nib's page

I ran the campaign between 08 March 2006 (first session) - 26 Sep 2009 (last session) in an almost weekly fashion. At the end, Adimarchus was defeated by a group of 4 19th level and 2 18th level PCs, who all leveled after that battle and ended their adventuring life.

I re-started with new players February 2010. Now we play monthly, but longer sessions, I kind of expect a similar total duration. After 8 sessions, we are in the middle of Dakthar's way now, making quite good progress, the new group definitely has settled in their tactics and is approaching a really good pace.

Still loving it ;-)

Nib

Put it up at http://therpgenius.pbworks.com/Shackled-City-main-page .

Or send it to delendor @ gmx .dot. de and I'll put it up.

Cheer,
Nib

keep going, this is going somewhere great. Material for the later chapters is extremely scarce ... TheRPGenius needs you...

Thanks for the wishes !

Now I need to find players for the replay :-)

Someone having friends in the Munich area, who'd like to join ... =) ?

Seriously, this was - hands down - the best campaign that money could buy. Only once did I have a similarly thick play experience and that came with a home-brew campaign from a DM who actually writes his own novels, doesn't own a TV and is an avid role-player.

It started off, 2006 on March 8th, 18.00 CET and ended tonight, Sep 27th, 1.00 am CET/DST.

A total of 1 DM, 9 players, 12 party characters (Koroth, Tallia, Vaughn, Ron (NPC), Arri, Kallidos, Blake, Awildo, Paleos (aka Nidrama), Elana, Kaurophon) approximately 100-130 sessions, lasting 4-5 hours on average, more than 1 million experience points given out in total, 3 players, who stayed from the beginning to the end, 2 of which stuck to the same character for the whole campaign, another who was there in the beginning and in the end and ran three different characters (only one of which - Kaurophon - died), one player dropped out early, one dropped out late, but two players of the remaining lot joined late, one of them running the orphaned Smoking Eye to its glorious triumph over Adimarchus.

In the final confrontation, the party consisted of ...
Kallidos, the human Smoking Eye 18th level Bard (ECL19)
Elana, the elf Rog10/Wiz1/ArcArcher8 (ECL19)
Blake, the human Swsh5/Rogue14 (ECL19)
Arri, the gnomish Wiz18th (ECL18)
Paleos/Nidrama, the fallen angel (ECL18)
Ulfgarr, the Dwarfen cleric 18th (ECL18)

They made pretty good progress on the lower levels of Skullrot dispatching Hexavog, Slouva and their henchman with relative ease. Assaulting Dark Myrakul, they came up with a really strong tactics. They had an intelligent sword in their possession which could - in the hands of a rogue - sneak attack undead. They put fly and silence on the rogue, who rushed the cleric, depriving him of a lot of spells and the party wizard proceeded to grapple him with a crushing hand. His buffs should better have included the freedom of movement ... :-\

After he was done, the cage got opened almost immediately afterward. Adimarchus came along and battle ensued.

However, between walls of force and too little damage from regular attacks against a group with a total of about 888 hp, he was forced to try save-or-die effects, which were all countered by a house rule, called drama die (meant to increase tension by creating spectacular moments by doing 2d20 instead of 1d20 the defenses were simply too strong to overcome). A sneak attacking rogue, plus bardic holy avenger action and an Alakast, which became (house ruled) cold iron against Adimarchus made quick work of his demonic shape. The array of cold iron arrows, enchanted with the holy property during notch (Arcane Archer house rule) added their damage for good measure. Fast healing 15 couldn't hope to keep up with that kind of punishment. The worst, however, was the application of Otto's irrestisible dance, forced through the spell resistance with a chunk of drama dice. Between full attacks, attacks of opportunity and the occasional spell, slicing through the resistance, Adimarchus was doomed to be crushed.

In the end, a gigantic session (compared to the average length) lasting 10 hours (not including the breaks) brought about the death/destruction of Dark Myrakul, his demonflesh golem and both forms of Adimarchus within 30 combat rounds.

The general consensus was, that a lot of things could have turned this battle upside down and easily TPKed the group. Lack of drama dice, lack of a bard with the courage (and dozens mirror images) to touch attack a demon prince with above-mentioned spell, lack of a cold-iron alakast, lack of a compliment of cold iron arrows or the golembane scarab earlier, lack of a potent healer, ...

The Shackled City campaign has provided us with great joy and entertainment over more than 3 1/2 years, however, it is nigh impossible to win with core 3.5 rules alone ...

Over and out,
Nib

I'd look at your groups save bonuses and weigh that against their ability to bring back fallen members. A Revivify or two could bring them back

I'm actually running 3.5 core only and revivify is not available. I could bring it in via Nidrama but that would be a bit lame.

I will think about the father-son side-kick at SW :-) love it.

Not 100% convinced about the death ward capabilities. It doesn't actually specify necromancy or death magic, it just says death effects, which the Blasphemy thing qualifies for (in my book)

Nib

Many thanks for the suggestions, I must have overlooked (or disgregarded immediately) the devastating Blasphemy and Word of Chaos abilities. With those alone, he would be able to destroy the party in 2 rounds, except the Smoking Eye character, who is actually chaotic good (and evil). The rest: LN, CG, NG, CN, NG, LN.

So, actually, Word of Chaos kills 4 of 7 and Blasphemy takes 2 more, leaving the Smoking Eye behind.

Although that would actually be exactly what Adimarchus is supposed to do, when running him by the book, I still don't see how this can be the intended outcome, as it would be pretty much inevitable from the start. Actually, I'm not going to do that, as it would end the game right there with a bad taste to boot.

The question I'm posing myself is now, whether I should decrease the caster level of the abilities and still scare the hell out of them by paralyzing half the party, maybe even to start a chat with the remaining Smoking Eye, whether I should just keep those abilities for a last ditch resort, if the battle goes too well for the party, or whether I should I just drop them for the sake of survivability.

What will offer the best value for money and still be in flavor ?

I also wonder, whether Death Ward protects from being killed anyway ?

Many thanks,
Nib

[edit]
PS: What do you think about killing them off ruthlessly and then adding a mini-adventure starring Nerull (as god of death) who is pissed off that Embril in the end succeeded in freeing Adimarchus anyway, and hence returns the party to live with the task to finish Adimarchus off. This would also circumvent the problem, that, in principle, the party needs to fight A. twice, once on Carceri, and then again on his home plane...

Hi all,

I am about to let my players face Adimarchus. The are already on Carceri and will learn the location of Skullrot tonight. After a (possible) detour to the rock (Byakala), they will enter the asylum in about two weeks. Any last minute recommendations, someone wants to give ?

Reason is: I've never played high-level PCs, let alone high-level bad-boys and I feel, they may end up having a way too easy time defeating a demon prince, if I'm not prepared.

They've been showing pretty good tactics, Extended Hero's feast every other day is standard. Death ward by Nidrama on everyone as well. Together with a circle of protection evil, they are pretty much immune to all the really dangerous attacks by the run-of-the-mill antagonist.

For example, they didn't flinch much, when Orbius made a second appearance in his highly inflated form, let alone lose a member.

So, how do I best put them to a real test. I'd like to challenge their strategy, but I fear that even the very good armor class and SR of our prince won't be more than a speed bump to them, if I can't somehow slow their team tactics down.

Cheers,
Nib

Hi,

The masterwork quality of a weapon adds +1 to the attack and not the damage roll. That already clarifies a few of your problems. I'm not the expert on unarmed attacks, though, so there may still be inconsistencies not explained.

I did notice quite a few inconsistencies myself in the statblocks and thus won't vouch for correctness ;-)

The claw base damage might be 1d6-1 so that the total with strength comes up as 1d6+4 with a +5 STR modifier...

Cheers,
Nib

You're free to modify the checks, so that your party can cope with it. Even if they are just less involved guests, they may enjoy a role-playing opportunity over the otherwise strongly combat oriented story of the d20 system. Maybe you would make the dance contest into more of a strength or dex based challenge, while the other riddles (like the poisoned cake) could be solved by intelligence.

I still think, it's too good to pass up this perfect opportunity for foreshadowing just because the party might fail horribly.

my 0.02 EUR ;-)

Cheers,
Nib

The chapter (Foundations of Flame) went quite well, according to my memory. Noteworthy mention only goes to the Morkoth, which was close to killing one (and if successful, probably more than one) character.

But giving them advance warning of Hookface with a decent spot check by the elf and spending a lot of charges from their wands of healing made them quite capable of handling Hookface well. Hookface just managed to eat one of the characters, whose player was leaving the group anyway, so it was merely an administrated death.

That chapter, while at first glance quite a challenge, first showed to me, what a cooperating party of that level is actually capable of doing. It was quite amazing.

Don't worry, unless your players continuously invent new ways to hinder themselves. They'll be up to the task.

Cheers,
Nib

I, too, had some trouble with the party to let them reach their intended level around chapter 7-8, especially their expected wealth total. I did have the house rule that characters without players at the table only earn half XP, so some portion may have come from that. I remember, that I did give out occasional story based awards, but they were at the 5% level max.

What I did just after Occipitus (between ch6 and ch7) was to send them on a side-trek to Sasserine, looking for the roots of Vhalantru and stumbling into a hideout of vampire rogues with plenty of treasure. That made up for a lot of otherwise sparse treasure and also enough XP not having to worry again until chapter 11 or so. That's when I nudged them towards finishing off Hookface, who escaped after Foundations of Flame and throwing in his mate Talirimnia, an even bigger dragon. Since they were prepared, they managed to defeat both, as expected.

I have decided to now let them try the rest at the slightly lower level than expected just because they have learned how to efficiently combine their vast array of magical capabilities (buffs, specialized attacks against certain foes, etc.) and have yet another house rule at their disposal (drama dice, gives them opportunities to roll 2d20 instead of 1d20 once per session for the occasional saving throw or confirmation of a critical...) Has proven quite powerful, so I'm not concerned about them failing for being underpowered.

Also, reports of other DMs have suggested that even a group of average level 17-18 had successfully finished the path.

So, I guess, having some side-trek opportunities won't hurt to help them stay on the expected leveling path, but don't worry too much about the later chapters, there is not a big difference between levels 18-20 anymore...

Cheers,
Nib

Don't skip the Demonskar ball. It is (according to the response on these boards) hands-down the best add-on to the Shackled City campaign. Coming quite early it is also the perfect time to introduce the nobility, which otherwise makes only next to nothing dents in the storyline.

Cheers,
Nib

I've skimmed ahead, but I can't find anything: does Nabtharoron show up later in the module if the PCs don't kill him? If not, that's a random encounter right there I might use!

He doesn't show up explicitly anymore, but he's supposed to hang around near the Demonskar, where players will eventually visit again. He can also run his own agenda, trying to get revenge or - as the story has it - lash out against Redgorge and serve as a random encounter right there.

There's different write-ups on therpgenius.com or on its successor http://therpgenius.pbworks.com/ about the Siege of Redgorge, which is a side-trek to fully exploit the background of Nabtathoron in the area.

Cheers,
Nib

However, while nothing else seems to catch my eye, if I did this, the PCs encountered Nabthatoron at only level 7 (assuming they get all of the rest of the XP available - and frankly the little biggers probably will!) Optimisation is all well and good, but even they would be struggling to hit AC 32 with any degree of reasonableness. He's currently the only spike on the power curve I've encountered; everything else is much lower (in fact I'd nearly say some of it is too easy!)
to stick trap XP back in, which buffs them to...

Not sure what you're trying to get at, but if you've read the chapter, they are not supposed to be able to touch him at that point. It will actually work much better storywise if they are incapable of scratching his hide.

As much as XP go, I only once had minor trouble keeping the group at the expected level, when I skipped a whole lot of Occipitus random encounters because I don't like encounters, which are purely random. They add nothing to the story except XP. Anyway, that's the only time, where standard out of the book XP calculation wasn't sufficient to exactly meet the prerequisites for the next chapter. I did allow in-chapter progression and added a side-trek to Sasserine after Occipitus which was sufficient to set things right again. Only during chapter 11 they fell back behind expectancies again (and I don't quite know why) but I don't care anymore, the last chapter can be tackled by a group below level 19-20 and my group has by now a very good recollection of their capabilities and combine them often very efficiently, so I'm not worried. Starting Chapter 12 now...

Cheers,
Nib

When I read your post, I immediately thought, they should both get awarded the template. Makes perfect sense to me.

Kaurophon would certainly start to attack and if he is killed on Occipitus that's it for him. Even Adimarchus wouldn't survive that. IIRC there's still a black dragon out there, who could prevent K. from getting away. A dead K. wouldn't have the template anymore ,;-)

Cheers,
Nib

Let me add some praise.

Yep, while plenty of DMs made contributions to the path here on the boards, it definitely was DD, who made the biggest impact with his posts. I, too, have embraced the Demonskar ball and Skie's treasury and was inspired enough by the Redgore siege to develop my own version of it. I shied away from the alternative cagewright setting, as I feared it put too much workload on my tight schedule.

Anyway, great work, much of which has made it into my campaign and definitely contributed to my plans to run it a second time with new players starting some time this year.

Thank you.

Nib

PS: Check out the Wiki that has evolved from theRPGenius.com and may still continue to grow...

http://therpgenius.pbworks.com/Shackled-City-main-page

Hey,

don't know whether this is still in time for your session, but:

My party is core-only therefore, the encounter wasn't a total piece of cake, however, it was easy enough after they managed to surprise the whole lot with a fireball down the chimney, which killed (by pure chance) both clerics, the only guys (except Mhad, who survived) who could've buffed themselves to any dangerous level. After that it was a real slaughter. Thifirane got off only one spell, that inconvenienced a PC, then had to resort to teleportation just to make it out alive. I can really imagine, how you must feel facing such odds...

Anyway, one thing that has really potential to tip the scales is when, no matter how high the attack rolls, the attacks still miss due to invisibility or other concealment effects. Displacement, fog, anything of that caliber will be golden, when it comes to making the encounter almost twice as difficult for the PCs (50% miss chance). Mirror image sometimes helps, but only, if your group relies totally on the touch attack strategy, if they have a single area effect damage spell, this is not helping. So if you want to double the odds of the NPC party surviving at least a round or two, give them access to something Thifirane may have orchestrated ahead of time. Some sort of contingency spell, that effects all participants of the meeting with a displacement or greater invisibility spell on a certain trigger condition, like a command word.

Well, good luck with whatever you decided on...

Cheers,

Ok, here is what I wrote earlier on Aushanna.

In your case, the group has clearly suffered a lot, maybe too much to make it on their own, especially once Micto joins the fray.

However, Aushanna popping around the battlefield should give your party time to spend on healing, agreeing on tactics. hiding in the tunnels, e.g. where the mummy fight was, should draw her into melee, she's summoned to destroy the intruders, so she can't really afford to wait them out (she's only got 10 minutes).

Most effective of all measures, my party successfully used against her, was a little used combat maneuver: the disarm...

Once someone gets close enough to make a melee attack (and a single attack should be sufficient) grabbing her bow off of her, removes her most powerful way of attacking. Alternatively, sundering comes to mind, but this is more difficult (but probably necessary if you allow attacks of opportunity by Aushanna while she's holding a bow).

Ideally, a monk with improved grapple/grab would fly and attack her like that.

If two PCs can get to her in the same round, she only gets one attack of opportunity (unless my memory fails me and she got combat reflexes), so the second can try to disarm her.

As I wrote in my post (see above) I think this battle is meant to be nearly unwinnable, but with proper tactics, a sneak attacking rogue using a blessed weapon, this becomes doable.

If all fails, you can use Nidrama as a deus-ex-machina, maybe even provoking a chat between the two outsiders for foreshadowing future events and winning the group enough time to either come up with a working plan or have Aushanna's 10 minutes run out.

Or you can punish the players for preparing so badly and finish them off, having one of them raised by Nidrama (using a scroll) and sending him to get help for the others...

Good Luck.

Nib

Also, the errata mentions the use of eye rays as a free action. So does that mean they can perform full-round actions doing whatever they want (moving, flyby attacking, using spell-like abilities, etc) and still at any time during thier round get off all of their eye rays?

Lastly, I have had trouble adjudicating Gaze situations. In this case, for the Gauth it is a special attack so just looking at the gauth in the eye doesn't mean anything right? The gauth has to use his stunning gaze on a foe during its round. So when the gauth uses his gaze, does a character automatically meet it unless they specified something during thier turn to avoid such a thing? I'm thinking the first round the gauth uses it someone will just have to make a save as it was not expected. In subsequent rounds players can specify they avoid eye contact. Now, exactly what impact does that have in the game?

I don't know about the stats, but as for the other questions: The eye rays are free actions, but the beholder can only use a certain number of them (2 for a gauth, 3 for a beholder) in any 90 degree arc around him (up, down, fron left, right, back), so with good maneuvers by the players, he won't be getting too many free attacks.

For averting eyes: Anyone inside the range of a PASSIVE gaze attack must save against the attack, unless the creature wilingly suppresses the attack. Someone who averts his eyes has a 50% chance of not needing the save. Someone who closes his eyes or wears a blindfold is safe from the gaze attack, but suffers all normal penalties for being blind. Opponents have total concealment, different penalites apply whether the blindfolded knows how to blind fight (feat) or not.

Against ACTIVE gaze attacks, they must be announced and are active for one round, so, it's possible to be caught twice, on the initiative of the monster and on the initiative of oneself.

However, for eye rays, I would not let them be active for the whole round. It's one attack, if it hits, there is a save against it. 50% chance of auto-make if eyes averted. 100% chance of auto-make, if closed, but penalties for blindness apply the whole round.

Cheers,
Nib

Thanks everyone that has contributed so far. Does anyone have any potential pictures that I can use?

Olaf the Stout

I got most of the pictures from RPGenius.com Sometimes, you can just use google-pics, as long as you only use them privately you shouldn't run into copyleft issues.

Nib

I've done similar and copied not only from the Nice Herald (thanks, BTW) but also from other sources (including myself!) and uploaded to RPGenius. I called the issues: Quill & Parchment (persiflage of Scroll & Feather, which I first stumbled upon).

Have a look.
Nib

Sounds good.

My party had quite some trouble with Ike, who hammered at them with all his buffs active and with his personal guard and the party in confined spaces (on the stairway entering the dome), so it should be a good battle if you relieve them of a few spells/HP by the wards you intend to place in the cathedral.

Have fun !

Nib

My party is on the brink of going for the fiery sanctum now, and they haven't really followed up upon the tiny clues I've handed them. Thus, they will (unfortunately) meet quite a few strangers. They will know nothing about Ardeth Webb, Thearynn Louvell, very little about Dyr'ryd and Shebeleth and only have vague ideas about Gau and Nulin (who they know best due to his interference with a string of murders in Cauldron). Frejia they might remember as Kaurophon told them about her, but I doubt it. I'll let you know , whether it was detrimental to the fun or not, not knowing their enemy more closely before the assault.

Cheers,
Nib

Well, you've come up with some interesting ideas already. I think, the best course of action is one which is kind of realistic. Like, what would Ike most likely do to achieve his goal? He is devoted to crushing the party but still fancies his own life a bit. His first offense has been repelled, his first line of defense has been destroyed, he should be pretty worried by now. He has two options. Pursue the party now, before they can recover, or flee and hope for the best.

I don't think he would just sit and wait unless he has an ace up his sleeve, which I don't think he has.

If he tries to assault the party on his own, he would grab anyone he can and go for it. He should keep an escape plan ready (plane shift or similar). In this case he wouldn't lose time to cover up anything in the cathedral. The party can find all kinds of clues after they mopped the floor of Jenyas church with his fellows.

If he tries to get away, he would likely destroy most of the evidence of the Wee Jas involvement in any sort of greater plan. He might think of getting rid of the spare soulcage. I would make it such that he overlooks some details, which can help the party find either him or the clues necessary to continue with the path. Maybe, he flees to Karran-Kurral, after all, he won't return to the cagewrights since he has failed Embril by not killing the party, but he may know Fetor Abradius and wish to consult him. F.A. has also abandoned the CWs, so maybe they would team up.

In any case, as long as the PCs find the soulcage, the letter of Embril from Fetor or any other clue that they should continue their investigations at Karran Kurral the path will continue...

In fact, after writing this up and putting my thoughts together, I would do the following:

Have Ike animate as many of the dead as he can to guard whatever's left, destroy most evidence (not enough to stop the PCs dead, he is in a hurry, so he makes mistakes) and leave with some clue that his destination might be Karran-Kurral (an open book on his desk with a map of KK's surroundings or a description, a teleportation device (one-time use) which needs to be activated by inscribing the intended destination, etc.) Make it somewhat hard to get to that info by upping the number of (undead) guards, just take Ike away from the scene ...

Cheers,
Nib

I have to say, while he wasn't the most needed NPC, he did have his merit. I was able to foreshadow another cagewright (Gau) and he had a nice "what the **** ?" effect that livened up the session he starred in.

Cheers,
Nib

Actually I think, a wiki might work. Around X-mas I should find some time to spare. My campaign currently hovers in stasis due to RL issues between chapters 9 and 10. I think, I can compile a rather comprehensive collection of add-ons, partially done by myself, mostly provided by others.

If I get an ok from paizo, I could collect what's on RPGenius and put it into a wiki, which could then be expanded further by the community...

Are there volunteers, who would (at least try to) participate in such a project ? (I'm fully aware that most work will reside on my shoulders)

Cheers,
Nib

Dear fellow SCAPpers,

I've got a feeling that the brilliant "add-on community" which gathered here on the boards and uploaded stuff to the RPGenius.com website has slowed down considerably for no real reason.

I agree that the early chapters are probably very well covered by now and any additional stuff is just variations of what others have done already, but for later chapters, especially the ones where the cagewrights start rearing their ugly heads, have very little material online.

I'm quite sure that lots of DMs have added side-treks, quests or the occasional hand-out which could be shared to benefit the rest of us. Even material deemed suboptimal, can be useful by providing a new idea. Sometimes, it's just a spark that's necessary to find oneself putting extra time in the campaign, which pays off in the end.

Please don't hesitate to upload.

I will do so myself in a minute, just to prove the point.

Cheers,
Nib

My group faces Hookface last Wednesday. They were quite exhausted, down on spells as they have been evacuating the whole night, when Hookface spotted them and approached. One of the last spells by the illusionist (Mislead), however, gave them essentially a free round of attacks, when Hookface missed his will save after wasting a quickened breath weapon and a snatch attempt on an illusion. He made his will save on interaction so he was aware and looking for better targets. After taking a few ranged sneak attacks by hidden rogues (both with improved invisibility), he locked on to the bard (whose player had left the group) trying to solve two problems at once (help the group survive and at the same time get rid of a character who would otherwise never leave the group. (I was simply not prepared to play him NPC for longer than necessary). Unfortunately, he made his concentration check to escape from the grappling hold of Hookface casting Dimension Door. Later when Hookface had captured the fighter, he decided to dim-door onto Hookface, freeing the fighter, but since the fighter had managed to quaff a potion of gaseous form, ended up falling. Ready with the feather fall, he turned into a perfect target for Hookfaces breath weapon, which - failing the reflex save - did him in. When Hookface wanted to collect his prize, however, he didn't find a body. Occipitus was calling for it ... (yep, smoking eye). Completely mad by then, he flew back to town, where he was greeted with another shower of arrows, lost another breath weapon, but the party had spread out and continuously dealt damage. He barely stayed alive by turning invisible himself and casting cure after cure spell. After that he attempted a final desperate attack, but targeted dispel hit him, making him visible. After casting yet another invisibility, he continued out of the city and fled...

Not having access to any kind of flying, they had to let him get away.

He might return at an opportune moment, bringing his mate... ;-)

Cheers,
Nib

I think you're right. Several more are mentioned, but left for you to design. What makes matters worse is that some of the taverns have another purpose (e.g. headquarters of the Alleybashers). If you have little time left, I would opt to guide them towards Minuta's board.

This has at least some description, plus it helps later on in the story since Minuta's board will be taken over by the city guard to put half-orc soldiers and the party is going to find themselves on the street, which helps to get that useful animosity going, when the taxes increase and are enforced by the town guard.

Cheers,
Nib

The rest of the group will stay and help evacuate the city and the leaving player is by no means to be convinced to stay as well. So now there are still 10 encounters to go and the group is weakened. Could become interessting when Hookface arrives...

At least they already fought off the Lake Monster...

What a coincidence.

We have a lost our bard just at about the same point in the campaign just last week for real life reasons. The group is now only 5 members strong and - having recently lost their cleric as well - are now completely out of spontaneous healing magic. They seriously struggled to overcome the Morkoth, but managed. Now, more than one player in absence effectively cancels our sessions :-(

I just hope that the full 5 are there when they face Hookface, otherwise, this will likely become a slaughter and I may have to pull a deus-ex-machina just to keep the campaign alive.

Having said that, the plot requires that they press on for the Fiery Sanctum, but they will be completely exhausted by the time Hookface is repelled/killed. I wonder how I'm gonna solve that...

Cheers,
Nib

Well,

just to add another 0.02 EUR. The first chapter seems to feel a bit long (definitely longer than the following chapters) for several reasons.

- The group needs to find together, both in RP and in combat situations. To figure this out in-game can be time-consuming. Even a veteran group may have chosen to play different characters this time around and thus need time to figure out the proper work-together tactics.

- The dungeon of Jzadirune is simply too big for a starter dungeon (at the same time I find it a bit too small for a city, maybe one should redesign it with more rooms, but several inaccessible sections due to cave-ins) and that's before one gets to the Fortress, which adds another 2-3 sessions worth of exploring, if done cautiously.

- The whole city is new to the players. Checking out all shops, even with minimal amount of RP will take time.

- From the magazines, it might be quicker, but the HC is designed for 6 players, who all need some spotlight time in the first few sessions of a new campaign.

All DMs just starting, don't be frustrated. The later chapters will be shorter. Also, as your group climbs the power ladder, they will overcome minor problems faster, just due to their improved abilities.

Cheers,
Nib

Hi,

IMC the party had their tactic set up to be an antimagic field around themselves and trying hit-and-run tactics (in and out the sphere) as their primary line of attack. Obviously, it helped V more than them, since the spit attack was quite effective against my group, I must say. Once V had figured out their tactics, he readied actions to shoot several rays at the lone attacker, bold enough to run out of the sphere while keeping up the spitting.

It was a tough battle and only a sudden inspiration by the wizard, who dropped the antimagic sphere and the "self-sacrifice" of the cleric, who drew several eye-rays (and failed a save against stone to flesh before being disintegrated for good measure) were turning the tide as at this point, the only way to win was make the opponent lose first. Needless to say, they fired everything they had in the two following rounds and took V down then and there. End result. Another petrified character, who got returned to flesh immediately after combat and one utter loss (cleric) who was completely vaporized. (not even the dust, usually reminiscent of a disintegrate spell remained as the disintegrate was aimed at a statue and not at a living being).

Cheers,
Nib

Hi,

I'm at the end of chapter 8 now having a pretty regular schedule of once a week for about 5 hours with a couple of weeks holidays. Making it approximately three times a month.

We started the path in spring 2006, had the occasional side-trek and we were playing for about two and a half years now. I'm estimating about 100 sessions (500 hours).

For two thirds of the path. I guess the rest will take us another 1 1/2 years, if the volcano is stopped and the campaign continues after the ritual.

A total of 700 hours for the whole path seems a realistic estimate to me.

I should add that role-playing sometimes takes the back-seat with our group, especially when it comes to treasure distribution, my players prefer to cut down their profit by not playing every sale out in-character.

Cheers,
Nib

They just broke up the party at House Rhiavadi without really breaking a sweat and I'm now worried they're a little overpowered. If they waltz through House Vhalantru next session, then I'll do an audit.

I've had similar experience. My group was behind level equivalent wealth by about 50% on average when they returned from Occipitus. I stuffed them some loot using a side-trek adventure (a vampire thieves guild in Sasserine) after which they were almost too rich to be challenged by the assassin attack.

Recently, they easily wrought havoc at Thifirane's party using clever tactics I should say (start the surprise round by fireballing down the chimney after checking the place out with an arcane eye). Later, however, they assaulted Orbius with their plan B escape strategy (antimagic field and group huddle inside) as the only means of surviving his eye-ray attacks. It worked, but it also neutered their offensive power, especially in ranged combat, so Orbius was slowly getting the advantage with his paralyzing spit, causing them to abandon the field in favor of frontal assault, which eventually succeeded in killing the beholder, but they lost the party cleric (petrified, then disintegrated) and the Bard (petrified), but the wizard just made his save against the disintegrate, not taking enough damage to die anyway and had a spell of stone to flesh later.

Anyway, that battle is a very good benchmark for your group's power level. Although it will be strongly affected by their tactics and/or whether they bring Celeste (my group didn't).

Have fun,
Nib

I've had to stuff them some extra loot after Occipitus, which I did using a side-trek adventure to get them back up on approximately level equivalent wealth levels.

Since then, they never complained. They do have a potions specialist (Gnome) wizard, who also makes the occasional wand, thus they don't spend an awful lot of money on consumables.

Lately I've lost track of their wealth level, but they just defeated Orbius without cashing in all the Thifirane party loot beforehand, so I guess, they are ok.

The Demonscar->Occipitus arc may be the most important potential bottleneck as the group won't have access to Skie's or other shops for more than one full chapter. If the stuff they find is not useful for their abilities (weapon feats and preferred tactics), they end up weaker than they should be, which may lead to additional problems.

Suggestion:

Make sure, that they are properly equipped before they leave for the Demonscar from Redgorge. If they aren't have them undertake a small mission for the Chisel, in which they find some long lost treasure which they can use to properly prepare for the coming weeks...

Cheers,
Nib

One more thing. I guess I did have a group slightly above expectations after Drakthar's way, even though the group never encountered the mercenaries (who got away), so this too high XP for expectations in the beginning of the path might be there.

A (perfect) way to calculate XP IMHO, is to use the XP calculator linked to from the d20srd.org website.

The link is:
XP calculator.

Cheers,
Nib

My group consists of 6 players with the occasional absence, which I typically rule to count as a 50% cut in XP. Despite a thorough XP collecting trip through the first chapter, they ended up just about right for chapter 2 (starting level 3).

We also had some players leave and new ones join, which they (in my game) do at one level below the average party level, so this may have removed half a level on average as well.

I don't remember them ever running out of expected character level requirements over the course of the adventure. They ran a little short on treasure, which I rectified by adding a Sasserine excursion after chapter 6 with tons (at least in comparison) of treasure.

Do you play by hardcover (which is adapted for 6 players AFAIK) or by magazine path (4 players) ?

For the overall adventure path, it is no big deal if they are slightly ahead of expectations. You can slip the occasional extra trap or opponent in to make things challenging enough, but you won't need that very often. The path is quite challenging and some extra oomph doesn't hurt. They will see some deaths at some point and on resurrection they lose a level anyway. From the posts stating that the adventure path has concluded for them, the numbers typically turn out to be behind level 20 by quite a bit.

My party is currently perfectly on par. They just disposed of Orbius and are firmly settled in between levels 14 and 15. Even with the Demonscar ball, the battle at Redgorge and the Sasserine side-trek adventure, I didn't have to slow XP down to keep the group on expectations.

Cheers,
Nib

Finally,

the first actual death. And this one requires more than just resurrection.

Orbius was not pleased to see that the group he despised, came walking into his lair just when he had bonded himself with a shator. He was not at all pleased to learn (over several rounds) that they came inside an anti-magic field, but he adapted. Using his spitting attack to full effect, he just tried to knock everyone out. The feeble attempts of the group to slip out of the anti-magic protection and back in before he could react worked for a few rounds, but then he had adjusted his tactics and shot his rays whenever someone dared to leave the safety of the sphere. Finally the group ran out of "drama dice" and started failing saves. The first disintegrate was sucked up by the dwarven cleric tank, taking about 100 hp dmg in the process, restoring them with a heal spell, but the same dwarf got petrified after he attempted to cast a holy word from outside the anti-magic field at the beholder. Unfortunate for the player, but well within the strategy of Orbius was the later disintegration of the stone statue, causing the first ever extremely severe death of a party member. The petrification of the wizard on Occipitus previously was much easier to revert than resurrecting the remains of said cleric this time. The fact that later, the bard got petrified as well (just when the anti-magic sphere was dropped to dish out as much damage as possible) didn't matter much as Orbius only had a choice of using as many deadly eye-rays as possible or keeping them under his anti-magic cone. Dur to RL issues, he opted to chose the "a TPK is the best exit strategy" route and faced a spider climbing rogue, who managed to deal the last few points of damage that did him in.

End result of a 30+ round combat:

Orbius - Party :

2 - 166

(2 petrified, 1 also disintegrated) vs 166 points of damage.

Cheers,
Nib

just to add my 0.02 EUR

It's quite alright to give your players a little extra oomph. The SCAP is extremely challenging just straight out the book. Since you use a random method for the stats, mileage will vary anyhow. My group had free reign over their stats with a straight 1 for 1 point buy putting 10s everywhere and 15 points on top of that. 16, if you drop one stat to 8.

They would have died left and right, if I hadn't allowed them drama dice, a way of making truly heroic actions once a session (by rolling 2d20 instead of 1d20 on an attack, skill, save, whatever) and in addition a life-saving drama die (one per level, but gone when used) with the same power but applicable even after the bad thing (TM) happened. This was used numerous times to save asses.

If you don't have a similar system, let them have their high stats and still watch them die...

Cheers.
Nib

Sorry to be negative,

but from what I've been reading so far about the attempted 4E conversion, it is coming along quite similar to what I expected. Take the ideas, storyline and possibly the villains, but write all new encounters with the new rules, which - to me - qualifies as rewriting SCAP from scratch.

I'm glad I didn't jump the wagon as it would certainly exceed my spare time, I can devout to the game as a DM.

I'm not saying this endeavor is not worth it, but it takes about as much effort as writing the whole thing new minus the basic storyline.

Good luck with it !

Cheers,
Nib

If anything, a pathfinder conversion might work (I'm not in favor of "converting" to 4e. If 4e, you would take the stories, ditch the stats and start from scratch.)

With Pathfinder, one might be able to save some design time and just convert main villains and henchmen. The toughest part, I see in adjusting the DCs for traps and disable device as the skill system seems a bit too streamlined for direct adaption (perception vs stealth instead of spot/listen hide/move silent and all ramifications).

I'm not yet at a point, where I want to rerun SCAP. My current party is on the brink of level 14, so I keep that up for some time before starting fresh with a new group. But I'm thinking about the Pathfinder rules a lot lately...

So keep posting here, I'll be sure to read.

Cheers,
Nib

One of the minor hooks, I used in my "alternate" LL adventure was the fact that Velior Thazo's "office" had a direct view to Vhalantru's office. It had been an established fact (through the "Foreshadowing of Orbius" (from the RPGenius series "delving deeper") encounter, I ran earlier) that the beholder had connections to the Last Laugh. If the party is clever enough, they might figure out that the connection between Vhalantru and Last Laugh is the exact same as between Orbius and the Last Laugh.

Cagewright hooks might come from notes about certain assignments.

Patrols to the Lucky Monkey finding merciless killings (conducted by Alurad Sorizan).

In the Last Laugh Loot the party could find items stolen from CW members (like a statue of a Minotaur god with faint magic, possibly prompting the party to use a legend lore spell).

Certain assignments to procure components for building a magical item (the emergency switch for the tree) signed by F.D.

Some LL harlequin, who only speaks broken common (native language: abyssal) and is a contact of Dyr'ryd, who likes to be kept informed about the town business from a second source (apart from Orbius, who he suspects of treason against the CWs which is not completely unfounded, Orbius is actively searching for the fiery sanctum)

Some of those suggestions may not work for you DD, as you have changed the CW's, but I thought, I'd post them anyway ;-)

Cheers,
Nib

One of my group's memorable moments also involves the hard cover title picture. Nabthatoron managed to kill Alek in my campaign and then teleported away after the party realized they couldn't hope to kill him quickly and would risk getting ripped to as many pieces as Alek was.

They were bound to meet again on the battlefield of Redgorge. They actively decided (after some DM nudging) to ambush him and did so. Being much better prepared this time, they did bring him down to low enough hitpoints that he decided to teleport away. The rogue/wizard PC, however, had a readied action to strike at him, should he attempt something foolish (like casting a spell). Since she made her spellcraft check to realize what he was about to do, I let her follow through with the action. Being too far from the demon, she couldn't hope to hit with Alek's holy longsword, which she wielded at the time. Switching to bow and arrow (her preferred weapon anyway) was not possible in the short time. Eventually she decided to throw the longsword. Gifted with remarkable dexterity and a lucky roll, she managed to hit (it may have been critical even, don't recall) despite the penalties for non-proficient use of a wepon and all that. Sure enough, she dealt just enough damage to finish him off.

Cheers all around the table.

Nib

I've already done (some) additions as I also used the document extensively and didn't want to miss it after chapter 5. Since chapter 6 is not played in Cauldron, I skipped that, but starting with ch 7 I've added some items to the list.

Here's what I got:

+1 studded leather, light fortification

Description: This studded leather armour looks rather ordinary. On closer inspection, however, a few torch marks can be found, which hints at someone from a hot place as the previous owner. It is in perfect working condition, though, and will protect its owner just as good as any other armour of that type.

Story: That item was an in-kind payment for a magical scimitar. The person (should I say person?) who traded it, though, was a strange fellow. She had hair like flame and quite some bodily hairiness about her. Her eyes were a smoldering red and she had a faint smell of brimstone about her. I can only tell, because being a Gnome a sensitive nose is part of the package. However, she concealed her unconventional features very well and didn't rise any suspicion. One thing I noticed was a red-lacquered armband, that she wore, which was not at all en vogue in Cauldron at the time she visited. She wanted a magical scimitar and traded a much more valuable item for it, so I can't complain at all about this transaction. As she was leaving, she enquired about Vortimax, since she needed a potion of some description. I didn't bother to ask which one, as potions are not my speciality and it would have been a major coincidence if I had had the appropriate one around at the time.

Side Note: The woman was Aszithef, on a rogue trip into town, shortly after she arrived at Vhalantru's mansion to buy a weapon for Khetru, selling an old armour, she no longer uses due to her shiny new mithral breast plate. If you do use this item and background story, mind that Khetru should change to have the appropriate feats (Weapon focus (scimitar)) and this weapon instead of a greatsword.

+2 Greataxe

Description: This greataxe is forged from ancient steels and has ornaments and carvings that can be dated back at least 700 years. The numerous scratches and dents prove the weapon to have seen not just a few but many battles over its lifetime. Despite its age, it is a perfectly balanced weapon with a mighty thrust behind its dangerous blades.

Story: That weapon came to me at a moment where I was seriously contemplating to leave town as I hadn't sold or bought a single item for two weeks. It was just the morning after the town guard army had returned from Redgorge. A young half-orc from the town guard came into my shop and asked me with a trembling voice, whether I was interested in buying his weapon. I confirmed and asked about why he was selling such an ancient and powerful weapon. He confided in me that he had faced demons on the battlefield at Redgorge and got terribly frightened by something he could not name. His intention was to leave Cauldron and return to his grandparents, who are both human and live north of the great water. He needed the money to pay for the journey and have some extra as his pension funds.

Side note: This item bears a weak curse. Whenever it is used against demons, the wielder must succeed a DC18 will save or become convinced that his current course of action is completely irresponsible and needs to be changed drastically like under a geas. It can be removed with the appropriate spells “remove curse” or “break enchantment”. This curse was wrought by Yeenoghu in collaboration with a powerful wizard and bestowed on a number of items which were distributed during the old days of demonic invasion, which Surabar first got to fight back.

Stone horse, destrier

Description: This item is a massive (6000 pounds) statue of a heavy warhorse, carved from granite. It looks extremely lifelike and could just as well be a real warhorse turned to stone with a spell.

Story: This horse, I would have never owned, if not for my selflessness, when it comes to potential long-standing customers. That one, though, I fear, I will never see again. He came into my shop one morning, a pale man shaved completely bald except for a small forelock in the middle of his brow that looked rather greasy, and asked whether I had any magical weapons that a mage could use, as he was worried, if not paranoid, about someone or something trying to do him in and rob him of his power. I didn't bother asking deeper and showed him a Quarterstaff, which I had acquired from Maavu before he got into trouble in the riots. He really seemed to like the staff, but admitted he didn't carry enough gold or gems on him to pay for it. He then went outside, said something and brought his horse inside. When I tried to stop him, he raised his hand and said another word, upon which the horse turned into this statue that you see here. He pleaded me to keep the horse as a security deposit and promised to return within less than a week to bring the money in and take his horse back. Needless to say, he never showed again. That happened more than 3 weeks ago. I'm starting to believe he was hoping to return during some night, speak the command word to the horse and have it break out of my shop, getting the quarterstaff for free in the process. But I have had to deal with worse tricks and can draw from a long experience. I've asked a friend from the Bluecrater academy to change the command words for the horse, which he did. I also have set alarm spells that trigger on the old command word being spoken near the horse. I'm looking forward to someone trying to steal it.

Side Note: The wandering mage was in fact Thearynn Louvel, so I changed his masterwork quarterstaff into a +2 weapon. If the party is investigating, they can use the stone horse and a legend lore or other divination spells to learn about the horse's previous owner.

Helm of Telepathy

Description: A nicely crafted but only modestly ornated piece of metal. It bears stylized wings on both sides made of alchemical silver. It's one-size-fits-all style approach is supported by the magical energies coursing through the item.

Story: Well, I wish there was more of a story. But alas, be it as it may, it was sold to me by Vortimax, who took it months ago from a potion customer as in-kind payment. I don't know who that customer was, but he appeared to have great need for glibness potions. I guess someone made a transition from interrogator to interrogated.

Side Note: The seller was Gortio, the Doppleganger, Vhalantru works with. If followed up upon, the hook may lead to a late explanation of the puzzling incident about rescuing Zenith Splintershield from the Kuo-Toa temple.

Staff of Illumination

Description: A brilliant piece of woodcraft. The staff is about 6” long and slightly cone shaped. The thinner end is meant to be held down, so that the elaborate carvings near its top end are prominently displayed. The core of the staff is made from lighter wood than the dark exterior and hence, the staff appears to radiate carefully carved sunrays along its shaft. The top has a dome shaped top, also made from the light wood to simulate a dawning sun.

Story: Strange as it may seem, but this item is one of my own. It passed down to me from my father, who built it all by himself. I am forced to sell it, though, as the latest tax increase puts me seriously low on pocket money and if I am to continue this business I need to restock and it sems I have to get some extra cash for new acquisitions.

Side Note: The story is true. Skie is just an inch away from closing down. Fortunately for her, the tax problem is going to be solved soon (by the group killing Vhalantru). Here's a chance for the group to get an extra 5 % discount and a 5 % increase for buys if they confront Vhalantru for that reason and solve the problem and report it back to her.

Any additions are welcome !

Cheers,
Nib

Fellow adventortures,

I've expressed my ideas about sticking with the original CWs (as opposed to using DD's brilliant alternative ending) in some threads and now have some pieces of info to share with others who have done or intend to do the same.

e.g.

I connected Virian Daraquor with some mines run by Vanderboren or Taskerhil (can't remember who was who).

I put a lot of humiliated corpses between Sasserine and Cauldron (if followed up upon, it would foreshadow Alurad Sorizan).

I definitely foreshadowed Mhad (through the Sasserine side-trek).

Nulin, I was able to put in quite early when the group decided spontaneously to stop an announced hanging (some newspiece I actually stole from some other in-game newsletter) by introducing him as the real culprit, a mysterious killer, who (they actually performed divination at the time) worked with a weapon from the infernal plane. They were able to bust out the innocent scape goat and make an enemy ;-)

I've used Zharik Dhor to make an appearance and let him know about the CWs who "abducted" his girl-friend (Gau Kleeoch) by just making her a good offer. He wanted to rectify the killing of his father, but the party preferred talking and actually (gotta hate/love those high Diplomacy skills) convinced him that they have a common enemy -> CWs. He then parted with some info on Gau.

I slipped them a few names using Kaurophon (my K. was teleported around by Freja Doorgan, knew that two high-level spiritual leaders are members and even had some description of Dyr'ryd, as it was stated in the HC that K. was chosen/selected by Dyr'ryd himself. When the party later discovered the notes of Fetor Abradius, they started to connect some strings and abused the Bard's Bardic Knowledge to get some more CW intelligence.

We're now just after the Rhiavadi house party and they know about 1/2 of the CWs by name and for about half of those, they have a vague idea of what role they play. They know most apprentices by name and/or whereabouts. After finding Thifirane's notes they'll likely repeat the name-game and will receive some more info.

By the time they get to face them in the fiery sanctum, I reckon they will know most, but surely not all of them by name and/or function. I don't think they must know everyone for the adventure to be interesting, otherwise, a clever group could really come up with strategies that make the attack on the sanctum too easy.

Anyway, anyone else who did or is about to do similar things, spread the word.

Cheers,
Nib

Intrepid, if you download some of the latest Quill & Parchment issues (say, 17+) from rpgenius.com, you might find a few things to help with the CW foreshadowing.

I'll just create a new thread about my recent CW foreshadowings...

Cheers,
Nib

Take a look here for some starters.

I've tried to run my players through that mini-adventure "from the other side" which worked out not brilliant, but quite ok for a change. I failed to present them with railroaded ideas (they seem to rely on the SCAP being a 1-2 track railroad always) on how to deliver their message in the end, so the end was a bit bland, but was still ok.

I have written up a small document, which I would have put on rpgenius.com already, given more interest from the boards in this regard. Also, I wanted to add some more detail before committing the result, which I haven't done yet. Still, I have statblocks for most of my villains and thought about how the guild works.

Some extra info (to complement the other thread):
Since my players knew that the HQ were under the slippery eel, I didn't want to put the whole guild there, fearing a massive battle, which they shouldn't have been able to survive at the time (lvl 8), so I spread them out over the city. Without being concise (we never really played "by the map"), I had all 5 departments somewhere. Every jester was supposed to have an "office" in one of his departments safehouses with some guards in attendance. The HQ was typically used for the mooks and for meetings between the Jesters, which happen infrequently. One of the safe houses was directly opposite the town hall with a view of Vhalantru's office, so that Orbius could directly contact "his" LL whenever he needed to.

Depending on how exactly you structure your guild (assuming you'll only have one Jester, as stated earlier) you may want to put out a trail through departments.

Start with the party stumbling (by chance or by being tipped off by Shemwick) into, let's say the espionage one, have them find evidence for the minting operation. When they take that out, they find an order slip for several thousand coins, signed by a harlequin from the slavery department, who needs the money for new acquisitions, when they raid the slavers, they can talk to some slaves, who had their homes robbed by the thievery branch and know a few faces, which are, once tracked down, found assassinated by their own LL fellows from the 5th and most secret branch. Divination or more gather information using new evidence will lead to the best hidden safe house in Cauldron, where none other than the fish makes a routine visit just as the party attacks...

Just my 0.02 EUR.

Cheers.
Nib

The effect of 4e on our SC game (we've just crashed a certain house party) amounts to about 5 minutes of b%!#%ing how WoWish it seems to be (noone has bothered looking at it from closer than what you can't escape on some boards or webcomics, so we might be wrong).

I think converting the SC is impossible. The best one could do is to take all stories, maps and handouts, which are fairly rules independent and put together completely new encounters using that material. In that sense, it could benefit from the existing work and not turn into a conversion nightmare.

Speaking of work put in. The explosive response to this thread has showed that there seem to be a lot of people still reading in on these boards, but the inpour of new ideas has slowed down quite a bit. I'm not trying to complain too loud, most has probably been brought up (and I should just browse the archives) but especially in the later chapters, there seem to be some gaps, we might still be able to fill with wonderful user-created material.

All hails to Delvesdeep's alternative ending, but I think, it should be possible to also have a great plot thickening around the cagewrights as they are written, it just needs some ideas to connect them at opportune moments to the party and have the minor bosses (Orbius, Last Laugh) stay just the speed bump, they were intended to be instead of promoting them to one of the thirteen.

If you are thinking along those lines, keep the juices flowing and we'll create a memorable archive of 3rd party info for other SCAPpers to come ...

Cheers,
Nib

Thanks Intrepid, maybe I can use that.

Here's the story so far:

Event 1: Breaking news

Rumors about a dead assassin spread in the guild until they solidify and it becomes a fact that Jil, high-ranking assassin and one of the direct contacts of Lord Orbius, is dead. Highly suspected are "your heroes" (TM). Ideas about using them as pawns to rid the guild of the eye-tyrant influence are spawning.

„The news have finally been spread. Although some minor doubts remain, most, if not all, members of the Last Laugh have been convinced that the <insert local band of heroes> have succeeded in ambushing (and possibly killing) three harlequins at the Brass Trumpet, a relatively unknown safe house of the guild. Lord Orbius wishes to see those pesky adventurers liquidated at once. He has threatened to convince one Last Laugh agent per day to stand guard (as a statue) at his hidey hole in Cauldron until the shame has been rectified. Rumors are spreading that the Jesters are about to meet in an extraordinary council and competencies have started to shift within the once rigid framework of the guild. A big circular shadow hangs over the once proud and well-in-command thieves guild. Just when it had seemed that the Last Laugh, after extinguishing the Alleybashers with a little help from the now slightly too successful adventuring party, was going to take the control over the shady parts of the city to higher levels than ever before.“

Successful gather information will lead to additional information:
DC 15 – The Jesters are indeed meeting under the slippery eel to discuss further action.
DC 20 – The safe house in question had belonged to a 5th division (secret-ops), unbeknownst to most members of the other factions.
DC 25 – Currently, that division has no active harlequins (if Jil or one of the other Harlequins is alive in your campaign, they went into hiding).

The second and third part of that information can also be gained by sneaking up or in to the secret gathering of the Jesters, which requires to come up with a reason for being in the guildhouse in the first place (Bluff or Diplomacy check DC 15), sneak past a harlequin who's on guard duty (opposed hide/move silently against weak spot/listen, diversions can generate up to +8 in circumstance boni) and finally listen through the door (DC 20 listen check for everthing, DC 15 for parts only) or enter the room unnoticed (4 out of 5 Jesters, Velior is missing, are in the room and are allowed spot checks against the hide modifier and listen checks against the move silent, all at -4 for being distracted by their discussion). If they detect an intruder they move to attack, but will accept surrender as they ecpect to get names of conspirators. The guard will (if still alive) have recognized the other party members and soon level-appropriate squads will go hunting for the players (see Event 3). If the remaining party can successfully avoid recognition (by good disguise or swift killing of the guard) the first hunting party will be much less capable of handling the situation and only slowly increase in power.

In case they don't dare to spy on their superiors, they can find harlequins of different groups for a chat about recent events. Only Revus Twindaggers who is in the espionage division knows anything of value at this point. He will only part with this information if tricked into revealing it (Bluff or Diplomacy DC 30) or if intimidated (DC 11+d20). He was aware of the 5th division and knows that Orbius was usually contacting the guild only either via that faction or a Jester. Jil was his main contact and he rarely had to use any other means to make his will known. If Jil is dead, Revus (rightfully) suspects that the voiced threat of taking last laugh members as statues, is a ruse by the Jesters to generate a stronger antipathy against the heroes, who have some loyal fans even in the Last Laugh. If Jil is still alive, he can tell the group that divining and finding Jil will likely lead directly to Orbius. He also admits that all intelligence about Orbius that his department acquired was confiscated by the secret ops Jester. If pressed really hard, he might let slip the name Velior Thazo. He doesn't know, however, that Velior is a fiend. He only knows him by his alternate form.

Event 2: Intelligence

The players are supposed to find ways to find Orbius hiding place or certain daily schedules, in short: information suitable to set an ambush for the beast, which is what the players should eventually lead the adventuring party to do for them.

The information that can be found on Orbius' regular schedule hint at certain times of the day where noone knew his whereabouts. If someone with INT greater than 16 makes an enquiry about a pattern, (s)he may notice (INT DC 21, 5 attempts allowed) that the times, where Orbius was nowhere to be found on his typical tours through town, coincide with important bi-weekly meetings of the city council, usually connected to tax decisions or other highly important town business. The players either know (or can learn with DC 15 gather information) that Vhalantru is known to be a strong supporter of many debatable tax rises of the recent past.

One of the rogues in the party hasn't even been aware of a beholder running the guild but once he realizes this, he also has a chance to make the connection (Sense motive DC 12) to the crazy stone statue trade that the Last Laugh seems to run. The statues are of extremely high quality, very life-like and are typically bought by Lord Vhalantru. The fact that Vhalantru is involved comes at a premium of a DC 25 Gather Information or Knowledge (local) check.

General search for information outside the guild also has a (relatively small) chance of success. The Bluecrater Academy has books on beholders (Knowledge (arcana) DC 30 with a +6 circumstance bonus if the academy's stacks are used) associating them with vast, often circular excavations under the grounds of a benefactor, who they either charmed or killed while moving in.

Another possibility involves meeting someone from Sasserine, who knows about a recent finding in a long deserted mansion. A creature thought to be some specialized beholder-assassin has been found in the basement of the old Vhalantru mansion in Sasserine. The last time, that Lord Vhalantru had been seen in Sasserine is about 16 years ago, at about the same time when a certain Vhalantru made an appearance in Cauldron. (Gather information: DC 32, this info can be found by taking 20 if 2 full days are spent searching through taverns and talking to anyone).

Further information should all somehow point towards Vhalantru without completely blowing his cover just yet. That should be reserved for the break in (Event 4).

Event 3: Opposition

The investigations don't go unnoticed and spies are sent to observe the suspicious sub-faction of the guild. If those are not spotted and then dealt with swiftly and covertly, level-appropriate spies will very soon show up. If a scouting team is detected and dealt with, the party gains a full day of undisturbed investigations before a new, slightly better equipped scouting team will show up.

Teams in slow ascending order (if party fails to dispatch them completely, for each 2 agents that get away, one group will be skipped, until they are shadowed by the final group, who will act on suspicious behavior, possibly at the time, when they try to contact the adventurers directly.

Group 1: 3 Last Laugh Mooks (EL 5)
Group 2: 2 Last Laugh Thugs, 1 Last Laugh Mook (EL 6)
Group 3: 4 Last Laugh Thugs (EL 7)
Group 4: 1 Last Laugh Assassin, 2 Last Laugh Thugs (EL 7)
Group 5: 2 Last Laugh Assassins
Group 6: 1 Harlequin (typically Revus, but other harlequins are also ok), 4 Mooks (EL 11 => deadly, unless assisted by adventurers)

For the last laugh organization I've borrowed from the material on these messageboards, but tried to stick as close as possible to the hardcover.

Last Laugh guild structure:

The guild is run by 5 Jesters, one of them being Velior Thazo. The five Jesters have different main areas of expertise. Minting/forgery, thievery/burglary, espionage, slavery and secret operations (including assassinations). Each Jester has between 1 and 3 harlequins for running things as the Jesters very rarely directly give orders let alone appear in public operations themselves. The different sections are spread over the whole town and have one or two safe houses each. It is quite possible that they do not interact with each other for weeks, but the Jesters have an understanding that – in case of intersecting duties or competencies – they will send word through appropriate channels and meet in private, usually under the Slippery Eel. Despite being the guildhouse, it is not the Jesters' primary residence location. However, about half a dozen of Harlequins can be found there at any time.

Minting/Forgery

Jester Francis Benidor (LE, Human Male Ari 2nd/ Rogue 13th)
Subordinate: Harlequin Rhant Tarragona (NE, Human Male, Ari 8th)
Agenda/Background: belonging to the Cauldron nobility, Francis Benidor, a minor noble, is known for his greed. It was an idea of him to mint the jester coins, an idea that led him to be appointed to jester status. He is charged with running the Coinage Branch. When his second in command, Rhant Tarragona (Lords of Oblivion), gets arrested, he hides in his fortified estate between Lava and Magma Avenue (south of Cauldron, octagonal building near Ghelve’s Locks), planning to leave the city as soon as possible.

Thievery

Jester Julian Nunn (NE, Half-elf Male Rogue 5th/Assassin 5th/Wizard 1st/Arcane Trickster 4th)
Subordinate: Kahell Kormill (NE, Human Male, Rogue 11th)
Subordinate: Alpen Knott (CE Human Male, Rogue 8th/Shadowdancer 3rd)
Agenda/Background: former adventurer, Julian managed to secure a great amount of resources and thus was chosen to run the Thievery Division. This part of the guild is the main provider of money to the guild. Therefore, they are usually a more powerful faction within the otherwise equally important sections of the Last Laugh. Their safe houses are located in Ash Avenue (the two black buildings just below the “Ash” entry). They are also the biggest group in sheer members. Most are 3rd to 5th level thieves. Most are reassigned into a different section after they pass level 6 according to their talents. Being the most heterogeneous group as well, there are ample possibilities for finding less obedient members and convincing them to follow a slightly different agenda given some proper incentives (like a lot of money).

Espionage

Jester Wadrax (NE, Half-elf Male Rogue 7th/Monk 2nd/Assassin 6th)
Subordinate: Revus Twindaggers (NE, Human Rogue 8th/Shadowdancer 3rd)
Agenda/Background: The espionage division of the Last Laugh is rather small. They have a safe house near the Bluecrater Academy, where they have a small library of specialized literature as well as names of important contacts or people worthy of being shadowed by agents. This is where some concise information on Orbius could be found. Artus Shemwick also used to be a Harlequin under Wadrax until Twindaggers (rightly) started to suspect him of leaking information out and after being confronted, Artus denied everything and went into hiding after the Last Laugh cut all ties with him (which happens sometime during chapter 6). Artus, if contacted, still knows where the safe house is located and has information (for a price) about secret entrances, which only very few members know about.

Slavery

Jester Valkin Kennar Ilhar Malraedior (CE, Drow Male, Rogue 5th/Sorcerer 10th)
Subordinate: Thandor Lox (CE Human Vampire Male, former Paladin of Pelor, now a Blackguard)
Subordinate: Pyllrak Shyraat (LE male durzagon, Medium outsider, first appearance Life's Bazaar)
Agenda/Background: the dark elf is responsible for the Slavers Division. His department was only recently installed as a response to the rise of profits attainable in the slave market, in no small part owing to strong participation of Vervil Ashmantle and Kazmojen in the Malachite Fortress. Since Vhalantru wanted to maximize his profits from the slave trade and didn't want in-house competition (from the LL), he opposed this faction of the guild until he realized that it was better to howl with the wolves and saw to it that Pyllrak Shyraat, the informant of Kazmojen and thus known also to Vervil Ashmantle, who is friends with Vhalantru, became a harlequin in the slavery division and kept the information flow to Vhalantru intact as well as the successes of this division at a minimum. Valin Kennar may be found in a large cavern located in the Underdark, one day hike from the Malachite Fortress, where he is currently the main responsible one of the slave trade that afflicts Cauldron and environments. In the cave, he is building a subterranean fortress on initiation by Lord Orbius (perhaps for a backup plan of the CW's activities), exploiting to death the slaves he does not sell away. When the slave trade was exposed in Cauldron, the fortress construction slows down and when the earthquakes stir Cauldron (Foundation of Flame), part of it collapses, compelling the drow to push the slave abductions to the highest recruit ever. When this occurs, slaves are taken from nearby lands and possibly someone investigates. Thrandor Lox, his second in command, has a strong desire to see Pelor's Shrine in Cauldron forever destroyed.

Secret operations/Assassination

Jester Velior Thazo, see SCAP
Subordinates: Jil, Mokaius, Xendro, see SCAP
Agenda/Background: SecretOps is the special forces of the Last Laugh, seldom the driving force behind particular goals, but often the crucial tool to their successful conclusion. They are the only faction which is fully obedient to Orbius. Velior is one of the few LL members who knows of Orbius' second life as Lord Vhalantru. Jil has only met the beholder and is not aware of him being the same as the noble. Mokaius and Xendro typically stay at the safe house (as they do/did during the beginning of chapter 8). If the adventurers managed to kill all harlequins, there's a strong power vacuum which should drive some ambitions. Considering the possibility that Vhelior Thazo (unknown to most low-level mooks) has to reassert control by advancing some members to trustworthy harlequins. If he happens to fail to do that quickly, he might even lose the whole group and the result may be that the 5 divisions shrink to 4. Other options include potential promotions of harlequins of other sections to a post of Jester, especially if Velior were to be killed.