| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
One of the more intriguing areas in KM2 to me is the island in the Candlemere, but I (and I seem to recall I'm not the only one) found the idea of "camping" Will-o-wisps to clear it depressingly tedious, and felt sprucing it up a bit and turning it into an actual side-adventure would make it far more interesting for my group.
Given the lovecraftian flavor of the place, I'd thought to use Carrion Hill, but that adventure requires the place already be settled. The more recent From Shore to Sea, however, seems to have a number of elements that fit very well with how things are arranged in the southern Greenbelt. Using the Island of Nal-Kashel for Candlemere works well, and using the map for that I established several other ruined buildings the party can rebuild once they claim the island (Library, Academy, Graveyard & perhaps a few Monuments), while the village of Blackcove has been renamed Eelsport (not settled on that name though) and placed at the abandoned ferry site (with the potential settlement rewards for acquisition of ruined Waterfront, Ports, Shrine, Watchtower, ruined Alchemist shop, and several Tenements).
While much of the scenario should adapt just fine, I'm still not quite sure how to handle certain core elements. The Azlanti/Scum seem out of place on the one hand, but given the River Kingdoms city of Outsea, anything is arguably possible. The other option might be to switch out the Azlant with more common Riverfolk, and the Scum with Lizardmen, but it seems the adventure looses much of it's "Insmouth" flavor (though arguably the island seems to have enough magical juice for explaining transforming Humans into Lizardfolk).
Anyone else have thoughts on this?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think the island's warping presence itself can make for a great trigger for all that is going on in the module. Running it that way, the leftover villagers become even more sympathetic creatures, and I don't see any big sweeping changes that would take place if you decided that their Azlanti heritage didn't make sense. The River Kingdoms are a bit eastward for Azlanti ruins, but it isn't too much a stretch since we had Romans settling Britain and all... =-)
Taking away their heritage, you can still play up the villagers in the same superstitious way: they have become ashamed of their current state, and don't want to be viewed by outsiders in a sort of elephant man "I'm NOT an animal" kind of way. Gerlach becomes a fallen hero trying to save the day, which he kind of is as written, but he was doomed from the start.
This gives PCs a little better chance to be real heroes, rather than the sort of hard-nosed "you interlopers can help if you INSIST" sort of sentiment they get from the village otherwise.
I think you are totally on track. Sounds like a great fit!
And don't fret over those will-o'-wisps...they are just fine if left well enough alone...those critters know a good deal when they see one, and a group of adventurers slaughtering skum on the island is payday, so they aren't interested in killing them unless thoroughly harassed. =-)
Greetings, fellow travelers.
I have also been toying with the idea of enhancing the significance of said island.
I will cut down the number of wisps staying on the island, but knowing my players, the will explore the site as long as it takes to uncover whatever is hidden there (after all, why would the wisps be there if not to guard some "treasure"...).
Since in my campaign I want to put more emphasis on the thin border between the First World and Golarion, I have been thinking about making the tower on the island be a remnant of a settlement similar to Uringen (the settlement which is dephased half of the time in another River Kingdom), but with a more sinister story.
The early settlers were building their homes on the site of an important gate site for the fey, making travel between the two worlds difficult/shutting it down. The fey - under the lead of Nyrissa - worked their magic to regain the place, dragging the settlement to the First World, slaughtering the settlers and than "letting go" again, so the ruins returned to Golarion. All that remained where ghostly shadows of the former settlers (is it possible, that ghosts are afraid? - than the wisps could feed on their fear...) - which emerge from hiding after the wisps are killed. If the PCs can make "friendly" contact with the ghosts, they will be charged to retrieve a focus item (the signet ring of the lord mayor of the settlement, which Nyrissa gave as a sign of her affection to Irovetti).
I want my PCs to get to know more about the machinations behind the scenes early, so that the nymph does not seem to come out of no-where, also I like to remind them, that there is more going on than they can handle (yet).
In my campaign I have boosted Jhod Kavken to be more impressive/powerful/important, so he will be some kind of guardian of the land and he will also take guardianship about this place (as he did with the Temple of the Elk, which also acts as a gate between the two worlds).
The idea of having a settlement like Outsea is also intriguing, though.
Ruyan.