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So, my players finished the 6th adventure (A Gathering of Winds) in a rather sad manner. Here's the way things happened:
1) Flycatcher kidnapped the Wiz/Druid's animal companion (a dog) and got them to go after Moreto.
2) Eventually, they made it to Moreto, who offered to give them the seal in exchange for killing Flycatcher, but they ticked him off to the point he fought them (and died).
3) They return the seal in exchange for the dog, but immediately attack Flycatcher. One PC stormed off, offended by their backstabbing of Flycatcher. Flycatcher, having been hit with a Ray of Enfeeblement, retreated to get some help.
4) The wiz/druid grabbed the Seal of Law (summoning an Elder Air Elemental - they had already dealt with the other summonings and knew something was coming). The Air Elemental was causing some serious problems when Elder Black Pudding that Flycatcher 'recruited' came after them.
5) Panic, fleeing, and other sad displays of not-heroism ensued. Not much in the way of hilarity, though.
Eventually, they fled, but are terrified of returning - and they haven't found the True Tomb. Because of the fights they skipped, and not finishing the Tomb, they are behind in XP and magic. I'm leery of sending them onto the Spire of Long Shadows as they are.
So, my question is, what should I do? Have Manzorian be 'otherwise occupied' until they take some of the side quests? Wait until the one PC who believes there is important stuff in the stairs to the True Tomb convinces the rest to return?
I gotta admit, my players ran into similar difficulties, and repeatedly asked themselves "why are we here," after rescuing Allustan. In truth, I didn't have much of a good reason. In retrospect, I think A Gathering of Winds is meant to be a reprive from Kyuss-this and Ebon Triad-that, rather than an integral part of the story arc. That's not a bad thing, but if your players prefer to get along in the story, this adventure becomes tedious.
I genuinely wouldn't recommend sending your PCs off to the Spire of Long Shadows, until they are 13th level. (For strong spellcasters, this is a major level because of 7th-level spells, IMO.) If your PCs are below this level, I would recommend a sidequest to get them some extra experience, if they don't want to return to Icosiol's Tomb immediately. Fortunately, this is one of the best times in the campaign to do this.
In my campaign, there were all kinds of problems that arose from Ilthane's visit. Everything came down like a house of cards. I had the police go rogue, and start abusing their power and looting civilians. This caused a bloody crossbow shootout at the sheriff's office, killing most of the corrupt police and Mayor Neff. A vacuum in leadership forced the Garrison to impose martial law. Meanwhile, a branch of the Cult of the Green Lady were in charge of burying the dead, but were secretly burying charms that would cause them to animate into bleakborn (Libris Mortis) and a boneyard. Finally, the pool in the Dark Cathedral (from Three Faces of Evil) remained active, and a guecubu (Hordes of the Abyss) escaped and possessed Luzane Parrin, who in turn killed Chaum Gansworth, and was torturing Balabar Smenk. In short, there's no shortage to expand upon in Diamond Lake, after Ilthane's calamitous visit.
Better still, if Magepoint is their natural next destination, Magepoint should have no shortage of adventure. It's described as being a regular hub of adventure. Make up something fun to get them the EXP they need.
As for Icosiol's tomb, it may come up when they are in need of help later (such as through the Rod of Seven Parts). But, I assure you, completing it appears to be in no way necessary to thwarting Kyuss' ascendance. Plus, you can always leave it open for them to explore in between adventures if they need that kind of a dungeon crawl.
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Hierophantasm, thanks.
One thing I forgot to mention: One of the PCs works for an espionage service and has informed his superiors of the location that the Seal of Law is hidden in. Perhaps I can make an adventure out of that agency (or a faction of the agency) absconding with this mysterious, powerful magic item....
Hierophantasm, thanks.
One thing I forgot to mention: One of the PCs works for an espionage service and has informed his superiors of the location that the Seal of Law is hidden in. Perhaps I can make an adventure out of that agency (or a faction of the agency) absconding with this mysterious, powerful magic item....
Just to satisfy my curiosity, was that organization the Seekers, by chance? I remember Khellek being involved with them--prior to being disintegrated in my campaign's Champion's Games--and I regretted not doing more with them.
It sounds like a good adventure idea. I'd be interested in hearing how it turns out.
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My party is just about to free Allustan, and the party fighter has been captured by flycatcher. I plan on having Allustan express to the party how important some of the artifacts will be if/when they finally face the hordes of Kyuss. Our wizard is also Allustan's apprentice, so I think this adventure provides a great spot to show just how much the student has progressed. I plan on having Allustan tell his apprentice to seek out Manzorian for more training since the student is now stronger than the master.
One other question: If the party kills flycatcher with the fighter trapped in the plane of shadow, is there any possible way to rescue the fighter? I think the party will agree with the deal to go after moreto, but you never know what those meddling pc's will actually do in the end.
You have two options:
1. Play up Ilthane's power. The players cannot defeat her until they gain more powerful magic and learn more. However, It's possible that Ilthane is already defeated.
2. In that case, run the Devilish encounters described in the Spire of long shadows. Roll up a few different unique devils, like an imp fighter level 14, or a half fiend Blackguard accompanied by several lemures. Once the players gain enough XP, run a few more encounters, and perhaps even bring in the second piece of the rod. If the players lose the rod, you could of course run an adventure to retrieve it. This would give the players a chance to gain another piece of the rod.
Allustan's pushing them IMC, telling them of the great power awaiting them if they can find the true tomb (as written). They trust him, and greed does the rest.
One thing I've stopped doing is granting XP. It eliminates the "wow, that was a big fight - how much XP did we get?" fun factor, but enables us to bypass any encounters they (or I) don't want to do.
They skipped going after Zyrxog (sp) completely (only to hear multiple rumors about the town watch striking gold after cleaning him out, plus he returned looking for revenge later, heh heh).
If they decide not to finish AGoW, they miss out on some very potent magic, but I have them level up to 13 anyway, so they'll be ready for the next scenario.
Well mine went a little different. They made a deal with Flycatcher to kill the True Ghoul. After some talking to the Noble Salmander they went straight down the River of Blood. Defeaing the True Ghoul was not too much of a problem for them. They then went straight back to Flycatcher to complete the deal. They found Allustan and accidentally got him killed in the process of rescuing him. They went straight back to Greyhawk for the needed items for a raise dead spell. Once Allustan was alive and briefed he requested the PCs to return him home to gather a few thing before the went to meet his master. He asked them to return to the tome to find any items that could help them in their future battles, to which they agreed.
I have to say the best part was watching the party wizard's jaw drop when Allustan told them they were going to see Tenser.
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So, yesterday, the party decided to return to the Tomb first, before engaging in any of the side quests I had made available. They had spent at least a week getting items and selling things, so some events had happened.
House Phiarlan, the espionage agency from before, sent a group of 8 elven adventurers in to clean out the tomb. They retrieved the seal and explored (defeating the Salamander and the Black Pudding Ooze). Before they got to the stairs, they ran into unanticipated trouble: An incursion by a Hellweaver (Dragon 343) and its Kyton slaves.
The Hellweaver was / is a bounty hunter, after one of my PCs for a theft-she stole a valuable soul from one of the lords of the dead.
While fleeing the Hellweaver, the elves ran into the Pit Fiend's devils, who had determined where they needed to go to get the large end of the Rod of Seven Parts. The three way melee cost the elves four of their members (including all spell-casters) and halted the devils.
When the PCs arrived, they found signs of battle damage everywhere and the remains of a Iron Web'd elf. The Pit Fiend's devils (Two Barbed Devils and Four Legion Devils (Fiendish Codex 2)) had control of the first floor. The Hellweaver controlled the second floor and the top of the waterfall, and the elves waited at the bottom, with the Seal of Law.
The only reason the elves were alive at all was the Hellweaver wouldn't let the Pit Fiend's devils past and it was playing with the elves to kill time.
The PCs found and defeated the Legion Devils - the Barbed Devils decided to fight another day.
After defeating a couple Kytons, the party fought the Hellweaver at the entrance to the waterfall - twice, thanks to its regeneration.
They eventually got the seal and got into the true tomb, which kicked their butts. They finally retrieved the items, but not after a mysterious incident where two PCs who should be dead aren't (related to the soul theft above).
Sounds like a fun expansion on the Visciannix/6th part of the rod plot hook mentioned in SoLS on p.61. (That's the pit fiend you were talking about, right?) I didn't get to play this part up too much, but I can always appreciate using stuff from the splash books. I'm a big fan of Hordes of the Abyss, myself.
A hellweaver, eh? I've been wanting to use one of those, too. If that's from the Creature Catalog V, like I think it is, I was a big fan of that particular article. I got to use the rune golems and white hart in a sidequest set in a hedge maze, just following SoLS. Wonderful creatures in that article!
I'm sure those barbed devils could be the same ones (Imaxian and Lyrisilak) who show up on the road to Magepoint, for the 7th piece of the rod, revenge, etc. It sounds like you can make devils an even more significant part of the campaign this way. If you're looking for a good one to use, check Tome of Magic's Logokron devil. Requires learning how to use the Truename Magic mechanic, but they are wonderfully mean.
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Sounds like a fun expansion on the Visciannix/6th part of the rod plot hook mentioned in SoLS on p.61. (That's the pit fiend you were talking about, right?) I didn't get to play this part up too much, but I can always appreciate using stuff from the splash books. I'm a big fan of Hordes of the Abyss, myself.
A hellweaver, eh? I've been wanting to use one of those, too. If that's from the Creature Catalog V, like I think it is, I was a big fan of that particular article. I got to use the rune golems and white hart in a sidequest set in a hedge maze, just following SoLS. Wonderful creatures in that article!
I'm sure those barbed devils could be the same ones (Imaxian and Lyrisilak) who show up on the road to Magepoint, for the 7th piece of the rod, revenge, etc. It sounds like you can make devils an even more significant part of the campaign this way. If you're looking for a good one to use, check Tome of Magic's Logokron devil. Requires learning how to use the Truename Magic mechanic, but they are wonderfully mean.
Yes, I was talking about Visciannix. If the PCs keep the rod, I intend to have them harassed enough that they finally decide to go after Visciannix themselves (around 18th level, hopefully). I'm going to use Hellspike Prison for that, if they go there.
The barbed devils were intended to be the ones that show up on the road to Magepoint, and after that session my PCs are well on the way to 13th level. One or two difficult encounters around the Spire should put them into 13th level before going into the actual Spire.
I have a feeling, though, that my PCs will trade the Rod to Manzorian. It's a nice artifact and all, but it is only Heal 1/day. Given that it gets each of 5 PCs a decently expensive item, I'm pretty sure it's off the team.
I don't have Tome of Magic (right now) but, given one of the sub plots so far (the soul theft stole it when she died earlier, it's an ongoing plot, and the bounty hunters know more about her past than she does) that Truename stuff might be very interesting.