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I haven't started DMing this path yet but I plan to. I have been thinking about how I would like to run the final clocktower encounter as written and not pull any punches and I think I have a way to get things back on track in the event of a TPK.
I am thinking that one thing that Xanesha could do is capture and enslave the PCs (via charm monster), and knowing that the jig is up in Magnimar, move her operation to Turtleback Ferry where she forces them to live and work aboard the Paradise barge for a number of weeks/months. (This means that there is no Leucretia in this scenario.)
Anyway, this sets up a number of pretty fun scenes where one of the other slaves wakes from the charm and precipitates the sinking of the barge by sabotage from within their shared cell in the lower part of the ship. The PCs then wake from their charms to escape to the surface by whatever means they have at their disposal, Xanesha flees to Hook Mountain and facilitates the attack on the Keep and in the mean time, the PCs make wooden spears and holy symbols and transcribe to makeshift spellbooks to re-prepare spells left in memory, then return low-tech style to the sunken barge and rescue most of their captured gear (in a strongbox that they know about) and whatever treasure and XP would be needed to move them along to where they need to be.
This would have an added bonus of making Xanesha an extra hated enemy and finding her in the Keep (and maybe in Hook Mountain later should she escape) all the more rewarding and it connects the two stories in a really straightforward way without the need to have the Mayor of Magnimar send them on an errand.
What do you think? Do you see any flaws? If you were a PC, would you feel railroaded or ripped off?
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I haven't started DMing this path yet but I plan to. I have been thinking about how I would like to run the final clocktower encounter as written and not pull any punches and I think I have a way to get things back on track in the event of a TPK.
I am thinking that one thing that Xanesha could do is capture and enslave the PCs (via charm monster), and knowing that the jig is up in Magnimar, move her operation to Turtleback Ferry where she forces them to live and work aboard the Paradise barge for a number of weeks/months. (This means that there is no Leucretia in this scenario.)
Anyway, this sets up a number of pretty fun scenes where one of the other slaves wakes from the charm and precipitates the sinking of the barge by sabotage from within their shared cell in the lower part of the ship. The PCs then wake from their charms to escape to the surface by whatever means they have at their disposal, Xanesha flees to Hook Mountain and facilitates the attack on the Keep and in the mean time, the PCs make wooden spears and holy symbols and transcribe to makeshift spellbooks to re-prepare spells left in memory, then return low-tech style to the sunken barge and rescue most of their captured gear (in a strongbox that they know about) and whatever treasure and XP would be needed to move them along to where they need to be.
This would have an added bonus of making Xanesha an extra hated enemy and finding her in the Keep (and maybe in Hook Mountain later should she escape) all the more rewarding and it connects the two stories in a really straightforward way without the need to have the Mayor of Magnimar send them on an errand.
What do you think? Do you see any flaws? If you were a PC, would you feel railroaded or ripped off?
That's a fun idea. Especially the "waking up in a strange place" senario. Although I think you should stick to the story with (in your case) Xanesha sinking the barge. There WAS a specific reason why she did it after all.
I'm currently running SotS and this campaign has been such a blast to run. Great fun!
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That's a fun idea. Especially the "waking up in a strange place" senario. Although I think you should stick to the story with (in your case) Xanesha sinking the barge. There WAS a specific reason why she did it after all.
The trouble with that is it doesn't explain why all their gear gets left behind, which has to happen for this to be fun for the players.
If the slaves go down with the ship, I can see Xanesha shrugging her shoulders and moving on to plan B - taking control of the upstream locations so she can flood the town and "harvest" all the marked citizens.
That's a fun idea. Especially the "waking up in a strange place" senario. Although I think you should stick to the story with (in your case) Xanesha sinking the barge. There WAS a specific reason why she did it after all.The trouble with that is it doesn't explain why all their gear gets left behind, which has to happen for this to be fun for the players.
If the slaves go down with the ship, I can see Xanesha shrugging her shoulders and moving on to plan B - taking control of the upstream locations so she can flood the town and "harvest" all the marked citizens.
What about picking up with the characters on the sinking barge and making them piece together what has happened to them? :)
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I haven't started DMing this path yet but I plan to. I have been thinking about how I would like to run the final clocktower encounter as written and not pull any punches and I think I have a way to get things back on track in the event of a TPK.
I am thinking that one thing that Xanesha could do is capture and enslave the PCs (via charm monster), and knowing that the jig is up in Magnimar, move her operation to Turtleback Ferry where she forces them to live and work aboard the Paradise barge for a number of weeks/months. (This means that there is no Leucretia in this scenario.)
Anyway, this sets up a number of pretty fun scenes where one of the other slaves wakes from the charm and precipitates the sinking of the barge by sabotage from within their shared cell in the lower part of the ship. The PCs then wake from their charms to escape to the surface by whatever means they have at their disposal, Xanesha flees to Hook Mountain and facilitates the attack on the Keep and in the mean time, the PCs make wooden spears and holy symbols and transcribe to makeshift spellbooks to re-prepare spells left in memory, then return low-tech style to the sunken barge and rescue most of their captured gear (in a strongbox that they know about) and whatever treasure and XP would be needed to move them along to where they need to be.
This would have an added bonus of making Xanesha an extra hated enemy and finding her in the Keep (and maybe in Hook Mountain later should she escape) all the more rewarding and it connects the two stories in a really straightforward way without the need to have the Mayor of Magnimar send them on an errand.
What do you think? Do you see any flaws? If you were a PC, would you feel railroaded or ripped off?
An excellent idea.
I think I'll shamelessly use it too, as I'm about to start a new RotRL campaign with a rather large group (9 players) composed of AD&D 2nd edition veterans but 3.X newbies, that should love the added thematic linkage between adventures.|
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What about picking up with the characters on the sinking barge and making them piece together what has happened to them? :)
I like that. When the cold water of the lake hits them, they wake from their nightmare with 1 or 2 wisdom each, new sihedron tattoos and have to make their way out of a cell they had no idea about and figure out what happened. It adds mystery. They will be compelled to return and there will be an orgy of clues there to piece together what happened (speak with dead for what happened on the barge and interviews with people from the town to figure out about what their role was on it).
It occurs to me that I might have subconsciously been ripping off the protagonist locked in the brig and in the lower decks part of Titanic. Sorry about that everyone. :-)
