In the wee small hours of a morning, Triel and her band of thugs attack the Lucky Monkey. Combat ensues and Sarcem is mortally wounded; he retreats to the basement and casts his Sending spell to send a message to Jenya. Shortly thereafter, Sarcem snuffs it and Triel loots his body, taking the wands. She hies herself off to Cauldron. It's an 8 hour trip.
Jenya gets a rude awakening that morning in the form of a Sending spell, which she reacts to poorly due to being woken out of a sound sleep. She tosses on some clothes and awakens the temple, and, being a quick thinker once she's vertical, sends some runners out to gather Our Heroes, sends another runner to wake the stable master and start saddling horses. She meets them within an hour or so and fills them in. They accept the commission and collect horses & adventuring packs and hit the road, heading towards the Lucky Monkey. It's an 8 hour trip.
Assuming that Jenya doesn't take more than 8 hours after she receives the Sending to assemble the party, at what point in their travels do Our Heroes meet Triel on the road?
How did you handle this in your campaigns, if at all? Secret path from the LM to Cauldron? Teleport? Flying? Invisibility? Just Didn't Happen?
Reading from p109 in the HC, Triel was able to escape the city and avoid capture for the past ten years, after killing two fellow town guardsmen. Everyone gave up on her as dead. Being able to stay hidden in the jungle for a decade would surely imply that Triel is extremely familiar with the surrounding area and has often made use of lesser known routes. I'd play it as a "Just Didn't Happen" and assume she was able to easily avoid the encounter.
Another option is she snuck into cauldron via Drakthar's way. Perhaps bribing a few of the remaining goblins, or whoever else has taken up residence in the (recently abandoned) dwarven citadel.
I let Triel hide as the PCs approached but I did let them find the tracks of two people heading back to town.
I would use the opportunity to foreshadow the rest of the adventure. Why not have the party see or even meet Triel? They have no reason at that point to suspect or accuse her of anything.
The party could see Triel and her 'merchant wagon' approaching them from up the road. Triel could pretend to be the merchant or act as one of the head gaurds while the convey relays a terrible story of escaping an attack on the Lucky Monkey.
When it is revealed that a red haired woman wearing black armour lead the assult on the Lucky Monkey the players will be even more determined to find her.
You could even send one of the merchants gaurds to 'assist' the party but in reality have them attempt to sneak off when they arrive to warn Tongueeater and the other attackers.
I'm guessing the party would meet them just over halfway (5 hours?) depending upon the parties mode of travel and Triels (wagon then horse?)
Have fun
Delvesdeep
Creative Director
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While having the PCs meet Triel on the way to the Lucky Monkey's an interesting idea, it's probably safest to have them miss her entirely since if they attack her (likely, since a lot of PCs are naturally paranoid or suspicious and prone to assuming anything that the DM says might be an adventure hook or important, it seems), the rest of the adventure can't really happen. Which is okay if you think there's too many dungeons in the campaign, but suddenly your PCs are missing out on a fair amount of XP and loot. You should certainly consider sending them on a short side trek before they go on to "Zenith Trajectory."
In any event, yes, Triel is very familiar with the surroundings and returns to Cauldron not by the roads. She's a wanted criminal after all; she wouldn't risk getting caught by traveling on the roads, especially this close to seeing her plot realized.
For my campaign, Triel was one of the PCs' sister, so they couldn't really meet her.
If you don't have that problem, then I like the idea of meeting her on the road. There's no clue in the adventure that gets them to Triel - that theif just tells them where she is. If they meet her on the road, then they have a clue to follow-up on. Maybe the wagon has the name of the inn she is staying at, they can ask the guards, etc.
You do have to worry about James' point though - if your players are kill-happy thugs, probably avoid it.
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Creative Director
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Yeah, the problem with having the PCs meet her on the road is that a lot of players will (rightfully) assume that if the DM takes the time to mention something, it's probably important. It's like Roger Ebert's "Law of Economy of Characters" for mystery movies that states if a character appears in an early scene and interacts with the movie's plot in a way that seems minor, he invariably ends up beeing the one who did the deed in the end.
In an RPG, unless you have already established a tradition of having strange and memorable NPCs pop up for cameos that really don't mean anything and your players already understand that, it's probably best to let Triel sneak back via the back way.
James is correct, it is a risk. If the players smell at rat then it will interfere with the rest of the adventure and considering James wrote the adventure he would have a better insight than the rest of us I'm certain.
But if the idea still appeals to you then when the encounter occurs ensure that the players (particularly if they are metagamers) believe that the reason for the encounters inclusion is to prepare/warn them of the attack on the Laughing Monkey.
If the merchant mentions about seeing the attack lead by a Baboonman (or whatever else you come up with really) the players will feel that the encounter was built for this purpose alone.
I would have Triel more as the silent gaurd. Again if you are concerned that this stereotype may set alarm bells ringing then have her act friendly and even helpful (when she sends the gaurd back with them).
Weigh up the potential benefits of the encounter (foreshadowing, additional motivation)verus the potential negatives (main villian/adventure hook lost) and the likelihood of party discovery before you make any decisions.
If you are still uncertain then my advice is to listen to the author of the adventure and Editor of the Dungeon magazine over any amateur writer/message board replier any day of the week :).
Delvesdeep
It's like Roger Ebert's "Law of Economy of Characters" for mystery movies that states if a character appears in an early scene and interacts with the movie's plot in a way that seems minor, he invariably ends up beeing the one who did the deed in the end.
I use this principle to guess the twist, murderer, secret etc in almost every movie I watch. It drives my wife to distraction ;)
Delvesdeep
If only you could use your awsome powers of deduction for good delvesdeep ;-)
Regarding Ebert's Law: Yeah, it is a risk. But this whole campaign is city-based, full of NPCs to interact with. Full of NPCs that come and go only to show up later. It would be have to be a blood thirsty group that attacks a "merchant that fled from the attack at the Lucky Monkey".
Here's the way a chance meeting with Triel would likely play out, given my players:
The scout is a ways ahead of the party, skulking through the jungle. She sees the caravan ahead of time and moves in for a closer look, before Triel realizes there's a party coming. She might see something untoward, such as an unhooded Triel, which might be enough to give the Cauldron native a good enough description to ID her.
The druid sends his companion (a leopard) to also skulk around. The leopard probably smells something really weird for a wagon (were-baboon spoor).
The cleric of Pelor casts Augury. Pelor alone knows what she would ask, but the answer would probably be v. revealing.
The dwarven ranger archer (don't ask) gets miffed that there's nothing for him to do.
The fire genasi wizard just wants to burn things but would settle for a Detect Magic. "Hmm... eight objects, all with the same aura, bundled together..."
The rogue is indifferent, but might recognize Triel from her description.
Interrogation ensues. "So, were you at the Lucky Monkey? Was there an attack of some kind? Cleric named Sarcem, didja see him? Hey, what's in the wagon? Got any magic items for sale?"
Given the facts as stated ("At lucky monkey. Have eight wands. Attacked by beastman. Mortally wounded"), I think the party would shoot first and ask questions later.
So, off into the jungle she goes. They'll find tracks about six hours into their journey, assuming they can find them after about eight hours of rain, but they'll be in too much hurry to follow them on their way to the Lucky Monkey. On the way back, they can really mess with their travel time if they take off after her...
In my campaigne tha attack happened in the afternoon, when there is less people at the inn, the sending came but the adventurer arrived by night, everyone dead and the thugs feasting.
Triel went away as soon as Sarcem was dead and the Kopru ruins are NOT really near Cauldron for me, they are somewhere in the hills about 4 hours midway the inn and the city.
No crossing problem.
...
Interrogation ensues. "So, were you at the Lucky Monkey? Was there an attack of some kind? Cleric named Sarcem, didja see him? Hey, what's in the wagon? Got any magic items for sale?"
Given the facts as stated ..., I think the party would shoot first and ask questions later.
That's the kind of thing I expect from my players, too. They are far too suspicious for their own good at times. The dwarf in my group always remembers to suit up and draw his weapon to answer a knock at the door during broad daylight in a peaceful city. It can make some situations less realistic, but it allows me to really play up the reactions of NPCs. When the tax collector is greeted by an axe, things won't go well.
If you want to discourage metagaming, have them meet a traveler on the road that could possibly be mistaken for Triel and if the PCs harass or attack them, follow through with consequences. Lots of room for ideas with something like that.
Regards,
Koramado
Here's the way a chance meeting with Triel would likely play out, given my players:
The scout is a ways ahead of the party, skulking through the jungle. She sees the caravan ahead of time and moves in for a closer look, before Triel realizes there's a party coming. She might see something untoward, such as an unhooded Triel, which might be enough to give the Cauldron native a good enough description to ID her.
At this stage they would not know anything about Triel. The party only learn about Triel after following leads they get from the Lucky Monkey. So a female gaurd with red hair, while slightly unusual, is unlikely to cause open conflict if they know nothing about the Ebony Triad leader to begin with.
The druid sends his companion (a leopard) to also skulk around. The leopard probably smells something really weird for a wagon (were-baboon spoor).
Why would there be were-baboon spoor in the wagon? I would suggest that Tongueeater would have been nowhere near the wagon. The wagon would have been either procured from a merchant guest of the Lucky Monkey or left outside to transport gaurds etc. I'm sure you could explain this part away.
The cleric of Pelor casts Augury. Pelor alone knows what she would ask, but the answer would probably be v. revealing.
If they have never heard of Triel then the party's initial level of suspicion would be low so a spell such as this would unlikely to be cast.
The fire genasi wizard just wants to burn things but would settle for a Detect Magic. "Hmm... eight objects, all with the same aura, bundled together..."
Same point as above. It is unlikely that this spell is cast. If it is then I would suggest that the wands are kept with other minor magical items (potions, scrolls etc)or just on Triel herself. If asked about it Triel could always respond that she is gaurding the valuable items for the 'merchant'who is going to sell them to Skye.
If the items are kept in the wagon the same explaination could be used - shipping items for Maavu to be sold to Skie etc.
But this senerio is unlikely to happen if the party have no reason to be suspicious (ie have no knowledge of Triel)
The rogue is indifferent, but might recognize Triel from her description.
I'm getting the suspicion that you have told your party of Triel before the adventure has begun. Is this correct?
Interrogation ensues. "So, were you at the Lucky Monkey? Was there an attack of some kind? Cleric named Sarcem, didja see him? Hey, what's in the wagon? Got any magic items for sale?"
These questions could be handled this way -
Merchant - 'Yes I do in fact and some of the finest items you will every see, but unfortunately they belong to a merchant by the name of Maavu who sells such items to a well known magical item dealer known as Skie. Have you heard of her?'
'Perhaps if a group of heroes such as yourself would be so kind as to escort us to Cauldron you would be the first to see the wondrous items and perhaps even recieve a discount....'
Merchant when asked about the Lucky Monkey - 'We were just approaching the Inn when we witnessed a horde of bandit attack the establishment lead by a Monkeyman. We quickly raced past but not before a group of wild looking, shaggy haired men attempted to stop us. Luckily most of the bandits were busy inside and my gaurds (gesturing towards a female gaurd with red haired) are well trained or I and my goods would never have made it here'
Merchant - 'Sacrem...Hmmm I think I have heard of him. He is a High cleric of some sort in Cauldron but see him - no. As I said we never made it into the Inn luckily, but he could be inside. I don't know for certain but for his sake I hope he isn't...'
In the unlikily event that the merchant is asked abot Triel he asks her over
Merchant -'Ebony, these kind fellows wish to speak to you'
Triel -'Yes, it is as Granum said, but I noticed that the Monkeyman lead a group of fierce looking baboons. I was angry that we had to leave the Inn undefended. If your intent is to travel to the Lucky Monkey then perhaps if I sent one of my gaurds who has stayed in the Inn before perhaps he could help show you where they attacked and the safest way into the building.'
If you are still worried about discovery Triel & the merchant could have drunk a potion of glibness to buff up there Bluff checks if your party is prone to Sense Motive Checks. Triel and the merchant would have drunk such potions in the event of such a meeting.
Another suggestion for avoiding/diverting suspicion in general is the use of humour -
Have the merchant speak in a humourous voice voice, be a drunked (depending upon how your group sees such behavour), be disgusting, a fawning noble, a blubbering fool etc
Villians rarely appear in such a manner so your party will be far less suspicious when you make a NPC seem anything but threatening.
Anyhow, it sounds as though you have already made your decision based on your party - so good luck.
Flood Season is a great adventure and festival is equally good (plenty of opportunities for foreshadowing future events and important NPCs) so either way I'm sure you will have fun.
Good Luck
Delvesdeep
For my campaign, Triel was one of the PCs' sister, so they couldn't really meet her.
If you don't have that problem, then I like the idea of meeting her on the road. There's no clue in the adventure that gets them to Triel - that theif just tells them where she is. If they meet her on the road, then they have a clue to follow-up on. Maybe the wagon has the name of the inn she is staying at, they can ask the guards, etc.
You do have to worry about James' point though - if your players are kill-happy thugs, probably avoid it.
I reread your post DMTodd and I like your idea about future clues. They could have the wagon bearing the symbol of the Tavern/Inn (sorry I don't have my SCHC nearby) that the alleybashers guildhall lies beneath and have the party meet the Rogue would tells them Triels location in there etc
Any other ideas?
Delvesdeep
Thank you all for your answers--as they haven't started this, I still have a week or two to think about how I'm going to handle this. I'm still trying to figure out which parts of the Flood Festival I'm going to use; I have to go read the threads on the Demonskar ball for ideas.
Delvesdeep, you made a bunch of great points, and I just wanted to clarify one thing about Triel--the rogue is the only local, so she has maxed out her Local Area Knowledge (since she's the only one, she felt she really needs to be the local expert). There is information about Triel available in the charts at the beginning of the book based off of how well people make LA checks, and the Rogue can make those rolls. A little disguise can go a long way, but I learned a long time ago to never underestimate the ability of my players to roll well, and to not punish them for doing do by just saying "Well, yeah, that's a good roll, but your character just doesn't know the answer."
For my campaign, the Alleybasher were the only clue they needed. One player was a former member. So a few Diplomacy, Intimidate, and bribes later, they learned that the ABs were hired by some redhead named Triel who was hiding out at the abandoned inn The Sandcrab down by the lake. I had the battle with Triel take place in the city. A secret tunnel from their lead to the undergroup lair.
I think questioning the guards at the gate should give some of the same info. Or perhaps the guards tell of the lathered horses she was riding, which leads to the stables, who can tell them where she is staying in town.
I don't buy this idea that a KS: Local History allows you to recognize a person wanted for a crime that happened 10 years ago.
Thank you all for your answers--as they haven't started this, I still have a week or two to think about how I'm going to handle this. I'm still trying to figure out which parts of the Flood Festival I'm going to use; I have to go read the threads on the Demonskar ball for ideas.
Delvesdeep, you made a bunch of great points, and I just wanted to clarify one thing about Triel--the rogue is the only local, so she has maxed out her Local Area Knowledge (since she's the only one, she felt she really needs to be the local expert). There is information about Triel available in the charts at the beginning of the book based off of how well people make LA checks, and the Rogue can make those rolls. A little disguise can go a long way, but I learned a long time ago to never underestimate the ability of my players to roll well, and to not punish them for doing do by just saying "Well, yeah, that's a good roll, but your character just doesn't know the answer."
I understand where you are coming from. There is a definite risk here no matter how much you reduce the chances of it.
Earlier in the thread James made a very valid point that if your players were to recognise Triel it would change the adventure and he was right.
I guess I can only say that by having Triel 'foreshadowed' in this way it would give the players even further motivation and a personal agenda that is otherwise missing or diminished. Knowing that they had the main villian within their grasp but letting her get away will really annoy the party.
DMTood made a valid point in his last post. Local Knowledge may recall a story about a gaurd who murdered her patrol 10 years past but will not automatically give the rogue a clear description of Triel. If you are still worried just ommit the information about the gaurd having red hair.
But once again what makes you concerned that your Rogue will look for information about Triel before the meeting. Before this point the party only knows that Sarcem has been waylaid at the Lucky Monkey but a Monkeyman and has the eight wands. They have no idea who really lead the attack - this information is learned after they explore the Inn.
Even if they do smell a rat during the encounter (and I truly believe they won't) then use a bit of creative Dming and have Triel take off on her horse with the wand using her newly purchased (Skies Treasury)horseshoes of speed, while the other gaurds cover her retreat. Alternatively she could take a potion of gaseous form, invisibility, fly etc and get away. Her escape would further further drive the party to seek her down.
IF by some miracle, the party smell a rat AND go so far as to attack Triel AND actually kill her before she can retreat then just ensure that the wands somehow get to the remaining Ebony Triad leaders (Shaven & Tarkilar) either via a fleeing gaurd or stolen from the party or the wands Triel was carring were only half the required amount and the rest were smuggled into the Kopru ruins by another route.
BUT the liklihood of your party even suspecting anything in the firstplace are IMHO very remote and actually killing Triel extremely remote so I believe the encounter is worth the risk.
But once again not matter how much a try a sugar coat it for you make no mistake
IT IS A RISK.... but one worth taking :)
Delvesdeep
>> IF by some miracle, the party smell a rat AND go so far as to attack Triel AND actually kill her before she can retreat then just ensure that the wands somehow get to the remaining Ebony Triad leaders
Change the adventure so that Skaven was also at the Lucky Monkey. Once the wands were recovered, he teleported via scroll with them back to the base. Now your players can run into Triel with no danger of de-railing the entire adventure. Leave Triel with 1 or 2 of the wands maybe as a reward if the players do figure it out.
Now you've foreshadowed Triel AND Skaven, and thrown in a potentially really interesting encounter, and given the players a way to actually solve the mystery themselves rather than some random NPC showing up and telling them where to go.
Dang, wish I had thought of all that when I had run it.
As a follow-up for those who are interested:
The party encountered an Anonymous Merchant who claimed to be delivering stuff for House Maavu; he was accompanied by his Anonymous Guard, a certain red-haired woman with tattoos and spiky plate. He said the Lucky Monkey was attacked by brigands just as they were getting ready to leave, and they barely got out alive. The party said thankee and were on their way without an undue amount of suspicion.
They also saw the occasional pack of baboons by the side of the road, just staring at them rather than flinging stuff. Once the party got to the Monkey and found the babboons in the center courtyard, the guy playing the druid, who had been trying to find non-confrontational, diplomatic solutions to every fight was very annoyed that it didn't occur to him to talk to the non-flinging baboons...
The cleric almost died in the first fight, the druid almost died fighting Tongueeater, and they managed not to kill Shensen in the process of rescuing her.
Once they got the description of the woman leading the fight from Shensen, they were rather annoyed at themselves for not being more suspicious; they have all leveld up to 5th and are heading back to Cauldron to track Triel down. When they get there, if they ask the gate guard he'll remember the merchant coming in, but he won't remember seeing Triel, a hint that she got off the wagon before she got to town.
As a follow-up for those who are interested:
The party encountered an Anonymous Merchant who claimed to be delivering stuff for House Maavu; he was accompanied by his Anonymous Guard, a certain red-haired woman with tattoos and spiky plate. He said the Lucky Monkey was attacked by brigands just as they were getting ready to leave, and they barely got out alive. The party said thankee and were on their way without an undue amount of suspicion.
They also saw the occasional pack of baboons by the side of the road, just staring at them rather than flinging stuff. Once the party got to the Monkey and found the babboons in the center courtyard, the guy playing the druid, who had been trying to find non-confrontational, diplomatic solutions to every fight was very annoyed that it didn't occur to him to talk to the non-flinging baboons...
The cleric almost died in the first fight, the druid almost died fighting Tongueeater, and they managed not to kill Shensen in the process of rescuing her.
Once they got the description of the woman leading the fight from Shensen, they were rather annoyed at themselves for not being more suspicious; they have all leveld up to 5th and are heading back to Cauldron to track Triel down. When they get there, if they ask the gate guard he'll remember the merchant coming in, but he won't remember seeing Triel, a hint that she got off the wagon before she got to town.
I'm glad it all worked out.
Are your party more keen to find her now that she slipped through their grasp? In other words was the risk worth taking?
Delvesdeep
By the way James, if you read this, the Flood Season Chapter has provided me with the most inspiration compared to any other chapter.
In particular your ideas on Skies Treasury and the Demonskar Ball sparked my interest and I built upon them for my campaign and the RPGenius site).
I know that your organisation called the Ebony Triad which also first featured in the chapter, was borrowed and built upon in the Age of Worms AP also.
So just wishing you to know that the Flood Season is an excellent adventure.
Thankyou
Delvesdeep