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A few weeks back, the party finally made their way to Scuttlecove. The name had been dropped several times throughout the campaign, but learning that Lavinia might be there was the final bump to get them to go. One of the PCs is a pirate who was betrayed, then killed, by Cold Captain Wyther, and was a co-founder of the Crimson Fleet (before it went to the worship of Demogorgon).
Another PC is a killoren who was from the island of Ruja, a place with (mostly) insanely high cliffs (iirc), which had at one time been assaulted by the Crimson Fleet and Seventh Coil. The killoren were made into slaves by the Seventh Coil, though only one has since survived, namely the PC. The killoren PC was introduced as the raid on Farshore commenced, originally dominated by the yuan-ti, but "miraculously freed" just in time to retaliate against his captors. Thus, this PC had an interest in destroying The Seventh.
Another PC was in love with Liamae, and although he attempted to remain in constant contact with her as they progressed into the jungles of the Isle of Dread and City of Broken Idols, was shocked to learn that he soon did not receive replies back. (He was an acquaintance with Noltus, as well, and knew that when the same happened to him, trouble was up.)
I preceded the adventure with a naval battle, as the PC who was once of the Crimson Fleet wanted to use the caravels still in Farshore to launch an assault. They encountered a band of the Crimson Fleet mutineers already in battle with the Crimson Fleet loyalists. (The loyalists also had a massive warship named the Belcheresk, which the crusader dimension doored under, smashed his way into, and fought of the taskmaster barbarian beating the drums, and the lemorian captain, as the tactical naval battle raged on.) The PCs met the mutineer's leader, a half-fey bard named Avlash Redlegs, whose fey qualities resembled that of a dragonfly. (I made the Black Sprite the ship belonging to the pirate PC back in the day.) He advised the heroes that he would distract any other Crimson Fleet ships defending Sekorvia, and would send coordinates to the PCs regarding the whereabouts of the Wreck when he felt it was safe.
The players recently completed Serpents of Scuttlecove, and it was loads of fun. The backdrop for Scuttlecove and the map were exceedingly useful for the adventure, as it gave the party the incentive to check out areas of the city, rather than just being railroaded into "go here, then go here". In fact, I really enjoyed how flexible this adventure was. The first combat at Red Foam Whaling was challenging to run, but introduced enemies that would permeate the whole adventure.
My only criticisms of the adventure were the placements of maps and stat blocks in correlation to the pertinent information for various rooms, or tactics. Maps were often on different pages, and stat blocks on others. I recommend using those post-it page markers if you've got them, otherwise, you might end up tearing your pages furiously scrambling to check the stats of various creatures involved in the combat (like I did, twice).
The PCs didn't even head to the Minting House, and that's fine as they were already ahead of the curve. It makes for a great optional encounter, by the way. What's funny is that they didn't even talk to Tyralandi until they...er, wrecked the Wreck. Since they used a scroll of discern location to find Liamae, they went to save her, and stumbled into Harliss.
I did use her to introduce the PCs to the Protectorate, now much diminished by the ambush at Red Foam Whaling. A cleric on a mission of atonement from the Dawnhouse in Sasserine, also a surrogate father to the PC who knew Noltus, was there, and introduced him--and the others--to another religious individual, like him, who was on a quest for "atonement"...(Age of Worms spoiler follows)
None other than the former prince Zeech from the city of Alhaster in Redhand was present. This caused much shock in another PC, who was originally an orphan from Alhaster, once nobility in the city, forced to flee and forage for himself after the events at the end of Age of Worms. He had much hatred for Zeech, blaming him for leading Alhaster into destruction, even though he never even met him. This created a wonderful dynamic between the two. Zeech was still the arrogant bastard he was in AoW, but--long story short--has become as scion of law, emphasizing a dual-worship of Heironeous and Hextor. Apologetic to the Alhaster PC, he still belittles the other members of the Protectorate as cowards for not opposing the evils of Scuttlecove openly.
Another guest was an NPC from back in Sasserine, who had been brainwashed back then by Alma Talventa. Now a skilled battle dancer, she came to Alhaster on a vendetta against Kedward Bone (whom she has traced the drug trade in Sasserine to, and is thus responsible for being robbed of her dream of being a dancer, as Alma used these drugs to aid in the brainwashing). Again--long story short--she has assumed a disguise, posing as one of the heroes who ousted the Holy Triad, a devil-hunting assassin named Silverthorne, with the aid of none other than Tyralandi.
Harliss, in some ways adopting the role of leader of the Protectorate, informed the PCs that if they were to strike at the Crimson Fleet, they had better make plans to deal with the other factions in town, as they would surely rouse the others. In other words, the Seventh Coil, the Dealer's Consortium, and the Monks of Dire Hunger. (Interestingly enough, Harliss and "Silverthorne" have shown deference to the Porphyry House, as Tyralandi has greatly helped them both, and the half-fiend nymph stands to profit as a result.)
The battle in the Wreck went splendidly. I decided to shrink the Wreck slightly for the purposes of combat on a large scale. I had the crazies in the gibbets alert the pirates shortly after the combat with the death slaad. From the various huts, pirates emerged, then yuan-ti. Most of the pirates were armed with pistols, including weapon crystals I invented, which allowed for the pistols to magically hold more shots, and thus fire more rounds with a full attack. The mass combat played out over several rounds, topping off when the killoren PC launched fire at the hut with Vzorthys, who emerged quite agitated. (His flash DC was imposing, but the fight went wonderfully, using PC abilities well.)
From there, the party explored the individual ships, and discovered a few more pirates with a level of swordsage thrown on, then the orlath, et al. One of my favorite parts had the party fighting the Seventh at the onset, only to notice Wyther observing in darkness from afar. The ambitious PCs decided to attack him in the middle of the combat, only to find themselves fighting both at once. I gave him a maneuver I invented to make him even more dynamic. (Crimson Slide: as an immediate action, Wyther can dodge a ranged attack, and teleport up to thirty feet, leaving a red streak behind him, and deliver an attack with +2d6 dmg. Also, the foe is denied his Dex bonus to AC.)
Killing Wyther fulfilled the pirate PCs last requisite for unlocking his legacy weapon's greater abilities. (The "weapon" is an Olman ring once used to deliver Tlaloc's Tear into the depths of Golismorga.) Interestingly, the chapel to Demorgorgon afforded a spot for the crusader PC to unlock his last tier of Faithful Avenger's legacy abilites. (I substituted a goristro for the horned devil, as a horned devil makes no sense w/regeneration overcome by silver, and faithful avenger is cold iron. Buh?)
Gotta say, the treasury was amazing. The party was dumbfounded when they tried to get into it. (No breaking through lead-lined walls of force.) The yagnoloth Ghourgos was a great fight, and they were down two PCs, as a couple couldn't make it.
They just completed the sidequest at Kedward's Tower tonight. They first accompanied Silverthorne to Parts is Parts, intimidated Rhemus into providing info as to how to get into the tower via a secret underwater passage into the basement. Doing so, they let two other characters d-door in later. However, as Kedward had a greater anticipate teleport up, they were delayed, and thus alerted the wizard to their presence. The tower had Kedward's simulacrum first snipe them, along with triggering a "drugburst/burning hands" trap, effectively confusing Silverthorne, ironically. A fight with a few hamatulas (who I feel deserve higher CRs than 11) then led to Kedward.
Kedward, in typical villain fashion, revealed his whole drug empire was devoted to aiding in his devil patron, Mammon, and his rise to corrupting the souls of innocents. Kedward didn't last long, even with stone body active (Spell comp), but as he died, he completed the last sacrifical component to summon up a (CR 19) aspect of Mammon.
Mammon--and his bulk in the small tower--caused the whole structure to collapse under his weight, pinning individuals on lower floors beneath him. The crusader had to use a greater divine surge/swift restoration from Faithful Avenger to dish out severe damage to the aspect, who proved resilient, but ultimately capable of being overcome.
Next, they'll get to fight the monks of dire hunger, and their corrupted greater dusk giant barbarian 1/fighter 1 leader...with the aid of...(Age of Worms spoiler)