Professor Lorrimor's Tomes (Haunting of Harrowstone)


Carrion Crown


Two rather short sessions into this adventure path, and I ran into a bit of a snag. Two of my players are absolutely hell-bent on finding the key to the purple tome left to the party in the will that details the Order of the Palantine Eye. I know the description of the book says the key is nowhere to be found, and that it provides Disable Device and break DCs, but they're hard to make in an all-mage party (seriously: alchemist, summoner, wizard, and cleric, all using at least one archetype). They seem to think it's unfair that they can't find the key, and I honestly don't remember seeing it listed anywhere in the book. Am I missing something, or is it just that the players aren't supposed to be privy to the information in the book? If the key isn't listed as an obtainable options, could someone provide some suggestions as to where it could be found or how the players could bypass the lock if they're that intent on gaining the information?


They'll need to use Knock. The key wasn't mentioned in the book and part of the challenge of getting that "hint" about the Palatine Eye is that its a high DC.


Hee hee!

My players were obsessed with that book, too. They never even opened the other books!

Spoiler:
They did have a rogue, though, who was able to open the book--they weren't able to break the code, though, so I laughed at them!


I'm jealous and sad. My players forgot about it during all the chaos with the prison. They handed it over to the Judge without even thinking about it.


The rogue in my party was able to open the book and the wizard was able to break the code, but it isn't a very interesting book -- lots of technical details about ceremonies and statements about the order's philosophies in abstract fancified and architectural terms. The other books are a lot more interesting reading, I think, but the PCs are afraid to look at those so far.

The Exchange

My group avoided opening it because they didn't want to violate the terms of the request. Money was too good to mess with things.

Silver Crusade

My players actually looked through it, didn't really get anything out of it, and then mistakenly gave it with the other two to the professor at the university. After speaking with the Judge to get thier money, they realized that one was supposed to go to her and she asked them go get it back.
They went back to the Prof and asked for the book back (After he had looked it as they had alraedy unlocked it) and told him "It belongs to Judge Daramand.

I have been trying to think of consequences that may arise from the professor now knowing the Judge is a member of the Order. Any suggestions?


noretoc wrote:

My players actually looked through it, didn't really get anything out of it, and then mistakenly gave it with the other two to the professor at the university. After speaking with the Judge to get thier money, they realized that one was supposed to go to her and she asked them go get it back.

They went back to the Prof and asked for the book back (After he had looked it as they had alraedy unlocked it) and told him "It belongs to Judge Daramand.

I have been trying to think of consequences that may arise from the professor now knowing the Judge is a member of the Order. Any suggestions?

Ah hilarity.

So the university knows a judge is a member of an occult secret society that's suspected of controlling the government for the benefit of themselves and theirs.

Well, it depends. Is the professor also a member? And it really depends on how you want the Esoteric Order portrayed in your game. What exactly is the Esoteric Order to you and your game? Answer than and you'll know.

Silver Crusade

Good questions. I am running the carrion crown in my own homebrew, and hadn't really thought of the importance of the order. Right now I think of them as a fraternity like the Masons or The Lions. A group of people who are part of the group to help eachother "get ahead". They try to convince people in high places to join, so they can pull strings for other members. In fact I see many of the lesser member participating in rituals they really know nothing about except "it's tradition". Of course there is an inner circle who understand the significance of the rites and ceremonies though I have not thought much on thier goal.

So, I was thnking the prof, knowing the judges' reputation and the value of it, may want to use that to get some "favors" from the judge. I can imagine the relationship between the players and her will get a bit strained, hehe. Part of me has played with the idea that the Professor is an agent of the WW (He did have some strange books after all) and may use this to thier advantage, but I am not sure. I have not read through all of the last two AP books, so I'm not sure if either of them play a part in the future.


Well, I can tell you that both organizations matter in the AP.

I'm running the Esoteric Order as Freemasonry. Exactly as, including the inner rituals. Didn't even have to change any of the serial numbers.

The WW also does stuff later. The Professor being a member would be interesting and fits in well with the AP.

What happens to Judge Daramind in your situation really depends on what the professor does. And how the commoners view the Order. If the professor is a member of the WW there's a good chance he says nothing and sticks with blackmail, silent fuming, or nighttime assassins. Could be a reason for the Judge to put her trust in the PCs despite their inability to follow simple directions. "Go shut that guy up for me I don't care how" is a valid task...


Noretec regarding Lions:
noretoc wrote:

Good questions. I am running the carrion crown in my own homebrew, and hadn't really thought of the importance of the order. Right now I think of them as a fraternity like the Masons or The Lions. A group of people who are part of the group to help eachother "get ahead". They try to convince people in high places to join, so they can pull strings for other members. In fact I see many of the lesser member participating in rituals they really know nothing about except "it's tradition". Of course there is an inner circle who understand the significance of the rites and ceremonies though I have not thought much on thier goal.

...

I have not ever posted on anything outside of the PBP I am currently in, however, your comment about the Lions was brought to my attention and I would like to add my two cents about "Lionism".

Lions International is the largest "service organization" in the world. The motto of the Lions is "We Serve". That means as a club we look first towards the service of our community and primarily towards sight services as Helen Keller dubbed us "the Knights of the Blind in the crusade against darkness"...or in other words we have launched campaigns, especially in third world countries to stamp out preventable diseases that cause blindness. I myself had a choice of joining Toastmasters to improve my speaking ability, Rotary International to hopefully gain business contacts as well as putting money into community service or the Lions. I chose the Lions. I have been with them for 14 years and as far as I know, have never benefited other than having a couple members occasionally have their cars done by myself or my business and I have personally donated more in gift certificates and other services than any profit we may have made from them.

Many of our clubs and I believe Lions International as a whole, prides itself on taking care of any administrative costs through it's members and therefore 99-100% of any donations made to disaster areas such as the Japan Tsunami, the earthquakes in Haiti, the Katrina disaster, etc goes to a service network that already has "boots on the ground" and does not go through government channels that are much more likely to get sidetracked by possibly corrupted officials.

Like any organization, there are bound to be clubs that may not be as active as others or may not follow the spirit of Lionism as much as others. If you are interested in actually devoting some of your time towards the service of your community whether schools (such as vision & hearing screening, campus beautification and maintenance, parking control during campus events), your senior citizens (or Kupuna as we call them here in Hawaii), or any number of services that may be needed in your particular area (because it is far easier for someone like yourself who is in the community to know what that community needs than someone all the way back in Washington DC) such as graffiti repainting, bus stop shelter creation or maintenance, or whatever else the club may be able to do based on the knowledge, capabilities and number of members in the club. Lions International covers it's members with insurance policies so that they do not have to worry about getting sued if someone "stubbs their toes" after we've repaired cracks in uneven sidewalks as an example.) please feel free to get back to me and I will try to find where the more active clubs in your area are located.

Silver Crusade

gmr808 wrote:
** spoiler omitted **...

GMR I was referring to the lion in regards to the fraternity structure (being recruited by members already in the org, etc), not their motives, goals or activities.

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