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My PCs wanted to camp out before hand as well. I didn't want to run an encounter that night and I didn't think to make them play as commoners (great idea!)

What I did do was describe the rains and their journey to the farm. Along the way the PCs passed several farms, all of which were abandoned. One showed signs of a struggle but did not have dead bodies etc.

Finally they came to the largest farm yet (some of the PCs were local and recognized that this was one of the wealthier farms) and they found people. The farmers had banded together and holed up at the farm. Most people where in the barn and it primarly consisted of the old, the young and the women. There were some men around who did not travel to the Hambley farm and their focus was on protecting those who where left.

Basically the farmers had already tried to solve the problem themselves. It didn't work and several people died. They are now concerned and waiting for daylight/ it to stop raining before they set out again. The farmers are unfriendly to the PCs unless they are local enough to know the farmers.


I will say that it will seem like its a big deal if your player do not have any answers at all for mobile/flying enemies, particularly intelligent casters.

My part does not and the Boss of Book 2, the quasit and the boss of the Boggards of Brinestump Marsh all required me to dumb down their tactics or force a TPK. My party had ranged solutions but did not remember to use them... which was dumb.

If you feel the same is happening you could always prompt them with "You have a longbow on your back.. what do you do?" on their turn or leave longbows out as loot before/during the mobile boss fights.


Name of PC: Elron
Class/Level: Monk of the Lotus 7
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: 98 damage in one round.

Story:

Picking up where Davosk's story ends.

The Heroes battled on against Xanesha despite watching their wizard nearly plummet to his death. After a couple rounds they had all but destroyed her mirror images and had her surrounded. Elron (monk) and Egorian (sword and board paladin with sheild bash) where both enlarged to mitigate her reach advantage and it was beginning to show.

Xanesha decided to retreat and regroup. She climbed out of the tower and onto the roof where she turned invisible. Mosali (bard) craftily hit her with glitterdust. Not wanting to waste her advantage Xanesha decided to retreat temporarily and heal up. After failing a save against a second glitter dust, being harassed by summoned eagles and peppering arrow fire from the stairs leading up the tower.... Xanesha finally waited out the glitterdust. The Heroes prepared for the upcoming attack by spreading out with the still enlarged Elron in the middle of the tower.

Serena was hiding in the pillows with her bow out when she saw a blurred shape pass right next to her hiding place. Xanesha returned! Serena's arrow missed but was able to at least show her compatriots where the Lamia would strike from.

Xanesha's spear found the flatfooted Elron once for a maximum damage softening hit and again for a critical that pierced his chest, shredding his insides......

or would have if it where not for the quick reactions of Serena, standing adjacent, and the flatfooted Sorez, standing some distance away, who both lept forward and yanked Elron away from what would have been a killing blow! Xanesha's spear still slammed into Elron's bicep, nearly severing it. He stood before her horribly injured and bleeding profusely, but alive.

Although it did not kill him, Elron still took two maximum damage hits (25 each) which left him at 1 HP. Sorez and Serena both burned Hero Points to save Elron's life.


Each game is different and you know your PCs stats while I do not. I just wanted to point that out to anyone who was semi blindly following your changes and surprise TPKs their party as random chance makes the party bard takes 24d6 damage. (assuming a failed save.

We used a 15 point buy and roll for HP so the 4 bell hits walloped my party.


I just ran the lower parts of the tower and the fight with Xenesha a bit last night. I have a party of 6 players and I wanted to weigh in on the Bell traps.

Per the book the bell trap hits 1d4 PCs with a +15 (6d6 Bludg.) and a DC 15 reflex save or they fall down. DC 16 perception or flatfooted. I upped it to 1d6 PCs and ended up hitting 4 of them.

I waited until the PCs were halfway up the tower before the bells fell. So a failed reflex save results in a 12d6 falling damage.

I would be very very careful about putting in more than two bells. A +15 to attack will hit just about anyone except the most heavily armored. Anyone dex based who misses the preception check will be hit.

21 average damage pretty much deals ~ 1/3 of a lvl 7 PCs health. A failed reflex save results in another 42 damage. Average damage and you have just killed a low con support character and come damn close to killing a tanky fighter/paladin. Our bard was hit for 22 damage and failed the reflex save. Fortunately the Wizard had feather fall and everyone else passed the save.

4 bells = 4d4 targets with +15 to attack each. Thats an average of TEN HITS against a 6 person party. Two people taking 12d6 damage that require two DC 15 reflex saves to avoid another 12d6 damage just sounds like you are trying to kill PCs. If you do this, I would change up the way that the bells attack PCs and drop them for flavor. (My party was very worried about the three remaining bells and very glad that they did not get dropped on them.)


Name of PC: Davosk
Class/Level: Wizard 7
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders
Catalyst: Medusa’s Mask

Story:

The Heroes had been making short work of the Shadowclock tower up until they met the Golden Lady at top of the tower. The monk, Elron, realized that he could not climb the stairs while enlarged and changed his tactics accordingly. He climbed the outside of the tower, scaling it faster than the rest of the party could climb the stairs! Egorian, the paladin, led the way up the stairs while Davosk, the wizard, flew by his shoulder. Using message, the three of them timed their arrival to be simultaneous with the other three party members spaced appropriately and ready behind them. Mosali, the bard, launched into a story of a hero’s epic conquest over a greater demonic evil as her compatriots led the way into the final room.

Egorian, Elron, and Davosk bore witness to a ritual in its final stages. A woman strapped down to an onyx alter with a succubus and two Alu demons leading two cultists in prayer. The succubus was wearing golden armor and flying above the ritual through smoke and incense. Serena went first with a 27 on initiative, dashed into the room and cut down one of the Alu demons with a surprise attack. Much to her surprise, her elven curved blade passed straight through the demon with no resistance. She could not believe her eyes as the demon still stood before her. Davosk himself did not believe it either, the succubus was still there!

At this point, the true Golden Lady revealed herself and opened up on Egorian the Paladin of Sarenrae. Her spear struck him and he felt a sense of sadness and nausea overcome him. From here, chaos broke out. Davosk let loose a powerful fireball, which he deftly converted into an iceball. Mosali attempted to confuse the demons, cultists and the true Golden Lady causing a cultist to begin blabbering in a strange language.

After being struck by the iceball the Golden Lady turned her attention to the flying Davosk. The buildings below him seemed toy like and dizzyingly far away. The bottom of the massive Irespire seemed nearly within touch, only thirty feet above his head. The gem in the Golden Lady’s crown glowed bright green and she pointed a finger at him as she shouted a single word in the language of magic. Davosk heard it clearly. “STONE!” He looked down in horror as his fingertips stiffened and became cracked. He raised his hands to his wide eyes as his green skin turned a dark grey, the color of a weather beaten statue. He knew he had failed this test. He knew he was succumbing to the magic of the spell and with the drop below him that he was all but dead. The Golden Lady watched him with a smug smile.

With a cry of rage, anguish and fear Davosk reached deep inside himself and defied the spell that had taken root within him. He steeled his mind and forced the stony magic from his body. He had never heard of such a thing in his studies. He did not know how exactly he pulled it off. All he knew was that he lived and that the Golden Lady was going to die.

To be continued???

Davosk failed his save against the magic within the Golden Lady’s crown. Fortunately, he had a hero point which he used to save his life. Without that Hero Point, he would be a scattering of smashed stone as he took 20d6 fall damage. Even worse would be the mess that he would leave behind after he reverted to flesh in 1 minute’s time.

We were not able to finish the fight last session. So far, two Hero Points have been burned. The second prevented a faceless stalker crit from dropping Elron unconscious. The Heroes have healed up and harried the golden lady as she tried to heal up. The expectation is that she is preparing to attack again.


I would personally keep it contained to either X or L setting it up, either personally or with more minions like B7 or Aldern.

Spitballing ideas:

Mercenary company formed by minion of X. Tattoos his followers with the rune and goes on high risk high reward missions paying his troops generously to encourage taking the risks and attract more recruits.

Mini L occurances in small towns. Local gambling halls formed with special 'memberships'

X involves the Red Mantis assassins and sets up a payment for harvesting of greedy souls. (proof of greed + rune = money.)

I would be a bit wary because you could send your PCs on some wild goose chases if you aren't careful. It would be very interesting to montage it though.


Of course, I do not know what the PCs will do with X's list and the journal of Ironbriar. Its possible that they could go to the Mayor themselves...

I just thought of one thing - the Order of the Nail showed up on the scene of the fight at the Bazzar meaning that they would have some of the corpses. Speak with Dead is a 3rd level spell and the party is going to be known shortly. The Order of the Nail will want to find out who was throwing spells around at a market.

Sabriyya will know because her men will question those who had stands nearby durin the fight. They will be able to provide a basic description and Sabriyya's men will be put on the alert and some feelers sent out to nearby districts / friendly turf.

The guard is in the dark but has its hands full with the murders/ normal Magnimarian life.


My party of six is currently smashing its way through book 2... but they have created some issues for themselves. My biggest concern is that the party is going to try and bolt the city as soon as they kill X. Should I let that happen or interdict them with one of the many groups they have pissed off in Magnimar.

Here is some background:

One of the player's created a backstory that he is Garet Thrune, brother to the queen of Cheliax. He is currently a LG paladin of Sarenrae. As a boy he disagreed with most of Chelaxian practices and was exiled/ nearly murdered. Rumors have spread back to Cheliax and his dear sister sent a hunting party after him. Naturally this party was lead by his childhood best friend who grew up into a non evil Hellknight who believed he was hunting down a traitorous hellknight.

Ursion (Hellknight old friend) naturally based his search out of Magnimar. Things got.. messy. Here's the run down.

Party deals with Foxglove Townhouse (finds a wandering Tsuto) and learns about B7 and mill. Does some scouting and crafting and waits for the money drop/ ritual. Party impersonates the money drop (fools the low level guys who don't know that it should stop) BUT only sends in a single PC. PC bluffs her way into joining the ritual and the party shows up. Several Ice-Fireballs later (ice to avoid the dust explosions) everything ends.

Despite me putting a friendly abandoned stable across the street from the sawmill... the party decides to stay inside the sawmill.... with all the dead bodies and loot.

They head towards the tower down a PC and I ambush them with the Hellknight group (lvl 5 conjurer wizard, lvl 5 cleric, lvl 5 inquisitor, lvl 6/1 cavalier/ Hellknight commander, two lvl 3 rangers and 4 lvl 3 fighters. Party wins in about 45 seconds. Ursion realizes that he has been tasked to kill the Heir/rightful ruler of the throne and that his believed dead friend lives. Party lets him leave, he leaves to "think about what to do"

Also, this fight happened on the outskirts of the Bazar of Sails.. so the Princess of the Market, Sabriyya is not very happy. Hellknight hunting party killed civilians, party stole a carriage and destroyed a cabbage stand. (she's not furious, but wants recompense and can't have people slinging spells in her turf without her sanction.) The guard is maybe mildly interested. Hellkights are very very interested as they will recognize some of the dead as members of the hunting party.

So the party heads off to the Shadow clock a couple hours later down a few spells and eager to stop this strange Xenesha woman.. down some spells and smites but a party of 6 that hits pretty hard against a GM that often forgets bonuses and feats of his NPCs....

So what next. The PCs have been on the run for several days. They have several thousand gold in loot hidden inside a supposedly working sawmill. They know the sawmill is scheduled for shipment the next day so citizens / businessmen will get upset/suspicious soon. (door is locked so it would take the guard or hellknights to get in. theives just arent likely considering its reputation.) The party has basically been on the run since they entered Magnimar. They believe the nobility/ guard to be completely corrupt and possibly crazed cultists out to murder everyone.

Currently: Hellknights want the party for murder/disrupting the peace/destruction of property.

Sabriyya - Same as hellknights- more on the favor owed/ service rendered/ fine paid side than the jail side... but still.

City Guard - mostly oblivious. Sabriyya has likely notified them that her turf was attacked. Considering the magic users she could lean on Gorobos some to get some assistance from the guard.

I do not want the Hellknights to get their hands on the party. That basically means a full trial which I would prefer to avoid. I'd much rather a corrupt Gorobas just handwaive their crimes away. its both easier for everyone on time (its been nearly 2 years since we started) and it would display some of the corruption / power of Gorobas in Magnimar.

So far I like the idea of being heavy handed with the party and introducing Sabriyya with a couple men besides a platoon of City Guardsmen. The basic idea is that Sabriyya called in some minor favors to have the PCs arrested and will then ride to the barracks with the PCs (in her own carriage of course) and will question the PCs about their motives, explain their immenent peril of being tossed into the Hells and claim that she can help them if they will work for her/ do her a favor/ have a favor owed.

However, the party is currently carrying all of the skinsaw masks on them... so that could go poorly.


Silence, Flying, Extra AC.... it just sounds wrong. If I am trying to kill the PCs then sure! :)

As is can she cast spells from scrolls without a use magic check? Currently she has an actual spell list consisting of both divine and arcane spells, but only 1 rogue level. How would wands and scrolls work?

Personal I would let her use scrolls and wands without a UMD check, but I want to see what others think.


I was reading through this as this fight is coming up for me soon... and holy crap the will o wisp. that gave me something to ponder.

If you are worried about a grounded Xenesha being blasted by a flying mage the Will O Wisp is an incredible counter. Immune to magic and perfect fly 50 should put any party wizard on the defensive.


Yeah... I figured as much. I have basically had to go through and add onto the entire campaign. The Sanitorium and Foxglove Manor are about the only things I didn't tweak because they are more about plot exposition than killing PCs.

The Manor was still a threat, but Aldern died fairly swiftly. Of course, the PCs didn't actually cleanse the place and left Alderns body right next to Vorel's ooze... which they figured out was the lich.... so that might come back to bite them.

My party has been pretty understanding about their being more than the campaign was designed for. Typically when NPCs suggest that they should "Guard the rear" or "check out this potential threat over there" the PCs go along with it. The PCs save the day and if questioned the NPCs give a less heroic account of some contribution they made that could have been bad for the party, but generally not world ending.


I looked up change shape rules. it follows the polymorph rules so it would change the physical appears - armor would resize if necessary - but it would not hide the armor. You would need to cast a disguise self spell.

I think that my plan is to have the major image consist of Alu Demons and a succubus. The Alu demons are assisting two real cultists with a ritual that the succubus is leading. A knowledge religion check will reveal that the ritual appears to be a summoning of a powerful demon. (ideally having the party draw the conclusion that the succubus is about to be the least of their concerns and that Xenesha is actually a succubus.)

Xenesha will either hide invisible on the wall near the stair entrance or pretend to be a sacrifice depending on how much research she does and how cocky she feels. It would be extremely cocky to take the spear from a cultist and run past the PCs screaming "help, Help!" Only to transform and attack the rearguard.


You may have been where I got some of the inspiration from this idea :) Thanks for the response.

The party corralled all of the cultists. There are two alive, but I don't know what the party plans to do with them yet. We will see next session.

I LOVE the idea about Xenesha helping those of Underbridge to her personal gain. I was already considering her charming several of the gang leaders in Magnimar like she has Ironbriar. I doubt the PCs would find out, but if they start doing some digging in the wrong places they will run into some trouble. They did discover that Ironbriar was under the effects of a compulsion. What they gather from that I do not know.

I definately plan to play up her charm abilities.

If she finds out about the PCs and their plan to attack her (which she will if they wait 3 days or more) I am going to have her start bolstering her defenses around her lair. It should not take long for her to find out they have a wizard. At that point she starts putting up some defenses against scrying and aerial assaults I think. She certainly would have the gold/charm/illusion abilities to encourage some wizardly help.

I like the idea of stalkers as cultists. Alternative plan of stalker posing as her with her posing as a charmed victim is on the table... but I think the Major Image of the ritual with demon summoning sounds too good to pass up.

Random thougth as I write this: Stalkers posing as cultists working on the demon ritual with xenesha posing as a human/about to be sacrifice on a table under the Angel. The party starts fighting the stalkers while the "human sacrifice" makes a bolt for the exit, hiding behind the back row of the party.... where she changes form and attacks.

Now for another question. How would Change Shape work? Would it hide her gear or would all of that be visible? Speficially the snakeskin vest and the medusa mask? The Impaler of Thorns could be theatrically taken from the stalker performing the sacrifice as a chance to see how the party reacts.


Shalelu has not been a major character in my game so far (currently at the end of book 2) due to the PCs being a party of 6. So far she has provided direction during the goblin attack and thistletop raid. She was later ambushed and left to die by boggards when I ran the Boggards of Brinestump Marsh sidequest. Mostly, she has simply not been around.

I am looking forward to bringing her back some in book 3. Does anyone have recommendations for her? Anything you did that your players loved/ hated?


I am looking for some advice here. I am worried about this fight being a bit anti climatic for my group. There is a huge wall of text below. Thank you for anyone who takes the time to read it all.

The party consists of the following:

A MinMaxed monk who's AC typically reaches 27 to 28 (Mage Armor and he usually uses Ki points to increase AC. He has good saves. First time player so we let him minmax. He is the hardest hitting character in the party (mostly because he receives consistent party buffs)

A Paladin - Warrior of Holy Light archetype. Plays a sword and board tank with good AC and saves. TWF with shield bash so he can put out some damage against an evil target with smite as well.

Rogue/Ranger/Shadow Dancer - Fights with an elven curved blade. Not optimized, but in a 6 person party gets decent opportunity.

Cleric - Again not optimized but getting into a groove as more spells come online. Typically half the reason the Monk does so well.

Admixture Evoker Wizard - Fireballs, Ice Balls, Electicity Balls, Scorching rays. Has a selective metamagic rod right now. He can drop some hurt.

Support focused caster bard. The bard is finding his groove with performing and debuffing enemies with save or sucks. Generally just makes the Monk put out even more damage...

So its all this versus Xenesha. I know that Xenesha is supposed to be silly powerful, but I am worried that my party is going to mincemeat her as they have basically everything else so far. The party just wiped out Justice Ironbriar and his cult. They showed up during the meeting and completely destroyed everything. I used some reworked cultists that I found on here which gave them a mixture of class levels and abilities. Yes 3 fireballs helped, but that fight was very easy.

I am pretty sure that my party is not going to rush straight for Xenesha. They have some other issues in town to deal with..

So here is my plan, please let me know what you think.

1. Xenesha will figure out quickly that Ironbriar and his cult was killed. She has a large network, information like that will not be difficult for her to figure out. Step 2 is figure out who did it. Depending on how my party covers up their attack this will be somewhat difficult... If they cover it up well I give the party three days before Xenesha figures out who did it and where they are staying. The night of day 3 opens the door for party ambush by the Scarecrow and either gangs or faceless stalkers.. or all of the above...

2. Assuming the party acts before Xenesha, I do not see the party having trouble with the scarecrow. The paladin has multiple smites and the adamantine long-sword. Between that and hero points.. the scarecrow dies without killing a PC. I give a 50/50 that the party discovers magic immunity based on knowledge checks (we ask questions and first questions are usually "are its major resistances") If they figure it out.. then the wizard and bard will have full spells for the xenesha fight.

3. Bells and stalkers could be an issue on the stairs. With the party having hero points, they will be alright. Most likely outcome: the bell forces a PC or two to use a hero point. Potential for a fall due to stalkers/PCs collapsing stairs during a stairwell duel could force another.

4. Xenesha. Assuming that the PCs do not devise a plan along the lines of: Invisible flying assault on Xenesha's lair - she should be invisible and prepared with a major image, mirror image, detect magic, and false life all active. She can climb the walls at will. I think her primary strategy will be to climb above the PCs while invisible and strike from above with reach. Spellcasters first trying to kill them before they can cast at all, then anyone who seems able to get to her/ threaten her with ranged attacks, then support characters. She will try and turn major threats to stone and if they are near the edge, go invisible and push them off the side of the tower. (my party does not have reach so this could actually be incredibly powerful. The monk and paladin are ok with their respective shuriken / crossbow but they do not specialize.)

I am considering adding in 2 or 3 more faceless stalkers. 1 will be down with the scarecrow. His job is to either assist the scarecrow with anything that attacks and alert the others with his whistle. If the fight looks grim he is to retreat up the stairs to hold with the 3 faceless stalkers at the bell. The other one or two new faceless stalkers are part of Xenesha's rotating guard on her room. They are only guarding her room if Xenesha knows about the attack on Ironbriar. The are not actually in the room normally, they are tasked with guarding the stairs leading up. Typically they rest just inside the room with a support between them and Xenesha. If she has guests they leave the room. When she has guests they are in a humanoid form. Without guests they take the form of something visually pleasing to Xenesha, typically succubi. If the alarm is raised to the attack then they do enter the room and pose as succubi to augment her major image of a succubus flying around. (assuming the party takes 10 minutes to get up to the lair. If the party fly's up or runs up then the stalker will be stealthed in the pillows trying to transform)

I would expect for a single stalker to die in the first round (a monk full attack kills it. Paladin and rogue usually combine to kill the other) 2 stalkers could take 2 -3 rounds depending on who goes for them. That is 2-3 rounds of damage dealers not focusing on Xenesha. Xenesha's full attack sneak attack/ power attack could 100 - 0 just about anyone in the party.

Surprise round - move into position / single attack on spell caster. First round Xenesha gets a full attack on someone from invisible. First attack is against touch AC at +15 dealing 1d8+20+1d6 /19-20x3 (a crit hits for 3d8+60+1d6 (average 77 dmg) which means a PC of mine must either Hero Point or die/ drop unconscious depending on PC). Second attack is +8 and against flatfooted depending on if they have acted... Final attack is +3 and should miss most PCs unless it crits. Any confirmed critical s kill PCs.

Her second action would be to try to turn any threatening PCs to stone or a second full attack if she feels safe. Detect magic should be telling her who is the most buffed at this point. At this point there are so many variables that it is hard to know where the fight goes. I think I will run some test fights. If she drops someone round 1 the fight could spiral downhill very quickly. AoO for anyone trying to get close to attack her.

TL;DR do you think that I should add in extra, weaker enemies to supplement an already powerful boss against a party of 6 powerful PCs?


The Mayor of Magnimar has a problem. He hasn't heard from the Black Arrows recently and he needs someone to look into it. Of course, he doesn't want to send any of his own men because the journey is long and the Black Arrows are not completely trusted. Sending his own men would decrease his power base in Magnimar.

Instead, he reaches out to the lesser noble families and offers them an opporunity to gain some renown (assuming something is wrong. It could just be a messenger mission.)

The Deverin's, Valdemars, Kaijitsus, and Scarnetti's all have family memebers in Magnimar. Pick your favorite and have the family hire on the PCs to complete the task for the mayor. When the PCs return triumphant have the family introduce them to the Sandpoint part of the family and be offered a feast in Sandpoint. Ideally they build some connections and get some small jobs/appointments as part of their reward to help tie them to Sandpoint. (these PCs have no ties to Belor, maybe make one of them Sheriff while Belor attends to some other duties?)


I agree and disagree.

Because the campaign is gold light it makes a balanced price that gives your PCs some light at the end of the tunnel.

I disagree because the PCs can get the feeling that this is the only source of gold and they can become much more blood thirsty than they normally would be. (My PCs were trying to decide what to do with captured goblins and the value of the ears became a deciding factor in a couple cases. Greed points. Greed points for everyone!!)

This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think it should be considered.


So my group loved Daverin because of the free cash. I gave 1 gold per pair of ears (probably too much) and my PCs went to TOWN on the goblins.

They actually brought the head of a goblin chief to Daverin and he offered 25 gold for it I think. He then invited him into the stable and asked them to come into the hayloft... where I got to describe the hundreds of ears nailed to the rafters... the paladin got a bit shifty.

The party lost it a bit when he went over to his chest and pulled out the pickled goblin head.... and an empty jar. They quickly made up excuses to leave and got out with their dirty dirty gold.


I highly recommend boggards of brinestump marsh as a side quest. You could run it as the PCs are investigating the murders. Make it curious, but not immediate. I would consider running it just after Habes. Do not punish the party with extra murders, but do have them jump immediately into the ghouls.

Depending on their level, party comp, and need for rest after Boggards, either let them rest or don't.


Ah, I was looking at them all as pre mask stats. That would explain it. Thank you.


Tangent,

I am looking through your cultists.. its late here so maybe I am going a bit crazy, but did you add in the masterwork war razor to damage?

How is the 12 str bard putting out 1d4+2 damage? Am I missing something or should it be 1d4+1??


Did you mean to have a spoiler link for what you have so far?

With the fighter's love interest being Kendra, I think it would make the most sense for you to expand on the Valdemars. If you use the Valdemars/heroes to take down the Scarnettis then all of the noble families get some spotlight.

If you wanted to you could put the Scarnizi, Scarnettis and Kaijitsus in league with each other. Scarnettis have knowledge that the Scarnizi are smuggling things through the Kaijitsu tunnels. Scarnizi pays off the Kaijitsus and the Scarenettis take a cut for hush money.

It gives Titus more dirt on noble families. Play him up as a confident, cocky noble who has practically never made a bad move. He thinks he can get away with anything and although HE is not careless, some of his people are.

The Sheriff wants the Scarnizi out of Sandpoint. Valdemars have some dirt on the smuggling operation. Turns out some high addictive things where being moved through the tunnels and then sold to sailors. The town doesn't find out about it because the sailors leave town and keep it on the DL. Unfortunately, its made its way into the Valdemar dockworkers. A couple weeks ago there was an accident and it was discovered that the drug was the culprit.

So the Scarnettis have knowledge about the drugs, but do not actually buy or sell it. They do have Vishki on a payroll and there are documents about several people who have been "silenced" over the years. More than a couple caravans have been robbed and some nice pieces added to Titus' collection. etc etc. Enough to get Titus run out of the noble council in Sandpoint.

Maybe the party face is asked to fill his role?


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RuyanVe wrote:

Phew, what a night.

What else?
- I'd like to use one of the Sandpoint ruling families to intervene on the PCs behalf (tying the old and new heros to Sandpoint).
- Where does the Ironbriar go? To the sewers? To X? Back to Vyre?
- More intrigue using the nobility of Magnimar?
- Playing on the tension between Ordellia and the rest of Magnimar?
- ...

Your thoughts are welcome!

Ruyan.

I can speak some to the nobles of Magnimar. The Mayor is going to listen to either whoever pays him the most or whatever benifits himself the most.

Within Magnimar you have the Valdemars, Scarnettis and Kaijitsus. Kaijitsus are pretty much done after the earlier events in the AP. You have been presented with two big opportunities and it is up to you which works best for your party.

1. The Scarnetti's want to gain power in Sandpoint and would love to use the Heroes of Sandpoint to that end. Titus's son controls the Scarnetti house in Magnimar (I think it's his son... you could make it a nephew or uncle or brother if you wanted.) If the Scarnetti's can get the PCs to owe them a favor they could collect on that later as part of a bid for the Mayorship of Sandpoint. That would give them control of the lumber (and thus the Valdemars) and the town guard. The scarnizi get a little bit more leway and the laws slowly shift to support Scarnetti influence. Their lumber monopoly is secured and the growing port of Sandpoint will secure them for generations.

2. The Valdemar's need a leg up on the Scarnettis. They control the shipyards in Sandpoint, but they Scarnettis have a chokehold on lumber prices. By gaining the support and a couple favors from the Heroes they could point the hero's towards a sidequest or two that will uncover Titus's connections to the Scarnizi and with the support of the Sheriff and the Heroes of Sandpoint they could run the Scarnettis out of town.

3. You could pair up number 2 with a rising noble family who is a friend or supporter of the Valdemars. They need to gain power and they could fill the vaccum left by the Scarnetti downfall.

If you went with option 2 it would be important to note that the Scarnettis are not ruined.. just their chokehold on Sandpoint. They would still be a minor house in Magnimar and still have friends that could make things difficult to the party. I would suggest that the party has trouble with underground contacts or finding contraband items. If option 1, I would make those more accessible.


Magnimar is a city that is approximately what, 300 years old? It is not well established. I'd say you should be able to buy your way in if you wanted.

Its a relatively lawless city so buying into a specific business and gaining a seat as the controlling member of that resource would make sense.

Docks, lumber, City Guard, each major guild, treasury, spymaster, and nobles of extreme wealth/power should all have a seat in my opinion.

All that said, I have not read the magnimar splat book so this is just off the cuff and not per Paizo.


I agree Ian. I actually screwed up and gave the player assigned to the festering haunt( evoker wizard who likes fire) the burning haunt (assigned to the Monk of the Lotus who used to have a rage problem.)

I don't think that the players noticed when I switched it out later and had the burning haunt correctly apply to the monk instead of the wizard. Although, this switch may have thrown them off the trail some...

I want to be careful with retargeting to make for an interesting scene because I think it could make my players feel punished for interacting with a room. At this point they have figured out that each room has a unique target in their party, but they do not know who the room will target. It has become a game of roulette of sorts.


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Ironbriar as Tsuto's father is brilliant!! My party left Tsuto alive and Ironbriar sentenced him to the the Pits in Magnimar. My plan was to have Tsuto waiting for the party in the Foxglove Manor.... He is totally using the "My father" line at some point. He will probably have a note from his father on him telling him to finish the threat that the PCs represent to the Brotherhood on him.

As for your problem... here are my two cents.

Your party is getting powerful enough to where they can take out Ironbriar if they figure him out. A PC with a high sense motive could see through his lies. I would make sure of a couple things.

1. Whenever the PCs encounter Ironbriar he has a retinue of guards nearby so the party cannot kill him and spoil the main plot.

2. I would probably set it up to where Ironbriar uses a collection of tunnels under the Justice building in Magnimar to travel the city unsuspected. This would also account for how the murderers have not been caught yet.

3. Ironbriar does not spend his nights at his Manor. Instead he spends them at the lumbermill or the shadowclock tower if his mistress sends for him.


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Technically they do not come back anymore unless you GM house rules it.

I told the players specifically "and cannot rest until it has found its vengeance" in my description of the revenant. We had to stop right as they finished her so we will see what they do to the body. If they try and burn it or cleanse it then it may take longer... otherwise I think I am planning to have her return to undeath every midnight until her body is either fully destroyed, spirit laid to rest somehow, or her murderer killed. I really want to setup revenants as juggernauts of destruction that you do NOT want to attract the wrath of. I think that 2 rounds of wrangling with her was enough to convince the party of that.

I don't think my party plans to try and rest inside the house.. but they have tried sillier things before. It would not bode well for them if they did.

EDIT: OH NO! 1000th post and its not an Obit!! You tricked me! :(


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I went the route of Cfet and I think everyone has enjoyed it. The best part about RotRL Huants is that they are tied to a particular PCs. There have been several instances of the paladin wondering around in an evil room but unsure of what to do about it. The party is loath to expend resources if they don't know if they might work so they have not tried to end the haunts with positive energy.

Eventually the PC with the haunt attached walks into the room and the Haunt activates. If the haunt is tied to the paladin, then he gets the story, but the story is modified to have Sarenrae (his god) interject into the story and protect/ help him overcome the evil.


Name of PC Garet "Egorian" Thrune
Class/Level Human Paladin 6
Adventure: Skinsaw Murders: Foxglove manor
Catalyst: Iesha Foxglove's Revenant
Honorable Mention: Sorez Kalin (Human Cleric 6)

Story:

Two important bits of information. The party consists of Davosk the halforc wizard, Serena the elven rogue/ranger/shadowdancer, Mosali the human bard, Elron the human monk of the lotus, Egorian the human paladin and Sorez the human cleric.

We play with hero points, but only 1 per character. They are a super hero point of sorts, within reason.

My 6 person party has been working through the Foxglove manor for the last two sessions. Everyone was getting very wary and nervous about the haunts. Egorian was leading the way as he had discovered that Sarenrae protected him from their ill effects. This still did not prevent the monk from nearly leaping from a window to his death! (Tied the reflex save to not fall 300 feet to the sharp rocks below.)

The party followed the sounds of a sobbing woman into the attic whereupon they discovered Iesha. Several botched knowledge checks later they determined that she had a strong evil aura (the strongest the paladin had seen to date.), was a revenant, and knew that Aldern was her murderer and she wanted him dead. Unfortunately, they didn't know much about revenants... other than that they were bad and most likely powerful.

The party retreated to make a plan of action. Several plans were put forth. Plan 1 was to stay out of her way and let her seek Aldern and follow her there. Hopefully they kill each other.. (Not a bad plan!) Plan 2 was to leave her alone as she seemed unable to move away from the mirror in the room. Plan 3 was to kill her and cleanse the undead. Plan 4 was my favorite plan. She was murdered by her scarf (which Sorez the cleric wore around his neck) so perhaps she had a weakness to it and if the party tried to strangle her with it they would easily be able to kill her.

I really wish I could write about how the party attempted to kill the revenant with an object of its obession... sadly they chose plan 3b. The gathered around her with half the party in the room and the rest gathered in the hallway outside and Egorian the paladin moved the mirror.

With a shriek (that everyone passed) Iesha's revenant stood up and turned looking for Aldern.... and saw her scarf wrapped around the neck of Sorez who was standing a mere 10 feet from her. She flew into a rage and won initiative granting her a full attack. Fortunately for Sorez, I forgot her extra attack from haste. He took enough damage to put him with 3 health remaining and locked into a grapple with the revenant. It looked bad. The party managed to put 93 damage into her, leaving her with only 15 health remaining. It wasn't enough and her turn was about to come up.

Davosk the wizard and Egorian the Paladin both burned a hero point to attack out of turn and give a last ditch effort to finish her off. They fell just short as her health dwindled, but could not finish her. Sorez realized that he was about to die and the scarf seemed to be the reason. He burned a hero point to toss it to Egorian.

Iesha watch the scarf fly over her head and land in the paladins hand behind her. With a cry of rage she turned and full attacked the paladin dealing 61 damage - enough to kill him. Luckily, mosali was standing nearby and burned a hero point to draw her wand of cure light wounds and heal Egorian as the blows landed. The 5 health gained was enough to prevent his death. Serena immediately dispatched Iesha with a flanking sneak attack and the party breathed a sigh of relief.

By all rights, either Sorez or Egorian should have died. GM Mistakes and 4/6 hero points saved the day.


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Misroi,

I used your descriptions for the haunts and modified them to suit my party... I have LOVED them. We are playing on Roll20 and so when I haunt triggers I tell the player effected to check their journal. They then get to read the haunt and RP what happens.

If there is anything happening that the rest of the party can see then I describe it in detail. Its worked really really well so far.

As far as the paladin goes, I modified any haunts that he is immune to to. He still sees a vision and he still sees the haunt play out, but I modified it slightly.

Misori's haunt:
He is dead! Your husband, Aldern, has killed him! Not one moment ago, you were seated by the fire with the carpenter, the two of you reading a treatise on the founding of Korvosa, and the next, the carpenter was struck from behind! Aldern was there, his face a mask of fury as he struck the carpenter with a stone bookend. He discards his bludgeon and turns to you, his face red, his eyes accusing. “You harlot!”, he cries, grabbing at your dress and pulling you to your feet. “I am your husband! You are mine, and no other man shall lay a finger upon you! Not now, and not ever again!” He grabs the scarf you wear about your neck, and pulls it tight around your throat. Silently, you plead with him, scratching at his arms and kicking with your feet, trying to show him the book. But the carpenter fell upon it, and your vision swims. As the light fades, your husband is the last thing you see. The man you fell in love with has taken your life. How could he do this to you? Your last thoughts before you black out are those of rage.(Please make a DC 16 Will save. If you succeed, congratulations, you're safe! If not, you are paralyzed with fear as the ghostly image of Aldern Foxglove appears before you and seems to be pulling the scarf around your throat tight. Additionally, since you failed this first save, you need to immediately make a DC 16 Fort save. If you succeed, you take 3d6 damage – go ahead and roll that right now. If you fail, then you are suffocating. You are reduced to -1 hit point and you are dying.)

My version of Misori's haunt:
The scarf! He has it and he rapidly approaches you. It's Aldern and his face is twisted in rage. You can see that he has lost all control. As he approaches you notice the smell of whiskey on his breath.

Glancing to your left you see blood and a man lying face down on the ground. You do not recognize the man, but he wears clothing of a working man. His hands are calloused and dirt is caked under his fingernails. Beside the chair he has fallen out of you see a carptenders tool belt neatly set on the ground.

Aldern now dominates your vision. As he draws near the room begins to grow dark and your eyes focus upon the scarf. “You harlot!”, he cries, taking the scarf in both hands, bringing it around your neck. “I am your husband! You are mine, and no other man shall lay a finger upon you! Not now, and not ever again!”

Almost as quickly as the room started to grow dark, you feel a familiar warmth emmenate from your chest and fill your being. The darkness sheds away as you reach your hand up and easily shove Aldern and the scarf away from you.

(Looking at your hand you see that you are now holding the scarf. You shiver as you think of what Aldern clearly intended to do with it. Sarenrae has clearly protected you from the horrors of this ill fated house.)

For every time that he resists a haunt I try to make it very clear (but in character) that it is his god that is protecting him. It adds a nice bit of flavor!

We are halfway through the house and things are going really well.


I was very dissapointed that I didn't get a chance to drag PCs off into the corn. I was close, but each time it would have resulted in the ghoul dying from AoO to do it..

Maybe I am too soft, but I am not a fan (nor my party) of the ghoul "fail 1 save/ dead next turn" ability. I have high hopes for my next set of ghasts drowning PCs though :) Hopefully, I'll get an Obit soon.


Ouch Bellona! You were rough with your ghouls!

I just ran my party through there and decided that I would avoid obituaries. In the brawl at the farmhouse I had 2/5 PCs paralyzed at once. The cleric by Rogers and the Wizard by an extra ghoul. Other people were around so I had Rogers an autohitting full attacks instead of AoO provoking coupe de grace. His decision was bolstered by having single digit HP though.


Hmm, I have the Paizo RotRL Pawn Collection PDF that I printed for my use. I might take those and make named NPC and vilian images with a round border.. Would I be violating a copywrite or anything if it was uploaded here?


Thanks for the advice. I might troll around ad PFSprep.com a bit!

Lazarx - What do you use to extract the images? Currently I am using the snapshot feature of adobe... its rough. My image skills are very limited. It seems like I may need to change that.


Hello! I am interested in running both the Tomb of the Iron Medusa and Academy of Secrets on Roll20, but I have map questions.

What have people done in the past for their maps when/if they have run this through roll 20? I am using and abusing the RotRL Community Created thread for info on Runelords... is there a community that I could use to supplement my modules? (and add my own content as I make it?)

I have the module PDF, but that does not seem very helpful for trying to convert to Roll20 ready maps. I will keep trying that option for now.


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Its a fairly large raid on more than just the festival. I agree with Majuba.. send some random goblin encounters at them and see what they do. Make it plain that the goblins are demented and torturing those they have trapped.

I would recommend you include a scene where the local guard is hard pressed and losing a fight. Put a downed guardmen by your party with a sword and a dagger to arm anyone who is not (or maybe a crossbow if someone needs ranged help.) If you think that giving out some free mundane weapons will get your party in the fight and having fun.. then do it!


I just switched from tabletop to Roll20 due to players moving about the country (now spread across 3 time zones...) I loved the maps here before, but this is just amazing now.

Between taking snapshots of the pdf, the handouts here, and all the maps this is quickly becoming an awesome campaign (we didn't even use maps and tokens before hand...).

I do have a question though. For those of you who have played RotRL in Roll20, what did you use for tokens of named NPCs and BBEGs? I have many tokens... but not sure about populating Sandpoint and more.


I am definately going to have the scarf attack him. I think that he will get to see the visions as well...

The problem is the particular haunts are ones that the party does not see all of. To their eyes the character is supposed to be spinning and dancing to nothing (maybe music) and relay info afterwards. Not as sure about the scarf.


Thanks for the response! In the case of the Paladin, by RAW, the Haunt would even activate, right?

He is immune to mind effecting fear effects. So the conditions for the haunt are met, but it immediately fizzles.

I think what I would do instead is have the scarf attack his face, but he easily pull it off himself. Perhaps the dance will cause the Piano to play wildly, but the paladin does not feel compelled to dance.


Hello! I have mostly been a lurker on these forums, but I have seen others who have posted questions and had great responses. Perhaps y'all can help me out as well!

I have a group of 6 PCs that are quickly approaching the Misgivings. I am extremely excited to say the least! (its taken us 1.5 years to get here...) I am trying to tailor the haunts to fit my PCs and my goal is to maximize fun. I think I have it all figured out, except there is a wrinkle.... the party has a paladin in it and he will be immune to all of the effects of the haunts. This isn't a problem per say, but I want to make sure that I am not preventing some of the most exciting/fun/interesting haunts from occurring by assigning the Vengeful Haunt to the Paladin.

Haunts - PC Assigned - Reason
Burning Haunt - Male Monk - previously infected with a rage curse (I made it up) from touching the runewell. Since became a monk of the lotus to focus on peace, but still struggles with rage. Good saves, but hilariously botches them often.

Festering Haunt - Male Halforc Wizard - This guy loves fire, but also most ok with the undead and experimenting. He allowed a party member to wear the shiedron rune without telling them what it does because he considered it to have more benefit for that person than the possibility of it going wrong. Did tell the party later on.

Insane Haunt - Male Human Cleric - This player is a bit random. The PC is the healer, but not firmly attached and loyalty of the player is somewhat questionable. PC is known to kill wantonly at times.

Obsessed Haunt - Female Human Bard - target of Aldern so appropriately placed and too late to change now. Very wrathful, would have worked very well as Wrathful Haunt... oh well.

Vengeful Haunt - Male Human Paladin - Garet "Egorian" Thrune, displaced prince of Cheliax on the run from assassins and agents of Thrune. He plans to one day return and take back the throne. In the mean time he has found himself holed up in Sandpoint and intrigued by the events occurring.

Wrathful Haunt - Female Elven Rogue - Is the only other female PC. Works for a LN order whose goal is to stop chaos from overtaking the world. Sorta betrayed in the backstory. A killer when she needs to be. Not particularly wrathful, much more methodical.

So, I think I have everyone down. I can mix it up a bit if need be. As I said above, I do not know how these playout. Vengeful Haunt for the paladin means that both the Dancing haunt caused by the piano and the Iesha's Vengance / scarf haunt will be bypassed. Seems to me like that is one save or suck and one entertaining Haunt with obnoxious ability damage removed. Is there a better place to put the paladin (assuming I can make it work RP wise) to avoid particular "not fun" haunts?


Alright, I have seen enough posts of people using Hero Points to keep themselves alive so I will add my groups own death saved by a Hero Point and by GM fudging.

Name of PC: Sorez Kalen
Class/Level: Cleric 3
Adventure: Burn Offerings
CatalystAngry Bugbear

Story

The party had just finished sleeping in Thistletop. I let them live and did not send the bugbear on them when they slept, but I did decide that Orik had explored upstairs. The alarm was raised and everyone would have heard that something was going on. Ultimately, Orik never found the party because he did not check Ripnugget's quarters, in no small part due to a rampaging war horse that he did not want to deal with with a potential party nearby. We will ignore the fact that he could have come up the stairs and pinned the party while they slept between the horse and a hard place....

Anyways. They defeat the Tentamort and the party of 6 barely survives the three Yeth Hounds they found in the Cathedral. Hearing the howls, Orik, Lyrie, and Bruthalzmus set a trap in the old dining room. The party hears Lyrie moving into position behind the door that leads to her room and moves up to surround the door, setting off the alarm that Lyrie set in the room.

Sorez is set up to buff the front line and is standing next to another door. He watches as the door is opened by a halfnaked goblin woman revealing a grinning bugbear with a direflail. The flail snakes out around his ankle pulling him prone. The Bugbear promptly commences to beat him savagely with the direflail.

Sorez was able to channel with 4 HP left after being hit twice by the direflail. He decided that enough was enough and he should stand up. The AoO crit and hit for 24, enough to flat out kill the poor cleric. LUCKILY the monk saw the attack coming and dove into Sorez' side taking the blow himself as he knocked Sorez out of the way.

Everyone involved was very glad that when the GM went to double check his math and he realized that the bugbear should have actually hit for 34, enough to put the monk at -8 instead of 2 health.


I ran MotFF as a side quest after the Festival before the Catacombs started up. We had a player who couldn't make it the session I was going to hook what essentially amounts to the entire Adventure Path.... So I went ahead and created a side quest.

Quink has heard about the tower (50ish miles North of Sandpoint off of the Lost Coast road. Its similar in material composition to the Old Light ( lore wise its actually another tower... but the party won't know that for a long time.) As the party was lvl 1, I ran everything else as is with one addition.

I put another Runewell at the top of the tower above the stair entrance to the top. It has a low amount of charges, most created by the party killing their way through the tower. Its a remote area so unlikely to gain charges. The creatures there do not know how it works.

So the party has no hints at all about this orange liquid inside this obsidian colored tower. A smart party may put a couple things together... mine did not. My party has actually left the runewell there with liquid in it.

I am currently running the Boggards of Brinstump Marsh side quest between Book 1 and Book 2. The party was growing a bit tired of Thassalon and ancients that they could not figure out. Half the party wanted to go and deal with whatever Malfeshnikor was, the other half didn't (rightly so, at lvl 4 they would not fair well.)After traveling to Magnimar to research they found Shalelu unconscious in the road.


Thanks for the tips. I need to figure out the messageboards here. I figured I would get a notification that people had responded, I guess that is for PMs only.

So I just went ahead and ran the trial. It was done between sessions due to several characters having some 20+ day jouneys they needed to undertake. I would have loved to do this during the session, but I wanted to avoid having to spend hours working with people individually while everyone else entertained themselves doing something else.

The biggest point that was made to me is that the party may be the darlings of Sandpoint, but they can't touch a Justice of Magnimar unless they can take him in a fight... and then they better have some good reasons or the retaliation of the other justices probably ends your campaign at lvl 4.

I had Ironbriar bring two investigators with him. They are members of his cult and may or may not make an appearance later. They are totally loyal to Ironbriar and can act with his full athority. So while the investigators did the leg work and talked with Tstuto, Lyrie, the party and everyone else... Ironbriar hung out with the Scarnetti's, Valdemars, and Deverins enjoying some nice Sandpoint hospitality. Perfect for a corrupt city official.

The trial was quick, but I spent a lot of time on the investigation. Each player pretty much coughed up everything and about half the party decided to travel back to Magnimar (different reasons) and rode with the Justice.... no one elected to involve roleplay during travel so it was mostly a formality. No sense motive checks rolled and minimum party interaction with the Justice himself.

Basically, there was tons of rollplay... but it all centered around the past history of the Party and was conducted by the investigators. Ironbriar spoke with a couple PCs, but in the context of being surrounded by Nobles. He will know and remember them. His men gathered lots of information for him, but he also knows that the party has no idea about his cult and has not connected any dots. He is content to leave it that way and not give a reason for them to start looking. (Obviously that is about to change)


This is my first post on the Paizo forums! I think I may need some help here and I was hoping y'all could help. This may get rather long.

So Tsuto and Lyrie were captured by the party. Sheriff Belor was in Magnimaar attempting to convince people that Sandpoint needed help. The way it worked out was that the party finished the dungeon before Belor secured help. After learning about the prisoners he appealed to Justice Ironbriar for help with the sentencing.

Sheriff Belor knew that his only recourse would be to either sentence the prisoners to death or escort them to Magnimaar. Why not see if Magnimar would come to them? Surprisingly enough Justice Ironbriar rapidly agreed. Its a bit odd, but its an incredibly high profile case so it makes sense.

My issue is that reading about Justice Ironbriar he has been charmed by Xanessa. DC25 to notice the charm in the final fight. Would this be noticeable at this time? I would have to assume so. Its within his character either way, but it makes more sense to send ironbriar to Sandpoint to do Xenessa's bidding (scout out the party etc)

My concern is that the party bard has a +13 to sense motive. I am not concerned about the detect Evil as Ironbriar can cast undectable alignment.

IMO Justice Ironbriar is known as being a galvanzing force of justice in Magnimaar. He is liked by most people, particularly those in power. He is a smooth talker and quick to sentence people. Unlike most Justice's he will see cases beyond just the nobility or large business's and he is considered to be one of the less corrupt justices. He has a large following of supporters and some say that the supporters are perhaps more loyal to him than the Mayor.

What I think I plan to do is that when he comes to town he spends most of his time with the Nobles of Sandpoint "interviewing" them and accepting their hospitality. He lets his investigators do most of the digging and after they give him the report he announces the sentencing. Tsuto and Lyrie are to be condemned to the "Black Cells" (I could use a better name, essentially named such because there is no light and those who enter are never seen from again.)