My game just went off the rails (help needed)


Skull & Shackles

Liberty's Edge

Spoilers, obviously.

3/4 of the way through the Island of Empty Eyes.

A couple sessions ago they started the assault on Sumitha and the captain of the ship wandered into the room with the trapper alone and invisible, trusting on his stealth to save him.
He was killed. Kinda.
I totally wussed out since I felt bad effectively killing him off camera without any save. So instead he was suffocated to near death and saved. But the player agreed that this lacked sting so the captain fell into a vegetative state for an indeterminate amount of time.

From there, the party did well and I was just doing some filler stuff before getting to the party preparations. I'd planned on skipping the Sunken Shrine but had 30 minutes to kill before the end of the game, so plenty of time for a quick giant jellyfish.
Buuuuut... half the party failed their save against the symbol of insanity trap and went permanently insane. 45 minutes of PvP ensued and much craziness before the mad pirates were tied up and baleful polymorphed into quippers.
And the party is at least two levels from having the spellcasting to deal with it.

Not wanting to just send them to Port Peril to let some NPC spellcaster restore them, I threw out the legendary "Spring of Rejuvenation" that restores people to their youthful prime and removes ailments.

Now I just need a location for said spring. Ideas?


There are lots of islands, or even make it a trek on the mainland through some jungle. There are some nice jungle encounter tables in heart of the jungle.

You could have the spring guarded by an evil fey or something that values the spring for its powers and doesn't want to share.

Sovereign Court

Just curious as to why you don't want them to put down some gold for some restorative spells? I mean sidequests are fine, as long as you don't mind slowing down the AP further...

Liberty's Edge

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:
Just curious as to why you don't want them to put down some gold for some restorative spells? I mean sidequests are fine, as long as you don't mind slowing down the AP further...

I'm trying to play things as lower magic, using inherent bonuses rather than just giving out waves of treasure and limiting NPC spellcasters. So there isn't the safety net of just running to Port Peril and throwing an insignificant amount of gold to make status effects go away.

So actions have lasting consequences.


Have Sefina take them thought some water portal to the plane of water. To heal them in some water temple of Pharasma.

Sovereign Court

Jester David wrote:
Purple Dragon Knight wrote:
Just curious as to why you don't want them to put down some gold for some restorative spells? I mean sidequests are fine, as long as you don't mind slowing down the AP further...

I'm trying to play things as lower magic, using inherent bonuses rather than just giving out waves of treasure and limiting NPC spellcasters. So there isn't the safety net of just running to Port Peril and throwing an insignificant amount of gold to make status effects go away.

So actions have lasting consequences.

As long as your players are on board with that play style, everything should be fine I guess. Otherwise some might see it as useless character gimping or DM powertrip. Also be careful if this is part of the greater Skulls and Shackles AP; these long-lasting character penalties may one day make the higher chapters impossible.

i.e. When GMing an AP, it's generally easier to accept the linear nature of things; it's almost better to keep the custom stuff until after the AP is over... I've allowed minor customization (i.e. after Tidewater Rock was theirs, they decided to develop it and build a waterfront and dockyard; all this stuff is great but happens behind the scenes and doesn't affect character wealth, etc.) After the AP is over this will be a great base and then I'll perhaps allow the money train to flow their way a little...

Liberty's Edge

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

As long as your players are on board with that play style, everything should be fine I guess. Otherwise some might see it as useless character gimping or DM powertrip. Also be careful if this is part of the greater Skulls and Shackles AP; these long-lasting character penalties may one day make the higher chapters impossible.

i.e. When GMing an AP, it's generally easier to accept the linear nature of things; it's almost better to keep the custom stuff until after the AP is over... I've allowed minor customization (i.e. after Tidewater Rock was theirs, they decided to develop it and build a waterfront and dockyard; all this stuff is great but happens behind the scenes and doesn't affect character wealth, etc.) After the AP is over this will be a great base and then I'll perhaps allow the money train to flow their way a little...

The player of the character that became catatonic suggested that something longer lasting happened to his character, because being saved due to GM mercy lacked drama.

And after the prior death of a PC the party agreed they didn't want much NPC resurrection magic. There was some talk of treating the insane PCs as "dead" and rerolling. But they were also okay with the idea of a side quest. Especially since there was a narrative gap in the story as the fort needed to be repaired and the pirate council wasn't visiting for over two months.

Sovereign Court

You Sir must start remembering that demons like these exist just for the very opportunity you described, and offer a helping hand in exchange for... something... ;)

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Adventure Path / Skull & Shackles / My game just went off the rails (help needed) All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Skull & Shackles