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I heard and read a lot of bad things about this part of the Adventure Path so I decided to recount the story as I lead my group through this module. Feel free to comment, I appreciate every piece of advice and feeback you can give. I am no native English speaker so please excuse any bad spelling, grammar or sentence structure.
A few notes before I go ahead and recap what happened so far:
My default mode is to run the adventure exactly as written. Should my players deliver me a good hook for a side-track or an interlude I will pick up on that as we go (the past has shown that we have the most fun if I simply improvise during a session as opposed to writing up elaborate side-plots that may or may not ever come to fruition).
I will make "mistakes". I don't like to slow down the game just to look up an obscure rule. If something comes up that I am not sure about I will rule in some way that seems plausible to me and look it up after the session, handling it by RAW the next time around.
Now what happened previously in our version of Serpent's Skull:
The group had escaped the Shiv but, sadly, of the NPC castaway only Jask, Gelik and Pezock made it. Pezock found a new job aboard a Free Captains' ship and Gelik sold his knowledge to everyone who had the coin, in the end joining the Sargavan Government along with Jask who still had to prove his innocence.
The PCs however joined the Pathfinder Society and after procuring Nkechi's support and putting down the revolt set off for Tazion.
After a long and exhausting journey only 2 of the orginal 5 PCs managed to find the information they were looking for. Along the way they picked up two new members and the group currently consists of the following:
Poshmend, a gnome sorcerer whose curiosity constantly gets everyone in trouble and who loves his riding dog Horst.
Ilavan, an overly-cautious misanthropic human druid who's best friend is his tiger K'alaar.
Tabansi, an overconfident Mwangi monk who is on a spirit quest to find unity of body and mind to reach physical perfection.
Belor, a Shoanti fighter who got exiled from his tribe under yet unknown circumstances and was saved from a Giant Wasp's nest. He know owes the party a life debt and has just joined the group.
Nkechi, a human cleric of Gozreh NPC whose constant denial to "freeload on Gozreh's grace all because of some minor scratches" and general gruff demeanor made him a favorite NPC for the players and a necessary nuisance for the PCs.
After the last session, the group has finally re-joined their expedition after activating the pillars of light and plotted the last leg of the journey. In a careless moment (and there are many of those) the gnome was ambushed by a Red Mantis scout party the day before and brought before their leader Chivane. He cut a deal to provide the information they were looking for in exchange for his life and has already done so without telling the rest of the group about it. He came clean when they discussed things with their expedition leader, Amivor Glaur but noone was particularly angry with him. He had found out that the Red Mantis are looking for some kind of artifact and everyone agreed that if left alone they could coexist peacefully while exploring the city.
The group has cunningly taken the magic gems necessary to activate the pillars of light with them thus delaying the other factions considerably (at least, that's what they expect).
At the break of dawn the trek got ready to make the final leg of the journey and is scheduled to arrive at the beginning of the next session.
The first session of CotSS started in the outskirts of the city. I glossed over the last part of the journey from Tazion to Saventh-Yhi and dropped the group right in front of the steep waterfall with the overgrown trail.
To clear the way for the whole Pathfinder expedition to scale the cliff was taking too long for the PCs' taste so they asked Amivor to do the job for them while they scout ahead for a good campsite. The expedition leader agreed and work began immediately.
The druid in the group turned into a giant bat and carried the rest of the group over the waterfall one by one, dropping them at the edge of the jungle there. In the gathering gloom of the night he remained in bat shape and flew a little ahead to quickly return when he made out several pteranodons against the starlit sky.
The natural barrier behind them, the group encountered the rope bridge/wooden bridge dilemma. The party's gnomish sorcerer used his racial ability to speak with animals and convinced the crocodiles to let them pass safely in exchange for a whole lot of dog food and the promise of more easy meals when the rest of the trek arrives. The group then left a sign for their expedition to take the lower route and leave some provisions for the crocs.
Safely across the river the party beholds the skyline of the legendary city of Saventh-Yhi against the night's sky for the first time. In awe of the city's beauty and well-preserved condition the PCs move on to find a place for their main camp.
At this point I explained the rules for their expedition's camp to the players and the rest of the session became juggling camp scores. It was fun though!
After they had set the scores of their future camp and the PCs had spent a whole day on preparing a site the first members of the expedition arrived and informed the PCs of the arrival of the rest of the trek sometime the next day. The group then rested for the night but was assaulted by a group of 5 boggards during the darkest hours. Without too much difficulty the PCs managed to slay them but they are now aware that there is more in this city than stones and treasures.
***end of session***
Some behind the scenes stuff:
The players chose the exact same spot for a camp that the Pathfinders would have chosen themselves. I use the Serpent's Skull Poster Map Folio and the almost immediately chose the place just north of the Mercantile District close to a reservoir. Up to that point, there was not a single random encounter but during the night I happened to roll the 2d4 boggards which went perfectly with the stagnant muddy water in the reservoir nearby.
The other factions have not yet been encountered by the PCs. What is going on in the background is that the Red Mantis are already there as well but trying to enter the city from the south (as would be intuitively) which they'll eventually give up after 2 days and circle around the city to setup camp as written in the module with a thirst for revenge involving a certain gnome.
The other factions are still scheduled to arrive and I'll worry about them as soon as they enter the stage (5-10 days).
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Session conclusion:
The first session was great fun all around. The players really digged the camp mechanics and happily played around with the three scores. They even came up with some interesting questions like "What would the Pathfinders say if we neglect Defense and rely on Supply? Wouldn't that seem cruel?"
I also liked their approach on the crocodiles/pteranodons. The druid in the group is alway very reluctant to harm any of nature's creatures and there was some nice roleplaying involved when they tried to figure out their course of action here.
I am looking forward to the next sessions and am very excited to see how they will like exploring the city and getting to know its inhabitants.
The second session started with the PCs exploring the immediate surroundings of their designated campsite. By circling around the spot they came across the Haunted Cenotes. After they didn't really know what to do about the ghostly ants Nareem attacked and quickly took down the party's monk before he was successfully destroyed (temporarily). Paid for by parts of the undead traitor's horde the group organized a raise dead and a restoration which took quite some time to sort out. After that, they deciphered the journal and started to piece together the ghost's story and the most probable way to lay him to rest. Meanwhile Poshmend, the gnome, was curious about the ring they found within the ruins near the cenotes (ring of seven virtues of course). He successfully identified the rings general properties (endure elements, +5 Survival) and that there is some kind of connection between the ring and the spear of the district their camp is in that lets him appraise and identify with more competence. He also found out that the properties of the ring change with each district.
After they came up with the plan to trick the half-orc using a forged Chronicle we called it a night.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes:
Still very low random encounter rate even though they spend some time within the mercantile district. The fight against the ghostly ranger/rogue was tough for the group which is still APL 6 but I knew they would eventually make it and so showed no mercy :-)
The Red Mantis will arrive at their campsite on the next day and launch a sabotage mission at the PCs' camp as soon as they are aware of its existence.
The other factions are still several days out.
Session conclusion:
Another very fun session. The fight was thrilling, the druid panicked when none of his summoned animals and elementals were able to hurt the ghost and if it had not been fore the sheer masses of damage the fighter was dealing it could have gone even worse then one PC death...
The ring of seven virtues is an excellent item. Powerful as well as flavorful and so much fun to figure out the new effect once you take it to another district. One of my players also told me after the session that he loved puzzling together the undead traitor's backstory and figuring out what might keep him in the world of the living. And that came from a usually very combat-happy person.
So all in all we are still very much enjoying the module without me having to change a single bit.
The third session began with the PCs further exploring the mercantile district while they were waiting for the forged Chronicle to be finished that would hopefully put the evil spirit of Nareem Daress to rest. Their exploration was largely undisturbed even though this district is supposed to be the most "randomly" hostile one.
When they reached the crocodile isle and so the strangely littered swampy island from the opposite bank the druid Ilavan changed into a dire bat and flew over the island to spot the gargantuan sarcosuchus dozing in the murky waters. They quickly decided to move along, postponing the discussion with the druid whether or not the animal would have to be killed eventually.
While in a shape that allowed him to fly Ilavan kept circling the district and spotted all the keyed locations. When he re-joined the group the PCs decided to check out the curiously overgrown building first.
A lot of Perception checks later they couldn't find any sign of life outside of the building and the druid once again changed shape, this time assuming the form of a small viper, and slithered through the door where two keches peeled from the vines and tried to shoo away what they thought was an potentially dangerous animal.
The druid then left the building again, morphed back into human shape and told his friends what was going on. A few rounds later the group's fighter Belor stormed the place while the rest of the group was jumped by three keches dropping from the roof. The following combat was kind of lopsided as the CR3 critters had a hard time hitting the PCs. The figurines of wondrous power back from Tazion also were very handy and the lions killed a lot of keches with ease, grappling them in between their turns. I kept the number of attacking keches at 6 for the entire encounter with another kech joining the fray as soon as one of his mates dropped but still the PCs waltzed through it.
After they killed each and every one of the 18 keches they sacked their collected spoils and set off to camp where they finally got the Chronicle they were waiting for.
From there they headed back to the haunted cenotes to find 4 Aspis mercenaries killed by supernatural aging lying before the ruin's entrance. Calling out the ghost's name and promising his name to be written on the Wall of Names Nareem appeared, examined the Chronicle and fell for the deception, dematerializing in an instant.
Surprised to see Aspis Consortium members already within the city limits the Ilavan once again took to sky and checked for trails of smokes in the distance. He spotted one to the west (Red Mantis) and to the east (Aspis Consortium) revealing that two rival factions have already arrived at the scene.
Before we called it a night the PCs sunk the bodies in the cenotes, afraid that an Aspis search team might assume a connection between them and their dead comrades.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: I still keep rolling high on those d% but I saw no reason to force a random encounter. Those dice will eventually swing around and I don't have a problem with the fact that my players now think the mercantile district is a quite harmless place.
The Red Mantis and Aspis Consortium have arrived and will begin exploring the interior of the city the next day. On that day, they will also find the Pathfinder camp but the Red Mantis is only interested in paying the gnome a visit so I will wait for a random encounter which will be with a Red Mantis group (scratching the sabotage mission I had intended to do earlier). The Aspis Consortium however will launch an all-out attack the day after they pinpointed the Pathfinder's location. The players deliberately neglected their camp's defense score and the devious Aspis will use that flaw to strike at their longtime rival.
Session conclusion:
The fight with the keches was rather dull for my taste, it just kept on and on without them catching a break against the PCs, even though they were only 3 characters of 6 lvl. Still it yielded a huge amount of XP and pushed two of the three to the next level which is okay since now they are closer to the recommended level of the module. Lucky for them, the players chose the easiest encounter first and should now be able to handle the CR 9 and 10 encounter.
Still we had a lot of fun in this session even though most of it was of the gory kind with the fighter getting a chance to shine against masses of rather low-AC victims.
After returning to the Pathfinders camp and selling some of their spoils the PCs placed an order for two items, a Headband of Inspired Wisdom and a Belt of Physical Might. They hope both items will be delivered within the next 14 days.
The next day the group headed for the eerily grey, pentagonal building that somehow resisted the overgrowth that the rest of the mercantile district fell victim to. They arrived at the scene and I told them that the first floor of the building had sunk below the lake's surface and was completely flooded and the second floor was level with their current position but a 15 feet gap opened between them and the buidling.
The druid Ilavan then announced to change into a dire bat and carry one after the other over, starting with the fighter Belor.
When Belor got to his feet on the second floor he was immediately attacked by two shadows and a greater shadow (only 3 of 4 players attended yesterday, so I downsized the encounter). While Ilavan tried desperately to fetch help, Belor brought himself into a tight spot when he moved into a corner of the building and was... well... cornered by all three shadows.
The group took down one shadow after the other but it came down to the last bit of Belor's strength. In the end Nkechi channeled enough positive energy to blast away the already injured Greater Shadow, earning the gratitude of Belor.
The group couldn't believe that there was nothing to be found here, especially after I told the about some carvings on the walls that would show the former purpose of this building: a bank and treasury.
The PCs then dived down into the first floor of the building where they found a dark staircase to the cellar and a (spontaneously added) Giant Moray Eel. Within seconds they managed to charm the animal and thus were able to explore it's lair (i.e. vaults of the treasury). But there was nothing left of interest, only the remains of some traps sprung very long ago.
A little disappointed the group headed towards an area of the district they hadn't explored yet but that didn't have a keyed location in it. Luckily, I rolled a random encounter and chose to make that with a group of 5 Red Mantis priests intent on killing the gnome first before dealing with the rest of the group. Sadly they were quite underpowered (and sub-optimally played) and quickly annihilated. One managed to escape to tell the tale though.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: Finally a random encounter! And just at the right time. The group was half expecting an ambush so it contributed to the rather thick atmosphere. I will level up the priets however, they had very little impact on the players and especially the Red Mantis should be horrifying and each agent at least as capable as each PC.
As soon as the group gets back to camp, they'll be in for a surprise: The Aspis have raided their camp!
Session conclusion:
Little to complain about so far. It's not perfect that some locations like the treasury are hardly described at all but once you get the general "look-and-feel" of a district it's quite easy to ad-lib some details. It was disappointing for the players to search the whole building all for nothing but that's exactly the point that I think the adventure wanted to make here: "Not every effort will pay off, this has been here for millennia and you think you really are the first ones here?"
When the PCs returned to the camp they found it devastated by the attack of "some hooded men" that not only destroyed a lot of their supplies but also took half their Discovery Points. At this point the group realized that the Defense score of 4 they set their camp up with won't be enough if such a raid should occur on a regular basis. So they decided to rebuild the camp on the same spot the next day, once the wounded have been taken care of. Until then they tried to follow through with a plan they had made to get rid of the Mwangi Night Bat without killing it (the druid would immediately leave should such a marvellous animal be harmed for no reason).
They went to the ziggurat and entered the cave (I used the cave map provided in the module). After a few paces the druid cast Hide from Animals on the whole group, much to the suprise of his animal companion and the accompanying riding dog who felt very alone now and left the cave to look for their masters.
Step by step they drew closer to the back of the cave where they finally found the giant bat hanging from the ceiling. The plan was to cast Charm Animal now but due to some miscommunication and some botched Stealth rolls the bat woke up, dropped from the ceiling and was irritated by the (magical) light in its lair. We entered initiative here and it were a few very fun and tense rounds with the bat coming dangerously close to the party, almost stumbling into them. In the end they lured the animal nearer to the cave entrance to try the charm but it failed and ended the hide effect as well so they fled in a dramatic chase until they finally took shelter in a ruined building with the roof still intact and watched the bat catch some animal further away and return to its lair to feed. The plan failed but they intend to come back some other time to try again.
On their way back they ran into a random encounter (3 girallons), as well as two more random encounter back at camp, 1 basilisk and 4 leopards.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: The percentile dice now swing the other way, one random encounter after the other. But I like it that way, they are supposed to be random after all and I was able to make some of them plausible at least (like the leopards that were attracted by the corpses of fallen guards at camp). My players were seriously worried about their camp and the better part of the evening was discussing camp scores and their redistribution.
Session conclusion:
This module *is* fun! I honestly don't know why people bash it all the time but at our table everyone is enjoying it very much. Of course it is combat heavy but so far there was not the slightest feeling of grinding or senseless hack'n'slay because of the things that are still going on in the background like the other factions settling in and organizing the camp.
I think it is a huge advantage that the player of the party's druid and I established very early that he would immediately lose his powers should he ever willingly harm an animal without first resorting to all other means available. This interpration alone created so many roleplaying opportunities and made a lot of encounters (like the bat) so much more interesting.
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Cool stuff Null. I appreciate the insights.
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Cool stuff Null. I appreciate the insights.
Thanks! I was beginning to wonder if anyone actually reads this but I figured I'll keep posting here as my personal journal anyway.
Yeah, very appreciated!
As my group will soon be in Saventh-Yi this is a very interesting read.
Cool stuff Null. I appreciate the insights.Thanks! I was beginning to wonder if anyone actually reads this but I figured I'll keep posting here as my personal journal anyway.
Very interesting read for those of us who are planning to eventually run this adventure. Your comments and insights into the experience are very useful. Please keep posting!
Today will be the next session and I realized that I haven't written about the last one yet. It was just a quick session of maybe 2-3 hours so not that much happened but here it goes:
In the aftermath of the Aspis Consortiums's attack the PCs decided to rebuild the camp at the same place but with a greatly improved Defense score. They helped with building the camp but (due to the absence of their best Survivalist) failed the Survival roll (even with the +2 bonus for preparing the same site) so work wasn't finished that day.
After an uneventful night they woke up the next morning to the alarm cry of a single guard at the outskirts of their still makeshift camp. Hurrying there, they found him being attacked by three camulatz. In the first round one of the fiendish parrots managed to land a critical on the guard and decapitated. Way to impress the PCs! They battled the giant birds anyways but took a serious beating. I had to rush in Nkechi and Amivor in the end because I realized that I underestimated the camulatz' power and I didn't want a TPK to happen because of a misjudgement on my part. Sadly, help came too late to prevent the druid, Ilavan, from going down but at least the camulatz were slain in the end.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: I rolled a random encouter with a piranha swarm for that morning but thought it was rather inappropriate and rolled again to hit the 1d4 camulatz. I checked the average CR which is 9 and thought my players could handle it, being well-equipped and APL 7. Sadly there is a misprint in that table, the average CR should be 11 (2 camulatz of CR 9 +2) and three of the critters were a CR 12 encounter. Completely insane for my group at this time. When I realized that I had to do something so I brought in the cavalry and fudged a few rolls. As I said, it felt lame to TPK on random encounter that I wouldn't even have run if I knew the correct numbers.
Session conclusion:
I messed up this one. In the end it wasn't too bad but the player of the druid is (rightfully) a little pissed about his character dying at the claws and beak of a creature that felt overwhelmingly strong in an unfair and unbalanced encounter. I will make some concessions during his revival I think, the group is considering a reincarnation due to lack of gold and I think I'll at least reroll should they roll a kobold in this case. I wouldn't want to punish that player any further.
I think the misprint was 1d4 camulatz instead of 1 camulatz. That's how I played it anyway because as you say three of them is overwhelming.
I think the misprint was 1d4 camulatz instead of 1 camulatz.
Yes, that's more likely. Still, I should have caught that before running the encounter.
Gold was a factor so the party decided to try the less expensive reincarnation and after securing the help of another druid they got the necessary oils and held the ritual and Ilavan came back from the dead in the bodily form of a half-elf.
After spending the rest of the day successfully rebuilding the camp with a much higher defense score (now 10 instead of 4) the group called it a day and waited until the next morning to set out again.
Still uneasy with the giant bat living nearby they went to the creature's lair and tied a rope across the cave entrance in a way that the bat would have to snap it in order to move out of it. The intention is to check on the rope regularly to find out about the animal's hunting behavior and how often it leaves it's cave. They are considering just leaving it where it is and do research in the district during the day while at the same time delivering some easy food from time to time to keep it peaceful.
When that was done, they moved to the chimeras' island where the druid Ilavan spotted a single chimera feasting on something in time before they were spotted themselves. With a decent knowledge check the group's sorcerer Poshment remembered something about the beast's acid attacks and used protection from acid on the frontline fighters Belor and Tabansi before Ilavan, the druid, changed into a dire bat and lured not only the one but all three of the creatures away from the fort into an ambush. The fight went quite well for the PCs with the energy protection tipping the scales. There was a brief very dangerous moment when the fighter Belor was reduced to 0 hp but he managed to retreat back to the waiting Nkechi only to collapse at his feet. On the next round he was up and kicking again, however.
Still the battle raged for quite some time and sadly Poshment's beloved riding dog Horst, unprotected by his master's spell, was horribly burnt by the chimeras' breath weapon and was beyond help within seconds.
After dealing with the magical beasts Ilavan, Poshment and Nkechi saw to a decent burial for Horst while Tabansi and Belor searched the island for treasures. They found the hoard but couldn't get all of the riches away from the island on their own and we left the scene at that point to call it a night.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: Not much to say about this one. The camp is by now quite populated with named NPCs because we usually play out larger purchases like the reincarnation or major healing spells. Luckily I don't have to keep track of the NPCs because my players do that for me and ask specifically to go see "that snooty elven cleric Starshine". The downside is that I told them the literal line "for every named NPC assigned to a camp score [...]" when discussing camp mechanics and I have to draw a fine line which NPC is capable of helping and which is not. But there were no complains so far so it's not a real problem. Without knowing yet, the PCs have successfully pacified the mercantile district. The next time they convene with Amivor he will tell them, that the remaining crocodile is quite isolated on it's island and the bat can be avoided as mentioned above.
The other factions are still cooking up stuff in the background but I felt that with the camp being rebuilt and reviving a PC my players had enough on their plate already. I will give them a few days to collect some more discovery points before the Aspis Consortium will strike again. After all, it is in the Consortium's best interest to wait until there is any loot to gain from an attack on the PCs' camp.
The Red Mantis continue to stealthly infiltrate the city without disturbing too much of the status quo. There will be signs of their activity to be found in especially dangerous encounter areas but very little, maybe a scrap of red leather or few blackened arrows with a red fletching.
The Shackles Pirates have formed a shaky alliance with Olujimi in the military district by promising a regular delivery of Mwangi slaves. This district will most likely be the next one for the PCs to explore and when they find out about that I'm sure that it will lead to some great roleplaying and inter-faction interaction (pardon the pun).
The Sargavan Government is somewhat ill-defined for me as I'm not too sure about their motives and MO. But as long as my players aren't too keen to check on them, I don't even have to worry about that. I'm sure there will be some hooks later on where I can bring them back in.
BTW: I am not tracking the other factions' discovery points in the open because the PCs have shown no intention to spy on them whatsoever. To be honest, I don't even track them for myself yet. I'll wait until the PCs want to find out about it or until it becomes otherwise important (faction attacks, getting closer to the final stages).
Session conclusion:
The fight was challenging but manageable and the sorcerer's knowledge about the acid attacks saved the day. It was really rewarding for everyone to see their plan and tactics work out and was a very welcome compensation for last session's screw-up.
The next sessions will be even more interesting now that the group has reestablished their HQ and made themselves rather comfortable in the mercantile district. I'm really looking forward to their next moves.
Bottom line: great module, great fun!
Thanks for posting your group's experience with this module. It's very helpful to someone preparing to run this unique adventure.
I was wondering if you might also comment on how the defense/supply/discovery camp mechanic has played with your group, and if you would recommend using it as is. The discovery part seems a bit weak to me, and I am not sure how that will fit into my group's style of play.
So far there was little use for the Defense score, I didn't roll any encounters for the camp (and tend to forget that roll, to be honest) and only when the Aspis attacked was there really any use for it. But then the weakness of the first camp was clear to the players and they changed it.
The Supply roll has been used several times, first when the players ordered rather expensive items and then later when the camp was recovering from the Aspis attack. Players were very happy when their roll was good enough to keep the delivery time short.
The Exploration score is actually the most fun for us. I told them that each day they can make a DC 20 Exploration check to symbolize their faction's efforts to follow in their footsteps and map the city as the PCs clear it out and secure it block by block. That way they can't reveal mysteries but they can score a few Discovery points. Now the players are very keen on Discovery points and tried to push the Exploration roll so high that they can hardly ever fail that check (that's why the camp got attacked by the Aspis, filled to the brim with maps but hardly any guards...).
So we use the system exactly as written and I would definitely recommend it. I told my players how the mechanics worked and they had (and still have) fun working out the numbers and together we talked about how these numbers would reflect in the composition and setup of the camp. The mechanics are easy and fun to use and don't put too much additional complexity on the GM's shoulders.
So yesterday we finally got together again:
After slaying the chimera and dealing with the transport of their horde the group was congratulated by Amivor for securing the first district of the city. With the crocodile happy on it's island and the giant nightbat being a nocturnal predator he considered the district safe enough for daytime exploration.
Now the group took some time to restock their supplies and moved north into the military district where they quickly encountered the Aspis Consortium's camp from afar. They are still unaware of who exactly attacked their camp a few days ago and so just left the scene without confronting the faction.
From where the AC setup their camp the PCs turned southeast towards the broken bridge an dimension doored themselves across the gap on the island where they got immediately attacked by a serpentfolk patrol which was slain quite quickly.
After searching the corpses and a nearby serpentfolk outpost the group moved further south to spot a group of humanoids standing rather still in the distance. The druid Ilavan shaped himself into a tiny dragonfly and buzzed closer to recognize 8 of the figures as zombies and the 9th as a humanoid frog! Panicking he immediately flew back to the group but wasn't noticed as something unusual by the undead or Ugimmo.
In a hurry, the group devised a battleplan and dimension doored again, this time trying to appear right behind the undead line of defense. But the gnome sorcerer Poshmend misjudged the total distance and after teleporting they found themselves right in front of the zombies!
One suprise round later however there was hardly anything left of the zombies. Ugimmo also barely managed to get his armor of bones up before the fighter closed in and without giving him a chance flee hammered him unconscious.
The group then stabilized the boggard, tied him up and took him back to their camp. Little do they know, who will come looking for his pet very soon....
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: The other factions are also progressing through the city though I still don't worry too much about their exact status. The Free Captains arranged their deal with Olujimi, the Red Mantis are still flying below the radar, the Aspis lie, cheat, bribe and steal and the Sargavan Government just arrived.
Session conclusion:
The encounter with Ugimmo is a little weak. The zombies are no match for a group of 7-8th level characters of course and caught off-guard the oracle is already dead meat.
I also hinted a little at the fact, that the other factions meanwhile are very active in the city (spotting a group from afar, signs of recent work or battle) and I think my players realized that by now. But I also had Amivor tell them that everyone else has just as much right to be in the city than the Pathfinders and should they leave the Society to its work there is no reason to cast the first stone and he wouldn't want the PCs to start any turf wars for no good reason.
Still having fun, still looking forward to the next session!
Yesterday's session:
We started off in the Pathfinder faction's camp. The PCs had handed over their unconscious prisoner (Ugimmo) and the group's sorcerer began to look through the boggard's recordings in hope of gaining some new information (also roleplay justification for learning Boggard). The rest of the gang went out into the military district to explore. After wandering around for a bit they came across a beaten-down Mwangi man in shackles who was taunted and tortured by a group of 5 charau-ka thugs. Without hesitation they stormed in to protect the man, soon to be surprised by the strength of these ape-men compared to the ones they had battled in Tazion. The charau-ka's screaming frenzy quickly attracted two dire apes who also joined the fight in blood-lust but in the end the PCs prevailed. They hurriedly shouldered the Mwangi and made their way back to camp.
Once there they had the shackles removed and questioned the terrified man. Through his terrified babble they pieced together that the Free Captains had assaulted a small tribal village and abducted half of it's population in order to secure an alliance with the charau-ka. Disgusted and enraged they promised the man to free his people as soon as possible.
After some more exploration both aerial and on the ground they got their bearings of the military district and narrowed the main gathering grounds of the ape-men down to the large plaza and the foot of the bluff where the old fortress is located. They decided to attack the plaza first and take care of the leader later.
To try and draw a small group out they lit a fire some few blocks away from the plaza and barricaded inside two opposite houses, lying in ambush. But the crazy ape-men hardly cared about the thin pillar of smoke that rose to the sky. Only a single charau-ka who happened to be nearby was curious enough to check on the fire but spotted the clumsy fighter and quickly ran for help.
The PCs decided to stay where they are and make their stand.
Just a short time later 16 charau-ka accompanied by two girallons stormed down the street and battle ensued. The PCs had chosen their location wisely and had barricaded themselves in a way that would leave only the doorways as a choke point so one by one they were able to take down the girallons first and then some of the charau-ka.
But after a minute of fighting or so Olujimi, alerted to the PCs' presence, joined the fight. When he arrived all of the charau-ka immediately desisted from their opponents and withdrew in awe of their leader to the edge of the battlefield.
The following battle was brutal because hardly anything could get through the thick skin of the high girallon, only the sheer brutality of the fighter's blows and a critical hit saved the group from destruction. But when Olujimi's wounds finally started to look very severe he simply disappeared into thin air.
The remaining charau-ka, fleeing in panic of their leader's retreat, were quickly dispersed.
But when the PCs caught their breath and had just begun to look through the fallen creatures' belongings suddenly a terrifying roar filled the streets and a huge dark figure shaped like a giant winged gorilla appeared in the sky, heading their way...
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: Very little time passed in-game during this session so the other factions have also progressed very little. The Free Captains have indeed secured an alliance with Olujimi by delivering slaves to him and are currently exploring the eastern part of the military district to avoid confrontation with the Aspis Consortium.
Session conclusion:
Fun but exhausting session. In the end it got a little tedious when the players realized that only the fighter could get over Olujimi's DR and did little more than provide flanking bonuses or mop up charau-ka. The rise of the ape demon however made for a very fun cliffhanger! The PCs are very low on ressources at this point and the players scared sh*tless of our next session. :)
I guess I will give them an opportunity to withdraw. Should they get out of the district really fast I suppose they have a good chance to get a night's sleep. But not putting down the demon and the anghazani now will lead to an large scale attack by a coalition of the demon, Olujimi's charau-ka and and a delegation of the Free Captains on the Pathfinder camp 1d4 days later.
Might be true, I only remembered something about Grallus' Lock being sold to pay off the pirates but that probably doesn't mean they agree with the slavery business there.
But even if they are anti-slavery by canon, in my game (at least for this campaign) they will stay the ruthless sea-dogs they are now.
Finally we got together again for our first session this year and this is what happened:
We left the scene in 2011 with a cliffhanger as the ape-demon took to the skies and came speeding towards the group. We picked up right there and the PCs tried to barricade themselves inside a half-ruined house, bracing for the arrival of the beast. A few moments later, it arrived accompanied by Olujimi who successfully had it dominated and ordered it to smash the PCs.
Two rounds later the building was reduced to rubble with some of the PCs trapped under the wreckage. The monk Tabansi, the druid Ilavan and the sorcerer Poshmend were the first back in action and while the monk tried his best to shield the sorcerer from Grugonoth, Ilavan and his tiger companion got involved with Olujimi in melee.
The monk could do very little against the fiend's DR but with his high AC managed to distract him long enough from the rest of the group for the fighter Belor to pull himself out of the ruined building. Once he got close to Grugonoth, it became a brutal fight between the two of them. In the end Belor almost single-handedly brought the fiend down, dealing insane amounts of damage by making good use of Vital Strikes and Power Attacks thus exceeding the DR. Once the demon fell, Olujimi was killed swiftly as well.
The group then moved to free all of the slaves they could find and led a large trek of a few dozen frightened but relieved Mwangi men, women and children back to their camp. But on their way they were confronted by Kessata and a small delegation of her pirates and after a short talk fighting ensued after which the pirates were slain while Kessate was taken captive by the PCs and brought back to camp with them.
So now the group had Kessata as well as Ugimmo, the boggard oracle as prisoners. While Kessata was left to herself for the rest of the session to calm down and become more susceptible to negotiation, the PCs turned their interest to Ugimmo who had shown some strange behavior since his capture. All he does in his cell was digging feverishly in an apathetic almost catatonic condition, not responsive to any kind of talks. Only after a very long attempt to get through to him he had some kind of fit and jumped the sorcerer, speaking in a strange language words the gnome couldn't understand.
Confused by the boggard's behavior the group decided to explore the now conquered military district further and see how the Ugimmo situation develops.
When they got back to camp the next evening Amivor came running and told them of a strange incident: A giant dragon-like beast appeared right in the centre of the camp and in the resulting chaos Ugimmo, who wasn't shackled, managed to escape. After a few moments of fighting the beast suddenly disappeared as suddenly as it showed up.
Strange thing indeed...
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: The fight with Grugonoth was fun with some cinematic Awesome Blows and near-death experiences for some of the PCs. Some inter-faction conflict brewing making things interesting in the next sessions and the mysterious sighting of the illusionary beast caused by the aboleth freeing his minion is something the players got really spooked by.
Session conclusion: Fun session with a lot of roleplaying once the Grugonoth encounter was done. Things really start to heat up between the PCs' faction (Pathfinder Society) and the Pirates. I am not sure how both of them will react and it will greatly depend on the deal they might be able to cut with Kessata in the next session. If they take too long though, they will be looking at an all-out war with the pirates that will leave only one of the factions left in Saventh-Yhi...
A lot happened in the last two sessions. Here's a brief recap for anyone interested:
So Ugimmo was taken from the camp but Kessata still posed some kind of problem for the PCs. Every day that passed with her staying in the camp heightened the chances for a pirate attack to free their leader once they found out what happened to her. With Amivor stressing the point that the Pathfinder Society is not looking for an armed conflict in the middle of the ruined city the PCs tried to cut a deal with the proud woman. After a lot of negotiation they simply let her go, keeping her spyglass. They promised to keep her defeat secret in order to prevent her crew from mutining which Kessata knows is very likely to happen should her underlings find out that their leader is no longer the top-dog in these waters. If Kessata broke her word and comes back with a raiding party the PCs still have her captain's insignia (the spyglass) to proof that they had already taken her captive once and the aspiring captain is smarter than starting a fight she can't win.
After that was sorted out the group head out to explore the government district and stumbled into the rakshasa's lair through the backdoor. The cunning creature tricked them into coming close to it by taking the disguise of a battered and seriously injured human of the tribe of the Sacred Serpent (which the PCs have not met yet) and then cackled and attacked. Little did he expect that the grappling prowess of the group's fighter Belor would render him defenseless and tied up pretty quickly but not before seriously burning the monk Tabansi as well as Belor with lightning bolts. A group of degenerate serpentfolk came to the rescue of their "god" and engaged in melee with Tabansi and Belor while the sorcerer Poshmend shouted a warning to them not to hurt his comrades if they want to save their leader and then dimension door'ed himself and the rakshasa away. Sadly, the rather stupid serpentfolk couldn't understand his warnings in Common and put both Tabansi and Belor over the edge, slaying one of them and leaving the other one to bleed to death.
The event nevertheless sent ripples through the serpentfolk society and some sort of civil war ensued that lasted for two days in the government district, with the winning party being the one which had come to the conclusion that a creature that could beat their god must itself be a god. So when the gnome returned to the district to retrieve the bodies of his fallen comrades he stumbled upon a group of the degenerates which bowed before him, revering him obviously as a divine creature and presented the corpses to him in a sacrificial manner. He brought the bodies back to camp where Ilavan, the party's druid, reincarnated both of them. Belor's body didn't change at all during the ritual but Tabansi's soul is now inhabiting the body of a lizardfolk.
The proud Shoanti Belor swore vengeance on the serpentfolk that killed him and has issued a 7 days ultimatum to recuperate after which he will return to the government district to fight his killer in one-on-one combat. This is causing some concern for the rest of the group since they are quite satisified with the current state of affairs in the district and something like this duel will seriously threaten their "alliance" with the monstrous humanoids.
After this was all sorted out the group set out for the residential district where they came across the large plaza and slew the Dream Spider. Just before they could open the cocoons we called it a night.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: By beating the rakshasa (who the gnome cleverly drowned to death btw) the group had already fulfilled the requirements to conquer the district. So the "bow before your new god" routine is simply an in-game acknowledgement of that and will give the PCs another chance to recruit an army later in the AP. It is especially fitting though for the gnome sorcerer is of the celestial bloodline and has just hit level 9 which will give him angelic wings.
The announced duel between Belor and his killer will become interesting should the group not succeed in talking him out of it. I intend to run the fight with the performance combat rules as it won't be a challenge for a (by then) level 9 fighter to beat a single CR4 creature. Should Belor perform spectacularly it will further the serpentfolks' worship of the "mighty soft-skins" but should it run badly (performance-wise) it will seriously threaten the alliance.
Now that the group is nearing the southern part of the city they will find that the Sargavan government has taken up camp around here and already conquered the farming district by heavily bribing the boggards. I intend to do it this way because I know my players would slay each and every single one of the swamp-dwellers but I still want to leave them the option to recruit warriors later in the AP. Once they enter the temple district they will find the Sargavan Government locked in conflict with the troglodytes and it will become a race between them and the goverment agents to see who'll take control of the district first.
Session conclusion: Great fun all around!
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Great write up Nullpunkt! Enjoy reading your accounts and hope you keep it up.
And nice twist with the serpentfolk worshiping the PCs after the rakshasa defeat. Cool stuff. :)
I agree. Please give us an update when you have a chance. I like the the interplay between groups and the cities existing faction. I think you are doing a great job of chanellenging the group without becoming repetative.
Thanks for the praise! We already had one more session than described here but it was a really short one because levelling up the sorcerer and selecting his new spells is pretty much a group effort :)
I'll update as soon as the next session has passed. Really nice to know that some fellow GMs can get some inspiration out of this.
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Really nice to know that some fellow GMs can get some inspiration out of this.
Are you kidding? You gave me (and I can only assume others) some GREAT ideas on the tribe and faction interactions! Now, our campaigns have almost nothing in common (largely due to the different directions our PCs are going), but you showed me HOW it could be done very, very well.
Thanks much for the sharing. It's awesome! Always look forward to your write ups. :)
Thanks again Jenner2057! A short recap of our last two sessions:
After the group slew the dream spider they went back to camp, healed and then returned to the residential district to explore the ziggurat. There they encountered the vegepygmy chieftain Kliboolya, severly stoned by the dream spiders poison. After a short attempt at diplomacy to resolve this meeting peacefully the fact that the PCs had killed the vegepygmys' sacred "giver of dreams" provoked combat. It didn't take much effort for the party to beat the chieftain and his bodyguards though and without as much as a scratch the group moved on to find Egzimora's lair.
Here things became a lot more interesting. The green hag convinced the PCs that she was magically bound to the manor after she came to the city with an adventuring party. She quickly gained the groups sympathy and the players tried a lot of things to set her "free". They figured that the fungi that occupy most of the residential district but not the immediate area of the mansion indicate the border of the "poor woman's" prison. But any attempt to move her beyond that point failed and only led to shocking grasps by the sorceress which the PCs interpreted as part of the curse. In the end though they decidedly refused to spent the night at her lair and after all of Egzimora's attempts to charm them into stayint failed combat was inevitable. The players managed to put her down eventually though before she could escape.
And so the residential district was conquered by the mighty PCs and the heroes moved on to explore the next one. Their scouting druid spotted several standards of the Sargavan government in the temple district however so they decided to go the other way around the city and continue with the artisan's district, but not before taking a detour through the government district where Belor challenged his murderers to a duel. The scared serpentfolk opted for an elected champion to fight instead of them and now they have 7 days to prepare for the fight.
There they quickly came across the area's human inhabitants and sensibly established peaceful relations. The group was brought before Osond, the tribe's leader, to state their business. They were asked to lay down their weapons though which the Shoanti Belor couldn't get himself to do so he stayed back at the fringe of the district, whetting his sword surrounde by curious dark-eyed children.
The rest of the group however talked to Osond and tried to find out, how they could get right of passage for themselves and their expidition to this district. But without proof of the PCs good intent and the approval of the Radiant Muse the Garundi refused to give them any privileges. Instead he arranged for an audience with the Radiant Muse.
The PCs did well during the negotiation, cunningly complementing the Muse on the works of art in her district and even offering some of their more artistic spoils but still they failed to impress her with their own artistic skills. So she asked them to perform a task for her and slay the devilish creature that preys on her subjects. The group agreed and after resupplying at their camp followed the directions given by Osond to that creature's lair.
Under the cloak of a sphere of invisibility they entered the vrykolakas home. The fighter Belor however clumsily alerted the feral vampire of their presence by not watching his steps carefully enough and the fiend got the drop on the group. After a few quick strikes of the creature's claws Belor was already on the brink of defeat and the group hurriedly made their escape.
Right now the PCs are back at camp contemplating their next move. The Shoanti feels insulted by the quick defeat and wants to burn down the whole building the vrykolakas is living in while the rest of the group tries to find a more subtle approach.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: I changed a bit of the vegepygmys' background so that they are in an symbiotic relationship with the dream spider. Even though they should be immune to poison (plant traits) I found it cool to let them get high on the spider's venom and in turn give the bodys of the drug's victims to the spider in what they consider a religious act. I thought this might give a better reason why the vegepygmys would tolerate their arachnid neighbor. But they still were kind of lame: The PCs steamrolled what should have been a climactic encounter with the districts BBEG and it was really frustrating to run.
Egzimora on the other end was much more fun even though I had to come up with a backstory on the spot because my players were more inquisitive then what the module provides. Her story of being part of some old expedition however turned out to be better than expected because the PCs immediately bought it, thinking she was part of the same expedition the ghost of the Pathfinder was in and that he had somehow managed to curse her into staying here.
Now the rest of the session went pretty much by the book. Curiously the players are exploring the city exactly in the order the districts are labeled even though I only handed them an unkeyed map. The vrykolakas proved to be a fearsome foe, though I made a mistake and forgot about the PCs' invisibility when I had him drop on them. But I just decided on the spot to give him scent and strip him of disguise self which the players know nothing about. Should be fair enough in the end.
What bugs me a little is that the module's XP progression seems to assume that the PCs conquer all of the districts. Right now they just hit 9th level mostly and would need to beat almost every encounter left in the last three districts to hit 10th. I dislike this though because I want the other factions to keep a foothold in the city as well. Will have to throw in more random encounters and allow the other factions to do research in districts that the PCs actually "own" so that they don't disappear completely from the city. Maybe my players won't like this at first but I guess they'll be thankful for more parties to recruit for their army further down the AP.
So in summary we are slowly drawing close to the end of CoSS and everyone is still having a great time. The remaining encounters even seem to be the better ones of the module so I see only clear skies ahead for the next few sessions.
Thanks for all of your posts on this module Nullpunkt. My group is just about to finish Racing to Ruin and I'm finding your ideas quite helpful.
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What bugs me a little is that the module's XP progression seems to assume that the PCs conquer all of the districts. Right now they just hit 9th level mostly and would need to beat almost every encounter left in the last three districts to hit 10th.
Hey Null, I've been thinking about this and it seems strange. I've been running a 6-man table, so upping the APs of encounters by +1 so I can't actually run my numbers against yours, but it does seem like your group is running short. My guys still have 3 districts left as well and are only 1, maybe 2 sessions from level 10.
Just some thoughts on where you might be missing xp...1) Have you been giving the district xp awards? The 9600 party award for each district once secured? (and secured could mean allied with of course)? I almost missed a few of those when I first started book 3.
2) Mystery xp? Each mystery is worth 400 xp. It's not much but it can add up.
3) Have you been using the NPC quests? Those are worth about 1200 per player x 5 castaways is quite a bit.
Just some thoughts on areas I nearly missed.
And of course conquering all districts of Saventh-Yhi first is another 9600 quest reward (tucked back in the exploration rules that I almost overlooked).
NOTE: I also added in an additional CR11 encounter with the Red Mantis assassins sent by the aboleth, so that's probably partly why my guys are a bit higher in xp total too.
I dislike this though because I want the other factions to keep a foothold in the city as well. Will have to throw in more random encounters and allow the other factions to do research in districts that the PCs actually "own" so that they don't disappear completely from the city. Maybe my players won't like this at first but I guess they'll be thankful for more parties to recruit for their army further down the AP.
I did similar by NOT allowing my PCs to "own" a district and block off other factions from exploring it... unless their base camp was actually sitting there. This allowed the other factions to continue with progress and -as you said- maintain a foothold in the city.
The way I see it is the camps simply don't have enough soldiers to protect the camp and prevent other faction researchers from entering in districts the PCs have already left. That would just stretch them way too thin considering some of the dangerous stuff wandering the city.And I've been squirming to keep each of the tribes and factions at least viable as a pick up for the army in book 6 as well. Some of them are pretty pathetic (like the government who has no leader, almost no discovery points and is just sitting near the waterfall waiting for a new Sargavan Officer to lead them), but they'll still be available to recruit later... even if they're out of the race to claim the city.
Also LOVED your route with Egzimora. Totally YOINKING that and going to try to spin it past by PCs. Can only hope it goes half as successfully as yours almost did. :)
And here's the scoop of our last session:
After the first attempt to slay the vrykolokas failed the group, rested and resupplied, once again went to the creature's lair. This time with the support of a halfing cleric of Desna that the party's sorcerer has picked up as a cohort. They teleported right into the vampire's den and caught him feasting on the remains of a small girl from the tribe of the Sacred Serpent. Catching him by surprise in this way they were quickly able to put him down and when the fiend possessed a small nearby toad they even spotted that and squished it to prevent the monster from regenerating.
Back in the artisan's district the Radiant Muse and Osond acknowledged the party's feat and an alliance was secured that allows the Pathfinder Society to freely explore and survey the district as long as they do not carry any weapons or defile any works of art.
Moving on into the farming district the group quickly encountered a boggard patrol but any attempts of diplomacy failed and after a short battle they decided to press on while the news of slain comrades was still contained, hoping to get another chance of negotiating in this way. They made their way straight to the ziggurat where they spotted Garluu's hut and (once again) teleported right into it. The boggard chieftain, surprised by their sudden appearance, drew steel and tried to kill the intruders but after a few seconds he was seriously hurt and surrendered to them. The PCs were very suspicious of the toad-like creature, being biased against boggards by Nkechi's severe resentment of the swamp-dwelling water-defilers. Still they negotiated with him that should the Green God agree with it that they would be allowed to lead their faction into this district to study and explore it.
So they made arrangements to meet the Green God the next day and were led by Garluu to the edge of the swampy beach when the chieftain asked them to lay down their weapons for the audience. But they refused so the boggard said that the Green God would be very angry about such an affront and that he wouldn't want to meet him in such a mood. He then simply pointed the way for the PCs and told them to wait for the advent of the God.
The group moved to where they were pointed to and waited for a while when the Tabansi, the party's monk, spotted the eyestalk of the froghemoth and alerted his fellows to the presence of the monster which immediately attacked with his ridiculously long tongue. Barely managing to free everyone from the monster's clutches the group swiftly teleported away and decided not to take this creature on again but instead tell the chieftain that his God said nothing against an alliance.
Back at Garluu's hut the boggard was very surprised to see the group again and successfully fooled into believing the PCs' story.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: The froghemoth is way too powerful at this point for the PCs to beat so the group chose wisely not to try. Right now I am on the fence wether or not the alliance with Garluu is going to hold, they managed to frighten the poor boggard really good and the fact that they survived an encounter with the Green God adds to that as well. I think I'll count the district as conquered for now but will leave the option of a boggard uprising for the future. The Green God will become a problem at some point that the PCs will have to handle if their faction is supposed to be able to explore the district in peace. But I'll hold off on that until I think they have a realistic chance of overcoming it.
Next up is the temple district which is already locked in conflict between the Sargavan Government and the troglodytes. I'll give the players a chance to come to terms with the government to beat the troglodytes together which will also provide another possible ally for the final stages of the AP. Of course, should the PCs want to help the troglodytes throw out the invaders, they can do that as well for the same effect but considering the alignment and general "cultural differences" I think this is highly unlikely.
On the XP problem: Thanks a lot for your pointers, Jenner2057, I actually overlooked a couple of that additional XP. By now almost everyone is level 9 and after the next district is secure they should be able to see level 10 on a clear day with the first encounter with Sozothala's minions pushing them over the edge. So everything's going to be fine :)
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Behind the scenes: The froghemoth is way too powerful at this point for the PCs to beat so the group chose wisely not to try. Right now I am on the fence wether or not the alliance with Garluu is going to hold, they managed to frighten the poor boggard really good and the fact that they survived an encounter with the Green God adds to that as well. I think I'll count the district as conquered for now but will leave the option of a boggard uprising for the future. The Green God will become a problem at some point that the PCs will have to handle if their faction is supposed to be able to explore the district in peace. But I'll hold off on that until I think they have a realistic chance of overcoming it.
I would let the PCs have the alliance for now. However, I would have the boggard tribe slow become more hostile to the PCs and their faction. Ranging from not giving them supplies or shelter, standing by and watching them fight, and eventually attacking the PCs faction's explorers. Of course Garluu can then blame this on unhappy sub-chiefs that left the tribe.
Of course, if the PCs can kill the Green God or the demon Tentagard, then the tribe will be completely cowed into submission.
What a session tonight! I have to share this right away:
After a good night's sleep the group was told that a half-orc had arrived at camp that night, waving a white flag and apparently trying to desert the Red Mantis and join the PCs to explore the city due to personal differences with the Assassin's code of conduct. He had been interrogated all night and the PCs were invited to judge him as well and take him under their wing to keep him away from the camp where he could cause trouble and an eye on him as well. The group was satisfied with his answers and thus allowed him to accompany them. Just in time, as Ilavan, the party's druid, showed up and furiously accused the party of carelessly destroying a natural being without any regards for its dignity and integrity. He was referring to the toad the PCs had to squish in order to prevent the Vrykolakas from regenerating. In fact he was so angry with the group that he refused going out exploring with them for the time being.
Belittled and with a guilty conscience the group collectively shrugged and moved on with their new found ally, Daedalos the half-orc rogue.
Their first expedition together headed for the temple district where they came across several skirmishes between Sargavan guards and troglodytes. Daedalos however, a skilled scout, kept them safely away from the major battleground at the promenade and the group decided to leave the troglodytes and the government to slaughter each other for a while longer.
Stealthily avoiding the smaller fights in the streets of the district they explored some of the district up to the Ivory Gate until it was time to head back to camp.
The next day was the day of Belor's duel with a serpentfolk champion in the government district which he had demanded a week before to cleanse himself of the shame of losing his life against two of the serpentfolk prior to that. When the group arrived at dawn, almost a hundred serpentfolk of all ages had already gathered around a plaza in front of the district's ziggurat, awaiting the spectacle. A bulky serpentfolk answered Belor's challenge and the duel began.
The crowd, already slightly favoring their own champion, watched in awe as their warrior charged Belor in the first moments of battle and after a feeble riposte landed one brutal blow after another. Only seconds later, Belor lay unconscious on the floor. The cheering and blood-thirsty spectators and the fact that their wanna-be god's champion lay bleeding in the dust before him piqued the serpentfolk's hubris and in his bloodrage he spiked Belor's head even though the duel should have ended with one opponent falling unconscious.
In the rising turmoil and chaos after this grave violation and blasphemy most of the onlookers fell into a panic but a few heretics among them decided to join their champion to bring down their so-called god Poshmend (the party's sorcerer had established himself after the group killed the degenerate serpentfolk's former god, the rakshasa). A close and exciting battle ensued with the new member of the group skillfully navigating the crowds to sneakily attack the insurgents and only a minute later the revolution was averted.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: The druid Ilavan had noticeably become too complicated to play for his player so he gratefully accepted my offer to build new character, which now is the half-orc rogue Daedalos. It was integrating him into the group in this way and I got to get a few bits of information across by having him tell some rumors from within the ranks of the Red Mantis.
I ran the duel with the duel and performance combat rules from Ultimate Combat which was a blast. The player of Belor knew that he would face a real challenge and was completely aware of the danger he got his character into. After the session I asked him if he was ok with the way things had turned out and he said that the pround Shoanti would have left the city anyway in case of a defeat out of shame. I also showed him the stats of his opponent and he was completely ok with that as well. I had taken the stats of Garluu, an 8th level fighter, and tweaked him little to fit the serpentfolk bill. In the end his AC, attack and damage rolls were completely on par with Belor's. The dice godess simply spoke Aklo that day granting the serpentfolk a critical hit and a few high damage rolls.
All in all, incredibly fun, not only for me but for everyone involved, even the player who lost his PC!
What will most likely be the last 'pure' CoSS session is coming up today so I'll give a quick recap of the last one:
After Belor was properly buried, the group ordered a boat to get around the lake area more quickly from the Pathfinder Society which was supposed to arrive in about a week. After that they spent some time stealthily scouting out the battlefield that is the temple district. Daedalos put a lot of his skills to good use and managed to eaves-drop on a conversation of a couple of Sargavan guards, who have the district under a lockdown at the moment. He found out that the Government had a hard time keeping the district under control and that the troglodytes have retreated to the ziggurat where they are currently making their last stand. He also picked up something about a "black guy patching up the casualties not as fast as they fall in battle". When he joined the rest of the group again the only one of them who had been on the Shiv, Poshmend, immediately thought of Jask who had gone off to redeem himself in the services of the Government.
For the moment the party decided to leave the trogs and the Sargavans to themselves, fearing that resolving the conflict might lead to a lot of bored troops marauding the rest of the city.
Instead they followed up on some loose threads with their newest member of the group, Xwaldor, a dwarven ranger, and managed to scry on Tentagard who had taken to present himself to the boggards of the farming district as their new divine leader. Rushing towards that district's ziggurat the PCs arrived in the middle of some kind of honorary service to the demon and battle ensued during which they slew not only Tentagard but also Garluu thus almost gaining control of the district.
All that was left to do was removing the Green God from the picture to impress on the boggards that the PCs and their faction were the most dangerous thing in the city. They came, saw, and slaughtered.
***end of session***
Behind the scenes: Both fights went quite smoothly for the PCs as they were able to go in well prepared. The sorcerer kept the Green God constantly slowed by firing lightning bolts at him every round while the rest of the group got in close under the effect of some water walk spells and took him down.
All in all the XP the accrued in this session were enought to push the first PC over the 10th level threshold so tonight will be the night of the Hisssing Dead!
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Here things became a lot more interesting. The green hag convinced the PCs that she was magically bound to the manor after she came to the city with an adventuring party. She quickly gained the groups sympathy and the players tried a lot of things to set her "free". They figured that the fungi that occupy most of the residential district but not the immediate area of the mansion indicate the border of the "poor woman's" prison. But any attempt to move her beyond that point failed and only led to shocking grasps by the sorceress which the PCs interpreted as part of the curse. In the end though they decidedly refused to spent the night at her lair and after all of Egzimora's attempts to charm them into stayint failed combat was inevitable. The players managed to put her down eventually though before she could escape.
Hey Null, just wanted to report that I ran the Egzimora encounter this weekend following your lead. They bought the "I'm part of another expedition and trapped in this mansion!" story hook-line-and-sinker. Egzimora had seen the party dropping some heavy fireballs further in the district against the vegepygmies, so was waiting for them at the doorstep of the mansion. She invited them in and they sat down in the parlour for some tea with her, chatting away amiably. I ran with part of what you used as a (fake) backstory and made up bits and pieces on the fly. Couldn't believe my normally paranoid PCs were bending over backwards to help her escape from her "prison."
I totally think I could have gotten a few of them to spend the night in the manor the way things were going, but the halfling rogue got bored and wandered off. He found the hidden trapdoor to her "wine cellar" and shouted "Hey! I found something!" At that point Egzimora realized her gig was up and layed into the (very) surprised party.Turned out to be a great roleplaying encounter AND a tough combat encounter (due to the horrible tactical position the group found themselves starting from).
Thanks again for the journal. Your ideas worked great!
