Trial of the Beast - nearly complete rewrite *spoilers*

[Sarg]

So I'm halfway through HoH, and I was looking ahead and decided I really didn't want to run a trial and have my PCs examining evidence (attention to detail isn't their strong suit...they never made it up to the false crypt in the Restlands...I might need Kendra to remind them before haunts whoop their butts) and rolling diplomacy or similar checks all night (they failed miserably repeatedly in Ravengro's town hall). So I took a handful of ideas from the existing content and rewrote the rest.

If you read all this, thanks, and let me know your thoughts and opinions and suggestions! There are still some parts I'm not entirely confident about. If you like any of it, feel free to use it in your own games.

The story:

First off, the Beast is highly intelligent, like Frankenstein's monster-a slant many others have already taken, and you have my thanks for the idea!

Caromarc created the Beast who became surprisingly intelligent and absorbed nearly all the information in Caromarc's library and eventually comes to aid Caromarc in his work. The Beast is a genius in scientific theory and mathematics while Caromarc is better with creativity and manual dexterity.

However, the Beast harbors ill will towards Caromarc, ever since the day he realized how hideous he was and how he is never allowed to leave the Schloss except in the dead of night or when visitors call. In fact, the Beast only "cooperates" with Caromarc to mislead his studies and experiments and keep him from replicating the success he had with the Beast.

One day, when Caromarc was working on an independent project, he created a golem which had the heartbreaking qualities of a real boy, but it was incomplete and perished in agony within days. The Beast became enraged and threatened to kill Caromarc, which prompted Caromarc to make the Bondslave Thrall to protect himself and the Aberrant to protect it.

Fast-forward to recent past, the Seasage/Sausage Effigy was unearthed by some builders who all died of mysterious causes soon after. (I really want the effigy to play an actual part in the story instead of that convoluted Whispering-Way-made-a-deal-with-some-organization-you've-never-heard-of that happens in WotW...any thoughts?) They suspected the effigy, and Caromarc created a series of protective barriers and seals and kept it at the University for study.

Then, the whole thing about Whispering Way taking control of the Beast happens, they steal the effigy, and get away. In the middle of it, the Beast breaks the barriers/seals/wards and severely damages his arm doing so. Also, at the same time, a pent up wave of negative energy sweeps the city from the effigy and brings despair and emboldens evil characters. Also, the Bondslave Thrall had triggered a severe storm centered over Schloss Caromarc and triggers a landslide that blocks the mountain path to there (because now it's in the mountains).

What follows is anarchy as criminals/psychos/Vorkstag rise up in simultaneous violence, and they rampage through the city. And the Beast, momentarily mad from holding the effigy, goes berserk for a while, too. The citizens of Lepidstadt flee town and the city is soon under bad-guy control.

The PCs arrive and find the citizens of Lepidstadt set up in a shanty town far outside of town, where they learn the situation. The Judge gives the PCs half the promised payment that she has on hand and says the rest is in a safe at her house. She offers to increase the reward substantially if the PCs reclaim the city.

So from what she knows, she tells them the Beast was responsible and to go to the University and track him down, and that they can stay in her house.

PCs go into town, go to the university, track the Beast (yay, my party's druid gets to do druidic things...the Beast may bleed some and lower the Survival DC a bit). The fastest route to him is if they succeed on tracking, follow him to the excavation of the effigy (where they might find some carvings recently unearthed by the Beast), follow him to the courthouse where he has taken up residence (because he is particularly enamored with the idea of justice). They meet the Beast and if they choose to fight him, he will beat them down non-lethally. The Beast will tell his side of the story (and slip in as much backstory as you wish) and hopefully convince the PCs that they need his help to clear the landslide so they can talk to Caromarc.

If the PCs aren't able to track him, they may run into him as he moves through the city gathering supplies to set up his own lab. And then if they still fail, their attention is drawn by an explosion at the courthouse (the Beast trying to create alchemical reagents, but failing due to his one-armed clumsiness).

So because the Beast is damaged, though, he is unable to move the landslide in his current state, so he enlists their help. He needs supplies to repair his arm that he is unable to get.

1) Fresh bodies with intact tissues. This is in the underground crypt of the local chapel, but the entrance is too small for him. There, the PCs run into the Ghasts.
2) Alchemy tools. He directs the PCs to Vorkstag. He is hesitant to go there because an alchemist may be clever enough and have the means to defeat him and keep him for experiments.
3) Life extract or some such nonsense like that. Among the alchemy tools are some haunt siphons (because now those are something alchemists carry in this world), and the PCs are to go to Hergstag and use the siphons on the ghosts and bring them back. Beast can't go because the Bondslave Thrall binds him to a certain radius.

Then, once all that's accomplished, Beast heals himself up and clears the rubble and they go to see Caromarc. The Beast declines joining them in their fight through the place because he views Caromarc's creations as his poor, ugly, twisted brothers and sisters. He'll rejoin them when they find Caromarc.

Blah blah blah, they reach the tower, Caromarc convinces them to use the Bondslave Thrall (or not), because Caromarc is able to talk while bound in this. Fight, free Caromarc, learn some fairly vague but ominous stuff about the effigy.

And then either after Caromarc finishes talking, or the next day in private, the Beast talks with Caromarc about justice and morality and says he cannot allow Caromarc to continue his experiments, and Caromarc says he will continue as long as he lives, and the Beast bear hugs Caromarc and leaps off the tower to end both their lives.

So that's that! And as filler to make up for the XP loss of investigations, give XP for tracking the Beast and for finding the carvings at the excavation. And throughout the day, I'll keep track of the time of day and roll to see if they run into a skirmish with a roaming golem(s) or something.

Morning: 19-20
Afternoon: 17-20
Evening: 15-20
Night: 13-20
Late Night: 10-20

Thoughts? Opinions? Like it? Hate it? Tips or tricks or suggestions? Would love to hear them. Particularly anything that would smooth out WotW.

[Windspirit]

hmm....dont you think that installing some more roleplay skills in your players would be better?

I mean TotB isnt that bad and it turned out my players actually LIKED the evidence and court stuff.

[Sarg]

Yeah, I know it's a role playing game, but oftentimes my players see RP as a means to an end. They barely went anywhere in Ravengro except the Temple, Lorrimor's, and Town Hall. They were only barely convinced to check out the memorial after the first letter appeared. And they stopped by Unfurling Scroll to do research but immediately took off when the guy asked for payment even though I had just directed their attention to his merchandise to see if they would take interest in the flesh golem manual. If I didn't keep throwing stuff at them in a compressed timeline, they would've run off to Harrowstone at the drop of a hat.

So, I've found it necessary to take out the fluff and streamline them more towards deciding how to act in the best interest of clear goals. I guess they're the type that thrive in railroading.

I remember our first D&D 4e session when another friend was GMing and a speech/skill challenge occupied the whole night and we got so fed up of trying to convince some council of this or that. So maybe I've just had bad experiences with those kinds of things...

[Ullapool]

Sounds like you've got some roll-players there. :) I don't envy you, especially not using Pathfinder as a system.

[Fraust]

I think Carrion Crown might not be the best AP for your guys then. As long as everyone (including the GM!) is having fun don't let anyone tell you you're playing the game wrong...but some APs are more/less combat heavy than others, and CC is, least from what I've seen, more about roleplaying and investigative work. Serpent's Skull is a little more action oriented, might be worth looking into.

[gbonehead]

Ah, don't sweat it. Not everyone wishes they were in theater.

My table is much the same way. I've been reading Trial of the Beast and have decided two things:

1. I'm going to run them through Feast of Ravenmoor between the two, probably at the behest of one of their contacts. As a result of their (presumed) success ...

Trial of the Beast:

After Judge Daramid sees their success in Ravenmoor, she says that she officially must stay out of the picture, but that Barrister Kaple is looking for assistance. Instead of presuming the Beast is guilty, the barrister will be actively engaged in defending the Beast - but is wary of his own reputation (and life), having properly read the reaction of the populace.

So, reading between the lines of the evidence, he'll put the PCs on retainer and send them places, and based on the information they glean, perhaps send them others. That way, if the PCs really just want someone to point them so they can shoot, that'll work, yet if they get actively engaged and take initiative, they can do so and Kaple will happily use what they find.

It doesn't change much, but it takes out the "why do they care?" aspect that I'm worried about (which was also a concern in HoH, where they had to metagame slightly to get involved).

[Krome]

Wish I had read this before I ran TotB.

I think it was the weakest of the six adventures. I actually like your take better, though I can see some great areas in that plot for role-playing as well.

The courthouse just turned into a Diplomacy roll contest of who got the better rolls.

[Darkstrom]

@Gbonehead

While I am not changing Trial of the Beast in any major way (my players really like the investigation) I thought that inserting the Feast of Ravenmoor would be a good method of getting them working for the Judge. If you are worried about them not having a strong reason to work with the Judge then its a good method to get it.

I hope your group gets more into the roleplaying part of it, the atmosphere can be really great if done well.

[gbonehead]

Darkstrom wrote:

@Gbonehead

While I am not changing Trial of the Beast in any major way (my players really like the investigation) I thought that inserting the Feast of Ravenmoor would be a good method of getting them working for the Judge. If you are worried about them not having a strong reason to work with the Judge then its a good method to get it.

I hope your group gets more into the roleplaying part of it, the atmosphere can be really great if done well.

Me too, but I'm not going to sweat it if they don't; that's why I'm going to re-imagine the premise slightly. It won't really change the what, it'll just change the why and that way it'll work better for the less theatrical in the bunch (i.e. the teenager who only really pays attention when there's a combat).

[Jaerc]

I've recently been condensing the post-Ravengro events of Carrion Crown to transpire over the course of six or so sessions.. Sarg, your ideas have been invaluable to the editorial spirit of my endeavor and some of its nuances. While I'm not rewriting Lepidstadt to be overwhelmed by nebulous artifact-caused evil, I am using several of your suggestions to better milk the pre-Shudderwood portions for key elements that tie to the meta-plot.

Thanks!