While preparing TCB, I hit on a problem with Loris Raknian and the PCs motivation, and I guess my players will make trouble with this. At the end of HoHR they find out, that LR put money on their heads. So why should they enter the champion's games, knowing, that they are then at the whim of the guy who wants them dead anyway? That's a little bit strange! Anyone had a similar problem/idea. How did you solve it?
By the way, this is thread 2000 on the AoW board :-)
Because the PCs are cocky little b*st*rds and we allow it.
In my campaign, during the planning / plotting dinner with Elgios, he suggested that the group take a "the best defense is a good offense" strategy. They knew that Raknian was dirty, but Elgios told them that given his status in the city, it would take a lot more than what they had to bring him down. Added to that, I left it open as to how many dopplegangers there really WERE spread out in the city, so they don't really know who to trust in the city officials. They needed something they could take to the public, not just local law enforcement.
So, their best bet to get close to him to observe and try to get more evidence and learn more about what he was doing was to enter the games. I also skipped the part with the bard looking for his sister and just had Elgios sponser them himself. That way, acting as manager, he could come in periodically and have contact with them.
But why, on the other hand, should LR let the PCs run freely in the underbelly of the arean, knowing that they are nosey, resourceful, suspicious of him and that he has really something to hide...well I guess I could explain this with the fact, that he really cannot ban them from the games without rousing suspicion and an uproar by the audience and additionally he could jump at the opportunity to have them meet some "accident" during the games. A bit of a stretch, though.
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But why, on the other hand, should LR let the PCs run freely in the underbelly of the arena...
Believe the module says that between the Games and the work readying the Apostle, Raknian doesn't have the time to keep an eye on the party while they're in the city. Then they show up at the dinner as combatants. He's now able to at least have a general idea where they are for the next few days. It's also mentioned that he's not sure if they were able to track the hit back to him so it's possible that they don't know he has it in for them.
I dropped this detail, because it was immediately apparent that if my PC group thought Raknian was trying to kill them, they would not enter the Games; and the player would have been disappointed.
It's easy enough to have Bozal hire Zyrxog instead of Raknian, which is what I did.
Mary
Raknian is rich, powerful, and popular - this should make him virtually untouchable. Eligos can suggest that the only way to get close to him is by entering the games.
Plus - while the PCs know he wants them dead, they shouldn't have any idea WHY, so they should be itching to do a little detective work and find out what Raknian is hiding.
When Ekaym brings up the issue of his sister missing, and that he suspects Raknian of foul play, that's yet ANOTHER reason to go exploring on the "inside".
One major problem I had with this adventure (but easily fixed): the PCs wanted to sneak inside Raknian's house (and there's no map given!).
But there's another adventure in the same issue that does have a good usable floorplan (it's a haunted house in the adventure written for it, so you'll have to revise all the descriptions). I chose to actually give Raknian another house as his primary residence, the one by the arena was just for show (and for entertaining important guests, etc.) So it should usually be empty, except for maybe a few servants. But I put a secret door in the basement that leads to the Temple of Kyuss (in place of the one under the arena). That way the PCs get back on track pretty quick.
My PCs wanted to enter the Games long before they were hired by Efraym, and after finding out that Raknian had paid for their assassination and possibly abducted/killed Efraym's daughter, that didn't put any damper on their enthusiasm for it (they now wanted both to win the Games themselves, and to deal with Raknian).
So, I never had a problem with it :)
My players are very careful, they rather have no adventure than a dangerous adventure...they might get hurt. So I guess they will not enter the game lest I give them a good reason, like: that's the adventure girls and boys, take it or we can all go home ;-) It's not that bad, but I know they will be afraid to take this step...but maybe I am wrong, I will see on Wednesday. I am already excited!
My players are very careful, they rather have no adventure than a dangerous adventure...they might get hurt. So I guess they will not enter the game lest I give them a good reason, like: that's the adventure girls and boys, take it or we can all go home ;-) It's not that bad, but I know they will be afraid to take this step...but maybe I am wrong, I will see on Wednesday. I am already excited!
They know Raknian is their enemy, and he's up to something.
It's likely they want to get him. And he's in the Arena.So they need to infiltrate the Arena.
If they don't like playing gladiators and look for a "safer" way to infiltrate the Arena, you can still make use of most of the adventure (locations, encounters...)
Plus, the Free City/Midnight Muddle (?) backdrop has plenty of hooks for side-treks.
Ask them for their general "plan", then roll with it.
It's actually a shame Raknian's manor is not detailed in the magazine.
So Belfur, give us an update. How did it go? It seems that your players entered the Games after all since you're worried about Pitch Blade.
My next session is going to be the make-or-break as far as LR is concerned, so the more experiences that I hear about the better.
Thanks!
Yes, my players entered the games quite willingly, so my concerns were wrong. Actually I made a real poster for the games which I stuck to a wall in the room, so that everybody had to get up and look at it...I hoped they would crowd around it as some live action, but they were too lazy :-(
They were quite afraid about the first fight, which was of course very easy for them (even if every team had gone against them exclusively). They used Divination before they entered the games, which I used to tell them the story why they have to win the games: "When the Worm God's Apostel swallows the Champion, doom will come upon the bloodthirsty and the Age of Worms comes one step closer."
They think now, that they have to win the games in order to fight the Apostel...but I guess they do not suspect the scope of what will happen to the spectators if they fail :-) and that Auric is the Champion as long as he has the belt.
This or next week, we will see what they will find under the arena and if they will be lucky enough or think up the right way to destroy the Apostel before the final fight (I hope not).
My PCs were sloppy when they took on Zyrxog, and the mind flayer was able to destroy all evidence linking him to Raknian. He used burning hands on his desk, torching all documents just before the half-orc ranger kicked in the door and chopped the illithid completely in half at the waste (power attack/critical).
The PCs had known about the games since they entered Daggerford (Hall of Harsh Reflections), so they knew long before they made it to Waterdeep that they were going to test themselves in combat (in fact, they won the belt last Sunday, 7/15). Though they entered the games for the glory and honor of winning, they were also asked by their mentor and sponsor Tordalis (an epic level rogue NPC who was once a PC) to investigate the disappearance Ekyam's sister.
After they killed Bozal and the Apostle of Kyuss, Lahaka was discovered and carefully destroyed. They then went topside and alerted the magisters and guards, essentially blowing the lid off the entire operation. Raknian's arrest was immediately called for. Five magisters scried and teleported directly into Raknian's bedchamber. The PCs helped by entering his palace through the secret door leading to the shrine, while Auric's Warband agreed to storm the front door, throwing the guards off balance with a three-pronged assault. Raknian was guilty of murder, rape, and defacing a religious site. His penalty was death, and he knew it, so he resisted and was killed. The PCs and Auric's Warband dealt with his guards (who all surrendered immediately) and other defenders (including an iron golem and a draconic ettin barbarian 6).
The games were postponed for a week pending an investigation of the shrine of Kyuss and Raknian's connections to it. This time, however, Raknian was unable to destroy his share of evidence, and the discoveries made after his death were enlightening. Both the PCs and Auric's Warband were hailed as heroes when the city learned of the events that took place beneath the arena and within Raknian's own home. The final battle between the PCs (The Diamond Hawks) and Auric's Warband was a meeting of heroes.
One question: how did the PCs destroy the Apostle of Kyuss before the "cocoon" disappeared by itself? Did Bozal lower it in his own defence, or did the players one of the described methods? I am just curious how big the chances are for the players to stop the ritual before the finals.
I know the ways, the adventure text proposes, I wanted to know, how many of you had the big-bang showdown and what methods your PCs used to destroy the "cocoon".
My group delved down into the shrine of Kyuss the night before their last match. The party rogue had already snuck around and scouted the entire area surrounding the Coenoby, and by the last night, there was only one other gladiator team there (Auric's Warband), so it didn't take much for them to slip on by. I had two NPCs stay behind to answer questions about their team, as local reporters showed up with inquiries. That allowed the rest to explore.
Bozal was eventually overwhelmed, and his last action was to release the Apostle. It put up a good fight, but was ultimately destroyed (ranger using greataxe and favored power attack).
I made sure to leave it up to the group. They almost waited until after the games to look around (at which point they'd be trespassing through the Coenoby, so it behooved them to get it done while they were actually allowed beneath the arena).
I know the ways, the adventure text proposes, I wanted to know, how many of you had the big-bang showdown and what methods your PCs used to destroy the "cocoon".
Personally, I don't like letting the PCs defeat the Apostle of Kyuss before the final round of the Champion's Games. True, it should be within their power, but my group and I love dramatic presentation more than game mechanics and such. So, I brought up the issue to my players- being vague, of course- before the adventure, and discussed it with them. When they got to that point, they knew it would probably be possible to destroy the cocoon on their own, but they also knew that it would be difficult and require time and/or resources they didn't have at hand (there wasn't an arcane spellcaster in the group). So, rationalizing it within their characters, they chose not to destroy it. Out of character, they knew that it would be much more climactic this way.
Therefore, the final round came, and right in the middle of the battle, BAM! The ground explodes and out rides Loris Raknian on top of the Ulgurstasta. My group handled it quite well, and it all turned out to be one of the more memorable moments in the campaign.
I know the ways, the adventure text proposes, I wanted to know, how many of you had the big-bang showdown and what methods your PCs used to destroy the "cocoon".
My group just played this last night. During the second day they found their way under the arena and killed off Bozal but couldn't open the wall of force guarding the ulgurstasta.
They discovered (as part of the treasure) a strand of prayer beads. Due to a misreading of the item's description, we thought it had all of the beads listed (I didn't catch the error until today). So during the froghemoth fight, while the Pcs were getting their butts roundly kicked, the cleric used the bead of summoning. I gave him a trumpet archon, which really helped the party out with some well-timed mass cure serious wounds spells.
Since the summoned archon was going to be around for 24 hours, they decided to make another try for the ulgurstasta that night. The cleric made a really good turning roll and the archon made a really good Greater Dispel Magic check, and they unleashed the ulgurstasta. They were well-prepared for the fight and managed to off the worm without any casualties.
For my final climactic moment, I plan to have Raknian personally challenge the PCs after they win the belt. At this point, they reeeally want him dead. I may have to buff him some to make him a decent challenge.