Stratt's Seven Days to the Grave Campaign Notes - Major Spoilers Within!!!


Curse of the Crimson Throne


Overview of Changes


    My Ileosa is a master of manipulation playing the PCs in her bid to solidify control over Korvosa so she can enact her plan and ascend to immorality. As such she is depending on the party to help her end the threats to her beloved Korvosa. The fact that she is the one engineering these threats isn’t evident yet and shouldn’t come to light for a long time.

    Ileosa is a Lawful Evil person and the thought that she would commit genocide without a good reason seems out of place to her alignment. That seems like the actions of a Chaotic Evil person. Ethnic Cleansing that cements her rule over the city though, that seems more in line with her alignment.

    The events as written in the module don’t have much to do with stopping the spread of the plague. Most of the encounters before the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden have nothing to do with the plague at all and there is no path that really leads the party to conclude that they need to be at the Hospice besides Croft telling them to go there.

Downtime

    Six to eight weeks after Blackjack abducts Trinia from her execution.

    City returned to normal though heavy patrols still searching for remnants of anarchist cells.

    Arkonas refute the accusations of involvement and lacking hard evidence Ileosa doesn’t take direct action against them. Still Arkonas largely withdraw to Old Korvosa to regroup.

    Party given opportunity to explore the city, craft, shop, find rumors, and other activities.

A Queen’s Request

    Early one morning the party receives a summons from Croft to meet with Ileosa.

    Ileosa fears a plague unleashed on her city that threatens the very people she rules. She asks the party to investigate matters before they get any worse and report back to her what they learn.

    Croft takes the party back to the citadel. Party meets Grau and learn his niece Brienna fell ill a few days ago with symptoms that match those turning up around the city.

    Croft informs the party that plague not of natural origins. Two Korvosan guards, during a routine patrol in Old Korvosa, apprehended a crazed man thought a remnant of the Anarchist cell. The man, sickly and near death when arrested, blabbered on about an engineered plague released into the city as punishment for Ileosa’s sins against Korvosa. Occurred over a week ago but with no signs of a plague or any other information no follow up. The man died shortly after integration but before passing said this. “Slow to start … soon the real threat will consume you all.”

An Introduction to Blood Veil

    Party meets Ishani while checking on Brienna. Ishani confirms other sick match symptoms and most sick are poorer citizens.

    The party learns about the disease through Heal checks or magic and can cure Brienna.

    Ishani invites the party to the Temple of Abadar if they wish to learn more about the plague from the priests.

    At the temple the party sees first hand the scope of infected as hundreds of diseased citizens beg for healing from the overwhelmed priests.

    The party also learns about the missing Arbiter, Zenobia but with little context to make it meaningful.

The Queen’s Physician

    When party reports in to Croft they meet Dr Davaulus and his attendants (priestesses of Urgathoa that are not wearing masks because really if they were wearing masks the party would probably kill them on the spot after making their Religion check to identify the masks.)

    Party learns some information about Davaulus; he was someone always highly spoken about by the now missing Seneschal Neolandus as a medical genius and often times called upon by Eodred and his mother in times of need.

    Davaulus based out of Hospice of the Blessed Maiden. Hospice was an Arkonas warehouse just a month ago when it was gifted to a mysterious benefactor and made a hospice in an unexpected gesture by the Arkonas.

    Party should make frequent reports and visits with Ileosa. Ileosa desires to build rapport with the party as valued pawns for future use.

Crash of the Direption

    Crash of the Direption meant to be less red herring and more a mechanism of contamination equally providing an alternative way to spread the plague and divert attention from activities happening within the city.

    The night the party meets with Davaulus the Direption crashes into the harbor, shot down by the cannons protecting Korvosa harbor. While unusual for an unidentified ship to get shot down, heighten tension from the plague and lingering anarchist fears led to increased security.

    No immediate leads pointing to the Direption, Croft welcomes the party to investigating if they want. After a few days Croft mentions, in earshot of the PCs, that the people she sent to check out the ship never returned and preps another team to look into things. Eventually Croft asks the PCs if they have time to check into it.

    Add encounter in the Captain’s Quarters where Rois Vindmel has returned to unlife as a ghost haunting the Captain’s Cabin howling the name “Andaisin.”

    The ship had a number of canisters of Blood Veil rigged to explode when the ship contacted the harbor docks. The explosion would have propelled Blood Veil into the dock district spreading the disease. Instead the canisters exploded when the ship was sunk leaving the interior sections of the ship exposed to Blood Veil.

Quarantine of Old Korvosa

    The PCs are contacted by Ileosa asking their opinion on a mater of public policy. In the room with Ileosa are both Croft and Davaulus.

    As most of the plague is being spread in Old Korvosa, a place with higher concentration of poor people, Ileosa must decide if Old Korvosa should be quarantined or not. Croft favors a quarantine to limit exposure (she is LN and not good aligned) while Davaulus opposes it for fear that it could condemn hundred or even thousands to death (in reality he doesn’t want to prevent the spread of the disease and realizes a quarantine would do just that.)

    Ileosa asks the party for their input but absent of any compelling argument by the PCs goes forward with the quarantine, mentioning it’s justice for the Arkonas after what they put her through.

Riots in the Street

    Not long after the quarantine goes into effect the PCs come across a riot happening.

    A group of locals, not happy with increased curfew laws and the quarantine of Old Korvosa start to violently protest the blockade point. This prompts a reaction for the Hellknights that wipes out the rioters unless the PCs can intervene and bring about a more peaceful solution.

Wererats Pushing the Plague

    Investigations into the plague reveal one recurring clue. Many of the early sick people became so after coming into contact with large amounts of silver they “happened” to find in back alleys.

    Additionally rumors of mysterious silver drops left by cloaked forms crop up in the poorer sections of town with many poor people on the look out for these “cloaked’ saviors.

    If investigated the PCs stumble upon one such silver drop leading to a confrontation with wererats.

    Tracking back the wererats to their lair puts the PCs at the sewer entrance.

    This investigation ends with the party finding a cache of tainted silver and a reference of more shipments on the way from the “Toy Shop.”

A Cure! Or is It?

    Rumors of a cure to the plague quickly spread through the city. The rumors lead to Lavender’s Perfume Boutique.

    Vendra is in the shop selling “a cure” for Blood Veil that promises to not only cure those infected but prevent the uninfected from contracting the disease.

    In reality Vendra works for Davaulus, though all her contact has been with the Rolth.

    The “cure” Vendra sells is actual contaminated with Blood Veil and provides another way to spread disease through the city.

    Notes found in the shop point to the “Toy Shop” as the source for her cure and also note concerns about an actual cure that could be in development with a note that reads “Rolth must know they are close to a cure! Carowyn.”

The Infected Undead

    With large number of poor dying to the plague, plague carts pulled by those under the hire of the priests of Pharasma roam the city gathering up corpses to transport to the Grey District.

    One such cart, full of corpses headed for disposal in the Grey District, encounters a problem when the corpses on the cart awaken as undead plague ghouls and start terrorizing things.

    The party, not far from where the trouble is, can investigate and put down the undead plague ghouls.

Distribution Center

    A number of clues point towards a Toy Shop, the distribution center for Blood Veil. The location of the Toy Shop can be learned from an interrogation of Vendra Loaggri, or through the use of Gather Information checks related to recently abandoned or closed toy shops in the area.

    The vampire spawns in the toy shop work for Ramoska Arkminos and are responsible for supplying Blood Veil to the various distribution channels that will unleash it on the city.

    Clearing out the vampire spawns, the party finds a ledger that details all the ways for distribution of the disease (both those that have already happened and those planned for the future.) With this information Croft can start prevention of the plague spreading in the city.

To Stop a Cure

    Under the authority of Croft and in conjunction with the church of Abadar, a cure to Blood Veil is under the works at Carowyn Manor. So far Croft has kept the cure a secret to everyone, distrustful of Davaulus. Secrecy is the reason to develop the cure with the assistance of house Caroywn, a prospect the power hungry house Carowyn is eager to entertain.

    Should the party show the note from Vendra to Croft, she confides in the party about the cure and asks them to check on Carowyn Manor. Alternatively Croft will eventually approach the party when she admits to having lost contact with the manor for a few days and is worried something might have happened.

    The encounter plays out mostly as written with a few exceptions. Jolistina arrives with assistance from the Sable Company Marines to butcher everyone in the house, mask their wounds, and make it look like they succumbed to the plague while researching a cure.

    Add encounters with priests of Abador raised as undead to assist Jolistina.

    In the Cellar of the manor the party can learn valuable information from Ausio Carowyn. Ausio recalls Sable Company Marines assisting Jolistina killing everyone in the house. He also remembers mention of a Hospice but cannot remember the full name just that it was “blessed.” He also lets the party know that many of his servants were taken away by the Sable Company Marine instead of being butchered though he cannot fathom why.

Hospice of the Blessed Maiden

    At this point all signs point to the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden. If some prodding is needed, Croft confides that she doesn’t trust Davaulus and thinks he might be up to something though she fears bringing it up to Ileosa without proof.

    The only real change required to this encounter is replacing all Grey Maidens with Sable Company Marines.

    After the party defeats Andaisin, a detachment of Grey Maidens under the authority of Ileosa secure the place.

What Really Happened?

    Ileosa, wanting to cement her own authority over the armed forces while also enduring herself to the city as their savior, coordinated the spread of a disease to create a pandemic. This creates a threat that she can then save the city from. It also allows her to replace the Sable Company Marines, an order not loyal to the crown, with her own loyal Grey Maidens. Using compulsion magic on a number of the Sable Marine Company Ileosa dominates them and places them in the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden so that when the party puts a stop to things there is proof that the Sable Marines are heavily involved.

    Ileosa then hires the Red Mantis and brings in the Cult of Urgathoa to engineer a plague to spread across the city (as well as a cure her chosen heroes will find to save the city.) Fearful of a plague that would actually cause harm to herself she is ensured that the plague can be engineered to exclude those of Cheliax blood from infection.

    With things in place Ileosa dominates Major Maeca Salus of the Sable Company and uses him as the “orchestrator” of things. As far as key villains are concerned Maeca is the one calling the shots. She is determined that the party discovers the role of the Sable Company Marines in what is going on and plans to use this as the perfect opportunity to disband the Sable Company, replacing them with her Grey Maidens.

    Ileosa then ensures the breadcrumbs are laid that will tip off the Korvosan Guard to the nefarious nature of the plague and calls on the party to assist her in stopping it.


Stratt wrote:

My Ileosa is a master of manipulation playing the PCs in her bid to solidify control over Korvosa so she can enact her plan and ascend to immorality. As such she is depending on the party to help her end the threats to her beloved Korvosa. The fact that she is the one engineering these threats isn’t evident yet and shouldn’t come to light for a long time.

Ileosa is a Lawful Evil person and the thought that she would commit genocide without a good reason seems out of place to her alignment. That seems like the actions of a Chaotic Evil person. Ethnic Cleansing that cements her rule over the city though, that seems more in line with her alignment.

(…)

What Really Happened?
Ileosa, wanting to cement her own authority over the armed forces while also endearing herself to the city as their savior, coordinated the spread of a disease to create a pandemic. This creates a threat that she can then save the city from. It also allows her to replace the Sable Company Marines, an order not loyal to the crown, with her own loyal Grey Maidens. Using compulsion magic on a number of the Sable Marine Company Ileosa dominates them and places them in the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden, so that when the party puts a stop to things there is proof that the Sable Marines are heavily involved.

Ileosa then hires the Red Mantis and brings in the Cult of Urgathoa to engineer a plague to spread across the city (as well as a cure her chosen heroes will find to save the city.) Fearful of a plague that would actually cause harm to herself she is ensured that the plague can be engineered to exclude those of Cheliax blood from infection.
With things in place Ileosa dominates Major Maeca Salus of the Sable Company and uses him as the “orchestrator” of things. As far as key villains are concerned Maeca is the one calling the shots. She is determined that the party discovers the role of the Sable Company Marines in what is going on and plans to use this as the perfect opportunity to disband the Sable Company, replacing them with her Grey Maidens.
Ileosa then ensures the breadcrumbs are laid that will tip off the Korvosan Guard to the nefarious nature of the plague and calls on the party to assist her in stopping it.

First of all, I agree that Ileosa’s motivations in the AP as written are a bit shaky. Why would she unleash a plague on the city she intends to rule? What is left to rule if everyone is dead? The suggestion in the AP is that she wants to cleanse the city of Varisians, but her means to accomplish this goal kill off Chelaxians as well, not the best tactics.

You solve this problem by having the Chelaxians be immune. Perfect!

Next you want to give a double role to Ileosa’s plans for the plague: firstly, she uses it to eliminate part of the Varisian population, secondly she wants to save the city from the plague to become the hero. Again, I can follow your train of thought and I agree, it fits in better with a lawful evil character. Through further manipulation she wants to discredit the Sable Company by ‘involving’ them in the plot. I can see where you’re going with this and it certainly fits with the master of manipulation idea.

So, in all, you’ve come up with some pretty solid ideas to make the plotline more credible. Nice work.

I do have a harder time understanding why she would want to involve the party. It would make more sense to have her unleash the plague, have it wreak its havoc and then come forward with a cure, making her the city’s hero. Calling in the party to help risks uncovering her involvement or messing up her plans, since the party are somewhat of a wild card that she cannot fully control. What does she gain by hiring the party? I’d rather have her send out her own private guard, the Gray Maidens, to uncover the ‘evil Sable Company plot’ and then offer the cure. At least Ileosa is in full control of her guard and in the eyes of the public the queen will be synonymous to her guard, so again she would be their hero.

Stratt wrote:
Croft informs the party that plague not of natural origins. Two Korvosan guards, during a routine patrol in Old Korvosa, apprehended a crazed man thought a remnant of the Anarchist cell. The man, sickly and near death when arrested, blabbered on about an engineered plague released into the city as punishment for Ileosa’s sins against Korvosa. Occurred over a week ago but with no signs of a plague or any other information no follow up. The man died shortly after integration but before passing said this. “Slow to start … soon the real threat will consume you all.”

Again, I can see why you want to add this. The party knows from the start of the adventure that the plague is engineered, so all their following actions will have more purpose because they want to uncover this plot and stop its consequences. You decision to make this man’s testimony a done deal, with ”no other information, no follow up” feels like an easy way out for yourself. Who is this man? What role did he play in the ploy? You don’t need to answer that because there is no follow-up. I’m not a big fan of that element in your story. So I’d urge you to come up with some background and involve the PCs in the story: maybe this man was an Urgathoa fanatic who became a sort of slow suicide bomber (plague spreader). Maybe the PCs caught him before he died and interrogated him.

Stratt wrote:
When party reports in to Croft they meet Dr Davaulus and his attendants (priestesses of Urgathoa that are not wearing masks because really if they were wearing masks the party would probably kill them on the spot after making their Religion check to identify the masks.)

You lost me here, the avian masks are not Urgathoan masks, they are plague masks and make perfect sense. Of course nowadays, the iconography of plague masks is something we associate with horror and bad guys, so I could understand you wanting to skip them for that reason. The party will immediately feel suspicious of these masked doctors. On the other hand, keeping the masks is a pretty strong and exciting story element, simply because they are so iconic.

Stratt wrote:
Party learns some information about Davaulus; he was someone always highly spoken about by the now missing Seneschal Neolandus as a medical genius and often times called upon by Eodred and his mother in times of need.

Okay, so where was the good doctor when the king was dying?

Stratt wrote:
Party should make frequent reports and visits with Ileosa. Ileosa desires to build rapport with the party as valued pawns for future use.

Good motivation, wrong way to achieve it. Ileosa is making the party stronger, more involved and more popular, without trying to slowly convert them to her ideals. If she wants to mold the party into her tool, she will need to sway them, manipulate them, corrupt them, because at some point she will have to play her cards and reveal her evil. Then, the powerful party of do-gooders she helped create will turn against her. So she is working at her own downfall. If she uses her own Gray Maidens instead of the party, she avoids that threat.

Stratt wrote:

Crash of the Direption meant to be less red herring and more a mechanism of contamination equally providing an alternative way to spread the plague and divert attention from activities happening within the city.

(…)

The ship had a number of canisters of Blood Veil rigged to explode when the ship contacted the harbor docks. The explosion would have propelled Blood Veil into the dock district spreading the disease. Instead the canisters exploded when the ship was sunk leaving the interior sections of the ship exposed to Blood Veil.

Yeah, I’m not fond of the AP’s red herring theory. Your rewrite makes it a weapon that failed to reach its target. I certainly prefer that approach.

Stratt wrote:

As most of the plague is being spread in Old Korvosa, a place with higher concentration of poor people, Ileosa must decide if Old Korvosa should be quarantined or not. Croft favors a quarantine to limit exposure (she is LN and not good aligned) while Davaulus opposes it for fear that it could condemn hundred or even thousands to death (in reality he doesn’t want to prevent the spread of the disease and realizes a quarantine would do just that.)

Ileosa asks the party for their input but absent of any compelling argument by the PCs goes forward with the quarantine, mentioning it’s justice for the Arkonas after what they put her through.

You involve the PCs in the decision process, a good call. Of course, you would have to make sure the PCs are in favor of the idea, or else you will foil the AP’s next adventure. And what does Ileosa hope to gain by doing this? Wouldn’t she agree with Davaulus instead?

Maybe you can rewrite it, so the PCs defend the idea of sealing off Endrin Island. Have the PCs learn of the plague’s intensity in Old Korvosa and take up that news with Kroft. Kroft’s military mind quickly jumps to the only safe solution for this problem: quarantine (unless the PCs already offer this as a solution, which would be even better). If the PCs agree with her, you can have them join her to try and convince the queen, of they do not, you can Kroft go alone.

Stratt wrote:

Wererats Pushing the Plague

Investigations into the plague reveal one recurring clue. Many of the early sick people became so after coming into contact with large amounts of silver they “happened” to find in back alleys.

Additionally rumors of mysterious silver drops left by cloaked forms crop up in the poorer sections of town with many poor people on the look out for these “cloaked’ saviors. If investigated the PCs stumble upon one such silver drop leading to a confrontation with wererats. Tracking back the wererats to their lair puts the PCs at the sewer entrance. This investigation ends with the party finding a cache of tainted silver and a reference of more shipments on the way from the “Toy Shop.”

So, you’re basically turning the wererats into bad guys who aided in spreading the plague through the infected silver coins. Yeah, that works, I guess. It does eliminate the original plot of the wererats being falsely suspected/accused of involvement, which was an element that I liked, but I find no other issue with your change.

Stratt wrote:

Rumors of a cure to the plague quickly spread through the city. The rumors lead to Lavender’s Perfume Boutique.

Vendra is in the shop selling “a cure” for Blood Veil that promises to not only cure those infected but prevent the uninfected from contracting the disease. In reality Vendra works for Davaulus, though all her contact has been with the Rolth. The “cure” Vendra sells is actually contaminated with Blood Veil and provides another way to spread disease through the city.

Okay, again this makes sense. Stopping Vendra also prevents the plague from spreading even more, so it fits in with your focus on the plague.

Stratt wrote:
Notes found in the shop point to the “Toy Shop” as the source for her cure and also note concerns about an actual cure that could be in development with a note that reads “Rolth must know they are close to a cure! Carowyn.”

Okay, now I’m confused. The note was written by Carowyn? He’s informing the enemy? So, he is a double-crosser? Or does the note say “Rolth must know they are close to a cure at the Carowyn manor”? I think the latter makes more sense.

Stratt wrote:

A number of clues point towards a Toy Shop, the distribution center for Blood Veil. The location of the Toy Shop can be learned from an interrogation of Vendra Loaggri, or through the use of Gather Information checks related to recently abandoned or closed toy shops in the area.

The vampire spawns in the toy shop work for Ramoska Arkminos and are responsible for supplying Blood Veil to the various distribution channels that will unleash it on the city.
Clearing out the vampire spawns, the party finds a ledger that details all the ways for distribution of the disease (both those that have already happened and those planned for the future.) With this information Croft can start prevention of the plague spreading in the city.

Good rewrite, definitely better than the original idea.

Stratt wrote:
Under the authority of Croft and in conjunction with the church of Abadar, a cure to Blood Veil is under the works at Carowyn Manor. So far Croft has kept the cure a secret to everyone, distrustful of Davaulus. Secrecy is the reason to develop the cure with the assistance of house Caroywn, a prospect the power hungry house Carowyn is eager to entertain.

If this is your new approach, I don’t see why Carowyn would write a note for Rolth (?).

Stratt wrote:

Should the party show the note from Vendra to Croft, she confides in the party about the cure and asks them to check on Carowyn Manor. Alternatively Croft will eventually approach the party when she admits to having lost contact with the manor for a few days and is worried something might have happened.

The encounter plays out mostly as written with a few exceptions. Jolistina arrives with assistance from the Sable Company Marines to butcher everyone in the house, mask their wounds, and make it look like they succumbed to the plague while researching a cure.
Add encounters with priests of Abador raised as undead to assist Jolistina.
In the Cellar of the manor the party can learn valuable information from Ausio Carowyn. Ausio recalls Sable Company Marines assisting Jolistina killing everyone in the house. He also remembers mention of a Hospice but cannot remember the full name just that it was “blessed.” He also lets the party know that many of his servants were taken away by the Sable Company Marine instead of being butchered though he cannot fathom why.

So, who are the dead people in Carowyn’s manor? Is he giving a party while researching a cure in his basement? I must admit that I always had trouble with this part of the original adventure, and I cannot tell how you are fixing it. I also don’t understand how Kroft would hire Carowyn to produce a cure and then lose contact with the manor for a few days. Hasn’t she placed troops at the manor for protection? And how has Carowyn withstood the enemy for so many days? Just a simple door suffices to keep them out?

Here’s what I would do. Carowyn is a skillful alchemist, who offered to look for a cure, hoping to save the city and at the same time improve the standing of his house. He approached Kroft with this idea, who decided to accept, but keep it under the wraps, because she doesn’t trust Davaulus. She also sent six guards to the manor to watch over lord Carowyn and two priests of Abadar, who are assisting him in his research. The guards had to stay inside, out of sight, because they were on a ‘secret’ mission. One of them sold the information to the bad guys.

The bad guys send Jolistina to kill Carowyn. She kills the guards and the priests and raises them as zombies, but Carowyn locks himself in the basement, or even better, in his safe, so she cannot get at him for the moment. When Kroft sends six guards to replace the ones in the manor, they are killed by Jolistina and her zombies.

When the PCs bring Vendra’s note to Kroft, she sends for one of the guards who was just relieved of his duty in the manor to brief them on the alchemist’s progress. Apparently, none of the guards have returned yet. This is reason for concern, so Kroft asks the PCs to go to the manor themselves to see the alchemist and at the same time, check out if anything is wrong.

Now the PCs will confront Jolistina, two priest zombies and twelve guard zombies in the house, before freeing Carowyn from his predicament. The alchemist might have overheard something about a ‘holy hospital’ or ‘holy hospice’ or something. It is also important that Carowyn has not found a cure yet; he won’t be able to do that until the PCs bring him the Urgathoan notes on the plague they find in the Hospice.

I’m not such a big fan of you using Sable Company marines assisting Jolistina. These marines would have to be dominated to act completely against their own morals, endangering their own lives in the process. This kind of magic is very powerful and a bit of a cheesy solution for your plan to discredit the Sable Company. It would be easier to have Jolistina bring along some allies who are dressed up as marines. After all, you don’t want the PCs to hate the Sable Company, do you? How will they be able to trust Kalepopolis in the future, unless they learn that he is on the good side?

Stratt wrote:

At this point all signs point to the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden. If some prodding is needed, Croft confides that she doesn’t trust Davaulus and thinks he might be up to something though she fears bringing it up to Ileosa without proof.

The only real change required to this encounter is replacing all Grey Maidens with Sable Company Marines.
After the party defeats Andaisin, a detachment of Grey Maidens under the authority of Ileosa secure the place.

Kroft sends the PCs to the Hospice without informing Ileosa because she has no proof against Davaulus. That makes sense. Replacing the Gray Maidens with Sable Company marines does not. Guarding buildings is definitely not on the company’s list. Are these marines dominated as well? Damn, that is a lot of overpowered domination. I’m not a fan of that.

Just let the Gray Maidens guard the Hospice, but they are only above the ground. The only ones that are allowed into the basement, are Davaulus and his doctors. So when the PCs find a temple to Urgathoa down there, the Maidens have perfect deniability and even your PCs won’t know for sure if they are lying.

-----

In conclusion, you do offer some plausible rewrites that fix issues that you might have with the adventure as written. I had similar issues with elements in the original story; though my fixes were different from yours. I like a number of your changes, but I struggle with some of your suggested ideas, mainly:
- Why would Ileosa hire the PCs to counter her own machinations, while the PCs are a force that she does not control and who might (and hopefully eventually will) become a threat to her? If her only motivation is being seen as the city’s savior, there are better solutions. It makes more sense that the PCs get involved of their own accord or at Kroft’s request.
- Why are you pushing so hard for the Sable Company to be discredited, so much so that your way to achieving this goal becomes unbelievable? If Ileosa can control so many other so easily, why doesn’t she just dominate the PCs as well? I agree that it does add a layer of intrigue, but you should think it through, so your PCs will believe it.

As always, I can’t resist referring you to my journal on these boards, where you can read how I adjusted the adventure.


Appreciate the feedback. It's spurred some new ideas on how to tighten up the story.

MrVergee wrote:


I do have a harder time understanding why she would want to involve the party. It would make more sense to have her unleash the plague, have it wreak its havoc and then come forward with a cure, making her the city’s hero. Calling in the party to help risks uncovering her involvement or messing up her plans, since the party are somewhat of a wild card that she cannot fully control. What does she gain by hiring the party? I’d rather have her send out her own private guard, the Gray Maidens, to uncover the ‘evil Sable Company plot’ and then offer the cure. At least Ileosa is in full control of her guard and in the eyes of the public the queen will be synonymous to her guard, so again she would be their hero.

How I see this.

First, it plays with Ileosa's manipulative personality to convince a group of heroes to further her goals.

Second, it grants Ileosa third party validation so that other's won't be able to point at her setting things up. It wasn't her Grey Maidens that uncovered a plot by the Sable Company Marines and put an end to it only to then replace the Sable Company but a well regarded group of heroes that have already prevented an anarchist plot against the crown (in chapter one.)

Third, it gives the party a reason to trust in Ileosa more instead of feed the instant suspicion then have because "the queen must be the bad person."

Ileosa likely sees herself as so far above the party that they are but pawns for her ploy. Sure that will come back to bite her in the ass.

MrVergee wrote:

Who is this man? What role did he play in the ploy? You don’t need to answer that because there is no follow-up. I’m not a big fan of that element in your story. So I’d urge you to come up with some background and involve the PCs in the story: maybe this man was an Urgathoa fanatic who became a sort of slow suicide bomber (plague spreader). Maybe the PCs caught him before he died and interrogated him.

I could see the man living to be interrogated. The purpose of him dying wasn't so much to limit the party from having access to him as much as it was to keep him in the background, some information passed along from Croft that she didn't think much of at the time but now has more meaning. Either way I would prepare a background for the person assuming that the party would try to investigate who he was and would want to provide them some info for their efforts.

MrVergee wrote:

You lost me here, the avian masks are not Urgathoan masks, they are plague masks and make perfect sense. Of course nowadays, the iconography of plague masks is something we associate with horror and bad guys, so I could understand you wanting to skip them for that reason. The party will immediately feel suspicious of these masked doctors. On the other hand, keeping the masks is a pretty strong and exciting story element, simply because they are so iconic.

The plague masks I think are too much of a tip to the party that the Queen's Physicians are bad people and will cast immediate suspicion on them. I think the mask's primary purpose is to prevent alignment detection and thus the physicians wear them at all times. I don't really understand why else the physicians are wearing masks while meeting with Croft in a circumstance that has no real chance of infection and I think the party will come to the same conclusion. I can easily see the party going straight to the hospice and skipping everything else. Rather then open up that possibility it's easier to remove the masks entirely. To work back in the masks I'd probably have the physicians at the hospice wearing the masks as an aid to prevent infection while treating people. That makes a lot more sense.

MrVergee wrote:

Okay, so where was the good doctor when the king was dying?

Good point. I am trying to avoid the immediate suspicion that will get cast on Ileosa because hiring Davaulus was her idea so this would give her a reason for bringing him on. It's possible she doesn't really need the reason. I would like to flesh out his backstory in a way that doesn't tip the party off to what's going on. Looking into who Davaulus is would be a logic path for the party to follow. Croft, I imagine, would also immediately try to dig up as much on Davaulus as possible. Maybe he has regional fame for preventing plagues in other cities giving him a bit of a reputation? A doctor that engineers a plague, lets it loose on a city, then shows up and offers to assist the rulers in fighting it off for a pretty bit of coin.

MrVergee wrote:

Okay, now I’m confused. The note was written by Carowyn? He’s informing the enemy? So, he is a double-crosser? Or does the note say “Rolth must know they are close to a cure at the Carowyn manor”? I think the latter makes more sense.

The idea would be that Vendra learned that Carowyn is working on a cure for Blood Veil and wrote a note down to inform Rolth of this. Like a memo or something. The actual note would probably be a letter addressed to Rolth asking for progress on dealing with the Carowyn problem that she hadn't had a chance to deliver to Rolth before the party shows up.

MrVergee wrote:

Here’s what I would do. Carowyn is a skillful alchemist, who offered to look for a cure, hoping to save the city and at the same time improve the standing of his house. He approached Kroft with this idea, who decided to accept, but keep it under the wraps, because she doesn’t trust Davaulus. She also sent six guards to the manor to watch over lord Carowyn and two priests of Abadar, who are assisting him in his research. The guards had to stay inside, out of sight, because they were on a ‘secret’ mission. One of them sold the information to the bad guys.

The bad guys send Jolistina to kill Carowyn. She kills the guards and the priests and raises them as zombies, but Carowyn locks himself in the basement, or even better, in his safe, so she cannot get at him for the moment. When Kroft sends six guards to replace the ones in the manor, they are killed by Jolistina and her zombies.

When the PCs bring Vendra’s note to Kroft, she sends for one of the guards who was just relieved of his duty in the manor to brief them on the alchemist’s progress. Apparently, none of the guards have returned yet. This is reason for concern, so Kroft asks the PCs to go to the manor themselves to see the alchemist and at the same time, check out if anything is wrong.

Thanks for these great ideas! Most of the things leading up to the Carowyn estate, while not really related to Blood Veil, at least seemed plausible to happen. The Carowyn party was just so random that it felt like it was added in as a filler encounter to get encounter numbers up.

MrVergee wrote:

Kroft sends the PCs to the Hospice without informing Ileosa because she has no proof against Davaulus. That makes sense. Replacing the Gray Maidens with Sable Company marines does not. Guarding buildings is definitely not on the company’s list. Are these marines dominated as well? Damn, that is a lot of overpowered domination. I’m not a fan of that.

There are a few things that really bug me that I'm trying to fix.

First, if the hospice is teaming with Grey Maidens and the hospice is uncovered as a cover for the Cult of Urgathoa why wouldn't the entire city revolt when Ileosa replaces the Sable Company with the Grey Maidens in chapter 3?

Second, in Chapter 3 why does Ileosa disband the Sable Company? It just seems she is acting without any cause and a smart manipulative villain would try to ensure that her actions had just cause.

Third, why does Marcus Endrin try to kill Ileosa at the start of Chapter 3? Didn't make any sense to me.

I agree with you that charm person / domination shouldn't be overly used. How about a different take on things.

Ileosa, using her non-magical charming ways is able to corrupt one of the higher ranking Sable Company Marine captains. This would be one of the direct reports to Marcus Endrin. We'll call this person Captain Maeca Salus. The seduction could be a combination of philosophical corruption and bodily seduction but the result gives Ileosa a high ranking Sable Company Marine captain.

Maeca works to manipulate marine assignments so that the people reporting under him are those more inline with his way of thinking (probably the more LE nature members of the Sable Company Marines.) Ileosa could have started putting this plan in motion before Eodred even died giving her years for Maeca to prepare.

Maeca probably thinks that Ileosa is preparing for him to replace Endrin as the commandant of the Sable Company Marines. In actuality Ileosa is looking for a fall person to take the blame that allows her Grey Maidens to ascend to power.

Blindly dedicated to Ileosa Maeca doesn't question when ordered to place guards at the hospice. Maeca might even know what's going on though I don't know it's important he does.

Probably some of the Sable Company Marines stationed in the hospice are hesitant to help what is obviously a group of doctors showing no interest in curing the disease but as military people they are use to following orders even if they don't understand them. This could give the party a source of information if they can convince the less eager Sable Company guards to talk. All indications of why they are here and what they are doing would point back to Maeca and not Ileosa as the rank and file Sable Company Marine probably has no idea that Maeca is involved with Ileosa.

To pull things off I'd have to have Maeca as an encounter in the hospice. A confused party that comes across a fanatically loyal Maeca seems a must. Having Maeca some off stage character the party hears about but never meets undermines the involvement of the marines and leaves a pretty big plot hole.

I think this solves most of my problems?

It gives a reason for the Sable Company Marine to get disbanded due to their involvement spreading the plague under the leadership of a high ranking marine captain while allowing the core of the marines to still be of use when the party finally acts against Ileosa in the future. I'd see it like a Three Musketeers moment from the movie when the disbanded Sable Company Marines comes out of "retirement" to take up arms against the queen.

It gives a reason for the Grey Maidens to take over for the Sable Company Marines and not be the ones actually defending the spreaders of the plague at the same time.

And it gives Ileosa her pawns to enact her plan without needing to dominate half the city to do it. This allows Ileosa to remain removed from suspicion for as long as possible.

Thoughts?


Stratt wrote:
Ileosa likely sees herself as so far above the party that they are but pawns for her ploy. Sure that will come back to bite her in the ass.

Alright, as long as you can explain it, I’m on board.

Stratt wrote:
To work back in the (plague) masks I'd probably have the physicians at the hospice wearing the masks as an aid to prevent infection while treating people. That makes a lot more sense.

I think I would like that detail as a player.

Stratt wrote:
I am trying to avoid the immediate suspicion that will get cast on Ileosa because hiring Davaulus was her idea so this would give her a reason for bringing him on. It's possible she doesn't really need the reason. I would like to flesh out his backstory in a way that doesn't tip the party off to what's going on. Looking into who Davaulus is would be a logic path for the party to follow. Croft, I imagine, would also immediately try to dig up as much on Davaulus as possible. Maybe he has regional fame for preventing plagues in other cities giving him a bit of a reputation? A doctor that engineers a plague, lets it loose on a city, then shows up and offers to assist the rulers in fighting it off for a pretty bit of coin.

I guess you could make Davaulus a great plague fighting doctor, although that would make him even more devilish than he even is. (B.t.w. I changed his name into Doctor Dave Saulus, because his name in itself could be a give-away as well, devilish Davaulus.)

You can also use the hook from the book (at least I think this is what the book suggests). Davaulus was Ileosa’s family doctor back in Cheliax. When her husband was ill, he insisted on being treated by Korvosan physicians, i.e. Abadaran priests and possibly some priests from the other churches. In my campaign Archbanker Darb Tuttle was his personal doctor and the king also called in Sarenrae’s high priest (since healing is one of this goddess’s domains). Now with the plague, the churches of Korvosa are overrun and not up to the task, so Ileosa calls in the help she knows, her former family doctor.

Stratt wrote:
The idea would be that Vendra learned that Carowyn is working on a cure for Blood Veil and wrote a note down to inform Rolth of this. Like a memo or something. The actual note would probably be a letter addressed to Rolth asking for progress on dealing with the Carowyn problem that she hadn't had a chance to deliver to Rolth before the party shows up.

Okay, so Carowyn did NOT write the note, Vendra did. No problems here.

Stratt wrote:
The Carowyn party was just so random that it felt like it was added in as a filler encounter to get encounter numbers up.

I agree. Though I did like the idea of an encounter in a nobleman’s house, the original scenario felt super random.

Stratt wrote:
First, if the hospice is teaming with Grey Maidens and the hospice is uncovered as a cover for the Cult of Urgathoa why wouldn't the entire city revolt when Ileosa replaces the Sable Company with the Grey Maidens in chapter 3?

The entire city wouldn’t revolt for two reasons. The plague has everyone scared to go out of the house. And as I already said, if the Maidens remain above ground, they have perfect deniability: they didn’t know about the evil temple in the basement. (That is why I removed any Gray Maiden from the basement).)

In my campaign, the Maidens even claimed victory over the false physicians. The PCs wanted to keep a low profile. They avoided killing any Maidens upstairs and were quite secret about taking out the temple downstairs (making sure to leave no witnesses of their passing). When they read the Korvosa Herald a few days later, it had an article on how the Gray Maidens uncovered and defeated the doctors’ evil, making them the heroes. You can imagine how enraged my players were.

Stratt wrote:
Second, in Chapter 3 why does Ileosa disband the Sable Company? It just seems she is acting without any cause and a smart manipulative villain would try to ensure that her actions had just cause.

You are right, she disbands them for no other reason than because she wants to. Not a lot of manipulation in the AP as written, I agree.

Stratt wrote:
Third, why does Marcus Endrin try to kill Ileosa at the start of Chapter 3? Didn't make any sense to me.

True, that is why, in my campaign, I made sure the PCs knew beforehand that Endrin distrusted Ileosa all along. His main reason was the missing seneschal. The Sable Company provides the seneschal, but since Kalepopolis disappeared without a trace, Ileosa has kept the Company out of the castle. Endrin would at least have expected to be called to the palace to serve as a temporary seneschal, but he wasn’t. So he is very suspicious of Ileosa and makes no secret about it.

Stratt wrote:

I agree with you that charm person / domination shouldn't be overly used. How about a different take on things.

Ileosa, using her non-magical charming ways is able to corrupt one of the higher ranking Sable Company Marine captains. This would be one of the direct reports to Marcus Endrin. We'll call this person Captain Maeca Salus. The seduction could be a combination of philosophical corruption and bodily seduction but the result gives Ileosa a high ranking Sable Company Marine captain.
Maeca works to manipulate marine assignments so that the people reporting under him are those more inline with his way of thinking (probably the more LE nature members of the Sable Company Marines.) Ileosa could have started putting this plan in motion before Eodred even died giving her years for Maeca to prepare.
Maeca probably thinks that Ileosa is preparing for him to replace Endrin as the commandant of the Sable Company Marines. In actuality Ileosa is looking for a fall person to take the blame that allows her Grey Maidens to ascend to power.
Blindly dedicated to Ileosa Maeca doesn't question when ordered to place guards at the hospice. Maeca might even know what's going on though I don't know it's important he does.
Probably some of the Sable Company Marines stationed in the hospice are hesitant to help what is obviously a group of doctors showing no interest in curing the disease, but as military people they are used to following orders even if they don't understand them. This could give the party a source of information if they can convince the less eager Sable Company guards to talk. All indications of why they are here and what they are doing would point back to Maeca and not Ileosa as the rank and file Sable Company Marine probably has no idea that Maeca is involved with Ileosa.
To pull things off I'd have to have Maeca as an encounter in the hospice. A confused party that comes across a fanatically loyal Maeca seems a must. Having Maeca some off stage character the party hears about but never meets undermines the involvement of the marines and leaves a pretty big plot hole.

I like it. It definitely answers my questions, and it would answer your players’ questions as well if you make sure they learn about Captain Maeca’s deceipt.

Stratt wrote:

I think this solves most of my problems?

It gives a reason for the Sable Company Marine to get disbanded due to their involvement spreading the plague under the leadership of a high ranking marine captain while allowing the core of the marines to still be of use when the party finally acts against Ileosa in the future. I'd see it like a Three Musketeers moment from the movie when the disbanded Sable Company Marines comes out of "retirement" to take up arms against the queen.
It gives a reason for the Grey Maidens to take over for the Sable Company Marines and not be the ones actually defending the spreaders of the plague at the same time.
And it gives Ileosa her pawns to enact her plan without needing to dominate half the city to do it. This allows Ileosa to remain removed from suspicion for as long as possible.

This does solve the problems. It also allows Ileosa to keep up appearances (making her so much more of a master in manipulation, which suits her character). It also makes the party’s involvement so much more ambiguous: they helped cement the queen’s power before realizing that she is evil, so they are partly responsible. This adds a very nice layer to the story.

Of course, now you have me wondering how and when the PCs will learn that Ileosa is the evil puppeteer. Starting from book 3 in the AP, the PCs’ main motivation is trying to stop the evil queen, so how will you swing that?


MrVergee wrote:
Of course, now you have me wondering how and when the PCs will learn that Ileosa is the evil puppeteer. Starting from book 3 in the AP, the PCs’ main motivation is trying to stop the evil queen, so how will you swing that?

I haven't figured out fully how Escape from Old Korvosa is going to flow. There are some changes that need to happen and a few issues I need to resolve.

By the end of Chapter 3 the party should realize that the queen tricked them and they are partially responsible for her rise to power. They should also start to realize there is more to the queen then meets the eye. She isn't just a fragile woman but has powerful magical powers at her disposal.

I am unsure if Marcus Endrin still attempts to assassinate Ileosa? If so I need to add something that makes it actually make sense to do. I also don't like the idea that it happens off camera. It's risky if the PCs are present when it happens but adds more weight to things. If it does happen I'm pretty sure that it won't be invincible Ileosa absorbs a killing blow. I want her to still seem like a fragile woman growing into being a queen. Most likely Sabina will jump in front of the arrow, taking a mortal wound that Ileosa is able to heal with her magic. Just need a realistic reason for Marcus to attack that isn't completely out of place for a military leader in a LN aligned city.

The Korvosan Guard aren’t going to be a gutted organization. I don’t see any way that the Grey Maidens could possibly have enough numbers to replace the guard AND the Sable Company in such a short period of time. Most likely a number of guard captains will be replaced with Grey Maidens but the guard will be mostly still intake. Croft, though, is definitely feeling the strain under all the new regulations she has to deal with and feels her power over the guard eroding.

Book 3 will still start off with Croft learning that the missing seneschal Neolandus Kalepopolis has been spotted in Old Korvosa. The information coming in from her long time friend Vencarlo Orisini. Eager to know why he is hiding out in Old Korvosa but unable to send in her own agents to find out she turns to the party.

Another possibility is having the party go to Old Korvosa at the queen's request. Frustrated that her Red Mantis haven't been able to kill off Kalepopolis she turns to the party to do the deed for her.

I also don’t see any reason why Croft keeps this information form Ileosa. By telling Ileosa the appearance of the Red Mantis assassins make more sense. Also telling Ileosa that the party is going after him creates a bit of panic in Ileosa that starts her plans to end the involvement of the party in the affairs on Korvosa. Finally, Ileosa sees the need to remove Croft from her position leading the Korvosan Guard and replace her with someone more loyal.

The bulk of book 3 I see playing out exactly how the module suggests with the party going into Old Korvosa (still under quarantine) to track down Kalepopolis. The major changes aren’t going to be about what encounters happen (though I’ll need to read through all the encounters to see if they are internally consistent with the story changes.)

The major changes I see revolve more around Ileosa and her continued grab at power in the city.

Ileosa has Croft arrested and incarcerated in Citadel Vraid by the Hellknights (in my story the Hellknights are still aligned with Ileosa for the time being.) Part of the changes to book 4 would include the party breaking into the Citadel to free Croft.

When the party extracts Kalepopolis and brings him to Croft for questioning they find Ileosa there instead. This leads to a confrontation with Ileosa where she reveals her true infernal nature to the party and a fight breaks out. Ileosa is well beyond the ability of the party to beat and just the number of guards on her side would make for overwhelming forces. Kalepopolis and Orinsini would urge the party to retreat and regroup. There is always the danger in any encounter like this but I think it lays a better Ileosa turns heel moment then if the party learns about her turn off camera. (Note that this entire encounter would need a lot more work from me to make it feel right.)

I want to add something that hints to the horrible fate Ileosa has in store for the party. I think the best way to handle this is for Kalepopolis to get an indication that Ileosa is after something related to Sorshen, the Runelord of Lust. That would help foreshadow Ileosa’a plans in book 6 to consume the lifeforce of Korvosa to fuel her immortality.

From this point on the adventure shifts from helping Ileosa solidify her base of power to stopping Ileosa’s plans for Korvosa.


Stratt wrote:
I am unsure if Marcus Endrin still attempts to assassinate Ileosa? If so I need to add something that makes it actually make sense to do. I also don't like the idea that it happens off camera. It's risky if the PCs are present when it happens but adds more weight to things. If it does happen I'm pretty sure that it won't be invincible Ileosa absorbs a killing blow. I want her to still seem like a fragile woman growing into being a queen. Most likely Sabina will jump in front of the arrow, taking a mortal wound that Ileosa is able to heal with her magic. Just need a realistic reason for Marcus to attack that isn't completely out of place for a military leader in a LN aligned city.

You’d need to make sure that Endrin knows about Ileosa’s manipulation of captain Maeca. When he is called in and accused of treason for the Sable Company’s involvement in the Hospice and the evil temple, he feels cornered and strikes out at the queen. I’d strongly urge you to keep the arrow hitting the queen, because it is a very powerful moment in the story. An arrow that would have felled an ox, seems like a pin prick to the queen. Yeah, invincible Ileosa makes a tremendous impact.

As for having the PCs be present at this time; I chose to do that in my campaign. I just went into storytelling mode (a ‘cut scene’), making it all happen so fast that the PCs can’t really intervene. Endrin suddenly shouts accusations at the queen and fires an arrow into her temple, she pulls it out, grabs him off the ground, smashes the arrow into his skull and throws him away like a ragdoll. The next moment her new royal wizard (and seneschal) Togomor steps forward and teleports them away, while the Gray Maidens herd the visitors out.

Stratt wrote:
The Korvosan Guard aren’t going to be a gutted organization. I don’t see any way that the Grey Maidens could possibly have enough numbers to replace the guard AND the Sable Company in such a short period of time. Most likely a number of guard captains will be replaced with Grey Maidens but the guard will be mostly still intake. Croft, though, is definitely feeling the strain under all the new regulations she has to deal with and feels her power over the guard eroding.

The Guard lost some (female) members to the Gray Maidens and lost another number of soldiers to the plague (who either died or deserted their post to look after their families). Still, this wouldn’t have gutted the guard completely. If I recall correctly, in my campaign, I had these events decrease the numbers of guards from 700 to 500; still a decent number. Still, the queen’s new orders state that the Guard always has to take orders from the Gray Maidens (no matter what rank). You could indeed achieve this even better by having the Gray Maidens replace the Guard officers.

Stratt wrote:

Book 3 will still start off with Croft learning that the missing seneschal Neolandus Kalepopolis has been spotted in Old Korvosa. The information coming in from her long time friend Vencarlo Orisini. Eager to know why he is hiding out in Old Korvosa but unable to send in her own agents to find out she turns to the party.

Another possibility is having the party go to Old Korvosa at the queen's request. Frustrated that her Red Mantis haven't been able to kill off Kalepopolis she turns to the party to do the deed for her.
I also don’t see any reason why Croft keeps this information form Ileosa. By telling Ileosa the appearance of the Red Mantis assassins make more sense. Also telling Ileosa that the party is going after him creates a bit of panic in Ileosa that starts her plans to end the involvement of the party in the affairs on Korvosa. Finally, Ileosa sees the need to remove Croft from her position leading the Korvosan Guard and replace her with someone more loyal.

I prefer the version in which Kroft contacts the PCs, but also informs Ileosa, giving the queen the chance to take care of the heroes before they become too popular and too powerful. Moreover, (chaotic) Old Korvosa is the ideal place to achieve this goal.

Stratt wrote:
The bulk of book 3 I see playing out exactly how the module suggests with the party going into Old Korvosa (still under quarantine) to track down Kalepopolis. The major changes aren’t going to be about what encounters happen (though I’ll need to read through all the encounters to see if they are internally consistent with the story changes.) The major changes I see revolve more around Ileosa and her continued grab at power in the city.

My main issue with book 3 was the role of Glorio Arkona. I had some trouble with the adventure as written, both involving his true identity and his motives.

On Glorio Arkona:
I never really liked the fact that Arkona is a rakshasa, since those creatures don’t make sense in the Korvosa setting. Moreover, I wanted to use Arkona as a major player in the grand scheme of political movement in the city.

In short, I decided to make Arkona into a more ‘normal’ creature. To keep some ‘Vudran mystery’ in his background, I made him a tiefling, who descended from Vudran outsider, an upasundra. It has been a couple of generations since his ancestor mixed with the outsider bloodline, so Glorio’s outsider blood has thinned enough for him to easily pass for a human. Now this change is very important in my campaign, because Glorio’s true motive is becoming the new king of Korvosa. If he is a rakshasa as in the AP as written, the secret of his evil identity alone would be more than enough to keep him from the throne (and let’s be honest, to outright kill him). By making him almost human (with just some vague traces of outsider blood) lord Arkona can become a true contender for the throne (which I plan to play out in a follow-up adventure sometime in the future).

Next there are his manipulations. In my campaign lord Arkona orchestrated the earliest protests against the queen, right after her husband died, and continued to work against her in secret. Glorio wanted to prove Ileosa unfit to rule, so he could easily step in and take the throne. Of course, he had no idea who Ileosa – and the power behind her – really was, so his initial plans failed.

When he met the PCs, he tried to convince them that they are working towards the same goal: topple the throne and take out the queen. So, he became an ‘ally’, but one with a very personal hidden agenda. His methods were different too from the PCs’, like a true Machiavellian ruler her worked under the motto: the end justifies the means. The PCs realized early on that he was some sort of mafia godfather, but still ended up making good use of his offer to cooperate. And so in the end, they gave Arkona what he wanted: an empty throne!

I would never have been able to make Arkona this manipulating politician if he had been a rakshasa. The PCs would have killed him when they found out who he was and that would have been the end of it.

Stratt wrote:
Ileosa has Croft arrested and incarcerated in Citadel Vraid by the Hellknights (in my story the Hellknights are still aligned with Ileosa for the time being.) Part of the changes to book 4 would include the party breaking into the Citadel to free Croft.

I like this idea. In my campaign Ileosa was responsible for Kroft disappearance as well, but the story was completely different.

Kroft’s fate:
In the AP as written, Ileosa’s Gray Maidens are mostly young women who were recruited from Korvosa’s citizens, tortured and brainwashed to become loyal soldiers. This approach posed three problems for me: the total number of Gray Maidens would be limited (maybe 200 or 300), it would take a fair amount of time to create this army (at least a few months, which is as long as my campaign lasts) and they would be very low in level, so they would hardly pose a threat to the PCs in the later adventures.

To solve that, I looked for several recruitment pools for the Gray Maidens, and made sure throughout the adventure that the PCs knew about them:
- the first ten Gray Maidens were a gift to Ileosa when she became the queen, five years prior to the campaign (which I played out in a prequel adventure);
- after King Eodred’s death, Ileosa recruited a number of female Korvosan guards and had them join her Maiden (about 50 in number);
- towards the end of book 1, Ileosa organized a coronation feast (back when, like in your campaign, the PCs were still working for her), during which she revealed her new forces to the public: about 250 Gray Maidens (200 of which were new recruits from Cheliax, who had recently arrived);
- in cooperation with Togomor (whom I made an Acadamae professor), the church of Asmodeus and her infernal contacts, Ileosa developed a technique to make blood clones (based on Runelord Sorshen’s blood magic, which Ileosa discovered in the Everdawn Pool). By bleeding young girls to death and mixing their blood with devil blood, she created clones, which she infused with combat abilities by draining Cressida Kroft’s of her fighting prowess (for which she used the akaruzug construct). This way Ileosa created another 250 Maidens who were excellent fighters (I made them – and Kroft – cavaliers, so they had teamwork bonuses when fighting in group). So this is what happened to Kroft in my campaign. The PCs were able to free her from the catacombs under the Church of Asmodeus. You can read all about it in my journal.

Stratt wrote:
When the party extracts Kalepopolis and brings him to Croft for questioning they find Ileosa there instead. This leads to a confrontation with Ileosa where she reveals her true infernal nature to the party and a fight breaks out. Ileosa is well beyond the ability of the party to beat and just the number of guards on her side would make for overwhelming forces. Kalepopolis and Orinsini would urge the party to retreat and regroup. There is always the danger in any encounter like this but I think it lays a better Ileosa turns heel moment then if the party learns about her turn off camera. (Note that this entire encounter would need a lot more work from me to make it feel right.)

This encounter could be epic, but you would have to be very careful with it. At this point, Ileosa and her allies are still so powerful that the PCs’ only option is to run, which is never guaranteed. You don’t want your campaign to end here on a stupid TPK.

Stratt wrote:
I want to add something that hints to the horrible fate Ileosa has in store for the party. I think the best way to handle this is for Kalepopolis to get an indication that Ileosa is after something related to Sorshen, the Runelord of Lust. That would help foreshadow Ileosa’a plans in book 6 to consume the lifeforce of Korvosa to fuel her immortality.

Remember that you already need Kalepopolis to set the PCs on the trail of Kazavon. I’d be careful about overusing him as a source of information.


Thanks for keeping the great ideas coming. Love your journal of your campaign as well!

MrVergee wrote:

You’d need to make sure that Endrin knows about Ileosa’s manipulation of captain Maeca. When he is called in and accused of treason for the Sable Company’s involvement in the Hospice and the evil temple, he feels cornered and strikes out at the queen. I’d strongly urge you to keep the arrow hitting the queen, because it is a very powerful moment in the story. An arrow that would have felled an ox, seems like a pin prick to the queen. Yeah, invincible Ileosa makes a tremendous impact.

As for having the PCs be present at this time; I chose to do that in my campaign. I just went into storytelling mode (a ‘cut scene’), making it all happen so fast that the PCs can’t really intervene. Endrin suddenly shouts accusations at the queen and fires an arrow into her temple, she pulls it out, grabs him off the ground, smashes the arrow into his skull and throws him away like a ragdoll. The next moment her new royal wizard (and seneschal) Togomor steps forward and teleports them away, while the Gray Maidens herd the visitors out.

One possibility i just thought of is to have the encounter between Endrin and the queen occur after the party gets Neopopolis back from the Arkonas. When the party brings Neopopolis to Croft they find Ileosa there conducting a re-organization of the military style meeting with some of the higher up officers including Endrin. Endrin makes his move against Ileosa and shoots her with the arrow failing to drop the queen. The party could then join in a fight perhaps to try and save Endrin from capture (I don’t think his actual torture at the hand of Ileosa in chapter 4 really has much story implications) and a wounded Ileosa would be less likely to viciously kill the party and more likely to flee to safety after a few rounds of combat. I like the thought of the book ending with the party fleeing Citadel Volshyenek the vengeful gaze of Ileosa firmly on them.

MrVergee wrote:

I like this idea. In my campaign Ileosa was responsible for Kroft disappearance as well, but the story was completely different.

I love this idea. How the Grey Maidens go from nothing to replacing the majority of armed forces in a city the size of Korvosa in under a month really bothered me too. Would go something like this….

Spoiler:

Grey Maiden recruitment drives underway (already worked into my campaign)

Starts off as a personal honor guard for Ileosa near the end of Edge of Anarchy

Grey Maidens grow in numbers and influence swelling to around 200 in total size by the end of Seven Days to the Grave

Croft captured just after the start of Escape from Old Korvosa (after she tells the queen that she sent the party after Neopopolis)

Ileosa starts making Croft clones using ancient runelord magic. By the end of Escape from Old Korvosa she has enough Grey Maidens to replace the Sable Company Marines and take over the Korvosan Guard

This should also give Marcus Endrin a better reason to go after the queen. He knows something is up and has discovered that Croft was taken prisoner and is incarcerated in some infernal prison.

MrVergee wrote:

My main issue with book 3 was the role of Glorio Arkona. I had some trouble with the adventure as written, both involving his true identity and his motives.

Think I'll keep him as a rakshasa. Something new for the party to fight and plays well with one of the characters backgrounds. One of the players is playing an impersonation / charlatan type character that got Glorio's "son" (a student at the Acadamae) accidently killed and then used his skills to impersonate the son. Since most of his time is spent at the Acadamae and he has likely never actually been to the Arkona Estate so I don't think it will be an issue when the party infiltrates it. Glorio of course knows that the character isn't his son. In reality the "son" was never Glorio's son but someone Glorio planned to kill and take on his persona in a few years anyway. Should make things exciting when they get to Escape from Old Korvosa and things come to a head.


Lol, I love how you make Neolandus Kalepopolis into Neopopolis. His name is probably quite a tonguebreaker in Korvosan circles.

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