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Bullywug Gambit seems to assume that the PCs will talk to Harliss Javell, find out she sent her first mate to kill the Vanderborens, and then rush off to save Lavinia while Harliss makes her own way out of Kraken's Cove.

Harliss essentially admits to ordering Lavinia's death.
Most players will want to kill/capture her before leaving the cove, yet the adventure path assumes that Harliss leaves peacefully, and is on friendly terms with the PCs when they get to Scuttlecove.

Are the PCs supposed to be so awed by her fighting ability that they dare not attack?
Or so grateful for the information she gives them on the Savage Tide and the attack on Vanderboren manor that they wouldn't think to blame her for the attack?

I will probably be running the encounter with Embril in Shatterhorn next session.
This seems like a very unusual encounter, with the potential to be very frustrating for the players.
Does anyone have any advice or comments on how to run it effectively?

thanks!

Thif casts her defensive spells before initiative is rolled. By the time she triggers her lesser globe, she should have all the defensive spells she needs up and running. She triggers the globe on round one of combat so that she's got a safe zone if the PCs come at her with a lot of lower level spells.

In other words, Thifirane has pre-cast all the spells listed before her speech? Even haste, which has a duration of 1 round/level?

If she needs to cast spells of her own or needs the effects of any of the pre-cast spells on herself, she can simply movie out of the globe's area of effect.

In any case, the globe specifically does not exclude the effects of any pre-cast spells, and states "any type of spell can be cast through or out of the magical globe" so she can stay in the area of effect to cast all her spells at the PCs.

On page 236-7 of the SCAP hardcover, under the tactics for running Thifirane's party in the ballroom (R29) it states that Thifirane will cast a number of defensive spells 'before entering combat', if time allows. All of these, except the first (stoneskin) are 3rd level or lower. Most of the rest (except mage armor and see invisibilty) have durations of minutes or rounds per level and so are unlikely to be active prior to her speech to the other villains.

It also states that she uses a contingency to trigger a lesser globe of invulnerability 'on her first initiative action'. The globe blocks any 3rd level of lower spell from being cast, though it allows any previously functioning spell.

What is the intent here? Should I assume that Thifirane does indeed have all 8 defensive spells already active when combat starts? Or that 'her first initiative action' is the first one after she decides to finish casting defensive spells?

Preparing for the session, I just noticed that the hags can cast forcecage, which would last for 22 hours:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/forcecage.htm

If they can get this spell off (which allows no save or SR) on one of the PCs, the party will be forced to wait out the duration of the cage before moving through the mirror.

How did the battle with the hags work for those who have already run it?

Demonskar Legacy suggests (rightly) that the PCs face Nabthatoron at full strength. Unfortunately, he is placed at the end of a dungeon, beyond the hag encounter (which has an EL two or three above party level).

My PCs will enter Vaprak's Voice next session, and I'm concerned they will fight the hill giants, ettins, and hags (avoiding Dugobras) but not be worn down enough to think to rest before entering the Starry Mirror. They'd then meet Nabthatoron at significantly reduced strength. I don't want to have to rescue them using Nidrama.

Anyone else who has already run Demonskar Legacy have ideas on how to plan for this? Thanks.

I can see the rational that because the statue was nonmagical for a time, there could be a complete reset to the summoning. However (based on the first sentence), if the planar ally variant is considered a power, then it was merely delayed, not cancelled as a result of the dispel magic since the item would recover on its own. After all, the unhallow effects and lightning bolt properties are resuming when the suppression ends, so I thought it made sense to have the planar ally variant resume along with them.

Anyway, like I said, I just wanted to explain why I thought the way I did. My one group has just begun chapter 4 and I think its great being able to discuss stuff like this here since it can�t but help if my party attempts the same tactic.

Good gaming,
Mark

Mark,

Indeed, I'm beginning to agree with your first suggestion, and think that the spell itself was cast long ago, and that the 2 miniutes is the time needed for Aushanna to respond to an alarm sent by the statue when the party enters. In that case, she will still arrive after 20 rounds.

All of these variants (20 rounds, 22, 26) are pretty equivalent, though. Much different would be a ruling that the statue must wait until the party re-enters the shrine or until an hour has passed. No one seems to favor those possibilites, though which is good. I am looking forward to the party facing her. :>)

Yoav

Michael Cyr wrote:

Personally, if it were my campaign, this is the option I would go with: the statue builds up power for 20 rounds until it is sufficient to summon the devil. However, unlike Marcos, I think that because the statue is nonmagical when it is successfully dispelled, the built up power is lost, and requires 20 more rounds once it becomes magical again.

I do not have access to the area, but this is they way I would play it. You disrupted the effect with the dispel magic and it needs to start from square 1 again.

I like this option also. Since the dispel was cast on round 4, and ended after round 6, Aushanna will now appear after round 26.

Thanks for the advice.

Last session, my players entered the shrine (room 5) of Bhal-Hamatugn. During the battle with the kuo-toa, which lasted 6 rounds, the party warlock (level 6) cast dispel magic on the statue, and rolled a natural 20 on the dispel check (total 26). This was just enough to dispel the statue (caster level 15th+11 = DC 26).

As per the spell description, a magic item like the statue is suppressed for 1d4 rounds. I rolled a 2. Of course, the unhallow and lightning bolt properties of the statue return after that time.

However I am undecided on how to rule the planar ally effect which calls Aushanna. 3 possibilities:

1) The calling has simply been delayed 2 rounds. Aushanna will now appear after 22 rounds, instead of 20.
2) The calling has been disrupted, and Aushanna will not arrive. Since the calling is triggered "Whenever a nonevil character enters area 5", the calling can be triggered if and when the party exits and then re-enters the room.
3) Same as #2 above, but this can't happen until an hour has elapsed, which might be after the party has left with Zenith if they work fast.

Any advice?
thanks

Hey Yoav, do you happen to live in Israel? If you do, could you please reply to urikson@gmail.com?
Thanks!

No, I live in Manhattan, sorry.

My top 8 (which is about the top 20%) in chronological order:
1. Box of Flumph
2. Tomb of Aknar Ratalla
3. The Styes
4. Final Resting Place
5. The Whispering Cairn
6. Menagerie
7. Clockwork Fortress
8. Champion's Belt

In general, looking over the responses:
Dungeon readers seem to enjoy adventures that provide unique elements or situations (Clockwork Fortress, Sliver Forge, Menagerie) a mixture of combat, role-playing interaction and cool traps (Tomb of Aknar Ratalla, Whispering Cairn, Final Resting Place), and mystery investigations (Box of Flumph, Shut-In, The Styes, Murder in Oakbridge). Keep these coming Erik and James and Jeremy!

Also readers like adventures that are well grounded in a specific campaign given setting, be it Greyhawk, FR, or Eberron (Fiend's Embrace, Twisted Run, Maure Castle, though it is interesting given how popular the first was that Chambers of Antiquities hasn't appeared here much).

Adventures that haven't appeared much in this thread were mostly straight dungeon crawls with mostly combat encounters without a truly unique or interesting 'hook' (Secret of the Archwood, Unfamiliar Ground, Pit of the Fire Lord).

The most difficult part of the writing process is, I think, reading the rejection letter. The second hardest is learning from it. It was (and presumably still is) the policy at DUNGEON that ideas which didn't suit were accompanied by a letter outlining the reasons why...

Unfortunately, this is apparently not still DUNGEON policy. I got a rejection letter in the second half of last year from James Jacobs which apologized for the fact that the magazine no longer has the staff time to accompany rejections with suggestions for improvement or the specific reasons for the rejection. That was more disappointing to me than the rejection itself, actually. Oh well...I'm developing a new proposal anyway.

I believe that Old Man Katan (and his Mushroom Band) is the creation of Ted Zuvich, not Willie Walsh.

I actually ran the adventure through, and the players had a blast. I had taped myself singing as the Campestris in a high pitched voice, and then sang a duet with myself as Old Man Katan. I don't sing very well to begin with, so much humorous torture ensued.

My vote for best Willie Walsh adventure would be 'Mightier than the Sword' a very fine low level urban mystery.

Just another big Willie Walsh fan adding a voice to the chorus of praise- your adventures were favorites of mine (and my whole group) for years. We've played through many of them. I think your adventures do a great job melding mystery, interaction, and an interesting setting.

I listed you as one of my favorite Dungeon magazine authors (with Ted Zuvich and W. Baur) in the survey from a few months back.

Like Paul, I'd sure love to see your 22nd adventure appear in Dungeon some day.