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I began running Rise of the Runelords with 3 players late this past Fall. It actually has run really well for my first AP, with a few mistakes, and a few tweaks that I chose to do based on some of the other posts I saw on the forums.
-We have a female Dwarven Cleric (Rosie). Rosie does not follow a specific deity, but rather the pursuit of knowledge, and the use of this knowledge for the benefit of the world. The player wanted to play an Indiana Jones-esque adventurer, while at the same time filling a very definite need for healing.
-Next, we have a female Half-Orc Ranger (Yullah). Yullah was held as a slave by a tribe of giants throughout her adolescent before finally escaping and finding her way back towards civilization. She definitely has a bone to pick with giants, and also provides some really fun role playing with her 7 Charisma.
-Then we have Pavo/Zeldu. Pavo is a male Human Rogue from Korvosa. He rebelled from his lawfully-inclined family and met up with some rather dangerous thieves. He pulled a job for a particularly nasty Chelaxian mobster, Drago, and fled to Sandpoint before his money ran out. He's operating under the pseudonym Zeldu, which is how he was introduced to the party.
-The party has a knack for destroying goblins. Not that goblins are particularly difficult to destroy, but it seems the dice also have a vendetta against the little buggers. During the Swallowtail festival, I wasn't happy with the transition from the attack near the Temple to getting the group to the North Gate, so I added in a Chase. Specifically, a goblin stole up a baby and ran with it. The players loved it! One thing I did with the chase scene, too, was that I made some of the encounters sticky - meaning that everyone who went through would have to deal with the encounter (a rearing horse, an overturned pastry cart). Others had to be dealt with once (a stuck door, etc.) and any PCs who followed, didn't have to make a check. At the end, they caught up with the now winded goblin who was run through by Zeldu. A funny moment was created when I mentioned that the baby the goblin was still clutching was then going to fall. The CN rogue let the baby fall into the mud.
-Our two female characters are not particularly charismatic, and both described them as unattractive, which made the focus of Alern's obsession sort of up for grabs. The rogue initially was going to sit out the fight, until he was offered a reward. It got me thinking that he would make for a good focus of Aldern's obsession, but then he stunk in the fight, rolling two ones, and forgetting to take his 5 foot step to get a flank. The honor went to the dwarven cleric who critted and killed the goblin dog, and also healed the slightly injured Foglove after he got stuck by one of the goblins.
-I decided to have them venture to the Hambley farm to aid them against an attack by goblins and Bruthazmus (as suggested on the forums), and introduce Shalelu and her badassery there. I had Bruthazmus having broken her leg, and about to smash her skull when the PCs came in to the rescue. It caused Bruthazmus and the Half-Orc to share opposed Intimidation checks before the bugbear melted back into the forest, and also allowed them to save Shalelu's life. This was neat, and I would make the change again in a heartbeat.
-Thinking that with three players, they might need some help with the back half of the adventure, I drew up Sheriff Hemlock (fighter), Ameiko (swashbuckler), Shalelu (ranger/fighter), and initially "Pillbug" Podiker (alchemist), but the party took such a shining to Bethana, the halfling who works with Ameiko, and I really wanted to use the Investigator class from the Advanced Class playtest, that I drew her up as one of those. They asked what her backstory was, and so I told them about being a former house slave in Chelliax, and she and Yullah really connected with throwing off their bonds that it was just too good to pass up. Plus she cooked them bacon for breakfast, and that would endear anyone to anyone. It also really motivated the whole of the group, when she came to them asking for help in recovering Ameiko.
-One hiccup came after they went to the Glassworks. After capturing Tsuto, they really wanted to spend some time interrogating him, which I decided he would pretend to play along with in order to get them to waste time. After wasting a few days with him, they went to Shalelu for help, showing her his diary. Shalelu zeroed in on the name Ripnugget, and directed them to Thistletop. Too late, I thought that I should've used the sheriff to redirect them to the Smuggler's Tunnels, and the Catacombs of Wrath, but they were set on Thistletop.
-Because there were only three of them, and because I added a few RP encounters, despite skipping over the Catacombs they were on target level-wise for Thistletop. The group successfully navigated the hedge camp, even stomping on Grogmurt and his firepelt. They stealthed their way across the bridge to catch the fort unaware. I gave Ripnugget and company Perception checks to hear the battle outside their door, but with walls in the way, being asleep, as well as abysmal rolling: they never woke up.
-Strangely though, sneaking up on the sleeping pickle thieves, the rogue botched his stealth check when performing a coup de grace on one, leaving the other to raise the alarm. It was interesting, because it was not as though the full alarm was raised, it was just that one goblin on watch called out, before being silenced. So I decided that the camp would slowly come awake. First some guards would investigate, then finding bloody bodies, they would alert Ripnugget, who would send a few to find them out, before troubling Bruthazmus and way before alerting Nualia. It created a potential inconvenience, but not the same way if the alarm was raised before they got to the island.
- The group made it down the back stairs and discovered Lyrie after she had just closed up the secret door. This fight was really disappointing because there was no space to move. I've read now that more and more people moved Lyrie out of the research space downstairs where she can be more effective. I also would have liked her to have at least one assistant, or guard - someone to put some space between her and the PCs. It was hilarious however, when I showed them the picture of Lyrie, and our Half-Orc Ranger (who is described as being green-skinned, heavily muscled, scarred, and tusked) decided she wanted to have the pretty dress. The party also, failed miserably to find the secret door taking them to the lower levels.
-The PCs then encountered the goblins sent to look for them (destroying them) but also waking up Bruthazmus and Orik. Orik and Bruthazmus together joined the fight, which was too much for the PCs - and they were all knocked into negatives. In hindsight, I should have directed them to take one of the NPCs with them, but they felt with Shalelu hurt, Ameiko having just witnessed her brother kill her father, Bethana tending to Ameiko, and Sheriff Hemlock gone to Magnimar for backup - they didn't have anyone to call. I could have played Ameiko as a bit more in it for revenge, or to push aside what she had seen. I also could have had Bethana say that all Ameiko needed was space, freeing up one of them, but again: hindsight.
-I decided that instead of drawing up new PCs, I would have Nualia strip them of their arms, and attempt to press them into service. They'd killed her expert on Thassilonian, and she found some of the script in the possession of the Cleric, so she charged them with freeing the Barghest. She made an abysmal Sense Motive check, and the Rogue made a rather good one to convince her that they agreed. I also had Ameiko have followed them to Thistletop, and being captured outside giving them one more party member, albeit who was beat up pretty badly (bad week for Ameiko!). Bruthazmus and Orik led them downstairs, where the PCs promptly turned on them, disarmed them and knocked them unconscious. It was pretty awesome, actually.
-I was nervous that Malfeshnekor was going to rip them apart quite literally, but they elected to deal with Nualia first. Unfortunately for them, I had Nualia take Ripnugget, and some remaining goblins to begin the second attack on Sandpoint, so their confrontation with her is going to be a bit bigger than they hoped.
-We're gearing up for the battle now, and I'm hoping a few things:
1) I'm somewhat hoping that they remember the Smuggler's Tunnels and decide to put up a fight down there. That would be smart, but it would also prevent Nualia from enacting some of her plan: which I think could be pretty epic.
2) I'm splitting Nualia's forces: Ripnugget and his goblins attacking from the North, Nualia and some of her folks using the Smugglers Tunnels, freeing Tsuto and then attacking Town Hall. I debated, because it felt like she might attack the temple (echoes of the past, so to speak) but the PCs have already fought there, and I thought Town Hall might be an interesting venue and help them see the city as a whole. I also think that this will give them a bit of a preview for defending the town when the giants attack in later books.
3) I'm debating having Nualia and Erylium bring up some of the water from the Runewell and force feeding people the water to make them go frothing mad, but the logistics of that seemed a bit odd to me. It also felt out of sorts for Nualia. She's not really sowing rage, she's sacrificing Sandpoint to become a half-fiend.
4) I'm also going to have them kidnap Brodert Quink to help with releasing Malfeshnekor. That way, in Nualia's mind (as she doesn't know that the PCs have doubled back): if the PCs manage to free him, she'll just sacrifice Quink in addition to the others. If they don't manage to release the barghest, she'll have this expert as an ace in the hole. It also will help me set up Quink as a red herring for the Skinsaw Man.
4) Lastly, if the PCs don't run to deal with Ripnugget, I'm going to let him burn down the White Deer. Mainly, I think when we run the Skinsaw Murders, Garridan Viskalai will also be calling for his brother to arrest the PCs, saying that they let his inn be destroyed to help their new friend: Ameiko (who also has inherited a massive estate, the Glassworks, a position in the Sandpoint Mercantile League, and now burned down her competition).
We have a few weeks before we run the next battle. Any feedback would be welcome.
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Ran Nualia's siege of Sandpoint last night. All told 50 goblins bit the dust, as well as 20 Sandpoint and Magnimar guardsman. The heroes almost bit it against Ripnugget, and one building burned down. Nualia unleashed four Sinspawn in town hall where the heads of the four families were holing up under Sheriff Belor's orders.
I had Shalelu (with her broken leg) perched on a rooftop, picking off goblins at will. That's Hem remembered the smuggler's tunnels at the last minute and dispatched four guardsman to raise an alarm if anyone camenout of the Glassworks. Round 2 of their fight with Ripnugget, they heard the alarm being raised. Round 3 the alarm cut off. It was around round 10 by the time they started their run to confront Nualia. That's when they heard the shouts from Town Hall across the street.
After dispatching the Sinspawn with the help of Ameiko (newly the head of house Kaijitsu), Nualia had managed to free Tsuto, and kidnap Brodert Quink from the Curious Goblin, and drag the scholar to the Smugglers Tunnels. Next week, they'll follow them into the Catacombs of Wrath, newly recharged with the souls of those who died in the siege.
I had a nice foreshadowing moment when the Sinspawn started sniffing the air when our ranger stepped into the room. Her backstory is full of wrath (tortured at the hands of giants, and fought her way out of slavery; swearing vengeance upon them, also she executed a few goblins begging for mercy.) They started piecing together that the sinspawn geared towards angry types.
Thanks for the advice, and keep it coming!
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Closed out Burnt Offerings last night. The group dawdled just a bit before heading after Nualia into the Catacombs. They all would have liked to rest, but plunged ahead rather than letting her get further away. I moved some things around to reflect the increased level, and the fact that it was later in the storyline - Korovus stood at the guard chamber with two Sinspawn. Korovus challenged them a bit, while the sinspawn were nothing. The group was sufficiently weirded out by the creature to not want to touch anything, lest they get mutated themselves.
Nualia was in the Cathedral of Wrath with a pair of Sinspawn, and the newly released Tsuto. I figured given his experience, that he would take a 3rd level of Rogue. They'd been attempting to extract information from Brodert, Nualia unnerving him with a calm, while Tsuto worked him over. The party made a beeline for them and skipped over some of the other encounters (No Erylium, unfortunately). I should have placed her directly outside the door, but unfortunately made the decision to keep the encounters in the same rooms they were scripted to be in originally, so she was up in the zombie room, flanked by Nualia's Yeth Hound. I had this brilliant plan that with both of them flying, it would be more likely that the PCs would fall into the pits with a zombie. But the party never even saw them. I could've held onto the encounters for later, but thought 1)They already had enough xp, and 2)With Nualia gone, I figured that the quasit might fly off or below (if possible) to regroup.
The ranger had gotten poisoned in their trip to Thistletop, resulting in being sickened. I casually made mention that she vomited all over herself. The character has constantly reminded the group that she is still covered in her own vomit, now hardened for half a day, and caked in blood and dust from the travel. She very nearly washed herself in the Waters of Lamashtu, prompting the entire group to give up their stealth to remind her that this was a terrible idea - so the bad guys were ready for her.
The dice had been cold for my group in previous games, and so I was a little nervous that would be the case in this encounter. 4 crits later, combined with some smart playing and they slapped Tsuto and Nualia around. I'd rebuilt Nualia as a Warpriest, and they did damage so quickly, she didn't even get a chance to use her Vigor ability to heal herself. Tsuto had even less chance, as he met an angry ranger with Bull's Strength + Power Attack + a Crit for 38 points of damage.
Our Cleric could read Thassilonian, and so I pre-printed some phrases that would appear and disappear quickly - mostly threats, and mocking her. But I also added one, saying "Your town will burn! The dead will rise! They will make bread from your bones! HE will claim your souls!" foreshadowing the rest of the adventure path. The group pieced together that Nualia was female, Lamashtu was also female, and the statue of Alaznist that she successfully identified was also female - they concluded that it most likely was referring to Malfeshnekor, which intrigued me.
I made the decision to have Brodert thoroughly impressed with the cleric's knowledge of Thassilonian history. He was downright complimentary towards her while being completely dismissive of the rest of the party. I decided that I'm going to play him up as a red herring for the next book - conveniently disappearing (to further investigate Thistletop) as the murders begin.
My cleric also cast Detect Magic on the Runewell. I had her be stunned for a round, and also make a Will save. She rolled a nat 20 (again). With her success, I decided that she was able to perceive angry faces swirling in the magical auras. They made the decision to do what they could to end it, and did some very clever deduction to try to see if there was a finite amount of charges on the artifact. So they created sinspawn and noticed it dimmed in its power, so they successfully ran through it's stored charges (quite a bit given the amount of goblins who died above.
All in all, they played smart, they rolled well, and the bad guys didn't have a chance. I worried that as much as they steam-rolled the competition that they might not have felt as fulfilled, but to the contrary, they stayed another hour hanging out and talking about their favorite memories of the first book, and their excitement to see what happens next.
I decided I'm going to keep this thread open as I run through the books. Mostly for me, so I hope I don't bore to tears anyone who stumbles upon this. Thanks again for the suggestions, and keep them coming!
Gearing up next week to start up Skinsaw Murders. A few thoughts:
-I'm really excited for the horror/mystery elements of this adventure. I really want to make sure that I'm doing all of the foreboding, mood-setting descriptions in the scene. I'm going to begin by giving the PCs some opportunity to run around. Since our rogue was caught schtupping Shayliss, they've been blacklisted from selling their wares in town. This will also give them the opportunity to go to Magnimar. I plan on having them occasionally check to see someone wearing a creepy mask but not doing anything before disappearing into the crowd. They also are very much aware of that Malfeshnekor is still alive and trapped. They may wish to go deal with them. Finally, even if they don't, Brodert is going to insist on heading to Thistletop to investigate the Thassilonian ruin they discovered.
-I actually skipped the Tickwood Hunting scenario, as the party was already gaining xp too quickly, and really wanted to hunker down on the story. I had Aldern invite them for drinks a few times, each time while they were busy and heading other places. I also successfully played him as a helpless coward. I think that the group will zero in more on Brodert than Aldern. I have to be careful to reveal enough, so they can piece it together, but not too much. Pacing is everything in a mystery.
-I made the decision to share with the players that I was keeping track of sin and virtue points. I was unsure, but their reaction has indicated to me that I made the right call. Particularly, as I was making my tallies, I found that it was difficult to really find any sins that our good aligned cleric had displayed, perhaps one example of a virtue, but nothing much that would qualify as a sin. I took something from her backstory, that she left her homeland to be an Indiana Jones-esque explorer. I stretched it (a bit) to say that wanting to make a big discovery, and be recorded in the annuls of history (my words, not hers) would perhaps exemplify Pride. She agreed, and actually it helped her to get a handle on the character a little bit more. She wanted the character to be good, but also it was feeling, to her, a bit one-dimensional, so adding in some Pride really helped her to flesh out some of the weakness in the character.
-I also am bringing in a character from our beloved rogue, Zeldu/Pavo's backstory: A crimelord named Drago. I'm basing him largely on Niska from Firefly. The rogue (Pavo) is on the run from him, hiding out under the name Zeldu, and I want to foreshadow that they're closing in on him. I'm going to have Drago send a letter to Jubrayl Vhiski, asking for his assistance in locating this thief. My plan is for Jubrayl to reach out to the rogue and offer him 500gp to open a contract, with more money to be named later if the rogue is willing to do some work for him. Whether he accepts or not, he's going to show him the letter and ask if he knows anything about this thief named Pavo. Essentially, establishing that Vhiski knows who he is, and will sell him down the river if he doesn't help him. I'll be interested to see how that one gets played out. I'm preparing if he takes him up on his offer to give him some side tasks to complete (spying on The Pixie's Kitten to help Vhiski get an in-road into that market, getting close to important Nobles for help with policy, contracts, etc.) as well as preparing for the rogue deciding to just fight him then and there - perhaps taking over the Sandpoint Sczarni if he takes out Vhiski.
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Good call with Pavo and Vhiski, but make sure that it doesn't just get wasted on a single fight. If Vhiski has a few goons around it should be obvious that Zeldu can't take him easily. Besides which, that would be murder so Hemlock would get involved. And Drago would find out about it soon enough. Handled well, this could be good for a lot of mileage.
Going into the game knowing we were only going to have three people, we were very intentional to get people who could fill multiple roles. I've found that I've not modified combats as much as treasure - adding in a few wands of healing, and later a necklace of fireballs.
Good call with Pavo and Vhiski, but make sure that it doesn't just get wasted on a single fight. If Vhiski has a few goons around it should be obvious that Zeldu can't take him easily. Besides which, that would be murder so Hemlock would get involved. And Drago would find out about it soon enough. Handled well, this could be good for a lot of mileage.
Thanks for the advice on this, you're right: as I played out the situation, it could easily have made Jubrayl a one-note encounter, and I think I can get more mileage on him if he's a recurring villain. I'm setting the PCs up as potential red herrings for the Skinsaw Murders, and I don't think Jubrayl would be above planting evidence, or bribing/threatening someone into lying to Sheriff Hemlock "I saw them that night! The one called Zeldu was covered in blood!" I'm also going to introduce someone from our ranger, Yulah's past. Her backstory is that she was a slave of a tribe of Hill Giants near the gnashers. The giants killed the whole of her family, save her and her older sister who was raped and killed by other slaves in captivity. Yulah escaped, killing the other slaves who murdered her sister on her way out. I plan on having a fellow prisoner, another half-orc who used Yulah's escape as an opportunity to break out as well. I'm going to play up the PTSD that both of them share, only Yulah channels hers into a burning wrath, and this one will escape through vice: drugs, sex, etc. He's going to be someone who fell fully into the Paradise Casino. I'll give her a spot check to notice the Sihedron tattoo on his arm. He'll have found her father's double axe, and fixed it up (he's a smith), and is hoping that she'll be able to pay him for the work: even half-price because of it's sentiment will keep him gambling and whoring for a good long while.
Additionally, with my dwarven cleric, I'm going to have her approached by the Pathfinder Society. They're going to ask her to perform two tasks: to explore the Old Light and also Stoot's Rock. The reason, which venture captain Heidmarch will provide openly is that they're searching for relics and understanding of Ancient Thassilon. If she succeeds at a Sense Motive check, or if she presses them further, they may also reveal the string of recent deaths in Magnimar. While the authorities haven't officially announced it as of yet, they believe that they are dealing with a serial killer, and want information about Jarvis Stoot to see if it's a copycat, or worse: if Stoot has found a way to return.
I figure both will segue nicely into the next adventure and get them thinking as investigators. I also wanted to surround them with the Sihedron Rune (Nualia's amulet, Yulah's friend's tattoo, the door to Malfeshnekor's prison, carved on the Old Light, etc.)
Ran our lead in game last night. It was a heavy RP game with a lot of skill checks , but no combat which all agreed was a nice change of pace. The group elected to have the cleric distract Brodert Quink from heading to Thistletop by having him tag along with them to Magnimar. I'm basing Brodert on an amalgam of a few professors I've worked with, including my brother, who are brilliant but struggle with interacting with people outside of academia. He's bugging the crap out of the party, which is funny to watch.
The group did a lot of much needed shopping, and got introduced to a few of the neighborhoods in Magnimar. I had Jubrayl give Zeldu his first job, to escort an associate who got into legal trouble in Magnimar back to Sandpoint. Unfortunately for Zeldu, the associate was one of the targets of the Skinsaw men. Zeldu's questioning landed him in a room for questioning for a few hours. My plan is that this thief was going to plant drugs and a forged ledger in The Pixie's Kitten to make it look like they're also dealing in flayleaf, making their customers more open to suggestion. The hope is that this would be enough for the sheriff to stop protecting the owners, allowing Jubrayl to move in. If this fails, the next mission would be to make it seem to the sheriff that Zeldu and Kaye are having an affair. This would be additionally tough for Hemlock, as Zeldu is a well-known scamp, having fallen for Shayliss' ploy.
Our half-orc ranger was very interested in keeping Lyrie's silk dress. As the ranger is over 6 feet tall, it needed some modifications. I mention this, because she had an incredibly awkward
date with a trapper she met. She wore her pretty dress and rolled a nat 20 on her charisma check. It was actually a really sweet, completely unexpected moment.
Our cleric met with the Venture Captains in Magnimar, who after some very polite banter, they requested that she check in to the Old Light, and the surrounding area. After some prodding, they revealed that there have been some deaths in Magnimar, and they're concerned that it may be a copycat, or worse: if Jarvis Stoot has come back from the dead. It really primed the pump as far as the mystery goes, and will provide an interesting twist on the investigation.
I'm going to have Jubrayl Vhiski continue to give tasks for our rogue to complete. My initial thought is to charge him with trying to get close to the workers at the Pixie's Kitten (the horror). And eventually to attempt to plant evidence that they were dealing drugs out of the brothel in an attempt to get them shut down. Does anyone have any other thoughts on potential side jobs and tasks for my rogue to run for Jubrayl?
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The group decided to make the trek back to Thistletop to take out Malfeshnekor. Some highlights:
-The group had previously left an unconscious Orik tied up with a stable, but in negatives Bruthazmus. They found a dead Bruthazmus and their rope which had been split open. Essentially, Orik woke up first and took 20 to break the rope. Bruthazmus started to come to at that point, and Orik decided to bash the bugbears head in. Our rogue is properly terrified that someone else who knows who he is is out there. I plan on having Orik head to Magnimar where he'll attempt to contact Drago. I'm thinking he may make a good recurring foil for Zeldu.
-The rogue was drawn instantly by the gold column. He rolled exactly a 28 and was able to find the twin slots. Added benefit, they assumed that they would need to drop two coins in for fear of a curse befalling them. When I slipped and told them that they only needed one, they were really pissed at "the greedy bastard that tricked them out of two gold."
-The group got really into exploring the Thassilonian ruins, and the descriptions worked out really well to keep them interested. Particularly the communication room. Again, the group was blown away at the over the top nature of investing ridiculously powerful magic that would be sustained for thousands of years to simply show off to their enemies. They also have (correctly) interpreted that Karzoug will be the big bad, but haven't made successful rolls to know anything about him, other than that he is likely on par with Alaznist, who they identified in the Catacombs of Wrath.
-The group is currently 5th level, a bit higher than is intended, but there are only 3 of them. They displayed some terrible tactics in going up against Malfeshnekor (no buffing despite the obvious impending fight, and sending in the animal companion to scout a rather small room). Despite this, some great rolls, and amazing spell preparation by the cleric made for an incredibly satisfying fight with Malfeshnekor. He was invisible when they sent in the Ranger's roc, and he mauled the animal companion (killing and devouring it). Dropped Crushing Despair on the whole of the party, charmed the rogue into saying his name and releasing the binding. He dimension doored away, but was found and charged down by the double axe wielding orc, now buffed with Bless, Bull's Strength, and Prayer, who promptly critted him for about 50 points of damage, killing him.
-The group will pick up next week exploring the Old Light, per the Pathfinder Society's request. Our rogue will be heading to a masquerade held at the Pixie's Kitten, scouting the location and operation for Jubrayl, who they won't let anywhere near the place. Then we're going to launch into the Skinsaw Murders.
In all, a very satisfying session.
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Officially launched Skinsaw murders last night. The party had brunch with the mayor who agreed to bring their concerns about shopkeepers not taking their business, so they'll be able to sell goods in town again. Not to Vinder, but to everyone else. I should have slowed down the pace, and let them move around town, but instead, Sheriff Hemlock asked them down to the station for questions.
My main thought, was that our dwarven cleric is wearing the symbol that's important to the killer, they're new in town, they've begun asking questions about Chopper, and the killings from 5 years prior - they're definitely high on the suspect list. The sheriff was conflicted, however, because he's fought beside them, and trusts them. They've learned enough about Chopper though, to understand that Stoot was trusted as well.
They immediately offered to help with the investigation, and their good will has bought them a short leash. A guard will be with them everywhere they go (something I forgot later on).
They did a solid job investigating the Timber Mill. I used a player made map I found on the forums, but it wasn't very clear and there was some issues, like switching which body was where, but we muddled through. They were great eith questioning Ibor, and then went to question Ven Vinder. They (wisely) left the rogue who schtupped his daughter in the hallway, out of sight. This however meant sending in the half-orc with a 7 charisma, and the dwarf with an 11 charisma to do the talking. The half-orc was playing bad cop, then the dwarf decided to play worse cop, suggesting Katrine wouldn't have died if Ven had been a better father. That's when we rolled initiative. Ven succeeded at grappling the dwarf through the bars, and the rogue rushed in to help, which prompted a new target for his rage. All told, a couple points of non lethal damage, and a bruised ego for the dwarf later, they felt confident the grieving father was not responsible, however, they have definitely earned an enemy for later.
The party started suspecting that Brodert Quink was the culprit. They think he raised Jarvis Stoot from the grave to carry on his work. (Yay, red herring! ) Rather than tracking him down at Thistletop, they decided to queetion Grayst. Here's where I forgot my own rules. The sheriff was going to have someone with them throughout their investigation., but I forgot, and no one was with them at the Sanitorium. For the best, given the story, but just a stupid mistake on my part. Unable to talk their way past Habe, the rogue picked the lock. They destroyed the tiefling orderlies. A sneak attack and a crit from a double axe leaving two blood slicks and nothing else.
I had Habe first run to the basement door, before retreating upstairs. The adventure was clear that Habe didn't have keys to the basement, so he was just banging on the door to alert the necromancer to the danger. It was a nice chase running up the stairs. They finally cornered him on the 3rd floor as he was moving to release Pidgit. They asked him where Grayst was so he openednthe door...to Pidgit's cell. This is where the encounter took an interesting turn. They had found Habe's notes mentioning observing Grayst's 'transition'. The party assumed that the transition was Grayst turning into a wererat. Not planned, but a great moment.
They distracted Pidgit with a weapon, and confronted Habe. That's when they heard Grayst moaning. Grayst did a little bit of damage, but was quickly dispatched. Our cleric cast a spell that suppressed the disease for a few minutes, but since he was already quite mad, he launched his attack anyway. Not wanting to kill someone who was sick, they subdued him. Then our cleric channeled: healing the party...and Grayst, so boneheaded moment, but he was prone and still not much of a threat.
The rogue nailed his Knowledge: Local check to identify that the Misgivings was the Varisian term for Foxglove manor. Habe warned them about the Necromancer, and when we concluded, they are convinced that Aldern is the Necromancer, perhaps working in conjunction with Brodert to raise Jarvis Stoot from the grave. They are in for some big surprises.
In all, it was a good session, frustrating for me due to some dumb mistakes. I shouldmhave given a few more weeks of down time, but what's done is done. I was most happy that the work I did setting up red herrings paid off. Despite knowing that Aldern is likely involved, they still don't believe him to be the killer. They're confident that Jarvis Stoot is involved somehow, and they're really starting to wonder about this Sihedron rune. Good things to come.
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Finished up with the Sanitorium last night. I had the Necromancer raise the tiefling orderlies as fast zombies in addition to his 4 regular. With a cleric and a ranger with undead as her second favored enemy, they were bound to make short order of them. The zombies got one or two licks on them, but nothing terribly threatening. The best I managed was getting everyone nauseated with the stinking cloud. I landed a much needed Ray of Enfeeblement on the ranger, as well as blindness/deafness, but the cleric's spell selection was once again perfect, supported by a prolific use of scribe scroll.
After wrapping up the Sanitorium, they headed back to Sandpoint to notify the sheriff that, amongst all his other problems, he had a necromancer running under his nose, and that this necromancer was not the killer. Added benefit: as they reviewed the necromancer's notes, they realized that Grayst, whom they left alive was likely about to turn. So, they also got to tell the sheriff to send a deputy and probably bring Father Zantus. I'm going to tell them later that by the time they got to him, he had turned and eaten Habe.
They finally got around to investigating the Old Light. Here was a blunder of mine: I didn't want to reveal too much yet, so it ended up being me just telling them that it looked like a lighthouse, but there were oddities that could be explained by Brodert's theory. It ended up feeling like a big waste of their time. They're still convinced that Stoot was somehoe brought back from the dead, even after I told them that he was cremated to keep families of his victims from digging up and defiling the body.
In short, I should have put more thought into the information they could glean, and skill checks for them to roll. They found symbols and identified Pazuzu, and accurately discovered that Pazuzu had nothing to do with undead. Now they're trying to convince people who have the bird carvings to sand them off, which is an interesting side note, but they won't have a lot to communicate to the Pathfinder society when they check in.
They then found a child survivor from the Hambley farm. I got to use the "Mommy ate daddy." line to great effect. They took the kid to Bethana to watch and overfeed, then took Ameiko withthem to the farm. I'd intended on having it be nighttime, and raining, but the timing made it early morning. I'd also overused rain as a thematic device for this chapter. It's been raining pretty much the whole time. Instead, as it was morning, I described a thick fog throughout the farmlands. It prevented the animal companion from scouting too much, and I think set up a nice zombie movie feel. They took paths that took them past only one ghoul scarecrow before they reached the barn. A solid fight with the ghouls in the barn later, and they moved to the house. I had a group of 3 ghouls ambush them at the door, and more are going to break through windows while they're fighting Rogor.
We'll get to the house in our next session, then likely continue on the way to Foxglove Manor -getting there in the evening as the rain kicks up again. All in all, a few minor missteps as I add material, but everyone's having fun.
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We finished off the Hambley farm encounter today. I'm pleased to report that I had a game with considerable less blunders than the last few. The group had cleared out the barn in the last session, and were approaching the house. I placed a scarecrow ghoul hidden under the porch which grabbed the ankle of the ranger as she walked up. They dispatched it quickly, but lost the surprise. I added some description to the house that worked well: A puddle of blood atthe doorway and drag marks towards the kitchen and a full bloody handprint in the kitchen, strange meat and a leg bone on the counter. I also added a room that they were converting to a nursery, which caused the whole group to slump their shoulders, knowing that they had dispatched the lady of the house last week.
Rogor was hiding in the bedroom, where 2 bodies were hung up. My thought was that the smell of the rotting meat would somewhat mask the ghast's stench. He burst out of the closet and unloaded full attacks on the ranger. At the same time, I had more of the scarecrows break through windows to attack from behind. It was a great horror movie moment. One grabbed the rogue and pulled him through the kitchen window back outside. A feint and confirmed crit later, that ghoul was dispatched. Another paralyzed Ameiko guarding the entrance. Before getting to pull off a coup, however, the rogue made it around and landed another crit. His dice were hot last night.
The ranger also got paralyzed, but the cleric was able to fix it. The cleric did contract ghoul fever, but all in all, they made relatively short work of them. It was a nice, scary and brutally quick fight. The group elected not to search the rest of the farm, but did find the life savings. One interesting side effect of having kne of the children be the one to report what happened was that there was a very obvious heir to that money. It made the rogue's attempt to keep it all the more significant as he was now stealing from a child who'd just lost his whole family.
The group headed back to Sandpoint to identify the key (as no one had Knowlege:Nobility). I had Bethana figure it out, as I'd drawn her up as an Investigator with lots of Knowledge skills. They debated taking her with them, but elected to stick with Ameiko. I had them arrive at Foxglove manor at sunset, but the storm had made it prematurely dark. It was important for me to set the horror movie tone. Lightning flashes outlining the gothic architecture of the manor. The caws of the ravens gathering on the stone skeleton of the former servants' quarters. It paid off as I could see the anxiety rising on my players as they entered the house.
The group entered the dance hall first. Our ranger was the target of the haunt. She'd taken Tsuto's flute, and even invested a rank in perform. Of course she went right over to the piano and played an out of tune note. I used handouts for the subject of the haunt, as well as descriptions on what everyone else saw. It worked well as they saw her get visibly freaked out as she got sucked up in the dance. I need to organize the handouts for the future, however as it did see the potential to get them confused. I also found that in assigning the haunts, with three PCs as the targets, our ranger so far has been the target of all of the haunts - which was commented on. Mostly this was by the cleric who felt overlooked as the true threat to the undead in the manor. Little does she know what's coming...mwahahaha
We had, I guess interesting development is the only term I have at present. I'd attached the various haunts to PCs based on the descriptios in the AP, and also trying to make it even between PCs. The rogue, I'd assigned the suicide compulsion haunt to has in real life, had someone very close to him commit suicide. The last thing I want is to be the insensitive prat that retraumatizes my friend during a game. I was thinking about swapping it out for the Blood-Writ Name haunt , but I was wondering if ahyone had other suggestions.
Continued going through Foxglove manor last night. This is by far the portion of this book that I was looking most forward to. The group decided to clear the first floor before heading to the basement. Our ranger, Yullah took lead, prompting her to be affected by the Worried Wife haunt amongst all the others she was targeted by on the first floor. I've never seen someone's dice turn on them quite as much as hers. She rolled fantastic for Perception checks, but abysmally on saves and attacks (noted exception below). Needless to say, she failed her save and swept up the rogue, Zeldu and started to drag him outside. The cleric thought quickly, and channeled energy in the room, ending the effect. They found the washroom and were grossed out hy the diseased rat, but skewered it before it could clamor its way out of the tub.
The swarms downstairs were another story, however. The group fought smart, but rolled so low on their saves, prompting all the PCs to get infected with Phorell's Phage, which should make for an interesting next few days. Zeldu surprised me with rolling fantadtic and picking the DC 30 lock to the lab. I described the stained glass, the rain running in rivulets creating an illusion of movement. The rogue however noticed he genuine movement, and combined with our cleric, Rosie experiencing the haunt. The dwarf decided to take a swing at the window, dealing minor damage. The window cracked slightly, but shot shards of glass back at the dwarf, dealing the same damage back.
Moving through the hall, they found the stairway to the caverns below. They wrestled with figuring out Aldern's M.O., but determined that whether he needed saving or killing, they would need to head below. The group, having skipped the upstairs accurately described that they felt they were only getting half the story, but continued on. First they confronted the Skaveling, and had a nasty battle. The ranger never rolled above a 5. We were very nearly at a TPK, with the ranger, rogue and Ameiko all paralyzed, but Rosie was able to keep the group up and attacking. Zeldu dropped to negatives, but stabilized. They found the body of the one-armed bandit, and our rogue identified the possibility of a reward. You could almost see the dollar signs swimming above his head. They made short work of the ghouls in the next room, but several failed saves against ghoul fever. The ranger again demonstrated an inability to roll above a 4.
Against the goblin ghasts, the ranger was able to get at least a 10, and hit once, cleaving one head from its owner's body. The cleric moved up and finished a second but was swarmed by the remaining two, leaving her paralyzed. Ameiko tumbled past and dispatched one of the creatures. Then things got very interesting. Zeldu decided to pick Rosie's pocket rather than engage. He rolled well, but not as well as Yullah who saw him. A quick swing of an orc double axe dispatched the remaining ghast, and then she rounded on Zeldu. She asked him what he was doing. He attempted (poorly) to play dumb. She demanded that he give the ring back, to which he replied "Make me." (So unwise). A natural 20 confirmed by a natural 19 and Yullah fed the rogue his teeth (47 points of nonlethal damage).
Then the group searched him. In addition to the ring, they found an unseemly amount of gold, a letter from Drago asking for Jubrayl's helping tracking down Pavo, and the item he stole at the beginning to get him in the mess: Soul Soap. The cleric revived him, and they questioned him. He attempted to spinna few tales, peppered with the truth, but they were largely on to himat this point. He dididn't spill all the beans. They still don't know that his name is Pavo, but they know the name of the man who's after him, and they know he's working for Jubrayl. Amongst other things, he betrayed his teammate in front of Ameiko, and despite her warnings not to trust Jubrayl, she found out about his cahooting with the crime boss. Any attempts at romancing her from here are going to be slim to none.
I was planning agents of Drago to ambush them in Magnimar anyway, but I think it will be much more interesting at this point. The cleric, based on the item made a not unreasonable assumption that it belonged to a fallen paladin or cleric. I may have Ironbriar arrest him for the murder of a Paladin and theft of a small fortune, including the Soul Soap. Orik will provide testimony (falsely) that the two worked together to pull off the caper, but that murder wasn't supposed to be a part of it. It'll take some sleuthing, and Zeldu getting honest for them to get him out of hot water. Of course, first, they still need to deal with Aldern and the mansion. Interesting things ahead, to say the least.
We've had two sessions since I've last updated (so sorry for the long post). The group finished off Aldern. The monologue break in the middle was awkward. For us, it went sort of like this:
(Yullah hits Aldern, dropping him below the threshold to trigger his monologue)
Me: "Yullah's axe cuts a swath of blackish blood on his forearm, and he yelps. Suddenly his eyes become a bit more clear, and he drops to his knees"
Zeldu: "Attack of opportunity?"
Me: "No. He begins to stammer, 'It wasn't my fault! The Brothers...The Brothers of the Seven were supposed to help me!" Then, just as quick, his eyes narrow and become predatory again. He stands up..."
Rosie: "Attack of opportunity."
Me: "No, guys I know that this is a bit outside the rules, but it's important to the story, alright? He bows..."
Rosie: "Now can I hit him?"
Me: "...and says 'I wonder how your deaths will affect your loved ones. Wonder what all you might have accomplished. Pity.' Then he puts on his mask...
Yullah: "When did he get a mask? Show me the picture again!"
Me: "And he snarls at you all moving with renewed vigor."
Rosie: "..."
Me: "Now you can hit him."
And hit him she did. They kicked the snot out of him, actually. Ameiko was the only one to fail any of his saves. And with Yullah having Undead as her second favored enemy: she whooped on him pretty solid. Despite having only three players, they do a great job with dispatching single foes. A wizard or sorcerer would be vital for some of the larger scale fights, but the team does a great job.
Rosie is played by my wife, and she was incredibly creeped out by the stalking behavior. Aldern was obsessed with her based on Envy - had drawings of her in heroic poses, but also stole some of her stuff, had drawings of her sleeping and had cut off a lock of her hair. They decided to burn the painting, hair, and anything else that Aldern had done.
Having not gone through the upstairs, they were still at a loss at how to get rid of the haunting on the house, and so they left with it still standing. They may go back to it, but I doubt it, which is a shame. It was the thing I was most excited for in running this book, and I don't think they got to experience all of it.
Leaving for Magnimar, they decided to swap out Ameiko for Sheriff Hemlock. I had already alerted the PCs to the killings in Magnimar, and with Aldern gone, the Sheriff wanted to go with them to see if he could help in tracking down what was now looking like multiple killers working for this Xanesha woman.
I decided to describe the townhouse as under repair, but not derelict and abandoned as was initially described. The faceless stalkers weren't too difficult of an encounter at the townhouse, but surprisingly to me, seemed to continue to creep out the party. I had one of them looking like Iesha Foxglove. They never found the revenant upstairs (and I was unsure what would happen to her once Aldern was killed) so they actually didn't know what to do, until they heard Aldern's voice from the next room. They followed Iesha into the room, who then gave the code word and both resumed their natural forms and attacked. Only the entryway and parlor looked normal, the rest of the house was ransacked as described. They found the secret compartment and were prepared to leave for the Seven's Sawmill.
That's when I went a bit off book.
I determined after Thistletop, Orik went to Magnimar with a grudge. Their first trip, he saw them and hid because they kicked his butt last time and he was alone. He then got in touch with Drago back in Korvosa who came up with the plot. Orik went to the authorities saying that one of the so-called heroes of Sandpoint wasn't who he said he was. He was a thief and a murderer named Pavo.
In Pavo's backstory, he'd stolen the Soul Soap and fled. We'd worked out a brief timeline leading up to him getting to Sandpoint. Orik was filled in on the details of the job by Drago. Orik claimed to be the lookout for Pavo, and that when Pavo met up with him, he was covered in blood. The person Pavo stole from was a paladin of Aroden, and after Pavo fled, Drago had him killed just for this instance. While Magnimar probably wouldn't get bent out of shape for theft of a minor magic item, murder was something else.
The city guard, as well as a hellknight from Korvosa were waiting outside the townhouse when they showed up. They arrested Pavo, and took him to jail to await a hearing before the 13 Justices to determine what they would do. I told them that based on the report, if they found him guilty of murder, they had the right to hang him, imprison him, or to extradite him back to Korvosa. Additionally, the hellknight informed him that his father (whom he didn't get along well with) was imprisoned in Korvosa in his stead and has been this past month while they were searching for him.
Pavo copped to the theft, but denied being a murderer. Since that's what they were most concerned about, they arranged a trial. I said that it would take 2 days to set up the hearing - which admittedly was rather expedient, however, I felt that longer than that and the rest of the game would fall by the wayside while they waited. 2 days seemed to be an appropriate amount of time that would still fill them with anxiety for the missed time, but still be reasonable that they could confront Xanesha before she completed more of the ritual and/or moved on.
I work as a conduct officer at a University, and so I used some of that knowledge in setting up the hearing. Pavo named Rosie as his representative, while the complainant was the hellknight. I gave them access to the evidence (Orik's statement before getting shipped off to Fort Rannick, the investigator's notes on the crime scene, as well as Pavo's account of the night). It was a lot of fun watching Rosie trying to pick holes in the account. Her initial plan was to attempt to attack the character of the target - based on the fact that he had the Soul Soap in the first place, meaning he intended to fall.
In Pavo's backstory, we'd worked in that one of the factors that led him to fleeing was that in addition to the Soul Soap, he'd also found the paladin's diary: detailing the death of his son, and being consumed by grief. Pavo refused. He refused to let her attack the character of the man, which was a neat moment for the character. Next they wanted to bring up Drago. They tried to find out who Drago was to be able to portray him as the crimelord that he was. That was when they discovered that, in addition to being a crimelord, Drago was also a Senator.
So they had to pick apart the case. I'd left little details. The victim had been struck on his right temple (Pavo is left-handed making this unlikely). The door to his bedroom had been opened with a hacksaw, but his safe had been picked. Additionally, and most convincingly, the murder weapon was a statue of Aroden commissioned by a local artist worth an estimated 1,000gp. Pavo is a greedy thief who would never have left it behind.
This left Yullah with little to do, until they found out that Orik was being sent to Fort Rannick. She promptly mounted a horse and chased down the merc, doing a forced march to get him back in just in time. She also had a tense encounter with Orik who didn't want to hurt her, but very much wanted Pavo to hang. Ultimately, the half-orc broke his fingers and they began seeing a bit more eye to eye.
The verdict was challenging for me, because Justice Ironbriar was on the panel and he very much wanted to send Pavo and the gang far from Magnimar. However, they did a very thorough job in exonerating Pavo that I felt he didn't have much of a choice. It would have showed his hand too much to continue arguing. So I determined that he would instead say that there wasn't enough to imprison or extradite him, however they would let him know that he had 24 hours to clear town for his admission to the crimes. I felt that this added the impetus to hurry through, and if there are injuries, they'd still have to move quickly. I also, will move Justice Ironbriar to Xanesha's side and send the Faceless Stalkers to the Sawmill. This will make it a bigger reveal when he's shown to have turned. Also, if they're able to throw off the enchantment, they'll have another ally and target for Xanesha which might make me a little more confident going into that fight.
All told, there wasn't a single attack thrown, but it was a very enjoyable gaming experience.
After the session with the trial where no combat occurred, the next session was the raid on the Seven's Sawmill. Having been given 24 hours to leave town, the group was motivated to get working on it that night.
-My wife rolled a random backstory for her cleric, Rosie. In the backstory, she got the Revelation Cleric background, and fleshed it out further that she had a vision of a powerful relic from ancient Thassilon. This is what prompted her to head to the surface, and become an adventurer. When they defeated Nualia and found her Sihedron amulet: I informed her that this was the item of her vision (because I'm sneaky).
I also made the decision that I would make the amulet an Item of Legacy, using the rules from the old 3.5 rulebook. So as she hit 7th level, she gained the ability to see the sins of people she interacted with. She sees them emblazoned with a fiery Thassilonian rune on their forehead whichever is the most prominent sin (or virtue). I determined that this would also give her a +5 bonus to Sense Motive.
-I debated on changing up some of the encounters now that Ironbriar knew they were on the trail, but decided that I liked the encounter in the Sawmill too much to change it. I did however add in that they were speeding up the murders further, and they were able to hear the screams of a victim as they carved the rune into his chest. As soon as they through open the door to the Undermill, the Cultists pushed a merchant, now emblazoned with the rune, into the splitter with a spray of arterial blood.
-Only the rogue managed not to get caught up in the machine and get dropped into the river. The cleric, I somewhat expected. But our ranger rolled back to back 2's on her Reflex saves. Additionally, they had Sheriff Hemlock with them who also fell into the machine. All told it was perhaps the most effective opponent of the party in the whole mill, save perhaps Ironbriar.
-The rogue succeeded at the Disable Device after the fight to shut off the mill - which allowed them to search the bodies uninterrupted, but also, the sudden lack of sound alerted the cultists above of their presence. They attempted to sneak upstairs to find three cultists waiting for them with readied hand crossbows pelting the ranger, and then falling back into the work room. As the group closed in on them, another group of cultists from above came down and joined the fight, almost dropping Rosie's new cohort - a Sorcerer sent to her from the Pathfinder guild.
-Then Ironbriar joined the fight and things got interesting. Rosie was able to succeed on the Sense Motive check to determine that he was enchanted, and attempted to hit him with a Protection from Evil spell, but it took her several rounds to hit his touch AC. In the mean time, the whole party spent a few rounds confused and bashing themselves in the head. The sorcerer actually fell unconscious as she bludgeoned herself with a handy piece of timber laying around.
-Finally succeeding on the touch AC gave him first a will save against the effect, which he failed. Then a will save against Xanesha's Charm Monster - which he succeeded. I determined as the group was still largely confused, he would go invisible and attempt to leave the mill. The cleric roused the sorcerer who promptly dropped glitterdust on him and the whole of the party, leaving him and half the party, including herself blinded.
"Worth it." she says while lying on the ground. Hemlock and the cleric who were able to see proceeded to smack down Ironbriar and knock him unconscious.
This weekend, we'll pick up with the interrogation of Justice Ironbriar - who will of course spill almost everything about Xanesha, and attempt to blame her for the murders. The group however is already dubious, because Ironbriar was witnessed casting spells with a holy symbol of Norgorber. They're already starting to wonder how far gone he was already. Additionally, they're planning on turning him in to assist with overturning the decision on Pavo - getting them more time in town, if need be.
We began our last session with the interrogation of Justice Ironbriar.
-I think I roleplayed him well. He was convincing, and focused on the elements of his story that were true: This wasn't his idea. He had no idea how many of the cultists were under her domination. He shared that Xanesha was a monster - a lamia, but he wasn't very knowledgeable about what that meant. Just that she was powerful, had magic, and the body of a snake. Interestingly, our cleric made a knowledge: Arcana check on lamia, to know that they had the body of a lion, but not enough to know about lamia matriarchs, so she believed he was lying. Which he was: just not about that.
-The group did successfully call him on a few of the discrepencies: He used a holy symbol of Norgorber to channel energy and cast spells. If he wasn't evil before, it was unlikely that a temporary spell like Charm was going to give him suddenly these abilities. He tried to downplay the Brothers of the Seven involvement, but they had so much evidence against the Brotherhood that he had a hard time not spilling the beans on some of that, including the names of a few more of the brothers.
-Rather than handing him over to the City Guard, Rosie used her connections with the Pathfinder Society to ensure that he would receive justice. I'm unsure exactly what the Pathfinder Society would do. I set them up that they were attempting to get to the bottom of this, and here's a major lynch pin in the murders: part of them would very much like to see him brought to justice. Additionally, the Pathfinder Society, while not evil, also doesn't necessarily bat their eyes at agents who use less than good methods to accomplish their tasks. He's talented, smart, and could see working for the Pathfinder Society as a way to continue to honor Norgorber, as well as get his fill of assassinations. I'm just unsure on that end.
-The group headed to the Shadow Tower. They scouted it out a bit, I added in some of the awful things that would happen in the Underbridge area of Magnimar: drug dealers, a homeless man dead in the street, an 11 year old prostitute attempting to solicit a member of the party. It left the whole of the group feeling uncomfortable, which meant that I was pretty successful. The group entered the tower, but due to an outstanding Stealth check by the Scarecrow, he remained undetected until they approached the stair, which he popped out and made a Power Attack Vital Strike against Sheriff Hemlock for about 40 points of damage. It pretty well terrified the whole of the group as they realized two hits on any of them could drop them.
-The rogue attempted to use his Magic Missile wand, which was a good idea for the newer player: staying back from the larger threat to allow the front line guys to get in place before he tumbled in for sneak attack. It did provide him to learn first hand that some of his enemies are immune to magic, however, and all of a sudden tactics once again had to change. Rosie did a phenomenal job as a healer, and once the Ranger cast Lead Blades on double axe, and she was Enlarged by the new Sorcerer cohort, she brought the monster down quickly. The Scarecrow was able to knock her to -8, which gave the whole of the group another proper scare. I found out afterward that it was the closest that the player has ever been to death. I didn't have the heart to tell her what was coming. We'll see if they get out alive.
-The group advanced on the terrible stair, initially leading with the enlarged half-orc, who fell immediately through. So they dismissed the spell, and spread out. The bell dropped on Rosie. I rolled the 6d6 of damage, worried that I was going to drop her then and there. I rolled almost minimum (10 points), however she did fail her Reflex save and took more damage from the fall. It happened to pretty much the best person, however, as she was able to cast Fly the next round and rejoin the party almost immediately.
-The fight with the Faceless Stalkers was a lot of fun, as they balanced on the support beams over the bells. There was one near fall, but all in all the party crushed them.
-We'll pick up next week with Xanesha, and deal with the falling action from the story. The group is playing well, having fun, and getting really hooked in the story. All of that makes for one happy DM.
We finished off the Skinsaw murders last night. The players played smart, with one noted exception: Our cleric forgot to buff again going into the final fight. Mainly, she's wearing the Sihedron medallion, and forgot to use its false life ability. It almost made the difference, as she was the target of Xanesha's opening attack, which dropped her into negatives.
I had Xanesha use her Major image ability to create a decoy to do the talking. Bating them, and getting the party to move further into the room, while the real Xanesha was invisible and waiting. This did 2 important things: It allowed Xanesha to get behind the frontline fighters to target the cleric. Additionally, it allowed her to be positioned near the opening to make her getaway.
Xanesha used Vital Strike for her first attack, dropping the Cleric, and triggering the Impaler of Thorns' despair ability. Everyone except Sheriff Hemlock failed. The rogue tried his magic missile wand, and learned some more about Spell Resistance. The Ranger's dice went cold in conjunction with the despair, leading to a lot of swings, but no contact. Next Xanesha turned her sights on the Sorcerer cohort who was inching over to try to heal the Cleric. She triggered the Medusa Mask, and due to the despair effect, the party was knocked down to 3.
Belor had the best luck, landing a few hits. The ranger decided after round 2 to put some of her dice in timeout. The rogue force fed a potion to get the cleric back on her feet, who promptly cast Blessing of Fervor, which is a fantastic spell if you haven't checked it out. This allowed her to stand up immediately without an AoO, and to give her allies some more optionsfor their benefit.
The ranger landed a few hits, whittling Xanesha down. The rogue moved in, but missed his attack. Xanesha unloaded a full attack on Sheriff Hemlock, bring him close. I had this fantasy of killing off the Sheriff. I'm not sure exactly why, but I thought it would motivate them. No such luck, as the ranger found her dice, landing a critical hit and getting Xanesha into prime run the heck away zone. She withdrew off the edge, casting feather fall onnher way. This is where our ranger got badass.
Yullah had 2 spells. I'll admit that I never put much stock in ranger spells. Her first spell was Glide. Allowing her to dive out the hole and continue the chase. Her animal companion, a Roc, also attempted a Fly-By Attack, but missed. Expecting pursuit, I figured that Xanesha would cast Invisibilty. The entire table groans. Until the ranger casts Hunter's Sight. Amongst some other killer benefits, it allows her to see invisble and ethereal creatures. Xanesha thinking she's in the clear, strolls off into the darkness of night; only to be charged by a vicious screaming half-orc out for blood! Everyone cheers.
But Xanesha has one more trick up her sleeve. Charm Monster. The ranger has failed almost every Will save she's been presented with in this campaign, and everyone is nervous. She rolls the dice...success! Next round Xanesha is dropped unconscious. Not fully satisfied, Yullah coupmde graces the unconscious creature, taking her head and earning yet another Wrath point. It was fantastic.
In falling action, the alerted the mayor to the plot. Initially, as Pavo had surreptitiously pocketed the list of names, the mayor found it somewhat difficult to believe. Then, Pavo asked to speak to him aside, and produced the list, and also disclosed that he had been ordered by the courts to leave town earlier that day. The mayor invited them to a feast which allowed me to showcase the vast difference in wealth, and the rampant corruption. They did however have no problem accepting their 6,000gp reward, earning them all greed points.
The mayor also spoke with Pavo. I decided to play the mayor as someone who would be able to quickly get information, even hard to come by information. So he knew, of course, about Drago hunting Pavo. I determined that he wasnt ready to intercede on Pavo's behalf, but he certainly wouldn't assist Drago in finding the man who just saved his life and lifestyle. So, as way of another reward, he offered Pavo Fort Rannick provided he could assist the Black Arrows with their ogre problem. Of course his teammates agreed to help, particularly with the mention of Fort Rannick in Lucrecia's note.
I plan on playing out the journey some, with Drago's men making attempts on Pavo's life at every turn. My thought is that, for now, run and hide has worked well for Pavo. But as he's getting more renown, and more settled in Sandpoint: it should become more apparent that the evil old man isnt going to let it go. If Pavo's able to take out Drago, he may just be able to insinuate himself as the head of the criminal empire. The Wild Card that I haven't figured out yet is Jubrayl. Pavo outted him during the trial, which he will not take kindly to. At the same time Jubrayl is aware that everyone who's gone up against the party so far has ended up dead, or at least in worse shape. If he waits to long, Pavo's only going to get more powerful, at the same time: murder isn't much his style.
Conversely, I was thinking that Drago might make an example of Jubrayl, and possibly the Rusty Dragon. If your quarry goes to ground and all that. Thoughts? I haven't had a ton of luck with comments, but here's hoping.
So, it's been over a year since I last posted. The group has completed Hook Mountain, and then me and my wife moved out of state. So: to recap what happened.
We had the group return to Sandpoint, once again as heroes. Kaye, the owner/operator of the Pixie's Kitten decided to throw the party a fancy party. There would be of course some of the companions doing their thing, but it was also a lot more like a prom for the party. Zeldu (the party determined they were definitely still calling him Zeldu) had patched things up with Ameiko, and the two were planning on attending together - though she would have to leave a bit early to watch the Rusty Dragon.
I introduced a former flame of Rosie's named Aidan Oakheart who was an honest-to-goodness dwarven pirate. He showed up with an expensive bottle of whiskey for Ameiko, as well as other supplies to sell. Zeldu was so happy, he decided to play matchmaker and pay Aidan to pick up Sven: Yulah's beau from Magnimar and bring him back for the party. When they arrived, Aidan also saw Rosie, and the two had a reunion. It was very sweet. All seemed happy with the world, as they went to the party at the Pixie's Kitten (which I had changed so that it was immediately out of town).
Bethana got Yulah's attention, and asked her to meet her away from the party with news of what she'd learned by tailing Zeldu. When Yulah met with her, just as she was about to tell her about Drago: snipers' arrows hit her, three in the chest. Bethana was dead. (Though the group decided that they wanted to use hero points to save her) So we had a fight against the assassins with no weapons or armor. The group won, and looked on as a fire erupted at the Rusty Dragon.
The group quickly grabbed some weapons and rushed to the Rusty Dragon. They found more assassins outside waiting to dispatch any survivors. One ran away, calling that they would see them at the Fatman's Feedbag. The group quickly took care of them, and Zeldu ran to the flames to find Ameiko pinned under a burning timber. With the help of Yulah, they freed her and got her outside.
Zeldu jumped right in, believing that Jubrayl was behind the attacks. When they got to the Feedbag, vengeance in his eyes. They found that all of Jubrayl's men were dead. Inside they found Jubrayl chained up, being tortured by an assassin. He gave Zeldu a cold stare, and said "Drago sends his regards, Pavo." They fought, and it was close but ultimately the group won.
Zeldu tried to intimidate Jubrayl, as he once again assumed that Jubrayl had attempted to cut a deal with Drago (he hadn't). In actuality, it was Ven Vinder - still pissed at Zeldu for defiling his daughter. As Jubrayl had just been tortured, all it did was piss him off. The group regrouped. Bethana was coming around, but despite being alive: she was paralyzed permanently from the attack. The Rusty Dragon had burnt to the ground. Yet again, there was another attack, though this one had much less loss to the populace at large: they targeted anyone who had helped Zeldu previously. After some discussion, they determined that it was time to deal directly with Drago.
They began to plot their raid on Drago's manor in Korvosa.
The plan was to tell everyone they could that they were heading to Fort Rannick, by way of Foxglove Manor (which is now technically theirs, but still totally haunted). They had gotten in Magnimar a scroll to Hallow the house. I decided that there was no way that the evil spirit was going to have that. Hallow has a long casting time, so he would attack them and hope to disrupt the ritual. First off was Fear, cast on the Cleric. Rosie rolled a Will save in the stratosphere: no problem.
Second, the windows burst out, spraying the cleric in glass and dealing 3d6 damage. She needed to make a concentration check to keep going, which was close - but a success.
Lastly, a flaming skull flew out the door at her casting Phantasmal Killer. She made her Will save again, no problem, but once the player found out the spell was Phantasmal Killer: I'd succeeded in demonstrating to her that the house was playing for keeps.
After cleansing the spirit from the house, the group met up with their new pirate friend: Aidan! Rosie's old flame had agreed to smuggle them into the city, as he had a specialized ship (the Rosalita) designed for this. Because he's a pirate.
Zeldu had been in Drago's manor before. He'd not been given much chance to roam, but he did have a rough idea of the layout of the house. The group decided that they would prepare invisibility spells on everyone, including Yulah's animal companion who was now large size. Additionally, Rosie would cast Ant's Haul on Balyx so that the bird would be able to carry the whole of the party. They would fly up (invisibly) dodging the Sable Marines. Rosie would cast Fly spells on everyone, and they would dive from a reasonable height. They (correctly) assumed that the guards would be better equipped to defend against attacks from the ground. So the group flew to a second floor window and snuck their way in.
Inside, the group ran into a disguised Erinyes devil. As Drago was a noble of Cheliax, he had ties with devils and this one owed him a favor. They fought against the devil, but were not quick enough to prevent her from raising the alarm. Drago's bodyguard and concubine, a human mute brawler came out next, and pummeled the party fairly efficiently. They ultimately dispatched her as well as a few of the guards who'd begun arriving downstairs. Next they went into Drago's chambers.
They found Drago in his bath, dying from old age. He had an amulet which I decided was a sort of panic button. It alerted the city guard that he was under attack. He had used the Soul Soap, and gloated with Zeldu. As Rosie could see sins, however, she noted that all of his were still there because he didn't truly repent (so Catholic). Zeldu decided not to wait for time, and dispatched him on his own, earning a Wrath point. And then things got weird.
I had time stop and a character wearing all white address Zeldu. He didn't introduce himself, but noted that he'd been following Zeldu with some interest. He stated that he had a position available for Zeldu if he was interested. Zeldu realized that this person was considerably powerful, and decided that it would be good to play along. With a flick of his hand, he produced a shadowy hood from Drago's chamber. He gave the hood to Zeldu by way of a contract. The player concluded that this was probably a devil of some kind - which was what I was hoping. In actuality, this being was Uriel: an Archangel who specializes in subtlety and intrigue.
Essentially, he's grooming Zeldu to overhaul the underworld of Korvosa into a force of good. The hood granted Zeldu a +5 bonus on Bluff checks, nondetection, and 1/day he could cast invisibility, cat's grace, or silence as spell like abilities. I'm deciding that this is going to be a part of a set of items called Mantle of the King of Thieves. Each will be unique, and when he wears them with one another, they'll unlock other effects.
The escape from Korvosa was interesting. The guard was approaching and so the group had to run out while being shot at by the guard. I rolled in front of everyone, and rolled really well with a couple of critical hits that dropped our cleric. Zeldu gave her a potion, earning a couple pot shots at him as well. Ultimately, they made it to the water where they'd prepared potions of some spell that allowed them to see and swim underwater. The Sable Marines arrived and followed them a bit, but they were able to lose them in the dark, coming up in a special chamber in Aidan's boat designed for this purpose. The pirate hid them in smuggling compartments and they remained undetected, even when his ship was searched by the guard.
They left the city, and Aidan took them to Palin's Cove, where they began their trek to Fort Rannick. Aidan and Rosie shared one passionate kiss before they departed: their first in years. Oh, do I have plans to ruin that. Mwahahaha
The group traveled up to Fort Rannick. I had them pass through Turtleback Ferry, but they were not terribly interested in the stories about the casino. They did notice some of the tattoos, but didn't follow up on them. They were focused on getting to Fort Rannick. They were so focused they were about to pass up on the Graul homestead in order to get to Fort Rannick, but ultimately the sound of an animal in pain intrigued the ranger enough that she was able to convince the group to stop.
Additionally, when she finally got to fight some giants for the first time in the campaign: the Ranger showed just how deadly she could be. They killed the dogs quickly, and one hit from her axe was enough to send the ogrekin running. They took some time to heal up the leopard, and then followed the tracks. They were moving slowly, but didn't attempt to hide. Have I mention that my group is relatively inexperienced?
When the Grawl jumped out of the corn field, I actually shouted a bit and made everyone jump. It was a fun moment. One of the things that I noticed throughout this module, is that it was definitely compressed for space. One of the downsides of that is that you have these different Grawl characters, but their feats often are uniform, and thus don't fit best to the tactics of the situation or (my perceptions of) their personalities. So I changed them up, and it worked out a lot better. Giving this one Spring Attack and Vital Strike made it a much tougher fight. Giving others Toughness so that they could set up and do what they needed.
The ranger led the way into the house, setting off the traps at the door (which did a little bit of damage, but nothing world-ending) which prompted me to remind the rogue of his role to check for traps. For the rest of the house, the rogue took point. The group was incredibly freaked out by the house. My wife kept saying that it reminded her of the episode of the X-Files, and of course the Hills Have Eyes - which meant that I was doing well in setting up the feeling.
When they met Mammy, that's when they lost it. I added in an ick factor, that when they came in, she was nursing the ogrekin that they'd met on the road, who of course was fully grown. This added a whole level of gross for them. They killed Ruccus, and fought well against Mammy, who dimension doored away to the barn. They searched the rest of the house, and found the bones in the closet. My ranger killed a Knowledge: Nature check and identified, based on the hip bones, that these were all female. Our rogue (played by a male) didn't really understand the full scope of what this meant. Our cleric and ranger (played by females got furious).
They went out to the barn and had probably the biggest fight of the house. The ranger ran past the other threats to get at Mammy, who had also raised a few of the family as zombies. The team fought smart, though, and despite a few hot rolls by the enemies: they cleared them out. Heading to the basement, I had them hear some of the sounds of abuse. They went downstairs and killed the captors and freed the Black Arrows.
I changed the makeup of the Black Arrows in order to tie in with the various backstories, as well as making slight changes to the classes and abilities of the members. Jakardos was there, but I redrew him as a Hunter. It still allowed him to do all of the archery that he was known for, but also created a reason for the unusually strong bond that he had with his leopard. I changed out Vale for Orik VanCaskerkin. He had been sent to serve out his sentence at Fort Rannick. He had a great rivalry with our rogue, and it also created a believable red herring to draw away from the real traitor.
The real traitor I changed as well. Instead of someone they never knew before, I had it be Yulah's half-orc friend, Dax who reforged her double axe. I'd set up earlier that he had the Sihedron rune tattoo. He was also someone who had experienced abuse at the hands of giants earlier. It created a really interesting motivation: I thought. He loved Lucrecia, because she promised to protect him from the giants, as well as pleasures, and whatnot. It also showed this reasonable person who had a crappy life who became obsessed with anything who made him happy. Additionally, I described him as having bared the brunt of the abuse from the Grauls. This, again, threw the group off from suspecting him until the very end.
Trying to catch up on how the group progressed!
The group, with their three surviving Black Arrows went to Fort Rannick. They took some time to form a strategy, deciding that they would use the caves that the Black Arrows told them about, as well as having Lorelai, Rosie's cohort to create a distraction to draw out the ogres. They had a rather inspired idea to have the rogue sneak down under the cover of an invisibility spell to rig the bridge after the ogres left so that if they attempted to come back in, it would collapse underneath them. They actually mentioned the trap that the goblins used at Thistletop! After successfully drawing them out, the group had the sorcerer riding Balyx the Roc and hurling fireballs at the recovering ogres. She single handedly dismantled most of the outside forces in an impressive display of sorcery.
The rogue roleplayed to perfection! He didn't trust Orik at all, and attempted at every turn for the group to turn on him. This led to a near confrontation between Orik and Zeldu, which Dax to cower, and earn him some sympathy from all involved. Orik, to his credit, played a total red herring! Except that Rosie, the cleric trusted him implicitly. I'm still not sure why, except that perhaps the player (who is my wife) knows my style, and thought that Orik was too obvious.
Sneaking into the Fort was easy enough. They dispatched the ogres outside with relative ease. Moving inside, they were cautious. The minute any of the ogres went toe to toe with Yulah, however: they ended very quickly. Zeldu, similarly dished out respectable sneak attack damage. Until they got upstairs. The rogue actually attempted to slip past one room, and jumped right into the room with Jaagrath. Simultaneously, someone backed down the hallway alerting Dorella and Hookmaw. Now they had a fight on their hands!
The PCs rolled well, with Zeldu and Yulah working together really well. Having drawn Jakardos up as a Hunter, he had a bit more healing to contribute, which helped considerably. Unfortunately, his leopard got on the bad end of a ogre hook, and died. Which led to tears from everyone. This group doesn't like it when people die, but when animals die: they mourn. Then Zeldu caught a critical hit from Jaagrath for over 100 points of damage! Essentially, the rogue was cut in half. As this was his first ever experience with gaming, I thought he took it incredibly well! He picked up Orik and ran him as his PC until the group could find a way to bring back Zeldu.
In the fight, Dax found his opportunity to slip out. Yulah started piecing things together, and realized that likely he was a traitor. Everyone else just figured that he was a coward, or perhaps he was captured by the real big bad.
Heading upstairs, they found Lucrecia and Dax - the traitor. Yulah got angry at her friend who had betrayed them, and unleashed holy hell on him. The poor bastard didn't stand a chance, dying in the second round without doing much. Lucrecia did a bit better, before Yulah rounded on her. After taking a bit of damage, she was able to disappear. It mirrored so well what her sister had attempted to do, only Lucrecia was successful.
The group had retaken Fort Rannick, but had lost their stalwart rogue. The player offered to roll up another character, but the group refused. They were going to bring him back, come hell or high water. High Water it was, because their quest was going to delay them stopping the dam from breaking. Additionally, the group said goodbye to Lorelai, as she had outleveled her mentor. They determined that she, Orik, Jakardos and Shalelu would remain at Fort Rannick and attempt to rebuild the Black Arrows.
This led to what I can only imagine was a tremendous spinoff from our Heroes of Sandpoint adventure! A gruff elven ranger who is trying to lead, her human mentor imparting wisdom and trying to build confidence in his protege, a human fighter with a shady past, and a beautiful sorceress. What a party!!! That storyline would be so entertaining!!!
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So the group discussed what they knew about the area, and determined that heading to the Sanos Forest to seek out Gnome druids would be the quickest way to get Zeldu back on his feet. I determined that they would agree to help them as long as they dealt with the haunting in the Shimmerglens. I figured their connection with the First World would perhaps make this disruption important to them, and ultimately: it was a way to refer the group to Chapter 4. Additionally, as Laurelai had outleveled Rosie, Rosie released her as her cohort. She decided to search for a new one, and decided that a gnome bard would be useful to the party. The group dealt with the haunts, and I added in an encounter of a pair of mad treants which was actually fairly harrowing. They made a lot of their saves so didn't have to deal with a large number of the challenges.
They were completely sympathetic with the nymph, and really approached her to help put her at ease. Even after she started screaming and raging at them, they kept calm. I used the opportunity to have the nymph lock onto Rosie, our cleric who had just connected with her long-lost love. The nymph saw her as a kindred, as she had also knew love that had been taken away by another. This was foreshadowing to a plot that would be coming up when Rosie would learn that her long-lost love is actually married to someone else!
Rosie swore that she would find Lamatar and reunite them. As they returned, the gnomes followed through on their bargain and revived Zeldu. Around this time, they heard the dam breaking, and left the forest in time to see Turtleback Ferry getting flooded with water. They decided to head straight to the dam rather than searching for survivors, thinking that unless something happened with the dam, there would be less chance for survivors.
The ogres on top of the dam gave them little to no trouble. Yulah decided to take a level of Barbarian and now, wielding a Giantbane Orc Double Axe, while raging, and power attacking she can easily drop over a hundred points of damage on a single target. The next chapter will definitely be interesting to see!
Grazuul harried the group with a handful of nasty hits. The cleric, though, planning ahead, cast Hydrophobia on him, causing him to intensely fear the water and leap outside. In addition to removing his cover bonus to AC, this cut him off from his ability to regenerate, and made the fight considerably easier.
The group ran into the Pit Fiend, and ultimately decided to set him free. They did convince him to tell him how the dam worked before letting him go. I'm not certain how I'm going to play the Pit Fiend coming back at them due to the humiliation. I think I'm going to tie him in to their backstory plots. Perhaps he might become a scourge of the criminal underworld in Korvosa, perhaps he might possess one of the NPCs they have relationships with, and inflict some havoc that way?
On to Hook Mountain, the group dropped off some supplies at Fort Rannick, before beginning the trek up the mountain. Everyone could ultimately make the climb with assistance, except for the gnome. They decided to saddle him up on Yulah's roc while the rest made the checks. The fight with the roc proved to be the most dangerous of all. He swept in and hit Rosie, pulling her off the mountain. The group had to use a combination of Hero Points, creative thinking, and some strategy to save their cleric from being flung off the side of a mountain.
Getting to the top, of the mountain. They quickly regrouped, and began exploring. The ogres, while they pack a punch, melt in the face of Yulah and her orc double axe. The group skipped right past the hags, who I believe promptly fled, reading the writing on the wall. I debated bringing them back in as a foil later on, but decided to just have them leave. The group was about to run back in to Lucrecia fighting alongside Barl, they have a Pit Fiend out there with some enmity against them, as well as other individuals from their past who may come back.
The group destroyed Lamatar with little effort, and moved on to Barl. Having Lucrecia here made the fight a bit more interesting, as she divided the fight up slightly. Additionally, while Yulah was focused on the giant, the others found beating on Lucrecia to be much more personally satisfying. I'd changed Barl to be a Hill Giant, so as to connect it with Yulah's back story. Additionally, there are a few Stone Giant wizards that I felt this would make it slightly less redundant. I also changed up his spell list to try to counter some of their tactics. This was a mistake, as I didn't know the spells well enough to make full use of them. After the fight, I looked back on some of the choices and realized how much smarter I could have played the fight. Ultimately, the heroes won the day. They had one party death at Fort Rannick, and a few other times where their hit points got close. In all: this was probably the best adventure for the group.