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So my PCs just finished Lords of Oblivion and are entering the ending stretch of my Shackled City campaign. Right now the party has the scribblings found in the beholder’s fortress that essentially shows where he was searching for The Fiery Sanctum. My party has decided to be pro-active and use these maps to find the Sanctum themselves. Here is how I’m running it.
The PCs spent about a day laying the scribblings out and studying them and easily made a 30+ Knowledge [dungeoneering] and [geography] check working together. So I told them that there were basically four places that Vhlantru had narrowed down as the location of the Fiery Sanctum. One of these locations (location 1) was entirely underwater, while the other three only had portions underwater. I rolled randomly on a d4 for which location the Sanctum was actually at. One of my PCs is a Factotum/Chameleon and adapted himself for diving and searching caves. He decided to search location 1 (the underwater caves) first. As he does this I essentially have him roll a search check (once per day of exploration) and add the results up until they reach a certain threshold. After that threshold is reached then that area has been fully explored and if it’s the correct location they will have found the Sanctum.
What I’ve come to ask you guys, is for some encounters to throw at my PC. He has already had a close brush with the Crater Lake Monster. I’m looking for other denizens that he might run into in both the underwater sections as well as the other dark tunnels deep under Cauldron. I’m looking for him to hit lots of stuff as his search check is HUGE and he thinks this will be easy exploration.
Unless you have a solo-campaign going, I would highly suggest that you put some pressure on him with other events taking place. Yes, you need to find the sanctum, but is searching more important that the vote for a new mayor and making a decision on where the town goes? Is it more important than leaving the lake when the eruptions start?
I kind of had this same issue in that my pcs were also proactive but they were searching while ethereal. I blocked them from the area of the actual location, but they scouted out all possible tunnels into that area that were blocked. I was able to pull them away long enough for Foundation of Flame and then they were right back at it when appropriate.
Sean Mahoney
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Unfortunately I was hoping to give my PCs something of a downtime break. They seriously disrupted the Cagewrights' plans during the last session by killing Nulin, one of the 7 'masters', forcing the remaining 6 masters to delay their plans while they train one of the remaining apprentices to carry out Nulin's role during the ritual. This was actually on purpose on my part since the players had complained that things were moving too fast and they weren't getting the chance to be pro-active. I decided to throw them a bone by allowing them to kill an important Cagewright, which in turn would realistically push the timetables back a few weeks if not months.
I should also point out that my PCs are doing the chapters completely out of order (they have not visited the Soul Pillars yet!) so they are not ready for Foundation of Flame. I've had to be somewhat fluid with the events occuring in the AP since my PCs have been able to come up with some creative solutions that negate future planned events.
In the next couple of days the party will participate in choosing a new leader...but that will not be a lead-in to Foundation of Flame since after I start that event there is no turning back. Right now I want my party to feel like they can chill, go over their notes and perhaps tie up some loose ends. They also have a ton of magic items being crafted which I want to give them time to complete. They might also want to go visit the Soul Pillars, etc. since they are still only level 14.
What I'm picturing for the explorer is a number of different random events that he will run into everyday that he searches (perhaps finding tunnels warded by other creature, not the Cagewrights) which actually make his searching more difficult or force him to delay searching certain areas. His first search check was a +46 last night, so I expect him to be able to find the Sanctum really fast if he is able to go uninterupted.
Well, I guess a couple of things come to mind.
First, while you may be wanting to give them down time, they aren't taking it. Instead your player is doing everything he can to continue the story. That being the case, I can't see how as a DM you can do much but let him if that is what he wants to do. As I posted above that doesn't mean that you can't move things in a direction he didn't expect, it just means that you need to keep things moving or at least this particular character gets bored.
Second, I am not sure that search would be the correct roll to be making here. From the SRD:
"You generally must be within 10 feet of the object or surface to be searched."
and
"It takes a full-round action to search a 5-foot-by-5-foot area or a volume of goods 5 feet on a side."
I am not going to do the math right here, but I am sure that you can guess at how many months it would take to search the volume of the crater lake using a 5'x5' method.
There isn't really a specific mechanic for exploring with a finding a single thing in mind, though I would likely classify this under Survival with a synergy bonus of +2 for a high search rank (above 5 ranks).
But since none of that is really what you were asking, let me see if I can help you come up with some encounters. Since you have done things differently in your campaign, I am not sure that I know what EL to shoot for in the encounters. Can you give me some more info on the party? Class breakdown, levels, and/or if this guy is out on his own?
Sean Mahoney
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Okay so here is how the party is set-up. Everyone just became level 14 and are on the verge of level 15 (killing Nulin is worth a lot of experience).
Gades: Factotum8/Chameleon6
Mugen: Wizard14 (has the upgraded Alakast from RPGenius)
Grulka: Warblade14
Fenris: Warlock14
Lazaar:Wizard/Crusader/Phoneix Mage 14 (I don’t remember the exact levels)
Deckard: Cleric14 (is retiring from the party)
Of the people I’ve mentioned only the Factotum and Warlock can actually get down into the tunnels with ease. The warlock is very mobile and can swim and breathe underwater (as well as dimension door at will). The factotum on the other hand can also cast water breathing for 2 hours and has a swim speed of 70ft., 60ft. darkvision, and hide and move silently checks that routinely end up in the 50’s. He also has a feat that allows him to hide from blindsight/sense. He is doing all the exploring by himself. His short encounter with the Crater Lake Monster was basically my warning that bad stuff lives down in the tunnels, so don't feel like you need to hold back. My players are VERY creative when it comes to creative use of their abilities, and if he gets eaten, well...that's his fate.
As for the skill checks, here was my line of reasoning. The factotum is using the Autohypnosis skill to memorize portions of Orbious’s map. He is then swimming to the unexplored portions of the tunnels and exploring them, and then returning home and using Autohypnosis to draw in the portions he explored. The search check is basically rolling effciency in carrying out this task. The sanctum itself is actually pretty easy to see once you find it’s location, it’s just finding it that is the problem. The search check basically is a measure of his ability to explore the tunnels quickly without having to backtrack or get lost while doing so. Unfortunately it’s kind of silly without dangers or other interesting things that he also might encounter underneath the city.
I’m not just looking for underwater encounters, but also anything that might live underneath Cauldron. I know I’m kind of breaking new ground here, as not many people have talked about end-game stuff for Shackled City, but I decided to see what I could come up with.