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In this coming session my group will head out to Turtleback Ferry. Depending on the game and the players involved, I usually just pass the time with a "lucasfilm wipe" and they arrive. But not this campaign! So far it's been all about the details, and 7 days on a river, or 9 on horseback or 20 walking doesn't have to be tracked each day (*yawn*). But I would like to make the trip seem like it takes some time with a few encounters.
I already have decided the party come across a campfire currently inhabited by a smoke haunt (# 3 p 81) with one or two dead, cold hunters laying around it. That'll be neat.
They are going by a forest of gnomes, and would like some encounter involving them.
How did you handle the trip to turtleback ferry for your players?
-DM Jeff
My PCs went by boat. We had brief roleplaying interludes in Whistledown (the three halfing PCs really enjoyed being in a town designed for their size) and in Ilsurian, where the PCs heard the first rumors about Paradise and its sinking.
I ran a scene on the Skull River where the mules pulling the PCs' barge upriver balked, because they smelled a dead body washed up along the bank. The PCs examined him and found a Sihedron mark, from which they deduced *everything* about Lucrezia's plan--I was amazed.
I also had some non-combat run-ins with displaced wildlife, to make the point that the predators were being run out out of the area by the ogres. I didn't run it, but I was considering an aquatic ghoul encounter in one of the lakes, or some of those drowned-sailor zombies.
I think a fun Whistletop encounter would be to have a gnome try to sell or give the PCs something hot--say, an item stolen from Sanos Forest whose fairie owner wants it back. If the PCs take it, they will be dogged by its owner. If they don't, the would-be seller may try planting it on their boat (if they are on a boat) or may otherwise cause them trouble.
Mary
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We're going by Riverboat, and along the way there's going to be a big-stakes Three Dragon Ante game (ala Maverick). Lucrecia is running the thing, and Xanesha is there too in hiding, Xanesha is going to succumb to Wrath over the PCs ruining the Skinsaw Cult and end up destroying the boat after the game, royally pissing Lucrecia off and forcing her to run to Barl's allies.
They are already on the boat and had an OotS inspired Scrag attack =p
Love the idea Coridan!
When we played TSM, the PCs took the journey by boat as well and they met a band of Boggards. Quaaak!
Nice, Mary! I'm definitely using some of those ideas.
I figure I'll also have a Harrow game on the boat, if I have the deck in time.
I'm pondering sketching out three different boats/captains/crews and letting the players decide which boat to take, but I'm not sure that there's actually that much traffic up the river.
Anyone done the work and want to share boats and crew?
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My players went overland and so got to see some of the odd things in the cities along the way.
They came into Nybor on the night of the winter solstice and saw thousands of charrigs making runes and patterns in the lake that even the thassilonian reading wizard couldn't understand.
In Galduria two living spells escaped from the twilight academy which they helped the watch fight off. The next morning all the houses that were damaged had been repaired by the wizards of the academy.
In wolf's ear they were attacked in the night by a band of sczarni wererats and got to meet the werebear sheriff.
I figured it was a fun way to add some flavor to the landscape and make it feel like the world goes on around them
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I didnt do too much for the river journey, but I did have a funny encounter with the druid, in which he overheard two alligators with louisiana accents tailing the barge.
"Jethro, you sure theas eas worth our time?"
"I'm tellin you! Last week, one o' them pink things was tossed off by some other pink thing! fell right in front of me! somethin about a shaved deck, whatever that means. Now, we just play the waitin' game."
My party took a boat - the Osirian Queen, crewed by halflings. It was recommended to them by their Pathfinder contact Lazlo Toth, as his grand-uncle Erasmus is the captain. Aboard, they heard tales of the dangerous Skulltaker Trolls, and how Erasmus would never sail up Skull River, because he was afraid of Black Magga lurking in the Storval Deeps. Along the journey the party sighted, but didn't interact with, a great horned owlbear, taking a drink on the riverside.
I also used this opportunity to introduce a subplot of my own making. The party's hellbred knight, Evangeline Covenant, had been slain in her battle with Xanesha, and had been resurrected - much to the chagrin of the devil who had had her soul, only to have it snatched away from him. So a fiendish assassin was sent after her, one who carved "HELL WANTS YOU BACK, EVANGELINE" into the deck of the ship. Jabber, the party beguiler, managed to convince Erasmus that the carving was the work of Sulik, the party's ultimate magus, whom he sold as a "merry prankster". So Sulik was given the option of being thrown off the boat or row it. He chose rowing.
Due to Evangeline being nervous about being stalked by assassins from hell, she decided it'd be a good idea to get off at the next possible stop to throw off the trail. They disembarked in Whistledown, where the crew was going to be staying for a night of R&R, and the boat's first mate, a hedonistic scoundrel named Porcellio Scaber-Toth, took them to a little place in town to apologize for his cousin/captain's "over-reaction".
The place was Le Menu, an establishment run by an anthropomorphic hog chef named Kaz who, it was said, would "cook anything but a paying customer if you let him". And, it being the winter solstice, Kaz was entertaining a very special guest: a cold rider, who leaves his frozen home every winter to meet with other wicked fey and engage in hunting sapient beings. He was intending to hunt the PCs, after seeing their fine equipment and hearing tales of their prowess, but Sulik managed to convince him that the Sandpoint Devil would make a better quarry.
Due to the prestige of his guest, Kaz prepared a very special menu:
Appetizer: Braized soft-shelled baby giant snapping turtle. The eggs had been traded to him from Turtleback Ferry. Once hatched, they were fed only clotted cream for three weeks, before being drowned in brandy.
1st Course: Dwarf stew with celery root and ground gargoyle horn. Stewing a dwarf tenderizes the meat while still preserving the earthy undertones of the flavor. Gargoyle horn adds a hint of spiciness.
Main Course: Filet of unicorn, served with potato wedges fried in unicorn fat and shredded red cabbage. The cold rider had killed the unicorn himself.
Dessert: Lemon-cranberry sorbet, topped with a candied elf eyeball. Kaz boasted that most of the eyes had been sold to him by abandoned elves desperate for coin.
Porcellus Scaber-Toth and most of the party were horrified. Sulik loved it, and Neimand, the party's hobgoblin bard, stole other people's untouched portions.
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I'm pondering sketching out three different boats/captains/crews and letting the players decide which boat to take, but I'm not sure that there's actually that much traffic up the river.Anyone done the work and want to share boats and crew?
Well I gave them the choice of the Paradise, or the Hindentanic, Paradise being a magically powered riverboat (with the big paddle on the back) and Hindentanic being pulled by donkeys. They almost chose Hindentanic, but time was of the essence, someone's sister is lost in the Kreegwood =p
I love the idea of introducing the boat, the Paradise, to the party before hand.
I had kind of assumed it was a static barge in my mind. But I see no reason for it to be a magic powered river tramp boat, the only boat heading in that direction.
We are several weeks away from this but i am going to start fleshing this part out.
Has any one run this variation with the PC's being the ones who cause the boats destruction?
Also has any one got a decent tramp steamer map?
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My party didn't want to leave Magnimar. It took most of a 4 hour session to get them out of the city without railroading them. Because of this, I pulled a Lucas wipe to get the party to Turtleback.
I fully intend to have the party explore Paradise before it sinks. I was a little disappointed when the adventure indicated they wouldn't get to RP there. I've got a very lawful good party and want to throw temptation into their midst. And if I can, incite a battle that results in the PCs being responsible for the ship sinking and sending all those souls to the runewell.
I likewise agree that this AP demands more input than the fade to black and insta-matic transport to Turtleback Ferry. It's such a long way, I found it interesting to put in an old Dungeon magazine stand-a-lone adventure as well as create a few scripted encounters that tied in to a few cities. I enjoyed how it made the game stretch longer.
DA,
Which Dungeon adventure did you use?
Thanks.
I likewise agree that this AP demands more input than the fade to black and insta-matic transport to Turtleback Ferry. It's such a long way, I found it interesting to put in an old Dungeon magazine stand-a-lone adventure as well as create a few scripted encounters that tied in to a few cities. I enjoyed how it made the game stretch longer.
Here's what I will be using tomorrow:
• 7 day journey
o Recommend they take boat up Yondabakari river to Whistledown (3 days), then 4 days by horseback to Turtleback
o 25 gp/person for the ride, 100 gp/each if they want backup (3 lv 3 fighters)
o Day 1-2 Ahuizotl (CR 6 each)
 Treasure-Bones, a ring of swimming (+5 comp, 2500 gp), and 380 gp
o Day 2-Boggard gang initiation, 15 of them (1050 XP if solo, 656 if got aid)
 Pretend to be friendly, sell trinkets, until flanking, etc
 Treasure-30 small gems worth 10 gp each
o Day 3-Merchant caravan AM, specializing in alchemical + spell augmenting items –see complete mage
o Arrive at whistledown
 Day 4-Semurv appears, pointing out of way direction--Tucked away shrine to Desna, Annabit sees butterfly from # 5, only she can see it, Desna wants her to continue on (unlocks spherewalker)
• Learns Briar web (2) and nature’s favor (2) from spells 1, horrible taste (1) from spells 2
 Day 5-plains, roll random encounter
o Day 6-upon reaching forest-- Mytarlacoraxithryl encounter en route-killed Shalelu’s mom (1680 xp if kill, though fly away at 50 hp)
o Day 7-Roll encounter using Varisian table
• Along way, Shalelu can give info on pgs 9-10