Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of the first session of my Crimson Throne game. The players haven't fired me yet, so I'll take that as a compliment, or at least as confirmation that they hate DMing themselves more than they hate my game.
The party (well, four of them, see below) are just about done with History of Ashes. They're snoozing in their Yurt, resting up after the exhausting Trial of the Totem and waiting for nothing-at-all to happen before the Sun Shaman returns to tell them what they'll be up to in book five.
Some of them think they'll be returning to Korvosa soon. They're so cute sometimes.
Also, guys, if you're reading this, just stop reading right here. Remember when I told you to avoid spoilers? (Admittedly that's always a problem for an AP as established and popular as Crimson Throne). Anyway, this thread is a spoiler. And that goes for players in other Crimson Throne games as well! Was the title not enough for you? The Crimson Throne story is awesome, don't ruin it for yourself.
Anyway, in no particular order, here are the Party members:
Timmy "Thunder" Thondril, Bard
Timmy is the second son of a minor noble merchant family in Korvosa. He disappointed his strict and conservative father by showing no talent for business, then continued to disappoint as a teenager by playing as an actor in the theaters. When his illegitimate son by an actress was kidnapped, he took to the streets ...
Timmy doesn't do much damage in combat, preferring to use his bardic performance and wide range of buff spells to help the rest of the party.
Finest Moment: Used the Cacophonous Call spell, combined with a Harrow Point, a great caster level check, and a failed Will Save to afflict Bahor with the Nauseated condition. All he could do was run around trying to get away until the Party (with a generous assist from "innocent victim Meliya Arkona") took him down.
Low Point: Nearly died in the wreck of the Direption of giving Yvicca too many attacks of opportunity.
Haha and also, Meliya inherited House Arkona and is currently firmly in charge of Old Korvosa.
Thiorek Stal'Ufur, Dwarf Monk of the Iron Mountain
The only non-human in the group. Thiorek is the quiet and stoic type. Although he's originally from Janderhoff, he's lived in Korvosa for longer than any other party member and knows more of the history. Kind of lost his shit for a while when his childhood sweetheart (A human girl who had grown into an adult by then) was murdered.
Thiorek often ends up taking on a main-tank kind of role, springing traps as needed and generally taking more punishment than the rest of the party combined.
Finest Moment: Breaking the Grappled condition in Cindermaw's mouth and crawling down his throat.
Low Point: More of a recurring condition than a single event, Thiorek consistently wins initiative in surprise rounds, and ends up somehow standing exactly in the perfect blast radius for a fireball. To the eternal irritation of ...
Tobar "Tobey" Kaslov, Admixture Evoker
As a talented scholar, Tobey was one of the few ethnic Varisians to do well at the Acadamae. Unfortunately, financial and legal ugliness following the murder of his parents led to him being kicked out of the Acadamae (I included a scene in which a pompous and sanctimonious Toff Ornelos has him literally thrown out).
Tobey is an old-school, boom-boom, flash-bang kind of wizard. He's also not the most courageous in combat, preferring to use spells such as Overland Flight to keep himself safe first, then unleashing the fireworks. Admixture has been situational, but quite effective when it's needed.
Finest Moment: In the showdown with Gaedren Lamm, used Animate Rope to save Timmy's son from being fed to a crocodile. Just the perfect spell at the perfect time.
Low Point: After Jolistina sneak attacked him with her crossbow, she drank a potion and turned invisible. The rest of the party started chasing zombies and Ghost Sounds on the ground floor, while Tobey stayed on the balcony looking down. Until she sneak attacked him again a few rounds later.
Drethor Cailean, Inquisitor of Cayden Cailean
Of course an Inquisitor of Cayden Cailean runs a bar. Which has sort of morphed into the Party's headquarters, storage area, interrogation basement, really whatever's needed.
Drethor is big on taking prisoners - he was gimping himself slightly at low level, attacking with the flat of his Greatsword to deal nonlethal damage. But it was quite effective - turns out taking prisoners is a great way to learn what's going on, and the rest of the Party's getting in on the act - they're actually acting like heroes instead of the usual murder hobos.
Drethor now uses a Merciful Greatsword, which has been surprisingly effective so far. Poor guy is going to be in for a bit of a surprise once they hit Castle Scarwall though.
Finest Moment: Goaded Lady Andaisin into walking into melee range by desecrating the Altar of Urgathoa, then made a very important save against her Slay Living spell. Turns out pissing off villains is effective but dangerous ...
Low Point: While the rest of the party was trying to make Perception rolls to find Jolistina, who they thought was on the ground floor of Carowyn Manor, He cast Invisibility to Undead and started running around, randomly opening doors and releasing zombies. For, ah, reasons.
Giles Laney, Hospitaler Paladin of Abadar
Giles was brought up with a strong sense of responsibility and moral compass by his father, a Cleric of Abadar. But when his parents were murdered, he took to weapons instead of spells in his quest for justice.
Giles prefers to fight as an archer, standing at the back and shooting off many, many arrows - a very effective tactic when combined with Timmy's Bard buffs.
Finest Moment: Basically one-shot Doctor Davaulus after climbing the roof of the Hospice and crashing through to where he detected evil.
Low Point: Absolutely one-shot Verik Vancaskerkin, the one NPC who gets the party a not inconsiderable bonus for being taken alive. One sick Longbow crit later, there's an arrow sticking out of Verik's eye and a lot of unanswered questions.
Giles remained behind in Korvosa for book four, because his player's wife became pregnant and he now has an infant to take care of. (We always speak of this in the passive voice, as if it were something which simply happened without any input from the player, just to inconvenience our gaming schedule). He has been a consistent thorn in the side of the Gray Maidens, disguised as Blackjack and posting subversive broadsheets, assisting Grau Soldado and a few other Guardsmen in setting up a hidden base, and training Amin Jalento to take over as Blackjack.
He's going to have to flee the city soon (meaning his kid is starting to sleep through the night and gaming is going to become an option again soon). Amazingly, he ought to make it back just in time to start book five. Which is good, because taking on Castle Scarwall without a paladin would be ... well, that's just mean even for me.