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Sovereign Court

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So it took a little longer to finish off Thistletop than I thought and then there were the holidays so they just started Skinsaw a couple of weeks ago. It's been working out pretty well. I don't think there are spoilers below but still, it's best not to read if you want to avoid spoilers.

I started off with a thank you dinner for the heroes at the Scarnetti Manor (Kaijitsus were still cleaning house, Deverins had too many guests already, and Old Man Valdemar was too sick to host) where they met the whole Scarnetti family (Titus and Portia and kids Julius, Cornelius, and Flavia). His Lordship, Julius was showing an interest in one of the PCs (the female Gnomish druid) which his parents did not approve of. Also in attendance was His Lordship Belven Valdemar (who also showed interest in the female Gnomish druid as she was fond of woodworking), Ameiko Kaijutsu and her friend Shalelu Andosana (who was interested in another of the PCs), Kendra Deverin with her brother, Paul, and sister-in-law Vana, Ven Vidner and his wife Solsta, and Father Zantus. After some intense dinner conversation about Mayor Deverin's reelection campaign, and Titus Scarnetti trying to get Ameiko to sell the glassworks to him, the PCs cut out early since they all had dates that night.
The next day, Sheriff Hemlock asked them to willing come with him as there had been a murder and they were suspects. On the way, he confided with them that he didn't suspect them but there were a few things linking them to the murder. 1) One victim had a symbol carved on his chest that matched the symbol on the amulet one of the PCs had been wearing around town. 2) There was a note with one of the PCs names at the crime scene. 3) the Scarnettis were publicly accusing them and Hemlock had to at least interrogate them and find out if they had alibis. 2 of the PCs were good, but 1 had been hooking up with Shayliss Vidner and her parents still hadn't discovered them. Luckily (it literally came down to a roll) he had been good enough to her that she came and vouched for his whereabouts.
They still weren't allowed around the crime scene so they did some investigating of their own and got most of the information in the book, plus some info on the Scarnettis. They ran into a drunk farmer at the Hagfish raving about monsters in the farms to the south so they investigated that and while they were gone, the murderer struck again. The Scarnettis were really trying to pin it on them but once they told Hemlock what they've discovered, he let them go and told them to find proof. Before they leave, Madame Mvashti contacts them and tells them what she's seen about the Misgivings. She also gives them a Varisian magic item that translates to "Soul Siphon" to help them.
I've had a lot of fun with this as a DM and they seem to be enjoying themselves as well. They're not as stabby as they've been in the past so that's good. Basically I accomplished my goals of wanting to throw them off the scent a bit and make things a little more difficult. They all have love interests in town and really don't like the Scarnettis who they now suspect of trying to take out Ameiko so they can control the Glassworks. There's also another factor of the Titus trying to stop Mayor Deverin from winning reelection. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do about the Scarnettis in future chapters.

Sovereign Court

My players are finishing up Thistletop in the next week or two and I was thinkg of having them start The Skinsaw Murders by being blamed/framed for the initial murders. Has anyone else done this or have any thoughts?

I'm planning on having the Mercantile League throw them a fancy dinner party as thanks for saving the town and as a way to introduce them to the noble houses there since I haven't done much of it yet. I'd like a Scarnetti to have a crush on the female druid (also to have more than 1 suspect for the lust notes) but Titus does not like this and when the murders starts he blames the PCs. After the party, everyone goes their own ways and that's the same night the murders start. The wizard with a tongue of gold has been regularly seeing Shayliss unbeknownst to her father so if she doesn't vouch for him that night he will look pretty suspicious. So it's looking like Deverin, Kaijitsu, and Sheriff Hemlock will be on the side of the PCs but Scarnetti, Valdemar, and Vin will be against. Problems I'm seeing will be possibly splitting the party if some are jailed and others aren't. Also, how will they get access to the crime scene?

Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated.

Sovereign Court

I'm running this campaign as a first time GM for Pathfinder for a group of first time players of anything and they just defeated Erylium last night on their 2nd attempt. The party had just hit level 3 and consisted of an Elvish Evocation Wizard, Gnomish Druid and her panther pet, and a half-Elvish Magus.

Spoiler:
I sealed off the hallway to the Lamashtu Shrine and Cathedral of Wrath with a stone door that could only be opened with a 7-pointed star key found in the Meditation Chamber. So they went through and cleared out everything except the zombies then went to the door and went in to the Lamashtu Shrine. They made enough noise in there that Erylium had time to go invisible so when they came to the Cathedral of Wrath it seemed to be empty. The magus snuck in a ways before being hit by the hold person spell. She appeared and everyone rolled initiative.

On her turn she did the sinspawn thing. The wizard hit her with his force missile doing normal damage. She started summoning a monster but got hit again with a force missile and lost the spell. By now the panther was on her and managed to knock her down with a bite attack. She went invisible. The druid summoned a swarm to fight the sinspawn and the magus broke free from his spell. About this time they decided to roll to see what they knew about quasits and the wizard rolled very high so they learned about all her resistances and then got upset because they had nothing that could hurt her (besides force missile). She reappeared and tried to fear the magus but he saved. The wizard ran up and tried to color spray her but she saved. She got pinned again disappeared. The sinspawn was killed by the swarm then chased after the wizard for the next 2 rounds. Erylium reappeared and tried to cast another summon monster but the magus hit the wall next to her with a thunderstone and rolled high enough that it actually knocked her to the ground. They all rushed her but she went invisible and ran away. It took a couple of rounds for them to realize it and by then it was late and we had to end the game which everyone was disappointed and frustrated about.

The next game I thought they were going to leave to rest so I had planned on Erylium getting mad, making one more sinspawn and using it to get the zombies out of the pits then using the Water of Lamashtu to mutate a couple of them to fast/plague zombies. However the party sealed the door when they left and took the key, then told guards at the Glassworks that there was an invisible bat demon in the tunnels so watch out which caused the guards to super barricade the door. So instead of her having a small army of zombies to fight she got frustrated and went to sleep in the meditation chamber.

Meanwhile the party rested, the druid prepared fairy fire, they bought some fishing nets, and then talked to Das Korvut about cold iron weapons. He happened to have some bolts available from a few years ago when a crazy noble decided to go on a fae hunt. He sold these at a huge markup. He also had some scrap cold iron pellets he gave them. He had enough cold iron to make a weapon but he wanted them to help him find his son's body (Chopper's Isle sidequest). They took the ammo and did the sidequest later.

So this time when they found Erylium asleep in the Meditation Chamber, she really didn't have a chance. First thing they did was net her, then hit her with color spray and fairy fire. The wizard had to go into the room to use color spray so he got to do some fun Ender's Game maneuvers. The Magus pulled her in with the net and hit her with a critical with his magic sword. She woke up and cut her way out of the net but the wizard threw his net and got her with it. They all got some hits in but finally the magus finished her off with a point blank magic missle and sword thrust combo. Afterwards they tried cutting off her head with a sickle but then realized they couldn't and used her dagger to do it. Now the wizard has a quasit head he likes to scare people with and the druid has a tiara she's happy with.

All in all I had fun with it and it was a good mix of frustration and then accomplishment for my players.

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Lady Kelendia

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