Damn those npc:s... always somehow managing to get themselves captured. Good old heroes go down at the last hp at least.. ;)
Or when a adventure begins with being captured, not that any of the players can figure out how that could have happened under any other circumstance than as a prequisite to the adventure ;)
(psst is that word really meant to e written perq- ? Spellchecker claims so, but i refuse to believe)
Okie, well, drow sleep poison or similar has been known to work.. but even then often many of them die in a otherwise TPK.
Creative Director
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I must be blind, but I read the adventure twice yesterday and I only found out the fates of two of the Jade Ravens.
Could someone please indicate me the pages where they are mentioned? This would avoid spoilers.
No problem.
Kaskus Kiel: page 50 (in running text, bottom of 1st column)
Tolin Kientai: page 51 (in running text, middle of 1st column)
Zan Oldavin: page 54 (in sidebar)
Liamae Teslikiria: page 54 (in sidebar)
Ah darn those NPCs, always getting into trouble :lol:
Now why did "They'll need some rescuing" send me into hysterics?? :)
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Creative Director
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It's also worth noting that since there's no way for us to rely on all 4 of the Jade Ravens making it to "Serpents of Scuttlecove," their role in the adventure is strictly optional. Their fates, as written in the adventure, work best if the PCs have allied and befriended them. If the Jade Ravens are antagonistic to the PCs, they've probably already left the picture by the time this adventure rolls along.
Those Jade ravens really need illustrations to catch the player's imaginations. I suppose it is a little too late for you to add them in now.
I changed their races around some and used the generic hero illustrations for Savage Tide. Predictably, one of my players now have a romance with the blond sorceress. :) He is Lawful Good or even Lawful neutral, she is Chaotic Neutral - it will be fun!
I missed the fact that the ranger-type in the illustrations was a woman, so Tolin is in for a rude surprise with a magic pool once we get into some ruined city.
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Creative Director
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We did do illos of them, in the Farshore backdrop. Only one of the Jade Ravens is a woman; that's Liamae, the sorcerer/favored soul.
EDIT: OH! You're talking about the iconic heroes we're using to illustrate the adventure! Yeah; the druid is a female elf, blondie's a human wizard, the dwarf's a barbarian, and the dude with the tats is a monk.
On a somewhat related topic, what happened to the Blue Nixie and her crew of outraged sailors? Are they in a hidden cove nearby? Moored to a wharf with a Crimson Fleet flag hoisted and a nervous crew standing by, or all dead and replaced with pirates? Or has the Nixie joined the wrecks at the bottom of Scuttlecove's harbor?
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Creative Director
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On a somewhat related topic, what happened to the Blue Nixie and her crew of outraged sailors? Are they in a hidden cove nearby? Moored to a wharf with a Crimson Fleet flag hoisted and a nervous crew standing by, or all dead and replaced with pirates? Or has the Nixie joined the wrecks at the bottom of Scuttlecove's harbor?
The Blue Nixie's fate is up to the DM to decide. If you use the Jade Ravens subplot in "Serpents of Scuttlecove" I recommend having the PCs discover it moored to a dock in Scuttlecove, perhaps claimed by a bunch of pirates. Reclaiming the ship from the pirates then becomes a cool little side adventure.
...the dwarf's a barbarian...
I would've guessed fighter, but that's what I get for envisioning every dwarf barbarian as wearing a viking helmet, and carrying a greatclub. I like how the new illustrations are breaking old stereotypes.
Now, on topic...
I love the Jade Ravens! My players are already attributing characteristics to them that make them counterpoints/simulacra to their own characters. My PCs are a human knife-thrower (like Zan), an aventi druidess (a bit like Kaskus), a piratey warlock (almost close to Liamae), a half-orc crusader (okay, nothing like Tolin, but I'm making Tolin a warblade for the effect), and a human artificer--who could ally with any of them, for sure. Gee, I should've made up one more Jade Raven. Could've been an old character from a previous campaign. One of my favorite things to do.
BTW, love what happens to Kaskus in Scuttlecove! Can't wait to see the looks on my players' faces. (Poor guy.)
I made out the iconic people on the illustrations to BE the Jade Ravens. Thus:
The Tattoed man is the (normally dwarf) druid.
The dwarf is the (normally human) knife-fighting rogue.
The blond human woman is the sorceress.
The pointy-eared woman in green leather is the half-elven ranger (Tolin), after a (planned) encounter with a sex-change device.
I made out the iconic people on the illustrations to BE the Jade Ravens.
I took a similar path of logic and was confused by this as well :-)
I think I've been misunderstanding the purpose of the Jade Ravens.
This sad fate doesn't properly end the premise of a rival band of adventurers (which should either end with the PCs befriending them or facing off against them), but rather shows how the Ravens had fallen apart as a team and suffered miserably for it.
While I still plan to introduce them as rival adventurers, I'll have to make sure to focus on the disintigration of the team as the PCs become more prominant. Instead of being a group to compete against, the Ravens can serve as visions of what could happen to the PCs if they don't stick together.