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Now allow me to try to explain the title. Our group had just finished running through Tower of the Last Baron and had decided to follow that with the sequel Treasure of Chimera Cove. The tie in was quite easy to accomplish as they are tied together with a note and map to be found on Tower leading to Chimera Cove. The layout of the module is rather formidable if you are a beginning DM. I grant that you must be rather flexible in the running of this module. At times I felt I was railroading my players. However, there is a certain sequence of events that must happen in a particular order.
The PC’s got the door to the boathouse open by acting as if they were the expected reinforcements. Then it was go to “fist city”. The Hobgoblins were provided with potions that would help in combat. However, with my group they never got the chance. A Lightning Bolt and a Black Tentacles took out two of the Hobgoblins and then the rest were manageable. The release of the villagers allowed the PC’s to acquire the needed items to be able to enter the cavern and to learn the handed down story of the origin of the village.
The encounter with the Hand of the Deep was a little bit awkward. I had a hard time figuring out how it knew where the PC’s and NPC’s were on board if it couldn’t see them. My group used Sunder attempts on the tentacles and cut a few. The Wizard summoned a water elemental and managed to drive off the Hand. That was after losing the villager working the tiller of the boat.
Upon entering the Cavern and encountering the Hobgoblins on guard, an Intimidate check let them escape with their lives but not much else. Opening the Lock Doors to get to High Port was pretty straight forward. It was here that my group lost their lives however.
Upon entering the High Port, they see Poltur standing on the dock looking at the Silver Reign. He insults the PC’s and the fight is on. The Fighter 5/Rogue 2 ascends the gangplank to confront Poltur. Poltur gets a solid hit in and the F5/R2 loses his +1 Flaming Mace on a roll of 1. However, before Poltur can act again the Wizard pulls out a wand of Hold Person and Poltur fails his save. The F5/R2 dives into the water to retrieve his weapon and the Monk 4/Fighter 3 does a Coup de Grace on Poltur. That leads to the entire complex beginning to flood which would release the Terraken. My PC’s decide that after hearing the true story from Pelastour that one of them should try to acquire the control item for the Terraken. So the monk leaves the party to try to accomplish that. The rest of the party decides to check out the ship. Once they get in the hold things go from bad to worse. They are confronted by three Mimics and one Hellcat. There is a Gnome Bard tied to one of the stanchions (a new player). They walk up to him to find out why he is tied up and enter the kill zones of all of the monsters. The only survivors of this module are the Bard and the Wizard. The F5/R2 falls to a Mimic, the Rogue 7 falls to the Mimic and the Hellcat, the M4/F3 falls to the Water Elemental a few minutes later.
The entire module is well written and was fun to play. As I never got to finish there are still some concerns I had about how to run the reset of it. Such as how does Poltur get to area 5 when the entire tunnel is collapsed. It might have been easier to understand if he entered the southwest tunnel leading to area 11. If that was the case and the party had followed him there could have been a way to avoid the entire rest of the module by following the tunnel leading from the Northeast of area 11 to area 5.
I am somewhat disappointed that we didn’t get to finish the module. However, I can state with some certainty that if you plan to run this module be certain that your party includes a Cleric, and NEVER split the party.
I was very pleased with what Mr. Caralya had provided and am looking forward to future modules from him. He puts in a lot of sidebar items to try to cover unexpected turns. However, remember that he still has to work under a word count so do not expect every eventuality to be covered.
Just my 2 cp
Honestly, I had a tough time thinking three-dimensionally with this one. I've not run it yet, despite having a nautical campaign going. Kudos for braving it!
Honestly, I had a tough time thinking three-dimensionally with this one. I've not run it yet, despite having a nautical campaign going. Kudos for braving it!
Say more, maybe I can clarify.
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I died in this module. Couldn't believe it. Me! Dead! Silverhair is a big meanie head DM for not letting me retroactively coat myself in Everclear!!!
But seriously, I had a GREAT time playing in this. I look forward to playing (or DMing, maybe I'll do one from Dungeon) in more of your adventures. Keep up the good work!
Silverhair is a big meanie head DM for not letting me retroactively coat myself in Everclear!!!
So I’m a big meanie head DM huh? Just wait until Sean runs Guardians of Dragonfall then we’ll have a PvP session between us. It’s fight time.
Seriously, I would like to play in one of Mr. Caralya’s adventures. Running this one was fun and I knew what was going to be happening, just not how it would play out. Again, Huzzah, Anson.Just my 2 cp.
Honestly, I had a tough time thinking three-dimensionally with this one. I've not run it yet, despite having a nautical campaign going. Kudos for braving it!Say more, maybe I can clarify.
I don't have it in front of me, but I remember it having to do with the locks for the ships. It was explained fairly well in the text, I just have troubles with imagining 3D environments at times.
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I don't have it in front of me, but I remember it having to do with the locks for the ships. It was explained fairly well in the text, I just have troubles with imagining 3D environments at times.
Interestingly, I didn't "see" this the first two times I read through it either. And I still don't! I'll be running it however in about 2-3 weeks and would like a bit of clarification. Something about the island entrance rising/sinking I think was confusing.
Reiterate your question and I will do my best to give you a clear answer for it. :)
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OK, I reread the adventure this morning and think I got it now. I should have done more than a standard read the first two times around.
What I'm missing is the text doesn't mesh completely 100% with the diagram or the diagram misses stuff not being 3-D. The ship navigates through or around the second lock, and then up to the double-doors. It seems the water elemental can scry to this area and uses water control to raise and lower the locks. OK!
In the end it's easy enough to get around. Drop a lock here or there if it causes confusion or will result in a myriad of player logic queries. Overall the adventure goal and situation is too swashbuckling fun not to run, and the variety of encounters is A+.
If I had a question it would be this: