New campaign starting tomorrow

[pjackson]

I am about to start running COCT.
I have been reading the forum for hints as I found them very useful for RotRL.
We will be using 3.5 rules with some minor changes,

One player has not indicated what type of character he wants
to play, thoe others have said
LN member of the Guard
Would be Sable Company member - Scout/Ranger
Wizard - either LG or LE (both versions look good).

One player analyzes the spread of diseases (in animals) for a living so I am going to have to be careful with 7DttG

I have been sending out emails with bits of background information, and dropping hints. For example to the would be Sable Comapny member:

For example. if the city were attacked by pirates the Sable Company would fly over and drop tanglefoot bags with rock chippings in them on to the ships. Then the guard would use trebuchets enchanted with a version of Locate Object to fire the rocks the chippings were taken from at the ships. The rocks home in on the chippings if close enough.

Her idea for a grudge with Gaedren Lann was that he had killed her best friend when he was investigating Lamm. That did not seem strong enough to me so I suggested:

You best friend disappeared when following up on a lead to Lamm a few months after getting married.. The Guard put a lot of effort into investigating the loss of one of their own. A few days later a parcel was delivered to his wife - containing your friend's head. She had a miscarriage. A priest use speak with dead to question the head and learnt where Lamm was, but when the Guard raided the place he had left. When asked where the rest of his body was the head replied "Eaten".

I read a suggestion of using Taxfest as a time when the Bank hands out money as an way to explain how the disease spreads so fast amongst the lower classes and went with a modified version.

Taxfest is the Church of Abadars most important annual festival when they celebrate the collection of the years taxes, Then the church hosts an enormous feast at which people make speaches suggesting how the money should be spent. There is also a handout of money 1gp to everyone who employs others and 1sp to everyone in honest employment. Since the city is too large of everyone to be accomadated at the Bank secondary feats are hosted by various nobles where priests perform the handouts.

Offically the church would not describe this as a handout - rather as a reverse tax on the church.

I gave them a description of each of the major noble houses, emphazing Glorio Arkonas good works to try to bias them towards trusting him.

I plan to run each character through a normal day to help bind them to the city before starting the AP proper.

Any other suggestions would be welcome.

[Orthos]

The good news about 7DttG is that the writers really did their research. The pandemic is fairly realistic in scope and spread and I don't think your guy will have any problems with its portrayal.

Looks like a good start to me. I love the bit about Lamm making heads-in-a-box a signature thing he does, sending them to the families of people who cross him and giving the body to the croc, rather than just a one-off thing he did with Zellara's son. Stealing that.

My own personal biases about Chapter One say that it was written backwards. IMO, the story should start with the players maneuvering their way through the seedy underbelly of Korvosa trying to track down Lamm, dealing with the other sidequests and encounters, then nearer the end of the chapter having them finally get the criminal's location, chase him down, get their justice/vengeance, and discover the truth about Zellara. However that might require more adjusting than you are wanting to do to the AP. (My group always starts at 2nd level, so that's perfect for jumping into the stuff normally presented later in the chapter, then retooling Lamm's section for a high 3rd/low 4th-level party is all the revamping I need to do, myself. But if you're wanting to start at 1st, it might need further toning.)

Let us know how it goes, what you're planning on changing/adding/removing, and how the players respond =)

[Jason S]

I made each PC:
1) Have a strong reason for hating Lamm.
2) Have a reason or desire to protect or care about the city.
3) A strong relationship to at least one other member of the party.

That's the glue that binds the campaign together.

I didn't like that Lamm was so weak and dies almost immediately, so I changed the story. I think it's bad that Lamm dies so early in the AP, especially since it's the reason the party gets (and maybe stays)together. If you don't know each other, there isn't enough trust built up to stay together after killing him imo. Basically we do the job and go back to your regular lives. There's really no reason for staying together. Because of riots? I don't think so, if anything it would make you want to go back to your family, property, home, friends, work, to protect them.

Anyway, have fun, this has been a great campaign so far.

[pjackson]

If EoA were standalone I would agree it is backward, but as it is Lamm is just an excuse to bring the players together not the main story. So getting him out of the way quickly seems the right way to go.

Currently I am thinking about how I can stop my players from immediately concluding that Vencarlo is Blackjack. I think I will try to get them to think that he used to be Blackjack but has likely been succeeded by someone else. I will let them know that Gengaro does the training now and that Grau was formerly one of his start pupils, to try to set them up as red herrings.

[pjackson]

I have been emphasing the need to have a reason to protect the city.
The riots should be a reason to stick together temporarily as travelling the streets alone should look dangerous. Staying together whilst you sell the loot should be another - taking the broach back to the queen together to share in the reward and then they will be asked to work togther. I can see it working, though the speeches will need to be adjusted for the characters.

I have seem a campaign where each character had a link to at least one other character end when the party split into two groups with different motivations.

So I want to try to give them the common motivation of being paid to protect the city together, with protecting the city being something they would do anyway. The guard and the marine would have a duty to do it, the LE wizard would be a worshipper of Asmodeus so I have suggested she might have contracted to assist the guard. The LG one I would expect to do it due to her alignment. The player has said that if she goes that way she would probably become a gish with levels in EK or similar clases and a thing about swords, which could work well later on :). The LE one might become a cleric of Asmodeus and then a Mystic Theurge which could also be fun later on. (This player is the best optimizer of the players so I would be quite happy to see him take potentila weak options and work to keep up with the other players, rather than just overshadow them.)

[Orthos]

I liked the idea someone put up of Vencarlo having a debilitating injury. Missing Blackjack's sword arm was the example ("Blackjack is left-handed! This guy can't be Blackjack, he doesn't have a left arm!"), but it could be something else like a missing eye or foot/leg, or something less visibly obvious but still notably crippling to the idea of "this guy is Blackjack", like say asthma - and just give him a magical prosthesis or something that he adds with the Blackjack costume to make up for the loss.

This also explains why such a celebrated swordsman is "only" running a fencing studio, rather than say training the guards or being a soldier/warrior of renown himself - his glory days are, supposedly, behind him.

[pjackson]

Orthos wrote:

I liked the idea someone put up of Vencarlo having a debilitating injury. Missing Blackjack's sword arm was the example ("Blackjack is left-handed!

A missing arm would seem to make him even easier to identify after seeing him in action. But having him faking or exaggerating an injury when the player's first meet him looks good.

I just sent my players this.

Arcane Magic - The Acadamae will train and sell scrolls to graduates. Non-graduates would do better not to ask. To become a student you most spend three years as an apprentive first. More than a quarter of apprentices die. It is believed that most end up as test subjects for the College of Necromany.
Theumanexus College will supply training to other arcanists, but is less well resourced.

Divine Magic - Go to your temple, or the Pantheon of Many.

Formal knowledges - Try the University

Weapons Training - The Guard and Sable Company provide training for their member. The Sable Company also trains its members in Ranger skills.
The best weapon training is from the Orisini Academy. This is where young nobles go to train, but talented others are accepted for free, Its founder Vencarlo Orisini is largely retired and the training is mostly done by his student Dengaro. The Queen's bodyguard, Sabina, was trained here before joining the Guard and then entering the Queen's personal service.

Rogue skills - The Cerulean Society is the only guild allowed in Korvosa. It pays a vice tax to operate and openly runs a protection racketwith its collectors wearing a blue uniform. It regulates the other gangs in the city and less openly maintains a near monopoly on smuggling. Even the great houses and the temple of Abadar pay protection, though it tends to be a nominal sum for such powerful organisations. The Acadamae's payment is believed to be not turning the guildmaster into a toad.
Anyway the society will provide training for members and registered freelancers.

[Orthos]

pjackson wrote:

Orthos wrote:

I liked the idea someone put up of Vencarlo having a debilitating injury. Missing Blackjack's sword arm was the example ("Blackjack is left-handed!

A missing arm would seem to make him even easier to identify after seeing him in action.

Well, the trick is that Blackjack is not missing an arm - underneath the costume he's got a prosthesis, but since it's covered by the black getup you can't see that.

And of course in this situation Vencarlo would have to be ambidextrous, but use his right (only) hand when out of costume and make sure to only use the left (false) hand while being Blackjack.

[pjackson]

The player who is thinking of playing a wizard asked me whether he needs to take the Acadamae Graduate feat to be an Acadamae graduate if his character is not a conjuror.
I've said no. He just needs to be a specialist and not have banned conjuration.
But that leads to the question of how she could have passed the final exam. Since I am using 3.5 I have said that the use of an incantation (from UA) would work.

[Jason S]

pjackson wrote:

If EoA were standalone I would agree it is backward, but as it is Lamm is just an excuse to bring the players together not the main story. So getting him out of the way quickly seems the right way to go.

It's the reason for getting together, however there's no real reason for staying together. To collect the reward from the Queen? Maybe. Because you have nothing better to do (and want to suddenly become lackeys to the guard captain)? Maybe. Because you have no friends or contacts other than this group that was gathered by a ghost? Maybe.

Most players find this aspect of the book contrived, believe me. Especially if they have character backgrounds and contacts in the city.

Also, I knew going in that my players would HATE Kroft's go-there-and-fetch missions, so I changed that too. Same NPCs and locations, different motivations and story. But that takes lots of work.

pjackson wrote:

Currently I am thinking about how I can stop my players from immediately concluding that Vencarlo is Blackjack.

I thought it was silly that he was introduced during the Kroft interview. I'll have him appear much later. By then the PCs will accuse everyone of being Blackjack: Kroft, Trinia, maybe even Grau. By the time they meet him they'll forget about it.

[Laric]

My 2 cents:

My group didn't have a problem sticking together after Lamm was dead as the idea of a ghost having drawn the party together for a purpose greater than simple revenge worked really well for them. Having said that, if you have evil PCs it might be a harder sell.

With regards to moving Lamm to the end of the adventure: My concern with doing this is that the story of Zellara and Lamm are linked quite closely. Seeing the reaction of my players when they found Zellara's head in the hat box has been one of the more enjoyable moments of the campaign, but I think a key part of the whole Zellara reveal working has to do with timing. If you had the PCs working for Zellara for an entire adventure, a lot of questions would probably come up and ruin the surprise.

Like Jason S, I also had a lot of concerns about the structure of Edge of Anarchy before we started the campaign and was tempted to make a lot of changes to it. However, as I've been running the adventure I've been pleasantly surprised how much fun every encounter has been for the players when I ran it by the book.

The fact that most encounters in EoA can be resolved in several different ways has made it very unpredictable and fun for me to run and even encounters that were relatively easy in terms of combat (such as All the Worlds Meat), provided really great opportunities for roleplaying.

And with regards to Blackjack, if you don't mention anything about him until he makes an appearance in the adventure, I think it is unlikely that the players would immediately jump to the conclusion that it has to be Vencarlo when they first see him. But I think, if you introduce a masked man in an adventure, you have to introduce the real guy in the course of the same adventure, otherwise its not fair to players who are trying to solve a mystery that's impossible for them to solve. If they guess that it's Vencarlo early, then so be it. They get to feel good about themselves and it may create some cool RP interactions.

[pjackson]

Laric wrote:

if you introduce a masked man in an adventure, you have to introduce the real guy in the course of the same adventure, otherwise its not fair to players who are trying to solve a mystery that's impossible for them to solve.

Yes - but if your players understand that and you only introduce one possible suspect the mystery becomes too easy.

On a different matter how do ships pass the North Bridge to get to the docks?

[Laric]

pjackson wrote:

Laric wrote:

if you introduce a masked man in an adventure, you have to introduce the real guy in the course of the same adventure, otherwise its not fair to players who are trying to solve a mystery that's impossible for them to solve.

Yes - but if your players understand that and you only introduce one possible suspect the mystery becomes too easy.

On a different matter how do ships pass the North Bridge to get to the docks?

Personally, I think that the adventure, as written, does a great job of the Blackjack storyline.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't make the adventure your own or that you should avoid changing things, that's part of GMing any adventure path. And you also know your group the best and know what works for them.

But, as Jason S pointed out, the adventure does introduce several people who could also be Blackjack: Grau and Cressida are possibilities if you play them right, and Verik and even Trinia could also be made to look suspect depending on how things play out with your group (i.e. if they survive or not, or if the group sets them free or not).

And that doesn't include NPCs that you introduce from your own creation that are specific contacts to the PCs in your group. For example, one of my players took the Lamm killed my father background and his mother died in childbirth, so he was an orphan for a while and then adopted and raised by a Korvosan Guard. That's an easy sell as someone who might have been Blackjack and stopped a few decades ago for some mysterious reason.

Another thing to consider is that depending on how your group progresses through the adventure, there will likely be a few sessions between the PCs meeting with Vencarlo and them seeing Blackjack. Unless of course, they are already clued in to the fact that Blackjack will be making an appearance in the adventure.

[Orthos]

Quote:

With regards to moving Lamm to the end of the adventure: My concern with doing this is that the story of Zellara and Lamm are linked quite closely. Seeing the reaction of my players when they found Zellara's head in the hat box has been one of the more enjoyable moments of the campaign, but I think a key part of the whole Zellara reveal working has to do with timing. If you had the PCs working for Zellara for an entire adventure, a lot of questions would probably come up and ruin the surprise.

My plan for it mostly revolves around upping Lamm's status in the story a little bit. He's not just some two-bit criminal; he's a crime lord on par with the Emperor, one of the underworld movers and shakers in the seedy parts of the city. He has resources that have allowed him to stay where he is and be successful for all these years, and not be upset by the likes of the Emperor, the Arkonas, and the rest of his alleyway competition.

I want him to be a character the PCs loathe and perhaps even fear a bit, and I want them to understand that they won't be able to just get an address from Zellara, march up to his doorstep and kick it in. His hideouts are many and he moves between them frequently, relying on his many "investments" to shield his location and his activities. A lot of the other events that go on in Chapter 1 will be rewritten to be his underlings, and as the PCs tackle one after the other, they'll narrow down where Lamm is lairing and eventually be able to make their attack.

Zellara, in telling the story of her son's death, will make a point of emphasizing how much trouble he had in locating Lamm in the first place, and while she will be able to give a few small hints she has at a good starting point to begin their investigations, she can't offer any more information and will be heavily relying on the PCs to do this for her, as (or as she'll claim) she lacks the physical capability to track down and fight a crime lord on her own, and would only be a distraction and a burden to the PCs if she were to accompany them. It's a stretch of a lie by omission, but it's technically true in a sense.

Anywho, that's just my own take, and like Jason S I know my players and the characters they've proposed bringing; if Lamm is taken out so quickly, their characters will likely not have enough reason to stick together until it's obvious the city is in danger; the (relatively) minor troubles that occur after Eodred's death is announced might be more likely to be met with "eh, this is the guard's problem, not ours" unless they decide to play goody-goody characters (unlikely, as they're playing Savage Tide before we do CotCT, so will probably be playing their super heroic characters - at least one is playing a paladin - in ST then switching to more gritty, grungy character ideas in CT). They'll certainly turn in Ileosa's trinket for the reward, but unless they have sufficient reason to stick together (beyond "we need to stay together for the story") and sufficient investment in whatever Kroft offers them to look into the local troubles, they'll likely wander their separate ways after that. Having Lamm as a longer-term antagonist gives the PC party some more time to gel together, get used to each other's presence and cooperation on a longer-term scale, and form a sort of battle-forged bond, comrades-in-arms after they save each other's bacon a few times or have that Misfit Mobilization Moment when they have to cover one another's backs or they'll all die/something else and they come to realize they need each other if they're gonna make it through this thing.

On the other hand, the team joining up then dissolving, perhaps repeatdly, could also be a not-bad thing, if you wanted to have an episodic, escapade-of-the-week feeling to the campaign. The PCs join up, take care of a problem, then part ways; next week on Curse of the Crimson Throne, a new problem arises and the team gets back together again! And hey, that's not necessarily a bad way to play a campaign, especially an urban, localized one like this.

Anywho, I've rambled a bit so I'll go on my way now =) I have work to do anyway. Best of luck again, PJackson, and thanks for everyone's input - it'll be a few years yet before my group actually starts CotCT, but I'm taking careful notes of any suggestions that come up in threads like this to incorporate into my own version of the plot. =D

[Jason S]

Larric wrote:

The fact that most encounters in EoA can be resolved in several different ways has made it very unpredictable and fun for me to run and even encounters that were relatively easy in terms of combat (such as All the Worlds Meat), provided really great opportunities for roleplaying.

This is so true. This AP is basically an urban sandbox and it can be played out in so many unexpected ways. It's great!

For the record though, I updated and revised all of the encounters to the Pathfinder rules and tweaked some builds, so even that aspect is much better (for me). When I'm done I'll share my stats.

Orthos wrote:

My plan for it mostly revolves around upping Lamm's status in the story a little bit. He's not just some two-bit criminal; he's a crime lord on par with the Emperor, one of the underworld movers and shakers in the seedy parts of the city. He has resources that have allowed him to stay where he is and be successful for all these years, and not be upset by the likes of the Emperor, the Arkonas, and the rest of his alleyway competition.

That's pretty much exactly the angle I had.

I made Lamm more powerful and at the fishery I had him escape. So everything went according to the book except for the part of Lamm dying.

And yes Lamm had other hideouts (and businesses) and the PCs basically need Zellara to help track him. Of course Lamm has no idea why the PCs can find him.

Also consider that the PCs are outlaws and that Lamm is a citizen, Lamm pays his vice taxes. I thought this was really interesting and the PCs are fortunate that the city is in a state of anarchy, otherwise they would be in trouble with the law.

GMs should consider customizing for their players and that's what I did. I already knew my players despise "working for someone", so I changed that. My players tend to play "situationally good" PCs, so certain plotlines and motivations work better (and are more enjoyable) than others.

Anyway, good luck.

[Orthos]

Quote:

I made Lamm more powerful and at the fishery I had him escape. So everything went according to the book except for the part of Lamm dying.

I plan to do similar. I'm just not sure if it'll be "Lamm gets away and returns later" or "Lamm dies there but comes back as a civilized undead, perhaps a ghoul".

In the end I want Lamm to be a lurking threat throughout the entire story, and he's not the only one, I'm also wanting to do the same with Rolth. I want Lamm to be the Ras Al'Ghul - cool, confident, composed, and with his fingers in everything - to Rolth's Joker and Jostelina's Harley Quinn.

[Tels]

You might try having Zellara being an initial quest giver and that she doesn't die until after a few adventures.

If you plan on re-writing the adventure a bit so Lamm has a larger role, maybe have each party member owe Zellara a favor of one kind or another. For instance, the guard who's friend was murdered might know that Zellara is an outspoken enemy of Lamm and has pressured the Guard to bring him in many times. The Guard might seek out Zellara as the most likely source of Lamms location. Zellara could then be the quest giver while she finds out more information.

Maybe the Wizard had some objects stolen from him by Lamm's Lambs and he wants them back, and has sought out Zellara as a contact to find Lamm.

A martial character seeking training at the Orisini school might get turned away by Dengaro who is disgruntled with Vencarlo allowing people in that haven't proven themselves and has set up his own standard of admission. Dengaro may owe a debt to Lamm and sets the martial PC to find and end Lamm so Dengaro doesn't have to pay him back. Dengaro mentions a gypsy by the name of Zellara has vowed to end Lamm and is seeking out people wanting Lamm brought down.

The Cerulean Society might want Lamm dead because he refuses to pay his tithe to the guild, but is wily enough to escape capture every time they try and track him down. To gain access to their training, they send any rogue-type PCs to Zellara hoping a different perspective can put an end to Lamm and his Lamb's muscling in on their business.

The PCs go one some minor quests for Zellara who starts piecing together information by using either documents or survivors and her harrow cards to find out where Lamm is. During this time, the King is killed and Zellara leaves a note saying she is temporarily putting the search for Lamm on hold as the PCs focus on trying to quell the rioting. Might be that each of the PCs gets recalled by their various factions, each for different reasons. Some solo quests dealing with different riot events (guard might have to lead a band of guards against emerging otyugh, acadamae might have rioters assaulting the acadamae, cerulean society members are being attacked on the street and the rioters need to be 'pacified' etc.).

After the rioters quiet down somewhat, Cressida approaches the Guard PC with a delicate mission involving a former guardsmen (All the World's Meat) hoping he could deal with it using outside sources (the PCs) as a detachment of Guards would only incite more riots. After this, Zellara has heard about Trinia being a former Lamm and may know where Lamm is hiding.

PCs rescue Trinia and Zellara uses Trinina and her harrow deck to finally find Lamm, but something is a little off about Zellara, but no one can put a finger on it. While the PCs go and deal with Lamm, Zellara sends Trinia to Vencarlo for protection (as Zellara is dead at this point and knows Vencarlo can protect her).

Somewhere along the way, Zellara is killed, I would suggest that she is killed around the King's death as Lamm has tracked her down personally. Her ghostly remains leave the note about putting it on hold, and then she does the whole 'card in the pocket' thing after she's died. Now when the PCs track down Lamm, they can find her head in the box and make the reveal all the more upsetting.

After killing Lamm (or Lamm escaping), and discovering Zellara's head, the PCs hear about Trinia's execution, confused as they left Trinia in Zellara's care (not knowing about Vencarlo's roll). When they attend the execution, Blackjack shows up and saves the fake Trinina. Or, if you would prefer that Trinia be captured after Zellara sends the PCs to Lamm, then Blackjack rescues the real Trinia.

[pjackson]

Sorry for not updating this. Been having problems accessing the message boards.

The characters are:
a half-orc beguiler,
a half-elf fighter/wizard gish,
a half-elf cloistered cleric,
and a human ranger/scout Sable company marine.

In the first session they dealt with Lamm. The croc nearly killed one of them. They persuaded the orphans to go to an orphanage. When they left they learnt that the king was dead, met Grau and charmed him into going back to the guard, and had to be rescued from imps by pseudodragons. They took the broach back to the queen.

The second session was mostly roleplaying, though they did deal with All the World's Meat - capturing everybody alive. They used their normal tactic of starting from the top - climbing the back wall and opening a window.

In the third session they took three trips to deal with Eel's End. We were one player short so the cleric was missing. On the first trip the beguiler decided to try some shiver, whilst the gish went to the brothel and tried questioning her companion afterwards. The marine tried to complete the mission alone, but with a terrible diplomancy roll got thrown out. He did notice the pseudodragon, so they came up with a plan to cause a diversion and snak in and free him which was successful. They were annoyed though when they learnt they needed to go back for the letters. This time they hired a rowboat, went behind the ship and climbed up and opened a window. They had waited for Devargo to leave first so they were able to do this safely.

They don't seem to mind working for Cressida - mostly because she pays well I think.

In the fourth session they went after Trinia, but were not able to catch her themselves. Due to the magic she used and her "elite ninja skills" they were convinced she could not be a simple painter and was most likely the assassin. Generally they were supportive of the queen at this time. They recovered the shoanti body from the Dead Warrens. At the execution they did there best to try to stop the rescue, almost killing Trinia, and one of them almost being killed by Blackjack. They did immediately guess that Vencarlo was Blackjack, though I had tried to play up Grau and Vencarlo's assistant. However given Blackjack's reputation they began to have doubts about Trinia's guilt.

[pjackson]

In the first session of 7 Days after a bit of downtime then were asked by Grau to help his niece. They did this by paying for a Remove Disease. The insistance on payment seems to have given them a bad impression of the church of Abadar.

They decided to investigate the sunken ship immediately. Though their resources for doing so were limited, they found one of the chests, which they investigated and decided was the origin of the plague. Several of the party contracted it. Though the priest could not cure it he was able to keep them alive long enough to fight it off.

The priest Ishani asked for an escort to see the Field Marshal and there they met Dr Davaulus, and learnt of the Queen's proclamation.

The Field Marshall asked them to investigate the illegal dumping of bodies. They were attacked by some vampire spawn. The beguiler cast Glitterdust making the vampires sparkly and so the players really enjoyed killing them.

In the second session for 7 Days they investigated the selling of a fake cure by Vendra, then dealt with a wererat intent on war on the people of Korvosa.

We lost track of time in our next session, and played for over 12 hours finishing the module. We could not have done so if it had not been so great.

First they returned to the ship where they gathered more evidence on the plague's origin. They killed a shark, but then met the sea hag. The Fighter/Wizard (Quinta) failed saving rolls in a row and died to the hag's evil eye. So they ran away.
The priest could now Cure Disease, so offered all his second and third level spells until the plague was dealt with in return for a Raise Dead.

They were asked to look for a missing musician and found a mansion full of corpses, many of which had been animated by a mad woman. Eventually they found a survivor, but not the musician.

The Field Marshal asked them to investigate the Queen's Physicians and in particular their HQ. Switching to Shadowrun mode they decided to scout the building and find out as much as possible before going in. They decided to speak to the building's previous owner, the head of house Akrona. He was helpful, telling them how to access the secret level.

They used a plank lowered from an adjacent warehouse to get onto the roof and start with the offices on the higher level. They free the healthy Varisians who were being experimented on and captured Dr Davaulus. The buguiler's Whelm spell haelped with this.

Tehn they used the lift to go down to the secret level. They took some damage from a trap, cleared a barracks, they a big fight broke out with a wizard and a cleric on the opposing side. They took quite a lot of damage before a well place Silence spell gave them a bit of time to recover. Quinta engaged the wizard in melee and soon realized he was a vampire in disguise. Luckily one of the buffs she had been given was Protection from Evil so to vampire attempt to dominate her was blocked. The priest used healing spells to damage the vampire who turned into insects and fled. The party followed closing the strong door behind them so that they would only have to fight him. He returned to his natural form and tried to negotiate, but the priest would not listen and with a high damage roll on his last spell above 1st level forced him to discorporate again. They searched for the coffin and sprinkled holy water on it stop the vampire from using it to heal up.

Meanwhile the others decided that their cover was blown and abandoned the lair. The party also decided to leave to recover, but got involved in a fight with some grey maidens on the staircase which after several alchemist's fire caught alight. They party managed to rescue all the trapped patients. They returned the following day with the guard. The high priestess was in the temple and gave a speech about getting her e revenge before using a scroll to teleport out.