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So, my group is starting our first AP ever tonight. My players read through the descriptions of each and decided that they were most interested in Curse of the Crimson Throne. We are starting tonight and I though I would keep a campaign log here that I might eventually show my players or I might just use it to amuse myself. Anyway, follow along in our exploits if you'd like. Here is what I know of the party so far. I don't know all of the characters' names at this point.
Selgrim Brown, LN Male Dwarven Cleric of Abadar
Name Unknown, CN Female Human Bard (Geisha)
Name Unknown, NG Male Human Fighter (Sword and Board)
Name Unknown, CG Female Halfling Sorcerer (Djinni Bloodline)
I'll have the rest of the names after tonight's session. I'm going to keep this post from the point of view of the characters, so that there will be no spoilers should the players wish to read it at some point to refresh their memories or just to reminisce.
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Warning: Long
Okay, first, I was apparently mistaken about some of the character alignments and I know their names now as well...
Selgrim Brown, LN Male Dwarven Cleric of Abadar
Thelyn, CG Female Human Bard
Kales, NG Male Human Fighter
Mara, NG Female Halfing Sorceress
The PCs got their Harrow cards from Zellara with the instructions to meet at Sunset. Since there was time to spare, they couldn't just sit on their hands. The Bard decided to gather information about the address given on the Harrow cards. I told her that the location was the business and home of a Varisian fortuneteller name Zellara, but that the place hadn't be operating for weeks. The Sorceress, Mara, decided to go a few hours early and case the joint. Of course, she saw no activity. Mara went in first at sunset and saw the note from Zellara. She was immediately suspicious because the note says Zellara just stepped out and Mara knew she'd been gone for hours. Mara investigated the room a bit and specifically said she was poking the tapestries. I rolled her Will save for her and she failed so everything seemed okay with her. Zellara showed up, sent the PCs on the adventure, and read their fortunes. No one called her on the note saying she just "stepped out."
The PCs went immediately to the Old Fishery (about an hour after sundown or so and cased the place for a few hours). When it seemed like everyone was asleep, they sneaked down to the water level and noticed the lower walkway leading to the back of the building. They thought swimming out to that would be the best plan. I pointed out that there was a shark out there and that two of the character were heavily armored. This didn't deter them one bit. The set up an ambush for the shark and hit it with both a Daze from the Thelyn (Bard) and a Color Spray from the Sorceress. They were terrified that no one could survive a bite from the shark (I showed them the picture in the book), so they set up the double spell ambush. Since the Shark failed its save on both, it was unconscious and the fighter Coup de grace'd hit quickly.
With the shark out of the way, the Bard started using rope to attempt to set up a system of supports for the heavily armored characters to make it through the 20 feet of relatively shallow water. I had her roll a stealth to pull this off. She rolled poorly enough that Gaedran heard her, even though he was around 60 feet away and sleeping. She used a Harrow point to roll again, but did only one point better. She heard him coming and tried to hide among the piers in the water. Gaedran spotted her. She won initiative and made it around the corner of the building before Gaedran could fire his hand crossbow at her. With the rest of the PCs hiding nearby she decided to try to bluff whomever came out the front door with a story about thinking the building was abandoned and trying to get in through the back and use it as a place to sleep for a few nights. Yargin came to the door and she convinced him her story was legit with a good Bluff roll, but Yargin just told her that she couldn't stay here and slammed the door in her face. She knocked again and tried diplomacy/seduction. She didn't roll well enough to get him off Unfriendly.
The PCs came back again a few hours later for one final try. This time they managed to set up the rope system down at the water level and got to the walkway to the back of the lower level. The Bard managed to pick the lock on the first try, rolling exactly the 17 she needed on the die. The heavily armored Selgrim and Kales stayed at the door while the halfling and Bard sneaked further into the room. They roll well enough on their spot checks to make it to Gaedran's door but woke him up while attempting to pick his lock. In the round they had to prepare the heavy hitters came forward and the casters dropped back. When Gaedran came out Kales had a readied action and hit him hard with it. I was worried that Gaedran wouldn't be able to take another one and that the battle would be too easy without Gobblegut the Alligator, so Gaedran went ahead and fired his crossbow at the alligator. I was hoping he could survive the attack of opportunity. He did not. The PC's kicked his body a bit to take out their frustrations and then tossed him in with Gobblegut.
When Yargin, Giggles, and the others came to check on the noise, they saw that Gaedran was toast and fled the scene. The Orphans fled as well when they heard Yargin shouting the news. The PCs did not think to try to gather them up. They spent several hours searching the building for treasure, were sufficiently creeped out when they found Zellara's head, and headed for Zellara's house as a close, safe place to regroup after discovering the city in chaos. They did battle all the spiders in the ship.
The party used all their spells and most of the Bard's Performance rounds, but no one took any damage. The players definitely enjoyed themselves though, so that is more important than a challenge. They are a little behind on experience, so I'll have to make sure to include enough City of Trouble encounters to get them back on track.
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So, we played our second session Friday night. In this session I had planned for the PCs to do some of the city in Chaos encounters until they hit second level and then take out Verik and the Cow Hammer Bows. Unfortunately, circumstances prevented Thaylyn (new spelling corrected by player) from joining us until around the last hour of play. Many of the Section 2 encounters are social in nature: Grau, Crazy old man, Amin Jalento. I didn't want to run the heavily social encounters without the bard, since that is what she lives for. Her build isn't so great in combat. So, we mostly had a casual session, with a lot of off-topic chatter. A few things did happen however...
The PC decided to hole up in Thaylyn's place. She has a pretty nice apartment in the High District paid for by a few minor nobles who think she is their exclusive mistress. (possible role-playing fun later). They thought this would be the safest place to be during the riots. They counted out loot and ended up with 455 gold each. This money was burning a hole in their pocket and provided enough motivation for them to explore the city some more.
Mara has some ranks in Craft(Clothing), or should it be Profession(Tailor)? We discussed and decided it didn't matter. Anyway, she wanted to go buy some silks and jewels so she could make scarves nice enough to sell in her new neighborhood. On their way back from selling Gaedran's loot, I set 2 imps on them. They attacked Kales and Selgrim from invisibility. Both were hit and both saves against the poison. The battle continued in a series of back and forth blows. Since the imps had no reach and provoked AoO each time they attacked, the melee characters were holding their own. However, the PCs were barely, if at all, gaining ground against the imps DR and fast healing. The imps were hitting consistently, but despite being hit 4-5 times each, neither character ever failed a Fort save against the poison. This isn't so impressive for Selgrim, the dwarven cleric, who had a +9 save against poison. Kales only had a +4, and kept rolling well enough. Eventually though, Selgrim's hit points started to run out. He chose to Channel since Kales was down as well. Unfortunately, he hasn't taken Selective Channeling, so this healed the Imps as well and erased almost all the ground made thus far.
In the meantime, Mara magic missiled one imp, but was afraid of using all her slots. She threw one acid splash and then started using her lightning arc granted power from here Djinni bloodline. She never hit with the acid splash or electricity. Imps have high touch AC and she doesn't have precise strike. Plus, she can't roll above a 6. Anyway, she never learned that Imps are resistant to acid and immune to electricity. She doesn't have any ranks in Knowledge(Arcana).
After the PCs had fought the imps to a standstill for several rounds, I had two pseudodragons show up to help (the PC thought I was sicking more monsters on them at first, but then remembered pseudodragons are good). With the Pseudodragon's help, and a timely crit from Kales, the Imps were dispatched after about 4 more rounds.
Next, I had the Doomspeaking old man accost Mara, the halfling sorceress. He attempted to grab her to pull her to the side of the road where he was preaching of the coming doom. He failed miserably on his grapple check. When you have a -2 modifier it is tough to even grapple a halfling spellcaster. Kales took offense to messing with "his" halfling and stepped in front. When the old man attempted to grab Kales, he used his attack of opportunity to trip (push down really) the poor old fellow. I had fun describing the scene as the short, compactly muscled, Kales lightly shoved the old man on the ground in front of dozens of people. The PC's hurried off. There really isn't a great way out of that scene. I rolled a Natural 20 on Kales Fort save behind the screen to avoid catching Filth Fever from the old man.
Thaylyn's player made it to the session, and said that Thaylyn wanted to do some shopping too. On this trip out, I had them face the angry mob that was beating the dandy. Thaylyn made the DC 20 Knowledge(Nobility) check to identify the noble as Amin Jalento. The players immediately nicknamed him, "Almond Gelatto." Did James Jacobs think of that when he wrote the adventure, I wonder? They weren't successful in dispersing the mob with intimidation or diplomacy, so instead rolled initiave. It turns out that 6 first level warriors don't stand a chance against Grease and Color Spray from Thaylyn and Mara respectively. The mob was run off within a couple rounds with no physical damage to the PCs or mob.
The party handled the Grau encounter just as the adventure expected. Again, Thaylyn recognized him with a 23 on her Knowledge(local). Kales drank with him while Thaylyn talked to him and dragged out the story about lost love and such. They didn't get the connection to Vencarlo or Sebine. After drinking with him for a while, they talked him into returning to the guards because the queen needs all the men she can get right now. They walked him to the barracks.
They haven't talked about what they are going to do with the queen's bracelet at all. I've reminded them they have it a couple times. I'll have to start out next session with another reminder. "Hey, you guys didn't include that necklace when you divvied up loot last time. What are you doing with that anyway?" I thought the PCs were foreshadowing their own fate pretty well when they told Grau the queen needed all the able men she could muster.
The PC's hit second level between Amin Jalento and Grau.
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Tonight we tackled All the World's Meat.
Once again the PCs waited for night time to make their move on the target. I remember when I read through this adventure the first time I was thinking, "Why are all these entries written with the assumption that the PCs will come in the daylight?" My players have never considered anything but sneaking around the place at night.
Before they went in that night thought, the pcs attempted to learn a little more about the place. They learned about the free meat program and even made their check to learn about the mercenary work. They briefly thought of hiring them out as mercenaries and then laying an ambush for them. They sent the halfling sorceress, Mara, in disguised as a poor-person (which is what she looks like all the time pretty much) to get some free meat. As soon as I asked for the perception check to notice that there is an unusual amount of meat, the players jumped right to, "Oh my God, its people." Just the fact that I asked for a perception checked clued them into this. It was true, of course, but they didn't learn that until later.
They choose to sneak into through the door from the outdoor animal pen to the indoor one. Two of the Cow Hammer boys were butchering at this time, so things were a little loud between that and the animals in pens, so I let them get all the way in. They peeked in on the killing floor. When they saw two Cow Hammer boys in there (they knew there were at least 3 CHB + Verik from their steak out (pun, shamefully, intended)), they left and broke into through the front door instead. Since they were coming from a quieter direction, I called for Stealth checks this time. The Dwarven Cleric, Selgrim, got a 6 and was easily heard by the closer of the two Cow Hammer Boys. The CHB called out and initiative was rolled. With the exception of the cleric, all the PCs went before the CHB and all of them chose to dash up the stairs, where the other two CHB happened to be waiting and playing cards. This left Selgrim downstairs alone and outnumbered two to one.
The dice were against everyone tonight when it came to melee attacks. No one could hit a thing. Also, the baddies did a pretty good job of making their saves against the save or lose spells from Thaylyn and Mara. This made for a long battle. 13 rounds. Verik joined the fight in round 4. By the end of the fight, two Cow Hammer Boys were dead, one was charmed, and Verik and the remaining Cow Hammer Boy were unconscious and bound. The PCs interrogated a bit and were more interest in why they were giving out free meat than anything else. This isn't clear in the adventure, but I took it that the Arkona's are trying to build good will in the lower classes for their future attempt to wrestle the throne from the unpopular Ileosa.
The PCs then searched the rest of All the World's Meat and found the human remains in the grate with the Reefclaws. By the time the long fight and the search were over, it was time to call the session. The PCs have taken Verik and friends back to the guards, and will see Cressida again and meet Vencarlo first thing next session.
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The last session had finished off right before the trip to Eel's End. Dealing with Devargo Barvasi was relatively straight forward. The PCs didn't try to cause any trouble. The bard rolled low (6) on her diplomacy roll (which has kind of been a theme so far), so her +12 modifier only turned into a 20, with an assist from Mara. The PCs had some ground to make up, but covered it with well role-played negotiations and a couple games of Knivsies. Kales won both of these easily as he is built around combat maneuvers.
Interesting note on Knivsies. The math behind the gambling doesn't make sense. When the game starts, those wishing to bet through their money on the table and stand at the end of the table behind the fighter they are supporting. When the game is over the winner gets half the money on the table and the winner bettors divide the rest evenly. This system has no incentive to bet more than the minimum amount (except perhaps, to keep the game going longer if your player is behind and it looks like the game is going to end by lack of funds). Otherwise, you are better off throwing a little money in and taking your share of the others. If everyone does this, no one comes out ahead except the winning player. But if they aren't going to come out ahead, then they won't put any money in and then the winning players doesn't get anything either. Oh well, they still had fun playing knivsies.
I allowed a week of time to pass between dealing with Devargo and the next events. The players divvied up their loot and went a'shoppin.' Plus, this gave Selgrim the time he needed to finish making a couple suits of armor he was working on for himself and Kales. (I don't do crafting entirely RAW). During the shopping they heard that the city was searching for Trinia Sabor, who had been charged with regicide. Cressida came to the heroes and got them involved in the hunt just after they finished all their shopping. I know, so convenient. Anyway, the PC's tracked her down to her home address (pretty easy since Cressida gives it to them). The chase sequence from the book went pretty well. I used the suggestions provided, but also made up other options using Knowledge(local), diplomacy, bluff, intimidate, stealth, handle animal, acrobatics, climb, CMB. Trinia started out the standard three spaces ahead of the PCs. Kales and Mara are slow speed characters and had to take a -2 on everything. (Selgrim, the dwarf, has the travel domain and thus moves 30 feet). Despite this, it was Mara, the halfling sorceress, who caught Trinia after about 3 rounds. She kept going for it and making rolls. When she first hit Trinia's square she tried a grapple...and succeeded. Yes, the small-sized, 8 strength- and poor base attack-having halfling made in CMB. Now, the chase isn't over until Trinia is pinned. She broke the grapple on her turn and used her move action to advance another square. Then Mara moved into her square and knocked her unconscious with a Color Spray, which is one of the condition that ends the chase. Everyone was pretty stoked to see the halfling run her down. The safe money was on the bard. Selgrim was playing the tortoise and hoping everyone else messed up.
The PCs turned Trinia over to the authorities. The hit level three at this point and will start the Dead Warrens firs thing this weekend. They have already role-played the encounter with Thousand Bones.
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Okay, a couple of things first. We actually played this session a couple weeks ago, but I am not managing to sit down and record the events until today, so they might be a little fuzzy. I would apologize to my readers, but I am fairly convinced I have none. Secondly, Selgrim Brown will no longer be a part of this party. Selgrim was actually an NPC I was running because I didn't think a sword and board fighter, noncombat bard, and blaster sorceress would have much luck in the AP without a little melee support. Anyway, I found another player and he is running a Human Cleric of Iomedae. I don't remember the character's name off the top of my head. Seems like it had an ancient greek feeling to it. I'll have another player joining in a few week, but I don't know what he is playing yet.
So, with that aside here is the fifth session wherein we completed Edge of Anarchy.
After the Dead Warrens, the players learned that Trinia Sabor's trial had concluded and that she was going to be executed. They took this really hard, which was a satisfying end. They brainstormed various plans to try to free her. They felt responsible because they had believed her when she said she was innocent and turned her over to the guards for fair treatment. They thought about pleading with the queen but decided (rightly) that she wanted this scapegoat and that they would only make an enemy out of her if they intervened. They thought about breaking into the dungeons of Castle Korvosa, but thought their chance of success was too slim because they didn't have any time to gather information and plan the job. They went to talk to Vencarlo Orisini. This was great, but I was able to play him off as sympathic to their cause. So eventually, they decided that Trinia was going to die and that this would serve as a lesson to PC's that they should have hid her themselves if they truly believed she was innocent. They decided they owed it to her to attend the execution. They used a Message spell to pass along their condolences to Trinia at the execution and to tell her that they would seek to prove her innocence and find the real killer. When blackjack rescued her I was afraid that the PC might feel cheated as they weren't the center of the action, but they were just genuinely happy that she was going to survive. The bard aided blackjack's escape with a few well placed Grease spells. After the escape the PC's were speculating that Orisini must be blackjack and that he saved Trinia because of their conversation with him. In short, this part of the adventure went perfectly with my group, better than expected.
October has been a busy month for us. We haven't played this month yet. We are hoping to get a game together on October 21st, but that might not happen. Our next session will be either then or November 4th.