So I want to change the whole Lucky Bones scenario up a bit...
This is an awesome idea!
I kinda wish I hadn't finished my game already otherwise I'd likely use your story. (Luculla Gens giving out free treats encourages this idea too.)| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Quietly seething. Group was going in to do the Varl Wex fight, and I had to remind them about the aid another rule because there was no way they could make a lot of those perception checks (most of the party decided for some obscure reason to all dump wisdom bar the ranger and psychic). And then Wex arrived, realised they were there, snuck in through the window, and nearly got a strike on the defenceless and unaware bard... And I rolled a nat 1. And that basically set the tone of the entire fight. Any attack roles I made were natural 1s, any saves were 15+ (so our save-or-suck oracle felt useless).
It was over in 3 rounds and Wex didn't get a single hit in after I was warning them "This is a CR9 encounter and you guys are all level 5". Oh, and now the ranger has Balgorrah and doesn't seem too keen on giving it up until the value of it was mentioned.
Quietly seething. Group was going in to do the Varl Wex fight, and I had to remind them about the aid another rule because there was no way they could make a lot of those perception checks (most of the party decided for some obscure reason to all dump wisdom bar the ranger and psychic). And then Wex arrived, realised they were there, snuck in through the window, and nearly got a strike on the defenceless and unaware bard... And I rolled a nat 1. And that basically set the tone of the entire fight. Any attack roles I made were natural 1s, any saves were 15+ (so our save-or-suck oracle felt useless).
It was over in 3 rounds and Wex didn't get a single hit in after I was warning them "This is a CR9 encounter and you guys are all level 5". Oh, and now the ranger has Balgorrah and doesn't seem too keen on giving it up until the value of it was mentioned.
Wex is pretty darn weak for CR9. He got completely destroyed in my game too. He has almost no way to sneak attack and otherwise does pitiful damage.
If it is any comfort Wex got trounced in my game too.
I got over it several books later when a super awesome assassin got to successfully death attack.
A CR9 encounter, yes, but a sneak attacker by themselves, without room to move, against 4 PCs.
Yeah, CR-wise it should be a tough fight. I don't recall seeing anyone on here say Wex was a hard fight and most everyone saying it seemed too easy.
Same. Wex got stomped.
I remember someone talking about rebuilding him as an occultist or something similiar. If you want him to be a challenging encounter, that's not a bad idea. Or just give him slayer levels instead.
Just try to put Wex after a really hard fight as a pallet cleanser.
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I have to say, I was rather amused by the reaction of the party to learning Rexus' parents were zombified. At first they thought of using the bodies with Speak With Dead to reveal Barzillai Thrune's misdeeds, but they soon learned Speak With Dead doesn't work if someone was turned into the Undead. They considered still talking to the nobles but ended up deciding to just have Rexus bury his parents.
It was while discussing the mysterious gifts that they got (due to the Silver Ravens' rank reaching 6) which I had crafted specifically for each player (revealing details that the players had kept secret up until then) and freaking out that someone knew their secrets (I had fuuuun with that! It took up most of the evening's game! And I figured that someone willing to just spend 3,750 gold on the characters wouldn't be common folk but rather someone powerful, especially as at that point there's maybe 50 supporters among the Ravens?) that Rexus' parents were brought up again and it was the insane halfling grey paladin/rogue who said the group should save up money for Resurrection spells.
Rexus was quite touched by that. I mean, essentially they're going to restore his noble house. It'll take time. But I honestly think the PCs intend on following through with this. :)
So... yeah. I don't quite see Rexus doing a mad crazed assassination attempt on Thrune. Not when he's got friends who truly care for him and want to help him get his parents back....
I remember someone talking about rebuilding him as an occultist or something similiar. If you want him to be a challenging encounter, that's not a bad idea. Or just give him slayer levels instead.
That was me. Made him really strong. He flanked with a spiritual ally of the Professor
He was occultist / unchained rogue
Imagine - in 2E a rogue with 4 levels on the group would be brutal
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So, I thought I'd expand on the Gifts in Hell's Rebels.
When you look at the gifts, the Player's Guide states "admirers among the rebellion’s supporters supply gifts and tributes to each PC." But the initial gift of up to 1,200 gp worth of potions (for a four-player band) happens when the Silver Ravens has under 20 supporters. Likewise, a gift of 3,000 gold can occur when there's only 40 people supporting the Ravens. (Even if we said it was 50, that's still 60 gold per follower, which is more than most people see in a year's worth of work even discounting living expenses.)
So I've decided to go the "mysterious benefactor" route. Someone, some rich merchant or noble, has become interested in the core group of Silver Ravens. Further, this person has done research on the adventurers and customized each gift. Instead of just getting 750 gold pieces, I had one player (who was interested in using the spell Magic Mouth to do a form of magical graffiti to leave verbal jabs to Thrune and his supporters) be given 750 gold worth of jade dust, a honey comb, and a single dead honeybee, showing this to be recently acquired. A second player received old coinage (as she was taking levels of Profession (Merchant), had a merchant father, and was in charge of the Ravens' Merchant team and a glass eye that matched one of her eyes (she is a Changeling). And on down the line.
This truly changed things and it helped catalyze the start of Turn of the Torrent. We spent over four hours doing roleplay, and as my group is all virtual one of the players didn't even join with the others but instead went off on her own talking to HER team to try and learn what was up with her specific gift (which I won't go into details here as she never revealed anything to her party - in fact, she didn't answer when asked what she received, and implied she hadn't gotten anything). Further, the group is absolutely sure that the Wasp's Nest is being watched and is going to start seeking new lodgings due to their concern Laria might be suborned.
The group has no idea who this deep-pocketed person may be. They may be from one of the eight remaining noble houses of Kintargo, one of the wealthier merchants, an outsider, or Thrune himself playing with the characters and playing a long game for his own amusement. They don't know. Nor will they for some time to come.
Still, it makes sense in other people running Hell's Rebels to consider a similar benefactor being the one providing the Gifts for the Rebellion leadership. And eventually... that individual may have a... request for the Silver Ravens. Given how much their patron may know about the adventurers, it may very well be a request they cannot easily turn down.
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Still, it makes sense in other people running Hell's Rebels to consider a similar benefactor being the one providing the Gifts for the Rebellion leadership. And eventually... that individual may have a... request for the Silver Ravens. Given how much their patron may know about the adventurers, it may very well be a request they cannot easily turn down.
Narratively, this role should belong to Odexidie. He wants the SRs to succeed for his own reasons that they won't necessarily agree with, using methods of which they won't necessarily approve, and will want some leverage to ensure things go his way.
Still, it makes sense in other people running Hell's Rebels to consider a similar benefactor being the one providing the Gifts for the Rebellion leadership. And eventually... that individual may have a... request for the Silver Ravens. Given how much their patron may know about the adventurers, it may very well be a request they cannot easily turn down.Narratively, this role should belong to Odexidie. He wants the SRs to succeed for his own reasons that they won't necessarily agree with, using methods of which they won't necessarily approve, and will want some leverage to ensure things go his way.
Hmm. Only thing is, isn't Odexidie still in Hell? Though it would be amusing if he somehow manipulated the individual I'm having responsible for the gifts. After all, even the strong and powerful may occasionally have dealings with the infernal, even if there isn't an outright contract involved. Or even that Odexidie is offering someone under a Contract a way out, should they "do a few favours" to help bring about the completion of this bigger and more elaborate Contract. (That might work for future gifts as well, so that there's a red herring on who did the gifts.)
Thank you. I'll have to ponder this. =^-^=
I don't know about your rebels but I know the moment the group learned that the bridge toll went from 3 copper to 5 silver, there was significant outrage and an immediate discussion on how to find ways around it for the people of Kintargo including possibly starting up a subversive ferry.
I've also been hinting the dottari are being forced out and being replaced by loyalists. The old guard are grumbling and saying "I'm just doing my job, I need this job" but also whispering that Thrune called in for reinforcements. Those are going to be the level 4 and up chaps, though they're also going to be far less decent toward people.
The funny thing is? I've already set up the group so they don't want to stay under Laria's by having the dottari continue to sniff around. But it honestly makes sense that Setrona would be watched as well... so I'm not sure if they'll make much use of the Tooth and Nail. If it weren't for the increase in toll prices they'd be going to Clenchjaw's instead, though they might end up lairing in the sewers for the short term.
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I don't know about your rebels but I know the moment the group learned that the bridge toll went from 3 copper to 5 silver, there was significant outrage and an immediate discussion on how to find ways around it for the people of Kintargo including possibly starting up a subversive ferry.
Literally everyone, up to and including the adventure writers, arrives at this conclusion (though the writers don't get there until Book 4).
The funny thing is? I've already set up the group so they don't want to stay under Laria's by having the dottari continue to sniff around. But it honestly makes sense that Setrona would be watched as well... so I'm not sure if they'll make much use of the Tooth and Nail. If it weren't for the increase in toll prices they'd be going to Clenchjaw's instead, though they might end up lairing in the sewers for the short term.
Use The Three-Legged Devil. It's an established subversive safe house and people-smuggling site (check the gazetteer in In Hell's Bright Shadow) on the right side of the river, and it is criminally underused in the adventure path.
Sweet! Thanks for pointing this out to me, I'll have to build the site on Roll20! =^-^= (Fortunately I've several packs I bought with buildings and the like so I can build taverns and the like now.)
I have to say I'm surprised the tenements in the Iudeimus tenement are as spacious as they are. There should be entire families in each tenement, and multiple beds, not the cozy one-bedroom apartments we see there. Also, why no potbelly stoves or the like to cook food on and heat the rooms?
I'll have to modify the rooms a little - at the very least add stoves. And it makes sense for there to be a smell of probably peat burning, if not coal, to help heat buildings in Kintargo as the weather gets colder. That could even add character to Kintargo - it's not foggy exactly. Instead it's smoky from the cooking fires and the like which get caught in the city walls. No wonder the noble section is walled off separately! They escape the worse of the pollution that way!
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I have to say I'm surprised the tenements in the Iudeimus tenement are as spacious as they are. There should be entire families in each tenement, and multiple beds, not the cozy one-bedroom apartments we see there.
Can't have people living too badly in our fictional slums!
And yes, peat or charcoal would the the fuels of choice for home heating. Ravounel is not rich in coal, and seemingly does not import it.
The Greens are probably walled off more to keep out noise (and riff-raff) than smoke. The neighboring districts are mercantile and intellectual and only somewhat industrial. Then again, there's also smell, not just from fish hauls, but also the estuary itself.
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So. I was working on the Southern Kintargo Sewer maps (that the group will slowly map out over time) and when looking for critters to populate the sewers, found Topatoco's plush Gelatinous Cube. It's so cute that I decided that Kintargo has their own breed of Gelatinous Cube.
They lose the Transparency trait. However, they emit a low-level "attraction" field. You have to make a DC 10 Will Save to avoid wanting to approach and be "hugged" by the Gelatinous Cube, which has what appears to be a big smile on its "face" and two large "eyes" on one facing. The cube engulfs those who approach.
The cubes are occasionally sought out by species immune to acid for "cleaning services" from spending time in the Kintargo sewers, and the handful of Clay Golems that traverse the sewers and break up debris dams to ensure the sewers continue to function are designed with 10 points of Acid Resistance and thus simply walk through the Cubes without noticing them.
I've crafted a map of South Kintargo's sewer system. Some of it follows the main roads in South Kintargo, but there are other parts of the sewer which follow old roads that had since been built over. And part of this will include a piece of the sewers that the group has just started exploring while tracking down a thief with something the group is interested in.
It's also provided me with an alternative potential base for the Ravens, seeing that the Wasp's Lair is no longer viable and I honestly can't see the Tooth and Nail's cellar as a suitable replacement. And best of all, I'm introducing it as part of a side plot involving kytons chasing down someone who escaped from worshipers of Kon-Kuthon. So the group will hopefully choose this new locale of their own volition.
Mind you, after I mapped out the Kintargo sewers, I did have to remake the map so the dimensions are close to the large-scale map... but it also makes things more interesting in my eyes by getting the players invested in both the city above and the sewers and undercity.
My group is getting ready to try and free the Armigers (assuming they don't sidetrack themselves again) and they're contemplating a Stealth approach to things. So I'm thinking that there might be a secret sewer entrance to the Holding House.
It's close to impossible to break into the Holding House unless a Rogue took feats to boost their lockpicking skills. They're going to only have maybe a 25% chance at best to pick the locks in that place.
Think about it - the Gray Spiders had a rather nice hideout (though I'm thinking of adding a sewer entrance as it makes sense they'd use the sewers extensively... this might be how the Order of the Torrent got into the Gray Spiders' lair). So why not use the sewers as a means of easily getting into and out of places?
It would also explain why the Holding House isn't used to house prisoners regularly... the Gray Spiders did a big break-out one time, and after that important prisoners were kept at Castle Kintargo. The incident itself might have been covered up, and reasons for the Holding House falling into disuse may have not been reported... so Barzillai doesn't realize the holes in its security.
Given that the Order of the Torrent isn't exactly considered a high-risk group of prisoners, the holes in the place's security won't matter much. At least, not until a certain rebellion breaks the Order out of prison.
Well. My side-plot with the Kyton and its Mouthpiece, a vishkanya bard, went quite well. I had the Kyton refuse to talk to the PCs, instead calling for its "Mouth" who started using Oratory right off to communicate with the group (using poetic verse for each bit of communication) prior to the start of combat. (There's a nice website out there that can provide "rhymes with" for one, two, and three syllable words, that came in quite handy for this and let me do some of the dialogue with only a minute's crafting time. Seeing one player has audio problems, I tend to copy-paste any important dialogue and descriptions into Roll20 for everyone to also read.)
The fight could have gone quite poorly for the group, but I did have the Kyton spreading out its attacks (as it initially considered the group to be insignificant) and then when its Bard got hit with Murderous Command and actually attacked their master, the Kyton chose to put two attacks on the bard in retribution (though missing with both - it had been struck prone by a Blade Lash spell from one of the PCs).
End result? The group has a small base and initial safehouse to build from, and also created a new ally with the "thief" (a Slayer) to help with the Rebellion. (Shaya will inevitably become part of the next Outlaw team.)
The group is also interested and invested in the sewers now. This should make things most interesting. I'm thinking some of the South Kintargo gang wars may be located in the sewers as those fights can take place out-of-sight of the dottari. That and it makes sense for the Spellcrafters group to be searching the sewers for buried secrets.
On Elia Nones, I haven't got there yet (but soon) I have a couple approaches. 1) I'm going to have her searching for the Poison Pen not the Ravens. Essentially the pc's get involved before Sargaeta knows Marquel is being held against his will by his parents. And 2) the rebellion leaders find out about her via Gather Info checks, etc. This way it's the rebellion's intelligence network that finds her, not she knows just where and who they are.
I know it's been a while, but I was wondering if you remembered more of what you did with Elia Nones and her seeking the Poison Pen. How did you handle this? Did you have her and Sargaeta not know who Marquel's parents were?
One thing I'm trying to do is come up with a rather... derogatory bit of prose that the Poison Pen is going to put out there that will lead to PP being banned by Thrune. Amusingly enough, one of my players has fun with crafting limericks and the like and plans on putting Magic Mouths in various areas that will be triggered by the Dottari or Thrune himself and badmouth him. So there may very well be another "poet" banned by Thrune as well as PP. ;)
Thank you for your thoughts and comments on this. I'm hoping it'll help better polish a fairly decent AP into something epic. :)
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Well, I've decided to expand on part of the Random Encounters table for Old Kintargo. After reading the awesome write-up on here about the Lady and her control of the street gangs, I decided it would be interesting to expand on the gangs. For one thing? The Nidalese spies are going to be trying to find out who the Silver Ravens are. They'll sell that knowledge to their temple (who'd then get it to Barzillai).
I figure the conflict between the spies and the drug dealers is because the spies are busy selling the list of people buying drugs to their temple, which ends up in the hands of the Dottari. Once some of their bigger clients ended up arrested, their little war started up.
It makes much more sense for the group to find a way to deal with the gangs in Old Kintargo and have their actions recognized by Thrune than stuff that honestly he wouldn't know about. So I'm thinking of using that instead. :)
I've chosen to alter up the sequence of events and change a few other things. One thing I did was have the two teens who were kidnapped by the cultists instead be kidnapped by a group of slavers. They use Sending to contact their contact in Old Kintargo (Ryk) to confirm payment of ransoms will happen and if no confirmation happens within a week? They sell their prisoners into slavery.
The group used their Teams to good effect, learning rumors about the slavers, and then after talking to the teenagers' parents, talked to Ryk to establish they were going to pay for the ransom (which is only 100 gold - these slavers adjust their rates depending on who it is, so a noble family would get a significant ransom while mundane people off the street get charged a more reasonable ransom in hopes of getting payment).
Upon hearing that the ransom was only 100 gold, the group was bemused and even contemplated hiring the slavers out to target Thrune supporters but after a tiny bit went back to deciding to, for once, actually kill their target. It seems slavers (who go after children and teenagers at that) are not forgivable, even as supporters of Thrune's violence are. ;)
Next game will hopefully be in two weeks so we'll see how the drop goes and if they're able to track the people involved. One player said she enjoyed this because this was a more stealth-oriented situation and that's forced them to think more. :) High praise. :)
Should be useful as a setup to the slavers thing in book 5 or 6. It comes out of nowhere then, but this would help make it more organic.
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My group caught and interrogated Varl Wex, before searching his apartment, and then the NG Cleric of Desna slit his throat while he was tied up and unarmed, thinking that was perfectly fine because he was a cold blooded killer. They then looted the apartment and left the body there to rot. I am deciding what to do from there. I already decided that Tayacet Tiora to find him and turn the body in. The Elf Magus of the group works/worked for the Bellflower Network and told Laria Longroad about what really happened. What would other GMs do in this situation? They get no day in the sun and force Barzillai to thank them for what they did. Obviously they still need to be invited to the Ruby Masquerade or the finale of book three can’t happen.
Slitting someone's throat doesn't scream "neutral good" to me. I get that the guy is super evil, but still. Normally you'd leave that for someone more neutral. Regardless, I'd have Varl Wex come back as a revenant seeking revenge on the cleric. Advance the creature to have the rogue levels added back in (skip the expert level) and the fighter creature template. If you bump up the HD by +1 to 10 HD, then add both the fighter creature and rogue creature templates, he'd be a CR 10. More powerful, but less powerful. No kukris this time, but that's fine. As for Tiora finding him, does she actually? She might come across the scene, but his body might be gone.
Barzillai could find out about what the PCs did (via spies of some kind perhaps), and how Varl Wex was left, and add that to his list of things to mention about the PCs during the Ruby Masquerade. Just one more strike against them.
There's wiggle room.
The first thing is to ask what would be fun for your table. Work within that framework.
Well, they things the PCs do establish precedents that they'll have to fight in post-revolution Ravounel. So, you could have a Silver Raven Regular do a similar extra-judicial killing of an accused murderer post-revolution, get arrested, and use this precedent as his defense.
Alternatively, have both Octavio Sabinus and Zachrin Vhast have a civil talk with the leadership about what they'll do going forward--not blame and shame, but establish some rules of how they'll do policing moving forward.
My group caught and interrogated Varl Wex, before searching his apartment, and then the NG Cleric of Desna slit his throat while he was tied up and unarmed, thinking that was perfectly fine because he was a cold blooded killer. They then looted the apartment and left the body there to rot. I am deciding what to do from there. I already decided that Tayacet Tiora to find him and turn the body in. The Elf Magus of the group works/worked for the Bellflower Network and told Laria Longroad about what really happened. What would other GMs do in this situation? They get no day in the sun and force Barzillai to thank them for what they did. Obviously they still need to be invited to the Ruby Masquerade or the finale of book three can’t happen.
Yeah, I know the feeling. Last night's game, the group found the slavers who had kidnapped a couple kids and demanded ransom from poor parents. They successfully captured the wizard and accidentally killed the ninja (Murderous Command caused the ninja to jump right next to the wizard to try and attack her, but he failed his Reflex save and dropped into a Spiked Pit spell cast by the Wizard, bringing him to -17 hps). And then the Chaotic Good Skald healed the Wizard, and then when the Wizard refused to just tell everything, grabbed her by the jaw and tried to squeeze hard enough to break her jaw.
When the priest of Milani told them to go into the sewers so the screams wouldn't be heard (Bluff check, but sadly the player wasn't able to attend so I was running them as a GMPC), the Skald did that... and then slammed the wizard with a 20 Strength Check against the stone wall, breaking a couple ribs. And honestly, if I'd not had the Priest of Milani give a suggestion as to how to do an exchange for the kids (keeping the wizard's possessions hostage), I honestly think she'd have killed their prisoner.
Definitely will have the slavers rub it in and calling them "true heroes" for torturing the wizard. They'll say something along the lines of Asmodeus would be proud or the like.
I made a point to introduce all of the Thrune lieutenants in book 2 and 3. Grivenner and Zhol attended a Sarini Theater of the Real dinner that the party was doing a heist at to thwart the Queensmen. A student protest march against the Queensmen turned violent when the Queensmen thugs attacked it, leading to Zella Zdilli taking over as a chancellor of schools, inspired by Dolores Umbridge. That led Lady Docur to take a more active role in the resistance in return for claiming that position post-revolution. Rizovair was spotted, backlit by the moon, in book one. And, since I have a monk PC, Tombus was remade into the master of a rival dojo, with the martial arts film trope of beating the protagonist occurring in book 3 (with the player's knowledge and consent). Vannases Trex was racing to frame the Silver Ravens for the book 2 murders, with Tayocet Tiora (remade as an ousted dottari captain now walking the beat) being introduced there.
So things with the Slavers has pretty much wrapped up with a delightful bang. It also showed that CRs are not necessarily as important as you might think... as I had the group reach level 6 in preparation for the game for fear that the NPCs (which had a CR of 10) would steamroll the PCs at level 5. (The enemy included a level 7 Priest of Droskar, a Bearded Devil, a level 4 Ninja, a level 5 Conjurer, and a level 4 Slayer).
Last week's game only showed to prove to me that no plan escapes contact with the enemy (or one’s own players). The group had, previous session, encountered some of the slavers. The end result was one ninja escaped, one ninja died, and the elven wizard acting as the “face” of the slavers was captured, her gear taken, and then she was given the ransom to free the kids and said “bring the kids and we’ll give you your gear back.” (This did include her Bonded Item, so this did have a detrimental effect on her spellcasting.)
Naturally enough, the Slavers chose the path of vengeance rather than working in “good faith” to exchange the children. (The players were planning on an ambush of their own because, hey, slavers. This is a group that Batmanned their way through a lot of the game to date, with the only deliberate fatalities being devils, devil-touched, and an Ogrekin working with the diabolists.)
My flatmate (who runs the Inquisitor-Priest of Milani) had been out sick for that encounter. When looking over what was said, they pointed out that while we’d set a location for the exchange, they never said to meet in the cellar of the haunted meat seller (who’d been used as an unwilling contact in the past by the slavers) which basically meant they could go upstairs. So I desperately started making the map for that part of Old Kintargo and the inside of the meat seller’s place.
The group went and blocked the cellar entrance by piling crates on the trap door leading to the sewers, set up caltrops as a trap and a Magic Mouth to screech a warning if the slavers came in that way, and waited in the main room of the meat seller. Naturally, the slavers tried to enter through the sewer and realizing the PCs had blocked them off, decided to force their way through, using a Silence spell to muffle their entrance.
Six failed strength checks later, they broke through just before the Silence wore off. One of their number was hurt by the caltrops and they were by the Magic Mouth without Silence when it was triggered. The PCs actually got prewarning! And then one of them Leroy Jenkins downstairs to catch them below, so all that hard work on the upstairs? Wasted.
I’d say it was a tough fight. It should have been a tough fight. But… while the slavers were reinforced by the bearded devil, the Skald had just upgraded her Rage Song with Lesser Celestial Blood (meaning anyone accepting the song has good-aligned attacks and do extra damage against evil outsiders) (the devil was planned prior to the Skald taking that ability and she had no idea of what was waiting. They are facing diabolists after all!) and because of a mistake I made when inputting the data for the devil, the only damage they actually took was self-inflicted while fighting the Bearded Devil which I had with the defensive abilities of a barbed devil (think fighting a porcupine with your hands).
Glitterdust was the spell of the hour. Used twice, first it took out the hobgoblin Slayer who was the heavy fighter of the Slavers. The second time, Glitterdust blinded everyone there except for the Elven Wizard (who couldn’t make a concentration check to save her life) and rather than go several more rounds of beating up blinded people, I just ruled the PCs managed to capture their blinded foes, get the wizard to surrender, and (through Charm magic) learned where the kids were imprisoned.
So. It was a fun game (even with technical issues going on with Roll20 and Discord) and the heroes won the day once more. :)
After a bit of a break, my group is back again. I'm trying to figure out how to make the whole Poison Pen thing more interesting and I think I might have figured out an angle.
Several of my group are nobles and as such there's a prime opportunity for them to learn gossip about a scandal in the Aulorian family - Marquel is no longer allowed out of the house because he had a lover that his father disapproves of. And the lover is a sailor on the Chelish warship that's undergoing repairs, she was turned away from the Aulorian manor, her missives refused!
Thus the group can learn of Lieutenant Elia Nones of the Scourge of Belial. The group could then hopefully take the initiative (because helping the first mate of a Chelish warship would be useful to learn what they're up to), and with a little research realize that it's not Nones who is the lover... but Captain Sargaeta himself! By approaching him, this shows both initiative and a chance to curry favor (and maybe even subvert) a Captain of the Chelish Navy. (Little do they know that he's already ripe for being subverted!)
Hopefully this will be less adversarial than how Nones shows up initially. It also means that if the group doesn't take the bait, they still are aware of what's going on so that when Nones does show up to do Sargaeta's bidding, they have an inkling of what's going on.
Alternatively, since the group has some nobles they likely know Marquel, and are possibly friends with him. Instead of Nones or the captain contacting the PCs for help you could have Marquel get a message out to the PCs that he needs their help.
They still need to get into the mansion and avoid the weird initial meeting with Nones.
Things went well. I finished up on some other stuff we were dealing with concerning Lictor Octavio and crew, and a bit of roleplay, and then set up the groundwork for Marquel. And it does seem quite likely the group is going to try for Marquel himself rather than investigate why someone from the Chelish Navy was so interested in him. All this without him even trying to get a message out!
Of course, that also brings up something to consider - how would I handle the favors and the like? Originally Captain Sargaeta was going to offer a broken teacup of favors (though knowing my group's luck, they'll roll a 1 and have the teacup just bounce off the ground unscathed). But if the group didn't do anything and instead broke Marquel out on their own then... well, what reason would Sargaeta have to help the PCs?
"Thank you for saving my boyfriend, have some gifts"?
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Am I the only one who looks at the Wretchghost encounter and sees a really long, hard slog with pretty unfair conditions on top? The three undead got 156 HP together (240 in my game, since both PC's and monsters get maximised hitpoints) and are incorporeal, which basically doubles that HP pool. Additional to that, they can infect people with a drug addiction, which by itself can derail a campaign quite a bit, although at the same time that drops the HP to normal again against that particular Wretchghost.
I probably should be happy that they are associated with Opium, if Paizo had chosen Pesh, that would have added an Displacement on top. ^^ Their damage is pretty low but also consistent, due to the incorporeal touch attack.
And the party, although five strong, this time comes with a lot less power than I'd normally expect from that group. Two Slayers with Kukri two-weapon fighting and still abysmal damage output and one Cavalier with a halberd who does decent damage, but has rather low AC. The Mesmerist will be useless in this fight, since he went all-out on mind-affecting spells and the future Mystic Theurge is still incapable of much more than supporting the party vial healing. This will be a pretty long slog of a fight and I think my guys will be a bit unhappy to all leave as Opium addicts. ^^
Anyway, as Wex goes, I'm going to convert him to an Inquisitor of Norgorber, to actually pose a challenge. Otherwise, he is clearly a pushover and I don't get why the writer thought he'd be a challenge for anybody.
Basically, my party was stretched by this encounter. It was tough. But they're not on a clock and can explore at their leisure, so they can close the door and go elsewhere to rest afterwards. And, while the players don't know it, they can retreat with no consequences--they don't pursue.
Encounters like these also provided a nice variation from the all humanoids encounters and a warning to start preparing backup plans for the incorporeal creatures to come.
Wex was captured in one round and then put on a street trial. The major challenge was the trial, rather than the combat. By choosing Norgorber, does that mean you're going to do more with Vyre's Norgorber cults?
Wex was captured in one round and then put on a street trial. The major challenge was the trial, rather than the combat. By choosing Norgorber, does that mean you're going to do more with Vyre's Norgorber cults?
He's pretty close to being a Norgorberite, anyway, since he is under the influence of Balgorrah, so that changes not much for future AP's. I just want him to be an actual challenge, instead of the lame pushover version which got overhyped by the writer in the module.
I rewrote Wex to be a Slayer. My group hasn't encountered him yet however, they're currently working on street gangs and a secondary story I crafted so there's a legit reason for Barzillai to notice and reward the party at the end of Book 2.
Here's my write-up for him:
Varl Wex CR 9
XP 6,400
Male human (Varisian) expert 1/slayer (cutthroat) 9 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 53, 119)
CE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses Perception +13
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Defense
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AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 18 (+4 armor, +2 deflection, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 shield)
hp 107 (10 HD; 1d8+9d10+40)
Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +7 (+2 bonus vs. detect thoughts, discern lies, and similar mind-reading magic)
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Offense
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Speed 35 ft.
Melee Balgorrah +14/+9 (1d4+4/18-20) or
dagger +12/+7 (1d4+3/19-20)
Ranged dagger +11 (1d4+3/19-20)
Special Attacks sneak attack +3d6, studied target +2 (2nd, swift action)
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +9; CMB +12; CMD 27
Feats Dodge, Fleet, Improved Iron Will, Iron Will, Stealthy, Toughness, Weapon Focus (kukri)
Skills Acrobatics +14 (+18 when in an urban setting), Bluff +13, Climb +15, Craft (mechanical) +11, Disable Device +15, Disguise +1, Escape Artist +15, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (local) +5, Knowledge (planes) +5, Perception +13, Stealth +24
Languages Abyssal, Common, Varisian
SQ opportune target, slayer talents (foil scrutiny[ACG], surprise attacks, weapon training), stab and grab, stalker, street stalker
Combat Gear potion of shield of faith +2 (3); Other Gear +1 shadow studded leather, +1 buckler, Balgorrah, dagger, slippers of spider climbing, masterwork thieves' tools, 112 gp
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Special Abilities
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Foil Scrutiny +2 on Will saves vs. mind-reading magics.
Improved Iron Will (1/day) Can re-roll a Will save, but must take the second result.
Opportune Target (Ex) During surprise round, can study one foe as free action to choose his studied target.
Sneak Attack +3d6 Attacks deal extra dam if flank foe or if foe is flat-footed.
Stab and Grab (Ex) As a swift action, attempt steal maneuver vs. dead/unconscious foe or when confirm a crit.
Stalker (Ex) Studied target bonus applies to Disguise, Intimidate, and Stealth as well.
Street Stalker (Acrobatics) (Ex) Gain a bonus on the chosen skill when in an urban environment.
Studied Target +2 (swift action, 2 at a time) (Ex) Study foe as a Swift action, gain +2 to att/dam & some skills vs. them.
Surprise Attacks +4 (Ex) In surprise round, foes always flat-footed and add bonus sneak attack dam.
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