You're Invited to the Spring Feast!!


Kingmaker


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Hi, guys. I could use some help here.

IMC, the Dancing Lady will soon hold her Spring Feast, when she emerges from the First World at the Forgotten Keep, and the wicked faeries of the Greenbelt gather to pay homage and torment mortals unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place.

As things stand, there's not much living in the Forgotten Keep aside from Rigg and the Dancing Lady. I'd like to add some guests for event, partly for atmosphere, partly for atmosphere. Some of these guests might challenge the PCs. Some might just consider any fighting part of the festivities.

Do you guys have good ideas for guests? My players will be level 4-5, so I don't want to overpower them. But'd still like to weird them out and/or intimidate them. I'm drawing a blank on good faeries to use.

So far, I have:

Rigg
A couple redcaps providing security and/or muscle.
Tooth faeries and mites running around as servants.
A Leanan Sidhe looking at all with disdain.

Any other ideas? Maybe a tombstone faerie with a flesh puppet? A bogeyman? (Though that's a little high level for this).


Don't forget Teorlian the Grimstalker as well.

Are you wanting the PCs to run in guns blazing and crash the party? Or is this supposed to be more of a get-to-know-folks party and the actual combats with TDL and her retinue to come later?


I kind of want my PCs to run in with swords swinging and spells blazing. At the Spring Feast, the appetizers are for the guests. But the main course consists of kingdom citizens .... and that course is for the Dancing Lady alone.

My players had really great interactions with Perlivash and Tyg-Tytter-Tutt, and I suspect they're going to do well with Tiressia when the time comes. They've instructed their citizens to leave out brandy and snacks for the fey.

But I also want to drive home that not all fey in the Greenbelt (including a certain nymph who shall remain nameless) are friendly sorts. And this is also one way (among several) that I'm trying to foreshadow the big N.

I don't necessarily think this should turn into a free-for-all brawl. At least some of the more powerful faeries in attendance would likely just watch in amusement and not intervene. But at least a couple of them might become important somewhere down the line.

After some thought, I'm thinking there should be a limited number of "named" faeries that have some power to them -- perhaps six or seven total -- and a collection of low-level servants.

The scenario could go a couple ways. Players could come in guns blazing, in which case it'll be a huge fight. The players could come in, then challenge someone at an opportune moment.


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Aside from the stock Bestiary fey, you can throw in some hags, fey-blooded sorcerers, fey-patron witches...

There's also plenty of fey-related templates. The Debased Fey template seems designed for dark/Unseelie faeries, which would be good to slap on some fey types that aren't normally considered evil. There's also Fey Animal, Fey Creature, and Fey Touched to turn non-fey into fey. And there's also Blighted Fey, but that seems like it wouldn't fit here, as it produces a sort of anti-nature faerie.

Some plant creatures would be appropriate, too, either as pets or allies. Or there are even some plant-type fey, like oakmen and poleviks.

Since it's a party, korreds and satyrs seem like naturals to provide dancing and music, and the guests will be wearing the latest fashions provided by rival spindlers. And perhaps some of Rigg's people show up, and/or some representatives of the spriggan tribe from the Nomen Heights. And if the spriggans are there, it's only natural that some swamp/aquatic fey from the Slough also make an appearance, like a bog nixie or a gray nisp.

(the above brought to you by some research I had done to add more fey to the AP)


Thanks. After reading up on some of the fey, I'm thinking about swapping out Vordakai for a bogeyman wizard.


Just a thought, but if the party charge in swinging, with that many fey...
it doesn't really matter how many/few there are, the party will get diced.

I understand that you want some looking on with disdain, but even they are
likely as not to take offence if say one of their servants gets munched.

Perhaps have the party charge in as planned & have some lower level Fey
try to take them down, but then one of the higher level ones accuse those
Fey of (say) being discouteous & lay some SERIOUS smack-down on them...
Something that your party watches & then has a sudden..."Holy Cr*p" moment
when they realise just how FAR they are out of their depth...
I dunno, maybe some sort of sword weilding lady who slips in doing 4 or 5
attacks a round, with serious magic on her sword... Or a magic user type
who lays it down with a really high level spell...
Something your players will recognise instantly as an...ummm, we need to
play nice here, or we are the crumbs that will be left of TOAST...

To be honest - if you use this type of approach, you might not even have to
stat out the encounters, or decide what type of Fey they are dealing with.
You could say that their form is cloaked with magic if your PCs want to
try finding things out...but then, such an attempt would be 'discourteous'... ;-p


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Here's some ideas for guest NPCs that will likely make your players hate Fey forever! These can all be played using the vanilla stat blocks, but feel free to beef it up as you need.

Big Block O' Text:

Spring-Heeled Jack - The 'chef' of this particular party, makes hors d'oeuvres for the guests and 'preps' the Dancing Lady's meals(read: tortures the victims so that they are considered helpless when they are served). He doesn't like having to serve, but he likes his job, since it lets him cut (living) things up. If a fight breaks out, PCs or no, he leaps into the fracas with a hoot and a smile.

Skin Stealer - This guest appears to be a "normal" human woman in appearance, if completely naked, and interacts with the other guests normally for the most part...until a couple of redcaps come up to 'her' and say "remove the suit, please." The back seems to unzip and the skin stealer pops out, folding up the 'suit' and handing it over, grumbling. If the PCs come charging in, he scans them for a round, then focuses his attacks on the PC with the highest CHA modifier, unless he's already provoked into a fight with the Forlarren(see below).

Forlarren - This guest is actively trying to provoke a fight amongst some of the other guests, chewing up food and spitting it onto their plates, eating shiny heirlooms, stuff like that. Surprisingly, she only really succeeds after she shreds the Skin Stealer's 'Suit' into ribbons, and the enraged fey screams and attacks. If the PCs come in peacefully, she tries to provoke them as well, and she takes part in any fight that breaks out, with or without PCs.

Satyr w/ Nixies - This satyr provides musical entertainment with a chorus of about 6-10 nixies. Everything seems normal about the performance until immediately after, when the satyr starts a few rounds of bidding among the guests. After the 'auction' ends, he grabs the nixie that performed the best in the song, bottles her voice in a seashell or reed whistle, and gives it to the auction winner. The now-voiceless nixie disappears soon after, and the group starts another performance. If/when a fight breaks out, the satyr figures it's part of the entertainment and plays a song to go along with it(possibly adding a morale bonus to all participants).

Leprechaun - This little prankster spends the party trolling everyone else, like slipping some corpse bits into someone's plate of food, dropping smouldering ashes on the twigjacks, or using his ventriloquism to screw with the nixie performances. If a fight breaks out, however, he turns invisible and tries to pickpocket the combatants while they're distracted. If he's caught(likely only by perceptive PCs) or injured, he tries to flee, and if pursued, he ditches his ill-gotten gains and curses the pursuers that he'll return.

Twigjacks - These little plant-like jerks are stuck-up members of a volunteer militia that "protects the eternal home from outsiders" (read: kill people who enter their stretch of forest). Everyone else at the party gives them space unless they're trying to grief them, and when combat breaks out, they squeak and scramble out the door, to the jeers of the spectators.

Mockingfey - This little bird acts as a court jester without subtlety or humor. It spends most of the party annoying the guests at random, until it annoys the Spring Heel Jack twice, at which point it disappears and the Jack serves some fresh poultry to the guests. If it's alive for combat , it spends it's rounds taunting the various combatants. If it dies in combat, the various watching guests rejoice.


Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I like the fact that a lot of these fey are CR 4 and below. I've been scanning the fey, but I kept finding ones that were CR 6 and above. I want to keep the power level at something that's impressive, but manageable, for a group of five 4-5 level PCs.

I'm not exactly sure how my players will play it, though. They've shown an appetite for negotiation, but they've got a crafty streak to them, too. And they have more than a few allies who might be willing to come along for something like this ...


There's a trio of not-nice fey in the swamps of Book 4, I can't remember more than that right now.


Kind of unrelated, but any thoughts on replacing V in book 3 with a Bogeyman wizard? An undead cyclops lich seems like a thematic break from the rest of the path. On the other hand, it might do some good to swap in some undead ...


Hey, don't worry about how the players go about it. If they don't take the bait, they don't take the bait; what matters is that they feel provoked, even if they don't act on it. I mean, some little green-coated punk just tried to make off with their purses. All of their purses. That's something they'll remember the next leprechaun they meet, whether he's evil or not.

And of course, the SRD has a large comprehensive list of fey, some even with low CRs. I recommend looking here for more party guests of the lively variety. Spatula also makes some good suggestions on other fey-types and minions with templates. Making them all into a**holes, that's the fun part. >:)

My advice on V? Think it over, give the players some time to carve through this adventure first. They might be feeling a little fatigued with Fey by the end, and some good old-fashioned zombie slaying might help make that feeling go away.

Then rebuild him into a Bogeyman Sorc.


Yeah, wizard seems like a waste of a +14 CHA mod.

But what CR are you aiming for? Vordakai is CR 12. A bogeyman caster would only be level 4 for the same CR. I'd think you'd want something closer to CR 5 (the CR of a cyclops) for your base creature. Maybe a lurker in light?


Lurkers can be darned nasty, let me tell you. Especially if they light the whole place up then vanish. Free inviz if they stand still? Yes please!


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Thanks for brainstorming this with me, guys. I've decided to model the scenario somewhat after Bianca's party in the Dresden Files. Spoilers below for Dresden Files.

Spring Feast:

In the Dresden Files, the supernatural world is governed by insanely complicated rules of courtesy. Among them are the rights of a host and of a guest. In Grave Peril, Bianca, a vampire, set a trap for Harry Dresden. She invited him to a party. At that party, she set up a situation where innocents were going to be killed. If Dresden did nothing, the innocents would die in his presence, but he would live because the vampires were not allowed to do anything to harm him while he was their guest. If he stopped the slaughter by attacking the vampires, then the vampires would have cause to kill him because he had broken a guest's obligation not to harm his hosts.

Which brings us to the Spring Feast. I'm going to use a lot of the critters Talking Skull suggested above, slightly tweaked.

To start off, I'm going to open next session with a tooth fairy attack in my players' kingdom. I'll follow it up with some nice, portentious dreams for everyone. Eldritch music, creepy laughter, and, of course, somebody dancing.

In the two or three weeks leading up to the Feast, there will be a spate of kidnappings in the players' kingdom and in the Elk's Protectorate, a vassal to the players.

My players will likely investigate, and they'll have a couple of creepy faerie encounters. After the last of these, Rigg will show up in my players' castle to deliver an invitation to them to attend the Spring Feast (including a promise of safe passage to and from the feast, as long as everybody observes proper comportment of host and guest).

The guests will include Talking Skull's parade of horribles. Also, I think Grigori (whom the players have not yet meant) will be in attendance, as will the Old Beldame, an emissary from Hargulka's Monster Kingdom, and a few folks my players will be able to make into allies if they make some Diplomacy rolls.

When the PCs get there, I'm going to throw at them a bouquet of creepiness, including Springheel Jack preparing the Lady's feast, little brownies in shackles carrying appetizer trays, enslaved humans and halflings providing "entertainment," and so forth.

The main table will be in the keep's courtyard, with a large chair reserved for the Dancing Lady. Teorlian will sit in a slightly smaller chair beside it.

As long as my players don't do anything overt to stop the festivities, nothing will happen to them. But things are going to get progressively worse through the evening, culminating with the Dancing Lady's arrival.
She's going to show up, start her captivating dance (far enough away not to take in the players, for now) ... and then go for her helpless prisoners.

Sometime in here, my players will act. I'm going to stat up groups of fae and put them around the keep. If my players are smart, they'll take the invite, then they'll circulate around the place and get to know everyone before the denouement. If my players are somewhat smart and want to create a headache for their GM, they'll hat up, get their NPC allies together, and put a stop to the Spring Feast.

Coda: At some point, Grigori's going to slip away. The players' deeds will become fodder for his speeches when he gets back to civilization.

One thing... I'm still trying to decide what to do if my players decide to invade a few days before the feast. I think I can discourage this (a little bit) with proper wording in the invitation. But if my players do decide to hat up and go in, I have to decide a) what's at the fortress and b) where the faeries' prisoners would be. Thoughts?


I LIKE.

For the last bit: I imagine the DL would have the place guarded prior to the event to prevent party-crashers such as this exact thing, to prevent someone ruining her party by stealing the decor. So maybe add a few more thugs to the keep, in addition to Teorlian and Rigg.

The prisoners would need to be somewhere hard to get to, and kept where they can't just shout or scream for help. Up in one of the (remaining) towers, perhaps, or add a basement area to some part of the keep. If the DL can get a caster to do so for her, maybe stick something with silence on it to keep the sound from being noticed. On the other hand, a well-padded blockade might just do the job without magic, while still offering the PCs a chance to - at a reasonably high DC - notice something they can hear, faintly, from somewhere above/below, and have a chance of rescuing people.

If they go this route, though, the DL probably has ample reason to sic something nasty on them for ruining her party - ESPECIALLY if she's already sent their invitation.


Good idea. Although I want to keep the DL a rather distant figure. Tearlion's going to do most of the talking and Diplomacizing.

Any music ideas? I'm going to kick off this little plotline with a tooth fairy raid on one of the players' cities. Planning to play Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies as my players confront the tooth fairies.

(I'm also scrapping a really nifty quest idea I had for the Lonely Blade. The custom plotlines were starting to get crowded).


If Teorlian is your frontman, note his control plants SLA. Abuse it. Give him plant minions to boss around. Screw with the terrain. Things like that. So you could get away with adding a few shambling mounds and other such low-level plants to the DL's localized guard.


Point taken. I am trying to turn this into a mythic trial. The point is not necessarily to kill faeries, but to rescue their people from the nasty faeries. DL herself is going to get a little bit of mythic. I can't decide if I want her to be savage, arcane, or agile. I'm leaning toward arcane.


What's that name of that adventure again that might be worth loooking at?

Carnival of Tears? Maybe rewrite it some, but my players LOVED it completely! :)


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Spoilered section above?
Me gusta.

Building on Orthos' advice and the Mythic Trial consideration(not to mention giving Grigori tomato fodder for the PCs), I would include some groups of non-combatants in the keep if they plan to attack it beforehand. Some spindlers to weave some really nice, if surreal, heraldry and dresses, and some dryad or other nature-loving fey(or animate plant) helping to arrange the moss carpeting and hanging thick green vines around like banners, or maybe just growing some giant Chia pets. While I'm sure you want to keep the whole sort of "creepy" vibe of the fey real here, I do think that, since they're soon ascending to Mythic Tiers, they should have little opportunities to establish what their reputation will be like once they start turning up in stories. Whether the non-combatants live or not, or how they are treated in any capacity, strikes me as the stuff Grigori would try to capitalize on, and it doesn't change what the mythic trial ultimately is(retrieving subjects from Fey Vampire), just how it plays out. Besides, the Spring-heeled Jack should still be in there, 'prepping the main course...' >:)

Control Plants only seems to work on plant creatures, unfortunately, not plants as part of the terran. Of course, this can't stop Teorlian from controlling Plant creatures that can do these things for him. I also recommend some Living Topiary that's grown really wild and weird posing as party statuary, so you can even make it seem like he can control all plant matter.

I'm looking forward to hearing how this turns out.


My next session is on Sunday. I think I know what I'm doing Saturday ...


Rejected items:

Gloomhorn the Untamed, CE debased faerie sheep fighter 3, and his flock.

Faeboo. CE Faerie Dire Chicken illusionist 4 with Skill Focus (Disguise).


You wear a disguise to look like human guys....


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pennywit wrote:

Gloomhorn the Untamed, CE debased faerie sheep fighter 3, and his flock.

Um.

Ewe?

I'm a bad person


Actually, Gloomhorn would be kind of nasty. As debased fey animals, he and his flock a) have a charm person SLA and b) kill all plants within a certain radius. So, they'd be these really creepy sheep that enslave humans to bring them food ...


I created a Gloomhorn statblock and sent it to my players. They were ... amused. Our weekend session was put off because of GM illness, but I have put the finishing touches on the feast itself. I'll post the raw event along with hits leadups here (sans statblocks) when I get a chance. I'm running it partly to jumpstart some plotlines and partly because I want to change-up from our recent pattern of two hours of kingdom-building followed by three hours of hexploration.


Looking forward to it =)


Same!


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I was sick during out last session, and two players sat out our most recent session because of obligations, so I haven’t had time to run this thing, let alone get it completely set up. But it’s on for our next session in a couple weeks. Thank you all for your input. Here (bereft of stat blocks) is what I’m looking at.

The Big Idea:

I want to do four really big things with this event.

Introduce evil fey. My players are about one-third of the way through Rivers Run Red, and they haven’t really encountered any faeries aside from Perlivash and Tyg-Tytter-Tutt. Right now, they think of faeries as benevolent little forest critters who are mischievous, but can be bribed with gifts of alcohol and food.

Given that Nyrissa is the final, epic big bad, I don’t want them thinking of faeries this way. I want my players to know that some faeries are dark, nasty, cruel, and evil. Plus, I want to introduce the idea of faeries from the first world. I don’t want to introduce Nyrissa herself yet, but I want to foreshadow one of her themes (faerie mucking with mortals) by giving my players a level-appropriate opponent in the Dancing Lady’s “court” and guests.

Create a mythic trial. My players are at mythic tier 1, and it’s high time they had foes truly push their abilities to the limit. I think it’s also important that the trial be something other than beating up a powerful monster. Hence, while the Dancing Lady and the motley freaks and geeks below are certainly fearsome foes, defeating them is not the real goal of the trial. The real goal is to rescue the hostages before the Dancing Lady has them for dinner.

Threaten not just the players, but also their kingdom This is the real biggie. My players have built a nine-hex kingdom. They have a treaty with the Sootscales. And a kingdom established at the temple of Erastil has become their vassal. There’s also been a lot of administration and some diplomatic events. But the players have yet to face something that’s truly a threat to their kingdom.

Set future plotlines into motion. Several plots are sitting on the back burner right now: Dovan, Akiros, and Kesten Garess don’t like each other very much, and Dovan is planning a political strike at Akiros. Depending on how players handle events below, Dovan might handle his strike at Akiros in any of several ways. Second, there’s Grigori. I’ve placed him on the master NPC list, but I haven’t really introduced him to the players yet. I plan to have him at the feast, and he’s going to come into the adventure with a bang afterward. Third, my players are in something of a cold peace with Sootscale. King Sootscale has scrupulously kept his word to the players, but they also know he’s extremely manipulative, ambitious, and expansionist. This feast gives them a chance to interact with Sootscale again, up close and personal. Finally, there’s the monster kingdom. I plan a modified version of Dudemeister’s Hargulka kingdom, and this episode is where I’m going to introduce Warlord Hargulka himself. During Stolen Lands, the alcoholic Stag Lord played at Achilles in his tent. This time, I want my players to get a nice, up-close look at their adversary.

Next up, let’s take a look at why we have this feast, but from an in-game perspective.

The Lengthy Backstory:

Some time in the past, the ruined tower was at the center of a community of humans. They did what humans do: Hunt, fish, farm, drink, fight, rut, have kids, and start all over again. This community also had a frequent problem with faeries. Not just cute little brownies, mind you, but evil, steal-your-teeth-and-your-soul faeries. A hero (his name lost to antiquity), armed with a mighty scimitar that was especially effective against the fey, finally drove these faeries away.

This hero, a melancholic sort, took a wife and became this community’s ruler. He and his descendants protected the community, and in return, members of the community willingly gave of the fruits of their labors to support their lord.

Feudalism, in other words.

After more than a few generations of this, the eldest son of his generation decided that he was not content to protect this community. Armed with his blade, he went on adventures, seeking out beasts to slay. While he was away on one of these adventures, one of these beasts (a legendary owlbear known as the Talonquake) got the better of him.

When his family found out about his death, they built a barrow around the place where he had fallen and carried the family’s ancestral blade back to their village. Unfortunately, this eldest son, a greedy sort, could not forgive this theft. Under cover of night, his covetous spirit returned to his body. Now a cairn wight, he stole both his younger brother and the blade and carried them back to his barrow, where he, now known as the Lonely Warrior, jealously guarded the Lonely Blade with all his unlife.

But that is a story for another day.

This community suffered a great loss, for its defenders suffered a grievous wound … and its greatest weapon against the fae had been taken. It was not long before the evil fae realized that this town was vulnerable … and they came. These faeries slaughtered all the townspeople, set fire to the village, and pulled down the walls of the tower. Finally, at long last, in the ruins of the tower, they imprisoned the last members of the family that had vexed them for so long.

And then, for the first time in centuries, a portal opened between this tower and the First World … and the Dancing Lady came forth, and she devoured the bodies and souls of those who had kept her away.

Over time the various evil faeries grew bored and left, spreading to the winds. Where was the fun in haunting a tower, if there were no longer humans to torture? But, the Dancing Lady remained. She resides mostly in the First World. But every spring and every fall, she ventures into Golarion. She ranges about the tower, and into the wilderness beyond, seeking humans and elves to sate her hunger. Humans learned to fear this place, this haunted tower. Over time, they forgot the community that one stood there. They forgot the tower. But they never forgot their fear.

Recent Events:

More recently (in the last decade or so), a grimstalker named Teorlian came upon this tower. He found it a pleasant, if dank, place to live. But the Dancing Lady frightened him. This was a being who usually did not bother with this world, but when she came, she was far more powerful than he as she sought her meal. Teorlian also realized that if he was not careful, the Dancing Lady might see him less as a distraction and more as an appetizer when she manifested.

But being a clever sort, Teorlian hit on an idea. When the Dancing Lady manifested, he would provide food for her in the form of humans and elves culled from the local woodlands. And (for his own entertainment), Teorlian (now calling himself “Regent Teorlian) would invite other faeries to witness the spectacle. Twice a year, in fall and spring, the Lady comes … and the faeries are waiting for her, a feast prepared.

But of late, the Feast has turned dull. The humans are always frightened. The Lady always dances. And the lady always eats. And the cycle repeats again in six months. With fewer faeries attending his feasts, Teorlian was bored. And then he hit on an idea: Humans were once again exploring the Stolen Lands … and they brought more humans with them!! And some of the humans called themselves Lords!! And there were active kobolds, and trolls …

Teorlian hit on a new idea. There would be a feast. There would be merriment. And there would be new entertainment: Self-styled human lords who would watch as the Dancing Lady consumed their own people.

Before I go into details, let’s talk about the goals here. What are players trying to accomplish in this scenario, and what are the consequences?

The Mythic Trial:

The Feast this year consists of six human and halfling prisoners (fewer if they killed Fergun, more if they didn’t). The players' overriding goal (even if they don't realize it) is to successfully spirit all of these hostages out of the Forgotten Keep.

If they succeed -- rescue prisoners and defeat the Dancing Lady, players will get an XP award, mythic tier 2, and a short term (six-month) +1 Loyalty bonus for each prisoner rescued.

if players partially succeed, they will receive a partial reward. Less XP, less of a Loyalty reward, etc.

If players do not rescue prisoners, they get no mythic tier, and a dream from Erastil giving them grief for not protecting their people. Also, for each prisoner the Dancing Lady eats, the kingdom will get 1d4 Unrest.

If the players rescue hostages, but don't defeat the Dancing Lady, they will get a lower XP reward, but they will get their mythic tier. Also, the Dancing Lady will be back for the Fall Feast.

Alright. We’ve got the history. We’ve got the mythic trial. Let’s talk about Teorlian’s mad part-planning skillz. Planning a party like this takes a lot. You have to secure good help. You have to get food. You need drinks. Decorations. And above all, you need entertainment. And so, to prepare …

Grow Your Own Help:

At the end of last session, my players returned to their capital city to find a wounded, agitated Jhod Kavken. He has just come to the PCs for help after he defended his wife Svetlana (formerly Svetlana Leveton) and her daughter from an attack of tooth faeries.

Glimmergaunt, a tooth fairy sorceress, is stealing teeth from kingdom children. Glimmergaunt is head of domestic servants at the Forgotten Keep, and she needs more servers to help. Thus, she's plucked teeth from citizens and planted them in a "nursery" inside a house. Guarding the nursery is Auchs. Guarding Auchs is an agitated Dovan of Nisroch. (Dovan and Auchs are the and Lenny of my campaign).

There are several dead bodies in a semicircle around Dovan and Auchs. And holding people back from Dovan and Auchs are several grim guardsmen.

What the heck's going on? Children around town have been waking up with their teeth missing. When the faeries attacked Svetlana's daughter, Jhod twigged to them pretty quickly, killed a couple, and chased them back to the house where they're hiding. The tooth faeries have several teeth incubating there, and they're not willing to leave until the teeth have hatched into faeries.

Jhod made a bit of a hue and cry in town, so now people know that the tooth faeries are holed up in the house and want to get in. Glimmergaunt has cast Charm Person on Auchs and ordered him to guard the house. In turn, Dovan is guarding Auchs. Dovan doesn't particularly care that Auchs is charmed. All he cares about is that Auchs is his only real friend now, and he doesn't want people to hurt Auchs.

People did try charging the house, but Dovan and Auchs slew several, and now guards are maintaining something of a perimeter until the players get to the house.

When players enter the house, they'll find mature tooth fairies tending a nursery. The mature fairies will attack the PCs. Midway through combat, a bunch of newborn fairies will burst from pots where teeth are planted. One of the mature fairies will use her open/close SLA to open a window and lead the faeries out.

In a second room, players will battle Glimmergaunt. She isn't meant to be a serious challenge -- just something to whet my players' appetite and foreshadow the coming fairy nastiness. When she starts losing the fight, she'll try to open a window, turn invisible, and fly away. If she can't manage that, my players may capture her and interrogate her.

She will just say she's getting help for the Spring Feast. If players ask her where feast is or other details, she will begin violently retching. Glimmergaunt is under a powerful geas not to divulge any details about the Feast.

You Have To Work for Your Supper:

At some point in exploration, the players will encounter a Will o' Wisp. This wisp will lead the players on a merry chase to Fergun the Harvester and his gang of redcaps. Fergun, a redcap sorcerer, is working with the Will o' Wisp to lure trappers and furriers to him. He and his gang slay most of them, but they have taken a number of men and women prisoner. These men and women are chained and caged, and are destined to be taken to the Spring Feast.

Assuming the players attack, Fergun and his gang will fight viciously. If the players begin to get the better of them, the redcaps will start slaying the human prisoners.

If they manage to capture and interrogate Fergun, players will learn that the feast is "soon," and "The Regent was going to have them for dinner." If he is sufficiently intimidated, Fergun will even tell the players where to find the Forgotten Keep.

If players aren't exploring Dame Yeana, a paladin of Erastil and vassal of the players, will ask the players' assistance in investigating kindappings of several of her citizens.

Additionally, players will learn from their council that several individuals have recently disappeared, including Grigori, a local bard, and the mad hermit Bokken. The Warden has tried to investigate their disappearances, but has made little progress.

The Invitation:

The Spring Feast is right about the dawn of spring. While they are lounging in their castle, Rigg will deliver to the players an invitation to attend the Spring Feast. The invitation will be signed by "Lord Regent Tearlion," request the honor of their presence, and promise safe passage to and from the Feast as well as at the Feast, as long as the players comport themselves as good guests. Rigg's not going to stick around for questions, though. Players can attempt to stop him, but between his speed an invisibility, they'll have a hard time catching him.

Shortly thereafter, a good fairy will beg the players not to go to the Feast and to stay as far away from it as possible.

We’ve got the mortal guests. We’ve got the hired help. Now, let’s talk about the premises.

Tower Modifications:

I am going to run the tower largely as written, but there will be far less rubble in the main courtyard. During the party, there will be a large table in the center of the courtyard, and the insanity mist trap will be deactivated.

Springheel Jack will appropriate one of the towers as his kitchen.

Another tower has a hidden door in the floor that opens into tunnel leading out of the keep, depositing people about a mile away. Despite a long residence here, neither Teorlian nor Rigg is aware of this tunnel. Why? Because there is a haunt here. When somebody enters, a voice starts wailing and keeps saying, "Please! Help us!! We need you!! Bring your blade and defend us!!!" This haunt is the result of the towers' last human residents, who perished when the fey took this place over. The Lonely Warrior was supposed to defend the people here with the Lonely Blade, but he was absent due to a fight with his brother. This haunt creates a Crushing Despair effect. Additionally, any fey inside the tower will take 1d6 damage each round they remain in the room with the haunt.

It can be overcome (as most haunts) with positive energy, or it can be dispelled by driving all evil fey from the tower, preferably with the Lonely Blade.

The Gate, sans portcullis trap, will be manned by Redcaps. If they are dead from a harvest gone wrong, two living topiaries will patrol the gate. If Redcaps are patrolling the doors, they will try to persuade the players to give up their weapons and armor before going in. Very nasty smiles. “You surely don’t expect trouble here, do you?” They will be extremely cautious if they see the Lonely Blade.

As a GM, my idea here is to give the players several avenues to rescue the prisoners. They can try diplomacy. They can try what my barbarian player calls "stabby stabby." And they can also try stealth.

Back to Teorlian, the host with the most. How does the good man want the party to go?

Teorlian’s Vision:

Teorlian likes watching people suffer. So, he’s invited the players to his feast. Here’s how he thinks things should go:

Drinks. Early in the evening, drinks will be served for all. There will be plenty of time for hobnobbing and for people to get to know each other. There will be pleasant background music, and a lot of socializing.

Speech and Gifts!! Teorlian, as regent, welcomes the players and his fellow faeries to the Spring Feast. He acknowledges that everyone is ready to “get to the main course.” (Evil laughter from the faeries), but says first the guests must be given gifts, for he is a gracious host. The gifts are:


  • For Hargulka, a fine magical flute. The secret: This flute can be played to awaken Talonquake, who is currently in a magically induced slumber.
  • For Grigori, a finely wrought silver chain. The secret: Anybody who wears this chain takes a -2 penalty to all mind-affecting effects originating from the fey.
  • For the players, a bag of tricks. The secret: Any animal conjured from this bag has a 50 percent chance to turn on its creator. Also, the animals will not attack any fey.
  • For King Sootscale, a decanter of endless water. The secret: A person who drinks water from the decanter has a 50 percent chance of being placed under a Deep Slumber effect.

Drinks and Dancing!! More drinks, more socializing, and everyone can dance together.

The Main Course. This is when the guest of honor, Her Highness, the Dancing Lady, arrives. She manifests atop the tower and descends, dancing as she does so. Teorlian presents his prisoners to the Lady. The players watch, knowing they can do nothing to stop the horrid spectacle ahead of them.

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow. Teorlian gives a farewell speech, sends his guests away … and tells the players they were marvelous entertainment, and he looks forward to seeing them at the Fall Feast.

Well, that’s how Teorlian wants things to go, and events (barring players doing the “stabbity stab” thing) are going to unfold roughly in that order.

Before we get any further into the party itself, let’s talk about some things players might try other than accepting Teorlian’s invitation.

Ruining the Party:

Sorry, I’m Washing My Hair. If players ignore Teorlian’s invitation, he’s going to be quite pissed with them. Aside from the fact that they were invited guests and didn’t come (how rude!), they also made Teorlian look bad in front of his fellow faeries. Until the Fall Feast, the kingdom will gain 1D4 Unrest each month (in addition to the Unrest penalties from citizens becoming Dancing Lady chow) as fairies wreak absolute havoc across the kingdom. Players can put a stop to this by confronting Teorlian in his tower and slaying him. Of course, that sill leaves the issue of the Dancing Lady …

Raise the Militia!! If the kingdom has an army, players should feel free to deploy it against the faeries. Faeries will respond with appropriate armies of redcaps and tooth fairies. Also, individual faeries will stage guerilla raids against farms and settlements. In the alternative, players may want to raise a militia to help them take on the faeries in case there’s trouble. To raise this militia, players will make a Loyalty check. For each point by which they exceed the Control DC, the players will get one shiny second-level warrior ready to do his duty for king and country.

Fashionably Early. If players decide to raid the keep before the party, Teorlian will be offended, but ready. None of the party guests will be in place, but about 10 tooth faeries, 2 redcaps, Rigg, and Springheel Jack will be at Teorlian’s disposal, and they will be most upset. Additionally, four living topiaries patrol the area around the keep, and players will need to deal with them.

If players are fashionably early, there will be a tense effort to explore the place, secure the prisoners, and conduct them out. The Dancing Lady won’t manifest, but dealing with the tower’s inhabitants is tough enough by itself that I would count it as their mythic trial. This would be especially appropriate, IMO, for the baroness, who’s a Trickster.

Now, let’s get to the party.

Meet Your Hosts and the Hired Help:

First, we have the resident faeries:

Teorlian. Self-styled Regent of the Dancing Lady's court. In RRR, Teorlian is a baseline grimstalker with an assassin vine sidekick. I'm planning to give him two levels of magus as well. At the feast, his role will be to direct the affair until it reaches its denoument.

Rigg the Quickling. As in the book. Acts as Teorlian's messenger and a general troublemaker. Will stay as in the book, but he will be zipping around the party a lot running errands. He’s actually kind of bored with everything.

The Dancing Lady. Unlike the book as written, the Dancing Lady does not actually live in the castle. Rather, she lives in the First World, and manifests once or twice each season in the top room. In the last decade, Teorlian has turned these into feeding times for the Lady, where he will provide her with human or elven victims, and the other wicked fey of the area will come watch. The Dancing Lady will be a Mythic Arcane Baobhan Sith, well-stocked with enchantment spells.

Fergun and two Redcaps. If players slew Fergun earlier, he and his redcaps will not be here. If they are here, then they will provide security at the door/portcullis. Anybody who tries to get into the party will have to show an invitation. Anybody who wants to leave had better be very tough or show that he has Teorlian's express permission.

Glimmergaunt and Tooth Fairies. Assuming Glimmergaunt lives, she will be here supervising about eight tooth fairies. If she’s dead … there are no tooth fairy servants.

Mygill the Meek and a troop of brownie servants. They are ground-based, drinks about. Each brownie is wearing cruel shackles. If players free the brownies, they will help the players any way they can.

The Main Course. A couple trappers, a hunter named Kundal, and Bokken. If the players succeeded in stopping Fergun (above), there are only four prisoners. If players did not stop Fergun, there are eight prisoners.

OK, on to the guest list.

The Gang’s All Here:

Springheel Jack. A mischievous, evil fairy, he has set up shop in one of the towers with prisoners to prepare for "dinner." Since the Dancing Lady takes her food raw, this largely consists of teasing the prisoners to evoke their fear before the final feast. Given his ability to instill fear in mortals, he’s something of a celebrity chef. He also makes a mean frittata.

Goarge, a fey vulture, is in attendance. He generally watches things from a convenient perch, and occasionally makes sardonic comments. If combat occurs, Goarge will not intervene, but he will help himself to carrion when bodies are carried away.

Buffala the Skinner. A gaunt being "wearing" the skin of an attractive human woman. Sometime during the feast, he will be required to remove this skin. If any fighting occurs, he will attack the female (on any side!) with the highest Charisma, eager to take the skin for himself.

Outcast Jekra. A forlarren who spends most of the evening trying to provoke other people to attack him. A very nasty sort. He's neither a fiend nor a fey, and the evil fey at the feast can't stand him. But he always shows up at their functions. Several times through the night, a redcap, Rigg, or somebody will toss him out, but he will show up again. Outcast Jekra knows about the secret door. It is possible to befriend Jekra with a sufficient bribe. Gold will work, but what Outcast Jekra really craves is friends and acceptance. If players are able to act friendly enough with him, he may side with them if hostilities break out. If players don't get to know him, he will attack whoever offended him last.

Maestro Reginald. A debased satyr with pipes. With him are six humans (expert 4) who wished to give the greatest performance of their lives. Maestro Reginald has obliged them by bringing them to the Feast. During music breaks, he makes the rounds of guests, offering them music. When he "sells" music to a guest, one of the humans falls into a nearly catatonic state. The human's music (voice, lute, whatever) is locked in a small box adorned with rubies. Each box has a little key sold with it, and Reginald keeps the key on a necklace around his neck. If players smash a ruby set in the key, then all of the voices will be returned to the catatonic humans. If a fight breaks out, Reginald will amuse himself by inflicting effects on players with his pipes.

Sagroc the Ugly. This boogeyman far, far outclasses Teorlian and any other fey present. Attired in a large suit that fits tightly, Sagroc is unfailingly polite, but others avoid him. At one point, a Tooth Fairy will offend him, and he will knock the Tooth Fairy dead with his Phantasmal Killer spell-like ability. Sagroc will retire early in the evening, saying he has other places to be.

Gianna. Gianna is a beautiful Leaninsidhe. She loves arts and music. She stays long enough to negotiate business with Maestro Reginald, but she takes her leave early. She has no desire to watch the Dancing Lady’s horror show. If pressed, she will call the Main Course “quite uncivilized” and suggest the players be elsewhere for the Main Course. She and Sagroc pointedly avoid each other.

Evor the Mighty and his Wood Platoon. A tiny twigjack and his fellow warriors. They loudly try to provoke a fight from anybody at the party, but they’re also cowards at heart. If anybody actually calls them on their bluff, there is a chance they will back down or run away. They are smaller and less powerful than nearly all the other guests, so they try to make up for it with bravado.

Grigori. Human bard. Nobody’s quite sure why he’s at the party, but he is all smiles. As one of the only mortals there, he interacts with the players pleasantly enough, but they will notice something is a little off about them. In reality, Grigori knows exactly what is happening. He will notice everything PCs do this evening and weave it into the tales he will tell when he appears in their capital city in the months hence.

King Sootscale. Sootscale is not really happy to be here. He detests almost all fey after his tribe’s war with mites, but Sootscale also doesn’t want offended fairies harassing his people if he turns down their invitation. If players start any trouble, Sootscale is likely to ally with them, but he might press for some concessions in exchange for his trouble. Accompanying him (and kept on a chain leading to a collar around her neck) is Abblad, a mite alchemist.

Warlord Hargulka. Hargulka, a troll warlord and mythic creature, is quite powerful in his own right. He came to the Spring Feast because a certain woman in his dreams (her name begins with the letter N) suggested he appear here. Like other powerful beings in attendance, Hargulka has no desire to remain any longer than he has to. Shortly after he receives the gift of the flute, he will leave, despite a hot-tempered argument from the redcaps in coat check.

The Old Beldame. The Old Beldame, a witch, tries to maintain decent relations with faeries, even the evil ones. She knows exactly what the Main Course entails, and she will share with PCs if they can convince her to do so. If trouble breaks out (a battle), she will help the players if they take time to befriend her during the party. Otherwise, if there is trouble, she uses Beast Shape to turn into a bird and fly away.

Now, let’s talk about the party itself. As in all things, a rather esoteric set of rules govern the party. Let’s consider them.

Rules of the Road:

Guests are Guests. Because they are in the tower at his invitation, Teorlian will treat the players as guests. That means that neither Teorlian nor his servants will attack the players directly if they offer no violence. Teorlian may attempt to provoke a fight. He may insult his guests. But they will not harm the players unless the players attempt to harm them or any of the other guests.
This also means that if players can provoke somebody else into attacking them, Teorlian and his retinue might help defend the players. We’ll get to this in a minute.
Caveat. The players are there as guests of Teorlian, and he has promised neither he nor his servants will harm them unprovoked. But the Dancing Lady never made this promise. And did we mention that stealing the food is a definite provocation?
Private matters can be settled by contest. If two guests get into a dispute, there may be a contest. This may either be settled as a contest (treat as a skill challenge) or by a duel (treat as performance combat). Teorlian likes to watch violence, so he is highly disposed to a duel. If a duel occurs, Teorlian will watch, and others will give space for the matter to be settled.
Note, though, that inflicting physical harm outside of a duel or contest is grounds for Teolian to intervene.

Faeries love bargains. And these faeries, despite being chaotic, will adhere to the letter of their bargains.

Faeries love wagers. If the players offer a wager, Teorlian makes a Will save against a player’s Diplomacy or Bluff roll. Depending on the stakes, Teorlian will take anywhere from a -2 to -10 penalty on his Will save.

And now to the fun part …

So, What Happens, Already?:

Barring interventions, things happen in approximately the order Teorlian envisions. A few key events:
Cast Out. People generally abuse Outcast Jekra. Because he’s not really a guest at the party, he has none of the guest protections. He will be thrown out of the party on several occasions, only to show up again later. He uses the secret tunnel to sneak back in when he is kicked out.
Don’t offend the Bogeyman. At some point in the evening, Sagroc the Ugly gets extremely upset with one of the twigjacks. He looks at the twigjack, and (Phantasmal Killer) it drops dead. The party will stop for a moment at this point. Teorlian will gulp, then declare it was a “private matter” and a “short duel” and none of his business.
The Powerful Depart. Shortly after the gift-giving, the Sagroc, Gianna, and Hargulka decide they have better things to do than stay. They will leave through the front at various times.
Goarge Yourself. Goarge will find Buffala’s skin and eat it after he sheds it … and Buffala will loudly challenge him to a duel. There will be a fight between the two of them that more or less ends when Buffala forces Goarge back on his rump. Goarge will be humiliated.

Now, let’s consider the most important event of the evening.
Let the Fight Scene Commence:

Assuming players don’t spirit the prisoners out of the feast, at about midnight, the Main Course will arrive. Springheel Jack brings the five prisoners out to the table. Maestro Reginald will strike up a haunting tune … the table will vibrate .. and the Dancing Lady will descend from the top of the tower.
This is the final, final decision point. The Dancing Lady dance downward, heading toward her crying meal. The faeries will watch in anticipation, and this is where the players will have their last opportunity to strike.
If players attack the Dancing Lady, all hell will break loose. Any allies they have made in the evening (whether siding with certain fae during duels, or from buttering up Beldame or others) will come to their aid. Other fae will side with Teorlian. Any player allies are welcome to intervene. It will be a grand, messy melee. The only faeries who stay out of it will be Goarge, who just looks for scraps, and Maestro Reginald, who keeps playing jaunty tunes on his pipes. If Maestro Reginald gets bored, he’ll try to use his spell-like abilities to stir up more trouble.
Also … remember one of the prisoners? Kundal? He’s an afflicted werewolf. And a situation like this is very, very stressful for an afflicted werewolf …
If faeries other than Teorlian or Rigg are reduced to 25 percent of their hit points, they will flee the tower. Teorlian and Rigg, meanwhile, will fight to the death, as will the Dancing Lady. Teorlian will also call out to his living topiaries, and they will arrive in five rounds.

But … it really shouldn’t get to this if players are on their toes. There are some alternate paths.
What if there is no fight?:

Fey relations. If players are smart, they can observe tensions among the faeries guests, and arrange for these faerie guests to attack each other in duels and such.
It’s time to Duel!!! Players are also free to try to provoke the fey into challenging THEM!! To do this, players must use Bluff or Intimidate against a DC equal to 10 plus the faeries Sense Motive bonus. However, these duels are typically one-on-one affairs, so this is a perilous course for players to take.
Sneaking Out. The secret passage is available as a way out, and it’s a pretty good one. To accomplish this task, players will need to a) distract or eliminate Springheel Jack; b) calm the prisoners; and c) distract the fairies, including the sharp-eyed Teorlian and Rigg, while sneaking the prisoners out. They will also have to deal with the haunt somehow.
Complication. Kundal is a stressed-out werewolf.
A grand bargain. Players are also free to try to bargain for the lives of the prisoners. They can challenge Teorlian to a duel for this. If they go this route, Teorlian will say it is only fair if he AND his allies (Rigg, Springheel Jack, and Glimmergaunt and Fergun, if alive) face all of the PCs. If this battle happens, it will (again) be treated as performance combat. Also, trying to do this is dangerous. Teorlian gainst a +4 on any Will Save to resist a wager where the stakes are the prisoners .. unles the PCs offer themselves up as the Final Course in addition to the prisoners if they lose. This is called “double or nothing.”
Caveat. Even though he calls himself “Regent,” the Dancing Lady really doesn’t give a damn about the bargains that Teorlian strikes. She just wants her dinner. It could be the prisoners. It could be the PCs. In a pinch … it could be Teorlian.

That’s what I’ve settled on, and I’m going to have to stat out this monster soon. I’ll update this thread once I run the event. This is my second shot at a custom event in the Kingmaker campaign. My last one was the Siege at Oleg’s. We’ll see how this one goes.


A couple side notes:

1) I do plan to add some noncombatant fairies hanging around -- dryads, nixies, whatnot. I've also statted up a fey giant hamster, just to up the weirdness factor.

2) Sagroc and Gianna are both going to show up later in the AP, but I'm not sure how they will show up. I just want these two on my my players' minds for now. Sagroc is creepy as hell, and Gianna is incredibly condescending.


Pennywit, this is some fantastic work! I want to run this scene myself now!


Glad you like it, although Talking Skull came up with most of the guests.

As a further addendum, I need to add one or two flying critters to the mix of fairies. The wizard just hit 5th level, and he might break out the flying magic ... And (IMO) an air escape needs to be just as perilous as a land escape.


Some other things I'm planning to do, in no particular order:

Time in a Die. Using the outline of Teorlian's vision of the party above, I'm going to put the feast on a timer of sorts. Assuming my players attend the feast, I'll put down a 12-sided die with the 9 facing up to begin the evening. This d12 will represent the time. Each hour, from 9 through 12, will have an event associated with it -- drinks, gifts and speech, dancing, then the main course. Until the final event (the Main Course), my players will have opportunities to mix with the fairies, explore the keep, and try to set up their plots. Before I cycle the die over to the next hour, I'll give the party one final chance to do something. I'm sure my players will note that the die only has 12 sides ....

The Dancing Lady. I'm going to restat her as a "Heroic NPC," add the Advanced template, and then add the Arcane simple mythic template. The Arcane template gives her access to a few spells as well as the ability to cast three of them as mythic spells during combat. I want the Dancing Lady to be a tough, resourceful opponent with spells that genuinely challenge my PCs with something other than massive damage. I haven't finalized the spell mix yet, but I plan to include:

* Mirror Image. Defensive power
* Gust of Wind. The druid player has pulled the party's bacon out of the fire several times with a well-place Obscuring Mist or Fog Cloud spell. It will probably occur to him to use it here ... and I think giving the Lady a counter will up on the tension.
* Pilfering Hand.
* Shield. (Pre-cast before she comes in)
* Dispel Magic.
* Blistering Invective


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We didn't get to the Feast today, as my players had a hunkering to go exploring. The did, however, have the two buildup encounters.

Tooth Fairies:

To my surprise, my players kept things from getting too violent. After Jhod brought them to their second town to attend to tooth faeries, a charmed Auchs guarding a door, and a hostile Dovan guarding Auchs, my players managed to talk Auchs down and Diplomacize their way into the house where the Tooth Fairies were hiding.

As I expected, the tooth fairies didn't challenge my players much. The wizard remained out in front of the house to distract Auchs with tales of a magical land. I ruled (on the fly) that distracting Auchs with a Bluff check was a full-round action, and the wizard took to it with gusto, complete with Auchs saying, "Tell me about the rabbits ... "

My players slew Glimmergaunt before they could get any info from her, and the fairies fled the house (opening windows and turning invisible) as soon as they started losing ... complete with invisible fairies poofing out from the earth in a couple grow troughs.

It ended with my players quite concerned about a potential tooth fairy infestation.

Quotes:

"Auchs, let me tell you about a magical land ... "

Regarding my choice of background music:

"Shouldn't sugar plum fairies be the enemies of tooth fairies?

Madcap Redcaps:

This was a doozy. Fergun (Redcap Fighter 2) was out with his boys (three normal redcaps) and a will o' wisp to gather the Main Course for the Spring Feast. This turned out to be a really, really tough fight for my players, a group of level 4-5/Mythic Tier 1 fellows. The GM dice were hot in this fight, and they survived mainly through Plot Twist cards and some quick thinking from the druid.

How hot were the GM dice? One of the redcaps managed to crit twice, first against the barbarian, then against the party's druid. It turns out it's really, really nasty to crit with a sickle (X4).

Creative bits: The rogue played a "Mistaken Identity" Plot Twist card, and Fergun mistook her for his inbred daughter. (I played these guys as inbred rednecks. Decision on the fly.) After Fergun told "LuluBelle" to get behind him, the rogue managed to distract one of the other redcaps by complimenting him, hugging him, and persuading him to go pick flowers for her. (I know, I know, probably over the top, but everyone at the table was cracking up. I allowed it under Rule of Funny.) He made his new-found half-sister/first cousin promise to be his date at the Spring Feast.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group had a hell of a battle. The Will o' Wisp kept going invisible and visible and showed up to shock people at the worst moments. Fergun (armed with an Earth Braker) was an absolute terror.

The barbarian was knocked way into death, but the druid, thanks to mythic abilities and a mythic healing spell, was able to bring him back from the brink with quick action. Meanwhile, the druid himself survived (thanks to a plot twist) when a critting Redcap's sickle broke.

The rogue and wizard distinguished themselves as well, the rogue by backstabbing her "Pa" with the Lonely Blade, and the wizard with copious fireball deployment.

The whole thing ended when the wizard deployed Detect Invisibility to find the Will o' Wisp and blast it with a volley of magic missiles. As a coda, the rogue managed to talk the final redcap (again, with the help of a Plot Twist card) to expect her as his date to the Spring Feast.

If I did this again, I might take away one of the Redcaps. Three plus Fergun and a Will o' Wisp was pretty damn challenging.

At the end of the session, the group attended to kingdom business, which concluded with the receipt of an invitation.

An Expected Invitation:

You are cordially invited to the
Spring Feast
On the 20th day of Pharast
At the Ruined Keep, Domain of the Dancing Lady
A celebration of the return of the glorious season. There shall be merriment, song, dance, and,
THE MAIN COURSE.
If you and yours come bearing this invitation, be assured, you shall be treated as guests and guaranteed safe conduct to and from the affair.
We look forward to Your August Presence
Cordially,
Teorlian
Regent of the Dancing Lady

I passed it around, and the group chuckled. With our parting time near, I said, "You don't have to attend the Feast, you know. We can go ahead with another kingdom-building turn."


pennywit wrote:
Glad you like it, although Talking Skull came up with most of the guests.

Still a pretty piddly amount compared to the work you've done here, pennywit. I like what you've done so far, and I'm looking forward to the Feast!

Pity the redcaps won't be coming back. Banjos set a mean vibe.


Who said they won't be coming back? At the end of the encounter, there was one redcap left. After "Lulubelle" kept sending him off to pick flowers, he came back to the carnage the party had left. He was in horror, then another player played a "switched sides" Plot Twist Card ... which gave me an idea. "Will you be my date to the Spring Feast?"

Now ... how much you wanna bet the real Lulubelle is out there? And wouldn't it be fun if she shows up for the Feast?


Which leads me to field an important question:

Do female redcaps have beards? My money's on "yes," personally.


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Hmm ... good question.

I'm modifying my party staff and guest list a little bit leading up to the Feast.

Party Staff and Hosts:

Lulubelle and her boyfriend/brother Trygis. Lulubelle, a Redcap been missing for years, and she turns up at the Spring Feast to meet Trygis, her longtime lover/brother. Unfortunately, Trygis thinks the Baroness (a player) is Lulubelle.

Tooth Fairies. Glimmergaunt died, but a number of tooth fairies escaped. Six of them will be serving drinks at the Feast.

Living topiaries. There will be six Living Topiaries in all. Two of them will roam the area around the Forgotten Keep. Two of them will b e inside the keep, posing as decorations. Two will be inside the Gatehouse as security.

The Main Course. There will be only four prisoners. If things get too high stress or if narrative causality demands it, Kundal may get really hairy, if you know what I mean.

Guests:

I read up on the Mockingjays, and I really like them. As the party tries to negotiate the social setting, they'd be great pests, landing on people's shoulders, and generally making a nuisance of themselves.

Goarge is going to expand to a group of three or four vulture hangers-on. They'll occasionally swoop down from battlements to grab people's appetizers (A disarm maneuver)


I'm also trying to chart what happens if my players don't even go to the party. (They're thinking about it before next session).

I'm thinking that Teorlian will send Rigg to dump the Main Course's bodies on the players' front lawn ... and then he'll raise the fey banner and join Hargulka in his coming war on the players. Why? Because the players insulted him by not entertaining his guests AND because he'll think that they're weak.


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This went pretty interestingly. My group headed for the feast, with Kesten, Akiros, two soldiers, and a camp follower in tow. Sootscale came independently.

Things went according to Teorlian's plans until just after the gift-giving phase. Some of the highlights:

Additionally, the barbarian tried to intimidate Hargulka for no particular reason. Turns out Warlord Hargulka, who has some mythic levels IMC, is much more intimidating than the party barbarian.

The druid took an unhealthy interest in the shrubbery, and discovered (somewhat to his surprise) that the topiary animals reacted to him!!

The wizard, in turn, had a very uncomfortable conversation with Buffala the Skinner regarding his skin. ("It is an elf. It has skin. I want its skin.")

The group also took an interest in Sagroc the Ugly. when they found that just standing near him made them shaken, they more or less kept their distance from him.

Additionally, the barbarian tried to intimidate Hargulka for no particular reason. Turns out Warlord Hargulka, who picked up some mythicality IMC, is much more intimidating than the wizard.

The barbarian, who does not like slavery at all, was mortally offended when the Lady Giana bought four human musicians from Maestro Reginald. He challenged Lady Giana to a fight "until one of us yields." One initiative roll and one failed Will save later, the barbarian was under the influence of a quickened Charm Person. Lady Giana very quickly demonstrated that she was far more powerful than either the barbarian or almost anything else there by forcing him to dance a jig (badly), apologize to her, kiss her foot, and then finally yield the challenge to her.

Meanwhile, the rogue (baroness) cadged an invisibility potion from the alchemist and went to investigate the kitchen. There, she found the imprisoned folk, and she tried to get them to sneak out the front gate using the Giana/barbarian contretemps as a distraction.

And this is kind of when things went to hell.

Thanks to a plot twist card, Sagroc attempted to steal Lady Giana's slaves, which led to a short, intense battle between the two of them. Sagroc withdrew into the shadows (and teleported away), and then Lady Giana Dimension Doored away with her slaves after insulting Teorlian.

At this point ... Teorlian et. al. noticed the main course was leaving.

The baroness attempted last-ditch diplomacy to try to trade with Teorlian for the hostages' lives (by this point, the group had figured out what the MAIN COURSE was). Diplomacy did not succeed on Teorlian, so the baroness (who has become quite the politician) attempted to rally the assembled fae and embarrass Teorlian.

This infuriated Teorlian. He ranted abotu how the humans were just chattel, and faeries had once ruled the place. (he went kind of nuts). He then screamed "The Main Course is served!!!" and went after the baroness with his claws.

Battle was joined.

It turned into a hell of a scrum. Kesten, Akiros, and the guards mostly used Aid Another actions to help the PCs. Maestro Reginald stayed out at first, just playing his pipes. The Old Beldame snatched canapes and watched the fight. Tooth fairies fled, and the twigjacks (unencountered at this point) and brownies go into an offscreen fight in one of the towers.

The baroness, Teorlian, Sootscale, and the soldiers had a fight with Teorlian. Meanwhile, the barbarian had an issue with the living topiaries, and the druid used fire-related spells on various faeries.

Teorlian went down early, and the redcaps created some problems (but not as many as they had in a forest encounter) while the group tried to herd their people out along with their soldiers.

Rigg zoomed in and out hitting people with his sword, and the redcaps did some pretty good damage with their scythes.

The Dancing Lady herself turned out to be tough. She took the barbarian and alchemist out of combat early with her captivating dance, and used Pilfering Hand to take away the wizard's arcane focus object (his sword). This left the wizard tossing pellets from his necklace of fireballs in an attempt to damage the Dancing Lady, as the rest of the group attacked other fairies in general.

Late in the game, Maestro Reginald intervened with a suggestion from his pipes, but he didn't really threaten the group behind headbutting the wizard a couple times.

Things turned when one player came up with a Plot Twist card that was too good to turn down -- Maestro Reginald used his pipe music to counter the captivating dance, and the group began to hit the Dancing Lady again.

The Dancing Lady, with only a few hit points left, realized the fight was going against her. She cast fly and rose above the group. They took a couple final shots at her, but she survived ... and then she took off like a rocket with her fly spell.

It was a hell of a battle, long and complicated. My group did somewhat better, than the did in the forest battle with Fergun and his Redcaps -- the GM did not roll any natural 20s this time.

All in all, I would call this a success. The kingdom now has a couple new recurring enemies (the Dancing Lady and Rigg), my players completed a mythic trial ... and we had a pretty intense set piece battle and some really good RP work from my players.

We also got to what I thought were the really important bits story-wise:

1) Introduce NPCs who may well becomes foes or rivals down the road: Lady Giana, Sagroc the Ugly, Warlord Hargulka, Rigg, and the Dancing Lady all survived the scenario (some because they left before the battle). Even Maestro Reginald might make an appearance again.

2) Introduce fairies as a frightening, malevolent force. My players now know that the faeries consider the Stolen Lands theirs by right, and the faeries are not happy that humans are infesting the place.


Another interesting bit:

After the battle was finished, and everyone was safe, I congratulated my players on completing their mythic trial. (I had not told them ahead of time this was their trial). One player said, "I thought we had to kill the Dancing Lady." I said, "No. Your trial was to defend your land and your people. You saved your subjects. Not every trial is about killing." I felt very zen.


Thanks for the recap, pennywit. Sounds like a great session. It's always rewarding when your preparation pays off.


Interesting side tidbit. While they held a council meeting to discuss the invitation, my players noticed Auchs playing with his toy soldiers off in a corner. Human soldiers vs. fey soldiers, and the fey soldiers seemed to win the toy battle. GM's goal? Creepy foreshadowing. Players' reaction? "Auchs is possessed!!"

This led to a visit to the temple and the paladins who tend it, and the GM (who figured "Auchs possessed? Why not) hastily kludging together an exorcism ceremony that involved my players battling with a savage nymph. (Intended as a "piece" of Nyrissa possessing Auchs).

The lesson: Be careful with foreshadowing.


Congratulations on your success here, pennywit! I tip my hat to you, and your crazy awesome adventures.


After trawling through the messageboard archives, I came across this gem of a post. Pennywit, you captured the cruel whimsy of evil fey perfectly! I will definitely use an adapted version of this for my campaign.


Glad you liked it ... and it's weird to think we put this together three whole years ago. Today, my players are in the middle of a combined version of the last two modules. It's gotten crazier.


pennywit wrote:
Glad you liked it ... and it's weird to think we put this together three whole years ago. Today, my players are in the middle of a combined version of the last two modules. It's gotten crazier.

I'm currently powering through the Dresden novels on my Audible and I decided to type in "dresden" in the Paizo search bar. Your post was like the third or fourth one down the list.

Gotta' love me some Jim Butcher fey!

Also, on the topic of crazy -- my players are currently deep within the Underdark looking for the missing Golka dwarves on behalf of House Garess. It's a long story.


i enjoyed the reread of this. Sounds like you are in the home stretch if you have a combined book 5-6 penny! keep on plugging away! Mine is close to end of book 2 atm.(silly side quests)

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