There are an incredible amount of loose ends, adventure hooks, hints and general opportunities for side treks/adventures that could be created for and from the SCAP.
What Side Treks/Adventures have you thought of creating from/for the SCAP?
Any ideas are more than welcome!
Delvesdeep
Definitely some more involvement from the Last Laugh. My players are convinced that the Last Laugh is one of the key players in the overall arch; the very first encounter is with Last Laugh thugs, and I changed the second adventure's set-up so that Orak Stonehaven was a Last Laugh fencer/smuggler and willing accomplice to the importing of Soulcage materials. One of the players took the Urban Ranger variant from Unearthed Arcana and took the Last Laugh thieves guild as his favored enemy.
Needless to say, I'm going to bring Jil in very soon (they haven't met her yet), and the Last Laugh is going to get a bit busier (especially now that the Alleybashers have been bashed pretty good by the PCs).
Ooh! Brainstorm!
The PCs should meet Jil out of her makeup at some point, whether they've met her in jesterface or not. Make her a businesswoman in town, perhaps the party will need to do business of some sort. I was thinking that she could be selling alchemical items, but then I saw Weer's Elixirs in the map key. Of course, she could very well be Weer's niece, working in the shop to help her crotchety uncle, who likes her even though she has no magical talent whatsoever...
Jil is one of the few Last Laugh members with any detail whatsoever in the entire hardcover, so she deserves some more development, especially if, as with my players, the party didn't make a DC 30 Spot check to see her sitting on the wall.
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There are an incredible amount of loose ends, adventure hooks, hints and general opportunities for side treks/adventures that could be created for and from the SCAP.
What Side Treks/Adventures have you thought of creating from/for the SCAP?
Any ideas are more than welcome!
Delvesdeep
Thats funny, Delvesdeep, I was JUST about to post a similar message. I've noticed that specifically between Lifes Bazaar and Drathkar's way the SCAP implies there should be a) some downtime for the PCs and b) a gradual concern for the goblins.
I mean, i dont see the goblin attacks as 1 day the PCs are living in utopia, and the next day, swarms of goblins make hell throughout the streets: I see it as more of a slow trickle effect, testing the waters, etc, allowing the goblins to become more and more bold with each success until eventually it becomes a problem for the guard and they come to the PCs for help.
So - I'm curious if other DMs out there a)have side trek fun planned throughout the campaign and what? and b) if DMs wrote any specific run-ins with the goblins, or encounters with NPCs that tipped the players off as to the issues with goblins before Skellerang came looking for help.
Robert
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Jil is one of the few Last Laugh members with any detail whatsoever in the entire hardcover, so she deserves some more development, especially if, as with my players, the party didn't make a DC 30 Spot check to see her sitting on the wall.
I was considering having Jil work at brothel; not as a call girl, but perhaps as a server or something; theres a great deal you can learn at such a place especially about the clientel and there's no telling how useful that information would be later on....
Robert
I was thinking of eliminating crazy Jared's encounter, and setting it up so that there's a sage in the Ghost village to make things interesting. Mind you, in my campaign, the ghost village has been replaced by the ruins of Procalith (FRCS, far eastern part of the Tashalar region). This adds a bit of travel to the campaign, which makes it a bit more appealing to my group as a whole.
So, I'm figuring that the way the PC's will be getting into the Underdark will be through a tunnel in far away Thindol, still using the gate of the seven Jaws as the primary focus of that section.
I'm just figuring the Ghost village being a creepy place filled with both Undead and Bandits to speak to a yuan-ti sage to foreshadow some future Y/T dealings in the AP. Oh, and finding a Netherese artifact might be fun, too.
/d
The Demonskar Ball was one concept that I developed from basic ideas from threads on this board.
Another I am just about to begin is from Chef's Slaad's thread about the Invasion of Redgorge. My party is just about to begin Chapter 5 so I plan I running them through this when they return from Occiptus.
After Chapter 9, another idea I had was to have the party be contacted by Ophella Knowlern concerning the missing Lord Mayor. The idea was that Nalavant secretly approached her in Hallowsky to reveal his suspicions of Vhalantru and of his deep concerns about his growing influence on the concil and in the city as a whole. He found it increasingly difficult to make any ruling or appose any decision Vhalantru made.
Nalavant had hired a investigator (of sorts) to find out more about the illusives nobles past in an attempt to reveal Vhalantru for the evil fraud he was convinced he was. As a result the rogue travelled to Sasserine to find out more.
From sasserine the rogue had discovered that Vhalantru had indeed been a noble in Sasserine but that he had disappeared from his family manor years past. Also Vhanatru's personality had 'changed' dramatically in the weeks before he disappeared.
The last message the Lord Mayor recieved from the investigator stated that he had found out that just before he disappeared that one of his family members had followed him to an old Inn numerous times and that the rogue was going to travel to the Inn to see what he was doing there. The Lord Mayor never heard from him again.
Nalavant had dislosed to Ophella that he was going to retrace the rogues steps and find out about Vhanatru's secret past himself so he could oust the vagabond noble from Cauldron once and for all!
The Lord Mayor had now disappeared also.
When and if the party follow the Lord Mayor and rogues footsteps they find the Inn and in its depths, Orbius' cache of Beholderkin and its old Elder Orb leader.
This would reveal Vhalantru for the beholder he really is just before face him!
Anyway just an idea
Delvesdeep
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Delvesdeep, I've been meaning to ask you if you've yet had a chance to develop the "search for the Earth Wierd" side trek that you and some others were discussing on these boards a year or so back?
What I was hoping to get from this thread were other ideas DMs had or have used in using different Dungeon Magazine adventures to put in place in certain areas of the SCAP that tie in well or can be used to supplement a certain area outside of Cauldron or some event/adventure that is perfect for something that could affect an establishment inside the city walls of Cauldron.
Because I havent actually read through the entire SCAP hardcover, its hard for me to know intimately what lies ahead.
I have read Life's Bazaar and Drathkar's Way and am currently reading Flood Season to the point that I am very familiar with the first two chapters and could run it from memory at this point for the first two chptrs.
So until I am equally adept in all the chapters, I dont feel the pragmatism in researching other Dungeon Mag articles to see where/how they may fit in somewhere.
Robert
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I’m not using the HC, so I don’t have Drakthar’s Way. To get the party up to level 4 before Flood Season, and introduce a new PC I used a heavily modified version of Wedding Bells (from Dungeon mag). Not much a link to the AP, but I made the resident village cleric in that adventure an ally of the Striders of Fharlanghn, and planted clues that the harpy cleric of Erythnul with the gnoll allies had supplanted Tarkilar as the religious leader of the gnoll clan after his ideas had become increasingly heretical (his conversion to the Way of the Ebon Triad).
I’ve run a few side quests for the Rogue character (who’s trying to infiltrate the Last Laugh) where Jil has sent him to break into Maavu’s mansion and steal some documents and books from him. Later, just prior to Zenith trajectory they hire him to break into a certain warehouse and plant some spellbooks and mystical paraphernalia to be found by those investigating the umber hulk attack.
Between Zenith and Demonskar I’m planning to run a modified version of The Shalm’s Dark Song. Jenya begins to worry about all the recent events in Cauldron, and since she keeps getting increasingly cryptic answers from the Star of Justice, decides to contact an old cleric of Obad-hai, an old friend of Sarcem’s and a renowned seer who dwells at a shrine deep in the jungle, to see if he has some insight. Of course the Cagewrights have anticipated such an action, and when the PCs arrive and defeat the new tiefling cleric, they find evidence that the original cleric was killed by the Necrocants..
After Chapter 9[/b], another idea I had was to have the party be contacted by Ophella Knowlern concerning the missing Lord Mayor. The idea was that Nalavant secretly approached her in Hallowsky to reveal his suspicions of Vhalantru and of his deep concerns about his growing influence on the concil and in the city as a whole. He found it increasingly difficult to make any ruling or appose any decision Vhalantru made.
Dear Dhelvesdeep,
I really like your idea of an investigation concerning the whereabouts of the missing lordmayor (to be honest, I like almost every post of yours), and I´ve always been a fan of dungeons three part adventure saga taking place in the city of shadows.
Substituting post-eruption Cauldron for the City of shadows, an imprisoned lordmayor, touched by the madness of Adimarchus for the voice of the demonic malgoth entity, getting the chance of introducing the giants of yarl kuroks keep into play, and enjoying another trip into the dangerous deeps of the underdark - all fits perfectly and gives the players a whole lot of opportunities to gain additional, much needed, expierience in the time between Cauldrons destruction and the climatic sequences with the fallen angel.
Let those olde brains storm, Claremont the Elder, Lord Buckley
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The Lord Mayor had now disappeared also.
When and if the party follow the Lord Mayor and rogues footsteps they find the Inn and in its depths, Orbius' cache of Beholderkin and its old Elder Orb leader.
This would reveal Vhalantru for the beholder he really is just before face him!...
Hey DD, I really like the thought of this. I think it would be pragmatic to give the PCs the opportunity to try and learn the identity of Valantru before having to truly face him - to add to the anxiety of the climatic adventure.
I wonder if there's a Dungeon Mag article/adventure that would work as a good fill-in for the underdark trek to meet the beholder-kin.
By the way, guys when posting your proposed side-treks and things you're doing, try to please include a Dungeon Issue number to reference. I doubt most of us memorize all the titles and know where to find them.
Thanks All
Robert
In following with Delvesdeep's observation that there are just too many baddies in the SCAP - (I love and am using your alternate 13) - I decided to change another "ho hum" encounter into something that helps shape the campaign.
The Lich that is encountered in the Test of the Smoking Eye is both random and boring. I adjusted him to be a major villian in my campaign that both hounds the PCs as well as works against the Cagewrights.
I don't have the other two adventure paths so I am using the Spire of Long Shadows and the Haunted Villiage as areas where the PCs will travel to deal with this new threat.
Also having the Lich be a "man behind the curtain" for the Necronauts adds another level of depth to the evil adventuring group - (ESPEACIALLY considering how Khyron Bonesworn would then have TWO allegiences if using Delvesdeep's alt 13!)
Delvesdeep, I've been meaning to ask you if you've yet had a chance to develop the "search for the Earth Wierd" side trek that you and some others were discussing on these boards a year or so back?
Was it a year a go?! Boy time flies when you having children ;)
I plan on writing that side trek/adventure as the party approach Foundations of Fire. I think that if the party head off to find the Chisel's Earth Weird any earlier then her foresight could damage the excitment of the erruption. I may even slot it in after the Lord mayor election is distrupted but before the disaster. What do you think?
Either way it is a way off yet but any ideas towards it will help when I start to put it together.
Great to hear from you Mothman
Delvesdeep
Hey DD, I really like the thought of this. I think it would be pragmatic to give the PCs the opportunity to try and learn the identity of Valantru before having to truly face him - to add to the anxiety of the climatic adventure.I wonder if there's a Dungeon Mag article/adventure that would work as a good fill-in for the underdark trek to meet the beholder-kin.
By the way, guys when posting your proposed side-treks and things you're doing, try to please include a Dungeon Issue number to reference. I doubt most of us memorize all the titles and know where to find them.
Thanks All
Robert
Most of the time I just create the adventures/side treks myself but if a good one is written that would slot right in then included the reference would be a good thing.
In terms of the Beholderkin, I actual pulled out the old 2nd ed Forgotten Realms Undermountain Boxed set and found some beholderkin written up in the back.
Also in a recent Dungeon Mag I found an adventure all about Beholders and though this would fit well but when I actually read the adventure it was set much to high. Have a look though the magazine I speak of has a illustration of a beholder taking up the cover - you can't miss it if you own it!
Thanks Robert
Delvesdeep
Dear Delvesdeep,
I really like your idea of an investigation concerning the whereabouts of the missing lordmayor (to be honest, I like almost every post of yours), and I´ve always been a fan of dungeons three part adventure saga taking place in the city of shadows.
Substituting post-eruption Cauldron for the City of shadows, an imprisoned lordmayor, touched by the madness of Adimarchus for the voice of the demonic malgoth entity, getting the chance of introducing the giants of yarl kuroks keep into play, and enjoying another trip into the dangerous deeps of the underdark - all fits perfectly and gives the players a whole lot of opportunities to gain additional, much needed, expierience in the time between Cauldrons destruction and the climatic sequences with the fallen angel.Let those olde brains storm, Claremont the Elder, Lord Buckley
Lord Buckley,
Firstly thankyou for your praise. Most of my posts are ordinary but I'll take the compliment non-the-less :).
The adventure series you mentioned sounds interesting. What magazines would I find it in. Would it fit well? How much modification would it need? How many levels of play would it cover? Would I need to change much of Cauldron/Sasserine to run it? How did you get such a cool avatar?
Thanks for your ideas
Delvesdeep
In following with Delvesdeep's observation that there are just too many baddies in the SCAP - (I love and am using your alternate 13) - I decided to change another "ho hum" encounter into something that helps shape the campaign.
The Lich that is encountered in the Test of the Smoking Eye is both random and boring. I adjusted him to be a major villian in my campaign that both hounds the PCs as well as works against the Cagewrights.
I don't have the other two adventure paths so I am using the Spire of Long Shadows and the Haunted Villiage as areas where the PCs will travel to deal with this new threat.
Also having the Lich be a "man behind the curtain" for the Necronauts adds another level of depth to the evil adventuring group - (ESPEACIALLY considering how Khyron Bonesworn would then have TWO allegiences if using Delvesdeep's alt 13!)
djbbmike - I'm glad to hear you are using the document. I couldn't figure out a practical way to foreshadow every bad guy in the SCAP so I just reduced them. Now I'm hoping by the time my players finally face them they will not only know of them but hate them also!
I'm curious to hear more about your plans with the Lich. Correct me if I'm wrong but as written he is fairly neutral to the party and their plight during the test of the Smoking Eye and acts purely as a guide. Will you have another lesser guide now?
I understand he will be one of Khryons masters. What is his goals and how does he fit into the plot as written? Will he know of the Cagewrights plan and seek to manipulate them for his own ends or does he seek to twart there efforts? If the later is true then he could become an ally of sorts ('enemy of my enemy is a friend' sort of thing).
It never hurts to twist things
Delvesdeep
What Side Treks/Adventures have you thought of creating from/for the SCAP?Any ideas are more than welcome!
Delvesdeep
Running SCAP for two (very different) groups for a total of 13 players, I'm very interested in all possible side treks. My first target is not to add opportunities of XP reward but more:
1 - to increase the foreshadowing and the role play (as you I guess Delvesdeep)2 - to create differentiation in between my two games
Right now I’m still in the first quarter of the adventure so the side treks I’m thinking about are coming before chapter six (Test of The Smoking Eye – I have the HC).
Also, I twisted the main story arc so that I can sooner insert hints and references to the Cagewrights and Adimarchus. I definitely agree with Delvesdeep in his feeling of a need to connect more the major villains to the adventure than the original story does. To learn more about that please refer to the thread Linking Adimarchus directly to Dry'yrd and the Cagewrights....?! - or also refer to the even better stuff of Delvesdeep on RPGenius ;-)).
All in one, my Cauldron is haunted by the madness and the flavour of the evil influences of the Cagewrights and of Adimarchus. The most difficult right now is to avoid playing that flavour too heavily for the delicate constitution of low level adventurers…
Side Trek One: Rescuing the Cauldron kidnapped dwellers in the Underdark
I don’t know if you noticed all the references to dwarves and gnomes in the SCAP during the first chapters of the HC. However the current political power and even the importance of the community for these races are quite low. The root cause is the Dwarves and Gnomes were the first to be plagued by the Adimarchus mad dreams. A small community of these perverted beings can be found in the Underdark. They are the last survivors of the before strongest dwarves and gnomes clans of Cauldron. They are naming themselves “The Sons of Adim” ;-)) even if they don’t have real knowledge about him. The slaves traded by Kazmojen are bought by the Sons of Adim as guinea pigs for their mad rituals. They are also the miners and the first transformers who extract and pre-process some very rare materials as adamantine and cold iron. Both materials are very needed by the Cagewrights in order to create their Soul Cages. As you understand, we have here a connection in between the CW and Kazmojen and The Underdark and even Adimarchus…
Some details:
* The Adimarchus madness hit the dwarves and gnomes in between 100 and 70 years ago (yes the vanishing is one of the manifestation… when you disappear you reach the realm of Adimarchus !).
* A Soul Cage is completed after a very long process. The material for one of them is only needed every 2 or 3 years. If the players are especially clever they can discover some repeated peaks of criminal activity (abduction) during the last 30 years.
This side trek can be played at any time in between the first and fifth chapter of the HC. It is quite easy for the DM to make it appealing to the party when he wants. The difficulty should be adapted in order to match the party level (could be a solo also). I have not used so far this side trek idea but I’m quite sure I will do it with one of the groups.
I will be very pleased if this forum can bring some help in giving references of existing commercial adventures easy to adapt to the above plot (level 2 to 6 is fine).
I will come back for more side treks ideas I had. All comments, developments, questions are more than welcome.
Be creative
The adventure series you mentioned sounds interesting. What magazines would I find it in. Would it fit well? How much modification would it need? How many levels of play would it cover? Would I need to change much of Cauldron/Sasserine to run it? How did you get such a cool avatar?
Thanks for your ideas
Delvesdeep
The City of Shadows Conversion
Dear audience, the adventures I was referring to in my last post were collected in Dungeon magazine issue 117, 118 and 119 (decembre 04 to february 05) – the Abyss trilogy Touch of the Abyss, Shadows of the Abyss,and Wrath of the Abyss, written by Greg A. Vaughan. The original adventures were intended as a sequel to the Vault of the Drow adventure (revolving around Lolths attempt to trap a part of the material plane within her demon-web), but the storyline can, with a good deal of tweaking, be easily modified to fit into the SCAP.
The greatest problem in converting the trilogy is the fact that it was intended for a mid-level group of characters (maximum of 12th level), and the best time to include this side-trek comes after completing Foundation of flames, before the party starts to hunt down Embril and the rest of the remaining cagewrights (at that time the average level of the party should be definitely higher than 12th level) …
Apart from that difficulty, the given story arc fits quite nicely into the ongoing tale of Adimarchus and the Cagewrights, although some changes are required – forgive me for not being able to present a well rounded conversion kit to those who need one right now, but only a rather crude collection of ideas how to do it, because, considering the time my campaign needs to evolve quite nicely, for me there is still plenty of time for preparation ahead . But let´s start:
The main antagonist of the original trilogy is an abyssal entity called Malgoth, which hasn´t the power of physical manifestation yet, but it is well versed in invading peoples dreams, turning them into nightmares, its able to produce effects similar to the dominate person spell, and its powers are associated with madness – to change that into manifestations of Adimarchus stirring madness is quite easy.
The main objective of the first part of the trilogy, called Touch of the Abyss, is finding the missing marquis, who once ruled the city – sounds rather familiar, too – it turns out, that he is imprisoned in the deepest vaults under his own former palace/keep – envision post-eruption Cauldron, wafts of volcanic gases drifting through deserted streets, the occasional plundering of left behind property, and the journey down the vaults of the cityguard keep, where a now dead beholder had imprisoned his greatest political enemy – but the catch is, our poor marquis no longer has both oars in the water, instead he acts as Malgoths voice – imagine a hunger-stricken, frothing Lordmayor Navalant, acting as Adimarchus prophet (an excellent opportunity to feed the party some clues they missed …) and behaving crazier than Zenith and Alec at their worst times – in this madness also lies power, and there is a confrontation with the marquis, which can easily lead to his demise – definitely not the preferred outcome of a quest intended as a rescue-mission, but it may lead to a bit moral dilemma, if the DM and the player are in the mood for that. (high level spellcasters are perhaps able to overcome this problem, new problems with a resurrected lordmayor may occur in the future, if the game involves the political landscape of post-eruption Cauldron – struggles of the mayor noble families and those, who claim a noble title for themselves could be fun!)
The locations of the first part of the story are all in Cauldron, there is no real need to include Sasserine now – in my opinion that helps to further the feeling of OUR CITY in peril, which I plan to evoke gradually in characters and players alike, but let´s turn our attention to the second part of the trilogy:
In the original adventure the entity Malgoth arrived on the material plane hitching some metaphysical piggy-back ride through Lolths demonweb, but stayed unnoticed, even when the web was destroyed, only to corrupt, as its a habit of all abyssal entities, a cleric to do its bidding. The cleric showed his loyalty by sacrificing a superior to grant a body for the shapeless Malgoth – in the past Cauldron had its share of sacrificing, too, when a young Alurad Sorizan wiped out the noble family Hatil (read more about that in the New Cagewright thread by the same author, to know more about Alurads past check out Ridolfins contribution on the same thread, the Hatil family sprung from Dhelvesdeeps mind, pay attention to one of the first magic items on sale at Skies treasury in the beginning of the SCAP – thank you folks for building a strong foundation others can built their castles of imagination on) so its rather easy to connect these incidents and build up some older conspiracy involving the Cagewrights.
During the first part of the Abyss trilogy the characters stumble across the name of the cleric and are able to piece some things together, which leads them to an abandoned temple, where they get ambushed – a great opportunity to show the necromantic vanguard of the remaining Cagewrights around Embril, Alurad and the Necrocants – in the original adventure the cleric made a deal with hill giant occupying a nearby fort, which went wrong – Jarl Khuroks Keep suddenly comes to the DMs mind, doesn´t it – but the cleric is no longer imprisoned, but in the hands of the Drow – which surely can be substituted for an other mayor player in the underdark, or perhaps Cauldrons eruption shook more people up, than anybody had anticipated ... - who seek an alliance to overtake their surface-dwelling competitors for once and all ...
The background of the Hatil executions has still to be fleshed out to make perfect sense, right now it is not exactly sure, what the Cagewrights intended to achieve, perhaps it was a crude attempt to release and channel Shackleborn energies which didn´t yield the desired effect – constructing the soulcages to make the process more controllable could have been the direct consequence of this badly executed field-test (sorry for the pun).
The growing tension of being the only one to protect what is left of Cauldron from scavengers should – hopefully - dramatically improve the sense of responsibility in the characters hearts.
In the last part of the trilogy, Wrath of the Abyss, the characters follow the lead and descend into the underdark – once again for those whose career started with Lifes Bazaar – to learn more about their antagonist to finally confront and face the Malgoth, using the sacrificed body as a focus, in a climatic battle ...
- That could be a taste of what is waiting for the characters in the aftermath of Strike on Shatterhorn, and give them some ideas about what is really going on – their first clash with Adimarchus madness, which still threatens Cauldron and the waking world ...
Hopefully my rants were entertaining enough to keep you reading, and good ideas to further improve the concept are as always welcome, so let the ideas fly, my fellow DMs –
humble at your service, Claremont the Elder, Lord Buckley
p.s.: the avatar was the 23rd to choose from – surely there is a kind of conspiracy behind all that ...
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I'm curious to hear more about your plans with the Lich. Correct me if I'm wrong but as written he is fairly neutral to the party and their plight during the test of the Smoking Eye and acts purely as a guide. Will you have another lesser guide now?
Delvesdeep, I think the lich referred to might be the pure combat encounter within the skull. The guide is Kaurophon (sp?) who IMC I'm making one of the 13.
Great to hear that you've still got the Earth Weird trek in mind, I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Side Trek Two: The trial of Keygan Ghelve
I stole the original idea to Mobuttu (see the original thread here). The aim is to have a possible break after the heavy dungeon crawls of Life’s Bazaar. Also it gives as well the opportunity to introduce a lot of the prominent NPC’s of the SCAP.
For sure this side trek will only fit just after Life’s Bazaar and if Keygan is still alive ;-)
After the abductions of Cauldron citizens, the town is claiming for revenge. The locksmith’s trial is then very advertised by the leaders of the town during the three or four days before it opens. For the DM it will be an interesting time in order to make Cauldron more solid. You can manage some taverns discussions around the topic of the trial. The gnome’s strong minority will certainly be concerned that one of them may be presented as a black sheep. It is possible that some racial tensions can appear, anticipating what will happen with the Half-Orcs later on. It should be interesting to prepare a first confrontation scene where the party may have to avoid (or not to avoid to) choosing one side. During that prelude of the trial you can also manage to throw some general knowledge information about the main families of Nobles and their leaders.
In the first step of the trial, the judges (Mayor / Skellerang / Sarcem) will first proceed to the witnesses’ audition. The adventurers will have then to develop their story and perhaps they will express some of their own feelings and thoughts.
The second step is a very change: the players will play the role of the Nobles who are in the Court. At that step each player had general information about their peers (I managed also to have it in a written short document. I displayed it just before they start to deliberate). But more important, they had a more private written description which gives some information about the Noble they play (the information is written so that no spoil is done for the SCAP – but it will emphasize some traits you want to give to the Nobles during the trial).
For example in my game, Vhalantru has been presented here as a balanced person, searching for mitigation and taking extremely care of the political side of everything. I took also the opportunity to introduce Alec Tercival, Lady Rhiviadi, Lord Taskerhill, Lord Lathenmire, Lady Knowlern, the priest of Kord and Ike etc… For sure I also introduced the judges: The Mayor, Skellerang and Sarcem. As a DM I had to manage four / five NPC’s on my own to keep some control on the events. Basically I kept the priests, the Mayor and Skellerang in my range. The others were spread in between the players.
The two sessions (one for each of my group) were very good. The purpose was to introduce and to foreshadow. It has been done very well and smoothly. It also introduced very efficiently the Demonskar’s Bal protagonists - thank you DelvesDeep ;-)
One of the two games was so captivating that the debate became very loud… and I had complaints of the neighbourhood the day after. :-((
All comments / remarks are more than welcome
Be Creative
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I'm gonna run Demonskar Ball, a side adventure to a Ziggurat on the way to Vaprak's Voice so my Sorc player can meet a couatl and become a Rainbow Servant, and a side adventure dealing with the leaders of the two nearby nations (Axion which Cauldron is a Citystate in, and the Principality of Corydon, who control my version of the Striders). The Cagewrights are going to attempt an assassination on the Steward of Axion and try to make it look like the Corydonites are responsible to through the "striders" off their track.
The players will investigate as a neutral party liked by both sides.
Also thinking of running Assault on Greymalkin Academy right after Test of the Smoking Eye.
Hi Ridolfin,
I love your ideas about Ghelve's trial. I have been thinking about something similar to really show the lawful side of the coin in Cauldron.
I have a question for you.
Side Trek Two: The trial of Keygan Ghelve
In the first step of the trial, the judges (Mayor / Skellerang / Sarcem) will first proceed to the witnesses’ audition.
Sarcem Delasharn is the High Priest of St. Cuthbert in Cauldron, and the hard cover SC book states that he's on an extended visit to Sasserine that ends at the Lucky Monkey, before he ever returns to Cauldron. It's this set of circumstances that has left Jenya in charge and the players not as well backed as they might otherwise be.
Have you changed other events in your campaign regarding Sarcem Delasharn and thusly with Jenya's involvement? I'd be interested to hear how you've shifted things around.
Cheers!
-Ully
Ridolfin,
I like the trial senerio too! Unfortunately my party are now up to Chapter 5 and are just about to take on the Necrocants, so this great idea will go to waste.
Oh well - good idea in any event
Delvesdeep
I have a question for you. Sarcem Delasharn is the High Priest of St. Cuthbert in Cauldron, and the hard cover SC book states that he's on an extended visit to Sasserine that ends at the Lucky Monkey, before he ever returns to Cauldron. It's this set of circumstances that has left Jenya in charge and the players not as well backed as they might otherwise be.
Have you changed other events in your campaign regarding Sarcem Delasharn and thusly with Jenya's involvement? I'd be interested to hear how you've shifted things around.
Hi Ully !
Sorry for late reply but my home connection to the Web is off for a while and I can only manage to reach the forum from my office which is a little bit difficult because busy days :-((
IMC I decided to have Sarcem in Town until two weeks before the start of Flood Season. At that time, Sarcem will move to Sasserine and will collect the eight wands in a magical shop of some kind. Then he will travel back to Cauldron. Before reaching Cauldron he will stop (with a merchants' caravan) at the Lucky Monkey and you know the end... About Jenya, i just play her at the begining as the Sarcem second in command. she was in contact with the adventurers but less proeminent than the book states. After the death of Sarcem she increases her responsability and she takes the lead. But possibly some suspicious players will find out her promotion a little bit questionnable...
This choice allow the PC's (or some of them) to start relationships with Sarcem so that his murder will have a much more stronger impact on the PCs. On the other hand it will give a more complex picture of Jenya than the very lawful one suggested by the book.
IMC Sarcem is a very political leader of Cauldron (at the begining) and the spiritual father of Alek Tercival. I will try to post later on my work about that (which has been very inspired by some previous thread from one of us I forget the name - shame on me).
In one of my two groups of players, one hobbit (rogue from the Alley Basher guild) was in charge of tracking Sarcem in his trip to Sasserine and to send a message when he was back to the LM. After, this mission completed, the orders were to come back ASAP in Town and forget all of that... When he arrived the day after, early in the morning, he was called by his colleagues to hurry up in order to rescue Sarcem at the LM ;-). It has been a very good game at the LM because the hobbit tried to avoid every encounter or to hide his identity to all the other Alley Bashers... you can imagine the suspicion aura around him and all the lies he had to create on the fly when some of the thugs came to him with a "Hey buddy why are you so late at the party ?".
Be creative
Ridolfin,
I like the trial senerio too! Unfortunately my party are now up to Chapter 5 and are just about to take on the Necrocants, so this great idea will go to waste.
Oh well - good idea in any event
Delvesdeep
Thank you so much Delvesdeep.
I will try to pay my duty for all the things you have inspired in my game... Let me think about this a little and I will come back with something you can (luckily) use in between chapter five and ten. But be patient because it can last for some weeks (or months) ;-).Be creative.
Sorry for late reply but my home connection to the Web is off for a while and I can only manage to reach the forum from my office which is a little bit difficult because busy days :-((
No worries, Ridolfin. Work has been keeping me very busy, and I've just now had the chance to check this thread.
IMC I decided to have Sarcem in Town until two weeks before the start of Flood Season. At that time, Sarcem will move to Sasserine and will collect the eight wands in a magical shop of some kind. Then he will travel back to Cauldron. Before reaching Cauldron he will stop (with a merchants' caravan) at the Lucky Monkey and you know the end... About Jenya, i just play her at the begining as the Sarcem second in command. she was in contact with the adventurers but less proeminent than the book states. After the death of Sarcem she increases her responsability and she takes the lead. But possibly some suspicious players will find out her promotion a little bit questionnable...
This choice allow the PC's (or some of them) to start relationships with Sarcem so that his murder will have a much more stronger impact on the PCs. On the other hand it will give a more complex picture of Jenya than the very lawful one suggested by the book.
Very nice! It also lets the players see Jenya struggling with her new station during Sarcem's absence.
I have a player who hasn't been able to join the rest of the group, so I've been running an extended prologue adventure for him. This PCs background had him involved with the church of St. Cuthbert, so I've had him train under Alek Tercival and later escort Sarcem Delasharn on his way to Sasserine (only to be asked to stay at the Monkey and assist Shensen Tesseril). My plan is to have each of the individual PCs know something about one or more NPCs that will be important later.
I like what you're doing with Sarcem Delasharn. Excellent thinking.