The Lyrie scenario

[Douglas Muir 406]

This is a short scenario I whipped up for a friend’s campaign. His players are finishing up The Skinsaw Murder, and the PCs are currently in Magnimar. The average party level is 6th.

So, Lyrie Akenji: chaotic evil female wizard who was working for Nualia back in the Thistletop dungeon. When the PCs ran through Burnt Offerings, they first fought Lyrie, then accepted a negotiated surrender. Lyrie then broke out of jail and fled Sandpoint. She hasn’t been seen since. This scenario brings her back again. It's a short "side trek" scenario that would be appropriate for any group of PCs playing through RotRL, though it may play very differently depending on the alignment mix of the party.

This is longish (~3,000 words), so I’m going to put it behind spoilers.

The setup:

Spoiler:

Lyrie, having escaped alive, is now a small-time drug dealer in Magnimar. Soon after the PCs arrive in town, she will contact them and ask for a meeting. The PCs may suspect an ambush but actually Lyrie wants their help: she's being stalked by someone.

Getting started:

Spoiler:

Lyrie's message will be delivered in the form of a letter, somewhat sarcastically congratulating them on their new fame and success and asking for a meeting “to talk about old times and discuss a matter of mutual benefit”.

The rendezvous takes place in one of Magnimar's many convenient abandoned warehouses. Lyrie will have Mage Armor and Spider Climb precast (the latter from a scroll), and Alarm on the warehouse, so she won’t easily be surprised. She is alone and does sincerely want to talk.

There should be no reason for the PCs to attack Lyrie at this point, but if they do she'll fight like mad, though not quite to the death. She probably open with Fireball (6d6 damage, DC 18) then takes a move action to climb 20' up a wall with her precast Spider Climb. That will get her next to a window; the next round, she'll go out the window and cast Vanish. Of course, against a group of 6th level PCs, her odds of escaping are not great. If captured, she'll try to buy her freedom. She very much does not want to be handed over to the authorities – see below.

What Lyrie says to the PCs:

Spoiler:

After the disaster at Thistletop, she moved to Magnimar and tried to start a new life as a merchant trader. But now she is being stalked by an unknown enemy. The enemy is trying to kill her. At least one of her bodyguards betrayed her, so she cannot trust anyone in town.

She wants to leave Magnimar and take a ship to safety. However, she can’t leave until one last business deal has gone through. This deal will give her the money she needs to flee and to set up a new life in another city. (Korvosa, let’s say. That sounds nice and safe.) She has heard that the heroes are in town, so she’d like them to protect her for a few days until she has completed the deal. She’s willing to pay them for their time and trouble. She’ll start by offering 50 gp/day for each PC; with just a bit of negotiation, she’ll double that to 100 gp/day. She’ll pay up to half in advance. All the PCs have to do is stay close to her and keep her safe. Surely this should be a simple enough job? Easy money for a group of brave and famous heroes!

What’s really happening here:

Spoiler:

Lyrie was a little too close to Nualia and knows a little too much about the secrets under Sandpoint. So she has been targeted by Karzoug’s forces as a loose end. The Skinsaw cultists have made two attempts on her life. This will be their third attempt, and they've brought in an outside contractor to help.

The hit team now consists of

Two faceless stalkers
Two Red Mantis assassins (Human Rogue 3/Ftr 2/RMA 2)
One Skinsaw cultist liaison/observer (Rog 1/Cleric 1)

Overall this group is about CR 8. They're facing a party of 5 6th level PCs, so that seems reasonable. Against a party that is more or less powerful, adjust to taste, but they should have a CR around APL+2.

As a drug dealer, Lyrie used to have some thug bodyguards. But one of them did indeed betray her to the cultists, so she is super paranoid now. That’s why she needs the PCs.

What Lyrie is lying about:

Spoiler:

Lyrie’s “new life” consists of dealing drugs, and she is herself an addict as well as a dealer. She’s on zerk at least twice per day. While on zerk she gains a d4 of Strength and +1 initiative. Alas, zerk is deeply addictive. So she’s covered with little scars and half-healed cuts. A DC 18 Perception check will notice this, but it will need an additional DC 20 Healing or DC 15 Knowledge (local) to realize she's a zerk addict.

Lyrie has someohow obtained a large quantity of the stuff: say, 50 doses, street value 5,000 gp. She wants to sell some of the drug for quick cash, keep the rest for herself, and flee town. To make extra cash, she plans to cheat the buyers. (Lyrie has 20 Int, but only 10 Wis, and she’s chaotic evil and a junkie.) She’s going to cut the stash with a powder to double its weight, then try to sell it for double price and flee with the money before her deception is discovered.. Obviously nothing can go wrong with this well-considered plan...

If the PCs turn her down, that’s fine. Don’t force it. Have Lyrie turn up horribly, horribly dead a day or two later.

Playing it out; or, Life With Lyrie:

Spoiler:

If the PCs accept the offer, then they'll have to watch her for 3 days until the big deal goes down. Lyrie has a nice apartment in a decent part of town, and she’ll want to stay there. There’s a guest room where some PCs can sleep while others watch outside the building or whatever.

Lyrie is chaotic evil and will not be an easy client.

1) Lyrie will try a Suggestion on at least one PC -- preferably a big dumb fighter type, or anyone who looks like they’d have a low Will save. Nothing murderous, but something along the lines of "keeping Lyrie safe is your highest priority". If this works the first time, she’ll try Suggesting more PCs, up to a maximum of three.

2) Lyrie may (use your judgement here) start a romantic or sexual liaison with a PC. This is part coldblooded calculation, part poor impulse control. Basically she’ll pick the most powerful-seeming PC who has a 12 or better Cha. If the PC accepts, congrats – they get to spend the next few hours locked up in a nice bedroom with the hot wizard chick with the tattoos while the rest of the party stands guard. Of course, she’s chaotic evil and a drug addict and will cheerfully betray him at the first opportunity, but sometimes you just have to climb on board the crazy train. Rejecting her advances will make her surly but have no other effect.

3) Lyrie will take a dislike to at least one PC, and maybe two if you think you can do it without provoking the whole party to kill her. Pick a PC who is good-aligned, lawful, or has a low charisma. She’ll be particularly sarcastic and obnoxious towards this PC.

4) Lyrie gets bored easily. To make matters worse, zerk makes Lyrie manic and careless. (It also makes her extra freaky in bed, but leave that be for the moment.) When on zerk, she will insist on going out for some “last minute shopping”. Trying to stop her will result in a screaming fit – who’s paying who here? Huh? You’re supposed to protect me, not keep me locked up! The only way to keep Lyrie from going out is either to physically restrain her or stop her from taking zerk. She will not respond well to either of these.

If Lyrie goes out, great – that’s a wonderful time to have her be attacked by the assassins. Also, there’s an excellent chance that she’ll get careless and allow herself to be noticed by a Hellknight. (Remember, Magnimar has lots of Hellknights.) Did I mention that there’s a warrant for her arrest, along with a reward? No? Well, neither did Lyrie – she just forgot about that somehow. But there is! So if the PCs don’t act fast, they’ll be in a fight with one or more Hellknights. (If the Hellknights do catch Lyrie, she’ll get a swift fair trial followed by immediate execution. The Hellknights don’t screw around with drug dealers.)

Whether she goes out or not, the assassin/stalker attack will come at some point – most likely on the night of Day Two or the morning of Day Three. The details of this are left up to the DM, but the attackers will not simply barge in -- they'll use disguise, illusion, or some other form of deception. Remember that Lyrie is their ultimate target – they won’t be interested in fighting the PCs if avoidable.

When the deal goes down:

Spoiler:

On the evening of Day Three, Lyrie is going to do a major drug deal. And she's going to try to cheat. She is of course not going to tell the PCs either of those things! They should know by now that Lyrie is a drug addict, maybe a dealer – her Bluff is a weak +3 – but she will be very cagey and elusive about her “business”.

The meeting will take place in the evening, at the intersection of two alleys in a dirty, crime-infested, truly horrible neighborhood. After a bit of verbal sparring, Lyrie will hand over the goods -- and the buyers will angrily announce that the stuff has been cut by 50%, and how stupid does she think they are? Time to die!

The drug dealers consist of a Ftr 3/Rog 5 boss, six Rog 1/War 1 thugs, and a lieutenant/second in command who is an Alchemist 6. (Not a vivisectionist, either. The blow-stuff-up kind of alchemist.) He's the one who will test the drugs. Lyrie wasn't expecting him to come along, and will be visibly shaken when he shows up. It works out to around CR 8-9, which should keep a party of 6th level PCs busy even with Lyrie's help. (Which they may or may not have... if Lyrie gets both the money and the drugs in her hands, she will immediately flee. She has a scroll of Expeditious Retreat ready for just this moment.)

You’ll have to stat these guys out, but it shouldn’t be too hard. They are all career criminals and all neutral evil in alignment. In terms of tactics, the alchemist buffs before the meeting starts and then bombs the hell out of people while the rogues pair up to flank. Note that the boss rogue can get iterative attacks, meaning two sneak attacks if flanking. If you want to make it more difficult/interesting, add a couple more thugs up on rooftops with nets or tanglefoot bags. Lyrie will be the main focus of their attacks but they’ll happily fight the PCs too. They keep fighting until the boss and half the thugs are dead or unconscious.

The fight will not attract attention – it’s a bad neighborhood. Lyrie will fight alongside the PCs unless she gets both drugs and money, in which case she casts ER and flees. She also flees if reduced to 8 hp or less.

Picking up the pieces:

Spoiler:

If Lyrie is killed… well, frankly, nobody in this town will mourn her.

If she survives, Lyrie has hired a small boat with a crew to take her away; the boat is waiting about a mile from the drug deal rendezvous. She needs 500 gp to pay for the boat, and then she figures she needs at least another 2,000 gp to start her new life in Korvosa. Lyrie will escape without paying the PCs if the opportunity presents itself, but she’s not stupid; as long as she has at least 2500 gp getting on the boat, it makes more sense for her to pay the PCs than to cheat them and worry about them coming after her. So if the PCs beat the bad guys, and she’s able to claim both cash and drugs, she’ll happily pay them for their time and even throw in a bonus 100 gp each.

(Good-aligned or lawful PCs may have a problem with letting Lyrie walk off with the drugs. Of course, then they have to figure out an alternative. Destroying the drugs is one possibility. Lyrie will object to this strongly.)

Killing the drug dealers will have no immediate consequences; certainly the Hellknights won’t mind. If the PCs spend much more time in Magnimar, then you could rule that the local Thieves Guild has decided that this is unacceptable and that they must make an example of the PCs.
If Lyrie and the PCs part on friendly or at least neutral terms – hey, it could happen – then the PC that she likes gets a nice long kiss, the PC or PCs that she dislikes gets a last sneer or insult, and she gets on the boat and sails away. Recurring NPC? You decide!

Phew. Okay, here's Lyrie's character sheet. She's 5th level now, built up from the 3rd level version given in Burnt Offerings.

Lyrie Akenja
Female human wizard 5
CE Medium humanoid
Init +2; Senses Perception +2

Spoiler:

DEFENSES
AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 26 (5d6+6)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +5

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +1 (1d4–1/19–20)
Special Attacks hand of the apprentice (7/day, +5 ranged)
Spells Prepared (CL 5th)
3rd fireball (6d6, DC 19), suggestion (DC 18)
2nd admonishing ray, mirror image, extended mage armor (10 hour duration)
1st burning hands (5d4, DC 17), ear-piercing scream (DC 17), ray of enfeeblement (DC 16), vanish
0 acid splash, detect magic, prestidigitation, ray of frost

STATISTICS
Str 8, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 18 (20), Wis 10, Cha 13
Base Atk +2; CMB +1; CMD 14
Feats Alertness (as long as Skivver's in arm's reach), Dodge, Extend Spell, Mobility, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (evocation), Varisian Tattoo
Skills Appraise +12, Bluff +3, Diplomacy +6, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Knowledge (engineering) +9, Knowledge (local) +12, Linguistics +9, Stealth +5, Spellcraft +9
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Giant, Thassilonian, Varisian
SQ arcane bond (cat familiar named Skivver)

Spellbook 0—all; 1st— alarm, burning hands, comprehend languages, detect secret doors, ear-piercing scream, expeditious retreat, floating disc, identify, mage armor, obscuring mist, ray of enfeeblement, sleep, vanish; 2nd—admonishing ray, disguise other, locate object, minor image, mirror image, see invisibility, shatter, spider climb; 3rd - fireball, suggestion

Possessions: Headband of Mighty Intellect (gives max ranks in Diplomacy), scrolls of alarm, floating disc, disguise other, 2x expeditious retreat, 2x spider climb, 2x potions of healing.

Lyrie’s equipment is above average for a 5th level NPC; the drug dealing business has been pretty good. She also starts with 1200 gp cash.

Feats: Since 3rd level, she has added Varisian Tattoo plus Extend Spell as her bonus feat. She casts Extended Mage Armor every morning for ten hours of protection.

Tactics: Lyrie likes casting Suggestion a lot. Especially on her “allies”. In combat she’s likely to start with Fireball, which can be troublesome because she’s usually not careful about where to center it. If she’s worried about being attacked, she’ll cast Mirror Image. Admonishing Ray can do 8d6 of nonlethal damage, which is good for dealing with thugs and minions. Ray of Enfeeblement gets used against a single powerful opponent or fighter type. Vanish (usually followed by Spider Climb or Expeditious Retreat) is for fast getaways. Play her as smart, calculating, and utterly selfish.

Roleplaying: Lyrie is intelligent, but evil and self-centered. She has poor impulse control and gets bored rather easily. She likes cats, magic, interesting conversation, and games, especially games of intelligence, such as chess. She’s really good at chess; if a PC wants to play, it’s one of the few ways to distract her for a while. (Play it as competing Intelligence checks, with Lyrie rolling at +10.) She makes heavy use of sarcasm and can be very insulting, though usually in a clever/funny way. As noted above, she’s a junkie, which affects her judgment. Play her as the crazy girlfriend. The PCs should be torn between “I hate her so much, can we kill her now?” and “hey, she’s kind of cool”. (With possibly one vote for “and hott sex! Yes!”)

Knowledge (local) +12 means that Lyrie knows a lot about Magnimar, and so can tell the PCs whatever they may want to know – you can use this to feed them some information. She also knows a lot about Nualia and has some ideas about what was really going on. You can use her to drop some hints about backstory (possibly in the form of pillow talk, cough cough) to the PCs – use your judgment, but she should be able to tell them some things they didn’t already know.

Okay then. Comments welcome!

cheers,

Doug M.

[tonyz]

Very nice. I'll definitely keep this in mind for when I run RotRL!

[Haladir]

That's great! I would use this if my party hadn't coup de grace'd her in Thistletop!

[Douglas Muir 406]

Scenarios don't seem to generate a lot of commentary and discussion, I've noticed; oh, well. Anyway, thanks to TonZ and Haladir for the kind words.

Doug M.

[Tinalles]

I think that's pretty cool. My PCs haven't gotten to Thistletop yet, but if Lyrie survives that, I'll keep this in mind. Dot!

[Cesare]

Hey, this is great! I'll definitely use this if Lyrie survives the encounter in Thistletop.

[Twigs]

Douglas Muir 406 wrote:

Scenarios don't seem to generate a lot of commentary and discussion, I've noticed; oh, well.

True enough, but wasn't the bulk of this posted in another thread? I remember lauding over this already. I DEFINATELY plan on using this with scenario or something similar for any Thistletop survivors. Great stuff!

[Douglas Muir 406]

Twigs wrote:

True enough, but wasn't the bulk of this posted in another thread?

About half of it was posted in an earlier thread, fair enough. That was more pushing ideas around than an actual scenario, though. This is the more-or-less complete version.

Doug M.

[Jam412]

This is really cool Doug. Definitely using it if she survives my next RotRL run through.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Not to necro, but I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who ever used this. I know of a couple of people, but I'm curious if there are more.

Doug M.

[Ashkar]

It's bad that I didn't saw this scenario earlier. I just brought Lyrie back as new minion of Ironbrian, recruited by him, and send at the end, to reinforce Xaneshas bodyguards.

[Jam412]

Douglas Muir 406 wrote:

Not to necro, but I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who ever used this. I know of a couple of people, but I'm curious if there are more.

Doug M.

Unfortunately, I don't think she lasted a round in my game. I even beefed her up a bit.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Yeah, in the adventure as written she's little more than a speed bump. I'm not even sure why she's there. She doesn't seem to do anything outside of the room she's in. She's one of the few head-scratchers in what's otherwise a very well put together adventure. All I can think is that BO was written as an introductory module back when, so they thought "let's make sure to throw in at least one evil arcane spellcaster, so the PCs can fight that".

Doug M.

[Dracovar]

Actually, nice necro on the thread! I never saw this and now that I've read it, I have to say, that was very well done, Doug.

Certainly something to potentially use either for Lyrie or as the basis for another job/encounter/etc for a group of PC's.

Consider it "yoinked". :-)

And thank-you!

[Douglas Muir 406]

Dracovar wrote:

Actually, nice necro on the thread! I never saw this and now that I've read it, I have to say, that was very well done, Doug.

Consider it "yoinked". :-)

And thank-you!

You're very welcome! I've been thinking of lightly editing this and reposting it up on the resources thread, so comments and criticisms would be entirely welcome -- doubly so from anyone who's actually run it.

Doug M.

[RuyanVe]

Jam412 wrote:

Douglas Muir 406 wrote:

Not to necro, but I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who ever used this. I know of a couple of people, but I'm curious if there are more.

Doug M.

Unfortunately, I don't think she lasted a round in my game. I even beefed her up a bit.

Same here. *sadface*

And I realize I actually used your statblock (ever wondered where I got that from...)--so: thanks!

Ruyan.

[Phntm888]

Lyrie has survived and was captured in my game, so I might use this. They also captured Tsuto, but don't know about her familiar, so I might see if I can have them both escape. Possibly by having her familiar steal Tusto's thieves' tools?

[Reolstan]

Douglas Muir 406 wrote:

Not to necro, but I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who ever used this. I know of a couple of people, but I'm curious if there are more.

Doug M.

Definitely looking at this as a nice little extension for Lyrie. I've run RotR before, for a different group, and they let her live. Running it again for a new group that was interested in trying it, and I have a feeling they will as well. Looks great!

[Talas Leviann]

Dotting because this looks good!

[WendyWitch]

I'll be starting this AP sometime this year, and I'm collecting side stuff for the party. This scenario looks like fun - my group is likely to include PC's that will create some entertaining role play with this one! Thanks!

[Douglas Muir 406]

If any of you actually do use this scenario, I'll be interested to hear how it goes.

cheers,

Doug M.

[the Lorax]

I'm building up to (largely) use this between the Foxglove Townhouse and the Sawmill.

I want the finale to be a bit of madness, with multiple factions showing up.

How we got here:

Lyrie escaped from Thistletop because my group wasted a number of days after their first (abortive) attack - I decided that it was enough time for Naulia to step up her plans and free Mal. Mal, after 10k years wanted to leave and took Naulia and Lyrie. Seeing evidence of the Runelords in the Sihedron Amulet, Mal took the group back to Magnimar to find out what Xanesha knows.

Rethemeing:

Using other ideas in the forums, Lyrie is the daughter of Quink's rival, scholar Gustavos Hirdman, and was recruited to be part of Xanesha's Lamashtu cult - which includes Avalexi, the Scarlet Sun being rethemed as a Lamashtu cult. Lyrie is not a drug dealer by trade, she just was able to steal a large amount.

Where its going:

Lyrie wants to escape from under Naulia's/Mal's claws, and has found a way to get away - sell drugs -> sail away -> new life. Naulia and Mal have moved on towards Turtleback Ferry.

The Scenario:

Outside of the background adjustments, the Lyrie Scenario plays out pretty much the same as presented here, but the finale may well include: The drug dealers she's selling to, the drug dealers she stole from, the city guard, Skinsaw Men sent to bring her back to Xan, PCs and Lyire in the middle...

[Douglas Muir 406]

I love it. Please do let us know how it plays out!

cheers,

Doug M.

[the Lorax]

The Lyrie being crazy and impulsive has gone great. Having all the bad things she did to get to this point one at a time was hilarious.

PCs: "OK, we'll guard you for 3 days, and you'll tell us about Naulia and the cultists and give us 500gp."

Lyrie: "Great."

Later...

Lyrie: "BTW, I stole the drugs."

Later...

Lyrie: "BTW, there may be cultists after me."

Later...

Lyrie: "BTW, I killed some town guards too."

The players have felt that this is an completely screwed up situation, but Lyrie gave them enough information that they actually feel like they did get a decent deal out of it.

I'm ready for next session to begin with a Bang! Its gonna be a bit messy and a bit of work on my part, but...

Lyrie, the PCs and a couple of mooks will be there with the goods.

First there will be the Buyer -

Buyer:

Tybold's Gang: Similar to what you posted - I made the alchemist an Expert instead, and the boss is a 7th ninja. Only 4 mooks.

They want the money and the Drugs.

Then the gang Lyrie stole from -

Victim:

Marcus' Gang: Two mooks, Two Ranger2/Rogue 2, and the boss, Rogue 6.

They want the drugs and a dead Lyrie.

Then some cultists -

SSM:

Skinsaw Cultists: I redid the basic cultists as Inquisitor 3, and there will be a Cleric3/Fighter3 in charge.

They want a dead Lyrie, dead PCs doesn't hurt either.

Then a couple of bounty hunters -

The Rundown Team:

Two Ranger4s. Sent by Lyrie's dad to bring her home safe to keep her under wraps until this whole thing blows over.

They want a live captured Lyrie, the money wouldn't hurt either.

Then town guard -

Guards:

A fighter 6 and bunch of warrior2s.

They want everything, best ending is they get the drugs and the money, and everyone else is dead.

Then a few complications lurking -

Complications:

- Gustavos Hirdman's new wife is one of Xanesha's alter egos.
- The first thing the PCs did in town is to contact Ironbriar and tell him all about Aldren - Ironbriar knows who they are and where in town they are staying.
- One of the PCs was researching the murders around town for the last three days with a Skinsaw Cultist as his guide.

[the Lorax]

I got to (mostly) complete the situation.

I used (a slightly opened up version, added about 10' and combined A7+A8) of the fishery from The Edge of Anarchy for the map, a little larger, but mostly the same.

Note on Lyrie:

As I had made her a sorcerer (more befitting someone who was trained by Xanesha), Lyrie was written up as a Sorcerer 6 - with pretty much every group having an interest in dropping her, I thought it would work out, turns out that letting her be a sorcerer 6 with fireball may have made things a bit easier than I needed, should have used more mooks with better ranged options.

Brief overview of frenzied competing faction combat:

Lyrie, the PCs and three War 1 lackeys arrive at the place, I let Lyrie position her lackeys, give the players the chance to explore (they decline).

First encountered the Buyer. His Chemist noted the diluted nature of the drugs, at which point the victim's gang showed up - "LYRIE! What did you do to MY DRUGS?!?"

Confused gang warfare opens up. Lots of flanking and Sneak Attacks.
Lyrie drops a Fireball, most of the mooks drop.

The victim's gang's snipers use light crossbows to ding who they can, one is at the door, the other is covering from the roof of a nearby wharehouse, both end up surviving, and escaping with the drugs and the corpse of their boss.

The cultists show up and start to move along intent on getting to Lyrie. The bounty hunters sent by her father arrived with the same intent. The player's were left saying "WTF" and "who the heck are THESE guys" repeatedly. Most people had little chance to run, because in the feeding frenzy of this combat, those who became weak were finished off quickly.

When the guards finally busted in (from the front door) Lyrie dropped her last fireball on the group of them, the PCs "this chick really is CRAZY", and drawing an arrow shot from one of the PCs, which dropped her.

One PC hadn't been privy to all the the Lyrie/Party interaction. He had been researching the murders around town with the aid of a guide supplied by...IRONBRIAR - who just tried to gather as much information as he could. He'd made a deal with Lyrie's dad to try to recover Lyrie.
There was some brief argument over what to do with Lyrie, but she was stablized and left in the fishery with the last few town guards. Everyone was using whatever means of escape that they could...

Three PCs went back to the inn that Ironbriar had suggested - the first one getting back in time find the horror show of murders that were staged in their rooms - Ironbriar is pinning the "star murders" on them the scatter to the winds.

The when the live but out Lyrie to brought in, guard captain there knows that the best reward for Lyrie is being offered by Gustavos Hirdman (and encouraged by his "wife" Xanesha). For Lyrie its a good thing that she doesn't get brought to father until the middle of the night when X is not there - Lyrie know the score at her father's house, and uses her pre-planned escape spells still left to run.

The PCs had no plan for a meeting point, and things became a bit messy as the party was too skittish to stick their heads out, and didn't trust to venture to any place they had been. Lyrie SHOULD have set a rendezvous point if things went south since the players didn't, but I didn't think of it until later - it led to a too long span of time spent at the table with people trying to reconnect, with EVERY PLAYER on his own.

All in all the Lyrie Scenario has led to about 2 and a half good sessions, and the players are half debating trying to reconnect with her, as she knows just enough pieces of the assorted puzzles to maybe save their behinds...or maybe get them arrested and executed as the "Star Murderers". I had a lot of fun with it as a DM, and my players were pretty good at picking out who was what.

They did get away with the buyer's money, but not much else besides being fugitives from the law.

Another note, they decided to try to arrange a landmark as a meeting point - selecting Underbridge, the Shadow Clock Tower seems likely to be the tallest building and was selected as their future emergency gathering point.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Awesome.

Seriously, this is about the best thing that can happen on these forums AFAIC. You put an idea out there, and someone picks it up -- and bends it and plays with it and makes it better, and then has fun with it. This just makes me really happy.

-- Did you use the "Lyrie is attracted to one PC / dislikes and is obnoxious to another" thing?

Also, don't be afraid to play the pity card. Lyrie's lower lip trembles... "I, I just want to live! I just want to... go home!" Depending on what sort of campaign you're running, she might even be sincere.

Let us know how it wraps!

Doug M.

[the Lorax]

I agree - that's why I started a thread about NPCs people have added to the AP, just to share (and swipe) other peoples ideas.

I didn't play up the "especially obnoxious to one person", and instead just made her generally obnoxious, as a sorcerer (with a high charisma) I to think I got across a good balance of "psycho", "generally obnoxious" and still useful.

I also didn't play up the "attracted" aspect as much as "bored", "dislike of being cooped up", and "I'm a drug addict who likes to get high and freaky"

Oh the pity card totally would have been played if I could have, and in this game, she would totally be sincere, the small changes to the background and drivers for this situation make in particularly important for it to be so.

We'll see how it all pans out.

[the Lorax]

What's been really funny is that the party could actually really use Lyrie as an ally, their casting powers are not so hot.

Lyrie has trying to find them, but not having much luck as of yet, they've been hiding out from the fallout of the end of Skinsaw until their legal situation clears up, I figger after all that time, she's gotten impatient and has gone to Sandpoint to try to catch up to them - they still do have "her money" from drug deal.

Pretty much EVERY session since the drug deal gone sour has ended in an discussion between the players with some advocating trying to recruit her and some saying "HELL NO, SHE'S CRAZY AND A DRUGGIE!" The situation continues to entertain, even if I haven't gotten to play her.

[muklowd]

This is very cool - my players are currently holed up in one of the towers of the main keep on Thistletop - so they will doubtless be meeting Lyrie very soon. If she should happen to survive that encounter I will definitely keep this in mind for a possible future encounter :)

thanks for sharing

[the Lorax]

I realized that I never followed up here - and Thanks Doug for the idea of the Lyrie Scenario.

My plan was to send the PCs to Turtleback Ferry twice - once right after Skinsaw, and then again later to actually start Hook Mountain.

The first trip involved escorting some convicts up to Turtleback Ferry with some of the Black Arrows - I have the full story posted on the forums in another thread - Then let them go home for a few weeks, then let them get sent BACK to TBF.

It worked well - it let people see the Paradise in operation, I was very happy with it as a plan.

Part of the activity back home in Sandpoint was the reappearance of Lyrie - looking for her money from the drug deal. She found her playmate and hung out with him for a day or so before the rest of the party showed up.

The other PLAYERS did not know that Lyrie had returned/shown up - the interaction with the one player happened away from the table. The other players where not thrilled to see Lyrie ("Oh man this crazy 8*+3# again?")

Lyrie left to let them talk things over and turned invisible to spy on their conversation - which involved talks about having to kill her or arrest her and bring her back to Magnimar.

She stayed with them just long enough to collect her money and left.

While I don't intend to bring her back anytime within the regular framework of the campaign, if the PCs do go to check on any of the other external subplots, they may just see her again.

It was a shame it ended with a whimper, and not a BANG - perhaps I should have had her get all enraged with the PCs when they were talking over what to do with her and had her go all Fireball crazy on them, but my mindset was that her primary goal was still to get her money and leave the area.

If I did it again, things would have gotten explody.

[Joey Virtue]

This looks like a lot of fun. We shall see if she survives to run this.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Glad you have enjoyed it! And after all -- there's no reason she couldn't level up and appear once more. I think she works as a recurring nuisance/distraction better than as a menace, but season to taste.

Doug M.

[CorvusMask]

Huh, cool to see old threads with interesting scenarios from years ago still being read. Still, I have my confusion to this idea... Like

Why would wizard become a drug dealer? .-. I mean, sure she is out of options, but she went from murdering pathfinder initiates/writing thesis to researching way to release a barghest to drug dealing? xD

I'm not even sure why Karzoug's forces would want to eliminate her, Karzoug doesn't even know Nualia exists because Nualia is Xanesha's pet project. Nualia doesn't even know name of Xanesha...

Also, confused by serial killer/murderer/assasin cult would hire another assassin cult to help with minor loose end .-.

Then again, I guess I don't have much of imagination. One of players in my group is a bounty hunter, so I just had there be "Wanted alive" bounty for Lyrie and Orik, because killing them would just be easy plus Lyrie is suspected for murder and Orik is target of vendetta, so them being wanted alive made sense to me. (wanted dead for Bruthazmus since who would want him alive)

If they are captured alive, I'm not going to have them break out of prison(since I think that is just punishing players for not coup de gracing unless there is good logical reason for someone breaking them out or them being able to get out themselves. I'm not having Tsuto break out(they color spray'd him) for example for same reason, unless they take so long with Thistletop that someone from there realizes he is captured and bothers doing rescue mission), I think guards are competent enough to not let wizard have her wizard things. (On other example, if they capture Nualia, I might have Ironbriar let her out since that makes sense. Unless he figures out "You failed so I'm not going to rescue you" villain thing)

[the Lorax]

CorvusMask wrote:

1. Why would wizard become a drug dealer?

2. Why Karzoug's forces would want to eliminate her, Karzoug doesn't even know Nualia exists because Nualia is Xanesha's pet project. Nualia doesn't even know name of Xanesha...

3. Why would a serial killer/murderer/assasin cult hire another assassin cult to help with minor loose end .-.?

I can answer all of those questions at least for how I ran it.

1. She wasn't a real drug dealer, she's a Chaotic Evil drug USER who also happens to be a spell caster who saw a way to steal a bunch of drugs, and did so. She stashed half of the drugs, and cut the other half with inert material to resell, and let leak that she had stolen X amount of drugs and that she was looking to unload it. Lyrie hooked up with Naulia via a hippie sex and drug cult being run by Xanesha on the side. Lyrie is a terrible drug dealer actually, about as good as Archer.

2. Karzoug's Forces have nothing to do with eliminating Lyrie - Ironbriar does. Ironbriar was breaking up the sex and drug cult in actual pursuit of his job as a Justice when he ran into Xanesha. Ironbriar knows that Lyrie knows all about Xanesha, as believes that Lyrie has gone to the PCs to inform them about the involvement of Xanesha & Ironbriar with Aldren Foxglove. Xanesha (and to a lesser extant Lyrie) were projects of Xanesha before Ironbriar - for my campaign, Lyrie and Naulia were knowledgeable of the true nature of Xanesha.

3. Ironbriar isn't hireing anyone, he's sending some of his own cultists - extra cultists that I added for this event, but his own cultists none the less.

[CorvusMask]

I meant how hit team as written in OP has two red mantis assassins' in it <_<

Also, if Nualia knows about Xanesha, then wouldn't players learn that information from Nualia's journal? .-.

[the Lorax]

Ah the Red Mantis Assassins.
I didn't use them, for kind of the same reason you point out. I didn't remember that they were even in Doug's original version until you pointed it out.

Yeah, I'm running this in my home brew, so I have to to lots of renaming and and hammering on things to make them fit, I didn't use that part that way, and just made a group of cultists, though I wish I'd have added a Faceless Stalker to the mix of the cultist group.

As for Naulia's Journal, I gave my players about a 10 page handout of exerpts for Naulia's journal - which was unfortunately I bit ripped up.
However The Mistress of Nature's Pagan Forms was mentioned in a few entries, and it does mention the cult that Lyrie, Naulia and Xanesha were involved in. There was a lot of foreshadowing information in that journal which could provide some extra background story for some things for come all the way through to Hook Mountain. My players kept going back to look at it from time to time to see if they could find more information. There's still stuff in there that could point out some potential plot lines that I haven't used yet and may not. The whole "Lyrie is a failed applicant of the Pathfinders" story is a element that I tossed - no "Pathfinders" or something analogous in my home brew.

I knew from the before the start of the campaign that I wanted to potentially use the Lyrie Scenario, so I built in story elements and background plotlines to support it. if nothing came of it because Lyrie died, well then, they'd have questions and nobody to explain the answers.

[Douglas Muir 406]

I used Red Mantis assassins in the OP because RMAs are cool. And hey, they're *assassins* -- killers for hire. They're being paid to do a job.

And yes, Lyrie is more a drug user than dealer in my scenario. Her current supply of drugs is a one-off; how she got it is deliberately not specified, feel free to splice in your own backstory. And she plans to promptly dispose of it for fast cash to flee the city.

Doug M.

[Douglas Muir 406]

I'm actually running this now with my group. Just got started. Lyrie has already hooked up with one PC and is annoying the others. Everyone goes shopping next session...

Doug M.

[Roycilo]

My new game starts soon, and I've been looking for a few side quests to spice things up. I'm absolutely going to use this, thanks for posting it!

[GinoA]

My party tied her up and locked her in the "stable" upstairs. She and the cat both dropped 19+ natural rolls and escaped.

I'm planning to have her blame them for Tsuto hanging himself in jail and re-appear. I was just thinking last night that I should put together a one-off for her. Will be saving this for later.

Thanks.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Yup, my party tied her up too. But then of course they couldn't stop -- they took all her stuff as well. And then they got the clever-clever idea of INVITING everyone who was after her to the rendezvous. "Because then they'll all fight each other!"

The survivor was the one who announced early, and repeatedly, that he was running away.

Doug M.

[the Lorax]

See, they totally should have allied with Lyrie.

[CorvusMask]

Just to note, just because its cool doesn't mean it makes sense or is a good idea <_< Especially since don't Red Mantis have "Don't stop until target is dead" mentality iirc?

[Story Archer]

Just throwing this out...

In our campaign Lyrie was Nualia's lover and fanatically devoted to her while Tsuto was terrified of Nualia and what she was becoming, and instead had developed a most unhealthy infatuation with his half-sister Ameiko.

During the assault on Thistletop, Orik revealed that there was a price on Lyrie's head by the local Pathfinder's Society, 500 gp dead or 1,000 gp alive. If the group allowed him to take her in for the bounty, he'd switch sides, which he did (he needed to, because my fight with Nualia was designed to be particularly brutal).

Now I had much more extensive plans for Nualia in my campaign than is written in the AP, she's a major ongoing NPC, and as such I had the 'killing blow' against her instead sever her demonic arm and cause her to fall into a coma. She was brought back to Sandpoint and kept under watch for weeks until she finally came out of it, at which time Magnimar wanted to put her on trial for the crimes she had committed up to and including the attack on Sandpoint... as for Nualia herself, she was disaffected, nihilistic and 'done with the Gods and their games', but I had given the PC's a few compelling reasons to want to keep her alive (due to my plans for her eventual redemption). They decided to try to free her en route to Magnimar for her trial and to make it look like more members of her coterie at Thistletop so that they themselves didn't become wanted by the authorities...

...ironically, Lyrie, whom had escaped the lunkhead Orik before they made it to Magnimar had been planning exactly the same thing for some time, and her raid on the guard caravan will happen in the same place and same time as the PC's planned ambush. Should make things exciting!

[Douglas Muir 406]

CorvusMask wrote:

Just to note, just because its cool doesn't mean it makes sense or is a good idea.

I have a player who gets carried away with his own cleverness sometimes. Which is fine -- but he can carry the rest of the party off too!

Doug M.

[the Lorax]

My party is finishing off the Library, working on research, and discussion about weather or not to recruit Lyrie still came up.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Necro / bump. Just wondering if anyone has used this lately.

Doug M.

[Seannoss]

Nice bump, as I'm going to try and use this in a week or two.

I'm thinking about using Orik as a go between as he survived too and he'll reach out to the PCs to try and help out his girlfriend Lyrie.

On the flipside I'm thinking Ironbriar can reach out to the PCs to remove that loose end and more directly use the excuse to remove a drug dealer or two off the streets.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Well, I guess this goes away along with First Edition. No complaints. Seven years is a pretty good run.

If there's anyone still around who played this, I'd be happy to hear how it worked out for you.

Doug M.

[Krathanos]

Oooo, that's timely! Started a new 2E Runelords campaign yesterday, totally gonna use this. Thanks for the heads-up!