My players have finished Kraken's Cove and have figured out that they want to hire someone (or buy a scroll) to scry on Vanthus. I let them collect a few personal items like hair from his bedroom... How to handle this?
1.) He has a WILL save at huge minuses with the hair at hand. What's his WILL save?
2.) I don't mind showing to the PCs where he is at... But where is he at at the stage after Krakens Cove?
Thanks for the advice!
My players have finished Kraken's Cove and have figured out that they want to hire someone (or buy a scroll) to scry on Vanthus. I let them collect a few personal items like hair from his bedroom... How to handle this?1.) He has a WILL save at huge minuses with the hair at hand. What's his WILL save?
2.) I don't mind showing to the PCs where he is at... But where is he at at the stage after Krakens Cove?
Thanks for the advice!
You could give them a glimpse of him on a ship, helping to steer it? He is supposed to be training and learning with the Crimson Fleet right now to eventually make his big come back. I'd let them spy on him for a little while, then eventually make him come up blank once they reach Here There Be Monsters.
~ Bryon ~
Creative Director
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What Vanthus got up to after he fled Kraken's Cove is detailed further in "Tides of Dread," but the quick and dirty version is this (WARNING: SPOILERS!):
After the Kraken's Cove incident, he fled overland to his ship several miles to the east. There, he had a crew of thugs waiting, in theory, to bring him and his big piles of loot back to Sasserine. Things went sour, so instead he forced his thugs to sail in the other direction, out to see to the northeast and east, to escape. This worked for a few days, but it didn't take long for his surly crew to get sick of his plan. About five days after "Bullywug Gambit" begins, his crew mutinies. Rather than kill Vanthus, they put him in a rowboat with no food and water and set him adrift in the middle of the ocean, and then sail away.
Vanthus spends a few more days adrift in the boat, growing more and more desperate and delirious. A few rainfalls give him water, but he's slowly starving by the time a Crimson Fleet ship called the Brine Harlot picks him up. The captian of that ship interrogates him, and Vanthus' swift tongue and violent nature impresses the captain and the crew, and they take him on as a crew member. In much the same way he wormed his way into the Lotus Dragons (using his quick qits, convenient lies, and a willingness to do whatever it takes), he becomes a valuable member of the Brine Harlot's crew. He serves on this ship for a few months, and eventually reaches Scuttlecove (at about the point the PCs are leaving Renkrue in "Sea Wyvern's Wake") where he betrays the crew of the Brine Harlot to the leaders of the Crimson Fleet; the crew had been secretly making ties with the Scarlet Brotherhood to get some extra kickbacks, and the Crimson Fleet did not approve. They executed the crew and made Vanthus captian of the Brine Harlot as a reward. Part of that reward, of course, was induction into the elite of the Crimson Fleet leadership, a process that transformed Vanthus into a slightly variant half-fiend known as a Lemorian (more on that in issue #144).
In any event, Vanthus's base Will save after Kraken's Cove but before he gets to Scuttlecove is actually pretty pathetic. Something like +1 or +2 if he's lucky.
let me virtually bow before your feet, say over and over again that we are not worthy for all your kindness :) and express my humble thanks for providing this information in such great detail!
Man, that's some impressive stuff. I love that Vanthus has a whole storyline going concurrently with the PC's, instead of just waiting for his time to show up on stage again. The more I read about Vanthus, the more I like him as a villain. I think Vanthus and Lavinia are both really cool.
Man, that's some impressive stuff. I love that Vanthus has a whole storyline going concurrently with the PC's, instead of just waiting for his time to show up on stage again. The more I read about Vanthus, the more I like him as a villain. I think Vanthus and Lavinia are both really cool.
I agree cthulhu, you know what would be really cool If Lavinia was just as evil as her brother and the PCs were helping her out for some hidden agenda that hasn't been mentioned yet? Then Lavinia can also be transformed Into a sexy little Lemorian! lol
I agree cthulhu, you know what would be really cool If Lavinia was just as evil as her brother and the PCs were helping her out for some hidden agenda that hasn't been mentioned yet? Then Lavinia can also be transformed Into a sexy little Lemorian! lol
It would have been easier for me if she was evil, because my party of morally questionable antiheroes offed her (they had already joined Rowyn). Right now, I'm trying to see if I can bring her back in some way to torment my players. (Maybe a ghost?)