Spoilers for Crown of Fangs!
So, my group finally arrived at the end of the campaign. Next week, they'll enter the Sunken Queen and presumably end the threat of Queen Ileosa. They seem to have all cast Protection from Evil on themselves without me having to throw out any hints that it'd be beneficial, so I think they'll ace the encounter the first time around, even with the Dread Wraiths and elite Erinyes running around, too.
But today, they got to bid Zellara goodbye, as she and Venster merged to create the Harrow Deck of Many Things. I thought it'd be interesting to tell which cards were drawn. Maybe other GM's would like to share how this event went down with their groups.
I'll focus on the interesting stuff, writing out every card draw doesn't seem too exciting.
Taran Half-Elven, Paladin of Iomedae avoided an uncertain future with his lower Cressida Kroft by re-drawing The Mountain Man, because he thought the being large size might go poorly together with a happy relationship.
Markus Solunar, Inquisitor of Saranrae, thought to avoid a curse on one of his prized magic items... but instead he got permanent muscle pains, as he gained an incurable disease, the Red Ache. He still got compensated quite well for his four draws, obtaining a crowd of 16 bumbling commoners who love to cheer him on.
Lumlur Lumlorean, Gnome Sorcerer of much blastyness, had the very good luck to find his long-lost adoptive brother, a human boy, freeing him from Red Mantis training. As it turned out, the kid was stolen from the Zenderholm family long ago, so as a reward they adopted Lumlur into their noble family and bestowed a keep outside of Korvosa to him.
More importantly, he suddenly felt bestial urges and grew, before the astonished eyes of his compatriots, into a mighty Werebear. It is a mixed blessing, since it cost him some of his vaunted charismatic personality... but the physical advantages make quite up for it.
Shohal the Bear, Bear Shaman Druid, managed to convince Lumlur to infect him with Lycanthrophy. It is to be seen how that will affect him in the future. However, his card draws were rather unspectacular.
Trinia Sabor, cohort and consort of Markus Solunar, managed to avoid being grabbed by Asmodeus himself for her remarkable humoristic skills.
Assarion, Hand of Eternity, Elven Wizard and Loremaster, also drew The Bear, which did not improve his demeanour at all ( in game terms, his Charisma dropped from six to four ^^ ).
Laori Vaus, cohort of Assarion, now a redeemed cleric of Irori, got the most interesting deal. She drew The Marriage and The Peacock... precipitating the arrival of the shaitan genie princess Terrania, who proposed to the very flustered Laori, who had just also aquired a stony coloration and toughened skin. Laori accepted and thus broke off her concord to follow Assarion as his cohort. He was... not amused.
She still insisted on helping out the group in their final battle with Ileosa, though. Eight days after the drawing of cards, she married Terrania in a lavish celebration to which everybody in Korvosa was invited. She spent 10.000 gold on it, which was sponsored from the party ( except Assarion, who was quite miffed at her for leaving his service ).
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Redeemed Laori? the happy sadist?
How they managed that?
Card draws:
Ivy the Elf (female wizard child prodigy as the character has only 120 years) used her redraw to avoid the genie marriage and ended with a permanent form of malaria, a keep near Celwynian [they will do a revised Second Darkness after ending Crimson Throne] and incapable to learn further magic through her wizard training. She is currently trying to find a new way to train her magic powers.
Maximilian the republican, male mixed blood varisian/cheliax swashbuckler as soon as he return from the Sunquen Queen will discover that through his deceased and despised cheliax father he is the last heir of a Korsovan noble family wiped out by the plague and get a title and money. He sacrificed part of his high wisdom to learn secret techniques to increase his constitution and get faster movement (The Juggler and The Cricket)
Raw the Cleric of Cayden for his faithful service got the power to call a outsider to help him.
Lia, female elf rogue/assassin (a recent addition to the party she was enlisted by the Seneschal to kill the Queen) barely avoided to be turned in a man, getting instead a handful of loyal (and useless) followers.
Mack the quack, human beguler, follower of Calistria got a quest from his deity. He should avenge a priestess of Calistria that was publicly humiliated and expelled from a city of Cheliax by a high priest of Asmodeus. (Denounced as an harlot, whipped in the main place and then made to walk barefooted through the whole town while the population was throwing rotten vegetables and worse)
He should be creative in the punishment that should humiliate the priest manhood but not kill him. We will see how it goes ;-)
The foreign trader apparent several times, but no one was willing to accept his offer, so he left muttering curses.
Unless I am mistaken you were speaking of the various buffs for the players in another thread. My group is level 14 and currently are fighting the Queen. They used extensively Spell resistance, getting a SR of 26 for each member of the group. It was very useful so far.
Redeemed Laori? the happy sadist?
How they managed that?
Well, Laori had grown quite close to the group during their travels and finally accepted to be a cohort to the party Wizard. Sial had unwisely decided to attack her during the fight with the demi-lich and subsequently was wasted by the party.
Hence, when it came to the confrontation with Ildervok, she was the only candidate for Curate. She refused. As punishment, Zun-Kuthon stripped her of her powers, leaving her desolate and alone... but for the party. With a combination of investigation and diplomacy, the party convinced her to look to another deity instead of taking her own life. And thus, Laori discovered ( with much prodding ) the faith of Irori, which did speak to her need for self-discipline and pushing her body to its limit in search of self-perfection.
My character drew last night, and amazingly enough, did not have to re-draw. Sally drew Big Sky, The Keep, The Courtesan, and The Wanderer.
One other character drew The Keep as well so we are trying to talk the DM into giving us the inside track on Castle Korvosa. The other issue is that I already have a intelligent weapon--Serithtial. I am lobbying the DM to give me a set amount of gold to increase the sword's abilities, I'm thinking of 20,000....any suggestions????
Other highlights included the Rogue drawing The Paladin, and Borris the dwarven monk drawing a pair of Locksmiths and deciding to re-draw the last one...he drew the Cyclone, which he had no chance ofdefeating in the alloted time, which caused him to use his other draw, Big Sky to get out of it, leaving him with 1 Locksmith for 3 draws.
Highlights:
Esmerelda Seaskin, human swashbuckler managed to draw draw an assortment of useful one-shot favors including The Big Sky, The Desert, and and The Inquisitor..
Chompsky the Gnome Oracle of the heavens drew TheCricket, and drew the full three more cards including The Tyrant... and The Publican..
As he was being dragged away into the Abyss, Natalya Dewbreath the Barbarian/Alchemist drew the Winged Serpent... and wished that Chompskys Diplomacy skills (i.e. his Publican card) would allow him to talk his way out of his predicament... Crisis Averted!
She also re-drew out of a Genie wedding, instead getting The Juggler, trading her Constitution for her Dexterity.. which were actually the same.. :P
Chompsky also got 4 loyal Warriors following him, while Esmerelda also got 4 awkward oafs..
:)