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My intrepid party went to question Hallod before having pin pointed that he was the bad guy of act I.

They did this on the first day of investigation after having already tackled the boar and the bear and being down on spells. Nevertheless, when "attacked" by traps, they pushed on, finding the cellar and dogs and chasing through to the Lightning Snake.

At this point, all the spells were exhausted and the party decided to retreat instead of chasing Hallod further.

They have made it back to town and now I have a loose end of Hallod.

What would he do?

He is arrogant and has the town cowed, but would he really march into the feed mill and attack the party solo?

Would he flee to the orcs? Try to find Vilree? He can't leave the area too much because of his addiction, but would he seek out the party and on what terms?

My initial thought was to track and ambush them - perhaps on the way to the Wolf Den or when they seek out Phinick. Or would he march into town demanding justice because the party invaded his home?

Just wondering if someone else had this issue

Says it was shipped Oct 15, but the UPS tracking code has something like - waiting to receive it. Just checking that this is still in works and headed out door soon.

Alternatively, if it already left, trying to get updated UPS info.

Thanks,

Taylor

Getting to where my party is traveling to Magnimar for the first time and am trying to prepare my introductory box text for their first sight of the city.

The map on page 389 with the road labeled "Lost Coast Road" suggests the party comes in at the Alabaster District/Capital District, but the tone of the district (especially Alabaster) does not imply that it would handle common travelers. Likewise, the description of the gatehouse in the Keystone district implies that this gate is the primary entrance.

Adding to the confusion, north is into the gutter of the book (left side of page), but the map in the Varisia source book suggests that the spur of land on which Magnimar sits is more westerly than northerly oriented.

So where would the party first arrive if they are coming from Sandpoint.

Is it me or are the Grunhild-Wintersun barbarians (location H) and Scorizscar (location L) far too removed from the Ahari Riverbed to be effective raiders against the either the supply trains coming up the Ahari Riverbed to Drezen or the road that parallels the West Sellen River?

Trying to avoid spoilers, but there is an opportunity to interact with a planetar in SoV. I was wondering if anyone has done so, and did it have a name. I admit to wanting to steal shamelessly a cool name.

Nobody'sHome? That seems like the sort of thing you would do...

This will primarily be a description of music I selected for encounters within WotR (sometimes with a why) with a mix of campaign journal to discuss how some of the encounters played out or funny moments that I remember.

THERE WILL BE LOTS OF SPOILERS, without further markings

Let's start with the party.
Party Composition:
Tural – male LG aasimar paladin of Iomedae, sword and board, fey touched. Exposed to Awfulness
Calden – male LG human Evangelist of Iomedae, adopted brother of Tural. Child of the Crusades
Momma K – female LG Middle Aged Halfling witch. Cook for the crusader camps. Carries a spoon to admonish people who cut in line or take too much food. Hides her witchy powers. Familiar is a lazy hound dog named Delroy II. Delroy I was a previous husband. Originally touched by divinity, but switched to child of crusades as explained below
Aril – male NG fetchling ninja. Chance Encounter. Orphan adopted by Momma K. Scullery boy who was always under foot in crusader camps. Drawn to empyreal lord Kelinahat.
Verulam Porci – male NG Tiefling wizard (evoker). Rift Warden Orphan. Worships Nethys. Raised by half elven family in Kenabres Apprenticed to local wizard, but had finished and was joining crusade
Xira – female LG Vanara Ranger. Archer. Stolen Fury

15 point build. Average starting cash for class.
Players are a mix, mostly long term players. Tural is Xira’s real life father and has heavy hand in her character. Tural and Aril are prone to power builds, and since Tural influences Xira’s character, it will likely be a bit of a power build. However, given her experience in gaming, she may not always use the most optimal/power oriented tactics. Momma K’s player is prone to making characters that are purposefully sub-optimal in some regard, but never maliciously designed to hinder party. Calden’s player loves making characters, but struggled with a healing build that was not a one trick pony. Verulam’s player obsesses over the rules, and can build very powerful characters, but not always designed that way.

Session 1 – Begin on 16 Arodus
Idea stolen from Story Archer ([url=http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ptt5?Quintessential-RotRL-music[/url]) based on a theater technique to help players get in the mood of the game. Always start the game with the same music as the players move books, pull out dice and generally get settled for the game.
Pre Intro: Apocalypse Pt. I from the Plan – Bear McCreary, BG

I warned players that intro was fairly heavy handed, but epic story telling. Mixed active storytelling with flashback. Sort of a ‘hey it is Armasse, you are all headed to plaza…Nice day, weather clear. Excitement. Pageantry. You see this, that, Hulrun stands up to speak. Bam, Kite explodes. Storm King arrives.' Pulled out every demon and chaos knight mini I had to show abyssal legions pouring into plaza (Old Ral Partha Ral, balrogs, Lord of Chaos, Champion of Chaos, 4 Chaos soldiers, all the WotR demon minis, and some other randoms I have collected/painted over the years).

Bam. Wake up in dark.

Flashback Terendelev morphing and launching into air to fight. Explosions, earthquakes, and what not.
Intro Box Text: Theme from Armageddon – Trevor Rabin, Armageddon OST

In keeping with the spirit of the AP that vermin and swarms are an overarching theme, I added a fiendish fly swarm in the cavern where they landed so that they started with a combat of sorts. The swarm did no damage but sickened them if they failed a save. Minor hit points, but it did burn through the wizard’s AoE spells. Swarms are nasty for first level PCs, so I did not want to overdo it, but I wanted some combat with fiendish vermin/swarms to help introduce the PCs to the Deskari themes of the AP.
Fly Swarm in A1: Swarm of Flies – Dr. Sound Effects

Party then talked to NPCs and sorted out who was who. I thought about picking some theme music for the NPCs, but could not find anything I liked that was short enough. The party skipped around with whom they talked anyway, so it would have gotten confusing to keep switching music. Tural and Calden botch badly diplomacy for Horgus. Horgus convinced that tiefling is demon and wants to eat him. Not so sure about simian and fetchling. Only presence of Iomedaen soldiers reassures him. Momma K tries to intimidate. Also botched. Anevia and Aravashnial brought into friendly, but not helpful. Party begins to move. Spots spider. May have over played spider. Had a really big spider mini that I put down in the dwarven forge cavern. Party could see exits and edged way around it. Did hear the maggots crawling around and figured out that it was dead, but did not get close enough to trigger maggots.
Spider in A1: The Spiders – Harry Potter OST
Meeting Aragog – Harry Potter OST

Did not use this music because party never got close enough to trigger maggots.
Maggots in A1: Maggot – Music of Diablo
Don’t Mind the Maggots: Property, Redemption

The party went left around the spider and headed to A2 and the cockroaches. While I am aware that there are spitting cockroaches, I could not find a good sound for them and substituted termites instead. This fight was surprisingly tough since the cockroaches had die hard.
Cockroaches in A2: Termites Swarm Around your Head – Dr. Sound Effects

A4: cave viper – quickly dispatched. I may have generic combat music on, but nothing that lasted long enough to matter.

B: Abandoned Temple
Outside of temple, party is attacked by fly. Immediate concern – is it fiendish? Is it a swarm? No and no. Nothing particularly memorable about this fight. This type of flight not very useful against an archer ranger.
B1: Temple –Flies Buzzing 4 - Dr. Sound Effects

Horgus is grumpy and speaks out about delay exploring temple. Tural actually punches Horgus in response to Horgus’s accusation that the party is all a bunch of demon worshippers (later explained as “I interpreted that to mean Horgus said Iomedae was a demon”). Horgus leaves on his own using candles and a dagger he has borrowed from Tural. Party almost splits as some contemplate chasing him down, but Anevia and Aravashnial’s slow movement cause that to be reconsidered and everyone returns to temple.

Huecava entry says it looks normal during daylight hours. We are underground, but it is daylight…so, no real clue it is not a dwarf, although layer of dust is clue he is dead. Combat goes.
Not clear if it is 8 man hours or 8 hours by everyone in party, but they clean the temple. I said man hours. However, having depleted resources, the party stayed rest of day and night in temple. Failed to get bless because no one could make knowledge religion roll.
B2 & B3: Temple – music of Diablo

Day – 17 Arodus
C: Cavern of Ancestors
As party entered cavern and saw statues, Crusaders played. Turned off for darkmantle fight. Forgot to use darkness ability on darkmantle. Quick fight.
C1: Crusaders – Harry Gregson-Williams, Kingdom of Heaven OST

Party enters Millorn’s cavern. See Millorn cavorting over bound form. Horgus. Party advances. Tural falls to color spray. Rest of party beats down and subdues Millorn. Horgus has been tortured and a few fingers removed. He is insistent that Millorn be killed. Reluctantly thankful that they rescued him, but again the party blows diplomacy checks.
C2: Can I Play with Madness – Iron Maiden, A Real Live One

End Session 1
Out of game and on list – Anevia discloses to Calden that Horgus is a strong worshiper of Abador and perhaps a contract can be negotiated. Calden negotiates a “no questions – let us do our jobs” in exchange for 10% of wealth recovered on way to surface. Horgus continues to be a pain the ass, but instead of questioning decisions, he merely makes snide comments.