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I'm about to run the Pale Tower after a gap of some months (as always, bloody pregnancy grumble grumble) and I'm seriously concerned that my players are going to get themselves killed in a massive encounter they're just not ready for. They've already spent half the day's allowance of spells etc escaping from guards on the road.
I have a solution: on the way to the tower they stumble across the battlefield where the Black Rider was finally defeated, and where he left behind some neat stuff, just enough to help keep them alive. I can also flavour it a bit, to emphasise just how much of a badass he really was by the scale of devastation left behind. It that also gives me a chance to give them a second Mythic tier - early, by any calculation, but very helpful.
Can anybody suggest items that would be both useful and flavourful for the rider or his assailants to be carrying?
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So they already met the rider and gained the mantle, so presumably he was wearing his armor so that would not be an option here at a later point.
Rider's black shield.
Rider's black sword (or axe, or spear).
Rider's black helmet.
Dead Mirror Men (for foreshadowing) with special sword and a bunch of broken ones.
Dead witch with icicle wand. A good multicharge blasting item could be very helpful in an assault. Good source for other useful arcane items you want to give out.
Lots of dead wolves/boreal wolves/winter wolves.
Dead ice trolls.
Smashed undead or fey are a possibility (cold rider comes to mind, winter-touched redcaps). Dead winter fey could be a source for wondrous items like dust of illusion or disappearance.
Dead Winter Guard Irresen soldiers. Their dead commander could have useful things like a physical stat enhancer or more martial oriented appropriate magic items (natural armor amulet, ring of protection, cloak of resistance, magic armor, ring of cold resistance).
One thing I did in the game was describe the massacre on the other side of the Winter Portal with half a dozen soldiers dead and a couple trolls. You could do something similar, which would give you the opportunity to give the group a couple Masterwork cold iron longswords and chain shirts if they want them.
Thanks.
They just slaughtered a few ordinary guards, but witches' wands, cloaks and rings, wolf pelts and fairy dust are all nice. Illusion or disappearance are likely to serve them well in the coming encounter, and since they're one-use items they don't unbalance the whole campaign.
The rider's helmet is out - I described it evaporating with his armour - but I hadn't thought of a shield. Are there any particularly flavourful swords and shields you'd suggest? I can't give them a +47 Holy Flaming Sword of Awesomeness if the servant of winter wouldn't have been carrying it.
Adding to the flavour with a dead witch and her familiar is a nice thought. It foreshadows the familiars that witches will have throughout the campaign.
according to the description in Irrisen, Land of Eternal Winter, the black rider wields a +2 icy burst Spear, the red rider wields a +2 flaming scimitar, the white rider has a +2 seeking composite long bow with +1 brilliant energy arrows.
Thanks.
They just slaughtered a few ordinary guards, but witches' wands, cloaks and rings, wolf pelts and fairy dust are all nice. Illusion or disappearance are likely to serve them well in the coming encounter, and since they're one-use items they don't unbalance the whole campaign.
The rider's helmet is out - I described it evaporating with his armour - but I hadn't thought of a shield. Are there any particularly flavourful swords and shields you'd suggest? I can't give them a +47 Holy Flaming Sword of Awesomeness if the servant of winter wouldn't have been carrying it.
Hmm, zombieskin shield is kind of neat for the darkness motif and only gives a low CR attack buddy for a few minutes a day, soon not so relevant in higher level fights. Not quite congruent on the flavor though.
For winter's chmpion energy resitance cold of whatever level is appropriate. Black night = winter is a possible congruence but a bit of a stretch IMO. cold resistance would help with the sorceress captain, the winter-touched fey, Radosek, and his ice elementals.
Shadow generally only applies with armor and not shields.
Void scythe is a neat darkness weapon but way expensive.
Cruel, Huntsman, and Ominous seem to be good matches flavor wise but I'm not sure how helpful they'd be. Cruel gives survival help temp hp when dropping an opponent which is nice.