After several missed games due to Easter, Mother's Day, Victoria Day (Canada) weekends, we're finally back on track.
After doing the ancestral shrine mission first, they finally completed the city events and some city exploring with the Kasai gazetteer.
I had them visit nearly every point on Kasai's map, and as usual PCs never react the way you expect them too.
They managed to make allies with the Temple of the Sun's Blade; recruited some ronin at the Sorrowful Tiger sake house for the day of battle; made dealings with the Hitsumi Gumi to help them distribute the rice from the food shortage event; the group's warrior-monk challenged the instructor of the Rising Dragon dojo (I used the lvl 15 school master NPC template) and barely won. With her last attack, she killed the instructor (way below CON negative hp limit)and became the de-facto dojo leader and had the students return the Jade Mantis's sign to her owner (which the PC accidently insulted the previous day).
They finally used the Samisen of Oracular vision to gather some info, and with the bard's ridiculously high knowledge skills and group's overall diplomacy scores, I filled in a lot of blanks on the Regent's inner circle.
The food shortage event was made with the flying asimaar paladin making a diversion outside and keeping the "pets" and guards occupied while the rest of the group used Dimension Door spells and their portable hole to fill it to the brim with rice. The Paladin nearly kicked the bucket, but managed to survive long enough to draw attention away from the storehouse. During the night the Hitsumi Gumi distributed the rice while the ninja clans made distractions around the city.
They rescued Hatsue from her execution and, with Ameiko using a "Denounce" lvl 4 bard spell, turned the crowd hostile against the Typhoon Guards. It was nice seeing the crowd getting +3 from bardic perfomances and try to pummel the Typhoon Guard. And since the Typhoon Guard commander stayed invisible and in flight, he was able to follow the group back to their base where there was night assault (with burning torches) on the compound where they ninja clans warned them just in time to escape.
I gave them their last PC level and next game we will start the final chapter and make the assault on the palace.
There will be no resting period during this time.
Things that I changed/added:
- Earlier, they made enemies of the Golden League during the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, and they had a presence in Kasai where they bribed some guards to cheaply buy some rice and resell it outside of Kasai to needy provinces for their rice tax.
- The Ulfen trader from Kasai's introduction paragraph became a genuine NPC who's ship was seized and has been stuck in Kasai for nearly two years. And since the group's half-elf bard is from the Land of the Linnorm King, they made a connection and readied the trader to protect the port.
Thing's we've noticed, now a running gag:
- Jade Eye Academy <> Jedi Academy.
Mistake I've just realized:
- Paladin smite evil doesn't fully work against onis because though they are outsiders and evil, they are not the "evil" sub-type.
Nice to see the Hitsugi Gumi in action! That was one of my inclusions in the Kasai gazetteer (in addition to actually designing the city map.) I'd just finished developing the Way of the Yakuza product by Rite Publishing, and of course, the Hitsugi Gumi are yakuza, when I was doing the writing of the gazetteer for Paizo.
Nice to see the Hitsugi Gumi in action! That was one of my inclusions in the Kasai gazetteer (in addition to actually designing the city map.) I'd just finished developing the Way of the Yakuza product by Rite Publishing, and of course, the Hitsugi Gumi are yakuza, when I was doing the writing of the gazetteer for Paizo.
I know full well the consequences of having yakuza "allies" in the long run.
Overall, the PCs have done a few actions in Kasai that will warrant a ding from their rebellion score as the Hitsumi Gumi will be all too happy to call in a favor from the new empress they helped put in place.
This week's game started later than usual, so less progress than expected.
After their safe house was burnt down, the typhoon guard was on high alert. But remaining in the Sorrowful Tiger sake house, filled with disgruntled ronin, kept the guards at bay.
They used the Samisen of Oracular Vision to gain more information about the Jade Regent's mother. It revealed that she was in an arranged marriage to the son of the magistrate Anamurumon who was soon sent away to "the peace keeping efforts" as soon as she got pregnant. On the day of Takahiro's birth, Anamurumon was present and after examining the newborn, declared him "perfect" (for looking so human). The vision then showed three years of happiness between mother and child, until Takahiro turned three and her mother fell ill. Anamurumon insisted on taking care of her daughter-in-law, but her health turned for the worse. On her death bed, Anamurumon took the heartbroken child away, and returned to dying woman where he revealed his oni third eye. Explaining how she is but one of many women across Minkai his son impregnated, but that she was the first to give him a heir that would not be seen as a monster, that she served his purpose of raising him strong enough for his needs. And that like his son, she is now a nuisance and obstacle to be rid of.
On the same day, the rebel army neared the city walls and the regent sent the palace's troops to stop them. The heroes also saw several groups of large onis flying over the walls towards the battle like those at the siege of Seinaru Heikiko that caused much devastation. The heroes knew that with those powerful onis at the war front, the palace's defense were much lower and that now was the time to attack it.
6 PC heroes and 3 NPC allies (Ameiko, Hatsue the paladin-monk and Orometsu Yasi the Ruby Phoenix Tournament fighter turned paladin cohort) are part of the team.
The first resistance came at the bridge next to the imperial market. The guard tower quickly noticed them and rained arrows on them. The heavy hitters are the asimaar paladin of Shizuru (complete with metal wings), the halfling shadow dancer and her flanking buddy elf cleric-monk-brawler-duelist (don't ask). The heavy hitters hung onto the paladin and she flew them to the roof of the guard tower. The elf could smash the roof tilings and allowing her and the halfling to drop into the tower. The paladin used the Tetsubo of the Titans to open it even further.
Meanwhile, the support group on the ground (two bards, one oracle, one dragon disciple sorcerer and the other two NPCs) got attacked by the ground patrol. The allies took heavy damage, dropping the NPCs protecting Ameiko. Still being outside the palace, the casters didn't want to burn their most powerful spells so soon.
The tower heavy hitters soon joined the fray in the most unusual way (read creative fun with no mechanical advantage). The elf jumped through the hole in the ceiling, and had enough control with her ring of Feather Fall to land near a guard harassing the sorcerer. Being trained in Panther Style, she provoked an attack of opportunity and used the occasion to disarm the guard with a "hurricane kick". The halfling squeezed through a window (escape artist) and acrobatically landed on the elf's head, in a spinning move. The asimaar paladin simply flew in the middle of everyone and channeled healing. The battle ended soon after. It was a much tougher encounter than expected. The NPCs now stand much further back.
After quick healing (and a resurrection on Hatsue), they used the Tetsubo to knock down the main gate's door and completely surprised the guards. They quickly dropped the guards so they had no chance to warn the palace with the bell tower alarm.
Since it was daytime *and* the alarm was not raised, the Monument Park encounter did not occur.
At Enperashii Bridge, the earth yai *did* know the heroes were approaching and waited invisibly for some of them to cross the bridge. At that moment, they used their swift action to try to knock some heroes off the bridge and their standard action to turn invisible again. They did it twice until they used Suishen's Purge Invisibility power, but even then the earth yai were well hidden near rocky wall. Half the group could not see them until they moved in closer to attack. Those who could see them attacked, and the paladin used her smite evil to quickly aid the closest allies to quickly dispose of them. So well that none of earth yais had a chance to retreat and use an Earthquake spell on the bridge where half the group was standing on.
Before they could even take a breather, the three closest guard towers started raining arrows on them again, and they started to run up the hill.
End of that evening's game.
Things I've changed:
- After the previous game's mistake of allowing Smite Evil to work on onis as Evil Subtype outsiders, I retroactively decided that since it's a paladin of Shizuru, and Tian-Xia's traditional BBEG are onis, her variant of Smite Evil works on onis instead of lower planes outsiders. So the Well of Demons should have been tougher. This late in the game, it's not worth it to change it back.
One game left! We're even thinking of planning a special dinner to celebrate.
Our fearless heroes were under the barrage of the palace's guard towers, so they (still under a haste spell) ran up to the main gate. The tetsubo of the titans made short work of the doors.
Then the went unexpectedly big : Mass Enlarge Person on the group. Nine characters all large for many minutes has quite an impact on battle. The clockwork golem next to the gate was suddenly within reach and quickly dropped. The now very crowded entrance had mechanical shrapnel everywhere.
Since there was no maneuvering room, the halfling rogue (now medium sized) went off to one side to quickly explore/scout the level. As the rest of group went into the main hall, the halfling quickly noticed the monks training, but being stealthy was easily ignored. That it until the elf monk/brawler walked nearby and *was* noticed. The oni monk issued a challenge, and the he and his comrades went pale as a group of very large adventurers appeared and charged them before any single combat could occur. Needless to say that the extra reach of the heroes made the fight pretty one sided.
The heroes quickly noticed there wasn't a "down" staircase and knew there was a dragon somewhere below. They easily found the hidden staircase and the secret passage below. The vault secret passage posed a problem, since it needed two simultaneous keys/disable device to bypass it. Fortunately, the sorcerer had a stone shape spell on him and shaped the dragon mouth door as if giving the impression of opening it's maw.
The trapped catwalk *did* activate as the rogue wasn't the first to go in. Fortunately, it activated on the winged asimaar paladin that had Suishen's airwalk spell on her. So basically she got shoved in empty space... and remained there. The rogue quickly found the gold vault's trap, disabled it, and found nothing else interesting in the room.
The came the Imperial Vault where a lone meditating monk was residing there. It immediately inquired about there visit, and made no secret that he was a dragon, did not like the Jade Regent, and was honor bound into not "directly" helping the heroes. He was not against mentioning the location of the imperial seals, nor that if they could get them without his knowledge, there would be no conflict. But that if any took them while he observed them, he would be obligated to use his full power on any thief.
The group knew the dragon was not evil and only fulfilling its duty, but also knew that most of their sneaky tricks or distractions would not work on him. So the strategy was for the paladin was to use his merciful weapon power on the dragon while the rest of the group would split up. The tactic worked as the dragon, even with his natural form, his dragon fear and his golden armor powers, could only attack one hero at the time, prioritizing intruders holding a seal over the paladin who was only tiring him. The rogue was the first to feel the wrath of the dragon, but with his shadow jumping ability quickly moved out of reach.
The dragon fell without much resistance, and the heroes fully acknowledged that the dragon let himself be beaten.
After quickly exploring the basement, they moved towards the second floor. The tapestry traps were quickly recognized as being too "oni like" to be ignored and quickly disabled.
They took the southern staircase and ended up near the barracks, where from afar they could hear music (and yelling). They quickly dropped the few guards present, and found the meditation chamber where the merchant daughters were kept prisoner. The jorogumo guardians tried their best with hold monster, ogre spider summoning, poison bites and web attacks, but were outmatched. Even the oracle seized control of an ogre spider and surprised their foes.
Because of the walls and music being played at the kabuki theater, it muffled the sound of battle and didn't raise an alarm.
Final game will be next week, with at most four battles (excluding the tower guards).
I'll need to seriously think about the climactic battle since it can quickly become a minor inconvenience for the heroes.
Observations:
- The halfling rogue has perception/disable devices skills so freaking high that we're joking that the PC could be in another room and still find traps/secret passages/inanimate objects by sound, and disable traps by intimidating them into disabling themselves.
- PCs are lvl 16 with above average stats (initially rolled and balanced like the highest roller). Even after adding extra baddies, extra levels on them, and maximum hit points, the heroes are bare slowed down. Though they do take a wallop from time to time, they quickly recover. This is why I'm now a supporter of point buy PC creation when doing an adventure path. Too easy for the PCs, too much work for the DM to retool every single fight.
- If I ever rerun this AP, my Brinewall treasures, which weren't particularly overpowered at low level, will be reworked into something more manageable.
I'm thinking of personally celebrating the end of the campaign by ordering the Reaper Miniature Jade Regent minis ( Sandru, Shalelu, Ameiko, Ulf, Jade Regent) as souvenirs.
I could've ordered the Jade Regent ages ago to use him in the final battle. But knowing the PCs, they might concentrate fire on him and kill him within three rounds, so not much use for such a nice mini.
Not much use for Jade Regent, but perhaps any future excursions into Minkai, or perhaps a delve into the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG) and The Curse of the Golden Spear trilogy, if the mood strikes you.
It is done! All hail Empress Ameiko of the Distant Sun!
Being the final game, we went to the asian market for munchies, we bought some rice crackers, wasabi dried peas, coconut flavored soy milk and soy pudding.
The final battles turned out to be... surprising.
After defeating the jorogumo guardians, they kept hearing the music and yelling in the main theater, though even with the background noise, the chief commander (advanced ogre mage/inquisitor 8) noticed their presence as they neared. The onis won initiative and prepared their spells (True Strike) and took to the air, the heroes countered with a dispel magic which dropped them to ground level and the monk dashed in to "unload" the True Strikes with AoOs (she has Lunge and Panther Style to help her). There were enough bards on each side to counter any morale boosts
As the rest of the group approached, the leader oni used her Litany of Eloquence to fascinate the monk and her Gentle Rest touch power (Repose domain) to stagger the paladin. Things looked bad as the other onis (inquisitors 4) ignored the monk and gathered around paladin. By the following round, though staggered, the paladin used her own Litany of Defense to boost her AC and at the same time protecting her from other Litany spells. The monk got "unfascinated" when the group's bard shot a crossbow in her direction. From that moment, the onis wasted a few of their Litany spells on the paladin and fell one by one as the rest of the group piled on the attacks and liberated the prisoners (whom they told to go hide in the broom closet).
The heroes then went to the dining hall where typhoon guards were sitting and eating with their commander (suddenly nicknamed Baron Harkonnen). The heroes attacked at range several of the onis, while the paladin charged one. While onis attacked at range, save for the one with the paladin, the leader continued to eat and cast a few spells: charm monster (failed), darkness (countered by living helmet Helgarval).
It's during this fight that the monk decided to test a few abilities. With her lunge feat, she neared an archer oni and used the Steal combat maneuver to remove his katana, then his wakizachi, and tried to remove the arrows from his quiver. As the group dropped the onis and battered the commander, he changed in gaseous form and tried to escape. Sadly, the paladin managed to cleave the cloud hard enough to kill the oni as it was moving through the cracks in the wall. We had a picture of toothpaste being squirted out as it turned back into solid form inside the wall.
They ignored the guard towers and climbed the stairs to reach the throne level. At first, when they saw the next staircase going up, the thought they still had to climb to reach the regent, but the guards on the level noticed them and attacked. After the first three guards fell, the last two rushed into the throne room where the rogue sneakily followed to realize that the BBEGs were all there.
Now this is where even more unexpected things happened.
The oracle gathered everyone around her and cast Holy Aura (AC+save boost and SR25 vs evil). They entered as a group and the guards who charged them fell promptly. Then before the regent and his group could properly act, the heroes announced all of the "treachery" they discovered (regent's mother poisoned; Renshii Meida secretly pregnant and to quietly surrender; regent's adultery with the geisha house; etc.) and all rolled very high diplomacy checks.
BBEGs are all pretty much enraged, Anamurumon takes on his oni form, initiative is rolled... they all roll poorly.
Ameiko advanced and proclaimed her rightful place as the true empress of Minkai. Hatsue stepped in front to thank her for her help but that *she* was the lost princess. The Orometsu Yasi stepped forward and announced that after her friends need not lie anymore for after so many trials she need not hide anymore and could announce that *she* is the legitimate heiress to the Jade Throne (i.e. a "I'm Spartacus" situation and all three minkaian women). And while we were at it, the kobold dragon disciple PC also proclaimed (s)he was the princess just for the heck of it, and so was the kilt wearing bard.
Paladin used her Aura of Justice to boost all allies in reach, burst of speed spell and charged Anamurumon (and crited). The rogue followed with a barrage of ranged attacks... and Anamurumon fell.
The regent and Renshii Meida were impressed and somewhat relieved to have the bothersome grandfather out of the way. Renshii Meida used her reverse gravity spell on the group at the back (then dispelled by the bard) and the regent used Karusetsu (the cutting light) to launch an arc attack at the paladin... which missed by 1. We described it as the paladin raising Suishen and splitting the arc in two.
The monk sped away behind a column and prepared her only True Strike spell.
The raven prince, in complete silence, moved in quickly from behind a column towards the paladin and easily disarmed her and threw away Suishen. The paladin shrugged as she also wore an holy amulet of mighty fists, activated another smite evil, and pummeled the ninja into oblivion.
The rogue ran towards the back of the throne, where she found the "power behind the throne". A samurai-hell knight they kept hearing about since Kalsgard that arrived about two years earlier. This particular hell knight had an ancestor in common with Renshii Meida and didn't need much convincing to support the regent as the only possible successor to the jade throne.
Then things went badly for the baddies.
The monk, with her True Strike ready and her Lunge feat safely disarmed the regent from his big sword and took it for herself. Renshii Meida used her Otherworldly Kimono launch a cloud of cherry blossom petals at the paladin (maze spell power) on the paladin, who also happened to be within reach of the oracle's Holy Aura and failed to bypass (by 1) the granted SR25. So the blossom petals fell and nothing happened.
Ameiko used her Denounce spell to call attention upon the unworthiness of the Jade Regent, and the hell knight behind them failed his saving throw, suddenly turning against the regent with the knowledge that Ameiko is also a legitimate heir.
The regent tried to regain his weapon by punching the monk (challenge against her) but she went defensive and nearly all attacks missed. Then the monk sped away with the weapon, the paladin picked up Suishen and sheathed it as the rest of the heroes *and the hell knight* surrounded the regent.
The kicker was Ameiko who Dimension Door herself on the Jade Throne and yelled "MINE!"
The regent and Renshii Meida did not need more convincing to realize that they were completely overwhelmed by the heroes. The Jade Regent removed his helmet, kneel toward the jade throne and surrendered himself to the mercy of Ameiko. Renshii Meida followed suit.
Both the regent and Renshii Meida were essentially at full hit points, but they weren't foolish enough to try fighting their way out of it.
Ameiko sensed the power of the Jade Throne and used a Calm Emotions power (area of effect: one Minkai empire) to stop the fighting and at the same time announce to the empire that she was now in charge.
Finally roleplay, roleplay, roleplay, roleplay. Heroes win!
Because of several dubious actions, like dealing with the yakuza and the death of several dojo masters of Kasai, I dropped the rebellion point total to "Success" level. Still a nice ending, but not the best ending.
Some particularities of our group:
Just so you know, all of my enemies have been at maximum HPs for a long while now, usually with extra levels. Nearly everyone in the final fight was level 19, and Anamurumon was an advanced wind yai (with 400hps), and the battles were often very short because the group is overly powerful.
Rolling stats and then adjusting the weakest rollers to have the same bonuses as the highest roller didn't seem so bad at first, but all those stat boosts kept making a bigger difference at higher levels. We had a 52 point buy equivalent!
Originally, we wanted everyone to get to lvl 20, but the more we advanced, the less possible it seemed. I had to readjust the battles constantly. More monsters meant longer battles, more powerful monsters meant fiddling with the numbers and re-check BABs, damage, saves, etc. All in all, a lot of work. And it got worse when we moved up to six players.
My Brinewall personalized loot turned out to be too powerful:
- Rogue's eye band of +5 Perception meant that nothing was secret in the end. And once in Minkai, it granted favored terrain (Minkai) as a ranger of equivalent level. Should have been +2 Perception and favored terrain as lvl 1 ranger (unless alreadyt ranger).
- Bard's copy of Tamayo's epic granted a penalty to onis who heard it equal to bards inspire courage bonus. Too much number crunching when I handle many onis. Should be grants additionnal +1 bonus to inspire courage when used against onis.
- Monk's glamered kimono +2, counted as ordinary clothes. Once in Minkai, granted dervish dance as bard of equal level with amount of performances at half level. Amount of performances should be equal to lvl 1 bard (unless bard).
Thematically, I decided that the paladin of Shiruzu's smite evil would work against onis instead of evil outsiders. Turned out to be way too powerful for the end scenario.
I ran the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, a lot of fun, but I should've stuck with one treasure instead of granting every PC a very valuable treasure (+4/5 equivalent armors with extras galore). It made most melee PCs nearly unstoppable unless I rolled a critical hit.
I was too generous with the craft wondrous item/armor/arm/etc. No real rule for creation outside of money + time = magic item. I should've enforced a more "needs fantastic components to create that aren't available to a traveling caravan" rule.
My d20 dice rolls were ridiculously below average for over two years, and I roll openly in front of everybody.
All in all, still loads of fun (caravan rules were dropped), but all these little extra bonuses made either too easy for the PCs or too much work as a DM to properly challenge them.
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Congratulations finishing the campaign! It's one of the best Paizo has published (although I thought book three was pretty bad and the mega-dungeon in book four was misplaced and too long and dreary).
Congratulations finishing the campaign! It's one of the best Paizo has published (although I thought book three was pretty bad and the mega-dungeon in book four was misplaced and too long and dreary).
Well done. We should finish it by end August
Thus far I have liked
5>2>1>>4>>>>>3
Combined with all the missed weekends due to birthdays, sick host(s), missing players (plural), vacations, holidays and the occasional trial of other games between modules, it took slightly over two years.
Hadn't DMed in over a decade. It felt good to be back in the seat, but at the same time I'm due for a break.
I'M FINALLY FREE! ;-)
Now to write up my android PC for a Savage Worlds Interface Zero 2.0 game.
After that... well my group always has something like three or four potential games planned with a variety of systems.
If I ever have to move away and join a new group, I wouldn't mind running a Director's Cut version of Jade Regent. With less XPs (gain a level when the adventure warrants it), but more flavorful sightseeing based on Japanese mythos and my own traveling experiences in China, Mongolia and the arctic climate of northern Canada.
A bit more about me while I'm at it:
- 42 years old french Canadian (Ontario born, Quebec resident).
- First introduction to RPGs was AD&D in my first year of high school (private catholic school for boys). Didn't play due to school bus schedule, but read the Monster Manual.
- Middle of high school I got introduced to Choose Your Own Adventure Books.
- College, late 80s-early 90s: Gaming Club (Le Hobgobelin)! Real game library. Basic D&D, AD&D, 2e AD&D and a score of other games. Early years of White Wolf games. Best years of my life as a gamer. Academically... not so much.
- University, mid-90s: Introduced to a new group. Gamed with them regularly in many campaigns (1st, 2e, 3e AD&D + Hackmaster) until a year ago.
- Late 2000s: After finishing a Hackmaster campaign, introduced to Pathfinder - Rise of the Runelords, still in 3.x D&D format.
- Moved away in 2010, still gamed with group remotely with Skype + webcam.
- 2011: met up with old friend, and got introduced to current weekly group. Several short campaigns of many game systems and settings.
- 2012: I offered to DM Pathfinder, FLGS recommended Jade Regent with style of campaign. Six players, group age between 38-43.
Now for a bit of ranting.
I just remembered some general annoyances concerning Suishen. It's just too freaking powerful. I realize that's the whole point of artifact level ancestral weapons, but still.
It's "at will" Invisibility Purge power really took a nasty bite out of the oni threat. It casts at lvl 20, lasts 20 minutes and has a 100ft radius, so a lot the onis wasted actions trying to turn invisible as they would normally do only to realize it didn't work.
The three times/day lvl 20 Air Walk spell was also an annoyance since the wielder essentially walked on air for 10 hours straight, enough for any day of adventuring.
Well done on finishing the AP! It seems like the final fight was a lot of fun, even if the BBEGs didn't have much of a chance against your powerful PCs. It's great they were able to turn some of the enemies because of what they had learned before!
I like suishen. It has kept its usefulness throughout. Normally you find an item, 4 levels later it's on the to sell list