The map is in error I believe. I added a catwalk that connected the door to C15.I couldn't find this elsewhere so my question is about the donjon.
F7 is a side entrance but the door seems to open into nothing 15-20 ft above the courtyard. Is there a map error?
Yes! Found it as the first sentence in the C15 description
A narrow parapet runs from the guest wing roof above the courtyard to this small side entrance to the donjon.
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I plan to run it that Zev's link is severed when he is destroyed. He's no longer corporeal at that point and will take 2d6 days to reform. Mithrodar can only anchor corporeal undead.
My question is, the party is doing research on breaking the chains. The Chained Spirit entry says that Dispel Evil/Law will work, but the dispel evil/law entries say they won't work on any spell that Dispel Magic can't remove. Dispel Magic won't work on the chains.... so how did you word that conundrum assuming they spoke to any of the reasonable anchors?
Along these lines, is there anything the PCs can do to identify that a creature is a spirit anchor in the first place? Knowledge Arcana is used to identify spell effects in place with a DC of 20+spell level, but Chained Spirit doesn't have a spell level and isn't a spell.
Is there a raw way to identify that a creature is a spirit anchor?
The spirit song tells all. All four are pretty clear once the players meet them.
THE SPIRIT’S SONG
Fate of steel—Serithtial
Her cage for years sustained.
Four enthralled in lost Scarwall;
Undead to keep her chained.
A spirit first, red war his thirst
Still stands at post of old;- - - - Captain Castothrane
A second foe, infernal soul
Waits high in tower cold.- - - - Nihil the Ashbringer
In kennel’s grime, third bides his time
Then vents his killing breath.- - - - Belshallam
And on a stone ’mid ash and bone,
The final dreams of death.- - - - Bishop Zev Ravenka
The spirits worn and battle torn
And locked in their damnation,
The chained one’s hold at last grows old
And ushers in salvation.
Yet hope remains amid the chains
When blade’s stone cage has crumbled,
Friends to dread and death of the dead,
Keys to Kazavon humbled.
Has anyone else given the players any subtle indication of the dimensional anchor effect prior to them attempting to teleport in or out of Scarwall?
Dimensional Anchor usually causes the target to glow emerald green ("Any creature or object struck by the ray is covered with a shimmering emerald field that completely blocks extradimensional travel.")... and I'm debating if I should have a subtle emerald glow cover the characters' skin (perhaps so subtle it would require a Spot check to notice? The Monk's ranks are high enough he almost auto-succeeds).
The other side is that I could make the glow more obvious, and have the "ghostly lights" seen in the windows also be greenish... which may head-fake them into thinking the ghostly glows in the windows that vanish upon inspection are a result of other creatures inside also emanating a green glow...
Thoughts?
As a lover of Ravenloft, I actually want to keep the Mist unique to that setting. But, that does give me the idea to entrap the party another way... Just use the mechanic presented in the Skeletons of Scarwall adventure, and move the soultrapping nature of the haunting up to nearly-immediate.
"Undead creatures and living creatures who enter and remain in Scarwall for a week must make a DC 22 Will save to avoid being bound in the same way [as if by a hedged prison binding spell]."
I think I'll just call for that Will save vs. entrapping the first time any of the party members attempt to leave the castle proper (I plan to leave the Causeway as a partial extension of the castle... I want the PC's to be able to back off of it to save Zellara if she survives the initial "Zellara's Doom" assault, but once one of the PC's is soulbound to the castle, I don't want them to be able to just camp on the far south end of the causeway). So, every time they enter and leave the castle, there is a chance at least one of them gets bound into the Hedged Prison of Scarwall. Then obviously also call for said Will save if they stay in the haunted castle for an entire week.
It sticks to the theme of the castle as presented, matches with information from the Brotherhood of Bones that no previous expeditions into the castle have ever reported back, matches a lot better with the immediate soul-capturing of Zellara, and neatly forces all the wonderful "stuck in a haunted castle at night" tropes.
I don't understand why you'd want to trap PCs in Scarwall for 3 levels. I don't see significant benefits, and I can see plenty of downsides.
I have planned a series of side trips to happen outside of the castle to break up the enormous dungeon crawl. Then again I did a similar thing with Runforge in RotRL. It could just be a group thing, but we're not fans of huge dungeon crawls without diversions.
The most involved of these side trips involves travelling to Nidal, to visit the Cathedral of Embodied Wisdom, where one of Mandravius' gang chose to store their memories on how Mandraivus' defeated Kazavon.
I don't understand why you'd want to trap PCs in Scarwall for 3 levels. I don't see significant benefits, and I can see plenty of downsides.
I'd say the main reason is that some things (like the curse effect of not getting sleep, or the dimensional anchor) can be easily negated by just stepping out of the castle.
The spirit song tells all. All four are pretty clear once the players meet them.
[...]
A spirit first, red war his thirst
Still stands at post of old;- - - - Captain Castothrane
I'd say all are clear once they meet them, except Castrothane. Any of the undead could be standing "at post of old" and the red war thing is more flavor than anything to identify him by. My players are still not sure if that was him. They are, on the other hand, also still debating whether Serithial is a weapon or a person, and I have no idea how that is not clear, so maybe they are the problem.
Also, Mithrodar can chain a new anchor, which they have no way of finding; maybe even two, if they take their time.
I'm hoping they talk to Beshallam or Risibeth, so I can clear up some confusion.
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The spirit song tells all. All four are pretty clear once the players meet them.
[...]
A spirit first, red war his thirst
Still stands at post of old;- - - - Captain CastothraneI'd say all are clear once they meet them, except Castrothane. Any of the undead could be standing "at post of old" and the red war thing is more flavor than anything to identify him by. My players are still not sure if that was him. They are, on the other hand, also still debating whether Serithial is a weapon or a person, and I have no idea how that is not clear, so maybe they are the problem.
Also, Mithrodar can chain a new anchor, which they have no way of finding; maybe even two, if they take their time.
I'm hoping they talk to Beshallam or Risibeth, so I can clear up some confusion.
I admit that Castothrane is a tough one. One of the things I did was when an anchor was killed, the PCs would hear scream that reverberated through out the castle, and feel that the very foundation shuddered for a minute. I also had the characters walking around with this feeling (aura) of oppression and dread. When an anchor was killed they felt a weakening in that aura of dread.
The first anchor my party killed was Castothrane as they decided to fly on to D2a and enter into D1. Two day later Mithrodar chained the fiendish water elemental in F1.
Sadly my party was TPK'd by Nihil. I did come up with a way to continue the adventure path though.
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I don't understand why you'd want to trap PCs in Scarwall for 3 levels. I don't see significant benefits, and I can see plenty of downsides.I'd say the main reason is that some things (like the curse effect of not getting sleep, or the dimensional anchor) can be easily negated by just stepping out of the castle.
This is the same reason I did it.
This is the same reason I did it.I don't understand why you'd want to trap PCs in Scarwall for 3 levels. I don't see significant benefits, and I can see plenty of downsides.I'd say the main reason is that some things (like the curse effect of not getting sleep, or the dimensional anchor) can be easily negated by just stepping out of the castle.
That's the reason I am not going to prevent them leaving. Forcing my PCs to remain in there to try and tough-out the Dread (nightmare) effect seems punitive to me. It depends on how rough you want to be on your group I guess.
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That's the reason I am not going to prevent them leaving. Forcing my PCs to remain in there to try and tough-out the Dread (nightmare) effect seems punitive to me. It depends on how rough you want to be on your group I guess.This is the same reason I did it.I don't understand why you'd want to trap PCs in Scarwall for 3 levels. I don't see significant benefits, and I can see plenty of downsides.I'd say the main reason is that some things (like the curse effect of not getting sleep, or the dimensional anchor) can be easily negated by just stepping out of the castle.
It's not punitive, it makes it challenging.
When I went through this as a player, we would come and go as we pleased. Scarwall was a cake walk. Too easy for what was billed as a big bad horrifying dungeon. The only deaths we had were from Bishop Zev Ravenka, and that was because of two failed saving throws. The rest did not even test us.
Scarwall is supposed to be horrifying. Running so the characters can come and go makes it somewhat of a joke. Of course, this is my humble opinion.
I did set it up so that Laori and Sial could get them resupplied by making them immune to the fog effect, being Zon-Kuthon worshipers and all.
I admit that Castothrane is a tough one. One of the things I did was when an anchor was killed, the PCs would hear scream that reverberated through out the castle, and feel that the very foundation shuddered for a minute. I also had the characters walking around with this feeling (aura) of oppression and dread. When an anchor was killed they felt a weakening in that aura of dread.
[...]
Sadly my party was TPK'd by Nihil. I did come up with a way to continue the adventure path though.
That's a great idea, I wish I knew it before they killed Castrothane. Maybe I'll just retcon it and say they (after killing the next anchor) remember that happened with him, too.
How did you salvage the adventure with the whole party dead? I feel Scarwall is the toughest spot to introduce new party members, let alone a whole party.
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The story of the TPK
Who Nate is
Laori ends up in the torture chamber of Zon-Kuthon. She endures 3 months of pain and in the end convinces Zon-Kuthon to resurrect the party to complete the mission. How did she manage this, she volunteers to be the sacrifice for The Eternal Kiss.
I did not make it so they had to kill Mithrodar, Zon-Kuthon hand waved away his ability to interfere with the party.
Here are some emails sent to the folks that played the characters.
Nate
You find yourself at the beginning of a long tunnel. The tunnel is 20 feet wide and the ceiling is 7 feet high. The walls to your sides and in front of you glow with a low violet light. You can feel something pressing against your body behind you. When you look, it is the wall behind you. You try to move away from it but are unable to make your body work…
A few moments later Carpian appears beside you. You cannot seem to make your mouth work. Carpain appears to try to speak and appears to have the same issue, neither of you can speak.
Sometime later, you have no idea how long, Urixi appears beside you. Urixi tries to speak to you but obviously can’t. You try to say something and again, you are unable.
Of course, you were expecting this, but on the other side of Carpian, Septimus appears. You don’t know how long since Uriixi appeared, but you think it could be days, weeks, maybe months. You can see out of the corner of your eye Septimus trying to speak Carpian, who seems to ignore him.
Carpain
You find yourself at the beginning of a long tunnel. The tunnel is 20 feet wide and the ceiling is 7 feet high. The walls to your sides and in front of you glow with a low violet light. You notice a figure standing beside you, it is Nate. You can feel something pressing against your body behind you. When you look, it is the wall behind you. You try to move away from it but are unable to make your body work…
You want to ask Nate where you are, but you cannot seem to make your mouth work. Nate appears to try to speak and appears to have the same issue, neither of you can speak.
Sometime later, you have no idea how long, Urixi appears on the other side of Nate. Urixi tries to speak but can’t. Nate has the same problem. You are confused by the lack of control over your body.
Quire a long while later, days, weeks, months, you are not sure, but Septimus appears beside you. You don’t even try to look at him, even though, out of the corner of your eye, you can see him trying to speak.
Urixi
You find yourself at the beginning of a long tunnel. The tunnel is 20 feet wide and the ceiling is 7 feet high. The walls to your sides and in front of you glow with a low violet light. You notice a figure standing beside you, it is Nate. On the other side of Nate, you see Carpain. You can feel something pressing against your body behind you. When you look, it is the wall behind you. You try to move away from it but are unable to make your body work…
You want to ask Nate where you are, but you cannot seem to make your mouth work. Nate appears to try to speak and appears to have the same issue, neither of you can speak. Carpain just looks at you with confusion on his face.
You sense more than your see, that another has joined you three. You look as best your can, but you can only surmise that it is Septimus. You once again try to speak but are unable too.
Septimus
You find yourself at the beginning of a long tunnel. The tunnel is 20 feet wide and the ceiling is 7 feet high. The walls to your sides and in front of you glow with a low violet light. You notice a figure standing beside you, it is Carpain. You can feel something pressing against your body behind you. When you look, it is the wall behind you. You try to move away from it but are unable to make your body work…
You want to ask Carian where you are, but you cannot seem to make your mouth work. Carpian appears to not notice you, he does turn to you or acknowledge you in any way. You do notice Nate standing next to Carpain, and there is a person on the far side of Nate that probably is Urixi.
The rest of the story.
At this point they find they can move and are pushed down the tunnel by the wall behind them. They eventually find themselves coming into an arena. In the VIP part of the stands is Zon-Kuthon and beside him is a very abused looking Laori. In the center of the arena is four chest that contained all their gear, except for what Zon-Kuthon wanted. The walls of the arena hangs dozens of head and torsos of those that had gone through the Joy Making.
Being resurrected by Zon-Kuthon, and being touched by his ultimate evil touch, changed them. Each had to make a roll for an alignment shift, either towards evil, towards law, or both. Zon-Kuthon, not convinced they were tough enough to finish the mission, tests them in the arena by having them fight 5 summoned devils (4 Advanced Erinyes and a Gylou). It was a tough fight, but the party won.
Zon-Kuthon allowed them to heal and then transported them to the Sacred Lake (H3), where they fought the gugs and then Kleestad. Serithtial was recovered and the party teleported to Magnimar to recover.
I admit that Castothrane is a tough one. One of the things I did was when an anchor was killed, the PCs would hear scream that reverberated through out the castle, and feel that the very foundation shuddered for a minute. I also had the characters walking around with this feeling (aura) of oppression and dread. When an anchor was killed they felt a weakening in that aura of dread.
The first anchor my party killed was Castothrane as they decided to fly on to D2a and enter into D1.
My party has chosen to enter much the same way. After lifting the first portcullis, blocking it open with an immovable rod, then breaking a hole in the barred door, and having the Monk explore the bone-strewn hall beyond for a round or so, they decided to look for another way up, and the Eldritch Disciple cast a Fly spell on the Barbarian, and he followed the Barb up by spider climbing up the wall to D2a.
Everyone else hung out down at the main entrance while those two looked around up on the parapet. When they started breaking through the southwest door into area D1/23, one Gargoyle brute came down to fight them. The Cleric then cast a polymorph spell that turned him into a minor angel for 12 rounds, and flew up with a rope, which he tied to one of the crenelations as the Barb and Warlock/Cleric broke through the door, and Castothrane took a readied attack.
A wonderful split-party fight began, in which DM mercy is was a factor in the Warlock not being damaged to Strength 0. Castothrane is only injured down to 80% health, and that's where we had to end things for the week (playing via Roll 20 has been... interesting... Can't wait for life to get back to normal...)
Excellent idea about the reverberating scream. I think I'll use that this next week (assuming they do succeed in slaying Castothrane).
Very cool. Mine just managed to slay the third anchor, Beshallam. They went through pretty methodically so far, clearing the gatehouse, the lower keep and first floor, the gatehouse and the upper keep and heights, in that order.
They're probably going to enter the Donjon this weekend. So far they had a pretty easy time, the spirit ward only triggered once so far.
I was reading up on the Donjon in prep, and noticed something weird in F10 (the Prelate's encounter).
Magical darkness fills the chamber, preventing illumination levels within from rising above dim light. A daylight spell (or any 4th-level
or higher spell with the light descriptor) nullifies this effect for that spell’s duration, but does not dispel the darkness.
Is this supposed to be darkness or deeper darkness? Can creatures with darkvision see through it?
So sorry if this is already answered somewhere and I am blind but a ctrl+F on the 218 posts before me did find anything.
In the original CotCT Skeletons of Scarwall book, I am having some trouble understanding the map. First, I can't find rooms 21 and 22 anywhere, are they missing or am I just actually blind? Also, there is no doorway leading to the bottom floor of the star tower (room 42) from either the secret door from the prelate's chambers (room 37) or from the roof (room 40) stair case 20 leads to a room with no doors on the second floor and the prelate's chambers lead to a private meeting room with two storage rooms but no doors leading elsewhere.
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Room 21 is the landing at the top of the stairs with double doors leading into room 35.
Room 22 is not labeled but it is the round room marked as T1 (close to room 13).
I am pretty sure there are doors missing on the map to get into room with stair 16. The anniversary edition seems to be missing them too.
That's all I got.
Thanks, that at least helps a little. And yeah I am just blind on 21 at least, and the fact that both 21 and 22 were sealed had me confused that they were both attached to T1 somehow.
Laori ends up in the torture chamber of Zon-Kuthon. She endures 3 months of pain and in the end convinces Zon-Kuthon to resurrect the party to complete the mission. How did she manage this, she volunteers to be the sacrifice for The Eternal Kiss.
This and the patron mechanic in the Curse of Strahd videos by Puffin Forest (youtube) inspired me to come up with some patrons who would resurrect the party - with a caveat. I'm thinking about using the corruption rules from horror adventures to symbolize some boons and drawbacks they gain from being in league with mysterious forces who want them to succeed.
Zon-Kuthon is certainly one of them, I'd use the shadowbound corruption for him.
Runelord Sorshen is another, as she wants the PCs to succeed (as mentioned in the teamster card in Book 6 anniversary ed.). I'd use Aboleth (reskinned) or Vampire for her.
I'm struggling to find more possible patrons though. There are a few contenders, but for most of them, being able to resurrect party members is a bit of a stretch power-wise. Vimanda Arkona would be an option (they killed Glorio), but she might become an antagonist. Lorthract is on Illeosa's side, so he wouldn't work.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Alright folks, the party's Arcanist, after watching the party Paladin get smacked with chains from 30 feet away got within 30 feet of Mithrodar.
The arcanist defensively cast Mirror Image, getting 5 images.
Does Spiritsense see through the Mirrored Images?
This spell creates a number of illusory doubles of you that inhabit your square. These doubles make it difficult for enemies to precisely locate and attack you.
When mirror image is cast, 1d4 images plus one image per three caster levels (maximum eight images total) are created. These images remain in your space and move with you, mimicking your movements, sounds, and actions exactly. Whenever you are attacked or are the target of a spell that requires an attack roll, there is a possibility that the attack targets one of your images instead. If the attack is a hit, roll randomly to see whether the selected target is real or a figment. If it is a figment, the figment is destroyed. If the attack misses by 5 or less, one of your figments is destroyed by the near miss. Area spells affect you normally and do not destroy any of your figments. Spells and effects that do not require an attack roll affect you normally and do not destroy any of your figments. Spells that require a touch attack are harmlessly discharged if used to destroy a figment.
An attacker must be able to see the figments to be fooled. If you are invisible or the attacker is blind, the spell has no effect (although the normal miss chances still apply).
Bolding is my emphasis. Blindsight doesn't list Mirror Image as one of the things it bypasses. It is my belief that it doesn't bypass due to just about all other forms of blindsense being sight or smell based, which a Figment like Mirror Image could mimic. However, Spiritsense says it acts as blindsight, but my understanding is that it is sensing the soul (or absence of soul) of the creatures.
At the time, we had totally missed the last paragraph of the Mirror Image spell, and most (if not all) of my players disagreed with me, so I ruled in their favor to move things along. Luckily for me, the next player's turn killed the last of the spectres and our session came to an end mid-fight. As that happened one of my other players pointed out that last paragraph of Mirror Image, and he reversed his thoughts on how it went down.
This matters, because either Mithrodar didn't hit silly Arcanist at all or Mithrodar drops the silly Arcanist, so the Death Druid has to spend a turn doing breath of life on the Arcanist...when the party is attacking Mithrodar before any of the anchors are taken care of because they let the Night Hag lead them up there (to be fair they're zig-zagging all the way through Scarwall, so...)
Does Spiritsense see through the Mirrored Images?
Since mirror images can be bypassed by being blind (re: last paragraph of the spell description), I've always ruled that blindsight ignores mirror images (just close your eyes...). So since Spirit Sense is 'just as if it had blindsight' I'd have Spirit Sense ignore mirror image.
Mirror image is only a level 2 illusion spell. Expecting it to fool a CR 14 BBEG that can precisely detect all living and undead within 100ft is rather optimistic.
Laori ends up in the torture chamber of Zon-Kuthon. She endures 3 months of pain and in the end convinces Zon-Kuthon to resurrect the party to complete the mission. How did she manage this, she volunteers to be the sacrifice for The Eternal Kiss.This and the patron mechanic in the Curse of Strahd videos by Puffin Forest (youtube) inspired me to come up with some patrons who would resurrect the party - with a caveat. I'm thinking about using the corruption rules from horror adventures to symbolize some boons and drawbacks they gain from being in league with mysterious forces who want them to succeed.
Zon-Kuthon is certainly one of them, I'd use the shadowbound corruption for him.
Runelord Sorshen is another, as she wants the PCs to succeed (as mentioned in the teamster card in Book 6 anniversary ed.). I'd use Aboleth (reskinned) or Vampire for her.
I'm struggling to find more possible patrons though. There are a few contenders, but for most of them, being able to resurrect party members is a bit of a stretch power-wise. Vimanda Arkona would be an option (they killed Glorio), but she might become an antagonist. Lorthract is on Illeosa's side, so he wouldn't work.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
I would like to chime into this part of the conversation to ask if Lorthract is REALLY on Ileosa's side. He's a devil, they're big on the whole "fulfilling the agreement in exact wording, and screwing over you on the interpretation". He's provided a lot of powerful support to her, yes, but I don't know if Lorthract has ever gotten enough detail to flesh out his full motivations in Korvosa. There's several potential reasons why he might decide to hedge his bets by positioning himself as the PCs' patron as well, and letting the mortals sort out who actually wins (positioning the chess board so that everyone is "damned if they do, damned if they don't" - another favorite tactic for devils!). One such reason is he may be concerned that Ileosa becoming a power in her own right will end up drawing too much attention from other major powers, and he'll get noticed in her limelight (as I recall, one of the things that we do know about Lorthract is that he's essentially hiding from the rest of Hell because some of the other Archdevils want to murder him).
And of course, even if he is an actual staunch ally of Ileosa's, one can always tweak things so that he's playing the field in your version of CotCT, if you do want an infernal-flavored patron.
Alternatively, one of the other Archdevils is aware Ileosa has backing from some devils, but knows that it's not "Asmodeus-sanctioned" support, shall we say, and so is acting through the PCs to counter Lorthract's support of Ileosa, even if they don't (yet!) know that it's Lorthract pulling Ileosa's strings. Finding out who is could be a clause in the PCs contract, even!
I would like to chime into this part of the conversation to ask if Lorthract is REALLY on Ileosa's side. He's a devil, they're big on the whole "fulfilling the agreement in exact wording, and screwing over you on the interpretation". He's provided a lot of powerful support to her, yes, but I don't know if Lorthract has ever gotten enough detail to flesh out his full motivations in Korvosa. There's several potential reasons why he might decide to hedge his bets by positioning himself as the PCs' patron as well, and letting the mortals sort out who actually wins (positioning the chess board so that everyone is "damned if they do, damned if they don't" - another favorite tactic for devils!). One such reason is he may be concerned that Ileosa...Laori ends up in the torture chamber of Zon-Kuthon. She endures 3 months of pain and in the end convinces Zon-Kuthon to resurrect the party to complete the mission. How did she manage this, she volunteers to be the sacrifice for The Eternal Kiss.This and the patron mechanic in the Curse of Strahd videos by Puffin Forest (youtube) inspired me to come up with some patrons who would resurrect the party - with a caveat. I'm thinking about using the corruption rules from horror adventures to symbolize some boons and drawbacks they gain from being in league with mysterious forces who want them to succeed.
Zon-Kuthon is certainly one of them, I'd use the shadowbound corruption for him.
Runelord Sorshen is another, as she wants the PCs to succeed (as mentioned in the teamster card in Book 6 anniversary ed.). I'd use Aboleth (reskinned) or Vampire for her.
I'm struggling to find more possible patrons though. There are a few contenders, but for most of them, being able to resurrect party members is a bit of a stretch power-wise. Vimanda Arkona would be an option (they killed Glorio), but she might become an antagonist. Lorthract is on Illeosa's side, so he wouldn't work.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
That's a good point. Lorthract stands to gain all of Korvosa if Illeosa succeeds (although this would probably expose him, and his enemies thing he's dead at the moment). Him trying to play both sides is a cool idea, as well as the infernal enemy. Thanks for the ideas.
That's a good point. Lorthract stands to gain all of Korvosa if Illeosa succeeds (although this would probably expose him, and his enemies thing he's dead at the moment). Him trying to play both sides is a cool idea, as well as the infernal enemy. Thanks for the ideas.I would like to chime into this part of the conversation to ask if Lorthract is REALLY on Ileosa's side. He's a devil, they're big on the whole "fulfilling the agreement in exact wording, and screwing over you on the interpretation". He's provided a lot of powerful support to her, yes, but I don't know if Lorthract has ever gotten enough detail to flesh out his full motivations in Korvosa. There's several potential reasons why he might decide to hedge his bets by positioning himself as the PCs' patron as well, and letting the mortals sort out who actually wins (positioning the chess board so that everyone is "damned if they do, damned if they don't" - another favorite tactic for devils!). One such reason is heLaori ends up in the torture chamber of Zon-Kuthon. She endures 3 months of pain and in the end convinces Zon-Kuthon to resurrect the party to complete the mission. How did she manage this, she volunteers to be the sacrifice for The Eternal Kiss.This and the patron mechanic in the Curse of Strahd videos by Puffin Forest (youtube) inspired me to come up with some patrons who would resurrect the party - with a caveat. I'm thinking about using the corruption rules from horror adventures to symbolize some boons and drawbacks they gain from being in league with mysterious forces who want them to succeed.
Zon-Kuthon is certainly one of them, I'd use the shadowbound corruption for him.
Runelord Sorshen is another, as she wants the PCs to succeed (as mentioned in the teamster card in Book 6 anniversary ed.). I'd use Aboleth (reskinned) or Vampire for her.
I'm struggling to find more possible patrons though. There are a few contenders, but for most of them, being able to resurrect party members is a bit of a stretch power-wise. Vimanda Arkona would be an option (they killed Glorio), but she might become an antagonist. Lorthract is on Illeosa's side, so he wouldn't work.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Also, he gets her soul if she dies. That's a pretty valuable soul all things considered, from her vile evil, likely worth way more than all the regular evil that permeates Korvosa (especially as many people are debatably becoming good as they collectively revolt against her rule).
Personally, while I don't like get out of jail free cards for the entire party in the case of a TPK, I tend to keep stuff similar to this in mind as a "one death for free" card for each PC. One example is how the Church of Zon-Kuthon doesn't really approve of Kazavon's free will in everything he did (as evidence by the Brotherhood of bones wanting to just recover the artifacts and other pieces of lore to Kazavon, but not actually restore Kazavon himself). I have a Dwarf player that is a Tortured Crusader-paladin that was hit by the Leukodaemon in book 2. He was infected past his usual paladin immunities (because it's an actual daemon of disease that was being experimented on to find a way around immunity to disease) and this opened him up to be exposed to the influence of Kazavon, giving him nightmares, flashes of Kazavon attacking him, and inducing him to "excise the infection" from himself, leaving him horrible scarred with each nightmare causing him to slice into his own flesh, ritually in his sleep.
When he came close to dying (unconscious at negative hp), trying to solo Vimanda in book 3, the curse deepened, his wounds actually began to festered and the hundreds of tiny cuts she gave him quickly scarred over like a long infected wound, even after he was healed. I expect him to attempt to be the one to be swallowed by Cindermaw in book 4, and if he fails to get back out, dying inside the creature, the curse will overtake him, shifting him to undead, giving him an "evil" version of most of his abilities, and the template Plague Beast template (mainly for its bite, infection (changed to Bubonic Plauge, what I decided would be the "upgraded blood veil"), and charisma boost so as a dwarf he isn't suddenly the lowest HP member of the party instead of the highest HP member). Zon-Kuthon has gifted the party member the infection as a tool to overcome Kazavon's Castle, but of course tortured his soul in exchange.
The worm, now having a nasty tasting undead in its mouth, spits out the party member, validating the trial although at a terrible cost. When the party arrives at Scarwall, the undead character has to struggle against the pull of the Chainspirit, as well as the other curses of the castle, but once the Chainspirit is cleansed and the castle purged of evil, Shelyn will step in (as one of the members of the party is also a cleric of Shelyn). Having redeemed the castle full of undead, she offers the character a chance to return to the living, swapping his Plague Beast template for the Half-Celestial template, and becoming of course not undead anymore, free to return to worshiping Torag or Shelyn if as he chooses. If the player had died or does indeed die earlier or later than expected, he changes at that point instead, but its still written in as his option to die once without totally losing the character.
So I'm getting ready to start Scarwall next week, and I'm a little underwhelmed by the battle on the causeway. Skeletal champions with 17 HP? One empowered fireball from the party's sorcerer and they'll all be dead before they can close, leaving Lashton all by himself and likely severely wounded. I know not every encounter is supposed to be an all-out battle, but this one seems like a cakewalk, or am I missing something here?
I do love the idea of trapping the party inside. However, how would Rope Trick (which the sorcerer has) work within Scarwall, as this seems like an extremely easy workaround for the challenges to resting? Would the Aura of Dread still apply to resting, since Rope Trick is an extradimensional space?
Rope Trick wouldn't work because it's still an extra-dimensional space (the rope would still work for any tricking but the hidey hole wouldn't open).
Lashton is the only scary part of that fight thanks to his skeletal horse that can fly and get free charges every round with fly by attack. This is a hold over from the first iteration of the module where really all the non-room encounters (and there aren't anywhere near as many as there are in the new version) and wandering monsters aren't really a difficult at all but are meant to hint at the terrible and evil presence of the castle. Instead the new version of Scarwall decided to strip away all the spookies and just give you room fight after room fight, all of which are significantly difficult and actually takes away from the haunted atmosphere because almost all of the time is spent fighting what *is* behind the door instead of worrying if this is a door with something behind it.
So what would be the rationale for Rope Trick not working within Scarwall? I don't see anything in the Curse of Scarwall info that would preclude it, other than me having a magic fog/barrier that surrounds Scarwall after they enter block any interdimensional travel both within and out of Scarwall? That then raises the question of whether it would impact abundant step, dimension door, etc. inside as well.?) My Party is pretty OP and a little cocky, so putting them in a situation where they really have to plan carefully and use all their resources to survive does have it's appeal!
Similarly, once they roll over the orcs at the barbican, I'd like to hit them on the chin with the first "real" Scarwall encounter. I will likely buff/replace those skeletal champions so they can survive long enough to actually tie up the fighter-types in melee while Lashton tries to ride down the spellcasters.
Speaking of which, how the heck do you calculate damage for Lashton's lance if he crits while using spirited charge? With spirited charge, his lance does triple damage on a regular hit. Would a crit make that quadruple damage, or would you double the triple damage? Eeeks, that can't be right!
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So what would be the rationale for Rope Trick not working within Scarwall?
Scarwall is covered by unhallow.
Dimensional anchor has been attached to the unhallow.
Dimensional anchor "completely blocks extradimensional travel".
Rope trick allows users to travel to an extradimensional space.
If rope trick allows travel to an extradimensional space and dimensional anchor blocks extradimensional travel, then dimensional anchor blocks rope trick.
-Skeld
Similarly, once they roll over the orcs at the barbican, I'd like to hit them on the chin with the first "real" Scarwall encounter. I will likely buff/replace those skeletal champions so they can survive long enough to actually tie up the fighter-types in melee while Lashton tries to ride down the spellcasters.Speaking of which, how the heck do you calculate damage for Lashton's lance if he crits while using spirited charge? With spirited charge, his lance does triple damage on a regular hit. Would a crit make that quadruple damage, or would you double the triple damage? Eeeks, that can't be right!
You could have the Gargoyles/Banshee also spot them on the bridge after they clear the skeletons, that would add some extra melee and ranged combat elements to juggle while dealing with a flying, charging skeleton man.
Spirited Charge and Lance Damage is fully multiplied on a crit technically as crit multiplication and charge multiplication are independent so you could wind up dealing x9 damage, but most people just go with making them all add up, so you would deal x5 damage instead. A little more tame if you ask me.
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Personally, while I don't like get out of jail free cards for the entire party in the case of a TPK, I tend to keep stuff similar to this in mind as a "one death for free" card for each PC.
It wasn't really a free get of jail card, it came with a price.
First was the alignment change. Every character's alignment shift one to the left, and one down, driving them closer to lawful evil (they rolled poorly). Unbeknownst to them, it left them marked and detectable as evil, even if they weren't. I called it the "the taint of great evil is upon you". It was like a lingering evil that will never go away. The only one not effected by this "taint" and the alignment shift was the cleric of Desna, whom I allowed a will saving throw DC 25 (to represent Desna's influence and protection), to which he rolled a 27.
Secondly, I have a house rule where all characters can be brought back from the dead a number of times, equal to a d4 plus constitution modifier. Death as to have some meaning. This resurrection by Zon-Kuthon claimed all the raises they had left. The next death was permanent.
It was actually priceless the look on their faces when they got the message, "Zon-Kuthon is trying to raise you from the dead. Do you accept?"
One of them says, "Wait, don't you mean a priestess of Zon-Kuthon?" (I think he assumed it was Laori)
"Nope" I says, "It is definitely Zon-Kuthhon."
Most of them looked like they had serious case of stomach cramps caused by gas as they, one by one, accepted the resurrection.
Sure but you get my point, a totally free death reversal is very meh, but plot elements can add to the game.
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Sure but you get my point, a totally free death reversal is very meh, but plot elements can add to the game.
I totally get your point. Free death reversal should never be a thing. There should be some sort of price attached to it. An expensive price, and as you said, plot elements.
Sadly Covid 19 has put a lock down on my table top game and we have moved to D&D 5e using Fantasy Grounds. My players are really enjoying it so I am not sure if we will be completing CotCT. They were just about to head into The Sunken Queen. Laori, having a change of heart, in regards to the Eternal Kiss, was going to go along with them in hopes of getting them to save her. Of course, once the crown was secured by the Brotherhood of Bones, Zon-Kuthon was going to whisk Laori away to Xovaikain.
I had a whole adventure planned for after they have finished CotCT to go on a rescue mission to save her, which was going in involve an extra-planar adventure to Xovaikain.
Of course, if the Queen wins none of that will happen.
Maybe we will get to play it, maybe not.
I had a run through go on Haitus for 4 months and we picked it back up just like that as soon as everyone could resume because of how much they were enjoying it. Hopefully you can do the same. Good luck and stay healthy.
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Scarwall is covered by unhallow.Dimensional anchor has been attached to the unhallow.
Dimensional anchor "completely blocks extradimensional travel".
Rope trick allows users to travel to an extradimensional space.
If rope trick allows travel to an extradimensional space and dimensional anchor blocks extradimensional travel, then dimensional anchor blocks rope trick.
-Skeld
Nice! Thank you very much!
My Party made it as far as the causeway, and even the fight with Lashton and pumped-up guards wasn't much of a challenge. I expect, however, things to get much more difficult from here on out, as they seem woefully underprepared.
They started the session in Kaer Maga where, despite knowing they were about to venture into a haunted fortress, they did absolutely no research into what types of creatures they might face and purchased absolutely no supplies. They have just what they've found along the way. The cleric doesn't even have holy water! They have little experience with incorporeal creatures so they're in for a bit of a surprise. I do hope Malatrothe is able to lead them up for an early introduction to Mithrodar!
One question about Mithrodar. If he kills a PC, I assume that Scarwall's soultrapping effect takes precedence over the victim being turned into a spectre? Also, regarding the soultrapping, how would the PCs know that they need to cast a Dispel Magic before using Resurrection? Perhaps some sort of Knowledge Religion check? Laori is also with them.
The Mummy Lord, Demilich, and Danse Macabre are gunna be funny to fight, when they kill it and realize they can't destroy them short of Hallow and Consecrate spells.
The soul trapping just binds them to the castle, effectively meaning they are not free to move on to the afterlife or enter any other receptacle (such as a soul gem or their body again). They can still become a specter that is bound to Mithrodar, as that is in fact what the other specters in the room with Mithrodar actually are. They can even become a chained spirit as said specter if he attacks them again after they transform.
They can only learn about the specific need to remove the binding after a failed resurrection attempt, but you are free to hint at the need before hand by saying that they see their spirit become wrenched from their body and it then becomes anchored to the walls of the castle. Alternatively, you could just let them roll religion/spellcraft to realize that magic is binding their soul and dispel magic/evil is necessary.
My party is nearing the end of Skeletons of Scarwall. They just slew the final of the initial four spirit anchors, plus Knurlott, which Mithrodar roped into being a new spirit anchor 24 hours after Castothrane was destroyed. This week they'll try to destroy Mithrodar.
One question about the entry for the Great Hall. On page 38 of the original module, it states:
As long as at least one spirit anchor remains, Mithrodar cannot be slain. As detailed under the chained spirit entry on page 78, the undead menace reforms at full strength in one minute. Fortunately, Mithrodar is bound to this chamber and cannot leave it to pursue fleeing characters.
How hard and fast is this intended to be? Is it merely in reference to the chained spirit's Spectral Bindings ability? That's how I'm reading it. Now that all the spirit anchors are defeated, Mithrodar is free to roam the entire castle, right? (But is still entrapped within Scarwall, as the curse is still in place.)
Or should he still be stuck in the Great Hall? Having him stuck there would make for a more "iconic" final boss battle, I suppose, but I know the party will just wipe the floor with him (they learned their lesson after the hag tricked them into the Great Hall once before; they have buffed with Life's Grace, a Death Ward-like spell that also protects against ability damage/drain from undead attacks... basically he can't do squat to them).
Alternatively, he can now slink incorporeally through the walls of Scarwall, and play a cat and mouse game with the party now, and try to lead them into traps and phasms to gain some sort of advantage over the party.
Thoughts? Now that Mithrodar's spirit anchors are all gone, should he still be confined to the Great Hall? Or should he undertake a cat-and-mouse approach to assaulting the party throughout the castle?
@KSB Snow Owl
Hmmm. I interpreted that as Mithrodar being permanently bound to the great hall, not by the spirit anchors themselves, but by the curse. I view the spirit anchors as him tapping them, and anchoring them, to enhance his power, not as a restriction on him.
That said, I can easily see how you can interpret it either way. When there's no hard and fast rule, my usual approach is to determine what's going to make for a better encounter. Do you want to give them the satisfaction of facing him down in a (relatively) easy encounter after everything they've had to do to weaken him, or would you rather a more desperate, prolonged encounter as Mithrodar and the Party each try to hunt down one another?
I think it also depends on your players' states of mind. If they're just ready to get this over and done with I might be tempted just to move things along, since they still have to recover Serithtial.
@AwesomenessDog
Good points. My players are generally pretty smart and a little OP, so I was a little surprised they dropped the ball on this one. I even specifically asked them before they left Kaer Maga if there was anything else they wanted to do before the journey and they just blew right through it! No complaints here, I'm hoping to knock them down a couple of pegs and put a little fear into them for the first time in a while!
Mithrodar has lifesense to 500ft, he is free from the square he is bound to as soon as the last chain spirit is defeated (but as soon as another is made, he is bound again), and he will seek out the party. He is also a hazard to the rooms surrounding his hall, even when still bound, as he can travel 60ft and make a standard action attack or even charge further with his life sense.
That said, you should probably avoid playing him too cat and mouse, as he is a restless spirit seeking rest, and when he is finally destroyed, he gets this. Maybe have him harry them for a while, but as soon as they start going to fully buff or try to force a battle, have him jump out ahead of what they expected (they still get some buffs, but not all of them) so that he has somewhat of a chance.
Having studied the entire chapter for Scarwall, I'm disappointed there isn't more in the way of traps and puzzles to figure out. As others have noted, it's just one battle after another in almost every room. Any recommendations for trap/puzzle sources that I might be able to work in?
I'm drastically cutting out many encounters and combining others - mostly all the extraneous guards and specters. I moved the trench mist and juju zombies into the gateway, making for a more difficult battle as they fought their way into Scarwall. Fewer big battles are better than a steady diet of seemingly constant smaller ones.
Other encounters I've tried to make creepier, such as the corpse orgy not being an actual battle, just a writhing mass of corpses spread across the hallway that occasionally grabs at them as they pick their way across and unleashes its scream if they move too fast. If they make it to the kitchens, which they've bypassed so far, I'll have spirits come out and try to drag a PC into the ovens.
Anyway, after taking down Mandraivus' spirit, they've decided to head as deep into Scarwall as possible rather than explore every area. When they found the entrance to the Star Tower and connected it with the second entry in Zellara's prophecy, they made a beeline for the door and broke their way in. So, despite initially hoping to find somewhere to rest and recover spells, now they're on a collision course with Zev Ravenka as their first spirit anchor battle. Oh boy!
My general recommendation to everyone is just run the original 3e version with the PF remaster stats. Way less room encounters, plenty of room for your own spooky haunts or to just scare them with roaming encounters, and in general just a less grindy feel.
And yeah, that's a mistake on their part, as the second spirit isn't in the Startower, but the devil in Kazavon's bedroom atop the second tallest tower (tallest not counting the Startower, but she also never said "tallest tower"). Hopefully they'll pick up on the dusty altar being "on a stone 'mid ash and bone", realize it "dreams" and not mess with it, or at least realize it's something else.
Unfortunately, I'm running this on Fantasy Grounds with their module, which is the hardcover version, so I have to cut things down myself.
So the encounter with Ravenka is likely their first potential TPK situation, with at least 1 or more PC deaths pretty likely as they don't have a paladin, are going in blind with absolutely no preparation, somewhat wounded, and with a bunch of spells already used up. They don't even have Death Ward memorized. They have one Resurrection scroll.
How do I run this so they have a fighting chance? Let them make Religion or Arcane Knowledge checks when they enter the room to recognize the skull as a demilich so they have the option of withdrawing and better preparing? Use Laori to warn them she feels something powerful lingering in the room? I don't want to cheapen the deadliness of the encounter, but I also don't want to wipe most or all of the Party.
They can cast Silence, which would block the Wail of the Banshee and Greater Curse abilities (at least until he flies out of range of the spell since they can't cast it on him directly due to his spell immunity), but I believe his supernatural abilities would be unaffected. Otherwise they can keep swinging away and slowly whittle him down, but it's probably going to get ugly!
Generally speaking, you should always be using knowledge checks to let the players identify what a monster/enemy is: there is a list for what each knowledge can tell you about and undead is part of religion. That said, if you play up the hints you are given (double forbidden effect on the room, the fact the door itself is actually sealed with lead, and the general creepiness of a gem encrusted skull even if they don't pass the religion check (which Laori can make too, or you can fudge) they should be "fairly warned".
Wail of the Banshee, as a monster ability, actually pierces silence ("Banshee wails are supernaturally powerful, and penetrate the effect of any spell of 3rd level or lower that creates silence.") and as the only changes the Demilich receives is a halving of the radius, this would still be in effect. The good news is that if you scroll down further on the Banshee, there is a hidden nerf to how most people run Wail: A wail can only damage a player to -1 HP, the wail damage is a "total up to across all targets" and it damages those closest to the Demilich first before moving on once they have hit -1 HP. (Silence also wouldn't affect the other spell like abilities as they don't have components and none of them have sonic components.)
If one or more players does fall, you can play up the wakening effect of the other haunts in the castle to potentially scare them to safety and to actually prepare. They'll still need a dispel evil for each PC on top of any resurrection attempts they wish to make so hopefully Laori or another cleric survived.
Ultimately, I feel that even one, two, or even three characters are killed in this encounter, but you don't deny rest of the party egress from the castle when they try and leave in horror, then they can only be mad at themselves for lack of preparation. You can even use Sial/Laori to chide them or point out that its a complete lack of preparation (or unwillingness to listen to them when they tried to tell them what Scarwall actually was) that has done them in. If you however try to punish them too hard and end up preventing them from being able to leave (chased by shadows as they run through the halls vs being surrounded by them) then they might think you were trying to kill them, and then of course they can't escape to right their wrong.
That's great info, I'll definitely use the nerf for Wail of the Banshee. I might include a Scroll of Resurrection in the Star Tower, which would give them two. Roleplaying the resurrection(s) is also an option. When a PC died back in Chapter 2 we roleplayed the character's journey to the Boneyard for judgement before Pharasma, who resurrected her in exchange for a geas to slay and release Mandraivus' spirit. In the interim, she was cursed to take half of the damage that her in-game twin sister sustained.
I would rather they not leave Scarwall to recuperate, as the idea was to ratchet up the pressure and trap them in there until they defeat the curse. I'll revisit that if necessary, as they haven't attempted to rest or leave yet. I guess it will depend on how bad it gets! But yes, it's a fine line between enforcing consequences for their actions and being punitive.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Kleestad Backstory Quibble:
So the AP says that after Kazavon broke his ankles, Kleestad hid out for several days, then crawled back out, found Serithtial among the corpses, was transformed into a worm, and carried the sword down into the caverns where he still resides. However, by that time, Mandraivus and his crew had already sealed the donjon. So how did Kleestad managed to get into the Star Tower and down to the caverns?
I know it doesn't REALLY matter, but with as hard as it is to get into the donjon, some of my group are likely to ask "Why couldn't we just do what HE did?". They already tried to Passwall through the donjon wall, and I had the spell rebound with Forbiddance damage (our wizard REALLY pressed for just what spell could have caused that, and I just said it must be from a deity). They haven't taken out any of the Chained Spirits yet, and I don't want Zev Ravenka to be the first one they encounter.
There is an entrance to the star tower from the top of the tower that requires you be LE to pass through a phase door. From there, you just wind down a bunch of stair cases until you are at the infinite drop and are in gug territory. I don't know if the creature has a climb speed, but it certainly has the strength check and size to grab onto the sides to try anyway.