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Sorry if this is mentioned elsewhere (or in the AP itself), but I can't seem to find any reference to what happens if Kyrion dies in Book 2. The AP has all sorts of details on what happens if he lives, but if he dies, do the players just suddenly get possession of a shard of the orb of golden dragonkind, even if they can't properly ID it?

Just seems like a morally dubious group could end up with a fairly high-level artifact fragment while their level is still in single digits.

This is exactly what happened in my game, and it’s turned out pretty interesting. The gold shard, along with the gold dragon scale from book 1, have maintained a mysterious through line throughout the AP, which it is sorely lacking. My PCs actually lost the shard and scale to the Scarlet Triad in the middle of book 3, and Laslunn taunted them over it, pointing out that the PCs have no idea what game they're getting themselves into. Now in book 4, they asked Archmage Nalruven in to take a look at it, and he rolled poorly and did not identify it. ^^; I’m planning to have it, and some details of the Scarlet Triad’s plans, come out through role play with Veshumirix at the end of the book.

Would there be any problem in the adventure path if Mengkare had left a kind of spell that affected a 1km radius around Breachill, causing people to gradually become lawful good, turning into exemplary citizens, but leaving behind their feelings? (behaving somewhat like in Lanthimos’ movie ‘The Lobster’). I want to run this adventure in a more narrative way, changing some things.

I'm only on book 4, so I can't speak to how this would affect book 6 and actually meeting Mengkare. But I do like the idea of having some kind of lingering cultural or even magical effect in Breachill that causes the people to act a certain way, like having an overzealous obsession with heroes (like Lamond Breachton) or over-commitment to the "greater-good", creating a kind of false-utopia vibe. A vague influence from Mengakre may be safer than clearly defining that he cast a spell that changes alignment. Staying vague also gives you an out for characters like Voz and Calmont living in Breachill but being evil.

Here's the conclusion to my group's battle with Laslunn! First off--I realized between these past two sessions that a burrow speed does not let a creature burrow through stone unless it specifically has an ability to do so. I did not share this with my players as we were already mid-combat, but if they try shenanigans in book 4, I will probably enforce it.

The druid burrowed to Laslunn's chamber in dragon form, creating a current in the resulting tunnel and letting the water out of the sluice room. Everyone made it through the tunnel, with the sorcerer turning into a shark and assisting the magus. Laslunn and the interlocutor have been dishing out damage while this happens, even as Laslunn loses air herself. Laslunn and the interlocutor followed through the tunnel, and the sorcerer tried a new wall of stone to block Laslunn off and drown her, but the interlocutor broke through it. Water is flowing out into the quarry now, but the pits will fill at a slower rate than normal, as water is being diverted through multiple tunnels and not shooting down the sluiceway.

Here's where real trouble strikes... the druid and the magus leave to go rescue the prisoners, while the sorcerer and the warpriest stay to fight. The warpriest hits the interlocutor with an impressive 70 damage channel smite, turning off its regen, but he goes down the subsequent turn. The sorcerer flees to the pits, and the warpriest, who lasted for all of two sessions as he was the replacement for the summoner, is lost. Laslunn's slowed 2 will wear off soon, so she possibly could have TPKed the party by sharpshooting from a tunnel opening, but I took the opportunity for her and the interlocutor to capture the warpriest and flee as the PCs were distracted with the prisoners. The warpriest's player hasn't decided if he will choose death or become a hostage.

All the prisoners were saved though (except for the champion previously captured by Barushak...), and the Scarlet Triad was successfully expelled from Ravounel, so we concluded the adventure. Thanks for the help. :)

To get the PCs the Eye of the Wise, I'm still leaning to having Laslunn attack Citadel Altaerein, but I'm still working through it.

We had our session after a PC died to Barushak at the quarry and then the party fled. Here's how it went down. I'll spare you the mundane details and "dive" into the new predicament for anyone interested.

The PCs escaped the quarry without issue, Aadrushian attacked at night, and the new PC rushed in to heroically save the day. The PCs returned to the quarry first thing in the morning.

The snipers were still alive, and I intended to bring back Vaklish, as Fumarole suggested, but I left him out after all to save time, since I wanted this to be a finale session. The PCs defeated the snipers in the northern tunnels, then they returned to Barushak's chambers (Vaklish's chambers) to find a letter from the long-gone Barushak, who took with him the old PC captured at Tanessen Tower. Laslunn, aware of the PC's presence, threw them a note tied around a rock, demanding the PCs present themselves or she would drown the prisoners and leave.

The PCs show up, there's some dialogue, including about the golden dragon scale and shard of the Orb of Gold Dragonkind now in Laslunn's possession (the PCs don't know what either of these are). During dialogue, the druid inspects the sluice and understands its function. The druid goes first in initiative and uses wall of stone... around both exits to the room... Laslunn, spiteful and confident in her ability to survive, pulls the lever...!

We're now two rounds in. Laslunn crit failed the Sorcerer's slow and is *slowed 2*, but the interlocutor has been dealing tons of damage. There's a pocket of air near the top of the room, but it will disappear this round. The druid turned into a dragon and is burrowing away. The magus cast deep breath (awesome), but he's now futilely trying to disable the sluices. The warpriest is at the pocket of air to cast a spell. Luckily he has athletics and breath control. The sorcerer is next to the interlocutor (yikes).

We plan to pick it back up in a couple weeks, and the players will hopefully have their new plan by then. The leading school of thought is the druid burrows and everyone follows as the new tunnel gets filled with water. Everyone has some way to do this, but I worry they might die as they try to escape. I think at least some people should be able to get out... Everyone except the warpriest has a turn before the interlocutor, who has already used its reaction, so I think the warpriest is in most danger of getting killed on the way out. Laslunn is screwed unless she and the interlocutor bust open the wall of stone. Recognizing she can't kill the PCs as they escape, she'd focus on escaping herself. But I think the interlocutor might be able to focus on killing someone and still have time to break the wall down. It would be ideal if the PCs somehow escaped and the baddies drowned, but at this rate I worry a PC will die, Laslunn will escape through a hole in the wall of stone, and the prisoners all drown. Wish my players luck...

Thank you for these great ideas! The current plan for the new PC is actually now going to be joining the party the evening of their retreat, so it's likely that they'll return to the quarry the next day.

But I'd still like to make some changes to give agency to the Scarlet Triad and weight to the PC's loss. I like the idea of the Aadrushian getting sent after them and Barushak leaving for Kovlar along with the captured champion. The champion's player is okay with the champion getting lost, so I really want to explore the possibilities with Droskar. Barushak will leave a threatening letter for the PCs to help establish him as a villain.

But I'm leaning toward leaving Laslunn and the snipers at the quarry. I think it's reasonable that they wouldn't close up shop in under 24 hours, and this allows the PCs to still have the climactic boss battle with the high-stakes sluice hazard.

We've still got over a week until our session, so I'm open to hearing other thoughts, and I'll update when it's all over!

Hi all, I'd love some opinions on where to go after a PC death at the quarry.

My PCs fled Tanessen tower after killing all Scarlet Triad members except Barushak and his Evangelists. During the escape, the champion fell and was captured by Barushak. The champion was carrying a bag of holding, which contained the golden dragon scale from book 1 and the shard of the Orb of Gold Dragonkind from book 2, These items have Laslunn and Barushak very curious. The champion has been undergoing interrogation (all offscreen and non-explicit) while the party found a new member and prepared to attack the quarry. Now at the quarry, they took the cave route and made it to Vaklish' chamber, which I replaced with Barushak's chamber. The druid scouted the room with pest form and saw the champion held captive, so the party decided to storm the room and take Barushak by surprise. On round 1 of combat, the summoner's eidolon charged in first. It was the only enemy Barushak could see, so he cast phantasmal killer on it. The eidolon critically failed the will save, failed the fortitude save, and died, bringing the summoner with it. No hero points left. The party fled. I regret my actions... ^^;

The party is not fully decided about what to do next, but it is likely that they will return to Kintargo to either find a new party member or resurrect the summoner. It will be a minimum of one week before they return to the quarry.

I see two options for how the Scarlet Tried would react.

1. High alert and fortification of the quarry.

2. Flee and pursue activities elsewhere.

With the majority of Scarlet Triad agents in Ravounel routed, I think 2 is most likely. However, I of course need to get Eye of the Wise into the hands of the PCs, and I also worry it may be anticlimactic for them to rally, return to the quarry, and find it deserted.

My leading idea right now is to have Laslunn go rogue from her colleagues in the Scarlet Tried and make a tactical gambit to attack Citadel Altaerein directly, either with the interlocutor or a small, loyal squad. Her journals indicate that she was already leaning toward this, and finding the gold scale and gold shard in the champion's bag of holding makes her paranoid that the PC's are working with Mengkare or otherwise pursuing ambitions in opposition to the Triad's. Assuming the PCs stop her in Breachill, they will regain possession of the scale and the shard, and they will also gain the Eye of the Wise. Barushak, the Evangelists, and the snipers would take the captives in the quarry to Katapesh, where Barushak would rise in the ranks and return as a boss in book 5. The captured champion's fate will be up to his player and me.

Of course, the easiest thing would be to keep everything in the quarry as-is for when the PCs return to challenge it again. It doesn't make as much sense to me, but maybe it would be more satisfying for the PCs?

Has anyone attempted anything like this? Or any other opinions or thoughts?

Thank you all for the replies. Barushak did escape them last week and I was initially thinking of having him hire some muscle and ambushing them at Whiterock, but im going to trust that they can deal with him at the mine now. I love the watery escape idea :)

Not sure if your party has gone through the quarry yet, but Barushak also escaped in my game, along with his Evangelists. (The PCs couldn't deactivate the regeneration at the tower, so they ran.) I just replaced the Vaklish encounter with Barushak round 2. I think this keeps things from getting out of hand at the quarry and doesn't significantly hurt the story.

Thanks for the update Brian! I think I'm having the same issue as youngwallzy. I get stuck on the "Personalizing... Click link again in 60 seconds to download" stage on the larger downloads.