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Hello all,
So, through some tricky wordplay and embarassing oil paintings, my comrades have convinced me to run Curse of the Crimson Throne on Monday nights. I'm still a swashbuckling main-character in Rise of the Runelords, but I figure "Hey, I'm a modern, empowered woman of the 48th century. I can manage a duel career as both an adventurer and a goddess."
So, We're about to embark next week. I need to pick up the first adventure and decide whether to use 3.5 or PF. As a whole, we need to round out our group a little, currently only having a definite two members asside from my glorious self (incidentally, if anyone out there is in the Bellevue, Washington area and has Monday nights free, PM me; I'm always happy to bring in new blood).
To start out, can anyone throw out any useful advice for running the game? Any character choices I should limit or NPCs I should make certain the PCs don't kill? I'll be picking up the first adventure tomorrow from my FLGS, and we start the first adventure on Monday.
incidentally, if anyone out there is in the Bellevue, Washington area and has Monday nights free, PM me; I'm always happy to bring in new blood
I recommend repeating this in a thread without spoiler warnings. :D
To answer your actual question, I recommend giving your players an incentive to pick up the Korvosa book. As long as they know not to read the Secrets chapter or the appendix then they should be fine, and I've found that the players who have taken the effort to familiarize themselves with the city are getting a lot more out of the game than those who haven't.
I recommend requiring that your players create characters with ties to Korvosa. The plot hooks in the player's guide sort of take care of this, but it's conceivable to use them and still have a character who doesn't care about the town. I had everyone come up with two local NPCs who were important to them, and then I've tried to incorporate some of those characters into the plot.
These boards are great. I've gotten a lot of wonderful ideas browsing through posts and asking questions. The fact that you're here speaks well for you. :)
I think that a balanced party is important in this game. Also, I've restricted my players to choosing from sources already used by Paizo, and I limit myself to those choices when adding or fleshing out NPCs. If nothing else, this means that my players have no metagaming way of knowing whether they're currently in the midst of the main story or doing a side quest (something that has been an issue before).
In terms of limiting character choices, the other issue I've seen is that this is a rather urban setting, and rural character will be really out of place for more than half of the path. They'll have chances to shine, but in terms of character comfort I think it's awkward. Urban characters are far more likely to have a good social support network (at least at the beginning of the campaign) than rural characters.
If you have a chance to read (or skim) all six before you start then that's a definite plus. The story takes some twists along the way that it's good to know about in advance. For example:
Any specific questions?
As a whole, we need to round out our group a little, currently only having a definite two members asside from my glorious self (incidentally, if anyone out there is in the Bellevue, Washington area and has Monday nights free, PM me; I'm always happy to bring in new blood).
Immora, I might be interested in joining your Monday night CotCT campaign. My contact information is in my profile.
CJ
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To answer your actual question, I recommend giving your players an incentive to pick up the Korvosa book. As long as they know not to read the Secrets chapter or the appendix then they should be fine, and I've found that the players who have taken the effort to familiarize themselves with the city are getting a lot more out of the game than those who haven't.
No specific questions yet. I've been running games for ages, just not a lot of pre-made ones, and I want to make certain I won't be giving myself a headache by letting my players get too creative.
Thanks for the quick response.
No specific questions yet. I've been running games for ages, just not a lot of pre-made ones, and I want to make certain I won't be giving myself a headache by letting my players get too creative.
So... do you enjoy these headaches? I let my players be really creative, to the point that they were voting on possibly playing an all-pseudodragon or all-hellknight or all-otyugh party (among others) for CotCT. (They settled for all-aristocrat, but all-hellknight was a close second. The all-undead party came third.) It gives me headaches, but I'm loving them.
(My group is playing giantkin goblins in Rise of the Runelords. More headaches, and more fun.)
Anyway, let us know how we can help. Are you coming to Victoria for Con-Fusion, by any chance? We could grab a drink and talk a couple issues through more easily than hashing them out on the boards. I probably won't get back to Seattle until the new year now.
Thanks for the quick response.
My pleasure!
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Anyway, let us know how we can help. Are you coming to Victoria for Con-Fusion, by any chance? We could grab a drink and talk a couple issues through more easily than hashing them out on the boards. I probably won't get back to Seattle until the new year now.
I'd love to, but my contract is almost over, which means job-hunting and poverty, unless you can offer me an awesome new job.
The appeal of this adventure path is that you get to be revolutionaries that take down a tyrant. The first three adventures set this up wonderfully and it's exciting to think about PCs growing up in this context.
Then most of the revolution occurs off screen! Cressida runs the revolution while you're with the Shoanti and at Scarwall. Sabina frees the ones that resisted Maiden training.
The PCs don't recruit revolutionaries, don't try to stop the forced blood donations at the Church of Asmodeus, don't try to politic the Church of Abadar into a different stance, don't secure food and water resources for the poor and your own units, don't find sources of weapons for the revolution, don't weed out traitors, don't recruit moles in the Queen's retinue, don't figure out ways to avoid physical and magical detection, don't commit acts of terrorism against the unjust powers that be, and don't storm the castle with their rag tag band of fugitives.
Instead, they get a cool sword that bypasses the regeneration capabilities of the Queen. Forget the trinket. Vive la Revolution!
The solution is easy. Run side quests after module four or before module six. Or cut Skeletons of Scarwall altogether if your PCs don't have a cleric. I'm convinced the adventure is there for the meta-game reason of giving clerics and paladins a chance to shine in an adventure path that doesn't really require turning otherwise.
I agree with roguerouge, and I plan to do exactly what he describes.
Another purpose served by the fifth volume is keeping the PCs out of the city while their opponents are too tough for them, of course. I plan, essentially, to tell this to the PCs somehow and let them figure out what to do about it.
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The Revolution side-quests sound like a good addition; I'll try to read the later modules and see what I can piece together for when the revolt starts.
I've been leafing through the first adventure, Edge of Anarchy, and knowing my players I really need to ask: What if they don't want to return the queen's broach? I've got at least one player chaotic enough to not want to go anywhere near the queen, and may just as soon throw it down the nearest storm drain.
The Revolution side-quests sound like a good addition; I'll try to read the later modules and see what I can piece together for when the revolt starts.
I've been leafing through the first adventure, Edge of Anarchy, and knowing my players I really need to ask: What if they don't want to return the queen's broach? I've got at least one player chaotic enough to not want to go anywhere near the queen, and may just as soon throw it down the nearest storm drain.
I had this problem, initially. It never occurred to my players that the queen might want her brooch back. So they held onto it, convinced that it would come into play sometime later as evidence against Gaedren Lamm.
This turned out okay, though, since one of my PCs is a member of the Korvosan Guard. As the PC group helped track down an ancient book stolen from the University Library (in an early side-quest) and brought know criminal Gaedren Lamm to justice, Croft simply had the guard PC hire the rest of the party on her behalf, and off they went with the rest of the adventure.
Eventually, though, I realized the party was missing out on the reward money for returning the brooch and was becoming under-treasured. So I had a band of thugs (with a wizard and soem zombie support, just for fun) ambush the party, looking for the brooch. Apparently, Gaedren planned to sell it to a third party, who could actually return it to the queen and collect the reward, since Gaedren felt it was unlikely he could claim he just "found" it. When Gaedren failed to show up at the drop, the third party went looking for him and tracked down the PCs. Once the party realized there was still some interest in the brooch, they went ahead and turned it in, met the queen and Sabina, etc.
So, in short, I think the return of the brooch can be postponed without much difficulty, and I'm not sure it's a vital part of the story, at all, so I wouldn't stress about it.
O
** spoiler omitted **
roguerogue, did you run this? Do you have any of these side quests statted out a bit more in detail? I'd love to see what you have, if possible.
I recommend requiring that your players create characters with ties to Korvosa.
tbug, also sounds like you're running this. Any interest in sharing some of your NPCs? Or any side quests you may have put together?
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Wow, this sounds like a lot of fun. I haven't read through all of the path yet (only up to 7 days) but this sounds like the PC's miss out on a whole lot of fun going to scarwall.
What paizo adventures are you using?
--Vrock the Vote!
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Okay, my band of adventurers have finally assembled themselves. We're using the Pathfinder Beta rules, point-buyings stats (which illicited some grumbles form one play, who insisted she couldn't play a Paladin without the two 18's she rolled).
Right now, here's the party breakdown:
Aula Wintrex - Chelish/Varisian Wizard who got booted from the Acadamae because of her strong dislike of summoning (plus, she killed a guy)
??? - An urban Druid, patterned vaguely off the concept of 'crazy cat lady'
??? - A human Fighter/Cleric of Caeden Caelliean (pardon the spell; I don't have my books on hand)
??? - An urban Ranger
One of my players I know likes to be a bit goofy and push things. Another is completely new to me. Overall, they should be interesting to run.
I do have a few story-oriented questions, though, since I've only read the first volume:
-One of my players is playing a lesbian. Does Sabine ever end up seeing the light and coming over to the side of good, or is she integral to the later diabolical goings-on? I'm just thinking a romantic/redemption story would help draw the characters in more.
-None of the characters are even remotely noble, and one is a street person. I was thinking about throwing in some friction with an NPC about that status, but I'm not certain where or who.
roguerogue, did you run this? Do you have any of these side quests statted out a bit more in detail? I'd love to see what you have, if possible.
Not yet, no. I'm running a Sandbox campaign, so wherever my player goes and whatever she does activates various adventures and hooks. So, for example, we were this close to activating my Burnt Offerings/Hook Mountain mash-up, only to be diverted by the PC's Save the Piskie campaign in Falcon's Hollow.
The hooks for Korvosa are that the Sea Lord of Freeport is getting his materials for his doomsday device from Korvosa. If the PC follows up there, I have to be prepared to run this path... which was why I was reading it with this CG player in mind. And I KNEW that if she wanted to save the piskies of Falcon's Hollow, there would be no way that she wouldn't want to save the city.
I did do a burning building fireman rescue side quest, however, for the riot scene which could be easily ported into a later part of the path. Check for that in the archives... here: Fire!.
-One of my players is playing a lesbian. Does Sabine ever end up seeing the light and coming over to the side of good, or is she integral to the later diabolical goings-on? I'm just thinking a romantic/redemption story would help draw the characters in more.
You'll be fine.
-None of the characters are even remotely noble, and one is a street person. I was thinking about throwing in some friction with an NPC about that status, but I'm not certain where or who.
Oh, you'll have fun with this!
Does Sabine ever end up seeing the light and coming over to the side of good, or is she integral to the later diabolical goings-on?
It depends on the actions of the PCs. The plot certainly allows for it (in volume twelve) if that's appropriate to the way that the party has acted.
None of the characters are even remotely noble, and one is a street person. I was thinking about throwing in some friction with an NPC about that status, but I'm not certain where or who.
It's legal for a member of any of the five Great Houses (such as, for instance, an Arkona) to beat up a street person, so long as they use non-lethal force (Korvosa, p. 46). This can't be delegated to a bodyguard, but any member of the family can exercise this right. I'd strongly advise reading volume nine before using an Arkona for this, since they're principal antagonists in that story and are described there in detail.
Of course, a member of one of the other four great houses would work, too. I've created partial family trees for four of the five Great Houses for my game (just not the Zenderholms yet), and I'd be happy to share if that would be any help.
tbug, also sounds like you're running this. Any interest in sharing some of your NPCs? Or any side quests you may have put together?
I've probably come up with over a hundred NPCs so far other than those I've created to further the plot. In a lot of ways my campaign is all about the side quests. :) Certainly, the fact that my PCs are all nobles and that they've opened a host club in South Shore means that there's a lot going on in my game that isn't going to make an appearance in anyone else's.
That said, I suspect that I'll be doing a lot of development work in a few months when my PCs stick around in Korvosa instead of going after Serithtial. When that happens I'll be glad to share.
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-One of my players is playing a lesbian. Does Sabine ever end up seeing the light and coming over to the side of good, or is she integral to the later diabolical goings-on? I'm just thinking a romantic/redemption story would help draw the characters in more.
Since I'm apparently adopting a D&D Dr. Ruth role over on the Runelords forum, might as well carry it over here. ;)
MAJOR SPOILERS
Sabina does indeed get a good shot at redemption. Unfortunately, while she's definitely a good candidate for an interesting love interest for the player in question, she's not exactly easy to reach throughout the campaign. As things go on, the players will highly likely be less and less willing and even capable of getting in touch with any palace personnel. Sabina is also nearly religiously loyal to Illeosa and absolutely in love with her, so kicking off a relationship with her early will probably be nigh-impossible as written.
Sabina does begin to doubt Illeosa's feelings for her and any worth in her relationship somewhere around the second or third volume, but by that point she's in so deep that she's constantly busy doing damage control and trying to lessen the evil her queen is committing. At that point, it would be extremely dangerous for any PC trying to contact her, let along trying to kick up a relationship.
After her redemption though, she can easily be set up in a relationship with that PC. There is an element of "catching her on the rebound" though, so it could lead to angst between them down the line(which works for some folks). This is at the tail end of the adventure though. You could easily carry on with it after the AP if you continue running that campaign, but it's going to be a long time before that PC hooks up with her.
This is just going off of it as written though. You can still change things up if you want to give that PC a shot at love earlier than near the end of the AP. It's just that you'll probably want to take care doing so, as Sabina is an important player in the story. Also, that imploded love-triangle with Orisini and Grau? Wonderful opportunities for drama.
And if you do want to keep it as written, remember that there's still one Trinia Sabor! (hey, 7 Days to the Grave doesn't say anything about the gender of the person she might kiss) Likely less angsty. Still plenty of bumps in the road, but it would likely be "lighter" in feel than the heavy drama Sabina will bring to the table.(even after her redemtion, she's likely going to have a hell of a lot of guilt to work through.)
It really depends on what kind of romance the PC is looking for, I suppose.
edit-I guess there's also Cressida Kroft, but she'd probably fall asleep before anything went anywhere. Poor lady.
Are you going to be writing up this campaign? How often are you playing?
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tbug have you used any old dungeon adventures as side treks? If so which ones? I haven't gotten a chance to dig through my library looking for suitable intrigue and urban adventures as I'm nearing the climax of our STAP campaign but I'll be doing that soon enough and will post some ideas.
tbug have you used any old dungeon adventures as side treks?
No, I've been keeping the focus on the characters. As part of character creation I said that each PC had a well known contact and a secret contact, and these could be any two NPCs that didn't already exist. This gave me a really wide variety of plot hooks, and I've been using them extensively. I also required family trees, and those have come into play a fair bit as well.
Between all those NPCs and the opening of the host club, I haven't really needed any formal side treks. My PCs aren't really the sort to go haring off into a dungeon crawl anyway. The closest we came was when one family was having trouble with thefts and the group took care of it.
Here's my campaign journal. Let me know if you have specific interests. :) I think I'll being doing more easily-transferable stuff once we get into the realm of the fourth volume, since I suspect that we won't be doing much of what's written in the path.
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Well, our first night went well once everyone started to get to know each other and their own characters, and I can tell I've got a very eclectic group to take care of now. We've ended up with five characters altogether, and since the Pathfinder Beta provides for slightly strong PCs, I've had to start modifying things a little.
My final assortment of PCs includes:
Human Wizard - Kicked out of the Acadamae for murdering an Acadmae applicant, a young Halfling hedge wizard. She claims to have been framed.
Halfling Rogue - A bitter and angry young woman who's been tracking Lamm, who murdered her lover, a young Halfling hedgewizard.
Human Cleric - a swashbuckling champion of Caedan Calean who sought shelter with the church after escaping from Lamm as a child.
Human Ranger - A man obsessed with finding his daughter, who was kidnapped two years ago by Lamm
Human Druid - A crazed woman who escaped from Lamm as a child and now acts as a protector of the city's unwanted.
In retrospect, I really should've written everyone's character names down.
The adventure went pretty well. I modified a few of the encounters, including changing Bloo from a dog to a Dire Rat (for the sake of a dog-lover in the group) and adding an extra dire rat to that encounter. I also added a Choker mercenary to the encounter with Lamm himself, though they still had no real trouble capping a 75-year-old man, and before long the Choker turned tail and ran.
Everyone was unhappily surprised to discover the severed head of Zellara, and equally surprised to discover a riot when they tried to return to her home for some answers.
There are a few complications: The group has more-or-less thrown themselves behind their Ranger's quest to find his lost daughter. I decided to make it a bigger quest and not have her currently in Ghaedren's clutches, to keep them together, but they're so focused on the task they have no interest in even LOOKING at the loot they took from Lamm. I've decided that she's since been sold as a slave to Glorio Arcona, as I believe he feature's prominently in a future adventure, but all they know right now is that she was sold to SOMEONE named "Glorio", and there are at least a dozen men by that name in the city.
The angle I'm trying for here is to get them interested in working for the Guard to raise their credibility with th city, so they can justify making accusations or even raids against the Arconas, but right now I trying to just get them to focus on NOT skipping the adventure entirely and shaking down every Glorio in town. The riots will distract them, but I don't know for how long.
One possibility seems to be a reverse-order: They're interested in stopping the riots, and hence may report for volunteer duty to the Guards on their own. Through that, they may learn about the broach they discovered and gain an audience with the queen to seek pardons for alleged crimes and/or gain enough influence to question the Arconas.
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All I can recommend is giving them a few solid leads then have the riots take care of said leads. Have them run into a squad of Hellknights who don't care about their minor concerns and order them to disperse from an area (or a prisoner they've captured). Better to use the Hellknights than the Korvosan guard because if they join the guard they'll have jurisdiction over the Hellknights in the future.
--Vrock and Awe!
The group has more-or-less thrown themselves behind their Ranger's quest to find his lost daughter. I decided to make it a bigger quest and not have her currently in Ghaedren's clutches, to keep them together, but they're so focused on the task they have no interest in even LOOKING at the loot they took from Lamm. I've decided that she's since been sold as a slave to Glorio...
Well, you could have her end up in the Iron Maidens.
Well, you could have her end up in the Iron Maidens.
If she's old enough then I think that having her join the Gray Maidens is a great idea! It'll keep the story integrated with the plot arc right until Crown of Fangs, when she could side with Sabina.
I don't think there's much point in dragging out the discovery of who Glorio is. Asking around, there's really only "Glorio" in Korvosa who is anybody. And finding out who he is (ie the head of a Great House) could slow things down for you, since he's clearly an opponent out of their league as beginning adventurers.
Do your players know about Great Houses? Maybe you could have the head of the Ornelos family wander past and give the druid a boot to the head, or something. Members of Great Houses can legally do that to vagrants, and she certainly sounds like one. Demonstrating ways that the Great Houses are above the law might help emphasize the magnitude of their opponent's resources.
Maybe the choker mercenary has gone to Lord Glorio with news of the PCs.
Anyway, it sounds like you've got a great game going here, Immora. Nice work! Let us know how we can help. :)
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The daughter is only five, maybe six, so I doubt she'd be recruited for any military order. She's basically been sold off because I decided that Glorio has a preference for Garundi and Kelish slaves, as the color-coordinate with his Garundi furnishings better. She's being used as a scullery maid until she fattens up a bit in a few more years.
The players really don't know much about the noble houses, but then neither do I. I got tapped to run this campaign with five days' notice, so I'm still learning as I go. I do like the idea of having on of the nobles give them a smacking around just to demonstrate the separation, especially within full view of the Guard.
Here's the full text of the law, as presented on p. 46 of the Guide to Korvosa:
"In addition, a member of a Great House may personally use nonlethal force (usually a boot, but sometimes a cane, folded parasol, or other light wooden implement) against any beggar, vagrant, or transient he sees. He may not pass this privilege to a bodyguard or associate with him. While few nobles indulge in this allowance, the itinerants targeted by this policy nonetheless scatter whenever any member of a Great House approaches."
So it wouldn't even have to be the head of a house, but could be his niece or something. It can't be against a random citizen of the city, but someone like the druid sounds vagrant enough for these purposes.
So if the kid is working as a slave in the Arkona household, what's her mom doing? Is there tension between the mom and the PC? What if the mom does a daring rescue and pins the blame on the PC? Then the mom could join the Gray Maidens.
Okay, according to the campaign journal, Erisana (the mom) "blamed everybody" for the kid's kidnapping. I think that sending her the Gray Maiden route could work, if that fits your campaign concept.
Sorry!
The Gray Maidens are (according to their own propaganda) an elite fighting force entirely loyal to Queen Ileosa. They're led by Sabina Merrin, and they're brainwashed into unthinking obedience. They are a pretty good fighting force, too.
They're mentioned briefly on p. 43 of Edge of Anarchy, but you hear more about them later. They become more and more important as the path progresses. The brainwashing (and the fact that they're all disfigured, though this is hidden beneath their uniform full plate armour) means that you could have an interesting arc with family and friends becoming enemies later in the path, with a chance for resolution and redemption in volume six.
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“In the Name of Cayden Cailean: HOLD YOUR LIQUOR!”
Game progresses well, and included the above verbal components for Cayden Cailean’s “Lesser Restoration” spell. I think the group is becoming a lot more comfortable with their personas, and I’m definitely becoming a lot more comfortable with the setting. There present adventures mostly involved weathering the first night of the riots, and spending the next day on side-quests that are untouched upon in the AP and I had to largely ad-lib, but everybody is developing their character’s so beautifully that I was more than happy to run with it.
First, an update on my players:
Modus – A Garundi urban ranger, son of a traveler and explorer with restless feet and himself the proud father of a young girl, Iralmi, kidnapped two years ago by Gaedran Lamm. He is slowly but surely shaping up to be party leader, and his obsession with finding his daughter (and hopefully restoring his ex-wife’s love in the process) drive him on. He has learned that Lamm sold her to a man named “Glorio” and is beginning to suspect it was none other than Glorio Arkona, one of the richest and most powerful men in the city.
Aula – A skilled wizard or Chelaxian and Varisian descent, Aula is every bit as principled and law-abiding as her merchant father (to the chagrin of her maternal grandparents, who make their home in the Thieves’ Camp). Consequently, she did not get along well at the Academae while studying the fine art of magic. She was frequently bullied, so it came as a surprise to no one when she apparently murdered a classmate, the halfling Pouren, with a well-placed Magic Missile. She maintained her innocence, even while sitting in the Citadel’s dungeons, while her father and Paladin girlfriend worked tirelessly to clear her name. ultimately, the only witness against her died before trial, and so the charges were dropped. She’s not content to merely be free, and has been working hard to prove her innocence. Last night, she discovered in Lamm’s possession, a literal smoking wand: a wand of Magic Missile.
Lem – A Halfling of questionable character and fast hands, Lem arrived in Korvosa a year ago with her lover, Pouren, after he had received a scholarship to study magic at Korvosa’s renown Acadamae. They dreamed of a good life together once he could develop his natural talents to a professional level, but that never came to pass. Pouren was apparently murdered by a fellow student in cold blood. While awaiting the hanging of her boyfriend’s murderer, Lem was pulled aside by a mysterious woman who pointed her towards Gemshare Jewlers, who had recently come into possession of her lover’s family ring, as well as a lead on the true killer: Gaedren Lamm. She unwittingly worked side-by-side with the very woman who had been accused to the murder to kill Lamm, and uncover the wand that was used to kill Pouren. Now her remaining desire is to recover her lover’s ring from Gemshare Jewlers, although the rioting and looting seem to have put a crimp in that plan.
Crispin – Crispin is a loyal disciple of Cayden Cailean, and it’s no wonder: He was rescued from a brutal life on the streets as one of Gaedran’s “Lambs” by the order. Now he’s an awkward young man eager to prove himself a hero by making certain that no other children have to suffer like he did. Crispin is eager to help others and seems to enjoy working with a group, and even though he doesn’t know anything about his family or past, it doesn’t seem to bother him so long as there are people in his present.
Amber – Lamm’s mistreatment of children doesn’t always leave corpses. Sometime it leaves the mind broken, instead. Amber doesn’t remember much about her past except the terrible beatings she took at Gaedran’s hands and the constant fear of being thrown to Gobblegut, and eventually she began to identify less and less with the cruel humans around her and more with the beasts that survived in the city streets. After finally escaping from Lamm, Amber’s mind remained broken, and though she has grown more trusting of humans, she is still shy and quiet, preferring the company of the wild cats of the city. She makes regular circuits of the city’s poorer districts, tending to the animals no one cares about and seeing that loyal pets aren’t abused as she was.
Our session last night began as they emerged from Gaedren’s fishery into open rioting. , with Hellknights moving against a mob up the street, fires burning in the distance, and a Sable Company Marine plummeting from the skies. True heroes, they rushed down the street to check on the fallen marine, only to discover her and her mount covered with horrible red welts. They didn’t need to wait long to discover what made them, though, as a wing of Imps fell upon them, throwing trash and insults and screaming “Mine! My horse-lady!” When the motley band moved to protect Sgt. Goodwin (who’s identification Lem discovered while rooting through her pockets) , the Imps swooped in, attacking and whispering terrible, Suggestive things into their ears. Their little band took some nasty scrapes and even nastier stings before a flight of Pseudodragons pounded on the imps, sensing an easy meal. At this point, they scooped up and retreated to Zellara’s for some answers.
They found the townhouse dilapidated and empty, but eventually coaxed Zellara’s spirit, now partially bound to her Harrow Deck, back into the world. She apologized for her deception, but thanked the five of them profusely for avenging her and her son before being pulled across the void. Her head was buried in a small ceremony beneath her herb garden.
Aula and Crispin tended to the wounded Marine, setting her bones and healing the worst of her injuries, but the rampant poison in her bodies kept her drifting in and out of consciousness. With an ingenious use of the Flare spell, they manage to attract the attention of Sable Company riders overhead, who are overjoyed to hear that their companion is alive and well. Without much more to offer, the Sergeant offered the rescuers a pot of Imp’s Tail Salve (see below) as a reward. The Halfling briefly attempted to sneak a ride on the Hippogriffs, only to be discovered and left behind, but with the promise of a free ride across the city once the chaos had abated.
The next morning, they decided to stay together for protection, though much of the rioting had abated with the rising sun. Aula demanded to visit her father’s shop and ensure he was safe. On their way to Eodred’s Walk, they passed many disturbing sites, including several burned out shops and a patrol of Hellknights heaping limp bodies into a cart. Luckily, “Wintres Alchemical” was still standing, though the windows, along with some of the stock, were smashed in. They even had a visitor…
Flanking the door were a pair of well-dressed (and well-armed) men bearing the shield of House Arkona. Inside, berating Mr. kindly Wintrex, was Glorio Arkona himself. As business had dropped off a bit ever since his daughter was accused of murder, Mr. Wintrex has relied more and more on the unusual demands of Glorio Arkona. Modus barely kept himself in control, and Amber, as expected, was briskly knocked out of the way as Glorio left the store with bodyguards and footman in tow.
While Aula comforted her tired-looking father and the others went about Mending the broken window and sweeping up, Lem followed the noble back to his carriage, where he surprised her by beckoning her over. Glorio informed the young thief that he was reasonably impressed by her stealth and always had use for people who could go places unnoticed and that, if she were interested, he may have work for her in the future. As a sign of good faith, he even offered her a Plat’ (Platinum Piece), enough money to keep a common laborer fed and warm for months!
Lem’s side adventure also took her back to Gemshare Jewlers, where she intended to buy back Pouren’s ring with her shiny new Plat’, only to discover the shop looted and empty, as Sais had scooped up his remaining stock and made time to the Temple of Abadar. Lem followed suit, only to discover a full run on the bank in-progress, which would surely have been a complete riot without the judicious application of Calm Emotions spells by the priests. She finally tracked down Sais, who told her in no uncertain terms that he didn’t even know what of his stock remained, and that he wouldn’t be doing any business until her could do an inventory is several days’ time.
Eventually, the band also came to realize that some of their loot from Lamm belonged to Korvosa’s new Queen, and dutifully returned it, meeting several palace guards and the elegant handmaiden Sabina in the process. Thanks to some good (but not outstanding) Sense Motive checks, they came to realize that Queen Illeosa was a good person who was overwhelmed by the death of her husband and the sudden chaos of the city. They resolved to serve her faithfully through the City Guard, and happily accepted their reward for returning the brooch as well as the Queen’s sense of hope.
Along the way to the Citadel, they stopped at a tavern temple of Cayden Cailean that was nearly in a riot as different patrons argued over the state of Korvosa. Krispin put a quick stop to it by slamming a gold ingot on the bar and declaring the next round of drinks was on Queen Illeosa, which generally turned the customers in favor of their generous new monarch. They also encountered a drunken guard by the name of Grau, who Modus managed to convince that he could still do some good in the world. They brought the stumbling private along with them to the Citadel and met field Marshall Croft, a little over-caffeinated and worn ragged, who immediately offered them the task of retrieving a guardsman who had gone AWOL and taken several subordinated with him.
The team, still aching from their fight with Lamm and the imps, is currently resting overnight in the Guard Barracks, and are ready to set out the next day to find out why a once-loyal (if bitter) guard would abandon his post in this hour of need.
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My future plans are still a little fuzzy, though I did pick up a copy of “Seven Days to the Grave” last night and have a better idea of where the campaign is headed. Here are the basic plots for each character.
Modus – Modus daughter, Iralmi, has indeed been purchased by Glorio Arkona, though proving that would be next to impossible, as most noble houses take in wards off the street and pay them as various household servants. Glorio could easily claim he’d found the girl starving in the street and gave her a warm home. She is now being used as a scullery maid. The unpleasant part is, Glorio intends to fatten the girl up to serve as a meal; he’s developed a taste for the exotic flavor of Garundi and Vudran flesh, but has a hard time acquiring the former. Perhaps worse, Modus’ ex-wife has also been seeking their daughter, and her anger at everyone but herself is slowly consuming her. I haven’t decided yet if I want her to rescue their daughter first, or if I want them to come to blows during a mutual rescue attempt.
Aula – As her father is an alchemist, he’ll be pressed into service when the plague grips the city in several month’s time. He’ll dramatically contract the Blood Veil while working, and confess several family secrets to her, the most important being that her mother was already pregnant when he met her.
Lem – Glorio was honest when he said he could always use more eyes and ears, and if he learns that Modus is hunting him, he’ll likely bribe Lem to spy on him, and possibly even replace his beloved battle chain with a more… obedient stand-in. I’d also like to flesh out more about why her lover was killed, as Lamm was probably doing someone else’s dirty work (probably being used as a mule by the Red Mantis to get expensive and dangerous chemicals out of the Academae)
Crispin – Being an orphan, Crispin obviously has some interesting story potential revolving around who his family was, but I don’t currently have any strong hooks.
Amber – Like Crispin, Amber is an orphan, so her parentage might provide some fun hooks. She also has a vengeful streak, and has been talking to some of the ravens around the city to stalk Glorio after he struck her this session. I may decide that the Court of Ravens, in the city, takes offense at this private contracting and confronts her about it.
My original plan, when the party was four humans, was to eventually reveal that they were all cousins and descendants of one of the minor noble houses, but throwing a Halfling into the mix means she’d feel left out. As a result, I’ll probably drop it (and maybe Aula’s father not being biologically related to her as well). Time and the character’s actions will probably give me more ideas.
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Mare Sweat
Mare sweat is the colorful nickname for a brew the church of Cayden Cailean makes to aid those unfortunate patrons who cannot afford magical healing and cures. The drink is a fermented mixture of potent herbs that makes the mind sluggish while encouraging bloodflow. It is often given to insomniacs as a sleep aid, or to the sick or injured to help them rest. A full draught (about half a pint) will encourage a long, peaceful rest, free of bad dreams (granting a +2 to save against such effects). If left undisturbed, the imbiber will sleep twelve to fourteen hours, and heal as if they’d taken a full day’s rest. Remaining awake isn’t difficult, but the Mare Sweat still makes a man groggy, inflicting a -2 penalty to all Wisdom-based skill checks for 12 hours. Mare Sweat has a distinctive, terrible flavor that can’t even be concealed with low-level magic, and hence is almost impossible to feed someone unawares. Cost: 5SP. Craft (Brewing) DC: 20
Guardso
Another innovation from the church of Cayden Cailean, Guardso (or “Guard’s Own) is so named because of it’s popularity with the Korvosan City Guard. This strange take on coffee uses a gnomish contraption to push high-pressure, boiling water through tightly-packed grounds, creating a bitter brew that can keep even the most weary guard on his feat. One small cup will eliminate fatigue for 1D4 hours and grant a +2 bonus to Spot and Listen checks for the same amount of time. Afterwards, the imbiber must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or take 1D4 points of Wisdom damage from “the crash”. Guardso is becoming popular with young nobles as well, who brew endless variations using various sweetners and spices to conceal the bitter flavor. Cost: 6CP a cup, though the noble variations can cost ten times that. Craft (Brewing) DC: 14
Imp’s Tail Salve
Stinking of animal urine and sulfer, this alchemical concoction is nonetheless a staple in the saddlebags of Sable Company Marines. It is brewed to counteract the numbing poison injected by imps, and while of limited use in most areas, it sees constant application among the military and wealthy of Korvosa. When spread over an imp sting and coupled with a good eight-hour rest, each dose of salve restores one additional point of Dexterity damage. It is typically sold in pots of five doses, and is useless for restoring ability damage from any source beyond an imp’ sting. Cost: 75GP per pot. Craft (Alchemy) DC: 25
For the orphans, suppose one of them was descended from Shoanti parents? The Shoanti are sort of treated like an ethnicity, but in a lot of ways it's more like a job and one can't always tell by looking who's of Shoanti descent; I suspect that most people rely on the tattoos, but of course an orphan wouldn't have those.
Alternately, the bastard child of a noble is always classic. Glorio Arkona is obviously right out as a possible father, and surely King Eodred II would have been delighted to have recognized the child, but there are plenty of other possibilities. Commandant Endrin might be an interesting choice, given his fate.
I'm not convinced on the Lem/Glorio/Modus stuff. It sounds like it could be enormously fun for Lem's player and really upsetting for Modus's. It's true that Glorio would love an inside agent in the crew, though. I suggest large, unbalancing bribes. The road to evil can be easy and lucrative. :)
Let's assume that the plot goes ahead and Lem totally ruins things for Modus. What kinds of reprisals are you prepared to allow between PCs?
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I'm not convinced on the Lem/Glorio/Modus stuff. It sounds like it could be enormously fun for Lem's player and really upsetting for Modus's. It's true that Glorio would love an inside agent in the crew, though. I suggest large, unbalancing bribes. The road to evil can be easy and lucrative. :)
Let's assume that the plot goes ahead and Lem totally ruins things for Modus. What kinds of reprisals are you prepared to allow between PCs?
I actually fully intend to have Glorio backstab her as soon as she's done being useful, honestly. That particular character is kind of flitting around the edges of the group (her players usually does that), and I'm hoping that give them a common enemy it will bring the PCs a little closer together.
More than likely, Glorio will try to slip a one of those shape-shifting item/snakes into the party via Lem, and after that he doesn't really care about working with the halfling.
I'm a little torn about how to handle Lem's ring, as well. I want the character to have some satisfaction over finally EARNING it, so I don't want her to just come back to the jewler to pick it up. The idea I'm toying with now is a Gnome illusionist who looted the shop, but made it look like elves. It could make for a fun investigation-style side-quest, especially if the ring has something about it Lem never knew about (like a secret poison compartment, or a minor magical property). My other option is to have Glorio pick up the ring and give it to her, as a display of what a great guy he is (more than likely handing her a spy instead).
So Glorio has the ring and is going to hand Lem a raktavarna that looks like it, keeping the real ring on his person? That could be a nice tie-in motivation with Modus for Escape from Old Korvosa. (If you haven't read that one yet you really should before you plan too much stuff with Lord Glorio.)
Good call on giving them a common enemy.
So how did it go?
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It's been a while since I've posted, but now my party has stabbed and schemed their way through much of Edge of Anarchy by now, but they've created some entertaining story chances that I just can't pass up.
They've dealt with All the World's Meat and the horrors the rogue guards have been committing, and even kept the shop open and ran it themselves for a few days (with the financial backing of the Guard), passing out free meat and spreading the good word about the new queen and her dedication to help her adopted city. They've also taken time to have personal affairs: Aula has visited her grandparents and ensured they're safe in the Theive's Camp, as well as helping her father repair the shop. Modus has refreshed the girlfriend, seen to her safety, and checked in on his ex-father-in-law to make certain his former wife survived the riots. Lem, meanwhile, has put a few daggers in the poison-pushing Gnome illusionist who stole her dead husband's ring during the riots, although she's understandably concerned about the "red woman" he warned her about.
Having decided to pool their resources and legitimately purchase Zellara's house, they were all too happy to recieve another covert job from Field Marshall Kroft. They made their way to Old Korvosa easily enough alongside Vencarlo (who the group seems remarkably unattatched to), and since Modus' mother has a history with Pesh, Shiver, and a few other questionable substances, he had no problem locating Eel's End. They even managed, through a combination of luck, cash, and a daring round of Knivies, to convince Devargo to part with his secrets.
Then things went south.
The pseudodragon, Corvis, kept begging for the heroes to free him. Eventually, Aula cracked, and once their official business was concluded, the spit hit the wall. The fight went well enough at first, as they handled the guards well with a Color Spray, even as Devargo started carving through Crispin the Cleric and Modus the Ranger. Eventually, though, even Devargo fled below deck, leaving the PCs to his guards. Convinced that the guards were infinitely spawning, the team declared they were fleeing below deck to look for another exit. Despite furious hinting that there was a hole in the bilge, the team instead opted to skulk around, rattling at locked doors and tripping traps in the cargo hold (a few added by me to compensate for the larger number group and higher general power level of PF vs 3.5), all the while an invisible Devargo stalked beside them, absorbing the positive energy the cleric repeatedly channeled and whispering terrible things from just out of sight.
Finally, they started fiddling at the door to the meeting room, convinced they heard Devargo inside. Instead, they ran face-first into Chitters and Devargo's collection of lovelies, while a fully-healed Devargo reappeared behidn them and begin taking the flank. Crispin was quickly poisoned, webbed, and drug off by Chitters as a private snack, while Lem, Amber, and Amber's loyal cat were dispatched easily by the King of Spiders. Modus and Aula remained conscious, finally crushing all of Devargo's spiders, and Crispin managed to break free and bring Chittersnap near to death before falling himself.
The only way I could reasonably imagine to avoid a TPK in the bowels of the ship was to simply have Devargo give up. After seeing his precious dream spider killed, and Chitters beaten nearly to death, his lost his will to fight, and ordered the would-be heroes out of his ship in disgust, declaring that they'd cost him too much already. The remaining heroes picked up their allies and hauled them back to land while Devargo began picking up the pieces of his business.
As a GM, I don't think I can let this event slide completely. In my mind, Devargo is cold and ruthless, but ultimately a businessman. The heros have cost him a lot of money, and probably put back his drug production by weeks. He obviously wants revenge, but he's not dumb enough to just throw muscle at the problem after watching the PCs carve through his guards. Here are my thoughts:
1.) Modus' mother has an off-and-on shiver additiction, and has patronized Eel's End in the past. The next time she walks on board, Devargo may just secret her away to a secret location, keep her as drugged as she likes, and offer her back to Modus in trade for four replacement dream spiders for his Shiver lab
2.) Aula's father is a alchemist and alchemical supplier. He provides many rare spices, ingredients, and medecines to some of the nobles as well. It's not unreasonable to imagine that Devargo purchases most of his alchemical supplies from Mister Wintrex (probably through a middle-man), and Wintrex Alchemical certainly does not pay vice taxes, leaving Aula's father open to criminal charges, should his connection to the drug industry be revealed.
3.) Cripsin, after his repeated attacks, poisonings, and near-eattings at the claws of giant spiders, has developed a very rational fear of spiders. If Devargo became aware of this, he could easily use Chitter's spider control to make his life a living hell.
4.) Amber, being an empty and a bit of a loner, is away from the group most often. She'd be an easy target to pick off alone with the affore-mentioned muscle. He death would be an obvious message to the others. As easy and sensible as this option is, it's the least appealing as a GM, because I hate killing PCs unless they do something royally stupid, not to mention I doubt it would really make Devargo feel any better or help his bottom line.
5.) Being a crook in Old Korvosa, odds are good that Devargo answers to the Arkonas. His personal knowledge of the PCs and his desire for revenge could both be valuable to the family once they actually realize the players are any sort of threat. My only concern with this is that the Arkonas are out of the AP after the third adventure, and I'm tired of making so many of the players' threads tie to this family. I just don't know much about the second half of the AP to plan further.
This week, we've just finished tracking down and capturing Trinia, and taking the time to question her and see her to a Guard safehouse outside of town. It went well, though the session drug a little because I made the mistake of lying the "rooftop" cards down with curves and turns to fit the tablespace and make the chase a little more interesting visually, and my players couldn't seem to wrap their heads around the idea that they couldn't move diagonally or leap across the gap between "buildings" that were four or five cards apart, because they were only a few inches apart.... *sigh* I wouldn't have minded that one so much if I hadn't had to re-explain it three times.
We'll see how things go next week, tackling the Dead Warrens, and then possibly playing through Trinia's trial (if I can figure out a good system for it, otherwise we'll jump from leaving the dungeon straight to the execution).
So how's this going?
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My group continues to progress well.
At the moment, I even have a few illustrations of them, and I'm hopeful I'll have the last two done this weekend. For now:
Amber, the Urban Druid and Friend of Strays
Aula, the Evoker and Acadamae Escapee
Crispin, Cleric of Cayden Cailean and Dashing Orphan (and I swear I drew this well before I ever saw the recent article on Cailean's faith and the included cleric portrait; I guess "dashing priest of liquor" has the same visual image in most artists' minds)
Their expedition to the Dead Warrens has gone fairly well: They were recruiting directly by Thousand Bones himself, after the group saved another young Shoanti boy from and angry mob several days earlier. The Shoanti, a small contingent in town for negotiations, had been holing up in a culdesac in North Point after the violence started. There's been talk of race war against the Korvosans in answer for the violence against the over the course of the rioting. The PCs, most of the Chelaxian, had to face this tension directly and try to difuse it.
In the ossuary and the dead warrens, I got to have a lot of fun playing up the unknown: The players knew that something was creeping around, watching them, but had no idea what, even after they sprang out to attack. Sadly for me, Aula has already invested heavily in her staff, granting it a 3rd level permanent light spell, so the Derros' greatest advntage, the Darkness, was useless. Asside from Vreeg and the Carrion Golem, they waltzed through the entire dungeon.
The Golem, though, slowed them down, even giving themselves time and space to prepare for it (they peeked into the storage room and then slammed the door shut before the Golem could react). Most of the group took some nasty hits, but poor Lem took a critical to the face, launching her across the room and leaving her (everyone thought) stone dead. Aula finally cycled through enough magical effects to figure out that cold would slow it, and as a group they finally put the abomination out of it's misery and turned their attention towards saving the fallen Halfling. Crispin's magic pulled her back from literally one point away from death.
They crept on and found Cabbagehead taunting the prisoners, and thanks to some excellent stealth rolls, knocked him out without a problem, freeing the prioners and tossing the unconscious goaler into one of the pits. At this point, they decided to make for fresh air, as their spells and hit points were running low. In a fit of billiance, instead of returning, they went to the temple of Pharasma, turning over the information they had about Rolth's lair, and making a few donations in exchange for some healing and a place to rest.
They returned in the morning, with the remaining Derro and Vreeg having assumed that last night's raid had been solely to rescue their captives. The PCs stumbled upon Cabbagaehead, strapped down in the Bloodletting Chamber, recieving some punishment for his failure. The dispatched the Derro technician and his flock of Stirges. Other highlights included bargaining with the Otyugh rather than fighting it (the poor beast had been tormented by Cabbagehead for weeks, and agreed to trade his half corpse for the still-living jailer), and the PCs stealing and/or tearing apart half of Rolth's library.
When they finally encountered Vreeg, the fight looked pretty bad at first. I'd rewritten him for PF rules, and he turned out to be a bit more of a beatstick than he already was. With a Cleric and a strong-armed Ranger in the party, they had no problem dealing with his undead (heck, Amber's pet cat managed to solo one zombie), but Rolth himself, with Fear, Scare, and Ghoul Touch, kept the party seperated and mostly helpless for most of the fight. Sadly, his tricks seemed to mostly revolve around tying people up, and he lacked any real damage-dealing potential: He could never get close enough to deal a sneak attack without being jumped by another PC, and he had no real ranged attacks. The fight took a loooong time, thanks to nthe PCs' difficulty with hitting him, but they weren't ever in any real danger.
Afterwards, came one of those moments that made me proud to be a GM: The team came back to the surface just in time to discover that while they were underground, Triana's trial had already been finished and the queen was assembling half the city for her execution. Having done everything they could to see to her safety, the group was livid, and rushed off to see what they could do. They arrived and started pushing through the crowd, making it almost to the front as Queen Illiosa delivered her speech. They were all shocked and confused by the Queen's tone and actions, but before they could do anything, the dashing rogue, Blackjack arrived, threw off the guards and began delivering his speech and fencing with the guards.
And just as the executioner was regaining his feet befind Blackjack, and raised his massive ax above his head, the entire table, all at once, screamed "LOOK OUT!!!" Not only did they make me proud as a GM, but they saved Blackjack's life.
Our most recent session was spent resolving several issues, like returning Ghaeken's body to the massing Shoanti to avoid the coming war, then tracking down needed supplies, gathering information on their individual interests, and working to restore Zellara's old shop (though they still don't know what sort of business they're going to operate, beyond trying to sell the odds and ends they uncover adventuring).
Modus has discovered, from the Shoanti shaman, that his daughter is alive and safe, but that her captor know knews he is being observed. The Arkona's know his name and have followed his activities very closely through the Raktavarna that Lem is now carrying with her.
Amber hunted for more information about the Court of Crows, the mysterious organization of Korvosa's crows, and uncovered the name of their leader: Jackdaw, the King of Crows. It seems he is an ancient spirit bound to the area who once worked closely with the Shoanti. Beyond that, though, she's learned nothing; the Arbiters have announced to her that the deal she'd made with a crow, as well as all the deals humans have made with crows, have been revoked barring some sort of emergency. A junior crow even screamed "The seal has been broken" before being silenced by his elders.
Always the academic, Aula has been working with her father to discover what really happened to the king by researching poisons. Among other things, she has discovered that their exist techniques to create "leukovenom", powerful poisons that mimick diseases. Her father has cautioned her about this research, though he says he doesn't know much beyond what is in a great, black tome her keeps hidden in the back of his shop.
Meanwhile, Lem has finally retrived her dead husband's ring, unknowingly killing a Red Mantis trainee in the process. His ring had been stolen during the rioting from the jewelry store Lamm had pawned it off to. The store, in turn, had been looted by a Gnome, and illusionist hired by the Red Mantis to recover that specific piece. Uncovering some of the plot behind her husband's death, Lem discovered that the Red Mantis had been using his repeated trips into and out of the Acadamae as a chance to smuggle out rare alchemical components they needed for the King's poison. She doesn't know who had him eliminated, or even that the ring both she and the Red Mantis have been searching for contains a secret compartment with the last bit of another alchemical substance they need to reproduce that very effective leukovenom for future jobs.
Crispin remains frustratingly neutral.
None of the team witnessed the ship being sunk in the harbor, but as soon as Grau Soldado came around and asked them to help heal his neice's sickness (the group is only level 3 at the point, so they hired a cleric of Sarenrae to do the work), everybody started panicking about plague. They tried to track everywhere that little Brienna went the day before. They had some success, but mostly they just made a lot of merchants very nervous. By the end of the day, they thought every cough or scratch they saw was another infectee.
The next morning, they met with Vencarlo at his request, and helped escourt Triana out of town. They ended up getting into a shouting match with a Hellknight, but otherwise not having to worry too much, though they did spie several people with red rashes on their way out of town. They escourted Triana out for three hours, and then rode back, and in the six hours they were gone, all hell had broken loose in korvosa: The temples were all mobbed with the sick and those who worried they would become sick. At this point, the group kept their heads low and headed towards Citadel Vraid: Every time Korvosa has problems, Field Marshall Croft has profittable work available.
They arrived in time to hear the end of a speech introducing bother the Queen's Physicians as well as the the Steel Maidens. Inside, they learned more about the situation, and were introduced personally to the kindly Dr. Davaulus, a Jimmy Stewart-esque figure who seems as interested in learning about the plague in general as he is treating to sick. Weird, but probably a useful resource.
And this is where out game stands now. Among other things, I need to figure out how to kill a little time between now and when the plague is in full swing. I'm considering having Glorio Arkona invite the group to his estate to settle these 'messy rumors' about him keeping some little girl as a slave. My idea for this is to simply have Vimanda or one of the other Raksasha's pose as Modus' daughter, absolutely convinced that Modus is the man who gave her to Lamm, and that "Mr. Arkona" saved her and has kept her safe. It may kill a few hours, but I just don't believe that it's enough time for Lavender to begin setting up her false cure scheme, and definately not enough time for the city to start hiring body carts to haul great teeming masses of corpses down to the Gray District.
Any thoughts on the matter?
At this point, the group kept their heads low and headed towards Citadel Vraid: Every time Korvosa has problems, Field Marshall Croft has profittable work available.
Did you mean Citadel Volshyenek, or is the field marshal working with the hellknights?
Among other things, I need to figure out how to kill a little time between now and when the plague is in full swing.
Do any of them need to leave town for any reason? A side trip to Veldraine would work. They could even find out some clues about the Direption when they're there. Even a trip to Citadel Vraid might be enough.
I'm considering having Glorio Arkona invite the group to his estate to settle these 'messy rumors' about him keeping some little girl as a slave. My idea for this is to simply have Vimanda or one of the other Raksasha's pose as Modus' daughter, absolutely convinced that Modus is the man who gave her to Lamm, and that "Mr. Arkona" saved her and has kept her safe.
Why would Behor care? Modus seems a little beneath his notice.
Maybe he has by now split up with his sister, and she took Iralmi with her into the Vivified Labyrinth (likely for the same reason--the taste of unusual human flesh). Would Behor have heard enough about the PCs to want to cultivate them as resources against his sister? It sounds a little early for this to have happened.
Alternately, Iralmi's mom, now a Gray Maiden, could have rescued her from Arkona Manor. Since this is far too personal an involvement for a Gray Maiden, she gets fired and stuck in the dungeons beneath the Longacre Building (from whence she gets rescued in a later volume) and Iralmi does something else. (Gets bitten by a wererat and joins Girrigz? Joins one of the Shoanti caravans abandoning Korvosa? Wanders into the castle, catches Sabina's eye, and becomes a serving maid to the queen?)
Behor would be angry. Maybe he'd even approach the PCs and hint that he'd reward them handsomely for any Gray Maidens they kill.
It may kill a few hours, but I just don't believe that it's enough time for Lavender to begin setting up her false cure scheme, and definately not enough time for the city to start hiring body carts to haul great teeming masses of corpses down to the Gray District.
Any thoughts on the matter?
I think you're only a day or two off, though. Even if you only advance the calendar one day it should suffice. On Day One Brienna found the death's head coffer. On Day Two she starts showing symptoms. On Day Three she's a lot sicker and the PCs heal her. On Day Four the PCs spend a bunch of time escorting Trinia (Triana in your game?) to safety. By the end of that day there are lots of people who have contracted the plague and are pressuring the temple. If you can get the party out of town until the end of Day Five then everything will be completely believable, but even now there are obviously a lot of sick people around. Vendra is pretty quick on the uptake, and could start marketing her "cure" by now. If you say that the attack on the wererat happened on Day Three or Four then that plot could be well under way as well.
You could use a crisis at the alchemy shop, too. Maybe it quickly sold out of antitoxins (which won't help, but people don't know that) and there was a minor riot. Family is always good for filler. :D
Good luck! I look forward to hearing how this goes.
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That should be Citadel Volshyenek, actually. That does give me an idea, though...
If the city is officially requesting aid of the Hellknights again (say, to lock down the city's exits and prevent the spread of the plague to the outlying farmers and Korvosa's various colonies), then someone has to deliver the physical letter. As the Queen is familiar with their heroes after Edge of Anarchy, she may specifically request they deliver the orders securely. This easily gets them out of town for a day, if not more.
I can't seem to find my copy of the Guide to Korvosa. How far away is Citadel Vraid?
I'd already planned on having Aula's father, the alchemist, recruited by the Queen's Physicians in their attempt to 'treat' the Blood Veil, but I also love the idea of a small riot at his shop basically destroying it and possibly crippling is already-struggling business.
How's this going, Immora?
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The game has been going well; I've just been very lazy about updating here ever since I joined the ranks of the unemployed. It's strangely unfocusing.
My group is near the end of "Seven Days to the Grave" at this point, and they're proving very reluctant to perform a full assault on the hospice until I had them uncover a few hints about Lady Andaisin's past and that she was probably hiding out in the hospice, not to mention turning Aula's father into a damsel in distress.
Fair enough. :)
I've really enjoyed our brainstorming, so any time you feel motivated I'd be happy to speculate about the personal lives of your PCs some more. :D Meanwhile, good luck with the employment issue!
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Fair enough. :)
I've really enjoyed our brainstorming, so any time you feel motivated I'd be happy to speculate about the personal lives of your PCs some more. :D Meanwhile, good luck with the employment issue!
Heh; we're halfway through the Urgathoan temple, and my players just finished a very polite conversation with Ramoska. I had them quaking in their boots by having him do simple things like recollecting about the fall of Azlant and saying things like "The room feels like it's wicking the heat from your bodies" or "Your light spell doesn't seem as strong here; it almost clings to you like a frightened child." Ultimately, Ramoska was polite, but made no illusions about being a good person. He acknowledged that the varisian on his table was the twelfth one since moving in, and acknowledging that he had no true compassion left in him. It was a fun roleplay encounter, and even though Aula nobly volunteered to be a test subject for Ramoska in poor Ruan's place, the group ultimately just decided to pay the nosferatu off and ask him politely to move on.
That being said, Davaulus' human-bane rapier is monstrous! Crispin, the cleric of Cayden, got ahold of it and almost single-handedly cleared out the combined forces of five Physicians, six Cultists, and Rolth, assembled in the vat room. I was worried about my group getting killed there, but instead they barely broke a sweat. They stopped after the Ramoska encounter, but only have the Leukodaemon and Andaisin herself left.
Among other things, they've left Davaulus alive and strapped to one of his own beds upstairs. I'm debating how to handle that, but since they've already casually bumped into Cinnabar outside (they've done everything but send the Red Mantis a polite-worded invitation to attract their attention), I imagine Davaulus will be quite dead when they return (I would normally expect the Mantis to extract him, but they're getting a little sick of bad guys escaping). Mostly, it's just important that they don't get any hard evidence against the Queen, so I can't let anyone in the know to be taken alive.
They've also been summoned by the Court of Crows for a quick interlude, discovering that the King of Crows has apparently fallen ill with Blood Veil as well. Because their goals coincide, the Arbiters granted the heroes a boon: They were allowed to recover hit points and spells as if they had rested a full 8 hours (mostly to make up for the terrible luck they had last week and the beating it caused them at the hands of a few Grey Maidens). I've finally decided where to go with this arc: Jackdaw, originally bound by the Shoanti to watch over the Fangs and protect them, has since evolved to become the spirit of the city (unknowingly, Amber and other urban druids draw their magic from Jackdaw and his Court of Crows). Because his is a spirit of opportunity and personal interest, the city itself has evolved a similar outlook. Now that the Fangs have been uncovered, Jackdaw is technically freed from his bondage, but he still feels a fondness for the city. Still, his bonds to the city are crumbling thanks to Ileosa's actions, so he wants to set a group of adventurers on the path to stop her before she can unwittingly appoint Kazavon as the new spirit of Korvosa. If the players work things well, they may be bale to turn Zellara's remnant spirit from the Harrow Deck into the city's new spirit, giving the town as a whole the sort of optimism and pragmatism that only a fortune teller could possess.
Well, your group certainly seems more pure of heart and thoughtful than mine. My group is a bunch of brutal, bloody-minded thugs. There has been one murder within the group and they've turned on their Zon-Kuthon allies twice, apparently not thinking about the fact that the Brotherhood of Bone might actually come looking for payback. The first time was an honest misunderstanding. The second time, not so much. Their sole motivation for half the stuff they do is vengeance, the other half is mercenary greed. And the wizard may, just possibly, turn on the rest of the group in a bid to join the queen.
Good times. :-P
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Well, your group certainly seems more pure of heart and thoughtful than mine. My group is a bunch of brutal, bloody-minded thugs. There has been one murder within the group and they've turned on their Zon-Kuthon allies twice, apparently not thinking about the fact that the Brotherhood of Bone might actually come looking for payback. The first time was an honest misunderstanding. The second time, not so much. Their sole motivation for half the stuff they do is vengeance, the other half is mercenary greed. And the wizard may, just possibly, turn on the rest of the group in a bid to join the queen.
Good times. :-P
I guess I just got lucky with my group; they're great people in RL, too. In game terms, one is a dad looking for his daughter, one is a swashbuckling wannabe-hero, another is a lawful good idealist, and the last one is morally iffy, but ultimately a hero for the downtrodden. It has, at time, made keeping them focused on the bigger mysteries difficult, as they get easily distracted helping people one at a time, but overall I'm having tons of fun running for them.
If you're having a lot of problems with your own party, you might want to sit down with them at some point and ask them why they run their character like they do and what they're looking for in-game. No confronting or accusing, just trying to understand where they're coming from. If nothing else, their mercenary attitudes will hurt them in book 5, when they don't have a Zon Kuthon worshiper to toss into the stewardship position and one of them will have to go.
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Hoody Hoo!
Well, my group just wrapped up "Seven Days to the Grave" tonight, and even stayed an extra hour to bask in the glory of officially becoming the Heroes of Korvosa.
I had an awesome time running the Leukodaemon (a critical fail on an attack roll released him while there were still seven gathered cultists in the chamber; my PCs just slammed the door and waited for the screaming to stop before facing him), but I ended up having to make some intentional bad choices for the Daemon to prevent a TPK. In the end, they goaded him into a fury (our Urban druid is immune to disease and called him on it) and then shoved a Cure Disease potion down his throat. I ruled that is caused two points of ability damage to each physical stat as chunks of his torso became pink and healthy. After that, they managed to boot party the beastie pretty effectively.
Afterwards, the party was battered and bleeding, and in a moment of desperation, Crispin made a deal with the Court of Crows, gaining an extra level in exchange for what he values most (unfortunately for him, he doesn't know what that is yet). In truth, though, it probably saved the entire group.
Andaisin was the NPC I've been looking forward to playing for weeks, and I loved getting to make a big "I'm so evil" speech. I augmented the inner sanctum a bit, transforming it into a picturesque glade of colorful molds and undead songbirds. Unfortunately, the first thing my party did was throw out a Dispel Magic and took out her Air Walk, making most of the fight a beatdown on the evil Cleric. It didn't help that I rolled miserably, only doing 8 damage with her 5d6 negative energy channeling attempt and only hitting once with her scythe.
The rebirth was dramatic enough that I even wrote a new speech for Andaisin:
Foolish gibbering men.
I have brought hundreds to the folds of the Pallid Princess,
I have let death run through this city's streets like rainwater.
Did you believe your quaking knees and shivering tongues could end me?
My faith is strong,
And to reward me, my goddess has taken me into her womb,
Birthed me anew.
Behold Andaisin the Reaper, Daughter of Urgathoa!
Now die, men of flesh. Die and rot.
Unfortunately, I was still rolling like a chump, and while the party was initially terrified, they ended up not seeing her as much as a threat. She hit Crispin with a dive attack and carved through most of his health in a single blow, but otherwise was uneffective. Still, everyone agreed the rebirth made the encounter with Andaisin much more terrifying.
Afterwards, things happened quickly. Aula joined her father at the Citadel and, with the aid of the notes (and a 37 on an Alchemy check) created a cure for the Blood Veil. With a few strings pulled and a few excellent Diplomacy check, Crispin managed to co-opt the central brewery for the Korvosan temple of Cayden Caelian to begin mass-producing the cure, which they swiftly named "Blood Ale".
Among other things, they were treated to an all-night party in the theives quarter, showered with gifts, offered access to the city's historical treasures, and finally knighted by Ileosa herself in a moving ceremony (after which, Amber dressed down Glorio Arkona for striking her).
Overall, a good night.