Glad you liked them. Enjoy!
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I modified the hags encounter as discussed, turning the hags into Green Hag Witches, level 3. I gave all three of them the Disguise hex, so when the party came into the room they were disguised as tied up and gagged Black Arrow rangers being guarded by Lamatar.
My party totally fell for it - they all crowded into the room and started wailing away on Lamatar, upon which the witches sprung their trap with a combination of web, glitterdust, and limp lash spells.
Here's the herolab portfolio file. It also includes a modified Barl Breakbones, but after running the encounter I wasn't happy with his spell selection - to many touch and close range spells.
Why, exactly, does Turtleback Ferry have ferries?
My players are very deeply into the RP aspect, and consider the combat and leveling-up something that happens 'between the good parts'. So when they see something like a carved tunnel with multiple unnecessary turns (Catacombs of Wrath), passages with silly numbers of doors (Thistletop), or two flights of stairs leading to the same place (Foxglove Manor), they giggle and point it out.
So I showed them the map of Varisia and where Turtleback Ferry was, and their first question was, "Where do the ferries go?" It seems obvious that any sensible traveler would go through Ilsurian. So I made the argument that our own Sierra Nevadas are populated with tiny abandoned towns where someone got the brilliant idea that 'we need a bridge here' or 'we need a road here' only to see the bridge or road lie totally unused. Then they asked, "OK, we get that. But then how come it needs THREE ferry boats and TWO docks to manage all that non-business?"
It doesn't help that the inn is listed as virtually unused after the Black Arrows stopped coming, further implying no travelers (and hence no need for ferries).
Any suggestions? Are the residents just eccentric, and hoping for a sudden need for ferries?
I don't have the volume in front of me, but they would ferry people aeross the lake, up and down the river, pick up goods from merchants that don't want to cross the lake, ferry people to the Parqdise once it was around.
As an aside, what does roleplaying have to do with pointing out oddities? I always find it interesting when people focus on things that seem out of the ordinary to them, when all you have to do is look at the world around you to find tons of abnormal things popping up all over. Moreover, adventuring in a fantastical world is supposed to be about the un-normal.
I don't have the volume in front of me, but they would ferry people aeross the lake, up and down the river, pick up goods from merchants that don't want to cross the lake, ferry people to the Parqdise once it was around.
As an aside, what does roleplaying have to do with pointing out oddities? I always find it interesting when people focus on things that seem out of the ordinary to them, when all you have to do is look at the world around you to find tons of abnormal things popping up all over. Moreover, adventuring in a fantastical world is supposed to be about the un-normal.
There's the issue -- there's nothing across the lake to get to. Down the river makes sense, but post-Paradise how many people would come up the river? You are correct that people create oddities all the time, they just die off quickly after they're proved un-viable. A ferry business in Turtleback Ferry doesn't seem viable, so I'm wondering if there's something around there that people would want to get ferried TO.
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It makes more sense if you look at the "Hook Mountain Region" map (Pathfinder #3 p. 10, or p. 396 of the Anniversary Edition).
Turtleback Ferry's economy is based on hunting, trapping, and fishing. Lots of people would want to go west to the village of Bitter Hollow, the edges of Shimmerglens, or up to the coast of Lake Coal, or to the edges if the Sanos Forest. Maybe not scores of people per day, but probably per week.
I'd imagine that there's a not-insignificant amount if trade between Turtleback Ferry and the gnome town of Sipplerose as well.
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I don't have the volume in front of me, but they would ferry people aeross the lake, up and down the river, pick up goods from merchants that don't want to cross the lake, ferry people to the Parqdise once it was around.
As an aside, what does roleplaying have to do with pointing out oddities? I always find it interesting when people focus on things that seem out of the ordinary to them, when all you have to do is look at the world around you to find tons of abnormal things popping up all over. Moreover, adventuring in a fantastical world is supposed to be about the un-normal.
There's the issue -- there's nothing across the lake to get to. Down the river makes sense, but post-Paradise how many people would come up the river? You are correct that people create oddities all the time, they just die off quickly after they're proved un-viable. A ferry business in Turtleback Ferry doesn't seem viable, so I'm wondering if there's something around there that people would want to get ferried TO.
Sure there is. Hunters, trappers, adventurers going to various areas of the Shimmerglens. Travel up the Willow river. Crossing the Skull river. Travel to Pendaka for folks not interested in traveling next to Ashwood or want to get there quicker. Perhaps the ferries are now the primary way that goods get to Turtleback.
- The Black Arrows situation is fairly recent.
- At the time of the adventure, you are correct there isn't an overwhelming reason for folks to go upriver, but that doesn't mean travel has completely dried up. The Ferry business is probably a little slow, but that doesn't mean they would simply close up shop and dismantle the docks because the last few months have been bad on business.
- With regard to oddities, you are not looking around enough. Go to any old section of town and look around. Get on the internet, tons of crazy stuff all over, both old and new. You mention stairs that do not seem to have an obvious use. It is not too much of a stretch to think at one time they may have gone to room that got closed off in construction, but that the overall plan never was finished. Or perhaps at some point there was a plan that the stair would go to an additional room that was never finished. Ran out of money? Workers quit? Perhaps there is something historic about the stairs themselves, something personal to the family involved that makes them want to keep them, but just haven't figured out what to do with them. All sorts of reasons.
re: un-viable as a criteria for change. If only that were really the case :) Roads once went to places that no longer exist and yet the roads exist, should they go away? Who is responsible for that? Why are they still there? Un-viability is one catalyst for change, but it is hardly the only reason, and I would venture to say it is fairly low on the scale. What is at the top? Will.
Cracks me up that people think that a DnD game is supposed to be this perfectly rational universe, when our own "real" world is far from it. I just don't get it.
Anyway, I hope the discussion has offered some viable ideas!
I think both you and Haladir cleared thing up nicely, thanks. Lots of hunters and trappers works well.
It's not that un-viable is a criteria for change; it's that they'd have the docks and the old ferry boats, but no one would still be running them. I've been to plenty of small towns in the Sierras that have all kinds of cool non-working stuff that someone, some time thought was a good idea.
But you guys have me started, and I can work from here. Thanks!
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Question about the flood scene...it doesn't make a lot of sense to me how its laid out with the maps.
The first encounter is supposed to take place with the ferry jammed up against the general store by the flood waters...but the map appears to show the floodline well back from the store. Furthermore the encounter text says "floodwaters poured in the front door of the river front building" in reference to the Schoolhouse, when the map for Turtleback Ferry seems to indicate that the Schoolhouse is nowhere near the river itself.
Based on the map the church appears to be flooded. Did others have the PCs fight Black Magga in the water? How'd they fair trying to make the DC25 swim check while trying to fight the thing at the same time?
I'll work something out, but I'm interested in seeing how others played this scene out, and if I'm way off in how I'm reading the maps/encounter description.
dot
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PhineasGage, I noticed the same thing, and decided to make the flood just significantly deeper. The water line then became where buildings were completely submerged, and I made the rest of the area 10' deep. 5' water with currents is dangerous, especially to the schoolchildren who were stranded on the roof, but I thought deeper water would really sell it.
Edit: I gave my PCs access to a boat, which was towed, I think, by the druid's animal companion. Or maybe the druid himself...
PhineasGage, I noticed the same thing, and decided to make the flood just significantly deeper. The water line then became where buildings were completely submerged, and I made the rest of the area 10' deep. 5' water with currents is dangerous, especially to the schoolchildren who were stranded on the roof, but I thought deeper water would really sell it.
Edit: I gave my PCs access to a boat, which was towed, I think, by the druid's animal companion. Or maybe the druid himself...
So, did they fight Black Magga from the back of the boat?
My intial mantal image when skimming the scenario was that she'd rise up out of the water and sort of throw herself onto the church, attacking people from there, and then slink but under the water when retreating. It wound end up being a half ground, half water kind of scenario.
The more I think about it though, I'm not sure how to tie it all together.
Lucrecia seems to have 3 off hand attacks, but she only has TWF. Am I missing something that allows for the extra off-hand attacks?
Bump
Lucrecia seems to have 3 off hand attacks, but she only has TWF. Am I missing something that allows for the extra off-hand attacks?
Yup. It looks like some of the info in her stat block from the original version bled through to the AE. In the original version, she has rogue levels and Improved Two-Weapon Fighting.
This happened in a few other places, too.
I never noticed because I redesigned Lucretia from the ground up to make her a more challenging opponent for my players.
In the stats for the the six level 5 Ogre Fighters, it says they get iterative attacks with javelins. However, none of them have the quick draw feat, so shouldn't they only get one thrown weapon even on a full round action?
I never noticed because I redesigned Lucretia from the ground up to make her a more challenging opponent for my players.
Did you re-design the AE Lucrecia or the original one?
Well, when I started Lucrecia's redesign, the AE hadn't come out, but I wanted her to have sorceress levels like Xanesha-- but be higher level. So, she came out looking a lot like the AE version, but was 2 CRs higher.
Question about all the possible companions, the surviving black arrows and Shalelu, I have never run a campaign with really any NPCs as part of the party. So my question is if they are a part of so many encounters would they also gain experience and eventually level up?
It depends on your style as a GM. I had them gain EXP and level up, and that allowed Shalelu to stay with the party all the way into the beginning of Book 4, where she took her leave.
Depends on how much the party likes the NPCs, and how much you like running them.
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Jumping in on the NPC discussion.
You can do like NobodysHome and track them as effectively DM-PCs, or you can just have them be static in the background.
My group has Shale (her nickname) along with them and they'll be picking up the Black Arrows next session. I kept her at lvl 6 so that the party is more awesome, and plan to keep her a level or two behind them constantly. Same for the Arrows.
As for XP distribution, I'm still working on that. My current plan is to make the enemies more difficult without properly increasing CR; give them more HP, maybe apply the Advanced template on the fly. I'll reward the PCs with the "normal" amount of XP, and say the unaccounted-for remainder goes to the NPCs. Keep it nebulous and therefor simple.
The thing that bothers me is the idea that these guys are around, but most of the encounters don't seem to account for them. So it throws a bunch of CR 4/5/6/7 encounters at the party like it's a normal day, when the party now has 2 badass archers (Shale/Jakak) and 1/2 effective frontliners (Vale/Kaven). That SERIOUSLY throws the balance off- these guys could take the fight themselves most of the time!
And fighting all the ogres at once is clearly not the primary way the party is supposed to deal with the group, but it feels like they almost could anyway.
Are you supposed to crank up the fights while they're there? Or does it throw so much XP/encounters at the party that the smaller portions they'll walk away with, still keeps them on the right XP track?
I'd appreciate other's thoughts on the matter.
You can have Players choose the Leadership feat and use the Cohort rules as a result. One benefit of a Cohort is that the character levels up without taking a share of player XPs. The drawback is they're at a maximum of two levels below the character with Leadership; which means if you reach the end of the series, they'll be level 15 (assuming your player is level 17) going up a level 20 Transmuter. ;)
Cohorts can be useful for filling in holes in a group's dynamics. For instance, if they don't have a Rogue, they can recruit a Rogue cohort (at which point I'd recommend the Rogue Talent that lets them auto-detect traps within 10 feet of them so to avoid using GM knowledge). Or if they're light on healing, they could have a cleric or druid with them. And best of all, they can utilize extraneous magic items that the PCs don't bother using any longer.
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Question about all the possible companions, the surviving black arrows and Shalelu, I have never run a campaign with really any NPCs as part of the party. So my question is if they are a part of so many encounters would they also gain experience and eventually level up?
By the rules, NPCs never gain XP. The GM simply levels them up when he/she thinks they should be leveled up.
My general rule of thumb is that any NPCs who travel with PCs should be one or two levels lower than the PCs. They should also have gear appropriate to an NPC, not a PC. This way, NPCs won't outshine the PCs.
The story isn't about the NPCs.
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Question about the flood at Turtleback Ferry.
On the Anniversary Edition map, it shows the flood zone. The general store is not in that flood zone, so how are the kids/old woman stuck, exactly? If it's not even an area where people need to make Swim checks, how are they waterlogged in a boat up against the building?
Also, the church is at the far end of the city, ~400 feet into the DC 25 Swim check flood zone. Are the PCs expected to somehow make it down there to fight Naga? Or should they only need to get her attention, then she comes to them?
I put them on the roof of the church, along with Mayor Shreed. Solved all of my location problems in one fell swoop.
Today's the game night for me and my party started clearing out the Graul Homested. They went straight to the house, directly to Mommy's room which i find really amusing (they tend to go straight to boss fights when it comes to non linear locations :D). They've beaten her up so she teleported to the barn with her dimensional door. I suppouse that tonight the party will start assaulting the Fort, maybe even clear it.
My question is - in which parts of the adventure the remaining two Black Arrows NPC should accompany them? If events play out in the order presented in the RotRL:A book I think that Black Arrows won't go to Turtleback to see the flood if there won't be a ranger messenger to deliver the grim news. After the flood - there isn't any way for those 2 npcs to know what the party is up to, if the party won't ask the Arrows for help, right? So they won't come along.
I feel that I'd like to have remaining Black Arrows at Hook Mountain Clanhold, let them take the fight to the ogres.
And what about Shalelu? She wants to find her step-father, so she should stay with him rather then with PCs, right?
Also - I've got pretty large party; 6-7 players with two animal companions and one leadership (tonight it's gonna be minus one with leadership), but two of the characters are fresh (one have died, other one retired) so the APL is around 5-6 (6-7 if number of characters is taken into account), but those new characters are gonna level up fast.
I have the same question about the 3 Black Arrows..where are they supposed to follow and help the party and where not? Furthermore I would like to ask (I think someone already asked this but I cant find it) if anyone had prepared an "adventuring" trip to Turtleback Ferry, or do you think I should make it an easy and calm road trip for my PCs? Thanks in advance!
Personally I was going to sic a Dragon Turtle on my group, but that's just me. =^-^=
Advice needed!
Last session, the party sneaked into the Fort via the shocker lizard tunnels that lead to the jail and Lucrecia. They ended up chasing Lucrecia through most of the Fort alerting many ogres including some Ogre Fighters, and the female Sorcerer on the second level(as per Jaagrath's description, he didn't join in the fight).
I knew when the fight started, a TPK was a definite possibility. And after many unlucky saving throws (almost the whole party was affected by the ogre sorceress' Confusion spell, for example) they were 100% facing a TPK. The party's druid and oracle died in combat (the former bleeding out and the latter going from single digit hp to dead by a magic missile) while the rogue and fighter were under Hold Person spells and the wizard under Deep Slumber (like I said, unlucky saving throws).
I decided on the spot that Lucrecia wouldn't necessarily kill any characters that were disabled at the end of the fight. Using grapple and dealing non-lethal damage, Lucrecia managed to knock the fighter, rogue, and wizard unconscious without killing them.
The players figured that she wants the PCs alive for purposes of the greed-harvesting ritual, which is not a bad idea honestly. I'm also thinking that it's possible that Lucrecia has orders from on high to capture as many of them as possible. They have two sihedron amulets between the party now, so their actions could have been monitored and perhaps Mokmurian/Karzoug would want them alive for questioning/charming/dominating.
I could some ideas and advice on the best way to proceed. My players mentioned the idea of creating a new party to rescue the old one, but two of the players who still have living characters want to continue playing them.
The other alternative, as I see it, is for next session to start with a jail-break. But I'm having difficulty finding a better motivation for Lucrecia keeping them alive other than "tattoo them, kill them, give their greed to Karzoug"
Also, I feel like having them wake up in Fort Rannick's prison would be pretty boring. I suppose they could be transferred to the clan hold. Maybe they wake up enroute, near Skull's Crossing and I give them a reason to investigate it, or maybe the prisoner transfer is interrupted by the flood?
I guess I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head and can't seem to make up my mind. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks!
Lucrecia is a bit of an outsider in the fort - she's a spellcaster in a fort full of Ogres that only respect strength. I can definitely see her having some issues getting along with Jaagrath. She might want to keep a burly PC or two on hand to protect her, watch her while she sleeps, and so on. Her at-will Charm Monster effect should make them fairly amenable.
Unrelated but fun fact: My party did the exact opposite of what yours did. They camped out in the mountainside and attacked the fort from the top down using feather fall to land in the belltower. They cleared out the second floor fairly quickly (Jaagrath hit a celestial bison for about 80 damage, then promptly died like a chump) while using the paladin's mount and a summoned monster to hold the chokepoints leading up from the 2nd floor.
Of course, then they found out that there are approximately 30 more ogres and a pissed off lamia matriarch in the fort, and they had no escape route. They realized that roughly when the ogres started chopping down the walls to get at them and the paladin mount was hit by a lightning bolt. That was a fun moment of realization.
I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer about the floodgates at Skull Crossing. Now....I'm no architect..and I have no idea how floodgates are supposed to work...but one thing I can't wrap my head around is how opening the floodgates is really supposed to help Turtleback Ferry at all.
The one rip in the dam caused a huge flood that almost wiped the town off the map....if you read the descriptions, look at the pictures etc....that hole in the damn is releasing far less water than activating the five mouths across the front of the dam. Now....I realize that not opening the gates will mean the dam will eventually fail and the whole valley will get flooded. However, isn't that what's going to effectively happen anyway?
If you open those gates won't you be releasing even more water out all at once 100% ensuring that what little remains standing of Turtleback will forever be lost? It just seems to me that opening the gates effectively accomplishes little if anything. Where the deep is a huge lake...in all honestly if the dam were to collapse the Stanos forest and Ashwood would become a swamp...however, Illurian, Biston and Whistledown are effectively too far away....the river waters will flood there surely...but it's so far away most of the water should disperse out into the forest. I simply don't see the big picture reasoning for trying to save the dam since Turtleback Ferry is already effectively lost.
Now before anyone says "what about saving Bitter Hollow or Pendaka"...there's no way Turtleback Ferry gets flooded and demolished without the same happening to those two towns almost simultaneously. They're way, wayyy too close to Claybottom (Pendaka in particular) not to have been already affected. Now...I'm all for doing the "good deed"...but I have a feeling my players are just going to look at me and say "why"....and I don't have a good answer for them in this case. Can anyone help?
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I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer about the floodgates at Skull Crossing. Now....I'm no architect..and I have no idea how floodgates are supposed to work...but one thing I can't wrap my head around is how opening the floodgates is really supposed to help Turtleback Ferry at all.
The one rip in the dam caused a huge flood that almost wiped the town off the map....if you read the descriptions, look at the pictures etc....that hole in the damn is releasing far less water than activating the five mouths across the front of the dam. Now....I realize that not opening the gates will mean the dam will eventually fail and the whole valley will get flooded. However, isn't that what's going to effectively happen anyway?
If you open those gates won't you be releasing even more water out all at once 100% ensuring that what little remains standing of Turtleback will forever be lost? It just seems to me that opening the gates effectively accomplishes little if anything. Where the deep is a huge lake...in all honestly if the dam were to collapse the Stanos forest and Ashwood would become a swamp...however, Illurian, Biston and Whistledown are effectively too far away....the river waters will flood there surely...but it's so far away most of the water should disperse out into the forest. I simply don't see the big picture reasoning for trying to save the dam since Turtleback Ferry is already effectively lost.
Now before anyone says "what about saving Bitter Hollow or Pendaka"...there's no way Turtleback Ferry gets flooded and demolished without the same happening to those two towns almost simultaneously. They're way, wayyy too close to Claybottom (Pendaka in particular) not to have been already affected. Now...I'm all for doing the "good deed"...but I have a feeling my players are just going to look at me and say "why"....and I don't have a good answer for them in this case. Can anyone help?
You are correct; the idea of a floodgate is to keep the stream downriver at its maximum level to allow as much water as possible to flow WITHOUT causing floods. If you've already breached the dam, and the town is already flooding, opening the floodgates is just going to make the situation in Turtleback Ferry worse.
So the idea you should convey is that Turtleback Ferry is already doomed and evacuated; the PCs are trying to relieve the unbelievable pressure on the now-cracked dam to prevent it from failing completely and sending a massive wave-o-no-fun to wipe out ALL the downriver cities at once.
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Sigh, my fight at Turtleback Ferry was very dissappointing from the monster's view, but the players loved it. One of the fighters with a halberd scored a critical on Black Magga and killed her with one blow (yay, critical hit deck). Obviously, he's a HUGE hero, but I also slapped him with the Diety's Wrath trait (or some such, where the enemy God hates him). He got four bonus skill points immediately to compenstate, and rolled with it. Fun times. Fun times.
Sigh, my fight at Turtleback Ferry was very dissappointing from the monster's view, but the players loved it. One of the fighters with a halberd scored a critical on Black Magga and killed her with one blow (yay, critical hit deck). Obviously, he's a HUGE hero, but I also slapped him with the Diety's Wrath trait (or some such, where the enemy God hates him). He got four bonus skill points immediately to compenstate, and rolled with it. Fun times. Fun times.
I'm afraid that's specifically why I don't use the Critical Hit deck. I own it, but:
(a) Any deck that says, "Use this against the monsters, but not against the players" is right out in my world. If I can't do it to the PCs, it's not legal in my mind.(b) It has too many, "The critter dies" cards.
I just play with rolling criticals: If my paladin is using a keen scimitar and hits on an 8 or more, then a 17-19-16-15-9 is a quadruple crit, and does 5x damage. It allows for those epic one-shot hits (she just hit a frost giant for 262 last session), but it requires a bunch of good rolls, rather than one good roll and a lucky card.
YMMV.
EDIT: Though the Diety's Wrath is cool, and could come into significant play later. Imagine being in the Scribbler's Lair (module 5) when the Scribbler receives explicit orders to make sure that particular PC never makes it out alive. Last I heard, fighters have terrible Will saves...
I'm with NobodysHome here. In fact, I'm going to be revamping any spell that has "Save or Die" in it so that they bring the person to negative hit points... but the person could be saved in theory. It makes no sense to have someone die instantly because the dice didn't roll well, and I know people who, when the chips are down, will inevitably roll poorly.
I have to admit, Tangent, that's not a terrible idea. I haven't suffered it to any extent in my RotRL campaign (mainly because my players are ultra-good-aligned, so don't use save-or-suck on people), but in our Carrion Crown campaign:
So yeah, our CC GM is *very* tired of save-or-suck spells. Spam 'em often enough, and everyone eventually fails.
EDIT: Sorry - added the tags. I just don't see how such a generic statement would tell you where you'd run into those things.
We also lost ...
AGHGHHHHhh - ADD SPOILER Tags! I think that's my next fight in Carrion Crown! :(
FYI - Lich immune to feeblemind, unless it was a Threnodic Feeblemind (certainly possible).
We also lost ...AGHGHHHHhh - ADD SPOILER Tags! I think that's my next fight in Carrion Crown! :(
FYI - Lich immune to feeblemind, unless it was a Threnodic Feeblemind (certainly possible).
I'll just say that I *really* hope I didn't spoiler for you, since it was a laundry list of random things we hit, but I added the tag. (My references are from modules 3, 4, 5, and 6, so lots of random stuff. There's not a specific encounter in there that's at the end of any specific path.)
But it was an undead bloodline sorcerer, so his Feeblemind affects undead, leading to all kinds of sadness for the BBEGS.
It was the level you indicated, which happens to be my current level, while expecting that kind of fight next Monday. S'okay...
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Why, exactly, does Turtleback Ferry have ferries?
It doesn't help that the inn is listed as virtually unused after the Black Arrows stopped coming, further implying no travelers (and hence no need for ferries).
Any suggestions? Are the residents just eccentric, and hoping for a sudden need for ferries?
I realize that I'm responding to a question that you asked two freaking years ago, but I was reading the recent posts and noticed it above them, so...
Turtleback Ferry doesn't just have ANY OLD ferries. It has Giant Snapping Turtle Shell Ferries. Why is that important?
Giant Gar live in Claybottom Lake, including the irascible Ol' Pinkeye. Giant gar can eat just about anything that lives in the lake, with the exception of adult giant snapping turtles (the young giant snapping turtles grow up in the safety of the Shimmerglens). The giant gar don't bother giant snapping turtles (or their shells) so you can safely cross the lake in those. Trying to cross in any boat smaller than a Giant Snapping Turtle (GST) might get you attacked by a giant gar. Thus, unlike most lakes, there are no fishermen in canoes or rowboats or anything. Only a large boat like a repurposed barge (the Paradise) would be safe on Claybottom Lake. Even locals might take the ferry instead of tramping all the way down to Pendaka (given that one side of the lake's shore is swampy, and the other borders a forest which is regarded as haunted/werewolf-infested/crawling with bugbears.
Thus, unless you want to walk all the way to Pendaka or hike up to the old bridge crossing the Skull River, you pay to use one of the ferries to get across the lake. The ferries aren't super-busy, but they have basically guaranteed business so long as it isn't prohibitively expensive to use them (then, people would walk around). It's basically a giant gar enforced monopoly.
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[I'm afraid that's specifically why I don't use the Critical Hit deck. I own it, but:
(a) Any deck that says, "Use this against the monsters, but not against the players" is right out in my world. If I can't do it to the PCs, it's not legal in my mind.
(b) It has too many, "The critter dies" cards.
Which is why it goes both ways in my game. Only one player complains, and he's the newest one. Everybody else likes it, especially since we use both Crit Hit AND Crit Fumble, for both sides.
EDIT: Though the Diety's Wrath is cool, and could come into significant play later. Imagine being in the Scribbler's Lair (module 5) when the Scribbler receives explicit orders to make sure that particular PC never makes it out alive. Last I heard, fighters have terrible Will saves...
I like the way you think. And it will be fun. Glory is good, but glory you pay for later is EVEN BETTER!
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I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer about the floodgates at Skull Crossing. Now....I'm no architect..and I have no idea how floodgates are supposed to work...but one thing I can't wrap my head around is how opening the floodgates is really supposed to help Turtleback Ferry at all.
The one rip in the dam caused a huge flood that almost wiped the town off the map....if you read the descriptions, look at the pictures etc....that hole in the damn is releasing far less water than activating the five mouths across the front of the dam. Now....I realize that not opening the gates will mean the dam will eventually fail and the whole valley will get flooded. However, isn't that what's going to effectively happen anyway?
If you open those gates won't you be releasing even more water out all at once 100% ensuring that what little remains standing of Turtleback will forever be lost? It just seems to me that opening the gates effectively accomplishes little if anything. Where the deep is a huge lake...in all honestly if the dam were to collapse the Stanos forest and Ashwood would become a swamp...however, Illurian, Biston and Whistledown are effectively too far away....the river waters will flood there surely...but it's so far away most of the water should disperse out into the forest. I simply don't see the big picture reasoning for trying to save the dam since Turtleback Ferry is already effectively lost.
Now before anyone says "what about saving Bitter Hollow or Pendaka"...there's no way Turtleback Ferry gets flooded and demolished without the same happening to those two towns almost simultaneously. They're way, wayyy too close to Claybottom (Pendaka in particular) not to have been already affected. Now...I'm all for doing the "good deed"...but I have a feeling my players are just going to look at me and say "why"....and I don't have a good answer for them in this case. Can anyone help?
I know this was posted 2+ months ago but the dam situation puzzled me too and perhaps how I reasoned it out will help others. The module is not really all that clear on the underlying mechanics (I only have the AE version.)
As long as the water level behind (or upriver from) the dam is at or below (conceptual) level C, the dam holds, the world is a happy place, people can run gambling barges, court nymphs in the forest and do unspeakable things with their ogrekin offspring.
If the water level gets to level B and stays there long enough <DM discretion on duration> the dam will catastrophically fail, producing tsunami-like obliteration for hundreds if not thousands of square miles down river. The remedy for this situation is to activate the floodgates which do not instantly release all the water to go back to level C but instead vent water slowly over days within the tolerance of downstream rivers, streams and lakes - downstream experience would be akin to seasonal high water marks or light flooding and not 30 or 40 foot walls of water. Keep in mind the dam failure is produced by several days, more likely weeks of sustained pressure so the floodgates will work if activated in time.
What really confused me was the flood surge that starts and then stops bringing limited destruction to Turtleferry. If that happened, why isn't the dam failing? My explanation - water has risen to even higher level A and <unnamed events> have damaged the very top of the dam, creating a one time surge of water downstream as the level goes back from A to B. The dam is still under threat of failure. The PC's have a few coincident elements of motivation. 1) the safest place to be if the dam fails will be in the mountains as perpendicular to the water flow as possible - safe that is for them. Given what lives there, it's just a slow death for the local residents opposed to a quick one. 2) Depending upon what's up at the dam, there isn't time to evacuate all the folk in Turtleferry plus all the other at risk communities so someone had better get up to that dam and figure out what's going on.
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Actually, don't forget. The region flooded and then was receding. What happened was a surge of water caused from a partial failure of the dam. A more gradual release of water will not cause the entire town to flood. There may be minor flooding, but nothing compared to what would happen if the entire dam broke.
It may be that there is a repair mechanism as well and by empowering it with lifeforce, the dam starts fixing itself. This is Thassilonian magitech, after all.
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I had read that originally the encounter at the Paradise was cut due to length and that Nick Logue later re-purposed it as Spider's End for his Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure. I decided that having Lucrecia appear as an afterthought at Fort Rannick was anti-climactic, considering my party had traipsed across the breadth of Varisia to find her. So, presented below is the revised Paradise encounter -- before being sunk. (This is still a work in progress -- but I thought I would post what I have created so far for the general amusement of all.)
Welcome to the Queen of Paradise!
The Queen of Paradise is Lucrecia’s lair upon Claybottom Lake at Turtleback Ferry. It is a large riverboat that cruises Claybottom Lake from a moorage at Turtleback Ferry and up and down the Skull River to the village of Ilsurian.
The Queen of Paradise is a 140 ft. long, triple-decked stern-wheel paddle boat. The main deck consists of an “engine room”, 8 small berths, a galley, food stores, and a dining/drinking hall. The upper deck consists of a large gambling hall, 10 berths, and an aft dinging/drinking hall. The uppermost deck houses steering, captain’s cabin, and a large executive berth (Lucrecia’s chambers) aft. The lower deck contains numerous small berths, crew’s quarters, stores, and the lower portion of the engine room.
Glowing lanterns the shape of serpent’s eyes hang from stanchions and posts along the outside decks, flickering through all hours of the night. During the day, the Queen is quieter, yet the place never truly sleeps. Here is a place that caters to the vices and base needs of central Varisia at all hours.
The Queen of Paradise, serves as the stronghold of Lucrecia and the administrative center of her entire operation. All of the crew aboard the Queen are thoroughly dominated by Lucrecia and within her thrall. Lucrecia operates the Paradise as her private domain and none vouchsafes her control. The staff of the Queen are unnaturally welcoming of newcomers and the games seem uncharacteristically rigged in favor of the patrons. The guards will be suspicious of the PCs, but still intent on introducing them to the vices the Queen has to offer.
Among the services Lucretia offers to her renters is security. She employs a dozen human Enforcers (Fighter 4/Rogue 3), all of whom started their careers as mercenaries, soldiers, or sailors but lost their jobs due to laziness, theft, or incompetence. Once they come to work for Lucrecia, though, they learn quickly the value of remaining alert and sober while on the job—those who disappoint are never seen again.
The enforcers bunk in hammocks on the lower deck. Once a week, an enforcer gets a day of shore leave, but never more than two guards at a time—at any one time, there are 12 enforcers onboard, ready to respond to an alarm. Of these, six patrol the decks, two receive visitors from the shore, and four sleep in their hammocks.
Three giant gars prowl the waters beneath the Queen. They are trained to heed Lucrecia’s call if summoned, but mostly just interested in anything that falls into the water.
Down in the muck dwells Black Tongue, a prodigious giant snapping turtle. The gars know to stay out of his way. But Lucrecia has a special bell she rings to summon Black Tongue to supper.
The sound of carousing booms from the elegantly painted ship. A gangplank provides access to the forward part of the main deck. Attached above the bow is a canvas sign painted in gaudy colors announcing “The Queen of Paradise—Your Just Reward by Royal Decree”. A smaller wooden sign under it points aft: “Ghordozo’s—Wines, Spirits, & Gourmet Viands!”
Trappers, traders, travelers, drunkards, and prostitutes carouse amid the two decks, seemingly oblivious to the weather or time of day. Here and there, large men dressed in bright burgundy cloaks patrol the decks, with blackwood longbows in hand they are grim faces in a sea of revelry.
Apart from being propositioned by whores or accidentally shoved by drunkards, the PCs should have little problem exploring this area unless they attempt to sneak into the uppermost deck.
Port, starboard, and aft doors provide entrance to the “engine room”. This chamber consists of a large “boiler” with an access hatch, a head & piston, and a shaft (connected to the flywheel below) and a ladder leading down below decks.
The boiler consists of two chambers. An upper high-pressure steam chamber connected to a piston. And a lower "burn" chamber occupied by an enthralled captive fire elemental. Water is suction fed from a tank fore of the lower deck to replenish the upper chamber.
Several drunkards, sailors, and revelers dance and drink in the open area to the aft of the Queen. Along the starboard bulkhead is a long blackwood bar behind which hangs a carved wooden sign, “Ghordozo’s”. Forward of the bar, a pass-through window provides access to the kitchen, where the masters of Ghordozo’s engage in the alchemy of mixology and gastronomy. The masters are two dark-skinned human brothers wrapped in red veils—these are twin Vudrans named Anpugit (N male human expert 6) and Rajeek (CN male human expert 4/rogue 3), entrepreneurs, traders, and chefs always looking for new delicacies and delectable to add to their offerings. Of the two, Anpugit is the more garrulous—he does most of the talking while Rajeek quietly hangs back and tends his creations.
Two stairs provide access to more private seating on the aft end of the upper deck. Here also there is a view over the stern of the Queen. Forward of Ghordozo’s, a thick burgundy curtains provides access to the Corridor of Sighs and beyond that the Smoking Jinn Passage.
A thick burgundy curtain shields this corridor running from Ghordozo’s forward to the “engine room”. Small, tight berths line the corridor – each curtained by a thick maroon drape. They contain little more than simple post bed with a straw-stuffed mattress and perhaps a couple of blanket. Above the entrance to each alcove is a red paper lantern – the air is thick with incense. The scent of anise, rosewater, and cinnamon pour forth from smoking bronze braziers hanging from the ceiling. Several scantily-clad men and women loiter in front of the alcoves indicating their availability.
The Corridor of Sighs is overseen by a madam named Halvara (CN female half-elf expert 7). A patron talks Halvara, pays and pays a 5gp fee to wander the corridor, seeking any of the men and women who work here until he finds one who strikes his fancy. The two retire to an alcove for 15 minutes of low-cost bliss. Halvara herself has been known to personally entertain wealthier customers (she charges 100 gp for her time, though). Rumor holds that she is Lucrecia’s sometimes lover—whether or not this is true, the rumor is enough and few patrons ever even think about causing trouble here.
At the forward end of the Corridor of Sighs is a doorway to the engine room and a stair leading below to the Smoking Jinn Passage.
A fine wooden stair provides access to the upper deck of the Queen of Paradise. From above the raucous sound of laughter and periodic roars of victory sound. The Paradise Room is a gambling hall. The forward upper deck contains tables packed with gamblers, drinkers, and carousers—dice clatter, cards are dealt, wheels spin, and coins aplenty dance and jangle to the fickle whim of fate. An enforcer is always found patrolling here, though fights are rare. Anyone causing trouble is cautioned by one of several Handmaidens. Persistent troublemakers are typically thrown over the side, and on lucky nights they don’t have to worry about the inhabitants of the dark waters of Claybottom Lake.
A small, neat white sign on the aft bulkhead announces “White Owl Passage—clean linens at cheap rates.”
A simple yet elegant stair leads upward to the uppermost deck (containing the wheelhouse and executive suite). Aft of the Paradise Room stretches the White Owl Passage that links to the upper level of Ghordozo’s.
A passage runs fore and aft centerline of the upper deck. Small private berths line the passage. Here, those whose endurance has been taxed by the wild cavorts of the Queen can retreat to sleep it off. The rates are good, only 4 sp/night, but the beds are lumpy and cramped – and mostly clean. Still, with Lucrecia’s presence, nights spent here are relatively safe. A lisping gnome named Tugginswardgil (CN male gnome expert 3/rogue 8) presides over the berthing. Tugginswardgil is a wall-eyed character with a crumpled hat, patchy beard, an extensive collection of keys (most of which he has no idea what they open), and a very, very sharp knife.
A sign depicting a leering smoky jinni points the way below decks.
A long, low ceiling passage runs the length of the lower deck. There are several small rooms containing padded bunks and couches. Thick, pungent smoke assails the nose below decks. Glossy-eyed patrons loll about and mewl, their minds burning with shiver, pesh, qat, flayleaf, and other exotic drugs. A skinny, short human named Bezzeraty (CN male human expert 3) wanders languidly about the smoky rooms, wheeling a large hookah to and fro on a cart and muttering “Get smoked!” at anyone who enters. Many people mistake 3-foot-tall Bezzeraty for a gnome or halfling, an error sure to incite his shrieking anger and bring several enforcers running. Likewise, he starts shrieking if visitors don’t pay him the 5 gp entrance fee to enjoy his wares.
Anyone who spends at least a minute in this smoke-filled area must make a DC 14 Fortitude save to avoid taking 1d4 points of Wisdom damage; each hour, a new saving throw is required. When a patron passes out completely, Bezzeraty rifles through the patron’s pockets to find gold to pay for his troubles, and if successful he calls upon a Paradise enforcer to drag the unconscious body to a berth above.
This large room (aft of the wheelhouse) has been converted into a throne room of sorts. The walls are thick with brilliant and beautiful tapestries from Tian Xia and Vudra depicting sensuous and erotic displays—with an emphasis on nagas, serpent-folk, and other ophidian creatures. Numerous large wicker baskets line the walls. Fragrant smoke rises from a censor in one corner.
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Why, exactly, does Turtleback Ferry have ferries?
For my part I am eliminating the road that runs along the eastern shore of Claybottom Lake and the bridge across the Skull River (just north of TBF).
The giant turtle-back ferries ply the Lake from Turtleback Ferry to Pendaka and across the Skull River (to a point that is mid-way between the current crossing and the bridge).
CJ
What are people's experiences with Kaven Windstrike trying to slip away? I'm trying to get an idea how to handle this next session since last one ended with them rescuing the Black Arrows.
It probably depends on how your group uses the Black Arrows. I've a sizable group already (4 players, 1 GMPC, and 2 Cohorts) and they've also got Shalelu tagging along (and I added Orik to the Black Arrows). So needless to say the extra five NPCs would make most fights difficult (I'm going to suggest diversionary attacks using said NPCs and maybe the cohorts, so the primary five can sneak in).
While my group saw the tattoo and know about its effect, he managed the most masterful of bluffs (both he and the cleric rolled 19s for Bluff vs. Sense Motive, but he had more points in Bluff than she did in Sense Motive - the player KNOWS he's lying but they can't do a thing. Currently).
Still, once the group encounters Lucrecia, I'm planning on having the list left behind with Kaven's name underlined. The Cleric memorized Sending. I'm betting a message would be sent out to the Cohorts about Kaven's treachery and they'll return to find him beheaded by the other Black Arrows.