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So, as I have posted several times in these forums, I had an anticipated Xanesha-TPK at the Clocktower at the end of Skinsaw. I had Madame X take the players prisoner and put them on the Paradise gambling barge to work as charm zombie slaves until a fellow slave snaps, lights himself on fire that spreads through the ship, eventually leading to it sinking. (I need an accident like this to explain why much of my PCs' gear will be still on board).
The group will escape, swim to shore, regroup, return to the barge to retrieve their gear and any clues I wish to provide and then will resume adventuring after that. Xanesha in the mean time will have travelled to the Kreeg clanhold and will be or will have started the attack on Fort Rannick, replacing Leucretia in that role.
In addition to making the PCs new character sheets with no (or minimal) equipment and temporary Wis scores of 1 :^), I was thinking about handing each of them a bit of paper containing a clue that they will have individually learned during their ~20 months in captivity. What I have in mind is dropping some clues about Xanesha's motives or her history or what really happened at the clocktower maybe. These clues have to be fairly subtle so as to not give the whole story away but will spark some interest in the long term plot that the PCs never get to see.
My PCs and preliminary ideas are:
- Dwarf Barbarian, basic raging warrior
---> He picked up Xanesha's murder list in the clocktower fight. I was thinking about him having a flashback to the fight and seeing the list go skittering off the clocktower roof to the crowd below. This is needed to explain why Xanesha didn't just stay in Magnimar murdering her way through the city but instead decamped and moved to Turtleback Ferry. I'm imagining that he will have been a rower on the ship and won't have seen much.
- Halfling Bard, history buff
---> He is learning Thassilonian but has never heard it spoken since he has had competence in the written language. I am thinking about him overhearing a conversation between Xanesha and some Karzoug agent and maybe dropping a fragmentary hint in Thassilonain about something called a Runewell. I'm imaging that he will have been an entertainer on the ship and may start with an instrument in his possession.
- Shoanti Cleric of Erastil, hunter, Animal and Community
---> I was thinking about giving him a new animal companion that he would have befriended on the boat (his old one being abandoned in a stable in Magnimar) - a bird of some kind that could give him information about local geography and help get the wet PCs back to civilization
- Human Rogue, pretty much evil - going for Shadowdancer
---> He will have been a card dealer on the ship and I am thinking that he will know about Kaven and Xanesha having a relationship of some kind but he won't know who Kaven is until they meet him later.
- Human Water bloodline Sorcerer, also mostly a blaster
---> He's pretty charismatic so he'll have a public job like bartender. Not sure what he will have learned - maybe he'll know something about some of the people in Turtleback Ferry?
- Human Wizard, blaster evoker
---> Maybe involved in the secret "Paradise Mark" tattooing process?
- Human Fighter, reckless sword and board type
---> A rower as well? Not sure? I might start him off with a tool of some kind that they could use to help them escape?
Any ideas for non-spoiler spoilers that I can use to get the PCs thinking about the bigger mystery without giving it away?
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I went ahead and spoilered this entire response.
Actually, I would keep Lucretia in place. If Xanesha had to abandon her assignment in Magnimar, then she would be looking to make up for her short comings. You could either reintroduce her at the end of Hook Mountain, or have her in the library area of the Stone Giants. But I would keep the two lamia matriarchs in place to help reinforce the fact this is not the machinations of a single lamis matriarch, that there is a bigger picture.
- Human Rogue, pretty much evil - going for Shadowdancer
---> He will have been a card dealer on the ship and I am thinking that he will know about Kaven and Xanesha having a relationship of some kind but he won't know who Kaven is until they meet him later.
I would avoid giving clues as to the connection between Kaven and Lucretia as it could lead to an early confrontation. The surprise factor was definitely worth it.
A few thoughts:
(By the way, I present my ideas below as alternatives rather than replacements. Your ideas are perfectly fine as they are.)
Does he like alcohol? If so you could have an alcohol-fuelled flashback, have a crate of rum or something wash up on the shore with him. But your basic idea sounds perfectly fine, it's an important point you'll need to get across.
An alternative would be to have him recognise a couple of important folks from Magnimar who are in Turtleback Ferry as having been on the list.
Halfling Bard, history buff
I'm guessing then that they didn't get Brodert down into the Catacombs of Wrath to identify the minor runewell there? If not, my concern would be that you are giving away some of the endgame. Might be better to give him some ideas about the Valley of the Black Tower/Jorgenfist.
Shoanti Cleric of Erastil, hunter, Animal and Community
You know your players best, but unless you plan on allowing the player to retrieve his/her original animal companion I would suggest you think about allowing the player to make the choice as to a new animal companion. They may have something in mind.
One alternative could be to allow the player an opportunity to gain the results of a commune spell, and contextualise it as Erastil's influence over 20 months of trying to free his servant (the PC). Erastil could have been giving the PC nudges as to what to do next.
Human Rogue, pretty much evil - going for Shadowdancer
Like zylphryx, I'd counsel against this. You don't want to give too much away too soon.
Perhaps he could have some information concerning rumours of giant/ogre activity in the area.
Human Water bloodline Sorcerer, also mostly a blaster
You could also give this PC the means to navigate the wreck, presuming the PCs want to go back. Water currents and whatnot.
Alternatively, he could have forewarning of Black Magga, via some mystical water connection to the dam waters.
Human Wizard, blaster evoker
IIRC noticing the tattoos forms a significant part of the adventure in Turtleback Ferry. If you're happy to cut that then this sounds reasonable, but if not then perhaps you could consider having the character act as a power source or conduit for the tattooing ritual without knowing anything in particular about it, and in the process he could have picked up some subconscious knowledge of Thassilonian magic, which could be shown in-game by a new spell he knows, or a rune that he gets for free.
Human Fighter, reckless sword and board type
If it were me running it, I would make the PCs weaponless and force them to scavenge improvised weapons or quarterstaves for the most part, with perhaps the occasional short sword or dagger from among the survivors. For this guy, I'd have a wooden piece of the barge wash up that would be suitable for use as a light, heavy or tower shield (depending on his preferred armament).
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Some good ideas guys.
I had another one in that I could also pass flashbacks on to the PCs in the future (like the memory about doing the tattooing once they see tattoos on some of the townsfolk in Turtleback Ferry) and give partial memories now (in this instance, he remembers drawing the sigil before, once the PCs notice that they are tattooed themselves).
My plan for the shipwreck is to drop them around sunset a ways away from Turtleback Ferry on the Shimmerglens side of the lake near the north end and maybe have a group of Kobolds show up in the early morning who are scavenging among the shipwreck survivors. There'll be lots of chance for fashioning clubs and trying to start a fire with no tools and all that and a fight with Kobolds using crude weapons should be a real challenge.
My spellcasters will possess their class/domain/bloodline/specialization abilities only when they emerge (having not prepared spells for the day). The worst off is my Cleric who cannot cast spells at all until his wisdom recovers to 10 or above plus my wizard whose spellbook is at the bottom of the lake. I'm expecting that the players take a week or more recovering before they try to go after their gear so I think I'll let the wizard "research" spells from his lost spellbook over that time so he has something to contribute to the underwater salvage operation.
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I, too, was going to suggest the flashback to remembering something about specific townspeople with the tattoo, though I like cynarion's idea about the sorc having knowledge useful about the wreckage (maybe flashbacks of the layout to know where their stuff might be), and the wizards flashback to include a specific townsperson's face that theyll likely encounter (even random guy X who's on the street when they come into town) to start off that bit of the roleplay.
I, too, advice against player flashback-knowledge of the Kaven/Xanesha relationship, though Im fine with combining X and L into one lamia, instead of them being sisters. The 'bigger picture going on' bit will take care of itself, near the end of the book.
Also, I feel like the dwarf barbarian needs something other than from the list. Seems kinda useless bit of information at that time. He and the fighter could be interchangable, but maybe give one of them the tool, and the other some kind of generic weapon or something that he could have used to defend the ship from some kind of attack. (I had the waters be invested with Gar and Giant Gar and had the PCs fight their way to shore after Bruthazmus's goblin crew caused the ferry to sink in the middle of the night).
Also, I dont know how picky you are about spell components, or if casters all have Eschew Materials, but if you are, and they dont, you might want to give them a small package of spell components to last them til they can get to town or something (maybe one of the kobolds has it, or just the generic stuff they carry could be useful components).
Edit: If you really want to incorporate the list as the reason for X leaving Magnimar, the discovery of the list and the conclusion of what is was could be some of the latest gossip to come out that way, and the PCs overhear it.
I know this doesn't quite go along with what you've already proposed, but I'll suggest it anyway...
Then, they can actually be out "on patrol" along with Kaven and a few other Black Arrows when the assault on the fort happens. Search the messageboards for "Denek's Rise of the Runelords" journal and look for the section on Fort Rannick - I borrowed heavily from him to create a situation somewhat like this for my PCs (although in my case, the PCs visited ahead of time, dropping off prisoners between the 1st and 2nd adventures).
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I updated my complete preparations in my campaign thread but I thought I'd update here on my decisions about what memories to give to each player:
- Dwarf Barbarian, basic raging warrior
---> He remembers seeing the murder list fall, remembers being questioned about it and remembers Xanesha being displeased about hearing the list is lost.
- Halfling Bard, history buff
---> I decided to go with a language teaser here. During some private sessions playing music for Xanesha, he overheard her speaking a few words in an unknown language (Thassilonian). Over the time spent in captivity, he recognizes words from the Giant, Varisian and Shoanti tongues. If he learns those languages in addition to being able to write Thassilonian, he will be able to piece together how it is spoken. He will be the first scholar to do so since the fall of the empire.
- Shoanti Cleric of Erastil, hunter, Animal and Community
---> I went with the crow animal companion idea (noting explicitly that he can change companions at any time) as he would have been kept cloistered because he is marked with the symbol of Erastil on his palm and thus could not see the world. The crow has taught him about some of the local geography, including the closest "man-nest" on the north shore of Claybottom Lake. Early after captivity, I have an encounter with another potential Animal Companion, a large (4th level druid's constrictor snake) Anaconda. He'll get a chance to tame the snake if he tries to and is successful.
- Human Rogue, pretty much evil - going for Shadowdancer
---> He was a card dealer and got to know the clients well but for some reason, he can't remember faces. He'll get a flashback about Kaven *after* they figure out that mystery.
- Human Wizard, blaster evoker
---> Remembers writing or drawing the Sihedron rune many times but does not remember where or with what medium. When they discover that they all have been tattooed, he will remember doing the tattooing and when they figure out that townsfolk have been tattooed as well, he will remember doing that for all the regulars.
- Human Fighter, reckless sword and board type
---> His memory involves being questioned soon after the group was captured. He remembers telling every last detail about their adventures to date including telling Xanesha that the group had told the city guard about their efforts in tracking down the "Star Murderer". This nugget combined with my Dwarf's will explain why she chose to stop murdering in Magnimar and move her operation to phase 2 at Turtleback Ferry.
- Human Water bloodline Sorcerer, also mostly a blaster
---> His player can't make it tomorrow so he is going to be in a state of severe amnesia after the escape. He won't remember his name, won't have any class abilities, nothing. Only with time to heal (and the player returning to the table), will he retrieve his lost identity.