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Yesterday was the first session of our new CotCT AP using the PFRPG rules and the Gamemastery Critical Hit and Fumble decks. The group currently consists of four players, with the potential for a fifth coming in next week.
Wolfom - Barbarian – Shoanti
Cyril - Ranger – Half-elf
Ankou - Cleric of Pharasma – Human
Simon - Wizard – Human
This will be an interesting run since the cleric and wizard have already run through the first two and ½ books and the ranger and the ranger joined up with them in Seven Days before our previous DM had to move (miss that guy). I’m not too worried about that as the guys are pretty good players and I’m only worried about them abusing knowledge in slight instances. To that end, I’ve been working on switching/modifying some of the encounters and throwing in extra things to keep them on their toes. I’m also working to update the npc’s (at least the major ones) to the PF rules, which should help.
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Four individuals who had never met and who would never have known that they had anything in common woke up this morning to find strange Harrow cards with an invitation written on the back. Intrigued these men set off to find the location on the card, and after some bad directions and circling around, ended up at the house of Madam Zellara, a fortune teller. It wasn’t until the last fourth person arrived, a tall Shoanti barbarian, that anyone noticed a card on the table which explained that Zellara was out but would be back shortly. Helping themselves to her wine and bread, the group made small talk until Zellara arrived. Explaining the situation and how each of them had been wronged by Gaedrin, Zellara performed a Harrow reading for the group. Bolstered by fate the four men set off for vengeance.
Cyril could detect something moving around inside the front room, but couldn’t quite figure out what it was so the group decided that a “kick-in-the-door” and blitz approach would be the best option. Cyril readied to kick in the front door with Wolfom reading to charge in right behind him. When everyone was in position, Cyril kicked the door … and hurt his foot. Cyril’s failed attempt to kick in the door sent the fishery’s night watchman, and old, mean looking dog into a fit of barking. Realizing that what little element of surprise they had was gone, Wolfom charged into the door and his mighty Shoanti frame knocking the locked boards off their hinges. The rest of the group surged into the room and with a critical hit from the cleric’s mace, old Bloo was forever silenced.
The group spread out to check the doors, but realized that all of them were locked for the night. After a minute of fumbling around, the PC’s were surprised when a sleepy and half-dressed Yargin threw open the door from his sleeping quarters, pointed his acid wand at the Shoanti standing right next to him … and cursed as nothing happened. Fortunately for Yargin, Wolfom wasn’t used to swinging his greatsword indoors and banged his weapon off the doorframe between the two men. A stray bolt from Cyril and Yargin was feeling pretty good about himself, until Ankou’s magic ice-bolt confirmed another critical hit, dropping the acid-slinger.
A quick rummage through Yargin’s possession turned up the keys to the building (Yay!) which made the group’s advance much easier. Sweeping through the fish muck and stench, the group forced their way back into the two tiered processing floor where they found a giggling half-orc and a sleepy gnome yelling at a malnourished group of children.
The gnome successfully intimidated the children into attacking the intruders with their stirring oars and forks. Ankou, himself having been a child in Lamm’s employ years ago, didn’t wish to see any harm come to the children and attempted to talk them down, but the children were much more afraid of the gnome and with a thwack, one of them hit the cleric upside the head with an oar. The other orphans didn’t fare nearly as well, and batted their makeshift weapons ineffectually at the PC’s. Simon the wizard, agasht at the thought of hurting innocent children, cast a sleep spell, dropping three of the orphans, and the giggling half-orc into magical slumber. Finally getting to show off, Wolfom made a running leap from the balcony and landed in front of the gnome and sleeping half-orc, landing like a gymnast. One swing of his sword dropped the gnome, and a cleave finished the sleeping half-orc. Seeing their oppressors fall, the children dropped their weapons and fled from the fishery, free-at-last.
When a quick search of the rest of the fishery failed to turn up Gaedrin, the group readied themselves to head out to the old ship moored behind the fishery. The going was slow, as the planks were rotted and slick, and a couple of times, Wolfom had to struggle to keep his footing. Wolfom led the group onto the Kraken’s Folly, but was caught off guard when a monstrous spider leapt from the ship’s darkened interior and bit him. Fortunately for the hardy Shoanti, the spider’s poison was too dull to have any effect. Cyril had to jump from the ship’s deck to the dock as the boards that he stood on gave way and the group agreed that using the stairs was probably a better way of doing things.
A small handrail framed the wooden stairs that led into the depths and Wolfom, showing off his natural grace and athletic ability jumped over the railing from the side and into the stairs … promptly catching his foot on the railing and falling headfirst into the hold. Cyril behind him laughed at the barbarian’s clumsiness and decided to jump the rail as well to show the tribesman how it was done … and promptly caught his foot on the rail and fell on top of the Shoanti. Serious Cleric is Serious just shook his head at the two fallen warriors and headed around the rail when the wizard pushed past him and with grace and poise, leapt the railing and dropped daintily into the hold next to the barbarian and ranger, forever proving that he was more manly than the two of them.
The barbarian got to his feet and intrigued by the chests in back moved around the cobwebby interior, only to be jumped by more monstrous spiders. He managed to slash one of them down before the rest jumped on him. The venom from the two spiders that bit him proved tougher than his Shoanti blood and the barbarian’s muscles spasmed loosely, leaving him weaker. Finishing his round, Wolfom smashed two of the spiders that scuttled on him. The rest of the group rushed to aid the barbarian, but resulted only in slapping the barbarian a few times while the spider scuttled around and bit him some more. Finally growing weary of the vermin, Wolfom flexed his “poisoned-but-still-considerable” strength, locking the spider’s fangs in his muscles and squished it with the pommel of his sword.
The cleric muttered a healing prayer over Wolfom before the group set to looking around the ship’s leaky interior. Luck was once again on the barbarian’s side as he discovered a slidable door that led from the cargo hold to a small rickety walkway scant feet over the inky waters below. On the other side of the walkway was the fishery’s undercarriage, a room with dim light spilling out. Cautiously making their way over the slimy walkway, Wolfom kicked open the door to find Gaedrin Lamm tossing through the day’s pickings.
With a shriek of surprised fright at seeing the nearly 7’ tall Shoanti kick in his door, Gaedrin whipped out a hand crossbow and fired it into the hole in the center of the floor, arousing the anger of Gobbleguts the crocodile, who leapt from the water, his jaws snapping closed only inches from the Shoanti’s face. It was here that Wolfom’s luck ran out.
Hearing the voice of the man who had murdered his closest friend, Cyril charged forward, trying to push past the barbarian to get to Lamm. The combined weight of the two men sent the planked floor crashing down, and though Cyril managed to jump back in time, Wolfom plunged into the dark water below where the only thing visible was the gleaming jaws of a waiting jigsaw shark. The shark snapped at the barbarian, wounding him lightly before the barbarian could start to swim towards the fishery. The rest of the group, now seeing the thrashing shark that attacked their companion started firing at it, but couldn’t seem to get a bead on the shark through the dark water.
Wolfom knew he needed to get away from the finned menace and decided to try and force his way into the shallow waters beneath the fishery. With some exertion, the barbarian managed to pull himself into position … right next to Gobbleguts! The alligator was still pissed off at the bolt stuck in its back and chomped down on the barbarian, bringing him to 0hp. Cyril, realizing that help was needed inside the building ran and jumped the gap in the walkway and would have plummeted into the waters had not the touch of destiny chosen this moment for him to shine. Cyril landed inside the building and swatted away the bolt that Lamm fired at him. Outside, Ankou remained scared of the walkway collapsing under him and stayed where he was, firing ineffectually at the circling shark below. The wizard wanted to move forward to help, but was the cleric yelled at him for getting too close so he just fired his crossbow and missed the shark.
Wolfom refused to die this way and entered a frenzied rage, striking at Gobbleguts … and missing horribly. Gobbleguts, who thought that there was more dangerous prey, decided that the barbarian was too annoying to let live chomped and thrashed and left the barbarian lifeless in the water. Cyril ran past the preoccupied alligator, drawing his shortsword, and whiffed big time against Gaedrin. Outside, the cleric decided to finally make a jump for it but fell just short, splashing into the water. The wizard summoned a dire rat next to the shark to distract it from the cleric’s thrashing, the shark took the bait and R.I.P. Squeakers.
Gobbleguts, having finished with the barbarian, turned his sights on the next nearest thing, Cyril, but the dodgey ranger stayed well out of his reach. Gaedrin stepped back to fire at the ranger but missed. Cyril’s counterattack did not, and Gaedrin Lamm met him just end at the hand of a vengeful ranger. Meanwhile, Ankou managed to climb out of the water and into the fishery as the wizard shot at the alligator again, still with no luck.
Gobbleguts continued to assault the ranger, this time biting deeply and bringing the ranger to the brink of unconsciousness. Not having learned the barbarian’s lesson, Cyril decided to duke it out toe-to-toe with the alligator and bounced his sword off the creature’s scaly hide. Ankou fired an ice bolt which stung the alligator, trying to pull it off the ranger. Outside the wizard got a running start … and kept running right off the edge of the walkway and into the water. The wizard’s owl familiar decided “Screw this” and flapped easily into the rafters of the building. With no more Squeakers to distract it, the shark homed in on the floundering wizard but was stopped short by the wizard’s magical armor.
Gobbleguts, with a last hurrah, snapped at the ranger but could get through his defense. Finishing it, Cyril put an end to the barbarian slayer. Ankou ran to the door and helped the wizard out of the water. An annoyed shark, decided that these guys were too much effort for too little gain and swam off hungry.
The group fished the dead barbarian out of the water and set about searching the late Gaedrin’s stuff for valuables like the carrion-pickers that they are only to find Zellara the fortune teller’s severed head (at which point the only guy who didn’t know about this looks at me and goes “What?!” so I’m glad I at least get some reaction from it) and a bunch of loot. Collecting the bodies so that Ankou can give them their final rights, the remaining group finds the city in chaos with the news of King Eodren’s death. Deciding that they need to recoup and get off the streets, they make their way back to Zellara’s house for some answers and find another Shoanti man (who looks and acts exactly like Wolfom, except his name is Max) who had shown up late for the party. And we called it for the night.
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So to change things up a little from the first time we ran through this, I decided to have the Old Fishery encounter happen at night. I guess the guys could have waited for the morning, but they were all hopped up on Harrow readings and vengeance so I didn’t figure this would be a problem. I also gave the spider’s all surprise rounds for jumping the unlucky barbarian and made the lower deck plans a little easier to break through.
Unfortunately, I completely forgot that this whole thing was happening at night and thus forgot to apply penalties as such. Oh well, I guess even the DM can get hopped up on Harrow readings and vengeance.
I was proud of the ranger who charged forward next to the barbarian and broke the walkway, making the end so much more difficult (even lethal) for the group. When the cleric got angry at him for doing it even though he knew what would happen the ranger goes “well, Cyril heard the voice of the man that killed his best friend, he’s not going to be thinking of your 10-foot apart rule”.
Way to not metagame Pat.
All in all, aside from the barbarian’s chompy death, a good session to get things rolling.
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Two sessions later and things are going in an entirely different direction than the first time we ran through this AP, which everyone seems to be enjoying.
The party split into two groups, Ankou the Cleric and Max would head into the streets to be do-gooders and Cyril the Ranger and Tanoff would make their way to Cyril’s mother’s house to make sure that she was alright. Ankou and Max ran into a group of Korvosan guardsmen who were in a tense standoff with a mob of drunken rioters. It looked like violence could erupt at any moment, but with some smooth talking from the Cleric of Pharasma and some angry looks from the towering Shoanti, both groups headed away peacefully.
Things didn’t go so well for Cyril and Tanoff who, after finding Cyril’s mother’s house relatively unmolested, ran into a similar situation. The half-elf and dwarf tried talking the drunken mob down, but after a glass bottle was hurled at Cyril’s head, a melee broke out. The fight was a free for all between guards, rioters, and PC’s. Cyril and Tanoff restrained themselves, pulling the blows from the weapons so that they only dealt non-lethal damage, but the guards and rioters had no such compunctions. Cyril was slashed a couple of times by the guards, who saw him as an instigator and the largest threat. Tanoff held off the rioters until he knocked out the man he identified as the leader and the rest of the peasants fled. After a couple more rounds of fighting, three of the four guards were out cold and the fourth fled, screaming for backup. Cyril noted that his goal of getting into the Sable Company was looking at having a couple of bumps in it now. Before the two of them left to regroup with Ankou and Max.
The group came together again in the streets, tired and still wounded from the assault on Gaedrin’s fishery and the riots. They decided they enough was enough for one night and were preparing to find a safe place to rest when all four of them were stung by a flock of invisible imps who saw the wounded PC’s as easy prey. The imps were fast and stung them all again with their poisoned barbs, though only the hearty Shoanti succumbed to the poison and then the fight was on. Everyone was finding it hard to damage the nasty devils (except for Max and his greatsword of imp-smiting) and things only got worse when the imps suggested that it was getting hot and a pleasant dip in the nearby Jeggare River would be quite refreshing. Most of the group just laughed at their trickery, but Ankou thought that they were on to something and the party’s cleric took off at a sprint towards the dark waters. Left without a holy man, the party circled together while Max held the imps off until a flight of pseudo-dragons swooped down to the rescue. The imps and pseudo-dragons fought viciously but with the help of the PC’s the imps were dragged down and sent back to hell. Ankou came back sopping and angry, just in time to see the fight finished. Really needing their rest, the group followed Ankou back to the church of Pharasma in the strangely peaceful Grey District and passed out for the night.
Over the next couple of days the group went back out into Korvosa to help quell the riots where the could, Simon the wizard rejoining them. Of note, the group helped a young nobleman escape from an angry mob with little fanfare and then ran into a drunken guardsmen whom Cyril recognized as Grau Soldato, a well-liked Watch Sergeant. Grau was thoroughly hammered and seemed to think that Simon was a someone he knew from his hometown of Sandpoint. The group attempted to coerce the drunken sergeant to follow them, but after some abysmal rolling, Grau insisted on sharing drinks and getting reacquainted with his pal. Max decided that some “barbarian diplomacy” was in order and punched Grau in the face. Grau was slightly stunned and though they could tell that he was a far superior fighter than any of them, his extreme drunkenness worked against him. Max wrestled Grau to the ground while the rest of the group helped or shooed passerby’s on. Good roll’s from Max and bad rolls from drunken Grau let Max tie the Sergeant up and knock him out for good.
Max hoisted the unconscious Grau onto his shoulder and they set off towards the only neutral place that they could think of to stash the soldier, Zellara’s house. Unfortunately, they didn’t make any attempt to get him there stealthily and ran into a Korvosan guard patrol. Seeing the unconscious soldier bound up and being toted around, the guards drew their weapons and entered combat. Most of the group decided to run for it while Cyril valiantly stepped forward and began defensively knocking the pursuing guardsmen out. After a quick and relatively bloodless scuffle, the group decided to proceed with a bit more stealth and Cyril was really beginning to feel that his chances of joining the Sable Company were going down the drain.
The group ousted a squatter from Zellara’s place and untied the unconscious Grau, letting him sleep off the worst of his drunkenness. Grau woke half a day later with no memory of what happened courtesy of too much alcohol and a big meaty Shoanti fist. The group successfully diplomacized Grau into swearing off alcohol and returning to the guard.
Noticing that the riots were subsiding and the city was getting back under control, Ankou sent a courier to Castle Korvosa with a message that the group had found the queen’s brooch in the stash of a petty crime lord during the riots and retired to the Church of Pharasma for an evening’s rest. They receive a reply invitation to come to Castle Korvosa early the next morning and set off.
Unfortunately for them, on the way to return the brooch an Otyugh erupts from the sewers underneath them. A fight ensues and the party sustains some damage while putting the beast down. Unknown to him, Max has been diseased by the bite of the foul creature and will soon begin feeling the effects. Realizing that they can’t meet the queen in their disheveled state, the group quickly finds a place where they can clean off before arriving at Castle Korvosa (bunch of preening ninnies).
They successfully return the Queen’s brooch and are rewarded with a job for the Korvosan Guard as well as money. The group realizes that they seem to work well together and they accept Queen Illeosa’s offer. That was where we finished for the evening.
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The group did a good job of actually taking part in helping to quell the riots and seemed to take a personal interest in the welfare of the city and its people more than returning the queen’s brooch for the reward. Along with the AP’s suggested riot encounters, I added a couple of confrontations with the town guard and groups of rioters. From now on, in general interactions with the Korvosan Guard, I’m going to make it so that there is a chance (however slim) that Cyril will be recognized by some of the guards that he assaulted, which should make for an interesting time.
Aside from that, there wasn’t really anything that needed too much changing for this portion of the module and the party achieved level 2.
Points of note for this session:
1. I enjoyed Max's use of "Barbarian Diplomacy" and look forward to it being used much more often.
2. The group seems to be coming together.
3. No major spoiler problems from the guys who have been through this part in this session.
4. No PC-deaths this time around.
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Dear Mother,
I am writing to you today from the local prison where I have recently been incarcerated for the duration of this riot. I am doing quite fine, though I could not say the same for my associates. You see, I thought I was doing what was best for the city, in prevent the guard from unjustly harming the populace, and in the end I have ended up imprisoned on several counts, most perpetrated by my peers. These counts include, but are not limited to;
1) Assaulting a member of the Guard. (Five counts)
2) Adding and abetting felonious acts against the guards. (two counts)
3) Conspiracy to Kidnap.
I hope this letter finds you well. I hear my trial will be arbitrated by Zenobia Zenderholm in two days time. Wish me the best of luck.
Your Son,
Cyril Cardenas
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Letter to mommy...
Seriously. You might want to lay off the guard-o-cide if you really want to be one of them. They kind of frown upon that sort of thing.
Just saying.
Fortunately, this all happened during the general chaos of the riots and its unlikely that they will remember you specifically. Though there's always the chance ...
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The third session of our CotCT campaign went off well. Tanoff the dwarf was once again missing from the table as he was ill and (intelligently) didn’t want everyone else to get what he had.
Cast for the evening:
Ankou –Cleric of Pharasma
Cyril – Half-Elf Ranger
Max – Shoanti Barbarian
Simon – Failed-Academae Wizard
A week passed in which the group got to sell the random loot that they had managed to acquire over the last few days. The only other incident of note was that Max came down with a fever, which could only have come from being bitten by a rampaging Otyugh some days before. The next day, Max (having failed his DC 11 Fort save again) was looking even worse, so Ankou took the day to help Max rest and get better. Within two days Max had beaten back the fever, but was still weak and shaky when a runner from the Korvosan Guard arrived with a summons.
Cressidia welcomed the PC’s back to the citadel and explained to them that she was in a bit of a bind. Verik Vancaserkin, one of her Watch Sergeants, had gone rouge during the riots two weeks ago and had set up shop giving out meat to the poor. While not terribly ignoble, Verik had convinced several other guards to join him, and Cressidia could not allow the desertion to spread any further. She tasked the PC’s with bringing Vancaserkin and his men back to the Citadel, alive if possible.
Seeking information about All the World’s Meat, the PC’s set to the streets and found out that the ex-guards had not only set up shop as butchers, but they also spent the evenings as hired thugs, calling themselves the “Cow Hammer Boys”. The group devised a plan and entered All the World’s Meat, asking about the “night’s special cuts.” The guards smiled and ushered the few remaining patrons out the door, locking it so they could get down to dirty business.
As soon as the doors were closed, the PC’s sprang into action. The guardsman who had stepped out from behind the counter to close the door was nearly knocked straight out by non-lethal blows from Cyril two swords. He took a step back and drew his weapons, but a shot from Simon’s crossbow knocked him out. The guardsman who remained behind the counter began shouting for help as he drew a crossbow and fired at the looming Ankou, missing by a mile. Ankou stepped around the counter and struck the guard, fazing him but not knocking him out. With a roar, Max leapt upon the counter, but didn’t quite make it and crashed to the floor. Shaking his head at the wild Shoanti, Cyril stepped up and pommel-punched the remaining guard into unconsciousness.
The two guards were quickly trussed up before the PCs snuck their way towards the back of the building. Heading to a set of double-doors, the group prepared themselves for another fight and Ankou threw the doors wide … before being shot with two readied crossbow bolts. The remaining two Cow Hammer Boys had heard the shouts from up front and had prepared themselves as well. Recovering from the shock, Ankou charged forward and swung at one of the guards, again knocking him over the head in as non-violent a fashion as possible. Cyril followed quickly behind but couldn’t quite get a strike in at the guards. Max, angry at being made fool of earlier, rushed in with his greatsword turned sideways and delivered an attack of non-lethal force that hit so hard it actually damaged the poor guard who received it. The remaining guard drew his sword in a daze and slashed at Ankou, who had hit him, but couldn’t get the strike in before Simon’s crossbow bolt knocked him out.
All four of the Cow Hammer Boys were brought to the meat room and hung up by their bindings to keep them from getting away while a quick search was conducted of the rest of the building. The PC’s looked into the waste grate in the butcher’s room, but no one thought anything of it. Similarly, they found two angry pigs penned up in the kennels but gave them a wide berth. With nowhere left to go, the group figured that Verik must be hiding upstairs.
Verik was upstairs, but he wasn’t hiding. While the PC’s had been dealing with his men and searching All the World’s Meat, Verik had moved the tables and chairs of the lounge to create a makeshift barricade. The PC’s prepared themselves and surged up the stairs with Ankou in the lead. As Ankou reached the top of the stairs, he was again shot by the readied action of Verik’s bow. Simon seized the initiative and pushed his way into the room, calling upon the power of his magic to hypnotize Vancaserkin, who failed his Will save. On Verik’s turn he stood in a trance, wondering out loud who the people that were barging into his room were. In true Shoanti fashion, Max rushed into the room and leapt over the makeshift barricade and gave Verik a taste of “barbarian diplomacy” cracking the hypnotized man over the head with the flat of his blade, which seemed to shake Verik out from under Simon’s spell. Cyril similarly charged over and smacked Verik with non-lethal damage before Ankou failed his really easy acrobatics check and ended up tripping over a chair.
Seeing that his spell had been prematurely terminated Simon shrugged and missed Verik with a crossbow shot. Verik dropped his bow, stepped back into the corner while drawing his spear and stabbed at the angry Shoanti right next to him. Max retorted with a mighty blow which spent Verik spinning to the ground. Verik and his possessions were looted, though try as they might, the PC’s couldn’t make heads or tails of All the World’s Meat’s ledgers. Simon did find and kept a fascinating silver dagger which seemed magical but didn’t display any magical qualities. Returning the unconscious guards to Field Marshall Kroft, the group was paid the agreed amount and told they would be contacted again if help was needed.
Another week passed before they received a new job. Cressidia introduced the group to Vencarlo Orsini, a well-known and respected teacher of sword-play in Old Korvosa. After chatting for a few minutes Cressidia got down to business. The PC’s were being asked to head to a den of vice known as the Eel’s End to try and find some dirt on the Chelaxian Ambassador. Cressidia gave them a bag of gold in “donation to the cause” funds and sent them on their way. Vencarlo, being from Old Korvosa, accompanied the party and chatted with them for a while, building a friendly repertoire. Vencarlo pointed Eel’s End out to the group before returning to his dueling academy.
The PC’s ignored the delights that the Eel’s End offered and headed straight for the ship owned by the proprietor of Eel’s End and local crime boss Devargo Barvasi. With some smooth talking and coins, the PC’s slid their way past security and into Devargo’s audience chamber. A bunch of wannabe thugs were hanging out inside, waiting for a chance to prove themselves to the big man, who was himself lounging on his spider infested throne. Devargo demanded to know who the hell these guys were and what they were doing in his ship. Ankou stepped forward and told Devargo that they were looking for blackmail material on the Chelaxian Ambassador and that they would be willing to pay 500 gold for it. One great roll later, and with a hefty sum of money on the table, Devargo was suitably impressed enough to not throw the PC’s out, though not impressed enough to give them what they wanted. Instead, Devargo proposed that they play a couple of rounds of “knivesies”, a Riddleport gambling game.
After a quick overview of the rule, Ankou stepped up as the first challenger. Devargo directed one of the thugs-in-training to be his opponent. Gold was cast and the match began. With a smirk, Ankou reacted first but instead of going for the dagger or the coins he pointed at the thug and cast “Cause Fear.” The thug failed hi save miserably but Ankou’s sense of satisfaction at “thinking-outside-the-box” was short lived as the thug fled directly away from him with violent force. Ankou failed his strength check to resist and both men flew off the table, still bound at the wrist. After a moment of stunned silence in the room, Devargo roared out with laughter and declared both men losers and himself the winner of all the profits. Ankou shrugged since at least Devargo was pleased with the results.
Cyril and thug #2 were up next and, like Ankou, Cyril won initiative but didn’t grab the dagger. Having particular knowledge of human anatomy, Cyril wanted to end the match quickly and lashed out with a devastating uppercut which made the thug see double. The thug wasn’t out though and grabbed for the dagger on his turn. Cyril punched again but was cut by the thug’s Attack of Opportunity and missed. The thug grabbed some coins. Cyril swung again and was cut one more time before landing a solid blow and knocking the thug out. Devargo applauded Cyril’s complete disregard for his own safety, bringing them one step closer to winning his approval.
Giant Max the Shoanti stepped up next and everyone threw their money down and ran to bet on Max’s side, expect Simon. The devious wizard bet on thug, thinking to win all the money, and with a smirk cast enlarge person on the man as the match started. With both the bulky Shoanti and large thug on the table, both of them were making acrobatics checks to avoid slipping off. Enraged at this turn of events, Max raged and bull-rushed his opponent right off the table and onto Simon. Devargo roared his approval with laughter. It looked like the information was the PC’s, but Devargo remarked that not everyone had gotten a chance to play. All eyes turned to Simon.
Simon wasn’t too worried as he had secretly surrounded himself in magic armor before entering the Eel’s End. Bob the minion mounted the table across from Simon, the remaining thugs bet on Bob while the PC’s all bet on Simon. The match began with Bob grabbing the dagger from the table. Simon, somewhat wary of the dangerous looking knife, called upon his arcane power to shrink Bob, but Bob pulled on the strap linking them and Simon lost his spell. Bob grabbed some of the few going off the table (the group was a bunch of cheapskates who only threw in 1 gp each in the hopes of making more off the thugs). Simon saw that Bob had only managed to grab a few of the coins and realized that with a good grab, he could win the match. Simon was stabbed by Bob as he reached for coins, but couldn’t manage to get enough to end the game. With only a few coins left, Bob would be the winner, but Ankou threw some more cash on the table, keeping the match going. The rest of the group was trying to defect to Bob’s side, but the thugs were pushing them back, not wanting to split the cash. Bob grabbed a generous handful of coins, leaving only a few left. Simon decided that offensive tactics were the way to go and summoned an acid dart to strike Bob, but Bob lashed out with an attack of opportunity and critically hit. Drawing from the Crit Deck, Simon was forced to make a Fort save and failed, meaning that Bob the minion had permanently blinded Simon by cutting his eyes out. Bob grabbed the last couple of coins and won the match.
Devargo was doubled over with laughter by this point and told the group that they had definitely earned their blackmail letters. Telling the guards to watch the PC’s, Devargo descended into the ship, laughter echoing through the hold. The rest of the group comforted the now blind Simon and bound his wounds before Devargo returned with two letters. He took the PC’s money and gave them the blackmail and then kicked them out of his audience chamber.
The PC’s used the rest of the money they had been given to get a restoration for Simon, giving him his eyesight back, and the returned the letters to Cressidia, who thanked them and gave them some additional cash before the session ended.
Letter to mommy...Seriously. You might want to lay off the guard-o-cide if you really want to be one of them. They kind of frown upon that sort of thing.
Just saying.
Fortunately, this all happened during the general chaos of the riots and its unlikely that they will remember you specifically. Though there's always the chance ...
Well, if they do remember him it'll probably be at his funeral...
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Another good session for the group. The kharmic wheel dealt Simon a blow for trying to screw Max’s knivesies game in a big way. That same player always seems to have the worst luck when it comes to fighting random minions.
Minion Bob was a holdover from a Mutants and Masterminds game where (even though you only need to hit a minion once to take him down) a lone minion beat his super-hero until he ran and transformed himself into a couch to hide from the street thug (in the middle of Long John Silvers restaurant). We determined that by the end, Bob had just taken off his belt and gone to town on the unlucky superhero before fleeing. From that point, every minion who whips one of his character (like this one) is the return of minion Bob.
Other than that, people seem to want to get past the “mini-quests” and get to the big stuff. I’m telling them not to worry and to enjoy the lull before the storm.
Also, we all love the freshness of stuff like the knivesies game that these AP’s have. It gives each adventure a unique feel. I'm looking forward to running them through the next encounter.
Points of note for the session:
1. Return of “barbarian diplomacy” on the hypnotized Verik Vancaserkin. (Yay!)
2. The group missed encounters (precious XP’s) and treasure in several places by not fully searching/dealing with things.
3. Devargo’s encounter was fun for everyone, even though they didn’t get to take out the Eel’s End. (In the previous game we killed everyone and took over, becoming the new crime lords of Old Korvosa)
4. Minion Bob > any of Eric’s characters
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Well, if they do remember him it'll probably be at his funeral...
Which brings us to ...
Fourth game last night. Everything was going well and everyone was having fun. Until the (near) TPK. To be fair, everyone was having fun during and after the TPK though.
Cast:
Max – Shoanti Barbarian
Cyril – Half-Elf Ranger
Gurei – Tiefling Monk
Simon – Human Wizard
Tanoff – Dwarven Fighter
Tanoff had recovered from his illness and rejoined us. Another member was supposed to have joined us (he was going to play a Cleric) so Ankou the Cleric’s player had Ankou recalled to the Church of Pharasma and entered in as Gurei the Monk. The new cleric didn’t show.
The muttered rumors soon flared into a call for vengeance against the king’s murderer and the violence of the previous weeks threatened to surge to life again with new riots when Field Marshall Kroft marched into the inn where the PC’s were staying. She quickly commandeered a private room and beckoned the group to join her. She explained that she needed the PC’s to seek out and capture Trinia before the mob found her and lynched her. She also professed some questions as to the queen’s method of delivering the news, but that wasn’t important at the moment. Cressidia introduced Gurei, a monk who, like the PC’s, had proven himself by completing odd jobs for the Korvosan Guard during the riots. He was to accompany the PC’s as his skills might prove valuable. The PC’s agreed to help and headed off to the Midland District to find Trinia.
The group quickly found their way to the Midland District, but getting in unobserved proved to be a tougher task. Cyril and Gurei knew the area well, and helped to lead the group through some back alleys and side streets to avoid the roving mobs, hellknights, and guardsmen. Twice the group managed to sneak past these groups, but the third time, a trio of hellknights spotted them and moved in. Initiavtive was rolled and the incredibly slow hellknights watched as all of the PC’s, except for Simon, ran for it. Simon just couldn’t get over the fence. Everyone else watched as the guards surrounded Simon, but just as they reached him, Simon managed to sneak away, thanks to a little help from destiny.
Regrouping, the PC’s found themselves at Trinia’s building in an area the locals called “the Shingles”. Cyril approached the door and was met by a middle aged woman who peered anxiously at him from the cracked door. One failed check later, and the woman tried to slam the door, crying out in alarm. Cyril kicked in the door, proving that frail old woman strength is no match for brawny half-elf strength.
The PC’s flooded into the building but were dismayed to find that it was a three story building with multiple rooms on each floor. Figuring that they didn’t have much time, Tanoff came up with a plan to get Trinia’s whereabouts by throwing gold at the alarmed tenants. This actually worked out really well, as they pointed out Trinia’s floor in exchange for “phat lootz”. Rushing up to the third story, the PC’s began searching doors. Funny enough, the only door that was barricaded was the door picked by Shoanti Max, whose Shoanti tribal name was apparently “Great Kicker of Doors” and with a Nat 20 Max sent the door flying off the hinges and across Trinia’s tiny apartment.
Strangely enough, despite the utter destruction of her door, Trinia still appeared to be sleeping in her bed. As the group rushed over to apprehend her, Gurei head something outside and rushed to the window to see the skinny young painter rushing across the rooftops. With a shout of alarm, everyone jumped out the window and began the Shingles Chase.
Everyone had a lot of fun with this. Max and Gurei managed to keep up with Trinia most of the way, though they both received a good dose of dazing thanks to some low saves. Max plunged off the rooftops once near the end, but bounded back up the next turn to assist Gurei with wrestling the feisty bard to the ground.
Simon said “no way” to trying to run her down and proceeded with a slow one square a turn pace. He attempted to hinder Trinia’s escape with some spells, but after his efforts proved only to hamper his own allies he gave up and just walked slowly towards her.
Tanoff tried to follow along, but his stubby dwarven legs just weren’t going to be much help. After falling off once and failing to continue the foot chase on the ground, Tanoff climbed back up and took Simon’s lead, walking only one square a turn. He continued to fire arrows ineffectually at the fleeing Trinia, until he crit fumbled and spilled all of his ammo down into the streets below.
The real winner of the chase was Cyril, who after a good first turn of chasing Trinia got stuck on the same ledge for two turns, then fell, then failed to climb up three times, then fell again, then climbed up, then moved one square, then fell again. Left with only 1 hp at the end of the chase, we all had a good laugh at the fact that the wizard make it twice as far as the ranger.
Gurai and Max finally managed to catch and pin Trinia on the final Shingles space. They tied her up, but Gurei said that he wanted to question her on his own before turning her over to the guards. Any dissenting opinions were bull-rushed by the monk as his player just did what he wanted. They took Trinia back to his place (bow-chicka-wow-wow) and interrogated her. The frightened young woman pleaded with then and confessed her innocence in the whole matter. Gurei and Cyril got into an argument on what to do with her which turned into the Lawful Good Monk proclaiming that the law couldn’t be trusted while the Chaotic Good Ranger declared that the law was the only way to go. After some head scratching arguments, Gurei got his way because he refused to go with what everyone else wanted.
Seeking a compromise, Cyril said that she should at least be handed to a third party for safekeeping. They contacted Vencarlo Orsini, who they had some previous experience with, and tested they waters to see if he would be a good candidate for holding the young girl until further plans could be made. Vencarlo seemed less than pleased with the way the Korvosan government was going and accepted the responsibility of taking care of Trinia until further proof of her innocence or guilt could be found.
The group returned to Field Marshall Kroft with the bad news that they hadn’t been able to catch Trinia. Cressidia wasn’t pleased that they had failed, especially since the mob was growing restless. Further, she introduced the PC’s to Thousand Bones, and elderly Shoanti and explained that Thousand Bones has brought even more problems to her doorstep. Thousand Bones’ grandson had been murdered during the recent unrest and Thousand Bones was demanding that Korvosa return his body for a proper burial before the Shoanti took the action upon themselves.
Since they had failed to bring Trinia back to the guard, the group agreed to help Cressidia out with Thousand Bones’ request. They received some minor healing and headed to the boneyard to find the “Dead Warrens” where the necromancer who had purchased the Shoanti body resided.
The mausoleum which housed the Dead Warrens was dark and had been tunneled out to connect to other underground passages. Halfway across the entry ossuary, the group was attacked by skeletal guardians.
Cyril was first to act and rushed to one side alcove to attack the skeletons that had risen there. The skeletons poured out of the alcoves to flood the group. The last to act in the surprise round was Simon, who prepped and fired his crossbow, and sprained his wrist with a critical fumble, losing 4 Dex. Cyril faced of with one of the two owlbear skeletons, which was supported by a normal human skeleton. Tanoff brought down two of three human skeletons but couldn’t manage to hit the third for the rest of the combat. Gurei held off two human skeletons by himself, but like Tanoff, just rolled like crap the entire fight. Max raged against the second owlbear skeleton and cracked it a good one, but not good enough.
In a few turns, the owlbear had clawed through the raging barbarian’s lowered AC. Cyril had nearly managed to destroy the first owlbear, but was clawed to death shortly after Max. Simon saw the writing on the wall and ran from the tomb. Gurei maneuvered himself to follow Simon and would have escaped had the owlbear that killed Max not mauled him to death as well. Tanoff, alone and surrounded by skeletons, cursed the cowardly human wizard that had left him to die and chanted a dwarven warsong, destroying the owlbear Cyril had weakened before the second owlbear made its third kill of the evening.
And, with that near TPK we ended the session. I guess next session Cressidia will have to send one of her more reliable groups to accomplish the task.
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The lack of a cleric really hurt the group this time. Hurt them to death, apparently. Ankou’s player really didn’t enjoy the cleric class and when a new guy was supposed to come in with a cleric he jumped to make a monk. Jumped a little too quickly.
The Shingles chase was fun, and we all had a great time running it. It got very close with them catching Trinia just before she got off the last card. We also had a great laugh at Cyril’s expense as the sissy wizard smoked past him in the chase by just walking casually. Tortoise and the Hare sort of moment.
I was frustrated that once the player had captured Trinia, the guys who had played the module before railroaded everyone into bypassing returning her. With the way they handled it, I don’t think the characters were playing into their alignments perfectly, but I see alignments as broad scoped and fairly nebulous in regards to player actions. I tried to keep hands off in their inter-group RP’ing, but now that I have had some time to think about the situation, I would have handled it differently. My fault was that by that point in the session, it was getting late and we all wanted to get to the Dead Warrens.
Everyone saw the Dead Warrens task as urgent and ran there without resting, healing, or stocking up on supplies. While no one was really hurt when they went in, a couple of hit points here or there might have made a difference. Looking at the math I don’t think it honestly would have, but who knows.
Factors in (near) TPK:
1. No cleric - Not much to say here as we were supposed to have one but didn’t. *shrugs*
2. Not rested – Party went in at less than full hit points and the wizard had 2 spells left.
3. Not supplied – The group had one Cure Light potion and no Bludgeoning items (expect for the monk’s unarmed which brings us to)
4. Dex monkeys – Some of my group has gotten into the mindset that having high Dex means having high AC which means they don’t get hit and can whittle the enemy away with their low damage. Sure, this works unless the DM's dice are rolling really good like last night (I rolled something like 6 20’s and 4 19's during the fight) In this case, the Monk with high Dex and weapon finesse has good to hit (though terrible rolling on hit part meant that he didn't hit often), but three times he did just enough damage to not kill a skeleton, who then did damage to him with good rolling on my part.
5. Dice – The catch all. They rolled crappy, I rolled great. Why is it that my dice smoke when I’m DM’ing but suck when I’m a PC?
6. Charge! – Bad Cyril! Charging into the center of a skeleton horde without backup. Bad Half-Elf!
7. Kharmic Backslap – Not really a reason for TPK, but a skeleton crit fumbled against the monk and I pulled a card which still hit the monk but did min damage. A couple of rounds later everyone was holding their own but were pretty wounded when the monk pointed out that the only damage he had taken was from an enemy’s crit fumble. Everyone then died within 3 turns. Anti-bragging kharma? Maybe…
That fight would have gone a hell of a lot better if we were fighting something that bleeds. Looking back, I should have been focusing both flurry attacks on one skeleton at a time instead of spreading the damage out.
Also, for the record the Barbarian agreed with me as far as Trinia was concerned. And seeing we were the ones who actually caught her while the rest of the group was either taking a leisurly strole, or testing Newton's law, I thought our opinions had a little more weight :P.
Still thinking about if I want re-do the same character, or switch it up for something else. I certainly didn't switch characters to play him only once, but there's other characters I could play if the party needs something else more.
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Still thinking about if I want re-do the same character, or switch it up for something else. I certainly didn't switch characters to play him only once, but there's other characters I could play if the party needs something else more.
From what I've heard, the new group will consist of:
- Simon the Wizard, most recent winner of "Survivor: Korvosa" and proud wearer of the vaunted "Yellow Badge of Cowardice"
- Taviri the "I poke people with sharp things for Zon-Kuthon" Cleric - ? the Nebulous, Cleric of not showing up and getting people killed
- ? the "Obviously the Gods Don't Want Me To Play a Barbarian" Beatstick
- ? the Rouge/Fighter
Of course, knowing the group I wouldn't be surprised if I had Simon and 5 Bards next session.
Of course, knowing the group I wouldn't be surprised if I had Simon and 5 Bards next session.
You know... I was kinda thinking of making a bard...
*Ahem*
Brave Sir Simon ran away!
Bravely ran away away!
When danger reared it's ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled!
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Of course, knowing the group I wouldn't be surprised if I had Simon and 5 Bards next session.You know... I was kinda thinking of making a bard...
*Ahem*
Brave Sir Simon ran away!
Bravely ran away away!
When danger reared it's ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled!
You do this, and I will gladly put all my talent and efforts into painting that bard.
And you know I can paint well...
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Still thinking about if I want re-do the same character, or switch it up for something else. I certainly didn't switch characters to play him only once, but there's other characters I could play if the party needs something else more.From what I've heard, the new group will consist of:
- Simon the Wizard, most recent winner of "Survivor: Korvosa" and proud wearer of the vaunted "Yellow Badge of Cowardice"
If he gets as big as Richard Hatch I'm calling shenanigans!
- Taviri the "I poke people with sharp things for Zon-Kuthon"
I hear he likes chains, no idea why...
Cleric - ? the Nebulous, Cleric of not showing up and getting people killed
And brave Sir "Not appearing in this campaign!" (I don't know if he is or isn't just that it was a good joke..)
- ? the "Obviously the Gods Don't Want Me To Play a Barbarian" Beatstick
That would be Tom, poor poor Tom...
- ? the Rouge/Fighter
I'm beting William plays a dwarf...he just luuuuuvs the dorf...
Of course, knowing the group I wouldn't be surprised if I had Simon and 5 Bards next session.
"Okay gang whats our group name?"
"SIMON AND THE GARFUNKELS!"
Nah, I think I'll save my bard for Council of Thieves. I'll probably just stick with my monk. Unless Tommy McSmashface changes his mind about playing a Paladin in which case I'll give one of dems a whirl.
Eric gets enough crap from the group without me making a bard that's a more helpfull caster than his wizard.
Eric gets enough crap from the group without me making a bard that's a more helpfull caster than his wizard.Hey now, that's just cruel. We both know bards make lousy summoners...
So does a Wizard who specializes in Conjuration and then doesn't memorize any Conjuration spells. Hold Portal, really? He only had two conjuration spells, Summon Monster I and Web.
Now that I think about it... didn't Simon just reach level 3 last session? How in the heck did he know Web?
Now that I think about it... didn't Simon just reach level 3 last session? How in the heck did he know Web?No, he reached 3 at the end of the session where he had his eyes cut out. He had a week between sessions to level up and memorize Web.
Ah, okay my mistake. I thought only my self and Cyril leveled up that night since Simon had missed a few encounters.
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Another session finished and the end of “Edge of Anarchy” is just in sight. Following the near-TPK I had last week, we had an almost entirely new party this week. We ended up getting a sixth player for the group, though not the player who was originally intending to play. (He just couldn’t manage to get the time.)
Cast:
Taviri – human cleric of Zon-Kuthon
Ravan – tiefling monk (twin brother to Gurei, the previous monk)
Lionel – human paladin of Serenrae
Don – half-elf ranger (archery style)
Simon – human conjurer
Walcoul – half-elf rogue
Simon and Don didn’t show up until halfway through the adventure.
The group was given the same mission, and was told to be more careful and ensure that they had fully stocked up before they headed to the Dead Warrens. Ready this time, they set off to retrieve the dead Shoanti’s body. Simon accompanied them to the entrance but waited outside for the arrival of the last member, Don the ranger (who was finishing up his character sheet).
The PCs entered the mausoleum and found the remains of the previous party cold on the floor. As they approached, the remaining skeletal guardians once again animated to attack. This time, things went much more smoothly, and though some damage was dealt, a Command Undead from Taviri left the party with three battered human skeletons to act as porters (Taviri only has a 7 Str, so he can’t carry his own equipment). Everyone got to loot their own dead body to get their stuff back.
They then snuck down to the branching corridor leading into the tunnels and picked a passage. The scouts made good enough stealth to see a derro working on preparing a body without alerting him. The rouge went back to give the info out and the monk decided to sneak a bit closer, botching his roll. Alerted, the derro let loose the remaining stirges who latched onto the monk. During the fight, the monk took some pretty heavy damage but was fortunately saved by the cleric’s Channel Negative Energy which not only hurt the enemy, but healed the tiefling (he had rolled the “healed by both positive and negative energy” trait on the Fiendish Heritage table from the Council of Thieves AP).
The group backtracked and dealt with the two derro that were playing Rat-Squish in their sleeping quarters. The derro got surprise and acted before anyone else, but just couldn’t get through the paladin’s armor (who had realized that AC for a charge in melee type should be above the 16 that his Barbarians had). After cornering the derro, the PCs made short work of the crazy little buggers.
The PCs next headed to the disposal room and easily dealt with the Otyugh “garbage disposal” and were rewarded with the first part of the Shoanti’s dissected body. Heading down the bone corridor, the acid traps hit everyone at least once and destroyed all three porter skeletons (poor Tav and his weight problem). The necrophidius fight went back and forth as at least half the party was dazed or paralyzed for the fight with the other half being unable to hit the constructs. To be fair, the construct really couldn’t hit the PCs either, and I didn’t want to just coup-de-grace the paralyzed guys while there were still viable targets in range. Numbers eventually favored the PCs, who dispatched the constructs just in time to be joined by Simon and Don.
The lone derro in the next room proved no problem as Ravan ran in and grappled him, then pinned him down and let the rogue sneak attack him. Prying the boards loose from the pantry, the paladin and the carrion golem engaged in a “hugging contest” as neither could grapple/hit the other. Finally, they lured the golem out of the room (essentially just telling the paladin to get the heck out of the way) and surrounded it. The golem had one of the Shoanti’s arms, which gave them two pieces of their macabre puzzle.
The cleric managed to spot a secret door in the back wall (they never realized that the entire place was full of passages since they all rolled pretty low on perception checks through the dungeon) and the group decided to take that route instead of using the regular tunnels. The passage led them to the library and a short argument on how to get all the books out before they continued on. In the workshop, they found the patchwork body to be used for a flesh golem, including the Shoanti head that topped it. Reclaiming the head, they pushed further into the last rooms.
There was nothing to be seen in the first bedchamber, but the second was filled with swirling darkness. They threw a torch in to light it up, but realized that it must be magical when the torch failed to fully illuminate the room. The rogue did see the last piece of the Shoanti body sitting against the far wall and snuck in to retrieve it but was ambushed by a skeleton which had appeared from nowhere.
In the general confusion that followed, the group scrambled to figure out what was going on as undead continued to appear in the small room. The situation was further exacerbated by Don rolling a crit fumble and nearly shooting his own eye out. While the Don and Taviri were trying to deal with the bleed caused by the fumble, the rest of the group pushed into the room. The paladin, selected as the heaviest fighter, was hit by a sneak attack scorching ray from Vreeg, who had been floating invisibly above the group, tossing creatures out of his robe of bones.
Over the next 45 minutes or so, the group got to feel my general frustration at not being able to hit their AC all evening as they couldn’t hit Vreeg’s magically enhanced AC either. The paladin called smite but failed to hit the flying necromancer for something like 9 rounds in a row. Once again numbers prevailed as the group made every single save against Vreeg’s spells and wand and eventually whittled the little guy down. On Vreeg’s last turn he attempted to flee but was finally hit by … everyone with a weapon. I guess fate demanded a cinematic ending as Vreeg was pulled from the sky and curb stomped by the angry PCs. We ended the session there as it was 30 minutes past closing time at our gaming store (the guy running the place graciously let us stay as it was the last fight and he was to having too much fun watching the combat to kick us out anyway).
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Nobody died this week and once again the group missed some things. They didn't miss anything major and, all in all, the Dead Warrens was fun and exciting for everyone.
The APs are written for parties of 4 and I ran this module as written. With a group of 5 it gave the party a little bit of an edge, but as shown by last week’s near TPK, it was still tough. A group of 6 though makes quite a bit of difference, just in the sheer number of actions that the PCs get to take. I’m still weighing in my mind whether I should continue to run the 4 person AP for 6 people or if I should go through and buff up the encounters a bit. In the first case, the XP will be split and the PCs level progression will be slower but will be easier for me to just run as written. The second case requires a bit more pre-planning to do on my part if I want to keep the PCs at the same level progression. (Of note, though we are using PFRPG rules, I stuck with 3.5 level progression since the books had been written that way).
I’m giving the PCs roughly a month on in-game time before the next book begins and have asked them to provide me with some role playing stuff that they would like to do in that time frame. I’m hoping to give each character a little more stake in Korvosa, so that they’re continuing quest will be more personal and less “well I’ve got nothing better to do right now”.
Everyone is loving the campaign, a testament to the quality of the products that Paizo puts out. They’re not perfect, but they’re fun.
Random musings:
1. No more “barbarian diplomacy”. *sigh*
2. It was funny listening to the paladin of Serenrae and the cleric of Zon-Kuthon quibble at each other’s religious preferences. Fortunately, the two have decided not to take things personal and have kept it mutually entertaining.
3. It was pointed out that Taviri’s CHA isn’t high enough to exclude everyone from the party with Selective Channeling, so the paladin became the default “zapped” guy by mutual agreement of Taviri and Zon-Kuthon.
4. Simon the Wizard’s daily spells proved once again to be fairly useless thanks to failed caster checks and Spell Resistance, but Simon the Lousy Crossbow Fighter has really stepped it up a notch and actually hit 3 or 4 times.
5. Ravan realized that being lit on fire does 1d6 fire damage and that he has Fire Resistance 5 as a tiefling, so he’s thinking of dousing himself in oil and lighting himself on fire before every fight. Flaming grapple monkey!
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With this week’s session, the PCs finished Edge of Anarchy, had some break time, and moved into Seven Days. I spent some time reworking the end scene for EoA to fit it with the PCs actions and give a little suspense and intrigue to the three guys who have played through this part of CotCT already.
Cast:
Taviri – human cleric of Zon-Kuthon
Lionel – human paladin of Serenrae
Simon – human conjurer
Walcoul – half-elf rouge
Ravan – tiefling monk
Don – half-elf ranger (archery specialization)
Things seemed to settle down for everyone over the next few days. Simon was crashing on the couch at Ravan’s apartment in Old Korvosa and the rest of the group was staying together at an inn recommended by Cressidia. Three days into their rest, Ravan came down ill with Filth Fever from his encounters in the Dead Warrens. Don had come by Ravan’s apartment so that Ravan, Simon, and he could search for two adjacent apartments in Old Korvosa that could be used as a temporary base of operations. While Ravan was getting ready, a knock came at the door, which Simon offered to answer.
As Simon opened the door, he was greeted by a kick to the knees which sent him sprawling to the floor. Rolth had sent revenge in the form of his servant Cabbagehead and the reanimated corpses of several victims that the PCs had failed to rescue from the Dead Warrens. Simon never managed to regain his feet as Cabbagehead brutally curb-stomped his face into the floorboards several times, resulting in a motionless wizard bleeding to death. Ravan and Don fared better, though the archer was forced to draw his rapier when he was cornered by the undead. Ravan was significantly wounded, but managed to hold on until all of the attackers had been taken down.
On the other side of town, a second group of Rolth’s minions (a carrion golem made from the unused parts of Rolth’s would-be flesh golem and Derro parts) and the remaining zombified prisoners ambushed Taviri, Walcoul, and Lionel as they neared the stable where Lionel’s horse was resting. Both Taviri and Walcoul ended up contracting Tetanus from the carrion golem’s attacks, but overall were much more proficient in taking down their enemies.
The PCs sought each other out again to pool information about the attacks. Apparently Rolth wasn’t too happy about the destruction of his lab. From the experience gained by thwarting the ambushes, everyone except Simon and Don (who had missed a significant portion of the Dead Warrens) leveled up to 4. Within a few days, the group would be called together again by Cressidia Kroft.
The morning that they were called together to visit the Field Marshall, both Taviri and Walcoul had to give a generous donation to the Church of Abadar for healing of the lockjaw which had set in. Taviri had an especially bitter pill to swallow as he consciously hid his holy symbol of Zon-Kuthon and asked for Abadar’s blessing. Once together, the group found themselves invited to attend the execution of Trinia Sabor as impartial helpers of Cressidia, who was suspicious of Trinia’s swift trial which had been held in secret. The group rushed to prepare themselves in the few hours that they had before the execution party.
Showing up in newly purchased finery, the PCs mingled with the noble crowd.Taviri made it a point to meet with Glorio Arkona, patron of House Arkona, as he had been spending his off-time setting up a series of information contacts to seek out the location of his missing sister. Making Glrio’s acquaintance, Taviri discovered that while Glorio was enjoying the prospect of the execution’s violence, he was disdainful of the Queen’s methods.
While mingling, Simon was caught up by the arm and a familiar voice requested a private discussion. It was Vencarlo Orsini, who Simon and his previous group had left Trinia Sabor with. After a few minutes of small talk and sympathies for the dead PCs, Simon and Vencarlo got down to business. Simon asked how Trinia had managed to be captured by the castle guard to which Vencarlo replied that she hadn’t. The real Trinia was still hidden away safe at Vencarlo’s house. This left Simon puzzled as to who was going to be executed, and Vencarlo made some quips about the true nature of the Queen’s justice. Following their exchange, the rest of the group came together as the trumpets sounded the main entertainment for the evening.
A burly executioner led a wobbly, glassy eyed woman from the holding area to the executioner’s block. Simon, who had met the real Trinia, couldn’t even tell that this woman was a different person, though a quick Detect Magic from Simon showed his that “Trinia” was definitely under some magic effect. After the girl was readied, Queen Illeosa made her grand appearance. Lionel, who had never met the queen, made a Detect Evil on the queen, but discovered that she was not evil (which surprised the player).
A short speech later and the crowd fell silent waiting as the order for the execution was given. The headman hefted his axe at which point Simon uncomfortably called out across the silence “wait, there’s something wrong” which got odd looks from the crowd around him, a vicious look from Queen Ileosa and Sabina, and a smirk from Vencarlo. The headsman wouldn’t be stopped by a dissenting voice, however, and continued his course, only to be stopped by Blackjack.
All hell broke loose at Blackjack’s appearance. Lionel and Don stood stunned and unsure of what to do. Ravan threw sleep poisoned shurikens at “Blackjack” but “accidentally” hit the executioner. Simon did the same with a daze spell. Taviri actually targeted Blackjack with a command spell in an attempt to stop the vigilante, but Blackjack shrugged off his magic. Under Simon and Ravan’s combined attack, the executioner stumbled and then passed out and fell onto the guards who were attempting to push their way up the platform. Seeing his teammates in action, Walcoul tripped several guards who were pushing their way up as reinforcements. Vencarlo laughed and nodded approvingly.
Freed of having to deal with the executioner, Blackjack freed “Trinia” and began to make his way to the parapet. Taviri tried to cast another spell to hold Blackjack, but Ravan had readied to throw his last sleep poisoned shuriken at the cleric and hit. Taviri failed his save and fell asleep, his spell fizzling on his lips. The rest of the group pushed the crowd away from the fallen cleric, claiming that he had fainted. Walcoul stealthily pocketed the shuriken that he had keenly spotted Ravan throwing to keep Taviri from realizing what had happened.
Blackjack escaped and the rest of the group pushed their way clear of the stampeding crowd and encroaching guardsmen. Simon discovered that Vencarlo had left a note in his pocket asking the PCs to meet at his house as soon as possible. The PCs arrived at the dueling academy and were introduced to the real Trinia Sabor. After some long explanations and heated discussions with Taviri and Lionel, the group settled on the fact that it was a good thing that Blackjack had not allowed “Trinia” to be executed. It was decided that Trinia would continue to stay with Vencarlo until things cooled down.
Unfortunately, things did not cool down. A couple of weeks went by and the PCs went about various personal business but were contacted by Vencarlo shortly after a 5,000 gp reward was put on Trinia’s head. The PCs offered to help escort Trinia out of the city and managed to do so with little trouble. It was late at night by the time the PCs made it back to Korvosa, and as they crossed the North Bridge they witnessed a black sailed ship with a single yellow light being fired upon and sunk in the Jeggare River. Puzzled by this, the PCs returned home and vowed to investigate the next day. Upon returning home, Simon felt a call from Zellara’s Harrow deck and pulled the cards out. Zellara appeared and announced that dire happenings were on the winds and offered a new Harrow reading for the PCs. The Harrowing went through and that ended the session.