Some spoilers below.
I'm part of a group running through Rise of the Runelords and after being incredibly thorough through Burnt Offerings and most of the Skinsaw Murders we've kinda run into a bit of a road block. We cleared out the Seven Sawmill and eventually made a deal with Justice Ironbriar (He went free but only after having a Mark of Just laid on him). Then we got the scoop on the lovely lamia matriarch that could easily eat our entire party for lunch.
Why? Because no one in our party is higher than 4th level. Just for reference the party consists of the following; Halfing Paladin of Iomodea, Halfing Rogue, Half-Elf Cleric of Sarenrae, Human Ranger, Elf Druid, Half-Orc Weapon Master and Elf Brass Dragon Sorcerer. None of the character are overly optimized, used 20 point buy and are all 4th level. Our DM is looking for ideas and suggestions for how to get the group to 6-7th level before taking on Xanesha that aren't complete and total railroads.
He doesn't have a ton of spare time so modules that can easily be adapted are recommended.
Halfing Paladin of Iomodea, Halfing Rogue, Half-Elf Cleric of Sarenrae, Human Ranger, Elf Druid, Half-Orc Weapon Master and Elf Brass Dragon Sorcerer. None of the character are overly optimized, used 20 point buy and are all 4th level.
I have almost exactly the same issue. I'm DMing a party of 5th levels who just took out Ironbriar, questioned his messenger ravens and know the next place to go should be the Shadow Clock, but they don't know what's waiting for them there. I want them to be 6th L first.
NPCs were able to translate Ironbriar's ledger for them, so they found out that the Red Mantis has samples of Vorel's legacy, and they're going to take a side trip to Riddleport to try and recover that.
I plan to toss a sea serpent (PF Bestiary) at them on the way; between that and a couple of Red Mantis Assassins they should have enough points to level up.
Since your group spared Ironbriar -- what were the terms of that deal, BTW? -- this may not work for you.
Hi Raelynn,
Could you get your GM to post here?
The reason is that a lot of ideas/advice are going to be major spoilers...
GRU
Halfing Paladin of Iomodea, Halfing Rogue, Half-Elf Cleric of Sarenrae, Human Ranger, Elf Druid, Half-Orc Weapon Master and Elf Brass Dragon Sorcerer. None of the character are overly optimized, used 20 point buy and are all 4th level.I have almost exactly the same issue. I'm DMing a party of 5th levels who just took out Ironbriar, questioned his messenger ravens and know the next place to go should be the Shadow Clock, but they don't know what's waiting for them there. I want them to be 6th L first.
NPCs were able to translate Ironbriar's ledger for them, so they found out that the Red Mantis has samples of Vorel's legacy, and they're going to take a side trip to Riddleport to try and recover that.
I plan to toss a sea serpent (PF Bestiary) at them on the way; between that and a couple of Red Mantis Assassins they should have enough points to level up.
Since your group spared Ironbriar -- what were the terms of that deal, BTW? -- this may not work for you.
He told us everything he knew about Xanesha and the Shadow Clock. We got a pretty intensive run down of her abilities, equipment and what sort of support she had there. In exchange he went free as long as we never saw him again and we would not turn him over to the Hellknights. The caveat being that our cleric smacked him with Mark of Justice (Thou shall not commit nor assist in murder ever again, effectively). Of course we no idea he could remove it so it seemed like a good idea.
We did also nab his ledger but haven't had time to translate it. Both the rouge and my sorcerer have all of the languages necessary and several points in linguistics so we plan on taking a stab at it. He did mention the Red Mantis at some point during our thorough negotiation and interrogation. So that might be a possibility.
Your GM is falling down on the job. If you are that low level by the end of the module then either a) a lot of encounters are being cut out, or b) your GM is awarding XP for killing creatures, not completing objectives.
Regardless, take a look at Paizo's GameMastery Compleat Encounters, e.g., Liberation of Prince Thorgrim. Say a valued N/PC gets taken in to jail by agents of a neighboring kingdom/town on a case of mistaken identity. If it is an NPC, then NPC could have valuable Macguffin for dealing with the Lamia. Alternatively, you could also retcon a few adventures to have occured when you were in between the two AP.
Alternatively, several of the PF Society Scenarios could be adapted to occur in-town and compressed to occur over the course of a day or two. See #5, 35, 40, 45, 56.
Your DM could also give you temporary access to minor artifacts or major magical items. The group gains a mysterious divine/draconic patron who loans the PCs a Holy Avenger, etc. The NPC could be someone with a vested interest in seeing the Runelords remain slumbering, but doesn't want to tip their hats. After dealing the Lamia, the items are returned/retrieved and you get a mini-campaign between the APs to get your level up to snuff.
A lower stated Lamia could work as well.
You are in a major city. It has all kinds of crime and 3 thieves guilds. As well as small time gangs toughs and ruffians. Get mugged, shanghighed by pirates or tavern brawled up a couple of levels. There should be enough shenannigans in the shadow district to last a lifetime if done right, not to mention the Sails or the markets and then there are the Mage school that specializes in Golems- OMG one of the stone golems is running amok and here it comes... And what happens if one of the nobles who Justice Ironbrire ows a favor accuses one of the pc's of filandering his wife... Remember a Justice is a very powerful man in the city!
I think the PCs are lower level because there are 7 of them. If this was any encounter at all except Xanesha, I would say that you guys would be fine if you could even just get to level 5, but Xanesha is somewhat...legendary for her...shall we say, overabundant assets (no not those, you pervert). On the other hand, 7 PCs get a looot of actions.
Hi.
I've got a similarly sized party; to make sure they'd have the levels, I've changed the number and strength of their adversaries so that the Rise of the Runelords is balanced for 7 players (based on this thread -- your GM could use it so that this does not happen again).
Otherwise, I suggest taking a look at this thread. It lists "urban" adventures found in Dungeon magazine (amongst other things).
Good luck.
Make sure he's using the fast advancement track.