|
With PaizoCon on the horizon, and this scenario being run by a few GM's [including me, at the 1am slot], i figure it's a good time get a discussion brewing amongst those running at and those who would like to run it after it's official release.
That said, after a quick run through the scenario- i feel like this a well fleshed out, a nice combination of potential roleplay and some very challenging fights.
This part of the story seems like it encourages the PC's to split up and try to get as much done as possible.
While a PC questions Elraya, others can be scouting out the prison and others root out what other information they can.
Though, one thing that kind of bums me, but i understand- there is no percent chance for the PC's to inadvertently tip off a Grey Gardner loyalist; whereas a failed stealth check turns the beggars against the pc's.
I want to see a player with Teleport abilities try to rescue everyone, without alerting the Guardians. Speaking of which, if the PC's have to get through area A9- where the Guardians as the PC's begin their attempts to extricate the prisoners? the Pakalchi's aren't incorporeal- where are they hiding?
Would also be entertaining to see players try to actively
It'd be interesting to run this high tier, and laugh as the PC's eliminate the Pakalchi's before the Banshee- and she begins her wail. I want to hear horror stories of PC's failing their primary success because the nobles weren't ushered from the banshee's wail range.
To be honest, when i saw Troop Rules" in the index, i groaned audibly and hoped it wouldn't be as complicated as the "mass troops" play in an older scenario i played [#5-24 Assault on the Wound]. Thankfully, the lynch mob isn't the "mass troop" i feared it to be. Still a gargantuan swarm will be interesting to throw at the PC's as they either try to flee Isran, or rescue Colson.
It's going to be interesting to see how players react to the nobles wanting to leave Colson to the Blade.
Final thoughts-
Aside from the questions i asked earlier, this is going to be an interesting on to run; especially if people at the table have how managed to play the predeccessor #9-02 A Case of Missing Persons.
My only gripe is that i wish the rewards weren't faction specific. Non-Liberty's Edge PC's aught to get access to one of the opportunities to use the boons [3 uses for Liberty's Edge, 1 use for non-LE members.]
As a gm, I've not run many t7-11's; of those I have were early season- Below the Silver Tarn and Hall of the Drunken Hero. So this is definitely going to be one of my endeavors to achieving 5-stars. Now i'm torn between applying the chronicle to a non-LE character so that they may get access to the boon; or get it on my LE Ranger/Swashbuckler.
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
|
Seems they learned their lessons from Case of Missing Persons - the dimensional anchor should stop the party from just teleporting the captives out.
So, this doesn't seem to jive well with the Inner Sea World Guide. There, Isarn has a permanent installation for the Final Blade in front of the Monolith fortress prison - the seat of government for Galt. Here the final blade is wheeled out for executions from a closet, and it's just a small prison.
Is this supposed to be like a branch office or something? How is the main office not getting involved in all this then?
It feels like they stuck the name Isarn on the city without dealing with what had already been written about it.
As to where they Pakalchi's were on the way in, they could be using Skip Between to chill on the ethereal plane at the time? Dimensional Anchor doesn't affect their movement as they were ethereal when the unhallow was cast (as they hadden't been Called yet)
What is the initiative mod for the andoran captives? The Banshee wail takes affect on the targets' turns, so we need to know when to insert them for death.
|
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Well, that went badly.
This was high tier, 5 players (one 9, the rest 10 or 11) Investigation was fine, though when they wanted to steal the keys they realized nobody had slight of hand, so they went back to canvasing the town.
The prison got weird though. Right off, the barbarian uses spell sunder on the door, with all the goodies built for it. I'm trying to figure out a caster level check for the unhallow, but she comes up with a 63 which blows past any numbers I was thinking. But, it doesn't really change how the rest plays out.
They pick the lock on the door, and all the guards are already up and ready to go (cause loud doorknocker). But initiative went well, and they'd done their homework, so they talk the guards down with only one guard taking a swing (with a nat-1)
Into the cells. Since the prisoners were separated by gender and likely in poor attire, the party split to deal with them. Barbar & Alchemist on one side, Oracle, Fighter and Kinetisist on the other. As they're working on calming them down, the baddies show up.
Vinegirl 1 starts casting dominate on the barbar. Alchemist fails to the gaze, runs to the end of the hall. Barbar goes for vinegirl 1, but Blink makes it miss.
Banshee goes after the kinetisist, hits, and they fail their will save, curling up into a ball for 3 rounds. Fighter gets a good swing on the banshee with ghost-touched sword. Oracle puts up anti-incorporeal shell. Vinegirl 2 starts casting dominate on the Fighter.
Banshee can't get to the guys, and Barbar is closest, (and I wanted to throw the party a bone), so it flies through cells and attacks the Barbar. Then gets yelled at by Vinegirl 1 to attack the alchemist instead (how would it have known the barbar was an ally now?). Barbar then goes to town on the alchemist.
Fighter consistently does well vs the gaze of Vinegirl 2. Closes and uses lunge to get a swing on her. Connects, but does low damage so she makes the concentration check and keeps the spell. Oracle did a blast spell on her. Her turn comes up, but Fighter makes the save vs the dominate. She steps back and throws some thorns, and the poison starts working.
From here... the barbar and banshee double-team the alchemist until she's dead. By then the oracle has moved enought that the banshee can go back to hitting the kinetisist, and continues to do so until he dies (Wound up with another 3 rounds of cower = never got to take an action the entire fight).
The oracle was about to say f-it and plane shift the survivors out... but got hit by thorns and failed to the poison. Now... none of them are his allies. He grabs the one mission target he could reach through the bars and planeshifts the two of them out at least.
The fighter tried to run, but had to move through the entangle of Vinegirl 2 and failed. By this point tiny hits from thorns and a couple swings from the ghost had him down, but next round he would have been down from the wisdom damage anyways.
Vinegirl 1 didn't want to give the barbar another save, so told it to go 'demonstrate its superiority over the other people it came with' in whatever way was in character for it. It had to go a long walk around though, and by the time it got the others there was only the cowering kinetisist left - which it pinned.
End result... Fighter dead and no wisdom, Alchemist dead, Kinetisist dead, Barbar dominated, and Oracle planeshifted away.
I talked to them a bit about how the rest plays out before they can get their body recoveries and raise deads. (At least they didn't die to Final Blades). Then we remembered the one Liberty's Edge character (Kinetisist) had a pet dog that always runs from combat. And reading over the specific wording on the chronicle, I gave them one last chance at glory.
A bit of retroactive liberty here, but I decided that as soon as they realized Colson wasn't at the prison, before the baddies appeared, they could send the dog to find Colson, using the letter to give the dog the scent. With a Push check. Now, turns out the character only had handle animal at +1, and his first roll was predictably bad. But he hadn't used his re-roll yet, and on that he got his 19+1. So, the last scene is at the docks, as this dog drags Colson's severed head up to the boat.
Maybe too generous, but the player was definitely unhappy that he never got to act in the fight and I wanted to give him something. Most of the players in fact where unhappy with the lack of agency in the fight.
|
|
I will be running this next week.
Question, the scenario says "Each PC has time to pursue two avenues of exploration before the scheduled executions"
I am a bit confused. How would PCs get to lift keys or steal a disguise? You need information from Scoping out the Prison to do that and you can only scope out the Prison after Finding Eylara or Canvassing the Town.
I assume the players get two slots to do actions in and all actions in a slot happen more or less simultaneously. The above would mean they need three slots to lift the keys or steal a disguise. What am I missing?
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The way we decided to run it at my venue was:
Don't count Eylara as an action, treat it as before the investigation as a chance to figure out what they can investigate.
If they don't find her (wasn't an issue) then we'd go to Canvassing while using the time rules it includes to see if they even have enough time to investigate.
Then after talking with Eylara we had them start picking actions, but pointed out while they knew from Eylara guards left the prison with a key and spare uniform, they wouldn't know when or where they went without having someone do the prison first.
And then they'd still need to canvass without considering the time to do it if they wanted to learn about the Pharasma cult if they didn't detect evil on the prison.
Basically, just treat it all as nebulous beyond them having to scope out the prison before they can know where to do some of the rest.
|
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'd just never heard 'defeated fair and square' put across as people being upset at having a lack of agency.
My wife used to play Magic. In one game, the other player had a setup that allowed him to tap all of the cards on the table on her turn and untap his own cards on his own turn. I don't recall the specifics, but he was able to freeze her mana while still allowing himself to play. He proceeded to play these turns out while dealing one point of damage a round.
Fair? Yes. Waste of time? Absolutely. That is the problem with this "fair and square" fight. Most people will accept their characters being defeated, but they will object to having to sit there doing nothing but watch the rounds and hit points tick by for hours.
|
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
|
Reading this makes me think the Oracle in my party was mvp for dropping delay poison on all party members before the fight started, followed by my paladin/magus for smiting the unholy hell out of the banshee, using UMD on the wand of death ward, and granting aura of courage all around.
That would have helped.
|
|
Once my alchemist got over the panic, he made good use of his persistent vigor extract on top of his poison immunity class feature to get back in the fight. The sakhils could only tickle him at that point. I REALLY wanted my Ghost Rager for the banshee however. The warpriest of Cayden and the barbarian eventually managed to survive the fear durations and bring things down.
|
Venture-Agent, Michigan—Detroit
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
What happens if PCs try to destroy the final blade?
I found this description of its destruction:
Although the final blades are minor artifacts, they can be destroyed by damage. The exact defenses of each vary, but all have hardness 20 and 200 hit points. When one is destroyed, the trapped souls explode in a wave of necromantic power- some of these souls manifest as incorporeal undead and immediately attack all living creatures in sight. The number and nature of these angry souls varies, but should usually consist of at least a CR 12 (or higher) encounter.
[Source: Final Blade]
I think you'd be well within your rights to call it outside the scope of the scenario, since its destruction immediately causes another (un-statted) encounter. You can't make up another encounter in PFS, which means the undead released will wreak havoc on Isarn as the PCs can't really fight them. Since the undead are incorporeal, containing them would be very difficult. Would it be an evil act if the PCs unleashed a horde of incorporeal undead on Isarn, whether that was their intention or not? I think you could argue intent doesn't matter. I mean look at Colson Maldris...
Based on the description -- unless there's another one -- I don't see a way around the final blade's destruction releasing the undead.
Thoughts?
|
|
I'm pretty sure that would be very bad for the party, yes. Having a pre-statted encounter would be helpful, but I don't know that we can pull from other scenarios. I recommend waiting for official word on how to handle that, encouraging players to abandon destruction attempts with waves of Gray Gardeners, or outright cinematic descriptions rather than actual dice rolling.
|
|
How my games at PaizoCon went-
Game 1-
One player, during the briefing, realized this character had already played FoFB earlier and switched characters and burned a GM star to replay
Party: Vigilante, Druid, Skald, Winter Witch, a GOBLIN Inquisitor 8o, and i think a fighter.
Investigation went well, except that when investigating the prison- none of them used Detect Magic or Detect Evil. They still managed to talk to the Pharasmins and get the loot from them.
During the Prison Break, the Vigilante disguised the Inquisitor as a street urchin and wanted to lock him up. When the boss at the Prison told the Vigilante to beat the child up and leave him in a ditch, did their plans go south.
The Witch tried to Dimension Door the rest of the party in- only to have the spell fail; then the goblin shanked the boss and the druid wild shaped and tried chomping at the boss.
Down to a handful of health, he surrendered and told the party to just take whatever they wanted.
Rescuing the prisoners, the goblin had See Invisibilty active and saw a Pakalshi staring at him, and eventually saw the other. It wasn't until they tried to leave the prisoner area did the Paka's attack- the goblin also saw the Banshee down the ladies' wing and went "nope nope nope"
the party focused on the Banshee, one Pakalshi failed its save against the Winter Witch's Ice Tomb was then pinned against a wall by the druid's summoned trike. The second one didn't last much longer.
Opting to rescue Colson, the Witch literally Teleported Colson back to Absalom, the druid Warp Wood'd the stage and collapsed the guilottine into the crowd.
Citizen Dread didn't last long with a Vigilante and Inquisitor harrying her. When she Dimension door'd away, the party left wondering if the Witch got Colson away safely.
No Liberty's Edge PC's. But hey, i ran a game for my first ever Goblin PC.
Game 2
Investigation went quickly, one of the players got the Grey Gardener plastered before stealing the keys and her cloak.
This time, the Oradin did cast 'detect evil' and found the prison was unhallowed, this gave them precedence to talk to the Pharasmins whom they believed were way too passive.
The subsequent fight with the Grey Gardeners wasn't worth mention- as a party of lvl 10's fighting CR5 enemies... Talking to the boss, with a good cop/bad cop [Intimitade/Diplomacy in the 30's], they found out that-- *gasp* Citizen Dread commanded the undead to not harm the prisoners and that Colson was on his way to the chopping block. Prisoners were safe- best go rescue Colson!
... okay, a jump in the script, i quickly consulted with Louis who told me to run with it.
The Mobs weren't a challenge, nor was Dread- and i was using her upper tier stats- she dimension door'd away, and the party ran back to the prison with colson in tow.
Back at the prison- they found Elraya blinded, and the boss fighting some fantasms- DREAD HAD RETURNED. They rounded a corner, saw her, she screamed for the undead to kill the prisoners and flee again with her dimension door scroll.
One Pakalshi and two specters didn't stand a chance.
Despite playing low tier, the party still had a good time.
|
Contributor
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I am preparing to GM this in a few days, and I've found several things in the scenario that are unclear. I'm hopeful that someone from the PFS team will see this and respond, but barring that, I'd be interested to hear what people who have already GM'd this did:
Area A7: Multiple descriptions of the prison detail "heavy double doors" in the "northwestern corner" of the building (used to take the closeted Final Blade out of storage and onto a wagon, etc.), but these doors do not appear on the map. Where should these doors be placed?
Area A10: Augustyn Naran and Halmont Warrith have appeared in previous scenarios (both in Season 5, IIRC). PCs may have positively (or at least neutrally) interacted with the former (#5-03 & #5-99) and negatively with the latter (#5-99). A player remembering these meetings and producing a chronicle sheet to that end would probably expect to get something out of that...if someone from the PFS team reads this, what would you recommend?
Area A - Freeing the Andorans: The scenario mentions a forbiddance effect - is this a typo that is supposed to be referring to the Dimensional Anchor "rider" from the Unhallow spell? If spellcraft-savvy PCs ask about why the pakalchis are only partially affected by this/these (blink and ethereal jaunt but not summon), how would you recommend a GM answer?
Area B: Where exactly is the Final Blade located, and what is its size for the purposes of this scenario?
In the only other scenario in which I am aware of one appearing, it is a 10' by 5' object. The box text on page 18 suggests that it is to the south of the Executioner, since they are "checking over its mechanisms" and "[ b]ehind this executioner is a bound and gagged," Maldris. The text on page 19 states that the "crowd’s chanting serves as a signal for the executioner to haul Colson forward to the guillotine" over the next 10 rounds, and also suggests that the platform that Maldris, the Executioner, and Citizen Dread are positioned on do not constitute the Final Blade itself.
"Bumping" a previously-asked question: Any advice from the PFS team on how to handle things if the PCs try to attack and/or destroy the Final Blade? It's possible that my table will have at least one Paladin and also a follower of Milani, so this is something they will probably consider...and I really hate having to say "beyond the scope of this adventure" when GMing.
Area C: Where should the PCs and their charges be placed relative to the enemy combatants? The box text on page 24 suggests that Citizen Dread and the Executioner "lead the crowd," but the map on page 23 shows their placement as between the two troops, making the matter unclear.
Reporting Notes: This is a question just to confirm what the scenario says, since it seems a little off to me. Page 25 states, "Eylara, if she accompanied the PCs into the final encounter, continues to accompany the party on the river journey," but the reporting notes specify that box C should be checked if she "accompanied the PCs in Fighting for Freedom..." in Area B, but not Area C. I just wanted to check to make sure that this box should remain unchecked even if she accompanies the PCs on the boat (though not attempting a rescue in Area B first).
I know that's a lot of questions - thank you in advance for any clarifications that can be provided!
|
Contributor
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
One more question that came up while discussing this scenario with another GM (and some others in this thread have also talked about it before me) -
Investigation: Each PC can only take part in 2 investigation sections before time expires. Does the initial tracking own of Eylara or checking around town count against this?
Unless told OOC (which, IMHO, breaks some of the tension this scenario is trying to build) that they are totally safe to do whatever they want during the investigation, I don't think many players would think to split the party as soon at they come ashore not knowing anything except what they got from the briefing. If they all go to meet Eylara, and it counts against their two-per-PC limit, that leaves 5 investigation options with only ~6 checks to try and accomplish them with. That's fine if that was the scenario's intention, but I figured as long as I was asking a bunch of other questions already, I might as well add one more.
Thanks in advance.
|
|
One more question that came up while discussing this scenario with another GM (and some others in this thread have also talked about it before me) -
Investigation: Each PC can only take part in 2 investigation sections before time expires. Does the initial tracking own of Eylara or checking around town count against this?
Unless told OOC (which, IMHO, breaks some of the tension this scenario is trying to build) that they are totally safe to do whatever they want during the investigation, I don't think many players would think to split the party as soon at they come ashore not knowing anything except what they got from the briefing. If they all go to meet Eylara, and it counts against their two-per-PC limit, that leaves 5 investigation options with only ~6 checks to try and accomplish them with. That's fine if that was the scenario's intention, but I figured as long as I was asking a bunch of other questions already, I might as well add one more.
Thanks in advance.
When I ran this I did not have talking to Eylara take an section. My players decided to also check out the town; that counted as a section. I also told them that the scenario would not punish them for splitting the party.
|
I also did not count the talk with Eylara against their time for similar reasons.
Our table let poor Colson die!
They were so beat up from the Banshee fight (they lost multiple party members to the wail after failing to stop it from getting its wail off) and the fight with the Gardners at half strength after failing to diplomacize their way out of it that they decided to just try to escape.
Even the fight with Citizen Dread at the end was a tactical retreat from the word go, just trying to get away from her.
I had never seen a scenario go quite as sideways as this and having such a brutal encounter first completely shaped the party's approach for everything else.
It was a nice scenario with a great mix of challenges and unlike Salvation comes by its difficulty honestly.
Well done all around.
PS - Maldris is SO dumb.
|
Developer
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So I'm running this at the weekend.
"If the PCs fail to get the assistance of the Pharasmins and ..."
So if they somehow don't talk to the Pharasmins at all they lose a bunch of gp.
Is that how everybody else was running it?
I can see how this could be unclear.
"If the PCs fail to get the assistance of the Pharasmins and do not succeed at the relevant skill checks for at least two avenues of investigation before storming the prison..."
The idea is that they only lose out on the gold if they don't get the Pharasmin's aid and also don't successfully follow two avenues of investigation. The PCs only need to meet one of these objectives to get the gold.
|
Developer
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Going to use "M" here for a key NPC so I don't need spoiler blocks.
I am preparing to GM this in a few days, and I've found several things in the scenario that are unclear.
Area A7: Multiple descriptions of the prison detail "heavy double doors" in the "northwestern corner" of the building (used to take the closeted Final Blade out of storage and onto a wagon, etc.), but these doors do not appear on the map. Where should these doors be placed?
The cardinal directions in area A7 are off, and should be referring to the door on the northeast corner of the room.
Area A10: Augustyn Naran and Halmont Warrith have appeared in previous scenarios (both in Season 5, IIRC). PCs may have positively (or at least neutrally) interacted with the former (#5-03 & #5-99) and negatively with the latter (#5-99)...what would you recommend?"
I'd say this is a good opportunity to give those PCs a circumstance bonus on their skill checks to influence and assist those individuals.
Area A - Freeing the Andorans: The scenario mentions a forbiddance effect - is this a typo that is supposed to be referring to the Dimensional Anchor "rider" from the Unhallow spell? If spellcraft-savvy PCs ask about why the pakalchis are only partially affected by this/these (blink and ethereal jaunt but not summon), how would you recommend a GM answer?
Yes, that's a typo that should refer to unhallow. For the summon difference, it comes down to the way I'd interpreted the unhallow/dimensional anchor combination. While I'm now pretty sure that was a mistake, I don't want to add another creature to an already challenging encounter.It may be tidier just to say that they already tried and failed to use the 40% summon chance prior to the PCs' arrival.
Area B: Where exactly is the Final Blade located, and what is its size for the purposes of this scenario?
The final blade is 10' by 5', and it is just behind the letter M on the map. The extra time the executioner takes to haul "M" over to the blade represents him making a show of it rather than the actual time required to move a person.
Speaking of artifact guillotines, it's intended that destroying this blade is beyond the scope of the scenario. This blade has wards beyond the ones on the blade that appeared in a previous adventure, such that raw damage alone isn't enough to break it. This sturdier blade may have a role to play in a future adventure... Incidentally, this also averts the issue of the PCs triggering an inadvertent massacre of the assembled crowd.
Area C: Where should the PCs and their charges be placed relative to the enemy combatants? The box text on page 24 suggests that Citizen Dread and the Executioner "lead the crowd," but the map on page 23 shows their placement as between the two troops, making the matter unclear.
The map positions are correct. Dread and the Executioner lead the crowd in the sense of being leaders that direct their movements, rather than physically being in front of them. The PCs approach from the south, and their charges are abstracted away, far enough behind to be out of danger as long as the PCs are not defeated in this encounter.
Reporting Notes:...
Yes, you only check this box if she follows along with the PCs in area B. It's intended to track how many groups conclude with Elyara safely escaping and being pretty satisfied with the PCs (as opposed to if they let M die).
Investigation:...
Good question. My intention was for the conversation with Eylara not to count against the number of avenues of investigation the PCs can pursue. Then with Eylara telling the PCs that they are on a tight clock, there is a fair chance for the PCs to consider if they would want to split up to cover more ground or stay together to maximize the chances of success with each lead they follow.
|
|
The religion check and the pikachu's do specifically state to the banshee at the start of the fight that it's not allowed to wail. Suggesting they're keeping it under control. I threw some other strong hints about their manipulation of it to the party as well.
If they bypass the guard encounter, they're suppose to shout about the banshee being active and the fact it's going to wail as they lock the PCs in with it. That should also clue them in to the fact it needs to die as a priority.
|
|
I had the banshee say "they won't let me sing... maybe i'll listen to your screams instead..."
It also had the misfortune to come out at the party near the monk and the paladin so it didn't last long.
The party rescued maldris by dropping the cleric with a ready plane shift spell on top of him using a giant eagle with the bombard trick. Malrdis and the cleric went to CG heaven (this is the ONLY way you're getting here )@#)(@#@*&^*&^%$ ) then running away. The party bought 6 hats of disguise to walk the prisoners out so they just kind of im ho tepped their way to the docks.
|
I had the banshee say "they won't let me sing... maybe i'll listen to your screams instead..."
It also had the misfortune to come out at the party near the monk and the paladin so it didn't last long.
The party rescued maldris by dropping the cleric with a ready plane shift spell on top of him using a giant eagle with the bombard trick. Malrdis and the cleric went to CG heaven (this is the ONLY way you're getting here )@#)(@#@*&^*&^%$ ) then running away. The party bought 6 hats of disguise to walk the prisoners out so they just kind of im ho tepped their way to the docks.
You know, one could have simply walked to Malrdis.
Didn’t have to go all giant eagle mic drop, cut out 500 pages of story just to finish the thing. Lol.
|
So, if the PCs are captured or otherwise incapacitated, how on earth are they not readily executed by a final blade? How are you supposed to handle this? It only makes sense that if they are caught trying to free a Galtan prisoner that not only does it provoke international conflict but also leads to their incredibly permanent deaths. However, it says nothing of this in the conclusion. How are you supposed to handle it. Body recovery and the like as normal?
I feel like leaving out this kind of outcome in the conclusion section is a strong oversight.
What is the correct thing to do in the event that the PCs are subdued?
|
|
My players threw me for a little bit of loop last night. They wanted to remove the Final Blade from the guillotine that was going to lop off Colson's head and take it with them. I didn't think fast enough and let them do this, and then had Eliza Petulengro gently take it from them during the Conclusion.
In retrospect, I think I should have made it very difficult, if not impossible, to remove the Final Blade (high level casting of Arcane Lock or something similar). I also could have emphasized that the players didn't have time to waste as a whole mess of Grey Gardeners was about to come boiling out of the Monolith situated just behind the guillotine.