Red Hand of Doom in Age of Worms

[Touc]

I've merged the two as I've been wanting to run my group through RHoD and AoW but didn't want two campaigns just to give them a whirl. Largely AoW can live without Blackwall Keep and Hall of Reflections with a little nudge.

First, borrowing from forums, heavier foreshadowing with use of Faceless One letters so the party knows by the end of the Ebon Triad encounter that they've routed a cult that seeks the creation of an Overgod if they can make the Age of Worms come to pass (and they're apparently close).

Next, to skip Blackwall Keep and incorporate RHoD, had Allustan contact Marzena from the swamp during "down time" to share notes. She enters town with a representative of the lizard folk. The lizard folk were betrayed by a black dragon named Ilthane that sought to make them stronger by combining eggs but instead unleashed worms into their clutch. They lost over half their tribe, and a captive taken by the garrison was infected and killed most of the soldiers there before being hacked to pieces.

The swamp is too infested to continue to be a home for the lizard folk, and the source of the worms has yet to be ascertained. Allustan proposes the following: the party goes to Elsir Vale where Eligos (I changed it to Seriteren the Wise but kept the Eligos description) now lives. Eligos is a font of arcane knowledge but was banned from the City for liberating some tomes from the royal library. [Given that my party killed Filge, Allustan will mention Eligos may be the only person still alive who would know more about these worms].

As another hook, I have Allustan's estranged daughter as Captain Soranna, who should be able to help them find Eligos. Allustan also proposes they try to negotiate compromise for the lizard folk to relocate to the swamps of Elsir Vale.

From there, it is a simple matter to run RHoD. If Eligos dies, there is Immerstal the Red in Bristol that he may have given his notes to. Once Elsir Vale is safe, Eligos can divulge what he knows.

To hook Loris Raknian, Eligos may hint (if the party doesn't think of it) to look for anyone trying to obtain one of the scrolls/books he mentions. Given the notes they have, there is a rich patron in the City who was funding the cult. Some basic hunting turns up Loris Raknian and the hook develops to enter the party into the games to get some concrete evidence and find out what else the Ebon Triad is up to. Buff that adventure up a level (given the party should be 10th level after RHod) and we're back on track.

[Shadowwalker]

Nice I like the way you hooked this up congrats

[Touc]

As an update, I love one of the primary hooks from the Hall of Harsh Reflections and incorporated it into RHoD.

Spoiler:

Miha Serani, the shapechanging spy from RHoD, is a "go where it takes you" encounter. So, I took it where AoW went with replacing a character with a shapechanger. Avoided the framing for murder as there aren't enough days to deal with that much of a side encounter when the campaign is about strategic missions to weaken the enemy before they arrive at the gates. She took over once the party had obtained a big victory against one of the Wyrmlords, wherein they obtained a phylactery of a lich being blackmailed by the Horde to help them. She decided to encourage them to seek the lich so the garrison in the lair could retake the phylactery. A dangerous proposition but she couldn't get a powerful enough force to intercept the mobile party on short notice.

[Ozreth]

Touc wrote:

As an update, I love one of the primary hooks from the Hall of Harsh Reflections and incorporated it into RHoD. ** spoiler omitted **

How did this campaign end up?