, I want each character to be a paragon of their race, and I’m allowing characters to take an extra racial trait or feat at 1st, 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level. I also developed a home-brewed list of racial traits for “fey-blooded” human and “troll-blooded” human, using a lot of the flavor from the sorcerer fey bloodline and the fey creature template.

This first evening, two of the six players couldn't play, so only four of them were there for the start. Like I said, I’m really pushing for a strong fey character to the adventure path. The players did not disappoint. So far, they include a fey-touched Varisian cleric of Desna (ostensibly searching for the legendary holy site of Desna in the western Grungir Forest), a troll-touched Ulfen Blackraven Witch Warden Inquisitor, a gnome naturalist rogue, and a snowcaster elf two handed weapon ranger with a history of, until recently, being lost in the First World since the time of the first Winter War. Hopefully the other two players can keep up the fey themes.

The battle in Area A with the zombies went well. A zombie got in a slam attack against the cleric and did max damage, staggering him, but the rest of the party made short work of them. The trap at the chest knocked the gnome for a loop, but he had approached the chest alone. The tatzlwyrm nearly took out the cleric, but the snowcaster elf scored a critical hit with his two handed elven curved blade, which should have killed it, but I couldn’t let the thing die on one blow! Heck, it’s a dragon! Albeit a tiny one.

We ended the night just as the winter-touched sprites had finished their surprise round. One hit on the cleric (he seems to be the damage sponge!) and then a natural 1 and then a natural 3. The natural 1 was a fumble, and, drawing a card from the fumble deck, his reaction was to charge into combat, so I ruled that his bow broke in two.

I need to figure out how to get the two other players’ characters into the game, but, all in all, it was a great first session and I’m looking forward to seeing how the campaign goes.

Added Encounter: Shortly after the party passed Area A, I had the party encounter the lone Norn, Yrlda (using Yrldak from Fey Revisited). The theory is that her sisters have somehow fallen pretty to Elvannah and/or Baba Yaga. I may end up reskinning some of the planar travel aspects of the adventure path to keep it on Golarion or in the First World, and the Norns will play a big role:

Spoiler:
A quarter mile past the massacre site, the party comes upon a woman butchering an animal. They see her from a long ways off; she is sitting on a log, facing in their direction. The weather is cold, there is a dusting of frost and snow on the ground. Snow falls in the forested hills behind her.

She is dressed in furs, with pale skin and long dark hair. As they approach, still a hundred yards off, she stops her work, places her tools on the ground, and rests her hands on her lap. She sits upright, waiting. As the party approaches, it becomes apparent that the log is much larger than they had originally thought, that she is huge, possibly twice as tall as the tallest member of the party. As they get close, she gestures for them to approach. [I wrote some likely things she would say, without prompting, necessarily. Being without her sisters, she is not all "there" while on Golarion, and is kind of spacey.)

“You are late.” She says, arching an eyebrow. “That should not happen… That you would be late.” She picks up her shears, large, shining shears, and begins cutting the flesh of the giant hare in front of her.

“It is no matter. You are here. Not too late.”

“Time waits for no man. You are needed.”

“For this and that. You are needed. Needed here and there. And elsewhere.”

“I need you. You will find my sisters, and we shall be rejoined. I fear that day. But it must come.”

“Mother needs you.”

“Whose mother, I cannot say. Not ‘will not say’. Cannot say. A mother. Mother Earth? Mother Sky? Mother Wind? Mother Snow? I cannot say.”

“I cannot see. The weave is knotted here. The skein is tangled, and my sisters are lost. Without them, I…” She puts up her hands in resignation.

“They are lost, I dread. I came back, to join them, but they are lost. Find them, and gratitude will be yours.”

She puts her shears down, and takes a bundle out of a pack laying in the snow near her. She unwraps the leather bundle, revealing numerous locks of hair, each lock tied together with a strand of gold. She hands one to each party member, “These charms will serve you well. Say my name, and their magic will aid you, only once, but it will aid you in dancing across the threads of fate.”

“I cannot join you. Your fate is yours to pursue. The fae of this wood are many, though, and they are pained. If fate smiles on you, so may they.”


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This week, three new characters joined the group:

- A Kellid druid from the Realm of the Mammoth Lords
- A snow elf void wizard
- An Ulfen barbarian

The three new characters had been individually captured by winter fey and stuffed into a cave near the sprite encounter. The arrival of the rest of the party gave them the chance the needed to test their bonds and escape.

Spoiler:
I added two additional sprites, giving each of them a different 1st level spell, replacing color spray on four of them with ice sheet (grease), ice spray (burning hands), sleep, and chill touch. One character fell to color spray, they all made saves against sleep, the ice sheet and ice spray were fun, but didn't do much damage.

Eventually, two of the sprites were killed, and the rest fled, muttering, "We should tell Izoze."

The party decided to camp for the night in the cave. Before evening, they encountered Fawfein and the talking stag. They completely thought the stag was a messenger from Erastil, and only one character rolled high enough to see through Fawfein's bluff, and he decided not to say anything about it. So, they told the stag everything, and then it walked off so that Fawfein could go tell Izoze.

In the morning, the party continued following the trail. After crossing over a ridge, I added the following supplemental encounter:

Spoiler:
The trail turns left and crosses over the ridge, leading down into a shallow valley. The trail is somewhat easy here, the snow isn’t as deep, and seems to have blown further down the valley. The wind is harsh, blowing strongly from the right to the left, whipping the snow in front of you. Suddenly, you hear a low buzzing sound, that rapidly increases in pitch and volume, and within the whipping snow, you see a swarm of white, sparrow-sized wasps closing on you.

The wasps fly/get blown into the squares of the party, attacking at the end of their move, the next round, they get blown away, and the party may relax, but the round following, the wasp swarm long steps back upwind, preparing for another fly by attack. The next time if flies by, it blows downwind, then changes shape and flies back to the party, attacking as a giant wasp.

Winter-Touched Fey Wasp Swarm CR 4
XP 1,200
CN Tiny fey (swarm)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +9
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 14; (+2 Dex, +4 size)
hp 34 (7d8)
Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +8
DR 5/cold iron
Defensive Abilities swarm traits; Immune weapon damage is halved; Resist cold and electricity 10;
Vulnerable fire
OFFENSE
Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft. (perfect)
Melee swarm (2d6 plus poison)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks distraction (DC 13), poison
STATISTICS
Str 1, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 3, Wis 14, Cha 9
Base Atk +5; CMB —; CMD —
Feats Improved Initiative
Skills Fly +11, Perception +9; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception
SQ swarm traits, fey traits
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Poison (Ex) save Fort DC 13; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1 Dexterity damage; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Numbing Cold (Ex) Any creature hit by a winter-touched creature’s attacks must succeed at a Fort Save DC 13 or be staggered for 1 round. The save DC is constitution-based.
Distraction (Ex) A creature with this ability can nauseate the creatures that it damages. Any living creature that takes damage from a creature with the distraction ability is nauseated for 1 round; a Fortitude save (DC 13) negates the effect.
Change Shape (Su) The fey swarm can change shape into a large giant wasp. The giant wasp has the same AC, hit points, and saving throws, Melee sting +7, 1d8+6, plus poison (DC 18, save 6 rounds, 1d2 dex damage, cure 1 save), CMB +8, and CMD 21.
Long Step (Su) The fey swarm can teleport up to 70 feet per Hit Die as a move action. It may use this ability once every 1d4 rounds.

A wasp swarm is a flying mass of a thousand of carnivorous wasps. In such large numbers, they become voracious hunters, capable of taking down large creatures with their venom-filled stings. While a wasp swarm is capable of inflicting hundreds of stings, its true danger arises from its insatiable appetite for meat.

Wasp swarms surround and attack any living prey in their paths, and are swift to seek out new prey once their anger is aroused. An enraged wasp swarm often loses track of its hive or the original source of its anger, and presented with a constant series of new targets to swarm and sting, a swarm can continue its rampage nonstop until it is destroyed or dispersed.

The players loved that encounter! They continued down the hill to Wishbone Creek.

Spoiler:
The battle at Wishbone Creek with the ice elementals was not changed. After triggering the trap, they threw a grappling hook and rope across the creek into the rocks on the other side. They moved across. After one got across, the ice elementals attacked the second one. The battle was pretty one sided, and the party quickly dispatched the elementals.

I'm still getting a feel for the party. It's a lot of PCs, seven, and I will have to add encounters and beef up encounters to keep it challenging, but I love this adventure. I'll keep posting updates as we continue with the campaign. We're taking this week off, which is a bummer, but will be back at it the week after.


I do like how easy it is to put the first part of the story pretty much wherever, though the hotter it is, the better the disconnect.

Playing up the Fey aspect works great for he first two parts, but it drops off severely in part three (though easily fixable) and moves way to the back in parts four and five in favor of the Dragons! and GLORIOUS MOTHER RUSSIA! angles once you leave the Hut. Naturally I suggest doing a lot more of the fey stuff in the Hut itself, though some more opportunities arise in the latter part of ''Rasputin Must Die''.


SAMAS wrote:

I do like how easy it is to put the first part of the story pretty much wherever, though the hotter it is, the better the disconnect.

Playing up the Fey aspect works great for he first two parts, but it drops off severely in part three (though easily fixable) and moves way to the back in parts four and five in favor of the Dragons! and GLORIOUS MOTHER RUSSIA! angles once you leave the Hut. Naturally I suggest doing a lot more of the fey stuff in the Hut itself, though some more opportunities arise in the latter part of ''Rasputin Must Die''.

Thanks, Samas. I may end up doing some serious modifications to the later portions of the adventure path. I may change the setting of Maiden Mother Crone to be in Irrisen rather than Iobaria, and I'm not so sure about The Frozen Stars... I may replace it completely with adventures in Irrisen.

Grand Lodge

IMHO the "travel" stuff let the players know how much powerful is Baba Yaga AND reworking part 4 to take place in Irrisen will be a really huge effort (you will have to change almost everything) but if you have the time I'm looking forward to see what you will come up with!


Manuelexar wrote:
IMHO the "travel" stuff let the players know how much powerful is Baba Yaga AND reworking part 4 to take place in Irrisen will be a really huge effort (you will have to change almost everything) but if you have the time I'm looking forward to see what you will come up with!

Yeah, I realize it would end up being a complete re-write of The Frozen Stars, but there is a ton of material in the Irrisen source book, and I like the idea of political intrigue in Irrisen.

Plus, I hate dragon riders and dragonkin. Just not my thing.

Rasputin Must Die!, though, I can deal with that.

I'm also seriously considering somehow using a lot of material from Sound of a Thousand Screams from the Kingmaker campaign to add some more fey elements.


Last night, the party continued their adventures in the Grungir Forest, picking up where they left off after crossing Wishbone Creek.

They headed up the ridge, and successfully snuck up on the bandits on the trail. One almost fled but got caught from behind, he spilled the beans on his buddies.

The party followed the trail to the Lodge...

Spoiler:
They spent about and hour of game time planning an assault. The plan. Split up, with 3 of them hiding at the outhouse to attack any of the bandits unlucky enough to need to use it. The other three went to go burn down the stable. They all snuck through the woods to the east and south, inadvertently missing the crossbow trap.

The gnome hid in the outhouse (after first using prestidigitation to make it smell better) behind the door, and 20 minutes later someone showed up. They saw the little gnome footprints in the snow, but stupidly thought, I'll get the little bugger, and slammed the door open, trying to stun the gnome. But, it didn't work, and the gnome jumped up onto the latrine seat and stabbed the guy to death in one shot (he's a rogue, and I ruled he would get a sneak attack under the circumstances).

They kept waiting for another one to come out to see what happened to his buddy. They peed all over the snow to the side of the outhouse, trying to cover up all of the footprints and to make it look like the guy just didn't want to go into the smelly outhouse. They proceeded to murder the second guy as well, dragging him off into the bushes. (OK, well neither of them died, explicitly, but they are unconscious, if stable, and will freeze to death if not healed at some point.)

Meanwhile, the other group was checking out the stables. The ranger and wizard snuck in and the ranger calmed the horses. For some reason, after piling together a bunch of straw, lit it, and then left, leaving the wizard with the horses to try and get them to get out of the stable. The wizard tried to push one out from behind, and got kicked, nearly killing him.

But, the horses and wizard got out, and the stable burned to the ground.

And, well, the guys in the lodge did nothing. Why would they?

Eventually, one of the horses tripped the crossbow trap, getting hit, and making a lot of noise.

So, the snow elf wizard (who is a bit weird and loopy and pretty "fey" acting) and the gnome went out front to act like they were winter fey and the cause of all of the ruckus, asking the bandits to come out to play. Some of the other party members went to keep an eye on the back door.

Three bandits snuck out the back door to go around the north side of the Lodge. Three others opened the front door and windows/shutters. They all fired bows on the fey and other party members who fired back from near the charred remains of the stable.

Tenpenny and two other bandits came out the back door to go after the two party members watching the back door. Tenpenny got skewered by a long spear right at the beginning, and went into defense mode. The inquisitor player sensed her motive, and encouraged her to flee, but she didn't, obviously not wanting to pick sides just yet.

The party had just about decimated all of the bandits when two ice skeletons came downstairs to attack the two party members that had entered the front door of the Lodge. And then Rokhar animated three dead bandits outside.

It was getting late, so we had to stop there. Things looked really good for the party just half a round before, but now things are looking dicey. The party has seven members, but there are two ice skeletons in the Lodge, three zombies outside, and Rokhar is invisible and about ready to start casting nasty spells.


The battle at the lodge continued this week...

Spoiler:
Last week ended mid-combat, with the two ice skeletons in the Lodge attacking the snow elf ranger and the gnome rogue and the three formerly dead bandits rising as zombies to attack the party members outside. Two of the heroes were planning on entering the back door of the Lodge to aid the snow elf and the gnome rogue.

This week began with the party's foes acting in initiative. The ice skeletons attacked, but did not slay the gnome and snow elf ranger. The icy cold of their claw attacks did not deter the snow elf in the slightest, due to his cold resistance, and the gnome was too quick and nimble for the skeletons to hit.

The zombies outside staggered towards the Varisian cleric of Desna, snow elf void wizard, and Kellid druid, getting in melee range, but too clumsy and slow to get in attacks.

Inside, the Ulfen barbarian and the Ulfen Blackraven inquisitor assisted the gnome and snow elf ranger. The last remaining bandit, besides Rohkar, dropped his weapon and surrendered. The ice skeletons were dispatched, but not before blasting the heroes with the frigid icy cold of their death throes.

Outside, the zombies took down first the snow elf wizard, then the Varisian cleric, and then, later, the snow elf ranger. They began trying to eat them, since other heroes were backing away or inside.

The zombies were strangely resiliant, being augmented by some unknown power. Rohkar. He revealed himself, attacking the inquisitor as he was getting ready to slay the zombie attempting to eat the snow elf wizard. Big mistake. The Ulfen inquisitor and Ulfen barbarian made quick work of him, dropping him to -1 hit point in two blows, despite his temporary hit points from death knell.

The battle was over.

The party questioned the one bandit that surrendered inside. They retrieved the bodies of the two they had hidden behind the outhouse, who were both stable.

The cleric was revived by the druid using a scroll of cure light wounds discovered in Rokhar's chest (added), and he promptly channeled positive energy, his last use, healing everyone of 2 hit points of damage. The snow elf ranger and snow elf wizard were still unconscious.

The party left the cleric to watch over the snow elves, and the rest of them went down into the cellar to free Lady Argentea of Magnimar. They talked to her a little bit.

They were all oblivious to the unintended side effect of the channeling, which was to bring Rohkar up to 1 hit point. He became conscious, but he played dead, and no one noticed. With the rest of the party down in the cellar, he worked himself free of his bonds as the cleric tended to the two snow elves. It took about a minute and a half, but eventually he succeeded, and he rose up to attempt to strangle the cleric with the ropes that had been used to bond him. The cleric struggled, choking, and gasping for help. The cleric pulled a starknife, but fumbled, and the fumble card result was that Rohkar took possession of the starknife!

Things looked grim for the snow elves and the cleric! Rohkar had visions of three new murders dancing through his mind. Revenge! But, alas, when he brought the starknife to bear against the cleric, his unfamiliarity with the weapon resulted in him narrowly missing, and the cleric drew his second starknife, slashing Rohkar, and dropping him once again.

The party chained Rohkar up in the cellar. Tenpenny Tacey came back, asking for shelter, and the party accepted her. They questioned Rohkar, who told them a bit about Izoze and Teb Knotten, but not much. The nihilistic elven ranger pushed for trekking further into the winter, into the Somir Valley, but Lady Argentea demanded to be brought back to Heldren, beginning to worry they were going to abandon her. Eventually, the party agreed to the plan of taking Argentea, Tenpenny, and Rohkar to Heldren and telling the other bandits to stay in the lodge until they are gone, but then they don't want to ever see them again, essentially freeing them.

The snow elf wizard had a showdown with Vrixx, the winter-touched sprite. The sprite color sprayed him, but was in the cage, and couldn't escape, so when the wizard woke up, he color sprayed the sprite right back, and then opened the cage and removed one of its wings. They brought the sprite along with them to Heldren. It tried to be a pest and make noise during the night, but they buried it in a snow drift, and that muffled the sound and shut it up.

The session ended with the party back at Heldren, and now Level 2.

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