Courts of the Shadow Fey

[pennywit]

Has anybody tried running Courts of the Shadow Fey? I'm thinking of dropping it in Drelev, Mivon, or Restov as a longish story arc for my players' secondary characters.

[Erik Freund]

Yes, I did this quite thoroughly over the last year.

I kicked off the events similar to how it is presented in that module. Shadow Fey showed up to their capital city, acting like they had taken over, etc. Did the whole conflict with the Hidden Ambassador, etc.

Then they accessed the courts via the lantern ritual: which is to say, I put the Courts in another dimension.

Lots of fun was had at the courts. My players *loved* the ability to will people out of existence that were below them in rank. They climbed the ladders of prestige, going through Winter Court, then Summer Court, did the feast, the hunt for the firebird, the full nine yards. It was great! I did severely reduce the hedgemaze and moonlit tower parts though, as I had a different use for the King. (see below)

What it also gave me the opportunity to do was create some good, findable backstory for Nyrissa. I took a cue from Akyshigal's (the roachlord) agenda. I said that in the past, Nyrissa was a courtier that rose up the ranks of the courts, and eventually caught the eye of the Moonlit King. The King was deeply in love with her, and was prepared to divorce the Queen and marry Nyrissa instead. This, of course, drove the Queen to great jealousy, and it was *she* who ripped out Nyrissa's capacity for love and cast it into the material world (as Briar).

So while the PCs are rising up the ranks of the Shadow Courts, they can learn about "the last courtesan of the King" and otherwise get to know Nyrissa ahead of time. At least, that's how I used it.

What's your goal with including the mod?

[pennywit]

I'm running a Mythic Kingmaker campaign. My players have two sets of characters -- a group of mythic characters who rule the kingdom, and a group of normal (15-point buy) characters who live and adventure in it. The mythic characters just finished Varnhold Vanishing. The mythic characters will likely spend the next few sessions involved in kingdom-building, so I'd like to run something parallel to it with the "normal" characters, who are around level 6-7 now. Shadow Fey caught my attention because it ties rather well with the fey themes of the AP.

I haven't downloaded the thing yet, so I haven't read it ... but I like your idea of weaving in Nyrissa's story. I've foreshadowed Nyrissa a couple times with the title "Lady of Dreams," and with a mention that Rhoswen (of Fellnight) has a mother. I like the description of the Shadow Courts ... and I LOVE the idea that we can tie Nyrissa into it. After your narrative here, I'm playing with the idea that the secondary characters get sent to Drelev as guards or something similar for a diplomatic mission ... and they get sucked into dealing with the Shadow Court. It would be a nice way to tie the secondary characters' adventures to the main narrative.

Also thinking of adapting a Dungeon Crawl Classic module from Goodman Games. I think that after several sessions of mass combat and kingdom-to-kingdom diplomacy, my players might be itching for a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl.

[Harley Quinn X]

I am currently running a Kingmaker campaign that I'm incorporating Courts of the Shadow Fey into. The party is currently about 1/4 of the way through Varnhold Vanishing. I'm intending to incorporate it over the long-term, instead of being a shorter, straight-through romp. Players have definitely gotten the hint that fey influence is playing heavily in the Stolen Lands, and this will serve as a bit of misdirection and foreshadowing at the same time.

I am using it to set up Nyrissa as well, but sticking a bit to the planned Kingmaker story line. There's no King my court, as the Queen hopes that merging an entire Fey plane onto the Material plane would surely draw out Count Ranalc's favor. The PCs have already seen some signs of the merger; shadow fey walking about, "edicts" from the queen, and that sort of thing. They'll see larger signs of this as they explore the Nomen Highlands. Being the jealous one she is, Nyrissa had set plans in motion to rip away the Stolen Lands from the Queen, because if she can't have Count Ranalc, no one can. The Stolen Lands will eventually get caught in a tug-of-war between Ranalc's would-be lovers. Nyrissa will drive off the queen of the Shadow Fey behind the scenes, but she'll continue to try to pull the Stolen Lands into her control.

[pennywit]

My problem is that I've been running KM for a little under two years now, and I didn't see Shadow Fey until yesterday.

[pennywit]

Actually, the more I read about this module, the more I think it would be a good replacement (with adaptations) for Blood for Blood for my players' mythic characters. I'd find something else (probably a Dungeon Crawl Classic) to move my players' secondary characters up to a good level, then the secondary characters could explore the Blood for Blood areas (and perhaps get enmeshed in Fort Drelev politics), while the Courts of the Shadow Fey becomes part of the mythic arc.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

[pennywit]

Here is my initial thought:

I think that I'm going to set Shadow Fey in Fort Drelev, and do away with a lot of the Fort Drelev plot from Blood for Blood. I haven't decided how, exactly, to do this, but here's where my ideas start:

Now that Vordakai is out of the way, the PCs are heroes and legends. Women want them, men want to be them, and things are good for the Kingdom. Over the next few years, they're going to have a chance for a Golden Age, wherein the kingdom grows peacefully and, apart from some diplomatic contretemps with the Kobold Kingdom of Sootscale, there will be peace until it's time for a new adventure.

Meanwhile, in Drelev, a couple members of the Drelev family are going to be assassinated by agents of the Gyronna hags (or perhaps Pitax). I haven't decided yet). Once this happens, it will turn out that Hans Drelev, once harried by fairies, cut a deal with the Shadow Court of Fey, allowing him to rule over Lake Hooktongue and its environs as long as his line should survive ... and his line has failed.

With that, the Shadow Court enters this realm to assert control over Drelev. But who are they?

I'm thinking that Queen Sarastra (style Queen of Night and Magic) is a second daughter of Nyrissa. Long ago, her mother, seeking favor with count Ranalc, betrothed her to the Moonlit King (himself a descendant of Ranalc). But ... events happened. Meanwhile, Sarastra found herself trapped in marriage (and service) to the mad Moonlit King. Sarastra wishes to break free from that marriage (and service) and use the Shadow Court's power to support her mother's coming bid to capture the Stolen Lands.

Sarastra hopes to use the PCs as her catspaws. If they slay the Moonlit King, she will gain the power of his court for her own, and she will have Fort Drelev as her own plaything. If the players convince the Moonlit King to relinquish his claim on Drelev, then the Shadow Realm will be sealed off from the Stolen Lands once more, and Nyrissa will lack an ally in her future machinations.

Meanwhile, I'll leave the Tiger Lord Barbarians as part of Blood for Blood as a military threat, and possibly include Armag the Twice-Bordn as a foe, but I'm going to do away with the Ovinnrbaane plot and with Armag as a BBEG. After Vordakai, Armag seems a little anticlimactic.

[Brother Fen]

I'm about to finish running Courts of the Shadow Fey as a part of our ongoing campaign. It's pretty much the equivalent of two adventure path sections, so I'd be careful wedging it into Kingmaker as it will take up a lot of room.

[Gargs454]

Just curious how this has worked out for others, and how easily it could be adjusted up a few levels? I'm asking because my party just killed Vordakai and I'm looking for something to toss in before Blood for Blood. Main reason being that my party is pretty much done with the whole hexploration thing. They didn't really do it in VV, and I can't say I blame them. I have already run much of Felnight, so this does feel like it could mesh in fairly easy -- even if I lop off big chunks. Might be good to use to get them up at least one level to 11 before sending them to Drelev, then assuming they clear Drelev, they can be 12 when they go after Armag.

[Brother Fen]

It's easy enough to adjust the CR by adding more creatures. The main problem with using it in Kingmaker without dropping another book entirely is that it's not a one-shot. It's a rather involved sandbox which can take up quite a bit of time. At a weekly, then bi-weekly pace, I think it took me about 18 months to run the adventure in its entirety, but I did not skip anything and ran every possible scenario involved.

A good GM could probably speed it up by changing the status rewards/penalties, but it will take some work to modify.

[Gargs454]

Brother Fen wrote:

It's easy enough to adjust the CR by adding more creatures. The main problem with using it in Kingmaker without dropping another book entirely is that it's not a one-shot. It's a rather involved sandbox which can take up quite a bit of time. At a weekly, then bi-weekly pace, I think it took me about 18 months to run the adventure in its entirety, but I did not skip anything and ran every possible scenario involved.

A good GM could probably speed it up by changing the status rewards/penalties, but it will take some work to modify.

Thanks for the quick response. I doubt I would run it in its entirety, though I don't mind running a chunk of it since I figure a lot of B4B will be essentially cut by the players. It also sounds like a nice change of pace after the dungeon crawl at the end of VV and what will more or less amount to dungeon crawls in Drelev and Armag's Tomb. Looks like I'll give it a good read through and see what can easily be plucked. Our group tends to progress pretty slowly anyway given that we do a lot of "beer and pretzels" and then miss a number of sessions due to our assorted schedules.

[Brother Fen]

It breaks down into about four parts.

Part one involves learning of the shadow fey problem as they take over Zobeck which you can switch with a city of your choice.

Part two is the shortest and involves making the journey through the shadow road to the courts of the shadow fey.

Part three involves the PC's arrival at the court and their slow rise in status through dueling and alliances.

Part four involves the feast, the firebird chase and petitioning the queen.

The final section which is an extension of the previous one involves confronting the Moonlit King.

Some parts can be left out relatively easily, but part three can be rather time-consuming as it may take some trial and error as the PCs get caught up in courtly intrigue and try to raise their status enough to gain an audience with the queen.

[Gargs454]

Brother Fen wrote:

It breaks down into about four parts.

Part one involves learning of the shadow fey problem as they take over Zobeck which you can switch with a city of your choice.

Part two is the shortest and involves making the journey through the shadow road to the courts of the shadow fey.

Part three involves the PC's arrival at the court and their slow rise in status through dueling and alliances.

Part four involves the feast, the firebird chase and petitioning the queen.

The final section which is an extension of the previous one involves confronting the Moonlit King.

Some parts can be left out relatively easily, but part three can be rather time-consuming as it may take some trial and error as the PCs get caught up in courtly intrigue and try to raise their status enough to gain an audience with the queen.

Good to know, thanks! I'll be downloading this shortly and giving it a read through. Might need to get a bit creative and/or streamline, but definitely sounds interesting. Fortunately I have some time to figure it out. We're missing our next, biweekly session and the party just knocked off V so there's going to be probably at least a session or two of dealing with the fallout (they are still in the throne room since we ended with the monk plucking out his own eye) and then kingdom building. In the end, I am looking for something to fit in between VV and B4B just because I know the party will be skipping much of the B4B, but I will report back on what I figure out!