First off, new to the forum due to some recommendations around-about while researching during pre-game prep... this is my third attempt to run Savage Tide, following two failed Neverwinter Nights adaptations (couldn't manage to keep a group past Parrot Island) I've decided to try going the Play-By-Post route. Got a bunch of good roleplayers with a good-looking roster of characters - two Monks (one planning on multiclassing into Cleric), a Hexblade, a Binder, a Beguiler, a Rogue/Swash, and one as of yet undecided. Expect to see them popping up in the Glories/Obits threads as the storyline advances in the near future. ;)
So onto the real subject: two of the eight players in the PbP are also members of my normal, offline PnP group, and thus are likely to still have "fond memories" of Bastion of Broken Souls... so with another storyline heavily featuring Big D, I was strongly considering having Ammet and/or the Cathezar pop up somewhere in the later chapters. My question is where might be the best place to have them make an appearance? Doing it mostly for excitement and the "WTF!? Factor" for the players who have encountered the pair in prior campaigns [which may or may not be limited to the two I've DMed for before, considering BoBS has been around for a while ;) ]. Thoughts?
Two good places for either of these two memorable characters would be: Divided's Ire in Into the Maw (probably as prisoners belonging to different factions and out to get eachother still) or in the Wells of Darkness (which is the best fit for Ammet).
Since the Cathezar most likely lost the favor of her demonic patron in Bastion of Broken Souls she could also appear as an agent of Orcus in Enemies of My Enemy or even as a minion of Iggwilv or one of Malcanthet's lovers. In fact, the Malcanthet connection could be used to place the Cathezar anywhere that Malcanthet wants to insure her plans are followed.
Don't leave out Nurn. He could pop up just about anywhere in or after Into the Maw. He could even fight right at Demogorgon's side in the final fight or he could be with one of his aspects (probably Bagromar).
Ah yes, I hadn't forgotten about Nurn at all - in fact, he's been advanced a bit past his base 5 levels of Rogue. :) It'll be a blast to RP him again... I always played Nurn as very suave and well-spoken, it blew my players' minds when they found out what he was. I believe the exact quote was, "Waitasecond, Mr. Please allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste is a freakin' SLAAD?" If I toss him out with the Aspects he'll probably do the whole "Ah *&#%@, dying here" -Teleport- schtick until the grande finale, or until someone gets lucky. ;)
When I ran BoBS, Cath and Ammet teamed up after the party killed Ashardalon, then proceeded to lay into Big D's hench-demons in the area (convenient plot excuse for the PCs and Nurn slipping away to retreat unharmed, they were pretty thrashed after Ash). So I kind of figured they'd still be partnered, with Ammet wanting to carve out his own little Abyssal kingdom and Cathezar serving as his general. However I like the idea of Ammet in the Wells (if for no other reason than it gives my players a new custom Vestige to create, a pasttime that's become common among my group) - got in a little over his head I'd wager. Plus, I don't know if lore says anything about the two of them after that... BoBS simply stated that if Cathezar lived that long she'd offer her services to Ammet, and the two of them would poof off to the Abyss.
I definitely like the idea of Cath showing up to fight against Demogorgon in the last battle, that'll certainly seem like a role reversal, and might give me a chance to replay the big Nurn v. Cath fight I threw into the end of BoBS for dramatic battle purposes. :D
I went back and reread some of these issues and the more I think about it the more I believe that Ammet and the Cathezar would really liven up Wells of Darkness (which many posters have found to be a little lite in the action department).
Motivation is easy to introduce: they could be rivals who also want Shami-Amorae free for their own purposes. They could be seeking to set free some other demon prince or lord who opposes Demogorgon. Or they could be seeking to make their own deal for souls with Ahazu.
Obviously Nurn would be there to stop them. Maybe the ever practical Nurn sees Hethradiah's attempt to become one full entity as a horrible mistake on par with Aamuel's plans in Bastion of Broken Souls. Perhaps Nurn is a double agent now working for Aamuel to disrupt Hethradiah's plans.
Nurn: One-Slaad two-headed demon lord management crew for hire.
I love it. Thanks a ton. Now for the daunting task of converting those two into 3.5 (Nurn was easy, just take the MM Slaad and level it up; Cath and Ammet are slightly trickier due to templates.)
Good Eeeeeevening.
The time has nearly come for me to make my debut, yeeeessss. I do recommend that the curious and the intrigued keep a wary eye on this location for further updates as the time grows ever closer. I assure you that you will not be disappointed, nnnnoooo.
As it is the erstwhile Miss Vanderboren has already done me the courtesy of providing mundane transport to the location in question, all in exchange for a pittance of monetary support from an enigmatic noble of uncertain heraldry... that would be yours truly, of course. Little does she know of the events soon to come to pass, set in motion by yet that same hand - and how convenient, her little pet project has been sent scampering north in search of their floundering vessel and crew like a child seeking a missing animal.
Yeeesssss. This pleasant coincidence leaves her little Farshore so woefully under-protected....
I fondly remember Cathezar when she grappled my poor druid....happily I was very resourcefull and grappling a spectre is very difficul:)))
In the end I don't remember how she died but the Balor she summoned stayed only two rounds, hard to survive blinded...
and the Slaad who went in a gem after being a bit too curious with our wizard:))))
My ancestor wounded Ashardalon and the dice said (stange no?) I killed him with my scimitar after a very long fight....
Anmet was the Balor in the dragon? or is it the other one who wants to discuss?
I agree they were great NPC.
Yes, Ammet was the balor serving as Ash's heart, now a half-red dragon.
Ok, he died too.... the whip was terrible but after a miracle from the cleric of the sun we were immune and he had to run...but we were faster :))
Your DM forgot about his Plane Shift SLA I take it....
Your DM forgot about his Plane Shift SLA I take it....
Mmmmm....may be but this DM rarely forget anything, I don't remember the details but we won :)))
Maybe a little off topic and probably too late for Orthos, but........
...Nurn would make a great Avner.
Maybe a little off topic and probably too late for Orthos, but........
...Nurn would make a great Avner.
Someone did bring it up, and I toyed with the idea for a while. Have Nurn be Avner, or have Avner be possessed by a Guecubu or some other form of demon at Nurn's order, or something else to make Avner much more evil and sinister than just simply an annoying womanizing noble. I ended up liking him as he was written too much, and left him as is.
In my campaign, Lavinia got two financiers for the trip to Farshore - the Meravanchis, represented by Avner, and Mr. Nurn, a foreign nobleman. The party, through a convoluted series of events, ended up on a third ship they had acquired and made it to Farshore fine on their own, but the Sea Wyvern still crashed, so after being hinted as to the crew's whereabouts via Divination the party set off into the heart of the Isle of Dread to find the Wyvern crew and colonists.
In the meantime Farshore was woefully under-protected since the "adventurers" were gone, so Nurn sent word to the Crimson Fleet (via Correspond, Nurn in my game is Gestalt 5 Rogue/5 Lord of Silence|10 Psion on top of his Death Slaad HD) who then sent word to the Rat's End pirates to lay waste to Farshore and "kidnap" Nurn while the adventurers were occupied elsewhere. They got back just in time to save the village and learn from Lavinia that the "foreign nobleman" got dragged off by pirates.
He'll be back for the big showdown at the end of Chapter 5, but won't stick around for the fight; it'll be some time before the players will get a chance to take him on, and they probably will for a long time still think he's human.
Do allow me to tell my own stories from here on, yeeessss?
Another good point to bring in Nurn would be in Serpents of Scuttlecove. Nurn could easily take the place of any one of the Jade Ravens.
How wonderfully twisted. Of course proper measures will have to be taken if the adventuresome types have the appropriate countermeasures, yeeesssss. However, if they are not expecting to deal with shapechangers, I do not see why they would consider it valid to have need of the spells that would foil such things....
Thankfully I have eyes in the proper places. Appropriately prepared Psicrystals are wonderful things. Yeeeesssss.
Well rubbish. It seems the lot of them went well out of their way to subvert expectations and chased down my ship full of fellow captives after I had excused myself from the vessel. Thanks to their inability to keep their mouths closed, these so-called heroes are now well aware of my treason.
Oh well. No matter, they would have discovered it when I arrived with the Crimson Fleet in two months, yeeessss; there is little they can do to interrupt my other plans while they busy themselves about their precious little colony making their preparations. I only lose the shocked and surprised looks on their faces, an assorted lot of slaves, and a crew full of useless thugs who could not even defend a single ship against an attack. Most of the slaves would have been of little use to me anyway, and would have probably been swallowed up by the Fleet. In exchange, though, those shocked expressions will be replaced with rage and hatred at my daring to return. It will be a great pity that it is not my place to deliver the killing blow myself.
Still, annoying. I shall have to make a point of tracking down and exterminating those who spoke too freely during the attack and dealing with them personally, yeeesssss. But, one must keep one's priorities in order. Miss Vanderboren is preparing to send her buffoons inland to search for aid from the local tribes and resources from the island, while the rest of the ants bustle about to fortify their defenseless little hamlet.
Why can the Fleet vessels not move more swiftly? Blasted mortal limitations! I grow impatient!
I had everything perfectly arranged. Sufficient forces, tactical foreknowledge, even otherworldly assistance in the form of three well-acquainted Vrocks I acquired the services of for this very purpose. Yeeessss. It should have been perfect. I even offered to head the assault myself, but stepped aside so that Vanthus could handle this "personal affair" himself. Very well, he's proved his worth enough to have a chance. With all the preparations I made, this should have been a simple, quick, and efficient assault.
And yet the blasted fools still bungle the entire operation!!
TWO MONTHS!! TWO WASTED MONTHS!!!
Now I am having to deal with cleaning up after the Fleet's mistakes. Ghorvash is breathing down my neck and we've lost yet another of the shadow pearls. And who knows what those pesky adventurers will find on the ships!
Should have just handled the whole thing myself, yeeessss.
I'm really thinking of having Gentleman Nurn appear in my games at some point now. I'm not sure when or how, but I'll look for an opportunity.
For fans of Nurn...it would actually be perfectly reasonable for Nurn to show up and exercise his influence as early as the Sea Wyvern's Wake. When "Father Heres" gets borked by the cultists of the Hopping Prophet maybe he's not the only one. What if Avner, Skald, or even Tavey Nesk becomes host to a special slaad egg implant that allows Nurn to ride along as a passive observer and occasionally act through the host creature?
And I personally think that Nurn would never want either personality of Demogorgon to become the ultimate victor in his inner struggle.
And I personally think that Nurn would never want either personality of Demogorgon to become the ultimate victor in his inner struggle.
My motives are my own. You are, however, free to make assumptions and guesses. Such things amuse me, yeeesssss. Do carry on.
I've always found it interesting that even though Aameul is the subtle and sly personality and Hethradiah is the savage it is suave Nurn that serves Hethradiah and the Cathezar and the second string balor brute squad that serves Aameul.
I think that Nurn serves Nurn and that Nurn is happy with things just the way they are.
I think that Nurn serves Nurn and that Nurn is happy with things just the way they are.
You are wise and rather clever. I think I like you, yeeessss.
So whatever happened in this campaign?
Two things, really. The original party got up to The Lightless Depths, then due to various IRL things the campaign first stalled then fell apart. There was after that a long hiatus from gaming, involving several people moving around - one player moved back to Alaska, one to Colorado, one got shipped all over the place being in the military and is currently in Germany, two moved back to their hometown, and I ended up cross-countrying to Tennessee.
The party started catching on to Nurn's plans in Tides of Dread after the first pirate attack, then met him face-to-face before the battle with Vanthus at the end of the chapter; they did not however ever discern his true nature or intents, and he teleported away to Scuttlecove after leaving his crew and Vanthus to attack Farshore as they'd desired... then get horribly slaughtered by the PCs and Lavinia. (It was something like 6-on-1, and Vanthus only lasted longer than two rounds thanks to delay death - I'd rebuilt him as a Crusader|Oracle Gestalt - and the party piled something around 1000 damage on him before the spell faded and he crumbled to dust.)
However, fear not. I have a new group, one that will be picking up Savage Tide again as soon as we finish our current Kingmaker game (so probably about a year and a half or so, at this rate). To liven it up for the two players who were part of the old game, I'll be crossing ST over with Serpent's Skull, playing up the Yuan-Ti (in place of Serpentfolk, since my homebrew setting uses the former frequently as antagonists) as the main villains for much of the story alongside Vanthus and tying Ysdersius to the Prince of Demons in some way (I have yet to work that out, but I'm hardly pressed for time).
That happened to my last homebrew and my group never recovered despite some aborted attempts and now I'm living in the ass end of Nowhere and don't know anyone.
I'm playing via Skype and MapTool so the lack of fellow gamers in the immediate vicinity is not quite as big an issue =)