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Characters:
- Goblin Paladin of Irori (Shield Ally) Warrior
- Half-Orc Alchemist (Bomber) Scholar
- Gnome Sorcerer (Angelic Bloodline) Mind Quake Survivor
- Human Cleric of Saranrae, Acolyte
The party met each other at Rozenberg, not knowing each other. They immediately start judging each other.
Cleric to Paladin: "Are you a real Paladin?"
Paladin to Alchemist: "Why do we need a potion-mixer for this?"
Sorcerer to Cleric: "You look too normal to be hanging out with us."
The whole party was abysmally slow, with the Gnome's 20 ft. being the fastest. I checked the overland travel rules to see if the party could get there in a day. Apparently, they couldn't. Not wanting them to miss the adventure, I told them they'd need to get riding horses.
When the party arrived, I described the setting. The Sorcerer joked that the pathway leading to the water meant we must be in Innsmouth territory. I let the Acolyte of Saranrae make the Recall Lore check for the ankh on the mansion. She critically succeeded at the check, and after I told the info given in the module, I gave her some more background info on the Oscilar family as told in the background, since she expected to get a bit more out of a critical success.
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Party went to the front door and knocked. When Lucvi opened the door, the Sorcerer introduced himself, the party, and his rat familiar Nibbles. When Lucvi gave them the cold shoulder, the Alchemist shoved the Eye's message in her face and demanded that they see the Professor. I told them that this only made Lucvi more reluctant to let them in, and suggested that someone make a request to get inside. The Sorcerer rolled well at that.
They talked to Verid, who critically failed his Deception check when asked what he was doing out here. I'm glad he failed on that check, because the module's response was extremely suspicious to the players. The Alchemist whispered to the Paladin (speaking Goblin): "He's crazy, or a cultist of the Dominion." He made up for it by get a 32 for Deception when asking the party to spend the night at his mansion.
Cleric (to me): "So we have to pretend we *don't* think he's going to kill us in our sleep?"
Me: "Yep."
When Verid offered the party the use of the upper bedrooms and his kitchen, the Paladin proclaimed: "I'll be staying in the kitchen tonight!" He was a bit disappointed that there was no-one to serve him in the dining room, so he went through the pantry and found some pickled preserves to nosh on. The Alchemist claimed the biggest room, so that she could do her experiments there.
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The Sorcerer's room was next to the padlocked door, which made him very curious. As soon as the Cleric went into her room, he went to the Alchemist and dared her to open the lock. The Alchemist critically failed her Pick a Lock check, and broke her tools. Her player wasn't happy when I told her that the rules said her tools could only be replaced, not repaired, so her character went back to her room.
The Paladin's player reminded the Sorcerer's player that he had a Skeleton key, so they met up and decided to use it on the lock. The Paladin asked if there might be more food up there, and the Sorcerer said "Let's find out!". With only a +6 to his Thievery, he critically failed on the first check, and the Key's magic was broken. The Paladin ran to the Alchemist and asked for her to fix it. Checking the rules, it said that it could be fixed, which was different from how ordinary thieves' tools worked. I ruled that both kinds of tools could be fixed. That just meant that the Alchemist wanted to fix her tools first. The Paladin jumped on her bed, fidgeting and chewing on his toenails while waiting for his Key to be fixed.
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Meanwhile, the Cleric was casting Augury in her room. She asked if she should investigate what the Professor is really doing. The result was "Weal". She found the Sorcerer in the hallway and asked him for help. While the Sorcerer was trying to smooze with the researchers (to no avail), the Cleric took a walk around the building, looking for windows, cellar doors, or any odd architecture. She told the Sorcerer that everyone was in the Salon, and their private rooms were unoccupied. The Sorcerer opened the doors for his familiar, who would search the rooms for incriminating evidence, while the Cleric of the Deity of Honesty told herself she would tell them what she did once they were done.
In Verid's room, the rat found his journal, with the cryptic last entry. That got the characters to investigate his room themselves. The Sorcerer found the trap door in the closet, and commented that the lock on it was a lot like the lock on the door next to his. They decided to confer with their partners.
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Everyone agreed Verid was hiding something (The Alchemist recognized the name 'Ramlock' and its connection to the Dominion), and that they needed to figure out what was going on. The Cleric declared that they couldn't tell anyone else, in case any of them was a cultist. The Sorcerer suggested using Acid on the locks, but the Cleric mentioned that she saw a window to the attic above the Sorcerer's room. The Sorcerer got a critical success climbing up to the window, but he got a critical failure trying to be Stealthy while breaking the glass with his kukri.
The other players closed the balcony door and moved into the hallway to be nonchalant. Soon, Verid and his students were coming up the stairs. Lucvi had gone out to check on the noise, told Verid that the attic window was broken, which caused him to rush up there to investigate. The Cleric asked him what was more important than his research; both she and the Alchemist saw through his weak excuse of 'family heirlooms'. The Paladin asked: "Do you have any food up there?"
As soon as Verid unlocked the padlock, the Cleric pushed him aside and the party rushed up to the attic to find evidence. It was the Cleric that found the dead body with Verid's letter-opener still in it.
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With the mounting evidence, Verid reluctantly told the party what had happened to him. They all asked for Perception checks to intuit if it was true. The Alchemist and Sorcerer got very low rolls, but I had the Sorcerer roll a Dominion of the Black Night Lore check to recognize the similarities with his Mind Quake. I then had the Alchemist roll an Academia Lore check to recognize the theoretical soundness of what he was saying. Given how important Verid is to the win condition, I tried my best to convince them to trust him.
The Sorcerer convinced Verid that he could get the help he needs with the Esoteric Order. I reminded the party (through Verid) that his disassociation usually occur at night-time, and that it might be dangerous to travel at night with him in this state. They agreed, and worked to isolate him. They told the students to gather up their research and sleep upstairs. The Cleric and Sorcerer stayed with Verid in the basement, ready to observe and intervene with his altered state.
The Alchemist (who still didn't trust Verid) and the Paladin waited up in the library lounge. They passed time by playing board games and card games. The Paladin beat the Alchemist at Chess with opposed Warfare Lore Checks, but the Alchemist beat the Paladin at Cribbage with opposed Society checks. That's when someone knocked at the door...
TO BE CONTINUED
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(Sorry for the delay. Actually finished this weeks ago, I'm just focusing on GMing and doing surveys.)
Paladin and Alchemist walk up to the door. The Goblin asks a series of questions for the mystery doorknockers, and the Alchemist put her ear up to the door, hearing unintelligible muttering. She went down to the basement to fetch the others. Since no-one was going to open the door, I rolled a d6 to see how quickly the ghasts would break down the door.
The Paladin got surrounded by ghasts before his allies returned, but was in no danger. The Ghasts could only hit him on a 18, and a Critical Hit when he raised his shield! Not that being hit mattered too much: Divine Health and a high Fortitude meant that he could only be paralyzed by the Ghasts on a natural 1. The reason why this encounter took so long was because one Ghast got critically hit by the Cleric's Chill Touch and Demoralized by the Paladin. It was fleeing back towards the beach for two consecutive rounds before it came back. It broke the kitchen window to get back in, only to get ignored by the Sorcerer as he casually walked away from its assault, and led it to the Paladin, who killed it.
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The direction the Ghast fled towards gave the party a hint to where it came from, so they all volunteered to check it out. The Alchemist said she would stay behind and watch the Professor. All the other players immediately picked up their D20 and rolled Perception, since she had been clear that she didn't like Verid. She played along and told us that she wanted to use an Infiltrator's Elixir on one of the Professor's assistants to make him look like Verid, and let the assistant get captured by the undead. The Cleric was horrified by such an evil thought (The Alchemist claimed she was just being Neutral), and everyone decided to stay with the Professor to ensure that nothing bad happened to him.
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The assistants, who were working to fortify the Professor's bedroom from an assault, were interrupted when the second wave arrived. I ruled that Lucvi was in the main hall when it happened. Once again, the Paladin got surrounded by undead, and barely got scratched. The Good Guys used that clump of enemies for their benefit: Lucvi dropped the chandelier on 3 of the undead, and the Sorcerer centered a Sound Burst on the Paladin (his Armoured Fortitude allowed him to take no damage from it).
This time, I had the undead break off from the Paladin and attack the others. The Cleric got flanked by two ghasts. She failed her first save vs. Stench, but saved vs. the second one: not sure if that's how it worked, but went with it. The Vampires set up a flank with the Alchemist. Once one grabbed her, it attempted to drink her blood. He missed only because being flat-footed didn't apply to his Athletics check. The Sorcerer considered dropping a Divine Wrath on the Vampires and Alchemist, but thought that the Alchemist might not be good-aligned.
Party played smart: without me telling them about the meatgrinder upcoming, the party of spellcasters was very good at conserving their resources. When they could, they killed weak or dying monsters with weapons or cantrips.
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Party becomes worried about the situation, not sure if they should leave, go to the beach, or drop a Sanctified Ground and make a stand. The Alchemist rolled for Recall Lore about how fast Vampires can travel, and she realized that the average Vampire can't go faster than one of the horses they rode in on. She offered a plan where someone would take the Infiltrator's Elixir and ride a horse in view of the undead as Verid, and lead them away from the real Verid. If they were that desperate to get him, they'd leave the mansion alone, and the rider couldn't be caught. I then informed the Alchemist that her plan wouldn't work, since the Elixir couldn't turn a person into another specific person. A Disguise check would be needed to pull it off, and the party was either female, small-sized, or incredibly un-deceptive. So they went back to defending the mansion. (I marked off 5 minutes to account for how long this discussion took in-game).
The Paladin made a Warfare Lore check to decide how to defend the mansion. I told him to hold up her and fortify their weak points... just as Wave 3 came in!
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Everyone beat the Wight's stealth initiative, so I told them they heard the Wights walking through the broken window's frame in the kitchen. The Alchemist used her Recall Lore to remember that Wights could kill people and turn them into wights. The party used the first round to buff themselves for combat: Juggernaut Mutagen by the Alchemist, Angelic Halo by the Sorcerer, 3-action Heal from the Cleric, and the Paladin ran to the kitchen door and raised his shield.
I felt bad for the Wights. The first Wight died from 3 consecutive hits by the Paladin, the other one critically failed its Shove action, and when I had it try and find another way around (rolling randomly for which door it would try), it opened the door to the Pantry! Then I checked the adventure and realized that the Wights were supposed to be Elite! I rewound the turn, since 2 of the Paladin's attacks would have missed with Elite AC.
The Cleric made a Saranrae Lore Check, to see if her Deity could give her guidance. I told her "It's always darkest just before dawn. You will not pass this test until you have been truly tested." She couldn't believe that it could get worse, and then she heard a window shatter in another room.
When the second pair of Wights entered the main hall and eyed the NPCs, the Alchemist dared them to take her on (which they obliged). The Paladin moved in to intercept them, while the Sorcerer occupied the kitchen doorway with a summoned animated broom. There was some confusion about how the Paladin's Retributive Strike interacted with the Wight's Final Strike. He killed the Wight, which triggered the Wight's reaction, which triggered the Paladin's reaction; however, because the Wight was already dead, his Retributive Strike technically didn't stop the Wight from hitting the Alchemist.
The party got a one-two punch when the Poltergeist appeared and the Cleric got hit with an Enervation (losing access to her uncast 4th-level spells). With things looking grim, the Sorcerer decided to use his Quick Intimidation to drive the Poltergeist back into dormancy. The Cleric cast Shield Other on the Sorcerer, sharing the boatload of damage inflicted by the Poltergeist on the Sorcerer, incensed at being commanded. The Sorcerer succeeded at his Intimidation check and made the Poltergeist go to sleep as the Paladin finished off the other undead.
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Realizing how bad things were going, the PCs went straight to prepping for the next wave they assumed would come. Desperately-needed Heal spells and Lay On Hands were cast. The Sorcerer used his Sanctified Ground scroll in the center of the main hall, while the Alchemist rounded up the party's remaining potions so she could perform "watergirl duties" if necessary. Once the assistants finished their defenses, the Paladin sent them into the basement with Verid, telling them to protect him with their lives.
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When the Shadows arrived, they immediately cast the PCs into darkness. I was glad that Page 197 specifically called out how light and dark effects counteract each other. The Sorcerer spent each turn casting Light to banish the darkness the Shadows kept using. The Cleric's Turn Undead feat turned out to be decisive in surviving the Shadows: she critically turned one Shadow twice, making it waste four rounds running away and coming back, giving the party enough time to finish off the other and ready attacks on the returning Shadow. I assumed that Disrupting weapons could hit the Shadows, that the whole weapon damage would get applied, even though only a small portion of it was positive energy.
I treated the zombies as background scenery and not as combat. I didn't roll for them, and assumed that most of them got toasted by the Cleric's Conical Channeling on the Shadows, and the rest were easily dispatched. Considering how easily the PCs handled the ghouls, I'm confident that the zombies would never had made a difference in combat, even when flanking.
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Burning through necessary heals and quaffed potions, the BBEG arrived on the scene, but not rushing into battle. I had Ilvoresh lead with casting Invisibility before entering, then following up with Mirror Image on the next turn. Knowing it was the mastermind, the party played a game of Cat and Mouse with it, attacking from a distance and using Dispel Magic to take away its defensive spells. Ilvoresh responded in kind by Dispelling the Sanctified Ground and trying to search for Verid without dispelling its Invisibility (which it cast two more times in the combat).
On turn 7, Ilvoresh cast Suggestion on the Paladin, suggesting he bring Verid out in the open. The Alchemist attempted to break the spell by explaining how doing so would violate his values. I asked her to roll a Society check to get a good reason, but she critically failed, and only emboldened the Paladin to get Verid.
Once again, the Sorcerer attempted to use Quick Intimidation to get the Brain Collector to leave them alone. I asked him why the mastermind would back off, if this is his plan. He responded (in character) that the Esoteric Order wouldn't stop tracking him down until he was dead, and they were only a day away. "Is your continued existence worth consuming this brain?" Ilvoresh singled out the Sorcerer (flying up to him) and brought him within 5 HP of falling unconscious. When the Sorcerer rolled Intimidation, he beat Ilvoresh's Will Defense by 5. I checked the Hostile condition, and ruled that the Brain Collector was going to retreat here, because it lost its entire cadre of warriors, but wouldn't give up on catching Verid.
Threatening death in the future, the Brain Collector returned to the water. The Cleric told every PC and NPC to get on their horses and fly back to town. I ruled that Verid still remained under the influence of Ilvoresh, but that he would remain safe and shuffled between safe houses by the Esoteric Order.
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My thoughts: I enjoyed running this adventure, especially the pre-combat part. The mystery of what was going on, and the party's investigation of it, was the highlight for me and the other players. The series of battles was okay. I told the players they would be facing undead, but not that it would be a gauntlet of ever-increasing challenges. It felt like the party only really got challenged in the third wave, but that the series of new waves was wearing on their attention span and interest in the scenario.
This was my first interaction with using significantly lower-level creatures as combatants. The players enjoyed being so much better than certain monsters, getting critical hits with average rolls, but in the 4th wave, all of the wimpy creatures were just a distraction. The Ghouls were probably as low as I'd go, if I made my own adventure.
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Ranking of PCs (from most successful to least successful):
Sorcerer: The Sorcerer was the linchpin for the adventure, using Quick Intimidation twice to scare away monsters that would have probably made the adventure end in a TPK. I don't hate that a PC can make a Coerce check in 1 round, but I'm not sure if the system's balance has this tactic accounted for. As a Sorcerer, this PC did well use his heighten ability to cast Heal and Summon Monster in creative ways. The Angelic Halo and other bloodline powers were very useful, making the Angelic Sorcerer a viable alternative to the Cleric. He had Channel Energy as a class feat, but never had to use it, with all of his sorcerer spells being sufficient.
Paladin: Often the only PC on the frontline, his AC and saving throws were so amazing that he was an one-man army. The penalties from wearing heavy armour never came up in combat, because all of the fights converged on the main hall of the mansion. His Shield Ally and ability to block for others never came up, thanks to the expansive size of the combat field. With the old Quick Repair rule, the Paladin had no time to fix any dents on his shield, so he used it rarely, but he rarely needed it, with all the low-level monsters and the sneaky monster able to bypass him.
Cleric: The Cleric's player and I wanted to test out a Cleric who didn't have Emblazon Symbol as a class feat. We both felt it was a must-take choice, so she and I built a Cleric with a modest melee attack and no shield. She performed very well, since so many of the monster needed cleric spells cast almost each turn. As the primary Undead specialist of the party, she did very well containing the undead the Paladin couldn't shut down. Even with the Enervation keeping her from casting her 4th-level spells, she managed to be able to heal the party and use her class-feat-enhanced Heal to keep the party alive and the enemies off-balance.
Alchemist: As the sole non-Divine PC, everyone assumed her PC would be at a disadvantage. She took one for the team, playing a high Intelligence character to help with skill checks. She enjoyed the different tricks the Alchemist had available, but unfortunately, she wasn't able to use most of them. The limitations on them meant they couldn't be used in the scenario, and many of the undead were resistant to her Alchemy. She was able to participate, but it was often as the 'sidekick' when dealing with monsters with immunities.
Thanks for sharing, I like seeing PCs get a blast out of using knowledge.
This was definitely one of the fun parts for my party, even if everybody basically assumed it was excessively Scooby Doo at first.