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Any idea when Hero Lab files will be coming out for the Technology Guide? Will files come out for the Player's Guide traits? And People of the River and People of the Stars? Seems like it'd be nice to have all of the Numeria-related stuff rolled up into one product download.
Last night, I just started running a Reign of Winter campaign with the starting point based in the Land of the Linnorm Kings. I placed the town of Heldren in the Northwest edge of the Grungir Forest.
Spoiler:
Another goal was to really play up the fey aspects of the adventure path. So, it was pretty cool to find, when reading up on Grungir Forest that the veil between the First World and Golarion is thin in the Grungir. And, after reading through Fey Revisited, I really wanted to use the Norns somehow, and, hey, look, they are most likely to come across in the Grungir. It really seems like a whole lot of themes are coming together, and I was able to use the sample Norn from Fey Revisited to great effect as an extra encounter.
I want to use the mythic rules, and I had already had the idea that getting the black rider’s mantle would be the moment of ascension. I got a bunch of great ideas from the threads on this forum for when mythic trials will occur. (I love the community input, I can already see how hearing of other DM’s experiences with High Sentinal Lodge and the Winter Portal are going to help me run those encounters… immensely) As part of the general “mythic”-ness of the campaign, I want each character to be a paragon of their race, and I’m allowing characters to take an extra racial trait or feat at 1st, 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level. I also developed a home-brewed list of racial traits for “fey-blooded” human and “troll-blooded” human, using a lot of the flavor from the sorcerer fey bloodline and the fey creature template. This first evening, two of the six players couldn't play, so only four of them were there for the start. Like I said, I’m really pushing for a strong fey character to the adventure path. The players did not disappoint. So far, they include a fey-touched Varisian cleric of Desna (ostensibly searching for the legendary holy site of Desna in the western Grungir Forest), a troll-touched Ulfen Blackraven Witch Warden Inquisitor, a gnome naturalist rogue, and a snowcaster elf two handed weapon ranger with a history of, until recently, being lost in the First World since the time of the first Winter War. Hopefully the other two players can keep up the fey themes. The battle in Area A with the zombies went well. A zombie got in a slam attack against the cleric and did max damage, staggering him, but the rest of the party made short work of them. The trap at the chest knocked the gnome for a loop, but he had approached the chest alone. The tatzlwyrm nearly took out the cleric, but the snowcaster elf scored a critical hit with his two handed elven curved blade, which should have killed it, but I couldn’t let the thing die on one blow! Heck, it’s a dragon! Albeit a tiny one. We ended the night just as the winter-touched sprites had finished their surprise round. One hit on the cleric (he seems to be the damage sponge!) and then a natural 1 and then a natural 3. The natural 1 was a fumble, and, drawing a card from the fumble deck, his reaction was to charge into combat, so I ruled that his bow broke in two. I need to figure out how to get the two other players’ characters into the game, but, all in all, it was a great first session and I’m looking forward to seeing how the campaign goes. Added Encounter: Shortly after the party passed Area A, I had the party encounter the lone Norn, Yrlda (using Yrldak from Fey Revisited). The theory is that her sisters have somehow fallen pretty to Elvannah and/or Baba Yaga. I may end up reskinning some of the planar travel aspects of the adventure path to keep it on Golarion or in the First World, and the Norns will play a big role: Spoiler: A quarter mile past the massacre site, the party comes upon a woman butchering an animal. They see her from a long ways off; she is sitting on a log, facing in their direction. The weather is cold, there is a dusting of frost and snow on the ground. Snow falls in the forested hills behind her.
She is dressed in furs, with pale skin and long dark hair. As they approach, still a hundred yards off, she stops her work, places her tools on the ground, and rests her hands on her lap. She sits upright, waiting. As the party approaches, it becomes apparent that the log is much larger than they had originally thought, that she is huge, possibly twice as tall as the tallest member of the party. As they get close, she gestures for them to approach. [I wrote some likely things she would say, without prompting, necessarily. Being without her sisters, she is not all "there" while on Golarion, and is kind of spacey.) “You are late.” She says, arching an eyebrow. “That should not happen… That you would be late.” She picks up her shears, large, shining shears, and begins cutting the flesh of the giant hare in front of her. “It is no matter. You are here. Not too late.” “Time waits for no man. You are needed.” “For this and that. You are needed. Needed here and there. And elsewhere.” “I need you. You will find my sisters, and we shall be rejoined. I fear that day. But it must come.” “Mother needs you.” “Whose mother, I cannot say. Not ‘will not say’. Cannot say. A mother. Mother Earth? Mother Sky? Mother Wind? Mother Snow? I cannot say.” “I cannot see. The weave is knotted here. The skein is tangled, and my sisters are lost. Without them, I…” She puts up her hands in resignation. “They are lost, I dread. I came back, to join them, but they are lost. Find them, and gratitude will be yours.” She puts her shears down, and takes a bundle out of a pack laying in the snow near her. She unwraps the leather bundle, revealing numerous locks of hair, each lock tied together with a strand of gold. She hands one to each party member, “These charms will serve you well. Say my name, and their magic will aid you, only once, but it will aid you in dancing across the threads of fate.” “I cannot join you. Your fate is yours to pursue. The fae of this wood are many, though, and they are pained. If fate smiles on you, so may they.”
My party had the option of going on a side quest (to get some more experience) or just go after the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden. They went straight to the Hospice. They're 5th level, but there are 6 of them, which makes for a much more powerful party than a group of 4. They have a 5th level cleric that can channel to heal and the rogue has 1 level of cleric as well, so they have lots of healing, and, with 6 characters, I think they could probably survive the Hospice. BUT, I'm really worried about the power of negative energy chanelling. Spoiler:
There are a TON of clerics of Urgathoa in the lower level of the place. Plus, Andesain is a 9th level cleric. Using the tactics written for her, she would likely air walk up to the top of the room and then just start channeling negative energy every round, doing 5d6 damage to everyone in the party, every round. That is nasty! Even for a 6th or 7th level party. And, it really cuts out the party's main advantage, i.e. numbers, since she can target the entire party. I'm thinking this might be a TPK... But, I'm not sure. What does everyone else think? Any advice?
At the end of the first session, the party had defeated Gaedren Lamm, Gobbleguts, and his cronies. The children that had been at the Old Fishery during the assault had fled. There were still some loose ends to tie up, not the least of which was a still-alive Yargin. Spoiler:
The party had looted Lamm’s foot locker and found Zellara’s head and the Harrow deck. But, they had never set foot on the old ship out at the back of the fishery. The second session started with Aleff, who was badly wounded, tying up Yargin and watching over the young girl that had been saved, the daughter of Gallatin’s boss, while the rest of the party investigated the old ship. Spoiler:
The party found the tiny drain spider in the aftcastle and killed it, and they found a medium-sized drain spider and a spider swarm in the hold. They fled after getting bitten several times and taking Strength damage from the poison. The party regrouped and over the course of the night, several of the kids returned to the Old Fishery. Some that had been there during the assault, and others that were just returning from their day out thieving for Lamm. Mick, a 12 year old boy, and Rabbit, a 13 year old girl, were two of the leaders of the kids. Spoiler:
Some of the kids had news of the riots in town. One said he heard that the king had died the night before of some disease, that none of the Gods-men, not even those from the Pentacle, had been able to cure him. Another said that he thought he saw a Hellknight on the street! The party split up, with Gallatin and Uriah leaving to take the young girl back to Gallatin’s Bromothan boss. Spoiler: It was a tearful reunion when Gallatin presented the young girl to her parents.
On the way, they witnessed a Hellknight warning looters to disperse… they didn’t, and the knight rode through them, silhouetted by a fire in the street, a heavily armored figure on a massive barded warhorse, wading into the group, slaughtering four of them with his blade and the horses heavily shod hoofs. Later, very close to the Bromothan manor, they encountered a group of six ruffians assaulting a young nobleman. Uriah brandished his flaming staff and ordered them to stop it at once and to disperse, and Gallatin summoned up flame as well. Another man, a tall, muscular Varisian named Therrin, saw the commotion as well, and from the opposite side of the ruffians, said, “Six on one, that’s hardly fair,” standing up, holding the haft of his heavy Earthbreaker hammer. The ruffians attacked, three heading for Uriah and Gallatin and two for Therrin. Uriah blasted one with a bolt of fire, and then, after dodging blows from the other two, blasted another, nearly incinerating the man, dispersing the three that had headed for him, as well as the one that attacked the noble. Therrin took some blows from the thugs’ cudgels, but finally connected with his Earthbreaker, slamming it into the man’s side, hurling him through the air.
The young noble, Amin Jalento, thanked them, and accompanied them partway to the Bromothan manor. Then Uriah, Gallatin, and Therrin headed back to the Old Fishery. Fourteen children had returned to the Old Fishery, and the party elected to spend the night there. Pasties were found in Yargin’s office, and were shared with the kids. Watches were set, considering the rioting occurring on the streets, and while on watch, some of the kids took to butchering Gobbleguts, and others were put to work draining the tanks and flushing them with clean river water. By morning, much of the stench had been flushed out, but a lingering odor remained. It was temporarily driven off by the smell of roasting crocodile. Also, in the evening, after finding out the doll was named after her, Calypso killed the doll that looked like and acted like her… It was too strange. The doll had been created with a spark of Callypso’s life force, and when it was killed, Callypso changed, just a bit, as that life force returned. Callypso gained 1 point of Charisma and there may be other effects, too, in the future… In the morning, a fire occurred in 6 buildings down the street. The party assisted with putting it out, saving a family, an old man, and a young girl. Callypso disappeared, leaving only one card, the Dancer, from Zellara’s Harrow Deck, a clue for the party to follow her back to Zellara’s. One the way to Zellara’s, I read much of the flavor text from the City in Chaos section, mainly because Nick Logue’s prose is just so good, I had to share it. I love the “The Hellknights are a broadsword brandished in a tavern brawl, drowning chaos with blood,” line! At Zellara’s, the party met Zellara again, who explained the situation, that dark times are ahead and that she has foretold that the party would be pivotal in the resolution of those times. Callypso, who had planned on leaving Korvosa, was convinced to stay. She also remembered that she knows a Varisian jeweler in Old Korvosa, and they took the loot from Gaedren’s to her to have it identified. Spoiler: The jeweler told her that the brooch was the Queen’s, and the party decided to return it to the Queen. Callypso wants no part of meeting royalty; however, and does not intend to go along with the meeting. |
