Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Not sure if the spoilers in the title was visible, so be warned, they exist.
We played through the first third of W1 this weekend and thought I would share the experience with a slash and burn party meeting a puzzle-ish challenge.
The party currently consists of a Marshal, a Spirit Shaman, an Efreet, an Artificer (and his pet pulverizer), and a goblin scout. The Spirit Shaman, due to his detect spirits ability, was able to find the sprites even in rose form. On the one hand, it was cool for him to get to use his ability, but on the other hand, it really ruined a lot of ambushes. The party opened fire on the sprites out front of the lair while they were in rose form and beat them down fairly quickly. The animated trees were little threat because the party had acquired a wand of fly in the last adventure and were generally able to use ranged attacks.
In the lair, the party parlayed with the sprites briefly, but unfortunately, the diplomat of the group, who's player is a bit green, got angry when they laughed and attacked. This is where things started going off the rail. The adventure says that every time the party comes into the room, there are 4 new sprites in it. But, that felt unfair to me. Partly because the spirit shaman used his ability to determine how many sprites were in the area and partly because...well...it just seems clumsy to have them reappearing just to give the clue. Besides, I figured I could have the king give them the clue on what they needed to pass through the wall if they would only ask him. The party heard the laughing on the other side of the wall, but couldn't figure out how to get through and didn't bother opening a dialogue. So, they continue on exploring.
They find the mother rose bush and the spirit shaman uses his ability on it. I inform him that while the bush itself is not a sprite, its roses have some spirit like properties which may cause them to eventually develop into sprites. The party immediately determines that the proper course of action is to BURN THE ROSE BUSH DOWN!
Which they do.
So, now I'm screwed. Even if the party knew they needed the rose (which they don't), they no longer have the option to get it. I'm thrown into DM on-the-spot overdrive trying to figure out what to do. Regenerate the rosebush? Just require that the bitter root be delivered? The party traipses past the king and shouts out "by the way, we just burned down your big rose bush." So, I figure play with the cards I'm given, and have the king open the wall to react to such a bold statement.
Negotiations go as expected and battle ensues. The grapple monster of an efreet suffers 1d4 damage per round for the sake of squeezing the king into a bloody pulp, and the sprites are defeated.
The party continues through the lair, destroying every rose bush they come upon.
They generally had a good time, but were amazed when I told them about the elaborate routine to open the door.
No adventure survives contact with the PCs. They had a good time and if you did too, then no harm done.
It sounds like you did a great job of rolling with the punches, and I hope your players had an enjoyable time. I look forward to hearing about the rest of the adventure.
The key is whether or not the players have fun, so it sounds like a win. I guess what could have been done a little different is if the one player is new and is the diplomat then check his alignment and ask him about the morality if he attacks during parley or whatnot, BUT that could crimp on the "fun factor"
I liked the module, but the encounter with the rose sprite king was bad..."Bring me 2 gifts from my own pantry." Lame and it made it feel like some sort of weak computer game side quest.
When I get around to gunning it, I'll make the rose bush barrier Assassin Vines or some sort of dangerous, but not impassable barrier and just let the party fight through it to get to the king.
ASEO out
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I'm about to run my group through that part of the adventure tonight. I don't know how they're going to get through the "lame computer side quests" either, since at least one of them has already suggested burning down the whole grove. Plus, when force to retreat after the grove fights, they basically knocked down the stones and rolled them over the entrance to keep the fey from escaping and/or attacking them in the night. I'll let you know how it goes.
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Well, let's see... they chopped their way through the whole complex, deciding to "dig for roots" in the "Mother" Rose Bush by hacking it to bits... eventually just had the king get pissed at them and open the curtain in an attempt to slay them, ending up predictably dead at their hands.
Personally, it looks to me as if I'm going to have to do some major rewrites for my party, which is OK because I was going to have to work out what to do after this module for this group anyway... going to use the book for inspiration, but I'm headed off-script from this point on....