My group is plunging headlong into stuff way over their heads. I'm tempted to let them, but where possible I'll throw a few encounters at them to slow them down until they're sufficiently powerful to deal with what's ahead.
They dealt with Fort Rannick by animating Aldern Foxglove's carefully preserved hand and scratching a bunch of ogres. This worked on one ogre, who caught ghoul fever and then got hacked apart by another party member's axe. The ogres then ate that ogre. The PCs fled. (They've already dealt with the dam.)
So I figure that Lucrecia will see what's happening (ie the occasional ogre dying with ghoul fever and then other ogres eating his/her corpse) and feel that this is good enough for her purposes. She can head back to Mokmurian once the ogre ghasts destroy Turtleback Ferry, and while the loss of the giant forces will upset him she can just blame the PCs. (He seems like the type who always needs someone to blame.)
After leaving the fort, they climbed Hook Mountain and claimed to be Mammy Graul's sons. They were still nearly eaten, but one of them was wearing the Sihedron medallion and said he urgently needed to speak to "Kezug". Barl Breakbones wasn't sure what was going on, but he had a caravan of weapons headed to Jorgenfist in a week so he offered the PCs a job as caravan escorts, which they accepted. They left (not wanting to be casually eaten before then) and promised to be back in a week.
After that they went to the Storval Stairs, where they were intercepted by some stone giants. My PCs are giantkin, so the stone giants told them that all giants in the region are being directed to Jorgenfist to join the army that's assaulting some ancient ruin. That's where we ended the game.
So:
Are the Fort Rannick ogres going to succumb to ghoul fever? I'd usually say "no" because of their high Fort saves, but if you're eating diseased flesh, particularly in large quantities, it seems to me that this is tantamount to deliberately failing your save. Would Lucrecia step in, or would she leave everyone to their fates? She must be pretty sick of the lot of them by now. I'm leaning toward the ogres becoming ghasts and destroying Turtleback Ferry and then having Lucrecia end up at Jorgenfist. On the other hand, the players worked so hard on this plan (particularly in preserving Aldern's hand this whole time) and it feels mean to have it backfire so spectacularly. There are some NPC heroes in Turtleback Ferry right now; maybe I should run a supplemental game where they try to defend the town against the onslaught of ogre ghasts and just see what happens.
How much collateral damage will there be in the path of the army of stone giants? Teraktinus and Longtooth are evil, but the other giants are all neutral. Are the Seven Tooth and Birdcruncher goblins in any danger from them? I'd think so, but not out of any deliberately targeted intent.
What have the rest of you done for encounters on the Storval Plains? I'd love for my PCs to gain at least one more level before they get to Jorgenfist. They'll run into patrols of giants, but they'll all be under orders to play nice so that won't have quite the impact it might otherwise. Since there are giants wandering the area I'm not sure that there will really be that many other threats around. I can't see a wandering band of brigands or orcs surviving there for long, for instance.
Personally, I would not have allowed the severed hand to still have ghoul fever. Ghoul fever is a supernatural ability of ghouls and would have been destroyed with the destruction of the ghoul, unless it was preserved somehow.
Its a neat idea though.
Now the ghoul bite paralysis is an extraordinary ability. That may linger a while.
Your PCs are going to die in Jorgenfist at this juncture. Bypassing the XP for Hook Mountain will keep them way too weak for Fortress.
As a solution, I would send them to the Fortress, let them see how bad it would be, then, as an out, arrange for them to be sent back to Hook Mountain for some reason, since they know the way, they're the logical choices.
I definitely wouldn't let ghoul fever wipe out Fort Rannick. Perhaps the PCs, on return to the Fort, find it closed due to quarantine. A weak strain of ghoul fever has run rampant and many are sick, but no one's dead and ghoulish. The Kreegs suspect foul play and have shut the Fort. Now the PCs have to sneak in and finish the job, before the Kreegs find out what's up and hunt them down.
Personally, I would not have allowed the severed hand to still have ghoul fever. Ghoul fever is a supernatural ability of ghouls and would have been destroyed with the destruction of the ghoul, unless it was preserved somehow.
That is a very good point. I hadn't thought of that. All the plague stuff I'm running in another adventure path has my brain trained to think of diseases remaining infective for at least a while after the diseased person dies, but you're absolutely right.
I don't have to let this work. I haven't told them anything in terms of results and can pretty much come up with any outcome that seems right.
Its a neat idea though.
It really is, and they worked so hard at both preserving it and keeping it away from everything else.
Your PCs are going to die in Jorgenfist at this juncture. Bypassing the XP for Hook Mountain will keep them way too weak for Fortress.
I'm in complete agreement. I think that they know it, too, and might try to come up with some reason why their characters linger during the journey.
As a solution, I would send them to the Fortress, let them see how bad it would be, then, as an out, arrange for them to be sent back to Hook Mountain for some reason, since they know the way, they're the logical choices.
Nice! Thank-you for this idea.
I definitely wouldn't let ghoul fever wipe out Fort Rannick. Perhaps the PCs, on return to the Fort, find it closed due to quarantine. A weak strain of ghoul fever has run rampant and many are sick, but no one's dead and ghoulish. The Kreegs suspect foul play and have shut the Fort. Now the PCs have to sneak in and finish the job, before the Kreegs find out what's up and hunt them down.
I've gone back and double-checked the stat block, and Aldern was a dread ghast, which means that he had a supernatural ability to create spawn and wasn't infected with ghoul fever at all. This has all been an assumption on the part of my player, so I think that the ogres are probably all fine. It's sad that this great, cunning plan of theirs was so flawed, but it looks like there's no disease after all.
If the Kreegs know that there was a plan, unsuccessful or not, to infect the entire fort, then the jig is up for the PCs. They might even feign illness among some of the ogres to lure the PCs closer and spring a trap.
Ha! And whether it's Bluff or Perform (acting) they have -2 to their rolls. This could be a lot of fun. :D
You could turn the whole adventure inside out. Instead of a raid on Fort Rannick, it would be Escape from Fort Rannick!
Their inside knowledge from the Black Arrow survivors would be invaluable. Especially the secret passages behind the fort.
This development could be a hoot.
Sadly there were no survivors in my campaign. The PCs destroyed the Graul buildings from a distance, killing all inside. (Lots of the people inside got out and attacked the PCs, of course, but the prisoners were not among them.)
That said, I like the way you think! This could be fun! I'll see if the players go for it.
Vorel's Phage might (conceivably?) have infested the hand, although if this were the case I'm not sure why the PCs wouldn't have contracted it, unless they were storing it very carefully?
They weren't storing it that carefully! Sadly, I think that this would give too much away, since most of the players are also currently in Seven Days to the Grave. Nice idea, though!
Are these giantkin going to be subject to rune-giant control?
Yes. We started playing as soon as volume one was released, and once volume six came out I told them that they were hosed. I'm hoping to come up with some pretty serious hints about what's in store, so that they can try to devise some sort of countermeasures.
Are these giantkin going to be subject to rune-giant control?Yes. We started playing as soon as volume one was released, and once volume six came out I told them that they were hosed. I'm hoping to come up with some pretty serious hints about what's in store, so that they can try to devise some sort of countermeasures.
Protection From Evil, a first level spell, will stop the rune-giant control for the duration of the spell. Duration 1 min. per level, not a lot of time to off a rune giant. Magic Circle vs. Evil (3rd level) would be better at 10 min. per level.
A wand of Magic Circle would cost 11,250gp for a CL5 50 min duration. An item that has a permanent protection/evil would be handy, or something that prevents mind control.
Yeah, there are definitely solutions out there. I just need to make sure that I've planted the seeds of worry in them enough that they seek out said solutions.
I'm kind of hoping that they get a raise dead done on the one on Hook Mountain. They could witness what it does to the ogres and then either kill it from a distance or run away.
Your PCs are going to die in Jorgenfist at this juncture. Bypassing the XP for Hook Mountain will keep them way too weak for Fortress.
As a solution, I would send them to the Fortress, let them see how bad it would be, then, as an out, arrange for them to be sent back to Hook Mountain for some reason, since they know the way, they're the logical choices.
I went with this. One of the stone giants from the Storval Stairs escorted them to Jorgenfist and introduced them to the giants there. They did some hunting to help feed the massed giants, and then were brought down into Jorgenfist proper to undergo the ritual of empowerment. Once they were all branded with the Sihedron rune they were sent back outside, where they ended up staying with the Crannoch clan.
One of the Birdcrunchers ended up getting very friendly with one of the Crannoch stone giants, and before the session ended Girzig had wedded Manion of Crannoch, and he has joined the Birdcruncher tribe.
(Uh, what?)
The next morning they met General Galenmir, who has tasked the Birdcrunchers with delivering supplies to Barl Breakbones and picking up any weapons his ogres have finished making. He said he'd have long-term jobs for them when they got back.
Thanks! They're certainly keeping me on my toes! :)
We're having a huge amount of fun, which is of course the most important thing. Thanks again to everyone who has been helping me out with the brainstorming!