This is the campaign that I am running with my tabletop group that the following thread was created to facilitate: Preparation-for-WOTR-Campaign
There will be SPOILERS! You have now been warned in the title and in the body of the first message.
Let me precursor this journal with the following statement: I love Paizo products and APs (they have some of the best stories available! I've followed them ever since Age of Worms in Dungeon and James Jacobs work with the Red Hand of Doom), but I have some issues with the Pathfinder system which are the same issues I had with the original 3era system, but that is neither here or there. I won't respond to any messages about that.
This campaign is an experiment in that it uses the Paizo modules to run a storyline in an OSR game. We are currently playing through The Demon Within using ACK (Adventurer Conqueror King) but have decided to move to something with a more solid foundation. We will be picking up our old 2nd Edition books for Wrath of the Righteous.
This game does not take place in Golarion, it is an amalgamation of several worlds and several campaigns. It is using the same world I have used off-and-on for over 10 years. Just so happens that during the Red Hand of Doom campaign that I ran in this world (2006) one of the players created a kingdom for the background of his Paladin with a similar area to the Worldwound. I have now borrowed the material from the Worldwound guide and the name from Wizards (The Chaos Scar) to fill out this area for the campaign. It formally used the old Greyhawk gods (or the stock 3.5 gods you could say) and an attempt at a custom pantheon, but has since "borrowed" the gods from Faerun.
Now let us begin the Tales of the Crusade...
The Kingdom of Halstein, ruled for centuries by the powerful (but cursed) Evershield family, perhaps arguably one of the most powerful Kingdoms on the continent rivaling even the ancient draconic empire of Arkhosia in the north. Though most of its military might is arrayed along the northwestern border that neighbors the nefarious Chaos Scar.
It was upon this border in the walled town of Kenabres that sat two miles from the ancient fortress of Saint Clydwell, the focal point of Halstein's defense against the Chaos Scar, that a celebration and ceremony to rise another Paladin to the status of Holy Sentinel. The Order of Holy Sentinel were responsible for the vigil that kept the ancient artifact that powered the Wardstones active.
Something went horribly wrong...
Evander Evershield, King of Halstein, Human Paladin 8
Saint Sarah, the Living Saint, Human Priestess 8
Stonefist Rockhammer, Dwarven Vaultguard 7
Lacetor, Human Cleric 7
???, Human Wizard 7
The Barbarian, Human Barbarian 7
Max, Human Assassin 7
Human Fighter 7
The ceremony was crashed by a group of dretches, a pair of Vrocks, and a glabrezu disguised as the future Sentinel. This event was the start of a demon assault upon Saint Clydwell Keep... the heroes rushed to the aid of the keep using the ancient tunnels that ran beneath Saint Clydwell's Grand Cathedral. They fought their way through many demons until they managed to rescue a sizable force of Paladins from the dungeons along with one of the Holy Sentinels. The Sentinel lead the paladins to one of the holy crypts to regroup, heal from the statue, and re-equip while the heroes continued their push towards the Chamber of the Demonscope for the entire defense of the Chaos Scar came crumbling around them leaving the Paladins to cover their flank and deal with any remaining demons or reinforcements.
Between Sword & Wizardry and Adventure Conqueror King I have been able to cobble together enough material on the various demons in The Demon Within module to run the game. We are 3 sessions in... and they cut a bee-line to the Keep Proper as soon as they were out in the open. While the module is designed for level 11 characters in 3.5 D&D... ACK only has 14 levels of experience so I figured that was about 7-8th level. It has been a bit of a struggle, but nothing they have been unable to overcome via strategy (and the struggle may be from their horrible dice rolls which I have no power to control!). They are just rooms away from the end of the module having rescued the Paladins from the dungeon.
Evander & Sarah are 8th level because they are returning characters from a previous campaign (Red Hand of Doom) played by returning players from that campaign too!
The Demon Within module is being ran as the prologue to Wrath.
All in all it was a fun experiment but we decided to side-grade to AD&D 2E for Wrath.
If anyone is interested... the Evershield family is plagued with tragedy. While they have ruled with strength and honor... for every King that has made it to the age of fifty they have started to slip into insanity becoming possessed by the fear of death. The reason remains unknown, but Evander's father led a Crusade into the Chaos Scar in a fit of insanity 30 years ago that resulted in him becoming a Death Knight. Evander rushed back to Helstein to defeat him after the events of Red Hand of Doom. Evander is rapidly approaching that age (and will be the stand-in for Queen Galfrey in the upcoming Wrath Campaign).
Jeremiah the Barbarian (played by my six year old) - Human Barbarian
Artyam - Human Fighter
Max - Human Assassin
Stonefist Rockhammer - Dwarf Vaultguard
Knibar of the Blue Arc - Human Mage
Evander Everfield - Human Paladin
Lactor Friggen - Human Cleric
The Living Saint Sarah - Human Priest
The party was ambushed by Succubus that they thought were Knights, though they begrudgingly had accepted their excuses for awhile as the Paladin and Barbarian went to investigate the sealed door. It wasn't until the Cleric grew overly suspicious that a Detect Evil was finally used to reveal their nature.
The Succubus attacked the moment the cleric screamed out his warnings. Trapping the Paladin and Barbarian behind enemy lines (or performed a pincer attack... considering the Succubus bite the dust I'd swing for the pincer attack). They found Sir Holton in the following room... they was an exchange where they berated Sir Holton for being an idiot but forgiving him. They gave him a chance at redemption and brought him along for the rest of the ride.
They finally managed to reach the outer sanctum of the Demonscope as it was being assaulted by 6 dretches manning a battering ram. A lesser Nabasu and 2 Demonic Knights stood guard over them... The party rushed the Knights as the Nabasu launched himself over the group in order to harass the Paladin. Much to the surprise of the party... one of the demonic knights was none other than Evander's father returned from Hell. As the two battled it out... the Demonic Knight Adamant encased the Nabasu in Wall of Ice after it continued to interfere in the fight between Evander and him. They finally managed to defeat the two Demonic Knights and scattered the remaining dretches.
Finally they made it into the Chamber of the Demonscope where they found the last Holy Sentinel. He had been driven insane by Goliath, the Balor in the Demonscope. The party barely managed to restore his sanity to get the correct bone shards together as Goliath had pulled his way out of the Demonscope. Throwing the bone shards in their place as the Demonscope tried to claim the escaped Balor as it was pulled back under he dragged Evander into the Demonscope with his whip... The Demonscope exploded... the party heard trumpets as the world went white.
After the ringing cleared out and the world returned they discovered they had been protected by a Solar who shielded them from the explosion of the Demonscope which left Saint Clywell Keep in ruin. Though the Solar pulled Evander from the remains of the Demonscope it offered him only a sad expression.
"I raised you from perdition, but the things you have endured within the Demonscope. Even a minute in hell is an eternity that can't be unseen for that I am sorry. While the Demonscope has been destroyed not all is lost."
The Solar also offered them advice on maintaining the remaining Wardstones with the lost of the Demonscope though holy vigils much as the Order of the Holy Sentinel had done with the Demonscope.
Thus ended the prologue to Tales of the Crusade wherein the party managed to save Kenebres, but at the cost of the Demonscope. (Though unknown to them the Wardstone in Kenabres (being the closest) was damaged by the destruction of the Demonscope).
Contained within are spoilers for Scars of the Third Crusade. You have been warned...
Set five years after the events of The Demon Within; a new group of individuals recently signed onto the growing forces of the Crusade. Though the Wardstones against the Chaos Scar remain active they do not have the same strength as they previously had. The efforts of the priests and the devoted is the last line of defense against the demonic hordes of the Chaos Scar as constant prayer and vigil keep the stones from falling.
King Evander Everfield has called for a new Crusade as forces begin to gather upon the border between Halstein and the Chaos Scar. Mercenaries and the faithful alike flock to the banners...
Knight-Captain Alexius, nearly crippled by the events of The Demon Within, finds himself with a new problem. Growing distrust between the citizens and the new Crusaders... rumors of cultist activities leads the Knight-Captain to send a trio of crusades to a small crossroads town where they are arrested for murder and scheduled for execution.
In order to investigate these claims the Knight-Captain must follow up with a new group of recruits. With the growing tension they are ordered to not reveal their affiliation with the Crusade until guilt can be determined against the trio of Crusaders in the town's jail.
Let's just say that the party did not prove the innocence of the Crusaders... instead they managed to start a riot after convincing the town that the sheriff was a vampire by way of illusions after assuming the entire town was a bunch of idiots because all the evidence was circumstantial at best and the inquisitor heard the "voice" of a god.
Both the sheriff and Inquisitor ended up dead in the aftermath but the party is convinced they discovered "cultist activities" which they reported to the Crusade.
The party was basically given a "Warden" (new character which was a Paladin) to be their moral compass and make sure they don't cause such big problems again and they were sent to Kenabres for the Festival...
And thus began Wrath of the Righteous
After the initial shock wore off and party began working their way through the caverns they were forced to fight quite a few carrion crawlers (my own additional for the infestation angle as opposed to the bugs being as they are also "vermin"). They cleansed the temple but failed to intervene in the argument between Hogrus and Anevia which caused Hogrus to try to sneak away despite being unarmed and ill-equipped, but the party went after him as soon as they discovered this.
They initially feared that he got grabbed by something but after there was no evidence of this... they chased him down the tunnels (he didn't get far without a light source). They convinced him to come back and that they wouldn't delay any longer than they had too.
Afterwards they got moving again and ran into another pair of carrion crawlers and a strange wizard that kept hitting them with magic from beyond the range of their torch light... finally they managed to close on the crazed dwarven wizard but he escaped with a combination of potions.
Thus ended the session... they meet again tomorrow night.