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My group is just starting on Chapter 5, Demonskar Legacy, and I've read through the adventure and I've noticed that there's nowhere near enough XP given out in this one. My group was about 1,000 XP past 8th level when they started the adventure, and they're supposed to be 10th level when they start Test of the Smoking Eye. The problem is, there's barely enough XP in Demonskar Legacy to raise the characters one level, let alone two (this is a six member party, which I believe is the ideal for this campaign).

So what should I do? I can't see many options other than to throw a bunch of random encounters at them on their way to Vaprak's Voice, which would probably get boring in a hurry. Any suggestions?

There isn't a specific heading for it, but you can find information on the origin of the Carcerian Sign on pages 7 and 8 of the hardcover. It gives the origin of the birthmark and hints at how the Shackleborn might be used by the Cagewrights. I would be relatively stingy about the details of the ceremony, don't want to give it all away too soon, but providing information about the history and origin of the Carcerian Sign is harmless.

Well, yeah, I knew about the section about the shackleborn in the intro, I just wasn't sure how much of that info I was supposed to give out. And the sidebar seems to indicate there should be something in the introduction that's specifically about researching it, but as near as I can tell there's nothing there. I guess I'll just have to play it by ear.

My PCs are almost at the end of Zenith Trajectory, and in the sidebar at the end, it says that if they discover the birthmark on Zenith's face they can research it as detailed in the introduction to the book. The problem is, I've looked at the introduction to the book and I can't find any information there about researching the birthmark. Did I just miss it, or is it not there? If it is there, could someone give me a page number for it?

Also, when does Terrem get abducted again? I can't find any information on that either and it'd be nice to know if my players will have time to check on him after they get back (they might want to see if he has the birthmark as well).

My PCs did really well on Life's Bazaar and now we're getting ready to start Drakthar's Way. I have a couple of questions on some enemy stat blocks.

1) For the Silent Wolf goblins, they're listed as CR 3 and have 3d6 hit dice. This would indicate that they're 3rd level rogues, however, they're only listed as having 1d6 of sneak attack damage. If they're 3rd level rogues, shouldn't this be 2d6?

2) On Drakthar, I can't figure out how he gets the attack bonuses listed. When he's attacking with his morningstar and his slam attack, he gets +8 with the morningstar and +2 with the slam. However, he doesn't have the two weapon fighting feat, so he should have a penalty of -4/-8 when he attacks this way (since unarmed attacks are considered light weapons for purposes of TWF). That would make his attacks +4/-1 as far as I can tell - not much chance he'll hit anything with his slam. Am I missing something?

Also, his AC includes a small wooden shield, but it's stated that he attacks with his morningstar and his slam when he meeles, so I'm assuming he won't be using it, making his AC 24.

My players are just about to throw down with the Lord of the Demonskar and I'm concerned that it might not go well for them. They are obviously not just gonna hand over the paladin, which is what the demon wants, and they dont ever think about retreating until over half the party has been wiped out. Anybody got any helpful hints on how to run this fight? Or how about some entertaining stories about how this fight played out for them?

Keep in mind that Nabthatoron's goal isn't to kill the party, it's to kill Alek. His stated tactics are that he'll ignore the PCs unless they prove themselves a significant threat to him. And after he kills Alek, he gloats for a bit and then teleports away. So unless the party can deal some significant damage to him, that's most likely what will happen.

That's a great idea! The tension of, "When is the other shoe going to drop?" "But we still need him" would be very interesting. Hmmm...I may have to re-think how I'm going to approach this.

Of course, the problem is that even a group of moderately experienced players are going to refuse to take Karuphon with them in the first place. The setup of him showing up to aid the party against the babau demons is so thinly obvious that I'm surprised that whoever wrote the adventure thought anyone would fall for it.

I think I'll probably change it to allow my players to get back to Cauldron after Demonskar Legacy and have him approach them there. That should be a little less obvious, at least.

Thanks, everyone, for posting your experiences. I guess I'll just run the encounters as written - I can always adjust on the fly if need be. Though I hope my group doesn't quit in frustration the way David's did....

Okay, my players are just about ready to head into Jazdurine and I've read it and the Malachite Fortress over. For the most part, everything seems okay. But there are a few opponents that seem pretty tough for 1st and 2nd level characters, so I'm wondering what your experiences with the following opponents were:

1. The Grell. I could easily see this being a TPK, especially if they stumble across it at 1st level. Even at 2nd level it could kill the entire party. 10 attacks per round with possible paralysis on every attack. Flight. 10 foot reach. How can a 1st/2nd level party deal with this (it seems way under-CRed at CR 3)?

2. The mass of chains. With hardness 10, there's only one character in my PCs party that has any chance of doing damage to it. Plus it's a construct and thus immune to most spells.

3. Kazmojen. With his high AC, plus fast healing 5, the PCs are going to need a succession of lucky rolls to take him down. If they don't get them, I can't see them winning here.

Did anyone have to tone down these encounters at all? Or did you play them as written? If so, how did they work out?

Thanks guys. I guess I'll just do my best to impress upon the players that the town guard isn't really equipped for a dungeon expedition. I like the idea of some of the players being personally involved, too - I may try to work that in somehow.

I recently picked up the SC hardcover and I'm getting ready to start the first adventure tonight. It seems fairly complete, but I do have one question and I can't find an answer anywhere in the adventure:

Why wouldn't the PCs just go to the city guards after they find out about Ghelve?

I can't find anything in the adventure that addresses this possible course of action by the players, yet it seems like one of the most logical and obvious things for them to do. If they go to the guards with the evidence they have, the guards would have to investigate Jazdurine, and it would be them making their way through the dungeon instead of the players, thus negating the whole adventure....

Did I miss something? Is there something in the adventure that precludes this possibility?