Hullo everyone. I just started running the SCAP. My players are still in Jzadirune. Before I get much futher I wanted to get some input one the cagewrights. Is seems to me that the only one of them that the PC's have any contact with until Thirteen Cages is Thifirane and to a small extent, Fetor. Now, I certainly appreciate having a mysterious group behind the scenes pulling the strings, but I feel like the group should have a little more exposure to the group before they fight them. That way it's not just, "Oh, hey that guy we just killed had a cage around his neck,""Hmm, he must have been a cagewright...what a bastard." I may be wrong cause I haven't read the whole path in detail. Any advice on giving the party more (non-combat) encounters with the cagewrights? Maybe the Demonscar ball or something?
I think many people would agree that this very issue is one of the weak points of the SCAP. That said, I think the biggest single "bad guy" you need to focus on foreshadowing is the friendly neighborhood head of the Wee Jas temple.
If any single person is really in the whole campaign, albiet behind the scenes, it is her.
Sean Mahoney
I think many people would agree that this very issue is one of the weak points of the SCAP. That said, I think the biggest single "bad guy" you need to focus on foreshadowing is the friendly neighborhood head of the Wee Jas temple.
I have to agree. The SCAP is an awesome campaign, but I find that adding in contact with the various Cagewrights prior to the last three adventures is adding a lot to my game. Otherwise, there is a very real risk that your players will be so lost as to their appearance that they won't know what's going on.
I agree with you all. The Cagewrights are just a mysterious group of no named villians who the paper eventually kill like common dungeon monsters during the final few chapters. There must be a better way to foreshadow the (suposedly) No 1 villians (if you don't count Adimarchus) of the whole AP!
Now I don't have my book infront of me yet but as far as I can remember there are some of the Cagewrights that are visable but the majority of them are not.
I think the best way to foreshadow the group is a similiar way as the AP handled Vhalantru - having the party meet the members without realising there true motivations.
While I'm sure you can't do this with every one of the 13 I think we should put our creative heads together and come up with potential ways we can foreshadow as many of the members before the party finally face them in Chapter 10 & 11.
Any takers?
Embril is a visable member of the Cagewrights and the players will/may mmet her on a number of occasions during the path (possible during the Demonskar Ball, Flood Festival, any investigation into earlier adventures etc)
I've got the religious head of the Cagewrights covered (sorry can't remember his name off hand). I've played him as the Arch-Bishop and spiritual leader of a knights order in which one of my characters is a member of. He is corrupting the organisation and when he is revealed later in the Path the knight will be both shocked and determined to find him and despose of him.
As to the others....well any ideas I'm sure would help everyone.
Delvesdeep
Agreed, it's a weak point of the campaign. In addition to not meeting those NPCs in advance, a second weakness is that thirteen enemies is too many to introduce and have the PCs remember or care about, especially considering all the other NPCs in Cauldron.
My plam is for major revisions to the last part of the campaign. I'll probably drop Shatterhorn altogether. Thirteen Cages will center around the NPCs the players do know about. I'll replace the unknown cagewrights with more mook-ish opponents. Asylum will probably end up lower level.
My "known" NPCs look like:
Vhalantru, not one of the 13 but will be the showdown with him will be a highlight of the campaign. He's very, very well known to my players and there's a lot of animosity there.
Festor has appeared many times. I had him at the Demonskar Ball, he was invisible and seen at the Tax Riot, Dugobras in Demonskar mentioned him to the players (he could mention others), and I've replaced Smoking Eye with a different adventure - essentially the PCs are looking for Festor. He may teleport away in Soul Pillars to be finally faced in 13 Cages. Perhaps one of the 13 will be with him in Soul Pillars as the big fight and not teleported out.
The cleric of Wee Jas has been met several times and my players have grown to not like her. She'll be a major part of 13 Cages.
Having learned the name Cagewrights, the PCs research has learned that they are lead by Dry'yrd. I'll have more research tell them more about him. When Terrem disappeared, they learned that the Last Laugh had captured him and sold him to "demons". That motivation will return when they find the dead Terrem.
I'm thinking that the Soul Pillars sucks knowledge from the people that use in addition to giving information. So the Pillars will know everything Festor does and I can use them to impart some more information then.
So my 13 Cages will be Wee Jas cleric, Dry'yrd, maybe Festor, maybe one other major bad guy from Soul Pillar knowledge. That's more than enough for my players to remember (who is this guy again?) and has plenty of bent up motivation.
what i have done is have thirfvane(not sure on spelling oops)turn up quite ofton and be seen at some of the major events.
i,ve also had the party wizard be an apprentice to fetor ,looking after his tower and so on.
also the recent addition of a magehunter to the party has given me great oppertunities to have him pursuing any number of cagewrights including fetor so the wizard in the party is keeping his masters identity hush hush at the moment
Hello Riptide777,
One thing you can also do if it's not already too late, is to introduce some Cagewrights via PCs personal background. IMC, my Hexblade PC thinks Alurad Sorizan is his father, who left his mother when he was a child. She was a paladin and commited suicide after he decided to join the forces of evil. Truth is more complex than that but he decided to track him. Triel Eldurast used to be one of his accomplices, and so on...
My 2 cents.
Bran.
This is what I have done with one of my PC's. He is an elan psion and has ostensibly come to Cauldron to help another elan set up a "Department of Psionics" at the Blue Crater University. In reality he has been sent to Cauldron by the elan council to track a dangerous psionic renegade known as "The Ebon Mind". Fresh evidence has recently come to light that The Ebon Mind was in the region about 30 years ago and it is the best lead the council has had in years. Who is the Ebon Mind? It's Thearryn Louvel, one of the 13, whom I have changed from a wizard to a psion to give my campaign some more flavour in that direction.
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The Striders of Fharlanghn are a great way to foreshadow the members of the Cagewrights and their motivation... you can also give them some information about the power level of the group... Meerthan can tell them that his superiors have all been killed during the last time they foiled the plans of the Cagewrights. They were mowed down by Dyr'Ryd and his other cronies... this should discourage them to take direct actions against them, until it is already nearly too late after "Foundation of Flames".
Perhaps Meerthan dies during the fiery cataclysm and the PC's find his notes and conclusions about the organization he has followed for nearly all his life.
The Striders of Fharlanghn are a great way to foreshadow the members of the Cagewrights and their motivation... you can also give them some information about the power level of the group... Meerthan can tell them that his superiors have all been killed during the last time they foiled the plans of the Cagewrights. They were mowed down by Dyr'Ryd and his other cronies... this should discourage them to take direct actions against them, until it is already nearly too late after "Foundation of Flames".
Perhaps Meerthan dies during the fiery cataclysm and the PC's find his notes and conclusions about the organization he has followed for nearly all his life.
I've already started to use the Striders for this exact purpose though I have limited the information flow until the Path progresses further for my party.
So far Meerthan has only revealed to the 'Strider' of my group that the organisation followed a powerful evil organisation to Cauldron in an attempt to learn as much as they can about their motivations and attempt to fraught them. An all out assult would be disasterous due to their small numbers.
I also told the member (& therefore party) about the last assult the Striders made upon the organisation and the disaster that ensured after their attack turned into an ambush which almost wiped out the Striders altogether.
As far an the evil organisations name, motivations, members etc I would prefer the party learned these from the half fiend in Test of the Smoking Eye before Meerthan begins to reveal more of his secrets.
But in saying that I think you are right Oliver in that Meerthan and the Striders in general would provide an excellent method of foreshadowing Sha'ator (sp?) and other cagewrights.
Delvesdeep