I'm having some problems rationalizing the strategy of getting the help of a coven of hags to make it rain a lot and then damaging the dam at Skull's Crossing just to kill a couple hundred relatively helpless humans. This seems overly complicated and time consuming.
I liked the strategy with the pleasure bark "Paradise" to subtly mark the population of Turtleback Ferry appropriate for strengthening Karzoug, but why don't the Kreegs just slaughter Turtleback Ferry with Fort Rannick destroyed?
My players will certainly ask me this - what could I reasonably answer?
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I'm having some problems rationalizing the strategy of getting the help of a coven of hags to make it rain a lot and then damaging the dam at Skull's Crossing just to kill a couple hundred relatively helpless humans. This seems overly complicated and time consuming.
I liked the strategy with the pleasure bark "Paradise" to subtly mark the population of Turtleback Ferry appropriate for strengthening Karzoug, but why don't the Kreegs just slaughter Turtleback Ferry with Fort Rannick destroyed?
My players will certainly ask me this - what could I reasonably answer?
Destroying the dam will do more than kill those people.
It will release strange beasties, lower the water level on the plateau, flood a lake and potentially kill thousands (loss of fishing, polluted water supplies, cholera, etc.).
Someone suggested that the upper lake could be an ancient mine, full of strange tunnels that Karzoug wants uncovered.
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I'm having some problems rationalizing the strategy of getting the help of a coven of hags to make it rain a lot and then damaging the dam at Skull's Crossing just to kill a couple hundred relatively helpless humans. This seems overly complicated and time consuming.
I liked the strategy with the pleasure bark "Paradise" to subtly mark the population of Turtleback Ferry appropriate for strengthening Karzoug, but why don't the Kreegs just slaughter Turtleback Ferry with Fort Rannick destroyed?
My players will certainly ask me this - what could I reasonably answer?
Because if it's an "Act of God" no one comes to investigate. If it's an attack, people do.
Perhaps they're worried that there will be too much warning of an ogre attack, or that too many of the marked will get away on boats or whatnot when they attack. They need a really fast natural disaster kind of thing to guarantee a sudden kill of enough of the marked to generate the energy surge they want.
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I am under the impression that the Kreegs haven't finished the After Glow Party yet. They seem to be enjoying themselves in the fort still and even if Barl wanted to move forward, he would have to Zombify everyone to get them to go right now. In another couple of weeks the newness of winning will wear off and off they can go again.
As for the rain thing I have a feeling this has more to do with a cool plot/story device than a rules device. If you think about it, the idea and concept is really cool. The execution via rules perhaps not so much.
My own theory is that the Kreegs have actually just moved out. Tired of being bossed around by Barl, the family picks up and heads out to take over a new base of operations. They leave behind a few ogres to help out Barl and his crazy plan, but for the most part, the Kreegs are just happy to be out from under his thumb, I think.
I think Barl's plan to overflow and bring down the dam isn't a bad one. It's an old dam, and if it were to give way after a season of heavy rains, well, them's the breaks. Nothing there to attract the attentions of a band of annoying heroes who might be a monkey wrench in things.
Too bad about the Kreeg's screwing things up taking the keep, huh?
I think the Kreegs would've done that, given enough time. The dam isn't their plan, and risking a fight against the resident trolls is prone to cause more casualties and fewer skull trophies than straight (or guerilla) attacks on Turtleback Ferry. So it has to be seen, how independent they are, if left to their own devices. I think that Lucrecia, Barl and Jaagrath have quite different views on the situation and how to proceed…
I think what made this a bit worse, is the odd time frame of the adventure's events. There haven't been news from FR to Magnimar for "quite some time", and given the 450 miles distance, news probably doesn't travel that fast anyway. And now the players went those 450 miles, maybe not too much in a hurry (i.e. afoot). So given that, the ogres had a few weeks, maybe two months to enjoy their victory, both the description of the fort (ogres still playing with the bodies of the defeated rangers, Graul captives still alive) and the relative sedentary mood of the ogres doesn't quite fit.
The first draft of the adventure still contained the Paradise, and if it being burnt down and taking over the fort would coincide, then everything seems a bit more reasonable. This seems a somewhat popular option on this board, and so I went for that. As of now, it went pretty smooth (apart from the fact that power-attacking ogres are bad shut-your-mouths in Pathfinder)
If that's not an option, just go with the extended party and the fact that Barl doesn't want it and Lucrecia is there to prevent such outbursts. And she's can be quite charming…
i know this is really old but....
while the kreegs are not the brightest....barl and mokmurrian are a bit smarter and with the impending march on sandpoint they do not want to aert magnamar and have to dea with that army....so they figure breaking the damn will do the same job and not alert anyone that soemthing far worse is coming. they are rellying on the kreegs to dea with any groups sent to investigate, i'm running it as, do not et anyone get away, we cant risk alerting magnamar.....
the kreegs go along witht he damn breakign becasue if they suceed they get to kill the trolls, who are rivals of theirs....