Sweet! I love hearing about completed adventure paths. How did the final battle go? Did the PCs find it easy or tough?
Gratz! What were the highlights and the lows of this campaign for your group?
We finished Curse yesterday too. The last battle wasn't too hard on the party, since they were pretty well buffed with Protection from Evil and whatnot. (Their Shadowdancer has a ridiculous Stealth even against True Seeing so they got the better of Ileosa.)
We had a good time throughout, but the role-playing in part 4 felt a little pointless since it couldn't really affect the outcome (except negatively), so we kind of breezed through it.
The party were level 15 for the final battle. There were four of them, plus an Astral Deva called with the Bead of Summons.
We finished Curse yesterday too.
We had a good time throughout, but the role-playing in part 4 felt a little pointless since it couldn't really affect the outcome (except negatively), so we kind of breezed through it.
Gratz. I've read similar comments on part 4, so I'm trying to rewrite it. I'm also planning on having the Shoanti start a real war campaign on Korvosa and the PCs' actions and interactions will have a great effect on these war plans and its timing.
Finished Curse too! My first Pathfinder AP.
PC's and ending title results:
Lana 'Headshot" Niche - LE Human Female Sable Marine Gunslinger Pistolero, Queen Commandant of Korvosa
Churl - CE Half-Orc Male Cleric of Rovagug/Barbarian, Arbiter of Justice/Underworld Slaver & DrugLord
Jax - LE Human Male Wizard/Rogue/Arcane Trickster, Headmaster of the Acadamae
Note: The Gunslinger broke my game since I allowed advanced firearms (doh). Some fudging was used to restore the balance. :P
I have a tough group indeed. Grossly opinionated and incredibly abrasive. Surprisingly fun but very tenuous. I often jokingly admit that they are the GM's and I'm the player.
The shark almost killed the cleric! The party left him unconscious on the shore while they ran after Gaedren. The party quickly killed Gaedren (NO! :/) and I decided at that moment to add Gaedren's identical twin, which was immediately killed too (sigh)...and fed to the alligator. The cleric rounded up Lamm's Lambs (those who didn't run away) and thus dubbed them Churl's kids (kinda like Jerry's kids). They became his small network of pickpockets and spies. The group quickly grew restless with the many tasks assigned from the field marshall in order to help the guard. Since the guy in our group was playing a female (snickers), Vencarlo Orisini tried to get into her pants constantly. I was surprised it never came to their minds to run/control Eels' End when that scene was over. They excelled with the shingles chase. All attempts to encourage NPC involvement when shedding light on personal struggles/story, such as with Grau and Thousand Bones, the characters had a definitive glassy eyed flatlined response (dump that flavor right in the garbage). Later I got them to be swooned and awed with the BlackJack Rescue. They entertained thought to create a xp farm by handing over Trinia Sabor and breaking her out of jail, over and over.
They exposed Lavender's fake cure. The cleric gained a henchman named Sir Hardin Thicke. The plague should have debilitated the pc's, but remove curse became a constant companion. The cleric started selling his clerical services at a high price which caused riots. The party enjoyed causing the riots and watching murders. They snuck in and killed Girrigz and the cleric finally got a base of operations for his Rovagug worship. He united the wererat group to the rough beast banner. Sacrifices ensued and a Otyugh was used for the faith. Churls fascination for rape during the sacrificial rites became legendary when he captured Carowyn Manor and began a cult following. The Hospice was a good run. There was a back and forth struggle to emerge victorious. The Nosferatu gave his speech, awaiting the 2000gp from the PC's to leave. It became non-negotiable so a brief fight commenced which ended with the Nosferatu giving the PC's 2000gp to leave dead (not dead'er). After a few irate debates among the players that the cleric was a cleric and not a priest, and don't confuse the two, they moved on through the underground complex. I gave a big bad speech from the big bad evil chick (Lady Andaisin), and well, the party makes short work of her. (AH HA!) A give a big bad speech from the big bad pallid princess statue (describing in great length the summoning and necromantic auras starting to coalesce) and the party runs away before I can bring out Lady Andaisin Transformed ~ Daughter of Urgathoa. They said they were running low on resources and that they were getting scared.
The death of the commandant angered our former sable marine. After describing how Marcus Endrin shot the queen point blank to the face, the gunslinger was concocting plans to sniper her (Hey, she can’t die! Hello!?) The players mentioned the same to him but the look of indignant ignorance but determined resolve didn’t wash off of the he-she’s face. The search for Orisini was fun. The fire was better. We had one guy jump out of the window like Leon from RE4. Everyone was frustrated about where to go and why did the party member just lock himself in a closet that is catching on fire. A very personal and very private moment of GM superiority for me. Everyone survived and hey one of you can become Batman, err… BlackJack now ! The gunslinger wore the gear but didn’t want to become the dark knight. Google search an image of BlackMan. That became the dubbed name/joke of Blackjack within the game. They did a hit and run of all the Dock mobs has they hustled to get to Pilts Palace. “Why do we have to play this stupid Blood Pig! Let’s just kill the guy and get back on the damn quest trail!” They won and then proceeded to kill everyone. “Bring in my cult from the mainland and lets establish a bigger following.” Glorio Arkona saw his imminent death and tried to make a deal to hand over the PC’s, Vencarlo, and Neolandus to the queen. The queen sent the Korvosan Navy to trebuchet the area before sending in swarms of gray maidens, devils, and mantis. The cleric enslaved the Beatific One to become his concubine. The PC’s escaped by barge with Neo & Ven and plotted there way to Harse. The Rovagug cult laid low in Old Korvosa while the queen’s influence grew.
Neo & Ven were appalled by the evil actions they witnessed of the group and quickly relented to traveling to Janderhoff. The seneschal though that they were trading one evil for another evil in hope of saving the city. Now fugitives, they started to form a resistance movement in Harse. They gathered some refuges from the plague and some disbanded guard/sable’s. Churl hunted down some goblin tribes to ask for mercenary aid. The shoanti tasks became a long and arduous road. The players were begging for mercy. The path to shed their tshamek status became a thing similar to passing customs or trying to get through the border. I tried throwing some herbs and spices to bring out the flavor. A discovery was made that the half-orc was the product of a belzken orc raping a shoanti woman. He's just like his daddy! At the Acropolis there was a story in place that Rovagug wanted Churl to release the Havero in hope of the alien creature becoming an adoptive spawn of the Rough Beast. That trail of destruction would come later on in the campaign. The party came across a random encounter of wyverns. They killed the parents and took one grown wyvern and some wyvern babies to train as mounts. A random encounter with a red dragon was rolled. They defeated it but our game came to a grinding halt that session when players were furiously debating the ecology of a red dragon. I didn't get any kind of a word in when one guy suddenly got up and vowed he was done with our group. He came back the following week. :) I made the call that the encounter with the dragon didn’t happen so people would move on. The cindermaw was exciting and had the party furiously studying the PF books and strategically buffing up. After all the prep work involved, the wizard was swallowed up and consumed straight away. “Oh no I had all of my gear on me! “ The defeated player sat out the rest of the session and a quandary for character class commenced the book work again. I was inspired with the stratagems that unfolded with the cleric and gunslinger VS cindermaw. Gunpowder kegs were laid in place of the gargantuan worm during a chase. Concussive blasts, a reign of bullets, and divine volleys began to wear down the beast. I rolled a natural 1 and Cindermaw critically failed to save vs a magical curse. He was on the brink of death and fled. It sought out the cinderlands lava pools in an attempt to fire heal but the daily con damage was steady. The Cindermaw was crippled and left the party in fascinated wonder if it survived. The debate for bringing the mage back seemed futile. A talk with Sial and a promise to hand over the Kazavon relic once they disposed of the queen brought upon them the means for a true resurrection for their long lost comrade.
Once they finally rubbed off their tshamek stain, I introduced a mage who invited them to join the Breaching Festival back in Korvosa. “We want to play to 20th level this time!” I fit the module Academy of Secrets in the AP. Introducing the contestants, the cleric told Fatmire he should leave the contest since he is pathetic and useless. Enormous hilarity ensued when the module stated that Fatmire withdrew from the festival contest the following day. This was the mage’s chance to get back a lot of his lost loot. The balance returned with the back and forth struggle to succeed. The headmaster knew they were outlaws but was desperate to have a winner this year and invited them. When they won they were incredibly pissed that the 153,000gp was reduced to 98,230gp. A plan began with Jax and Churl (more bookwork) to kill the Headmaster. Jax assumed Toff was hiding something and tried to interrogate him but was kicked out of the private sanctum. The plan commenced later when Jax coup de grace the sleeping master of the academae. Investigations would commence the next day but new light was shed of the reduced promised pay and many students/professors felt Toff was behind the devil breach.
“Wait, how many harrow points do I get now, uh how many should I have total!?” I asked myself... Does boredom play a factor? Does a non-existent social life, save for this game play a factor? Which finally culminated to... Why did I build Castle Scarwall? Yeah I mapped out the entire complex and stacked the levels with sticks, appearing as a convoluted game of Jenga. Scarwall The hard work and misplaced dedication paid off because the group that enjoyed it. Sial and Laori perished while the group prevailed and recovered the artifact.
The part splits up. Lana the gunslinger goes to Harse to checkup on her Reborn Sables. Churl and Jax go back to the Acropolis to release the Havero. Additional levels were made to the complex. They had to bypass warded/trapped containment rings while fighting off the Havero tentacles. They sundered the 4 thassilonian containment stones and used word of recall to get out of the complex before it crushed them. They appeared outside to watch a large sinkhole and the Havero finally emerged (think War of the Worlds). There was a brief battle when the alien took interest with the PC’s. Churl was sure to receive his payment for fulfilling Rovagug’s will, a joyous gratifying spectacle of being destroyed/consumed by a potential spawn of Rovagug . GM intervention! They party was surely doomed. They became babbling idiots by feeblemind from the alien mind. The curtain fell. They awoke sometime later in the shoanti camp. The Havero must have lost interest or lured elsewhere. The tribe found and revived them. They proceeded to get back with Lana. Meanwhile Lana assembled her upstart sable forces. She went to Janderhoff and established a Hippogriff contract from a breeder. She then went on behalf of Churl to the Goblin lands and got them to unite. She promised them a piece of Korvosan land for their mercenary aid. Word spread that the Havero destroyed parts of Kaer Maga.
The party met up again and commenced the revolution. I had them take control of different warring factions during the siege of Korvosa. This way they would feel they really took part of the siege rather than it happening in the backdrop. The first part of the attack they had to ram through the gates using Gunslinger Sable Marines and Goblins. The next stage was set when they used Churls kids (rogues/assassins) and lead a stealth mission in Old Korvosa. They fought devils and gray maidens. Another instance they took control of Rovagug Cultists and Goblin Worg Riders and raided a Gray Maiden Garrison. Lastly they ran with Gunslinger Sable Marines/Hippogriffs and performed flyby attacks on the navy yards. Gunpowder kegs runs at the ships. They had to contend with ballista’s/cannon’s and Sabina Marrin/Black Dragon. The oppourtunits then finally went for the castle. It was brief since they wanted to run at the queen right away. I followed the AP during the simulacrum battle. Finished off the events with a short fight with a Brine Primal Dragon atop the castle. It was a spectacle to witness the dragons tsunami spell push them off the rooftop crenaltions. The gunslinger hid in fear by the frightful presence. I don’t think he minded much since he was already asleep at the game table.
They claimed rulership since the real queen fled and there was nothing left of the monarchy. He posed a love tringle where Vencarlo and Sabina fought for the affections of Lana. The gunslinger turned them down. There were a lot of diplomacy err.. intimidation rolls to placate the magistrates, nobles, and docks families. They picked who would take control of what. Lana became the Queen Commandant. She drew a harrow card much earlier in the AP(Empty Throne), which solidified her rank and the 25,000gp. Neolandus reclaimed the steward role. Magistrates and other persons of authority remained. Jax, being a clear winner and crowd favorite of the Acadamae, became the Headmaster. Plans were enacted to build the first ever Rovagug temple. The faith was growing. Goblins took over the outskirts of the city as promised to them. Some outrages over this since the tribes killed more citizens then they did gray maidens. The magistrates knew the economy was in poor shape and strenghted the drug trade. The Rovagug temple became a front for the drug trade as the exports were underway. Churl enjoyed many a raping's and sacrifices for celebrant powers. The new management forced the Temple Vault of Adabar to hand out services for free during this time of restructure.
I had the sunken queen scaled to be within the pyramidal ruin below Castle Korvosa. During the revolution, the former queen had the subterranean passages collapsed so she could perform her ritual. After a few days the party got word of this from a immolation devil. They went down there to finally collect the queen's head. I had the Sunken Queen upside down and with reverse gravity. This was done so the lower pyramid levels were not submerged in water and a further deterrence for the group. A magistrate of commerce and the archbishop were upset with the strictures placed on the performing services of Adabar. The flow of commerce to Adabar’s coffers and a wane of powers was enough to send a star archon(lawgiver) and shield archons after the party. The fight was tough for both sides. Finally they pushed on and fought the former queen. A long battle. The will saves were not going well for the party. The gunslinger was forced to dance. Churl was compelled to run away. GM intervention! I had the immolation devil return and rid the compulsion form Churl. The devil gave him a soul bound greataxe. The tide was turned and Ileosa was soon defeated. The immolation devil tasked Churl with binding Ilesoa soul to the weapon as the final death blow. The everdawn pool was frozen over by polar midnight so I threw away any plans to bring Kazavon out to play. :( The party grabbed the treasury and queen’s loot. The devil remained which triggered some alarm. For the devil's help he asked for the crown of fangs. They gave it over after it was sundered. Both sides knew residual energies were still within the artifact. Churl stayed behind and cast firestorm on the everdawn pool to see if the swirling magical auras of the blood pool would stop. The everdawn pool remained, even after the ice and fire assaults were over. The immolation devil encouraged Churl to merge with the pool. The cleric received a +5 inerhenit ability increase and gained a level as a result. 20th level at long last! A crimson hue became evident on Churl. The rest of the party did not want anything to do with the everdawn pool. The party returned to rest and deal with castle matters. They tracked down the magistrate and archbishop and found out that the immolation devil had a hand in those events. They lifted the Adabar restriction and summoned the devil.
The final fight was suppose to go as the party vs the immolation devil & Lorthact the pit fiend(infernal duke of hell) & Toff Ornelos (former Headmaster of Korvosa). I was expecting the party to start fighting and forget the dialogue like they usually do but they went to find out why the devil played a hand in both sides. Found out about the story with harvesting souls so the pit fiend could return to his home. The tension was starting to fade. Then Jax decided it would be a good time to draw a harrow card (the Joke). "WHY Would You Draw A Card Now!" So the user’s ally chosen as Lana picked (the Teamster) to be played out. Jax then took the other card (the Tangled Briar) which allowed me to bring forth Kazavon. This became a oh crap moment for everyone. Toff Ornelos was consumed with rage for what Jax did to him at the Acadamae, that he started to attack him. Kazavon joined in and the battle was in full swing. Lana asked Lorthact to help bring down Kazavon, thus the Teamster card begin its play. The pit fiend wish would be the reward. Another card (the Publican) gave a randomly chosen friendship with Lorthact that sealed the deal to take down Kazavon. It took awhile but they brought the dragon down. Just like Mandravius cabal, they charged others with spreading the remains. With the devil friendship, the cleric would help with the soul collection for Lorthact. The campaign was seemingly at a close. A final but brief encounter with the everdawn pool one last time as Churl went to study it in further detail. A single stone fell from his rovagug weapon and skittered into the everdawn pool. The color aura changed and Churl stepped in. He found himself before Pale Mountain in the lands of Katapesh. Rovagug was displeased that the Havero did not work out. Displeased that Churl did not find greater ways to destroy. The temple unsettled the rough beast. The building, civilization, the structure of it all. Rovagug wanted Churl to finally know the joy of being consumed by a spawn of the Rough Beast. …next up Legacy of Fire.
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The big problem with Zallara was that she is in the start of every volume of the AP, even needs to be rescued by the PCs at one point, yet has nothing to do with Ileosa or the Crown. Nothing. She literally just fades away in Crown of Fangs. The End. What? This one I took care of though easily enough. I took out Venster (who made no sense) and simply replaced him with Zellara. Instead of an outcast brother the king now had an outcast sister, and that was Zallara. Ileosa was obviously bisexual anyway so I didn't even have to change any of the love triangle story. I don't know why this obvious hook never got used.
I really, really wish I had seen or thought of this angle before starting CotCT. Every Crimson Throne player I've told about this take on Zellara/Venster that you came up with had their jaw drop open when the reveal of what you changed was mentioned.
That is some beautiful bookending going on there. And it makes all sorts of perfect sense too(why does she wear that bandana all the time? Well...)
If I ever run Crimson Throne again, this is getting used. :)
The big problem with Zallara was that she is in the start of every volume of the AP, even needs to be rescued by the PCs at one point, yet has nothing to do with Ileosa or the Crown. Nothing. She literally just fades away in Crown of Fangs. The End. What? This one I took care of though easily enough. I took out Venster (who made no sense) and simply replaced him with Zellara. Instead of an outcast brother the king now had an outcast sister, and that was Zallara. Ileosa was obviously bisexual anyway so I didn't even have to change any of the love triangle story. I don't know why this obvious hook never got used.
I really, really wish I had seen or thought of this angle before starting CotCT. Every Crimson Throne player I've told about this take on Zellara/Venster that you came up with had their jaw drop open when the reveal of what you changed was mentioned.
That is some beautiful bookending going on there. And it makes all sorts of perfect sense too(why does she wear that bandana all the time? Well...)
If I ever run Crimson Throne again, this is getting used. :)
I like this angle, but I don't think I would make her part of the plot to kill the king. It probably works better if she herself never knew of her royal ties and then the players find evidence of this while going through Castle Korvosa in book 6.
If Zellara was part of the love triangle and so knew that the king had been poisoned by Ileosa, why wouldn't she just tell this to the players at the very start. She has nothing to lose and if she's trying to make things right and save the city, it would make sense that she would come clean. She is a ghost after all and so has nothing to lose from telling them. Otherwise, I think you would get a bit of a "Why did you wait all this time to tell us?" question from the players.
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Damaged memories! :D
I'd post more in detail, but I'm on a rapidly decharging phone right now. Basically, the trauma of her death and everything else would splinter her memories, but not the motivation she still feels to right her wrongs and protect Korvosa even as she doesnt fully understand why.
As the AP goes along she would recover a bit more of her memories, but the truth/drama bomb wouldn't fully hit until the spot where Venster was.
Still has issues to work out to preserve other bits in the beginning, but will post more later when chance get
Damaged memories! :D
I'd post more in detail, but I'm on a rapidly decharging phone right now. Basically, the trauma of her death and everything else would splinter her memories, but not the motivation she still feels to right her wrongs and protect Korvosa even as she doesnt fully understand why.
As the AP goes along she would recover a bit more of her memories, but the truth/drama bomb wouldn't fully hit until the spot where Venster was.
Still has issues to work out to preserve other bits in the beginning, but will post more later when chance get
Thanks Mikaze! That's interesting, please post more when you can.
I'm currently in Edge of Anarchy just finished the fishery and ensuing chaos on the streets. The PCs haven't met the queen yet or spoken to Zellara again since they first encountered her in her shop (her deck only allows for one major image per day and it's only at the start of the next session that 24 hours will have passed since starting the campaign).
I think for the damaged memories angle to work I'd have to sell it to the players right from the start. Difficulties for me are that Venster was supposed to be living in Castle Korvosa, hidden from view of the public, but Zellara was quite clearly accessible in the public eye, she had a fortune telling shop and a son who was killed by Gaedren. I guess a DM could also spin it that the King had an interest in what the future held and he would regularly consult with Zellara to have his fortune read or something, which would explain why she would be regularly allowed into Castle Korvosa without raising any questions. This would just have been a ruse for the King to meet with his outcast sister.
Perhaps the players could hear rumors of the king's fascination with the harrow early on in the campaign?
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Yeah, it really does seem like something you'd want tightened down from Day 1.
For me, the big problem would be wanting to preserve the two big shock moments: finding Zellara's head and realizing "SHE WAS DEAD ALL ALONG ooOOOOooOOoOOOooOOO!" and finding her body bricked up in Castle Korvosa and triggering the final unlocking of Zellara's memories and the truth-drama bomb. And those two really conflict.
Having Lamm repurposed into someone hired to dispose of Zellara's head might be something to attempt(but why only the head?! :\), with Zellara's murdered son being turned into a former castle servant she formerly secretly communicated on matters Varisian/Harrow-related. (I suppose Zellara's ethnicity would have to be changed to half-Varisian/half-Chelish...still favoring the Varisian side to preserve her flavor?). Maybe that same servant was targetted by Lamm as a hired hit to snuff out one of the few people that knew about Zellara after her murder?
...I still have no idea why Lamm would be trusted with the disposal of only Zellara's head. Maybe something to do with preventing speak with dead? But it still seems more of a risk than anything else, especialy since Lamm apparently keeps it. Maybe he's lazy?
So yeah, that first part is the hard part for me. :)
If one can get past that hump though, there would be plenty to play with. Maybe Zellara's ghostly state would be self-inflicted or almost divine in nature, simultaneously serving as a punishment and her mission to right her wrongs.
Maybe as she learns more of the truth about her past throughout the AP, a stab wound appears on her ghostly form, matching one of the fatal injuries Ileosa gave her. Early on she might actually have conflicted feelings about both Ileosa and Eodred and what they mean/meant for Korvosa, due to her fractured memories.
It might change the nature of her love for Korvosa if she was hidden away in the castle. Instead of being intimately familiar with its streets, it would have been something she would have dreamed about after the stories related to her by Eodred or that eventually-murdered-servant.
Once the full truth is learned in what would have been Venster's quarters, she's both able to make peace with herself and move on, while simultaneously imbuing the mystical forces that formerly bound her into the Harrow Deck of Many Things.
But the idea of Zellara living out in Korvosa as a bit of an exile from the castle has a lot of potential too. Instead of being trapped inside looking out, she would have been cast out and looking in. She could still have a measure of human jealously for Ileosa to exploit, and the regular invitatins for "Harrow readings" make for a perfect excuse to meet with her brother. This also makes her son easy to keep in the story - he could have been murdered after she was, while he was searching for answers about her death. Or he may have been killed at the same time.
That would put her head back at Lamm's for that big reveal in the beginning, but now that leaves her body missing in Castle Korvosa. And personally I'd like to preserve her being murdered by Ileosa herself, which just seals the whole tragic deal.
Gotta mull over this one. :)
EDIT-In a very twisted way, if Zellara's slowly repairing memories lead her to be overwhelmed with feelings of guilt towards that last portions of the AP, she or others might interpret her time trapped in Scarwall as her stint in Hell. She might well consider it something she deserved even as she doesn't remember why.
Man, I don't want to make this character overly depressing but this tragedy is to rich not to dig into. :) Perhaps keeping her mostly optimistic and positive with that undercurrent of melancholy and guilt could maximize the emotional knife-twisting?
EDIT2-Oh wow, I can see her empathizing and expressing worry for Sabina Merrin whenever the party meets her too, all while not really understanding why: She's been in a spot similar to the one Merrin now finds herself in.
Yeah, it really does seem like something you'd want tightened down from Day 1.
For me, the big problem would be wanting to preserve the two big shock moments: finding Zellara's head and realizing "SHE WAS DEAD ALL ALONG ooOOOOooOOoOOOooOOO!" and finding her body bricked up in Castle Korvosa and triggering the final unlocking of Zellara's memories and the truth-drama bomb. And those two really conflict.
Having Lamm repurposed into someone hired to dispose of Zellara's head might be something to attempt(but why only the head?! :\), with Zellara's murdered son being turned into a former castle servant she formerly secretly communicated on matters Varisian/Harrow-related. (I suppose Zellara's ethnicity would have to be changed to half-Varisian/half-Chelish...still favoring the Varisian side to preserve her flavor?). Maybe that same servant was targetted by Lamm as a hired hit to snuff out one of the few people that knew about Zellara after her murder?
...I still have no idea why Lamm would be trusted with the disposal of only Zellara's head. Maybe something to do with preventing speak with dead? But it still seems more of a risk than anything else, especialy since Lamm apparently keeps it. Maybe he's lazy?
So yeah, that first part is the hard part for me. :)
If one can get past that hump though, there would be plenty to play with. Maybe Zellara's ghostly state would be self-inflicted or almost divine in nature, simultaneously serving as a punishment and her mission to right her wrongs.
Maybe as she learns more of the truth about her past throughout the AP, a stab wound appears on her ghostly form, matching one of the fatal injuries Ileosa gave her. Early on she might actually have conflicted feelings about both Ileosa and Eodred and what they mean/meant for Korvosa, due to her fractured memories.
It might change the nature of her love for Korvosa if she was hidden away in the castle. Instead of being intimately familiar with its streets, it would have...
Good brainstorming. Thanks!
I've got a few weeks until our next session so I'll keep trying to figure things out.
FYI - I used the "Lamm used to be an adventurer who betrayed his group in Scarwall and was forever changed as a result" idea that was posted on these boards. When the players killed Lamm, the ghosts of his betrayed adventuring allies came and whisked away his spirit back to Scarwall.
I was thinking of getting Zellara more integrated in the story by making her Lamm's ex-wife. In this case, Zellara and Lamm would have had a baby boy right before Lamm left for Scarwall, but when he returned, he was not the same. Zellara could not tolerate her "new" abusive husband and so she left. Years later, her son wanted to seek out his missing father, despite Zellara's warnings. Lamm killed him because he reminded Lamm of how he was before Scarwall and all that he had lost.
It would make Lamm seem even more perverse when he chose to keep her decapitated head. If I go this route, I'm not sure if I should reveal this story from the start, or wait until Scarwall. I'm leaning towards having the reveal in Scarwall.
This way, Lamm can perhaps find some redemption towards his wife by somehow helping the PCs save his ex-wife's spirit that has been captured. I also like the irony of the villain from the first adventure become a potential ally in a later adventure. Of course, I wouldn't force an alliance with Lamm on the players, but the option would be there if they wanted to go that route.
Anyway, just some thoughts.
Yeah, it really does seem like something you'd want tightened down from Day 1.
For me, the big problem would be wanting to preserve the two big shock moments: finding Zellara's head and realizing "SHE WAS DEAD ALL ALONG ooOOOOooOOoOOOooOOO!" and finding her body bricked up in Castle Korvosa and triggering the final unlocking of Zellara's memories and the truth-drama bomb. And those two really conflict.
...<more good stuff>...
Love the ideas brought up here on this thread.
I agree that the most difficult problem is to juggle finding the head vs finding the body and how to mesh those together. I wonder though if you need BOTH those specific scenes. Finding the head is, I think, the more shocking of the two and if only one can be kept, that should be the one. It adds all kinds of questions to the mix about why Lamm would be involved, but I think those are solvable.
What I am wondering is if the second reveal, the body in the bricked up room...if that can be changed a bit. The purpose as I see it is to "unlock" the information that Venster/Zellara carry that can further the plot. Retrieving the body is ideal for that, but does it have to be the remains? Could something else be required of the ghost in that walled off room to put the spirit at ease or unlock Zellara's memories? I am not quite sure what that would be, but there has to be something else besides interring mortal remains in ghost story traditions that can soothe the restless dead?
Maybe a diary left by Zellara, detailing her early life in the castle, before being cast out into the city. Or a charm or some piece of minor jewelry that was left behind, perhaps a gift from her brother...something to link her to the castle, that will connect Zellara to the plot to kill the king and restore her memories and reveal the mystery of Zellara's true identity.
Then you could work with Lamm as the agent who murdered Zellara to tie off that loose end, and perhaps that's how he came into possession of the Queen's brooch. He was paid with it, or maybe he himself lifted it in a meeting with the Queen. Not sure yet how to work it out, but that could be done, I think.
Would still need to rewrite the introduction where Zellara gives her reasons for wanting Lamm dead, but again, that is small stuff compared to the "head" vs "body" conflict.