Ben the Red's page

If they burn the books, it isn't the end of the world. The purpose of the books is to get the party to go to Lepidstadt and into contact with Daramid. If any of the books aren't burned, then they still have a reason to go (although maybe won't get full payment, up to you). If they destroy the books, you'll have to come up with another reason for them to go to Lepidstadt. If the party has bonded with Kendra (which is encouraged) just have her move to Lepidstadt or have her need/want to go to the university for X reason (I believe her father taught there at one point, but I might have added that). Whatever the reason, she asks the party to escort her.

The books are meant to (weakly) connect Book 1 & 2. That thread could easily be replaced if needed.

This is one of the weaker points in the story. The Way wanted to use the Beast as a scapegoat, so they would go unnoticed. I like Griffyn's idea though, that the effigy was protected by magic that the Beast was immune to.

It could accelerate the timeline. Maybe a letter pops up every night until she regenerates.

The skipping girls event could be expanded to have a song for each prisoner. I dont think Vasorianna would know details of the 5 prisoners beyond their names and that they are evil/powerful, but she could suggest the party look for more information.

Hey guys. A question that I'm having trouble answering...what did Auren Vrood purchase from Vorkstag and Grine? It says his name is in their ledger, but I cannot find why that is the case...

Thanks!

If I recall correctly, he bought bodies to add to the growing undead army in Feldgrau and/or around Gallowspire

There was no official portrait as far as I know. If you Google image search Petros Lorrimor, you'll find pictures that should suffice.

Haunts take full damage from channel positive energy, iirc. That is one of the main ways to "defeat" them, Note that many haunts don't get permanently "destroyed" just from hitting 0 hp, as noted in their description, but the 5 Ghosts do because Vesorianna suppresses them.

The book lists a few spell under his "Weakness" section that can also damage the Father. I believe I let the PCs that weren't currently wrapped in chains use holy water to damage him as well. I didn't let the PCs hurt him until he was triggered, even after they saw he was following someone around with detect magic. The book says they can damage him before he activates, but then they miss out on a cool encounter (imo).

I think I had something like "Property of Lepidstadt University Antiquities Department" inside the cover. My PCs went to the shop at some point (I believe I had Kendra mention Alendru was her teacher and that his private library would be a good place to do research) and the manual was on display. They asked where he got it from (and I don't quite remember how), but they found it was stolen. I gave them a few Diplomacy checks to get Alendru to sell them the book to them for cheap.

If your PCs don't bother to explore the town, don't just give them the loot they missed. Especially, if you give them a lead to go to the shop for research or supplies. The town is very much a part of the adventure. All the PCs miss out on is some foreshadowing and a little extra treasure if they don't get the manual.

You shouldn't worry too much about the "time constraint". Everyone I've seen reports that it is far too much time. My own group finished in about a week and a half. I think I even accelerated the appearance of the letters to make sure more than 2-3 appeared before the ghosts were killed.

Kuriin, Note that the module is designed around having 4 players, not 6. Having 6 players messes with the action economy in favor of the PC. You need to increase the number of monsters in encounter by ~50%, use advanced templates, and/or use max monster HP rather than average(default listed) to deal with this. Do note there are incopreal monsters in Harrowstone that take half damage from almost all attacks (and no damage from nonmagical weapons)

I'm also surprised your 6 PCs reached level 3 without stepping foot in Harrowstone. Make sure you are dividing xp gains by 6 instead of 4. If the party is a level behind where the adventure suggests, that is okay because there are 6 of them.

Does anyone know what the picture on page 38 represents? It is next to the sidebar about the Book of Abstruse Geometries. Thanks

If anyone is curious, I figured this out. The symbol is the original Elder Sign symbol conceived by HP Lovecraft. Not sure what it is in the context of the adventure, other than a general Old Ones symbol.

I plan to keep the Count in the module and likely be spending time with Kendra. It mentions in Rule of Fear that he can raise an army quickly, so he could be a useful ally for the PCs to gain. But I don't plan on having him be related to the Tyrant.

Love these letters, Loki_Thief. I've been using them for my CC game and my players eat them up. Looking forward to any more.