/facepalm :)
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/facepalm :)
Yeah, they saw the forge, the weapons, and the armor, and went "metal burns, right?" Took one of the flags from the next floor up, dragged it down the stairs into the armory, and then lit it on fire hoping that enough heat would be generated to "melt" the armor, warp the weapons, and destroy the forge. None of that happened.
/bigfacepalm O_O
I've decided to go ahead and start our campaign this weekend even while waiting on the 3rd - 6th books. The group is very excited, and I'm going to start a thread in the journal forum and link it here to tell our story.
Which do you think would be better recieved - a simple breakdown of the group's progression and how they dealt with various challenges or a more longwinded narrative from their point of view showcasing the actual roleplay?
I've decided to go ahead and start our campaign this weekend even while waiting on the 3rd - 6th books. The group is very excited, and I'm going to start a thread in the journal forum and link it here to tell our story.
Which do you think would be better recieved - a simple breakdown of the group's progression and how they dealt with various challenges or a more longwinded narrative from their point of view showcasing the actual roleplay?
Both things will be interesting :). A happy medium?
Both things will be interesting :). A happy medium?I've decided to go ahead and start our campaign this weekend even while waiting on the 3rd - 6th books. The group is very excited, and I'm going to start a thread in the journal forum and link it here to tell our story.
Which do you think would be better recieved - a simple breakdown of the group's progression and how they dealt with various challenges or a more longwinded narrative from their point of view showcasing the actual roleplay?
I take the narratives - when I do them - fairly seriously, and since I want to do them justice they tend to take longer to finish and post... perhaps I should outline the progression as I said above and then just write up a few scenes as 'interludes'? Otherwise it might be too far between postings.
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I've decided to go ahead and start our campaign this weekend even while waiting on the 3rd - 6th books. The group is very excited, and I'm going to start a thread in the journal forum and link it here to tell our story.
Which do you think would be better recieved - a simple breakdown of the group's progression and how they dealt with various challenges or a more longwinded narrative from their point of view showcasing the actual roleplay?
Mainly do what the rest of us do. Take your own notes as you see fit, but give a synopsis version when you post it here.
Well, we got the campaign going this weekend and its off to a rousing success. I've created a campaign journal thread here and I intend to update it regularly. So far it has a breakdown of character builds and backgrounds as well as a little background on how we run our campaigns.
Acts I - III will follow soon.
And we're off!!
The events of Session One have been posted.
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My group took down the paladin last night after everyone arrived. Lord Havelyn and the antipaladin dragon went blow for blow, but admittedly it makes a large difference when the GM doesn't get a single crit with his smite, but the antipaladin pulls it off twice. It was a grueling fight. Captain Sambry and Barhold were weakened greatly by rays of enfeeblement, and cones of fire took out the still well guards. Varning managed to last the longest because he kept his distance, but he was still not much of a match against the ninja and ranger.
The wizard's gone off to find the rest of the guards, and everyone else they haven't fought yet. He's pretty sure they're all still in their bunks, but on high alert. The group in general's pretty confident that they've got this. Still got an ace up my sleeve though.
Got surgery tomorrow so the next session will likely be delayed for a week or two.
glad to hear your group is doing better. It seems you can save the campaign :)
Taking down Havelyn in 1vs1 is an impressive feat, even if it is with luck
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glad to hear your group is doing better. It seems you can save the campaign :)
Taking down Havelyn in 1vs1 is an impressive feat, even if it is with luck
Well the cleric had originally taken out the guards with this Asmodean channels, but the paladin was out of range. It was then that Havelyn came in and knocked the cleric on his butt with a single hit. Barhold was sundering the antipaladin's greatsword with his own, and it became quickly apparent that the paladin didn't bother doing that. So the antipaladin charged Havelyn thinking she'd have a better chance than with Barhold, who was now being challenged by the wizard and slaver. But yeah, shear luck from that point on, mixed with a few good spells. I was in awe. I rolled well when I didn't need to, and they rolled well when they did. I think I rolled over a 10 maybe three times all night. Mostly 2's and 3's.
I've read the adventure and it looks amazing.
I'd really love to DM this one, but I'm going to have only 2 players. In your opinion, is the adventure (as written) balanced for two gestalt characters?
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I've read the adventure and it looks amazing.
I'd really love to DM this one, but I'm going to have only 2 players. In your opinion, is the adventure (as written) balanced for two gestalt characters?
Pushing it. You'd want to make Grumblejack gestalt as well. Maybe gestalt and the advanced template.
I've read the adventure and it looks amazing.
I'd really love to DM this one, but I'm going to have only 2 players. In your opinion, is the adventure (as written) balanced for two gestalt characters?
it is quite easy for 2 gestalts. If you give them slight help in the begining, it's pkssible even for 2 normal caracters. One thing the AP have in abundance, is a flood of meatshield npc. Starting with grumblejack. Then you can corrupt several others, create undead, get leadership cohorts, get demons, nightmares,golems, a dragon...
My party don't use them much, because we are 6 and we overpower the encounters. But I think they could send the NPC alone and take most encunters.
Right now they have:
Alchemical golem
Iron golem.
A vampire fighter (franz mott)
A cleric/assassin (titus)
A cleric (barnabus)
A half-fiend ogre (grumblejack)
A half-fiend medusa
A black dragon
An eidolon
2 wyrm skeletons
1 linnorm skeleton
2 giant storm skeletons
40 vampire spawns
Perma-binded devils (bonedevils, nessian hellhounds, nightmare...)
Plus several cohorts and minions. Thise could take most encounters by themselves.
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I've read the adventure and it looks amazing.
I'd really love to DM this one, but I'm going to have only 2 players. In your opinion, is the adventure (as written) balanced for two gestalt characters?
The biggest issue your players will have is a lack of actions. Against a boss, they should be able to survive... against a party of 4-5 adventurers... it could be rough.
With Gestalt they have the opportunity to swing an animal companion or two + an NPC (like Grumblejack) then they should be able to survive. You will need to keep an eye on tactics that use action reduction tactics (slow, sleep, hold person, etc) as a bad roll or two could mean disaster for a party of 2.
You may also want to give your PCs max hitpoints.
Thank you for your suggestions. I will definitely give them some NPC help (starting from Grumblejack). But he won't be gestalt, I think. I will give them free authority at lvl 7, however.
I failed to mention that the two player are very experienced and using tier 1/2 combinations. One is going to be a sorcerer/master summoner, and the other one a cleric (undead lord)/inquisitor or oracle/antipaladin. So, the power level is quite high, and I will also give them full treasure. (one sorcerer and one cleric, order of the stick team evil style :) )
The danger at higher level, I suppose, is failing critical saving throws... however smart tactics and a shield of minions should reduce this problem.
I'm still worried of low level play, though. I'm probably going to fudge a few rolls at the beginning. Do you have specific suggestions for the first levels?
After the first parts, however, I have no intention to alter the adventure or to reduce encounter difficulty. We'll see if they're worthy to walk the way of the wicked... :)
Master summoner/Sorcerer and oracle/antipaladin sound awesome.
With proper system mastery (which they seem to have), they'll have no problem.
I'll suggest an humanoid eidolon. Our summoner took quadruped, and it has been banished every otger conbat since level 10 :P. LOTS of Holy Word
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The danger at higher level, I suppose, is failing critical saving throws... however smart tactics and a shield of minions should reduce this problem.
I'm still worried of low level play, though. I'm probably going to fudge a few rolls at the beginning. Do you have specific suggestions for the first levels?
After the first parts, however, I have no intention to alter the adventure or to reduce encounter difficulty. We'll see if they're worthy to walk the way of the wicked... :)
The issue I see is the lack of a rogue for obvious trapfinding reasons.
The issue I see is the lack of a rogue for obvious trapfinding reasons.
They are evil! They have one fail-proof technique for trap-finding... sending a low level minion "probe" :)
Trap disarming, however, could be a little bit more complicated...-----------
Joking aside, I see the problem too. But as one player is a master summoner, and they're both full caster I think that lack of trap finding/disarming is going to be a problem just for the first few levels and I don't think this first module has too many traps (training session aside). They can manage (hopefully). Maybe I could give them a short-lived NPC prisoner rogue companion?
The issue I see is the lack of a rogue for obvious trapfinding reasons.They are evil! They have one fail-proof technique for trap-finding... sending a low level minion "probe" :)
Trap disarming, however, could be a little bit more complicated...-----------
Joking aside, I see the problem too. But as one player is a master summoner, and they're both full caster I think that lack of trap finding/disarming is going to be a problem just for the first few levels and I don't think this first module has too many traps (training session aside). They can manage (hopefully). Maybe I could give them a short-lived NPC prisoner rogue companion?
Probably the best route to go, to have a rogue-type in prison escape with them. It'll serve to highlight their need for that particular skill set and might serve some dramatic purpose later on (like when Thorne kills him for discovering he's playing both sides, stealing, etc.)
The issue I see is the lack of a rogue for obvious trapfinding reasons.The danger at higher level, I suppose, is failing critical saving throws... however smart tactics and a shield of minions should reduce this problem.
I'm still worried of low level play, though. I'm probably going to fudge a few rolls at the beginning. Do you have specific suggestions for the first levels?
After the first parts, however, I have no intention to alter the adventure or to reduce encounter difficulty. We'll see if they're worthy to walk the way of the wicked... :)
Anyone can find traps. Some people much easier than rogues, because they have high Wisdom. Disarming traps can be done by anyone too. The rogue disarm magical traps, but Dispel magic ussually disarm them too. Non-rechargable traps can be disarmed with summon monster I.
Probably the best route to go, to have a rogue-type in prison escape with them. It'll serve to highlight their need for that particular skill set and might serve some dramatic purpose later on (like when Thorne kills him for discovering he's playing both sides, stealing, etc.)
The issue I see is the lack of a rogue for obvious trapfinding reasons.They are evil! They have one fail-proof technique for trap-finding... sending a low level minion "probe" :)
Trap disarming, however, could be a little bit more complicated...-----------
Joking aside, I see the problem too. But as one player is a master summoner, and they're both full caster I think that lack of trap finding/disarming is going to be a problem just for the first few levels and I don't think this first module has too many traps (training session aside). They can manage (hopefully). Maybe I could give them a short-lived NPC prisoner rogue companion?
I know of a group who disabled the manacles with the eidolon of the summoner. +8 racial bonus to disable device.
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Anyone can find traps. Some people much easier than rogues, because they have high Wisdom. Disarming traps can be done by anyone too. The rogue disarm magical traps, but Dispel magic ussually disarm them too. Non-rechargable traps can be disarmed with summon monster I.
Unless you have trapfinding, NO ONE can find traps above DC 20. That's why trapfinding exists. That's why some spells that give it to you, or trap sense, are so important. Disabling traps is a different story, yes.
Anyone can find traps. Some people much easier than rogues, because they have high Wisdom. Disarming traps can be done by anyone too. The rogue disarm magical traps, but Dispel magic ussually disarm them too. Non-rechargable traps can be disarmed with summon monster I.Unless you have trapfinding, NO ONE can find traps above DC 20. That's why trapfinding exists. That's why some spells that give it to you, or trap sense, are so important. Disabling traps is a different story, yes.
That's not true in Pathfinder. Anyone can see traps if they have enough perception. Rogues just add 1/2 of their level to the roll
Anyone can find traps. Some people much easier than rogues, because they have high Wisdom. Disarming traps can be done by anyone too. The rogue disarm magical traps, but Dispel magic ussually disarm them too. Non-rechargable traps can be disarmed with summon monster I.Unless you have trapfinding, NO ONE can find traps above DC 20. That's why trapfinding exists. That's why some spells that give it to you, or trap sense, are so important. Disabling traps is a different story, yes.
Please provide a quote. I cannot find anything in the rules that says so. I agree with the previous poster: ANYONE can spot a trap, and any expert PF player knows how important is maxing perception...
On another topic, in your opinion, would the Cardinal raise the Villains in case of a TPK? Please differentiate your answer, if you can, according to the campaign (and this adventure in particular) timeline.
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Please provide a quote. I cannot find anything in the rules that says so. I agree with the previous poster: ANYONE can spot a trap, and any expert PF player knows how important is maxing perception...Anyone can find traps. Some people much easier than rogues, because they have high Wisdom. Disarming traps can be done by anyone too. The rogue disarm magical traps, but Dispel magic ussually disarm them too. Non-rechargable traps can be disarmed with summon monster I.Unless you have trapfinding, NO ONE can find traps above DC 20. That's why trapfinding exists. That's why some spells that give it to you, or trap sense, are so important. Disabling traps is a different story, yes.
Nevermind. 3.5 rule.
On another topic, in your opinion, would the Cardinal raise the Villains in case of a TPK? Please differentiate your answer, if you can, according to the campaign (and this adventure in particular) timeline.
In a few spots, he'll do. In the horn, for example.
Otherwise, not really. Other knots died, and he did not raise them. And once the group is starting to show themselves as better than the average, he'll start to fear
The players just finished their gestalt characters:
Human Oracle (Bones mystery, black-blooded) / Antipaladin
Feat: Power Attack, Spell Focus (Necro)
Human Magus (Bladebound) / Wizard (Thassilonian Specialist)
Feat: Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Accursed (story feat)
(3, I gave him a bonus story feat)
I tried to push for the sorcerer/master summoner, but that player really loves wizard and high int, so...
We'll see how they'll fare, we'll see. :)
What do you think of their choices?
The players just finished their gestalt characters:
Human Oracle (Bones mystery, black-blooded) / Antipaladin
Feat: Power Attack, Spell Focus (Necro)
Human Magus (Bladebound) / Wizard (Thassilonian Specialist)
Feat: Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Accursed (story feat)
(3, I gave him a bonus story feat)I tried to push for the sorcerer/master summoner, but that player really loves wizard and high int, so...
We'll see how they'll fare, we'll see. :)What do you think of their choices?
I think they are both very solid choices, but I think the Sorcerer Master Summoner would have been better than either of them. No substitute for the versatility of summoned creatures and having your foe either wasting his attacks on them or provoking a half-dozen AoO's just to try and get to you.
We completed another double session, Friday and Saturday night, and managed to finish off the first book. Gotta say, it was an absolute blast with all the skulking around and high drama you could want. One of the better weekend 'finishes' we've had.
Newest session located here.
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The players just finished their gestalt characters:
Human Oracle (Bones mystery, black-blooded) / Antipaladin
Feat: Power Attack, Spell Focus (Necro)
Human Magus (Bladebound) / Wizard (Thassilonian Specialist)
Feat: Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Accursed (story feat)
(3, I gave him a bonus story feat)I tried to push for the sorcerer/master summoner, but that player really loves wizard and high int, so...
We'll see how they'll fare, we'll see. :)What do you think of their choices?
With my group I brought back the 3.5 flaws that can be found in the 3PP 4Winds/Purple Ducks Games Flaws book, as well as the Drawback from Tome of Secrets. They were Marked and Wanted. This gave them an extra feat, and a few extra skill points.
With my group I brought back the 3.5 flaws that can be found in the 3PP 4Winds/Purple Ducks Games Flaws book, as well as the Drawback from Tome of Secrets. They were Marked and Wanted. This gave them an extra feat, and a few extra skill points.
Good idea, but we're already using the drawback system from Ultimate Campaign, so they have an extra trait.
I'm really looking forward to begin this adventure, expecially after reading all these exciting play reports!
We've just finished playing the first two sessions of the adventure!!!
We left just after the three months of brutal training by the Cardinal, and before the first "real" mission assigment.
A brief report will follow tomorrow, if someone is interested.
For the moment, let me just say that it has been a blast! :)
Congratulations Fire Mountain Games for one of the best Adventure I've ever read. In my opinion, this one is the second-best Pathfinder adventure, second only to "The Haunting of Harrowstone" (Carrion Crown #1).
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Group just finished Book 1, and next week we start Book 2. Needless to say that the wizard and antipaladin players quickly figured out that Thorn was a certain someone else once they found the bible. They aren't stupid enough to give up the knowledge that they have, but instead are still going to make him paranoid as they "gift" Havelyn's sword to him.
It was an interesting time.
Apologies if this has already been addressed or if I'm just wrong (don't have my book in front of me), but I'm wondering about a random small pair of details, namely the ages of the brothers Havelyn.
Samuel is the younger brother, and was a cardinal of the Mitran church when burned. I don't recall Thomas Havelyn's stat block saying he was middle-aged, but if his younger brother was burned twenty years ago, I think he'd have to be in his forties or fifties, maybe even sixties. I'm not hung up about a stat error, just trying to get the ages and chronology down as one of the PCs found the family bible and is asking a lot of detailed questions.
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Apologies if this has already been addressed or if I'm just wrong (don't have my book in front of me), but I'm wondering about a random small pair of details, namely the ages of the brothers Havelyn.
Samuel is the younger brother, and was a cardinal of the Mitran church when burned. I don't recall Thomas Havelyn's stat block saying he was middle-aged, but if his younger brother was burned twenty years ago, I think he'd have to be in his forties or fifties, maybe even sixties. I'm not hung up about a stat error, just trying to get the ages and chronology down as one of the PCs found the family bible and is asking a lot of detailed questions.
I guess you could just make stuff up if you had to and leave notes for yourself. Samuel was a prodigy, so it's possible that he could have been as a young as 18 when he wore the cloth, but it would make his elder brother about 40 years or so.
That's helpful. I think I'm just going to go the prodigy route. There are real life examples of people being made bishops and cardinals of the Catholic church in their late teens and early twenties. So, it's not without historical context.
We are about to be finished with book 1 after 1 year of gaming.
16 sessions of about 5 hours, that's about 80 hours gaming and I think the next session will be the last.
My players found it to be "The best module they've played of all times".
80 hours would look really long but my players love intense RP and also like to plan a lot and sometimes spend 2 hours working on plan A. Only to realise it doesn't work and try plan B or C or Z... :D
Great great fun where once we reached Balentyne we had very few combats actually rolled.
For Your information my party is made of:
Ninja Drow turned into vampire
Tiefling scout/knife master (rogue archetypes)
Half drow summoner
gobelin rogue turned into vampire
then a friend of ours joined and plays an Asmodeus Inquisitor dhampir.
So our PCs are heavily into stealth, sneak attacks... and ... they all have darkvision and are able to cast darkness. So it's a great party.
Here are the best parts of the adventure:
The Ogre (Grumblejack) was dead after the first fight or so in Brandenscar. So no Ogre NPC. but well it didn't correspond very well to the stealth idea.
The nine lessons were funny as when they met the squire timeon they told him they were also trapped and wanted to escape too. So off they went with timeon and then when they met the paladin, the squire persuaded him that the PCs were "friends ". So they escaped to the ground floor of the manor and killed a few servants. Meanwhile our ninja/rogues backstabbed the poor paladin who fell in 1 round.
Thorn was happy to see that deceit was definitely a tool they used.
I had an inquisitor follow them all the way to brandenscar. They were very scared as they would see him from afar from time to time (Thanks KEvin Video ! great idea). In the end Mister Clifford gates was introduced as our 5th player, an additional member of the 9th.
2 of my players were turned to vampire by Tiadora. Yeah, sue me, insult me: Tiadora is a devil/vampire. Even if that's not possible... Well we are in fantasy games and anything goes.
Anyway the vampire thing has been GREAT GREAT opportunities (RP). They had to find coffins to rest. Of course when they were resting they were also helpless and needed help from non vampires.
Of course they had to feed everynight.I implemented a rule in order to decide how much they had to drink.
First bite will save DC25 in order to stop
2nd round DC 20
3rd round DC 15
4th round DC 13
5th round DC 10
Never had to go after round 5 but everytime the victim was losing 1D4 constitution. So tsometimes they had to kill 2 people.
They took one house in Aldencross killed or stored all the inhabitants and took their meal in the fridge (in the cellar).
Some of them managed to get enrolled as soldiers, the inquisitor managed to live in the castle as a VIP by convincing everyone that he was a REAL inquisitor of Mitra (thank you forgery).
They killed Varning without even rolling attack rolls as they killed him while he was asleep (the false guards were on watch).
They killed the dwarves while everyone was away to see the bards of barrington. The dwarves were not too keen to see the play so they stayed in the inn and one of my player disguised as a dwarf had a drinking contest with them. In the end the "she dwarf" persuaded Barnabus to finish the drinking contest against his mates. Then the rogues ware ambushing whoever would go to the toilets outside. Finally they burned the inn with all dead dwarves trying to make it look like an accident (these dwarves drink so much it was bound to happen). ;-)
I think my players won the most original way to kill sir Thomas Havelyn. He ... drowned.
After failling miserably to ambush him (rolling plenty of bad rolls), Havelyn killed the eidolon in 1 round (doing 50+ damage). btw I had upgraded HAvelyn to a REAL paladin lvl 9. So they retreated, hidden in shadows and disguised.
While everyone in Aldencross was sure that vampires were around, HAvelyn searched all the houses and cemetary during the day and found locked in Kate Mott's house (who was dead long ago sucked to death and replaced by one of our wicked PC disguised), some sailors who were kept in the cellar for the vampires. The vampires were not in the house thanks to the non vampires who carried their coffin in the sailor's ship, emptied of its original crew.
So lord Havelyn, helped with our false inquisitor headed off to the port to search the ship. The inquisitor delayed him as much as possible in order for the living PCs to sabotage the other boats and escape on the sailing ship.
They sabotaged 2 fishing boats out of 4 before escaping. As they had no idea how to handle a boat, the summoner called for dolphins to pull the boat (veryyyy slow). The fishing boats with HAvelyn, 10 soldiers and the inquisitor were catching up fast so the summoner decided to change plans. The dolphins attacked the fishing boat trying to make it roll over. I decided to roll acrobatics for HAvelyn, who rolled a miserable 2 and fell in the water, then I rolled a poor 1 on swimming and he started to drown .... with his full plate. The summoner was then calling crocodiles who have good grapples to make sure he would stay at the bottom of the lake... It was so hilarious that I took time to upgrade havelyn on PC gen only to get him killed because he had no swimming proficiency... and a full plate.
And then when the vampires woke up in the middle of the lake (remember they have no sailing proficiency), they are thirsty... very thirsty and the only human with them is the summoner who saved their butt... It was great RP fun...
So Gary I don't know if you still read around but it was the best module I ever GMed and my players ever played.
1 year of gaming for module 1. 80 hours of great moments.
Thank you Gary and the fan community for all the little ideas.... ^^.
Then off to tome 2.
"That's helpful. I think I'm just going to go the prodigy route. There are real life examples of people being made bishops and cardinals of the Catholic church in their late teens and early twenties. So, it's not without historical context."
Those would have been "political" appointments, nothing to do with faith.
Yes. And the point would be...? Or, more accurately, your suggested alternative explanation would be...?
Typing this on my iPhone so typos shall ensue. My apologies in advance.
We finished book one last Sunday and this may well be the best AP/module we've played. I have a diverse group of players, some who prefer more combat and others who really enjoy RP, and this AP is satisfying all of those needs. The PCs consist of:
Dr. Sereves, Male human plague doctor (scarred witch doctor), former lay member of the Order of St Macarius
Lord Rissis, Male human rumormonger, disgraced nobleman sentenced for sedition (actually the lord's servant)
Margra, Female human undead lord, priestess of Asmodeus
Bramble, Female changeling dreamweaver witch
The group infiltrated the tower by forging a letter of transfer for Father Donnegin and putting Dr. Sereves in his place. The forgery worked, with only a random guard seeing through it but being overruled by Donnegin and Havelyn who believed it (oops!). This gained the group a full tour of the watchtower, introductions to the captains, etc. And off went Father Donnigan.
The group decided on what I thought was a very risky, all or nothing plan. The decided to host a large festival, combining the play with fireworks and other merriment. There would be a toast with special mulled wine -- into which the plague doctor would put poison. The festival would be in Aldencross, so the townspeople could also partake of the fun. High rolls persuaded Havelyn and he granted permission, but of course insisted only those guards and captains off duty could attend.
A few days before the festival, the rumormonger spread a rumor of bugbears trying to cross the lake several days to the west. The rumor took hold, and off went Captain Varning. The group didn't take advantage of eddarly's affair (oh well) so Mott was on duty the night of the festival.
While the festival began, most of the party used the tunnel to enter at the base of the tower with the cleric's two skeletons. Leaving the skeletons in the vault, the rumormonger and dream weaver (who were posing as a party planner and his assistant) went to the top of the keep and set off the "fireworks". This prompted the grand toast, After which the people began to fall victim to the poison, Sereves slipped away and had Timeon don a circlet and pretend to be him. (I think the player secretly hoped that Timeon would be killed off. Instead I decided the people did try to hurt him, but he managed to slip away.)
Once Sereves had joined them, the party killed the Magister after casting silence in a surprise round. They then moved to the rookery where they killed Mad Martin and the ravens. This did not go entirely unnoticed as the guards from the gatehouse noticed "something" was wrong and called over. The rumormonger bluffed there was a fire, which prompted a signal horn alert of fire. They moved to level three of thr tower and lit te arrows on fire (ah, a distraction).
As they exited the tower, they were challenged by the guards in front of the keep. The party replied (with a large bluff roll) that the tower was betrayed; they had killed to traitors posing as guards but the traitors had already set a fire. This sends one guard running up to Lord Havelyb while the other blows two different signals (fire, general alarm). The party then ran across the bridge of death, bluff their way into the gatehouse before the door is closed, and begin killing the guards there (again with a silence spell).
Captain Mott is suspicious but not enough... The party bluffs their way up (nobody has lived to identify them as the traitors) and then utterly bungles their surprise round. A sneak attack is a critical fumble, Mott saves against a witch's slumber hex, and the cleric is channeling negative energy to kill the halbardiers but can't avoid hitting some party members.
Mott is a terror. He drops the thief, threatens great harm to the others, keeps making his saves and people are having trouble getting past his armor. So... The plague doctor uses bestow curse to trigger an insanity effect (under the game mastering rules). He gets a psychosis effect, which turns Mott chaotic evil. This is followed by bluff and diplomacy, which convinces him to help them kill the castles defenders so a bugbear horde can attack. The CE Mott likes this idea, but after the party disables all the siege engines and opens the gates, they decide to hunker down and wait. Mott gets anxious, wanting Blood! So, they let him out.
As the horde approaches, they realize waiting here might not be the smartest decision so they head down the bridge and run into...Timeon. The lad is out of breath, having escaped a mob in Aldencross and run up to the watchtower. He tells the party Havelyn knows of the betrayal, killed Mott, and is now on his way to activate the tower's last defense--the seal. Timeon volunteers to delay Havelyn and runs ahead of the party.
As the party walks along the north battlement, they see the tower aflame and Grumblejack walking up the hill with a gore-covered great club. He waves at the party, says he saw the fire an wasn't going to let them have all the fun. He promises to kill any little 'uns coming up from the village as reinforcements and guards the Aldencross Gate. The party rounds the corner of the battlements to see Timeon yelling at Havelyn to wait -- thr commander is nearly at the winch to lower the seal. Havelyn tells Timeon to be silent and fetch Sir Balin, there is man's work to be done and he doesn't have time to answer the boy's incessant questions. Timeon tries again, running up behind Havelyn while the commander reaches for the winch, but is ignored. He whispers, "I'm sorry," as a blade drops from a wrist sheath and is plunged into a gap in the commander's armor (critical hit). Surprise round, Havelyn rolls horribly on initiative, Timeon gets another strike in (rolling very well) but Havelyn power attacks with the flat of his blade (nonlethal) and Timeon crumples to the ground. Cleave attack, and the rumor monger is dropped to 4 hit points. Cleric runs up to heal him, risking an attack of opportunity--critical hit--she falls unconscious.
Party is nearly panicked. They realize they need to kill the Paladin quickly but with his saves he's shrugging off all their spells and debuffs. One of them plays a plot twist card which creates a hostile random encounter. After some thought, I decide to base it on the target's CR and choose an Erinyes devil. She manages to drop Havelyn after two rounds (with the damage Timeon and the party had already done).
The cleric is revived, animates Havelyn's corpse (his armor turns), and they loot the tower's treasury before fleeing to a safe hill to watch the invasion.
Much fun was had by all. I truly worried this all-or-nothing, everything in one night plan wasn't going to work (and it was very close a couple of times) but they not only pulled it off but got enough victory points for a slaughter. They're now off to Farholde and the Horn.
So has some fellow dungeonmaster made up a map for Aldencross? I am running the module for the second time (with my table group we are finishing book 3 this weekend) - and now my second group (an online group) arrived Aldencross. I would like to give them some map for Aldencross and the relation to Balentyne. But I haven´t the time to wait for Book seven.
So did someone of you made himself a map? Or did you use one from the internet and can you point me to it?
Thank you very much!
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So, my previous statement and question have been answered by a 3PP. They have released a new Witch archetype book called Advancing With Class: The Witch. In it, you can choose from one of the new archetypes, including the Infernal Witch.
No balentyne map for me sorry.