fevian's page

So, after much preparation and a couple of play-day cancellations, I finally ran my first session of this AP. I as well have performed some rewrites:

1. The amount of time in which the precursory events take place has been shortened. The first and only smoke signal arises on the morning of the Call of Heroes. Calmont sees this and decides he has to take quick action to make sure no heroes investigate. Little does he know, there would be no intervention from the town, but better safe than sorry, right? My introduction:

The Five Kings Mountains span the eastern horizon, an army of monoliths standing timeless and resolute against an iridescent sky. As the sun rises, shafts of golden light slip through the gaps between the mountains’ peaks and cascade to the valley below, bringing an ethereal glow to the shroud of fog that resides there. For most, the view would be hard to ignore. However, even in a small town and at such an early hour, there are those with more pressing matters to tend to...

A lone figure hurries through a dark and empty street. Small in stature, its presence is dwarfed by the buildings surrounding it, which loom over it much like the mountains to the east. But it’s not the east that seems to concern it... The figure stops in its tracks, beholding a different sight, one much more unusual for a resident of these parts. Rising above the hills to the north of town, a plume of dark red smoke streaks like blood across that same beautiful morning sky. From beneath its cloak, the figure releases a short growl. Without another moment of hesitation, it bounds off again, scampering forward with purpose.

2. Extended character introductions are a staple of my 1st sessions. I used this opportunity to go ahead and introduce some characters from the town. In particular, Voz was in the very first player character scene, presented to a book-interested PC as a fairly non-chalant bookseller, though I subtley had her try to talk him into leaving her shop. No one seemed to think twice about it, mwahahaha. Roxie Denn was also shown, and Jorell Blacktusk (PC works at the Archives, and is also the son of Greta Gardania, the Council President).

3. The town is presented as odd. I explicitly told the outsiders and the more skeptical locals that the cult of personality around Lamond Breachton feels a bit strange. However, when they heard the story of how the town came to be, they didn't seem to think much off about it. And when all the townsfolk were super polite and friendly with them, they sort of forgot about it entirely.

4. Warbal is not a character just yet. Yet she DID light the signal fire, hoping that someone would come. Her and her alone. Rather than have a goblin ambassador to a town in a nation that only in the recent past was overrun by rampaging goblins, I'm going to ease into this. Perhaps this is one of the first examples of goblins becoming accepted in society, as presented in 2E. The Bumblebrashers will be a docile tribe, they just will not be initially integrated into Breachill.

5. As stated in #1, the issue at Hellknight Hill is not presented in the meeting. Rather, Quentino Posandi from the Council presents that a shipment of stones and metals disappeared on the road. He is hoping to hire adventurers to investigate. Another pre-made group of adventurers (The Singing Blades) is present at the Call for Heroes, however. More experienced, they win the Council's decision for the investigation of the missing shipment. They leave before the meeting is over, prior to the fire occuring. This will ultimately tie into Chapter 4 and Guardian's Way, when the PCs find the shipment was stolen by the mercenaries hiding there. They will also find the corpses of the Singing Blades... ;)

6. The guards rush in when the fire mephit attacks, the door is closed and barred behind them. Calmont isn't such a bumbling fool that he gets himself seen. In fact, he's a stealthy little fellow who thinks pretty quick on his feet.

Due to the extended character intros, the sessions ended right after the fire was put out, which resulted in only one NPC death -- one of the guards. Instead of going right to the Citadel, the PCs are going to have to get leads (do some Gather Information!), in which they will get another look at Reliant Book Company (using someone else in this thread's idea that the shop is closing down for a loss prevention inventory due to Calmont's treachery), they will meet Alak Stagram, and they will learn that a small figure was seen rushing out of town to Hellknight Hill. I'm hoping to make them think that this is a goblin that set the fire, then I'm going to thwart their racism (or ancestrism?) and present the goblins as the good guys!

I have more that I could share, including character motivations/the precursory events leading up to the signal fire, but this already pretty long. If anyone has any questions, let me know! I will post a follow if people are interested in hearing how it goes down!