Hi everyone,
Quick question. For those of you that have rounded off DL and are heading into TotSE, how are you making this transition?
I ask because, according to the hardcover, the PCs should have a chance to rest and re-equip post DL, but I think this would tend to ratchet down the tension of the story. Also, I want to use DD's Battle of Redgorge mod. Clearly, I would like to barrel from the end of DL right in TotSE, without having to convince my players of Kauraphon's good intentions.
My thought at the moment is to use my player's rampant addiction to loot to my advantage. They will find the (apparently) dead body of a half-fiend in the desert at the end of DL, and as soon as they touch it (for looting purposes), they are transported instantly to Occipitus. They awake in a rather dazed state to find that the supposedly dead half-fiend is in fact very much alive and impatient to get started, and continually refers to the dream haunted character as Lord so-and-so.
I am very much looking forward to play Kauraphon as a grumpy curmudgeon.
So, to summarize:
Do the players need a break at the end of DL?
Has anyone been able to use the DD's Redgorge mod while following along with the book instructions?
Thanks,
Olodrin
My players insisted on going back to Cauldron for rest and supplies before travelling to the Abyss. Kaurophon reluctantly gave into their demands. In order to get home, the Strider PC in the party contacted Meerthan via telepathic bond, and convinced him to Scry, then Greater Teleport everyone to Cauldron. They were able to spend one evening gathering their belongings together, and making any last-minute purchases of rations, potions, or magic items. In the morning, Kaurophon plane-shifted them directly from Cauldron to Occipitus.
Mostly, I depended on Kaurophon's arguments to convince the PCs that not only do they WANT to go to Occipitus for treasure reasons, but they NEED to go in order to stop Adimarchus (who is haunting a PC's dreams on an almost nightly basis). Time is of the essence because other parties might get to the tests first.
I think it makes sense for Kaurophon to spend an entire evening conversing with the party before asking them to make a decision in the morning. The spell weaver vault makes a great place for this introduction... it's suitably creepy and isolated.
Hi everyone,
So, to summarize:Do the players need a break at the end of DL?
Has anyone been able to use the DD's Redgorge mod while following along with the book instructions?Thanks,
Olodrin
My players headed off to Sasserine to level and spend up while Korophan was forced to wait for a week impatiently. The party contacted the Chisel about the Seige who said that they had secretly sent the Honest Minstril to meet with the Lord Mayor who, after hearing him out, assured the Chisel that he would stop the Invasion until the situation could be better investigated.
Of course when they return the party find the Half Orc armies marching towards Redgorge and the Chisel tell the party that the Lord Mayor has gone missing...
How I handled it in any event
Delvesdeep
Do the players need a break at the end of DL?
Has anyone been able to use the DD's Redgorge mod while following along with the book instructions?
I use Delvesdeep's Redgorge Seige mod but backleveled it to prior to the Smoking Eye (DD's original is after). When my party got a wild hair to leave Redgorge beseiged and return to Cauldron to "get to the bottom of things," I had Kaurophon intercept them on the road and insist they head to Occipitus NOW. They had donated a lot of minor league stuff to the Chisel, but were not terribly depleted otherwise. The four-day trek from arrival at Occipitus to the Cathedral of Feathers gave them time to rest and reprepare spells. They have not had any problem so far. I'm using the mini adventure on RPGenius for the trek to the Cathedral of Feathers, too.
Oh, I also put a nice demonslaying sword in the Field of Cysts, so it works out well for completing DD's mod. They will have good weapons against tarari'i before the demons attack Redgorge.
Treppa
Everything in the SCAP is about good citizens attempting to do right by there town. Until you get to the Test.
I tried to Foreshadow the test threw the Dream haunted trait but the player didn't get the message to the rest of the group.
So I temporarily replaced K with a PC that had died. He showed up and was all like "I died and now I need your help."
I sweetened the deal with the idea that the Cathedral of Feathers dialated time to enable crafting to happen more quickly. (Some of my players were claiming the need for 3 months down time.)
They went with him to 507 but after getting lost and beaten on by wondering monsters they began to suspect that this friend was not the same as he was before.
About the time they got to the cathedral they were ready to ditch their friend and head home, That's when I brought in K to be their charming tour guide. we shall see if they stay of go home. I don't look forward to running Soul Pillars with a group of level 10's.
I tried to foreshadow the madness that infests Cauldron by having madmen and women walking the streets. I would also recommend you add plenty of rumors of the increasing occurrence of madness and maybe the disappearance of madmen from the streets. Add an asylum under the temple of Wee Jas were the mad are kidnapped and hidden away. The CW's don't want people to know how big the problem is.
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I knew my players would never go along with Kaurophon as written, so I changed the Starry Mirror to dump the players out onto Occipitus instead of into the ancient vault. In addition, the Alek on the other end wasn't Alek, but rather was Kaurophon himself. The players realized that Alek wasn't acting exactly normal during the trip through Occipitus. I had used Alek quite a bit previously so this NPC was familiar to the PC's already.
My players took the "last words" from Nidrama via Alek very much to heart. I had the army marching on Redgorge, so they had a ticking clock. Nabthataron had pretty much cleaned their clocks even with Alakast, and there's the voice of Nidrama telling them that if they go back they're dooming Cauldron and that they should trust the smoking eye.
And there's a guy standing there with a big smoking eye on his tunic.
They decided to rest the night, and Kaurophon actually encouraged it, as Occipitus is a dangerous place. Going back to Sasserine was right out, as they had the army bearing down on Redgorge.
Hi all,
After much debate, worry and SCAP board advice, my party wrapped up DL this afternoon. As many of you know, i was very worried that my players wouldn't go along with Kaurophon under any circumstances, but a solution that worked, oddly, was to have K show up about 6 rounds into the fight, and start chasing around the player with the Haunted trait (ie the one having all those nightmares, thanks DD), referring to him as LORD so-and-so.
Kaurophon was urbane, polite, even engaging. He explained that he was one of the keepers of Occipitus, and that the player was one of the chosen of Adimarchus.
When my paranoid necromancer said "What does this have to do with anything?!", Kaurophon took the high road, talking about how it would be good to keep the essence of a piece of Celestia from being gobbled up by the Abyss, etc, then threw in a line about there being a lot of goodies still lying around; that clinched it.
Anyway, to make a long story short, my boys headed back to Cauldron to sell treasure and re-equip as K urged them on, and are headed to the 507th layer of the Abyss next Saturday morning, starting at 10.
So, many thanks to everyone for the great advice!
Olodrin
Anyway, to make a long story short, my boys headed back to Cauldron to sell treasure and re-equip as K urged them on, and are headed to the 507th layer of the Abyss next Saturday morning, starting at 10.
I hope things went well this weekend. I've been wrestling with this chapter for a while, trying to figure out how to handle it. I considered grouping it with the final one after the Cagewrights plot is "resolved", and I thought about putting it after the Siege of Redgorge.
I've finally decided to allow the characters to "find" the adventure on their own. My characters will have a cleric of travel with Plane Shift after the Siege, and the mage who has been getting dreams will be given all the clues needed to travel there.
I know this leaves a LOT in the player's hands. I feel comfortable enough doing this, and it being a "side-trek" will be of their own choice rather than being railroaded. It will build character and party unity as they start to unravel the nightmares the mage is having.
If the characters don't do anything, I will have it as part of their plane hopping for the final chapter. It will act as a good lead up, delving in the history and following the footsteps of the creature they need to pursue.
I've finally decided to allow the characters to "find" the adventure on their own. My characters will have a cleric of travel with Plane Shift after the Siege, and the mage who has been getting dreams will be given all the clues needed to travel there.
More time has passed, and my group has just returned from Bhal-Hamatugn. I've been working on story elements, and through brainstorming have come up with an interesting idea. I grabbed the Weapons of Legacy versions of Alakast and Crescentia (Spellmason's sword) that were posted from other campaigns. Alakast will be where it is in the adventure. Crescentia lodged itself in the rock in the bottom of the Demonskar near Vaprak's Voice.
One of the powers of the sword is that it has a stream of sparks that come off of it when wielded by someone with the blood of Spellmason. The sparks will "lubricate" the sword out of the stone, allowing the PC with the Scion of Spellmason trait to retrieve it when others have failed. Should make for a spectacular scene.
Here is the interesting part. After both Alakast and Crescentia are retrieved, if ever the two of them come in contact with one another, the wielder(s) will suddenly get a vision of the giant skull in Occipitus. The reason is this: the staff striking the sword produces the note needed to travel to Occipitus. So instead of a tuning fork for the Plane Shift spell, we have the legendary items getting them to where they need to go.
Glad you are using Cresentia section8. :)
Do you have all its other powers? If not I can post them up for you.
Nice addtion with the vision.
Delvesdeep
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Instead of having Kaurophon come to the party, I intend to have them come to Kaurophon. I've been dropping the names Adimarchus, Smoking Eye, Occipitus and a bunch of other hints almost since Chapter 1. While searching the Bluecrater library they found someone had written in the margins of many of the books they were looking at. From that library they received a list of people who MIGHT have been using those books over the course of the last 16 years, one of the names was Kaurophon.
Later in Sasserine they did similar library searches and found even more information about Occipitus, and more scribblings in the margins. Since Sasserine is ruled by a lawful empire they kept very good records of who looks at what books (just in case some dangerous wizard is trying to look up dangerous secrets) they had excellent records showing that Kaurophon could be the only person that has checked out all of those tomes.
Finally, when fighting "The Sons of Adam" (a campaign specific group in my campaign)the party found journal entries claiming that 'The Prophet' was helped in his early work by a helpful man called Kaurophon. Also Zenith made a final prediction that said they will only suceed in their mission if they follow the two-faced one (who they think is the last laugh, but whom they will recognize when they see Kaurophon's deformity).
At this point the party is very desperate to find him and with enough time they'll locate him. This is all happening before Demonskar Legacy begins.
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Instead of having Kaurophon come to the party, I intend to have them come to Kaurophon. I've been dropping the names Adimarchus, Smoking Eye, Occipitus and a bunch of other hints almost since Chapter 1. While searching the Bluecrater library they found someone had written in the margins of many of the books they were looking at. From that library they received a list of people who MIGHT have been using those books over the course of the last 16 years, one of the names was Kaurophon.
Later in Sasserine they did similar library searches and found even more information about Occipitus, and more scribblings in the margins. Since Sasserine is ruled by a lawful empire they kept very good records of who looks at what books (just in case some dangerous wizard is trying to look up dangerous secrets) they had excellent records showing that Kaurophon could be the only person that has checked out all of those tomes.
Finally, when fighting "The Sons of Adam" (a campaign specific group in my campaign)the party found journal entries claiming that 'The Prophet' was helped in his early work by a helpful man called Kaurophon. Also Zenith made a final prediction that said they will only suceed in their mission if they follow the two-faced one (who they think is the last laugh, but whom they will recognize when they see Kaurophon's deformity).
At this point the party is very desperate to find him and with enough time they'll locate him. This is all happening before Demonskar Legacy begins.
I love that. One of the problems I've been dreading down the line is how to get the PC's to agree to follow Kaurophon when he arrives out of nowhere, especially with so much going on in Cauldron at that point. I was planning seeding some dreams referencing Occipitus in and hoping that they would bite at that, but foreshadowing Kaurophon in that way is much better. Great work, Sean!
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As someone had previously suggested: the best way IMO for a DM to ensure players are going to go to Occipitus and go along with Karauphon without a bunch of downtime in between - is to have the starry mirror teleport them to Occipitus - instead of emergin in the desert.
The combat with Nabathtoron then happens on the Abyss.
I considered doing this, but thought that my groundwork that I had laid all along with the foreshadowing and hinting about the "Smoking Eye", and Nidrama's words when she visited them, would be enough to convince them to want to go - added to the fact that I am planning to use DDs assault on Redgorge idea - AFTER TotSE; and the PCs were on a time limit- Skellerang to assault Redgorge in 12 days - so they needed to go to Occipitus NOW and quickly get back to aid the town.
I was kinda glad I didn't do the "automatic" transport to the Abyss - as one character actually died fighting Nabathatoron, and so the PCs teleported to Redgorge to get him raised. Maavu is able to procure just about anything you need....in this case a scroll of raise dead. :-) (the party cleric is multi-classed and was only 8th level cleric at the time)
Robert
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So I thought I would update everyone at how I'm introducing the Big K in my campaign. My campaign is currently on hiatus for the summer, we've been emailing around our long-term plans and other downtime stuff. As it stands they just finished Gallery of Evil, a Paizo-made module, before we ended for the summer. Gallery of Evil involves a retired wizard who paints strange a bizzare landscapes and creatures that he has seen in his years travelling the planes. I incorporated this into the story by giving him the Dreamhaunted trait and having him paint images that were familar to the party member with the same trait.
The story of the module went mostly as written except that there were a number of paintings they found in the house which prophesized coming events. After they captured him they questioned him through email and I answered their questions. One particular question I'll share with you so it can seen how Kaurophon was worked in...
"But also, I seem to recall that Imron was very uncomfortable when he was asked about either Adimarchus or Cagewrights or Orbius or something like that related to all the big bad stuff that our erstwhile allies serving Fharlanghn are tracking. Once we get the painting info and plot info, Imron's fate is open to debate."
"OK, next I'd like to know from Imron why he was scared of our questioning in the first place. As I recall, he started getting squirrelly when we started asking about the eye symbol and I think Adimarchus or Occipitus or something like that. He became evasive and closed. "
After a series of questions about his knowledge of those terms you basically learn the following:
·He has never heard of the term "Cagewrights" or "Orbius". You believe him to be truthful.
·He is really hesitant when bring up Occipitus and Adimarchus but he finally cracks due to the charm effect you have on him.
He explains that quite a long time ago he and his traveling companions were tracking a man who had stolen several relics from a museum on the Imperial continent. They came very close to capturing him when they found his hiding place but the man did something completely unexpected and completed some type of ritual using the relics he stole disappearing in a blaze of black smoke. Attempts to locate him in the area failed and Imron and Co. thought he had escaped them.
After a week of reading the notes the man had left behind in his haste, Imron realized that the man had used a type of plane shift using a small black statue as a focus. The statue had shattered in the process and it seemed like much of the stone had been consumed, but Imron believed he and his allies could repeat the ritual and perhaps follow the man. He explains that he deeply regrets what came next, but he and his friends were young and impetuous.
Imron made the preparations and as he completed the incantations the remaining pieces of stone began to burn producing a dark black smoke and suddenly all of them had gone someplace new, someplace completely alien to their senses…he would only later find out the name of the place, Occipitus. He describes a freakish alien plain seemingly made out of the flesh and bone of some massive creature, vast grasslands made of human hair, forests of tentacles and giant rising bones, and in the center of this place a mountainous skull half buried in the fleshy ground, a single eye belching out flames that rise into a burning sky. The first "night" in this place Imron had an uneasily sleep, dreaming of horrible things that made him scream out in fear. Every night the nightmares became worse.
They spent a month tracking their quarry through this Abyssal layer before they gave up the hunt. They found signs that the man had been places, but were never able to catch up with him. Imron suspected the man was using magics to fool and hinder them and became quite paranoid as time passed, eventually suspecting wrong-doing from his own traveling companions. They all soon realized that the plane was having an unfortunate effect on each of them and used a plane shift scroll to leave the place. In the end they accepted their failure and decided that they would not be able to catch the man if he was even still alive. He said the man was very good at hiding himself and had many aliases that they ended up discovering in their pursuit of him…Calados, Yervin, Orand, Kaurophon, Welsh, Jalophen, and so on.
Since leaving Occipitus he still has nightmares from time to time. Many of his paintings are the contents of these disturbing dreams.
As for Adimarchus, Imron saw many decaying and ruined monuments to the Demon Lord while moving about Occipitus, and he looked up the name after they returned to the material plane.
Great work Sean! I like the way you tied in the Gallery of Evil plot with the SCAP plot and were able to smoothly infuse some foreshadowing and adventure hooks neatly in the adventure.
Well done
Delvesdeep
Just spun this with my own players, and it got a little tense there. Due to undergear issues, I actually had Kaurophon join the PCs in the battle with Nabthatoron (he actually bought them a round to prepare when he yelled at them to "get out of the chamber, he's coming!"), where he primarily buffed the party and did what he could to keep them in the game, rather than take the spotlight himself. (Trying to show his usefullness, and not his raw power.)
The knight appreciated haste, and the tripping monk wielding Alakast loved the scroll of enlarge person I had K use on him. (If Kaurophon is watching them via scrying enough to know their fighting styles, he would prepare accordingly to "make himself look good".) When Nab did reverse gravity, Kaurophon used telekinesis and dimension door to pull people out of the hover effect.
In the end, Nabthatoron was slain and Alek was saved! After a suitably creepy end to Nab (wherein a giant shadow spread out from under his body, and a great eight fingered, two thumbed hand covered in hundreds of clawed human-sized hands grabbed Nabthatoron body from below and pulled just the flesh down into the shadow, a wet scream coming from the glabrezu's dead throat and his still wet bones lying on the sand as the shadow dissapeared) Alek passed out from the strain and shock of the battle. Nidrama's voice echoed from him, saying to the PCs that they had done well, better than even she had hoped. For their bravery, she would return the paladin to the temple of St. Cuthbert and ensure that the invasion of Redgorge was stopped. But she also warned the PCs that a great evil festering in Cauldron had finally taken note of their strength and accomplishments, and was preparing to destroy them should they return. And while the PCs may be able to withstand the assault, those they cared about might not be so capable or fortunate, for such evil is more than willing to harm the weak if it serves its purpose. Instead, they should seek out and trust in the power of the smoking eye, which would help them right the wrongs plaguing Cauldron. After that, Alek's body dissapears in a shimmer of light, leaving behind a single white feather (which the monk picked up).
So the PCs are now right ticked, and wanted to go back into Cauldron with all guns blazing. If it weren't Nidrama warning them, they might have done just that, but even the chaotic bard respected the angel enough to restrain herself. So when Kaurophon asked them to accompany him to Occipitus, they were rather uninterested, until they noticed his Smoking Eye symbol. They pretty much pumped him for every bit of info the Hardcover gives and more, and made a lot of knowledge checks to verify what was told to them.
They then agreed to go on the condition that he teleport them to Redgorge (I figured a scroll of teleport was a fair trade for one of his scrolls of plane shift, especially since only one person in the party could use the Plane Shift scroll. Besides, Kaurophon would need them at their best, and it doesn't make sense that he wouldn't be capable of taking them to a place where they could "refuel"). At Redgorge, they spoke with the Chisel, sent several couriers and a few sending spells to their various contacts and freinds throughout Cauldron, and began preparing to go to Occipitus. Mavau, out of gratitude, rode with them to Sasserine to see about securing the more expensive items they wanted with his contacts and favors owed. Jenya performed a few divinations and sent them the results, along with some potions and scrolls and the reward for Alek's return, via hound archon planar ally. I'm also having Kaurophon loan (although the loan will likely become permanent, as you might guess) them some items that he picked up for them already (this is to both draw them in more to his schemes, and to correct some serious sub-standard gear issues). I'm thinking a horned helm for the knight, a badge of valor for the bard, and so forth.
The main thing I have to say regarding this transition: don't railroad the PCs too much. Give them an option, especially with the wanting to purchase gear. Make it seem later like the events in Occipitus happen the way they do because of the PCs choice. I'm going to play up that while the succubus is stymied at the first test, the rakshasa made it past because of the time the PCs took. But yeah, avoid the "You can't go back to Cauldron, you must go to Occipitus, and you must do it now" path. That way lies madness.....and ticked off players.
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Great work Sean! I like the way you tied in the Gallery of Evil plot with the SCAP plot and were able to smoothly infuse some foreshadowing and adventure hooks neatly in the adventure.
Well done
Delvesdeep
Interesting that I'm using the same module as a side plot too.
IMC, Imron is a street peddler artist that paint portraits. VERY life like artist.
In fact the paiting captures a piece of the persons essence and one viewing it seems to get a feeling congruent with how the person in the picture feels and with the right concentration (if you know to try) could read the persons thoughts pictured in the painting.
Vhalantru knew this and hired him to be in the city to do this. He now has paintings of many of the people in the city. He is the lover of one of the PCs and has a picture of that PC in his house; so he uses it to 'keep tabs' on that character and the PCs progress and is essentially spying on the other dignitaries that can afford such a painting.
Another aspect of this is that this artist makes art objects too - not just paintings.
One of the objects he made was a gift Vhalantru purchased for his love-interest PC (my wife's character - the cleric); which is a snowglobe. That is where Celeste is trapped - in the snow-globe.
the PCs will eventually learn this - have to travel in to the snow globe to free her, and will learn that the artist will be more than he seems to be - and then it will dawn on them that all these people in the city is in trouble. I'm not quite sure (yet) what is in the snow-globe and what I'll use as a side-trek in there - but I'm looking forward to it - kinda a "trip to Narnia" type of deal.
One of the neat side-plots that has come about by this - is there is an NPC girl in the city who is a psuedo-love interest by a couple of the PCs - they keep trying to date her. Her little brother was one of those who was hired by the Last Laugh to attack the half-orcs during the Tax Riot. He was killed by the half-orcs during the riot.
One of the PCs who is attracted to this girl, paid the painter to paint a picture of him through his descriptions and he gave it to her as a present to remind her of him. He can't quite understand why when he looks at the portrait he feels cold and alone......
I haven't quite decided what will happen to the hot young sister when the painter decides to activate the latent magic (or if he will). I'm thinking like a cliche' horror movie thing where the spirits taunt you from beyond the grave to entice and seduce you into joining them....perhaps she'll get all withdrawn and sullen the more she spends in front of the picture till finally one day they find that she has hung herself in front of it.....and the painting has changed to have a picture of her in it as well standing behind her brother.....
I watch too many horror movies, I think.
Robert