They killed Lavinnia

[Grimtk1]

Yes, Lavinnia is now dead and my PCs murdered her.

To begin with, my group had already sided with Rowyn. They were sent to go rob the place and plant evidence against Lavinnia, blaming her for the assassination of the Harbormaster.

So, after a tough fight that saw both the party's fighters brought down by Drevoraz, the group's rogue demands to Lavinnia that she provide a cleric to resurrect her fallen comrade. When she refused, the rogue killed her. It was all rather shocking for everyone in the group.

Now they are planning on sneaking her body back to Rowyn so she can raise it into a zombie and to avoid anyone being able to discover their crime.

Looks like I don't have any other choice but to have Rowyn take the lead.

[Sir Dave]

Sounds like you've got a lot of adaptation to do.

[ikki]

err.. zombie wont quite cover it..
Simulcra would to a lot better, lol

Ps i bet they will kill rowyn too in due time.
..so how exactly to get them either to scuttlecove or abyss?
I suppose you can use their obvious pride, ie a message from vanthus "you yellow-face-pussies wont dare to come fight me at scuttlecove, you guys suckk!!"

And then a message at his room there, "hahah, you are so pwned! Now im off to demogorgon, and he'll own your sorry asses. You really suck deep"

And in pure rage theyll do as they are supposed to, rather than motivated from the need to help their fair lady ;)

[Rezdave]

ikki wrote:

..so how exactly to get them either to scuttlecove or abyss?

I suppose you can use their obvious pride, ie a message from vanthus "you yellow-face-pussies wont dare to come fight me at scuttlecove, you guys suckk!!"

Gack ...

Keep it simple. Now that Lady L. is dispatched and her manor looted, Rowyn desires to complete the downfall of the family by raiding Farshore. She enlists the PCs to deliver a message to her pirate allies at Scuttlecove who she believes have three ships ready and waiting for just such a foray. Of course, when the PCs arrive ...

Ironically, you may end up dropping the entire Bullywug bit and make the adventure name a bit of a misnomer, but it happens. Otherwise the confusion still happens but Rowyn is still hiding out in the manor and needs to be rescued rather than Lady L.

Then, when it becomes time to sail for Farshore the adventure proceeds as suggested in the "Switching Sides" sidebar.

Since they are going to shipwreck and make their way overland to the colony, they may have a lot of time to reflect. IIRC Rowyn has no further role to play, so if she survives the shipwreck she could simply ride them incessantly ("you stupid fools sailed my fleet into the reefs and now look where we are") until they throw her off a cliff.

Perhaps by the time they get to Farshore they will have learned how evil she was (like any villain she can monologue during the trek) and have repented themselves.

At that point, you introduce a cousin of Lady L. at the colony who simply takes over the former character's role and proceed with the AP as written.

HTH,

Rez

[James Keegan]

Well, you can definitely adapt the adventures to Rowyn over Lavinia. Also keep in mind that while Vanthus may not have been the greatest or most loving brother, he was still Lavinia's only kin. He's going to want revenge when he finds out what the group has done.

[James Jacobs]

It sounds like you've got a pretty evil party on your hands, so I'd recomend abandoning any attempt to get the campaign back "on track" with somehting like "Lavinia's sister" or the like. You should certainly set Rowyn up as the new mentor figure, which is what the various "Switching Sides" sidebars recomend. For the Bullywug Gambit, Rowyn suspects Vanthus is going to betray her or something and sends her new minions (the PCs) out to Kraken Cove to check up on him and what they find is the scene with the savage tide. Since Lavinia's dead, you should instead have the bullywugs return to the Lotus Dragon guildhall, with Harliss having somehow found out that Vanthus was a Lotus Dragon. She then sends Drevoraz and his bullywugs to the Lotus Dragon guildhall to lay siege to it. The Jade Ravens can become evil mercenaries who work for Rowyn.

Beyond that, there's nothing really keeping Rowyn and the LDs from taking over Sasserine's harbor, at which point the campaign can follow the Switching Sides sidebars more normally.

[Evil Genius]

Boost up Rowyn's statistics and give her skilled bodyguards, because she too is in danger of evil PCs getting too cocky.

[Grimtk1]

Evil Genius wrote:

Boost up Rowyn's statistics and give her skilled bodyguards, because she too is in danger of evil PCs getting too cocky.

Yeah, I'll beef her up a little. But honestly, the party really likes Rowyn. They are completely mercenary and I am playing Rowyn smart enough to know this. Besides, the PCs are making her life very easy at the moment. First, they are making her money and they are single handedly accomplishing tasks she was having difficulty dealing with. Pretty much, as long as they do what she asks, she will reward them accordingly. The only thing "noble" about my PCs is that they have a strong code of honor and won't betray those they feel are "part of their group".

[Grimtk1]

James Jacobs wrote:

Beyond that, there's nothing really keeping Rowyn and the LDs from taking over Sasserine's harbor, at which point the campaign can follow the Switching Sides sidebars more normally.

Thanks James and everyone else at Dungeon for even providing an alternative to the notion of a "good" party. Those sidebars were the only thing keeping me sane for awhile when my party just refused to work with Lavinnia.

Knowing that I could switch off the adventure to someone who fit their moral compass a little better made staging the change so much easier.

But pretty much I plan on making Rowyn the main motivator and when it comes time for the PCs to chase off to Scuttlecove, it will Rowyn they will be racing off to rescue instead of Lavinnia.

[Rezdave]

James Jacobs wrote:

It sounds like you've got a pretty evil party on your hands, so I'd recomend abandoning any attempt to get the campaign back "on track" with somehting like "Lavinia's sister" or the like.

I'm uncertain if James's "sister" reference reflects back to my "cousin" suggested earlier. I agree with him that you shouldn't try to force the game "back 'on track' " and even said so in your previous thread before they killed her.

The game goes where it will, and I applaud the editorial staff for anticipating and addressing romances, switching sides and so forth adventure-by-adventure in the sidebars.

I suggest only introducing a "somewhat-distant" relative if the party's moral compass turns of its own accord and/or they have a falling out with Rowyn. Whatever you do, don't force it. If they are not already heading that direction on their own, then any (even long-lost) relative is simply too contrived and silly.

If, on the other hand, they have a sudden (or even gradual) awakening of morality on their own, you can introduce such an NPC to help re-center their motivation in a more "module-as-written" fashion.

Rez

[Grimtk1]

Rezdave wrote:

If, on the other hand, they have a sudden (or even gradual) awakening of morality on their own, you can introduce such an NPC to help re-center their motivation in a more "module-as-written" fashion. Rez

At this point, if they awake to morality on their own, Rowyn will change with them. I am already playing Rowyn with a twinge of good in her. I used her Bardicness to foreshadow the Savage Tide when the PCs told her what happened at Krakens Cove by having her remember some obscure tidbit of a story about a black pearl destroying a kingdom. The way I played the scene, the idea troubled her, it only because she couldn't control it. However, I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to have her experience a change of heart when the fate of the entire world is at hand.