Tto save you the time, in short what happened is that they only entered the first two rooms of Kraken’s Cove and almost had a TPK. They returned to Sasserine and I couldn’t very well just drop the whole adventure while they lick their wounds. So I ran the mod as written, they were able to free Lavinia and the ending went ok.
The problem is that they never went any deeper into Kraken’s Cove, they never met Harliss and they never got any of the info, XP or treasure they were meant to find.
Now, being reasonable, I think that they have missed their chance. The savages will tear each other apart and, if Harliss survives at all she will be long gone before the PCs return.
how badly did they screw themselves on this one in terms of the story? if its just XP and treasure it shouldn’t be a big deal, I would like them to meet Harliss though.
is there a reasonable way to keep Harliss around so they can meet her?
Here is a long winded version of what happened originally posted in the Savage Tide Obituaries
WTF!? Why isn't this working? ---> [sblock] I usually don’t write these, but after last night’s chaotic session I had to tell someone.
There are two players in the group, we had more but some dropped out, so last week they went into the thief’s guild with 5, the two players each had 2 PCs, one with a bard and a fighter, the other with a ranger and a rogue, and me with an NPC wizard. all of these characters were PCs at one time or another, but their players are gone and we still have the character sheets.
Anyway, they totally dominated the guild, so I told them they should be able to get along with just one PC and I will keep the wizard around for magic and such.
So we went to Kraken’s Cove. I ran the ranger as an NPC and the players had a rogue and a bard.
They came to shore north of Kraken’s Cove and walked through the forest, the ranger got everyone lost a few miles east of the cove, it actually took 3 days for them to find the place. They met a Grey Render in the forest, it was pretty friendly, helped them fight off a pack of hungry wolves, but it wouldn’t go close to the cove.
They took care of the monkeys easily enough (cause I forgot their damage reduction) then they headed down to the walkway. As soon as the three of them were on it, it started shaking so they all ran for it, then it collapsed. They all grabbed onto the rocks and the rogue made a great climb check to get over to the beach.
Now at this point they have already noticed the burning boat heading their way. The bard and ranger made terrible climb checks and fell into the water. They swam under the wreckage and made it to shore eventually.
Meanwhile, the rogue was on the beach so he started going through all the crates and such, where he found some savage pirates. He fought a little, but he doesn’t have a weapon that can beat that DR so he tumbled away and drank a potion of Invisibility. Then he began to explore some of the caves, making noises and attracting the attention of another 3 savage pirates and a savage dinosaur.
He returned to the beach to find the bard and ranger fighting the pirates. From there they fought their way into the caves, the rogue was playing with the dino, trying to ride it and capture it.
At one point there were some Savage Pirates in one room feasting on the corpses already there (they had made really bad listen checks) so the rogue made a bluff check to tell everyone to be quiet. The ranger had taken some intelligence damage, so I was just playing him in character with bad judgment when he (with one hit point left mind you) placed himself right in the intersection of the two caves near the beach exit and announced loudly that he would stay here and watch their backs as they explored the caves.
The two savage pirates looked up from their meal and charged. The ranger lasted a few more rounds, he made it to the beach, but eventually they got him and made a meal of him (L, he was my all time favorite Driz’zt clone…. But there shall be another).
Meanwhile, inside the rogue was now trying to hide form the dino, hoping to make the most of his sneak attack, they got through about half of it’s hit points. the rogue leaped from his hiding place and attacked, hoping to get sneak attack damage and what not. His missed, the dino then made a full attack and the rogue was disemboweled before he hit the ground.
The bard, after seeing the death of his ranger friend, went in search of the rogue. He got into the room and had to come pretty close to get a good look of the dino eating the rogue, he made a move silently check and the dino didn’t notice him, so he escaped, made it back to the Sea Wyvern where he met up with the NPC Wizard (who is also an Aventi).
That’s pretty much the bulk of the story, the player of the rogue then made a ninja who’s backstory is that he is an assassin hunting the rogue who just died. That story hook is working for now but I don't know what he plans to do if and when they actually find the rogue’s body.
They never even got to meet Captain Javell, the bard and wizard together went back to Sasserine and had to deal with the pollywogs by themselves, not having any idea what was going on either, in fact they were confused when I started drawing out a layout of the house, “we just wanted to go talk to her, we’re not attacking!”
I had the ninja join when they got in a fight with at the parade, he was pretty kickass in that fight.
(we play long sessions, I think this one was about 11 hours long, with breaks of course)
next they went about freeing Lavinia and the jade ravens and all the other NPCs that aren’t currently in use. the bard and wizard were in a bad way so they holed up in the library while the ninja went sneaking around the house.
He found the dogs and fed them the flesh of a dead badger he found in the atrium, then he put them on leashes and let them lead him through the house. They would sniff out some frog men, he would go invisible and let them do their thing, when he found a frog they couldn’t do much to he would step in with a katana. The whole scenario was pretty badass. he cleared out the first floor and went down to the basement, where he found a sorceress and some other bad guys. After taking care of them they rested for 8 hours and woke up at 2am. then they found the bard and wizard who were also done resting, and they went and cleared out the rest of the bad guys.
As much as this AP went way off track in this session, it actually kinda ended right where it should, except that now they haven’t met Harliss Javell and they haven’t collected all the XP and treasure that is laying around Kraken’s Cove, I suppose next week we shall see what happens there.
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The ST Ap is hard enough to run with 4 characters, let alone 2 and a NPC Wizard.
I would recommend they go with Gestalt Characters or play 2 PC's each.
The PC's could always meet Harliss through other means such as she comes to Sasserine asking around about her First Mate, whom the PC's probably killed.
They could find out this women is asking about them and she could tell them about what happened at the cove as an example to keep the plot going.
The ST Ap is hard enough to run with 4 characters, let alone 2 and a NPC Wizard.
I would recommend they go with Gestalt Characters or play 2 PC's each.
The PC's could always meet Harliss through other means such as she comes to Sasserine asking around about her First Mate, whom the PC's probably killed.
They could find out this women is asking about them and she could tell them about what happened at the cove as an example to keep the plot going.
that is a good idea, thanks
I really wish we could just go back and redo it with the full 5 member party, they probably would have survived, but that is one thing you don't do in D&D, at least not among my circle.I forgot to mention how the bard (who took scribe scroll at 3rd level) had one scroll of cure light wounds, the ranger was down to one hit point and asked the bard if he had any magic healing, the bard lied and said no, 4 rounds later the ranger was dead.
The PCs got back to Sasserine by taking a row boat off the Sea Wyvern, so what if Harliss did the same?
Might she also notice that another of the boats was missing?
She arrives in Sasserine the day after the PCs and begins looking for her first mate. She would probably come sniffing around Vanderboren Manor. I never really gave much thought to body disposal, but considering Lavinia’s status and the fact that she has been missing for a few days, I think she can get everything sorted out.
I think Harliss is savvy enough to know something is up. She heads back to Shadowshore and asks around, no one has seen her first mate. After a while she assumes the worst.
So she doesn’t know what has happened to her first mate, doesn’t know about what happened at the house (given the low magic setting, I think they would want to cover up the fact that frog monsters were able to invade the city, or at least keep it as quiet as possible).
Once she gives up all hope she will begin trying to put a new crew together. She will spend a week gathering up sailors from the Shadowshore district, perhaps putting out a rumor that the PCs might pick up. That the Crimson Fleet is in town and hiring.
Once she has at least 6 more sailors she acquires a second row boat and head for the Sea Wyvern. All together, I will say that from the day she arrives in town to the day she sets sail with the Sea Wyvern two weeks will pass. Lavinia is studying for a week and then comes to the PCs and informs them of Farshore, then they begin preparations for their voyage, which will take a week. So they will be heading for the ship at the same time and there is no way they will be able to defeat Harliss Javell in a sword fight, so they will have to outsmart her.