Does anyone have a map of Roslar's Coffer that doesn't have the annotations on it? I'm looking for something I can give to my PCs for before the fall, in the Boneyards, and after they get out. And if nobody has a map, how did you guys handle them navigating the town?
Does anyone have a map of Roslar's Coffer that doesn't have the annotations on it? I'm looking for something I can give to my PCs for before the fall, in the Boneyards, and after they get out. And if nobody has a map, how did you guys handle them navigating the town?
I drew up a map of the town and a player map of the tomb as they saw it in the boneyard. I can look for it when I get home if that would help.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
When I read the description of the two necromancers in room L7, I was immediately struck by how atypical it was.
these half-elven sisters orchestrate the activities of other lesser cultists in the area. Oradi and Savenna joined the Whispering Way when they turned 18, looking for a drastic way to reject their tradition-bound family. The sisters look nearly identical; each is tall with red hair and freckles. They even prefer to dress similarly, wearing matching robes of bones. One of the pair wears small, round spectacles, which is the only way some of the cultists can tell them apart
To me, this sounded like a couple of rich kids in their early-mid 20s rebelling against mommy and daddy, and I played them up as such - a combination of the stereotypical 'valley girl' and 'greenpeace activist' with more than a touch of emo-goth thrown in. In other words, they were in it because of the excitement and because it was so distasteful. Life in their manor home (I put their homeland on the border of Kyonin) as upper aristocrats was stifling.
They were also a more than a little cruel and crazy. But even though they came off as alternately cunning and ditzy, they weren't stupid. In my campaign, the PCs rested between levels 1 and 2 of the Bastion and overnight VQ discovered that someone ransacked the lower level and set a trap for the PCs upstairs. The PCs cleared the whole floor before they reached the two girls. As such, the girls realized they were completely outclassed and surrendered immediately.
Want to confuse a party? Have the bad guys immediately surrender. The PCs spent an HOUR trying to figure out what to do next. They even used the candle of truth on them. I thought for awhile that the party was going to come to blows over the decision.
The cleric of Iomedae and the paladin have been talking non-stop about killing the prisoners (which I'm keeping track of, as GM - we'll see what happens there) while the Neutral mage is willing to let them go. And the bard is a local so she lost her family in the town and wants to slit their throats. Meanwhile the inquisitor of pharasma is stoic about the whole thing.
As for the two girls? They're pretty certain mom and dad can come and "pick them up at the station" and everything will be ok. Ah, to be young and privileged. lol. Meanwhile, the one with the glasses has taken to swooning at the paladin (who is a tiefling).
As GM I look forward to seeing how this resolves itself.
Does anyone have a map of Roslar's Coffer that doesn't have the annotations on it? I'm looking for something I can give to my PCs for before the fall, in the Boneyards, and after they get out. And if nobody has a map, how did you guys handle them navigating the town?
I had the subscription when this book came out so it came with the interactive map PDFs, which allow you to turn off the map tags. It is truly a shame that the PDFs for the maps are not available for sale on Paizo's website.
I obviously do not want to violate any forum rules, so I will not post it without some sort of authorization. That being said, I have a blown up, unmarked map of Roslar's Coffer that I would be happy to share with anyone that is in need of it. I just do not know if it would be illegal, or even just declared as a "dick move" to share or distribute the expanded files that are directly from the book.
For the game that I have been GMing I have taken the maps from the PDFs and printed them to 1"x1" grid scaled 11"x17" map tiles. I struggle with finding the time to draw out maps and the image quality of the files is good enough to expand to the correct scale. Once I got the system down, this has been a huge time saver and I have been very satisfied with how its turned out.
I have converted all of the files to PDF and they can be printed as a mosaic that have suited my table very well. It is simple cut and paste from the PDFs of the interactive maps, but the problem is that they are not available a la carte from Paizo.
I have also taken regional maps, town maps, etc and scaled them up from the first three books as well as a few visual aids from other splat books.
TL:DR- If you want an unmarked map from the book, you will need the interactive PDFs for Tyrant's Grasp, but they are not available to purchase on the site.
Just adding my own notes from my session, which just started today:
1) DM's should have Jando show up right out the gate. The party is probably going to encounter him within a short while anyway, and having more guidance from the start makes sense. When the players start, the only "guidance" they have is a glowing light at the cemetery, that they might not even visit. Jando can point them in the right direction.
I agree with this. After my party fought the zombie elk, they heard a screaming from the forest. Unfortunately, my party ignored the cries and continued heading southeast toward the glowing at the cemetery gates. My oracle of Ragathiel(and Arazni too now) had visions from the cemetery spirit that they must commune. However, after fighting the plant creature in the town square, the party split- one half of the group to do the gardening, and another half to investigate the woods up north. This leads me to the Yaog fight...
2) Building off that, the yaoguai fight is brutal. This thing has a ton of hit points, DR5/-, Fast Healing 5, and SR. My party did a good job, but one player almost went down in one turn. Having Jando assist in the fight after bringing them to his base could be good, and if DM's want Jando to be guidance, but not help, maybe he breaks a limb in the fight so he can't help them in fights, but can still point them in the right direction.
We had a party of 5 when they fought the YaoGuai, but they went at him with only 3, while two stayed behind to garden the town square. I rolled for a random encounter for the gardeners and hit with a 1 on a d100, so i had to make it spicy. I rolled up the King of the Ghouls from the encounter table. At this point we ran a "split-screen" encounter that involved an Aasimar Oracle, Shabti Fighter, and a Duskwalker Magus vs the Yaoguai and a Human Paladin and Half-Orc bard vs an advanced giant ghoul and 3 other advance ghouls.
Luckily, the OP af paladin was able to carry the town square battle and they survived, but the Yaoguai party wasn't so lucky... The yaoguai was in a standoff with Jando's cat, now named Rando Purr, and almost playing with its meal. Our shabti fighter, who joined our game right at the end of book 1 and bargained her way out of the dead lands with the party. Unfortunately, while the magus and oracle got jando unstuck from the log, the shabti was mauled to death, and graphically eaten in front of the fleeing party.
When Jando was nursed back to health, he explained that while he was there the day after the destruction, he rounded up some scavenged items that survived the cataclysm, but they were in his blind, where the yaogaui had now taken as its lair. They gathered with the bard and paladin, now determined to get revenge, and the sick loot I added. The second fight was no joke either, but luckily for our party, the paladin scored a 3x greataxe crit for 75 damage. Our dead shabti has since taken over as jando parr and rando purr, and they've been instrumental to the party. Favored enemy undead is a hell of a drug.
3) Right now, the cemetery ghost fetch quest is vague and doesn't quite connect other than "Well, this is the only thing, so this must be the way forward." I personally recommend changing the spirit's dialogue so it's more like "Hey, I'm the spirit of the town. I'd love to help you, but the Whispering Way is trying to ensure that the last of my spirits can't move on. If you can help them, I can help you" and then have the spirit give benefits as they help more spirits. This also makes the Whispering Way more directly in the path of PC goals, rather than just in the same space and hostile.
My party already helped the old folks with their gardening dilemma before they met the spirit so that was a good start. I had the spirit tell them that while there were strange undead anomalies that roamed the destroyed town, there were also worse horrors that the spirit was holding back from the town.
They instructed the party that not only helping the spirits would allow this being to move on and let them rest, but the trials would also show the spirit that the party would be capable of overcoming the horrors to come.
They shortly after met Chatar, who had been tracking them since the very loud yaoguai incident, and that started the rivalry with the Whispering Way.
My party had a bad time with the bodak in the Bastion and fled after the fighter got 5 negative levels. It took three days to recover. So what's a GM to do with a forewarned enemy with plenty of time?
The only Whispering Way left on the ground floor are the researchers on the east side. I'm having them move into the main room. Nobody left in the building has Survival, so they can't figure out where the PCs came from, but the big sanctuary is an obvious place for them to come through. I decided against having anyone from upstairs come down, but they'll all be ready for a fight when the PCs get to them.
The three deathless researchers will be at the north end of the room. One will be right by the door to the east vestry. They'll use all the patches from the robe of bones and have those undead around the south end as cannon fodder...and bait. Anyone moving towards those undead or to move up between the pews will set off a new cloudkill trap like that one from the altar in the west. The researcher by the door will be able to move the cloud 10' each round as a move action. I'm stealing that from the mythic version, but an artifact made it and it's a big room, so who cares?
The undead minions probably won't last a round, between a fireball and a bones oracle taking control of them. Once they're done and the PCs start to close with the researchers, the one by the door will throw it open and run away from the mutant bear they've let out. The researchers will run for the relative safety of the cloudkill spell and use it for concealment and protection from the bear. Assuming it hasn't been dispelled by then.
You know, something has been itching at the back of my mind for a bit: why is Arazni so secretive with the PCs at the end of Book 2 but is so forward about...everything at the beginning of Book 4?
The intervening period between those meetings involves a lot of actions that prove the PCs as capable agents and allies. I consider it a "trust but verify" situation for her.
You see, that explanation starts getting iffy once you look at her “trust is the dagger” spiel in Book 4.
And that's a fair point, but I would counter that she's not trusting the PCs with the full extent of her intent or plans. She's revealing what she deems to be enough to secure their cooperation.
From a narrative perspective, this is important for several reasons, not least of which is the "lesser of two evils" trope. The PCs are constantly fighting the undead, but are suddenly working for a lich with broad name recognition. It should be, at least in part, something that troubles many PCs. The more important piece, though, is that the end of book 4 can't work without the PCs foreknowledge of who she is. The entire final scene becomes incoherent if the PCs can't figure it out.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My favorite part of book 2 so far is when the group walked into the library at the Bastion and saw two massive cats (not medium sized but a larger cat breed) sitting there watching them. The champion of Torag's first reaction was to make a *pst* noise and say, "Get outta here ya cats!" He then proceeded to try shooing them for the next five minutes until the nekomata attacked.
So I just killed another PC last night in the battle with the Gray Reaver, and i think I might have made a serious goofus: does the Gray Reaver retain all of its natural attacks as a new byproduct of the Radiant Fire, or is it still bound by the limitiations of zombie stagger?
Yeah, staggered is still in its statblock. Time for a mea culpa.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, staggered is still in its statblock. Time for a mea culpa.
Yep, afraid of that. I think I'll add a concoction in the Necromancers' Lab that is capable of restoring life that the researchers stumbled upon incidently, then threw in a corner when they discovered it had the opposite of their desired effect.
|
Yeah, staggered is still in its statblock. Time for a mea culpa.Yep, afraid of that. I think I'll add a concoction in the Necromancers' Lab that is capable of restoring life that the researchers stumbled upon incidently, then threw in a corner when they discovered it had the opposite of their desired effect.
If you're giving the PCs experience, it could just be a zombie lord for +1 CR. So a CR 7 instead. Boost their XP earned, and have that concoction available.
Has anyone considered the possibility of a PC being teleported outside of the Bastion of Light by the Crypt Things and becoming stranded in the fog? Or even weirder, still - outside of the dome altogether? The max distance for the Crypt Things’ Teleportation Burst is 1000’, after all. Have others just limited the possible destinations to within the BoL?
Thank you!
|
I'm thinking about opening up the fight in the second floor of the Bastion. After the chaos on the first floor, the idea that the bad guys are just sitting in their rooms is kinda silly.
But really, there's just 4 of them, plus some help, which shouldn't endanger the PCs unless they get in a tough position. I think it might be interesting to use the traps and the jujus to distract the PCs while the bad guys move through the various rooms, making them chase them and trying to outflank them, or pin them so the pudwudgie or valthazar can really lay into them with some damage.
Thoughts?
I'm thinking about opening up the fight in the second floor of the Bastion. After the chaos on the first floor, the idea that the bad guys are just sitting in their rooms is kinda silly.
But really, there's just 4 of them, plus some help, which shouldn't endanger the PCs unless they get in a tough position. I think it might be interesting to use the traps and the jujus to distract the PCs while the bad guys move through the various rooms, making them chase them and trying to outflank them, or pin them so the pudwudgie or valthazar can really lay into them with some damage.
Thoughts?
The more time Valthazar has to stack on his hexes and spells, the tougher that fight will be, so I’d be careful. Also, you’ll be completely removing any opportunity for dialogue between Valthy and the PCs. Plus, the scene of the PCs entering a room and finding themselves, undead, and sitting quaintly at a table is a great one, which you would also lose.
You also seem to be operating under the assumption that the group completely cleared the downstairs already. Having all these tough baddies running around upstairs invites a strong possibility for the group to fall back once or twice. If you’re going to apply the “I heard combat, so I’m going to go looking for trouble” logic to the baddies upstairs, then it seems silly that the baddies downstairs wouldn’t also follow that (at least the intelligent/curious ones). With the possibility of the PCs retreating back downstairs, you’re risking then running into even more trouble at that point.
I appreciate the more realistic and fluid approach to the combats upstairs, but for the sake of pacing and allowing for dialogue, I personally would keep closer to the upstairs as written.
Hey, I’m looking for help with pronunciation. The monster in the back of Book 2 called a Melacage - best I can tell, it’s pronounced “mella- kah - gay”, but I have no reference for if this monster was inspired by a specific culture or otherwise has a real-world country of origin. Can anyone provide some insight?
|
I'm thinking about opening up the fight in the second floor of the Bastion. After the chaos on the first floor, the idea that the bad guys are just sitting in their rooms is kinda silly.
But really, there's just 4 of them, plus some help, which shouldn't endanger the PCs unless they get in a tough position. I think it might be interesting to use the traps and the jujus to distract the PCs while the bad guys move through the various rooms, making them chase them and trying to outflank them, or pin them so the pudwudgie or valthazar can really lay into them with some damage.
Thoughts?
I'm probably a little late to answer this, but I'm about to run the same stretch. My group cleared out the ground floor last session, then took the tunnel back to the cemetery in Roslar's Coffer to rest and perform the loci spirit's ceremony for the greater heroism boon.
Now I've already determined there'll be a random encounter for the long rest, but I'll hit them in the morning as they prepare to head back to the Bastion of Light. This way they'll have expended some resources before they get up top. The sisters also wear two robes of bones so they could easily have some extra help there, fast goblin zombie and plague ogre zombie sound fun.
I don't know how effective the nekomata's kitten ruse will work as I did the same thing with the esipil sahkil in Nine Eaves.
--Vrocky Horror
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A suggestion for the final meeting with Arazni:
Arazni wants a lot of info from the PCs and offers rather little in return, as written. Instead, have her recommend that she and the PCs go to the epicenter where she will cast a divination to replay the events of the blast. This shows the terror of the blast, and then she backs up events to show an agent of the Whispering Tyrant setting a shard into the epicenter (I used the big tree in the center-west part of town). In my game this would be Gildais; in one that follows the modules straight you'd have to figure out who it was.
She then asks the PCs where they were when the blast hit, and takes them there for another divination. You get to graphically describe the impact of the shards, the interplay of positive and negative energy, and the shard driving the living souls from their bodies into "a direction that cannot be seen."
It is a chance to talk more to Arazni, to re-experience a horrific event together, and hopefully to make more of a connection. And I like the idea that it's in seeing the events that she realizes what the basis of the weapon is. It makes it more believable since the PCs can see the evidence too, even if they can't fully interpret it without her background knowledge.
I will add that, in the plotline as written, Arazni asking the PCs to look for Gildais is really unhelpful. He doesn't appear until #6, and this is not so much foreshadowing as a frustrating red herring where nothing they try can possibly work. (We're not even told where he is at this time; not where he is in #6, I think that isn't set up yet.) The whole plotline with Gildais feels like it should have been earlier and much more significant than it was. If you're going to postpone Gildais to #6, I think it's better not to have Arazni ask the PCs to look for him until #4.
|
|
A suggestion for the final meeting with Arazni:
Arazni wants a lot of info from the PCs and offers rather little in return, as written. Instead, have her recommend that she and the PCs go to the epicenter where she will cast a divination to replay the events of the blast. This shows the terror of the blast, and then she backs up events to show an agent of the Whispering Tyrant setting a shard into the epicenter (I used the big tree in the center-west part of town). In my game this would be Gildais; in one that follows the modules straight you'd have to figure out who it was.
She then asks the PCs where they were when the blast hit, and takes them there for another divination. You get to graphically describe the impact of the shards, the interplay of positive and negative energy, and the shard driving the living souls from their bodies into "a direction that cannot be seen."
It is a chance to talk more to Arazni, to re-experience a horrific event together, and hopefully to make more of a connection. And I like the idea that it's in seeing the events that she realizes what the basis of the weapon is. It makes it more believable since the PCs can see the evidence too, even if they can't fully interpret it without her background knowledge.
I will add that, in the plotline as written, Arazni asking the PCs to look for Gildais is really unhelpful. He doesn't appear until #6, and this is not so much foreshadowing as a frustrating red herring where nothing they try can possibly work. (We're not even told where he is at this time; not where he is in #6, I think that isn't set up yet.) The whole plotline with Gildais feels like it should have been earlier and much more significant than it was. If you're going to postpone Gildais to #6, I think it's better not to have Arazni ask the PCs to look for him until #4.
why not have him introduced in #4? the PCs are trudging through the snow, and they come upon a terrible sight - but upon closer investigation it looks like a host of zombies were murdered instead of people... and like... hundreds of zombies were ripped apart... hundreds of zombies who were in a position to kill the PCs... and there's... in the snow... a bad poem... signed... G
|
|
I'm thinking about opening up the fight in the second floor of the Bastion. After the chaos on the first floor, the idea that the bad guys are just sitting in their rooms is kinda silly.
But really, there's just 4 of them, plus some help, which shouldn't endanger the PCs unless they get in a tough position. I think it might be interesting to use the traps and the jujus to distract the PCs while the bad guys move through the various rooms, making them chase them and trying to outflank them, or pin them so the pudwudgie or valthazar can really lay into them with some damage.
Thoughts?
I'm probably a little late to answer this, but I'm about to run the same stretch. My group cleared out the ground floor last session, then took the tunnel back to the cemetery in Roslar's Coffer to rest and perform the loci spirit's ceremony for the greater heroism boon.
Now I've already determined there'll be a random encounter for the long rest, but I'll hit them in the morning as they prepare to head back to the Bastion of Light. This way they'll have expended some resources before they get up top. The sisters also wear two robes of bones so they could easily have some extra help there, fast goblin zombie and plague ogre zombie sound fun.
I don't know how effective the nekomata's kitten ruse will work as I did the same thing with the esipil sahkil in Nine Eaves.
--Vrocky Horror
so... I'm running this next week.
V is going to be in the nave when the PCs show up. He's waiting for them, playing senet with Duskfather [the father of the witchcrow from book 1... long story]...
He gets to do his crazy evil villain speech in the glory of the nave of the Bastion of Light rather than in some cramped office.
But well... can't risk my spoilers for the PCs just in case... (we ended the last session with them entering the nave)
|
|
I'm thinking about opening up the fight in the second floor of the Bastion. After the chaos on the first floor, the idea that the bad guys are just sitting in their rooms is kinda silly.
But really, there's just 4 of them, plus some help, which shouldn't endanger the PCs unless they get in a tough position. I think it might be interesting to use the traps and the jujus to distract the PCs while the bad guys move through the various rooms, making them chase them and trying to outflank them, or pin them so the pudwudgie or valthazar can really lay into them with some damage.
Thoughts?
The more time Valthazar has to stack on his hexes and spells, the tougher that fight will be, so I’d be careful. Also, you’ll be completely removing any opportunity for dialogue between Valthy and the PCs. Plus, the scene of the PCs entering a room and finding themselves, undead, and sitting quaintly at a table is a great one, which you would also lose.
You also seem to be operating under the assumption that the group completely cleared the downstairs already. Having all these tough baddies running around upstairs invites a strong possibility for the group to fall back once or twice. If you’re going to apply the “I heard combat, so I’m going to go looking for trouble” logic to the baddies upstairs, then it seems silly that the baddies downstairs wouldn’t also follow that (at least the intelligent/curious ones). With the possibility of the PCs retreating back downstairs, you’re risking then running into even more trouble at that point.
I appreciate the more realistic and fluid approach to the combats upstairs, but for the sake of pacing and allowing for dialogue, I personally would keep closer to the upstairs as written.
Thanks for the advice. It will be taken.
My PCs have generally been smashing through encounters with almost no challenge.
I have decided to emphatically not challenge them at all, and reward them for the good little PCs that they have been.
The Bastion of Light was very easy for my group. Everything is penny-packet and nothing comes to help anything else; and they are very easy to hit. Four PCs and Jando took out most of the serious bosses in the surprise round (the party is built for surprise) but even when they didn't, it didn't matter.
Difficulty in this one is all over the place. I had to suppress the rot grubs and I changed the bodak (I'm not a fan of save-or-die for PCs who cannot be recovered) but I also added a whole lot of extra undead to try to make the place more lived-in and plausible. (Seriously, pukwudgies are "almost never found without a bodyguard of undead" and this one had a whole town of corpses--where are her undead?) Still too easy. Needed more fighter muscle to protect the casters: it's caster-heavy and one or two casters by themselves does not make a good encounter. If I had to run it again, instead of adding book juju zombies and skeletal champions I'd have added something with more melee punch, so the strategy of ignoring the bodyguards to take out the leader would have been more risky.
If your party has <i>control undead</i>, the mindless Gray Reaver is a nice addition to their lineup. (Mine did this, but oddly, they snuck around the Reaver, did the entire rest of the keep, *then* took control of it. So it wasn't overly useful.)
|
|
The Bastion of Light was very easy for my group. Everything is penny-packet and nothing comes to help anything else; and they are very easy to hit. Four PCs and Jando took out most of the serious bosses in the surprise round (the party is built for surprise) but even when they didn't, it didn't matter.
Difficulty in this one is all over the place. I had to suppress the rot grubs and I changed the bodak (I'm not a fan of save-or-die for PCs who cannot be recovered) but I also added a whole lot of extra undead to try to make the place more lived-in and plausible. (Seriously, pukwudgies are "almost never found without a bodyguard of undead" and this one had a whole town of corpses--where are her undead?) Still too easy. Needed more fighter muscle to protect the casters: it's caster-heavy and one or two casters by themselves does not make a good encounter. If I had to run it again, instead of adding book juju zombies and skeletal champions I'd have added something with more melee punch, so the strategy of ignoring the bodyguards to take out the leader would have been more risky.
If your party has <i>control undead</i>, the mindless Gray Reaver is a nice addition to their lineup. (Mine did this, but oddly, they snuck around the Reaver, did the entire rest of the keep, *then* took control of it. So it wasn't overly useful.)
The Bastion [not quite over] has been a challenge for my team. The Way has been prepping an ambush - I had Valthazar throw save or die spells at PCs in the nave before retreating on the first level; on the second level i put them in an ambush of cascading waves of zombies, and everything else, which isn't over...
the bodak put 1 negative level on 2 PCs before they ran from him... and they are really at the end of their ropes, but still haven't found Balthazar and had to let the pukwudgie escape after their jujus appeared.
how did your party have access to a level 7 spell [control undead]?
|
|
pretty much finished up the Bastion... Valthazar escaped, after his zombie screen was gone, he can't stand up to a fighter and a bloodrager in melee... the two girls surrendered after throwing a dozen-plus monsters at the party from their Robes of Bones... I'm handwaving the research stuff as there's some heady events happening for the party... we really, truly finish Book 2 next session...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I had Valthazar throw save or die spells at PCs in the nave before retreating on the first level; on the second level i put them in an ambush of cascading waves of zombies, and everything else, which isn't over...
the bodak put 1 negative level on 2 PCs before they ran from him... and they are really at the end of their ropes, but still haven't found Balthazar and had to let the pukwudgie escape after their jujus appeared.
Sounds like you redid the entire keep, which is what I would have recommended: putting Valthazar on the first level and then retreating, having enough zombies for "cascading waves of zombies", having creatures from one encounter respond to others. I think these are great ideas, but at several points the module specifically says not to do them--I don't know why.
how did your party have access to a level 7 spell [control undead]?
I am sorry, I meant "command undead" not "control undead." Second level spell. No-save control over a mindless undead.
I still don't know why this was the last thing my PCs did rather than the first! Maybe they were afraid an enemy necromancer would regain control.
|
|
Sounds like you redid the entire keep, which is what I would have recommended: putting Valthazar on the first level and then retreating, having enough zombies for "cascading waves of zombies", having creatures from one encounter respond to others. I think these are great ideas, but at several points the module specifically says not to do them--I don't know why.I had Valthazar throw save or die spells at PCs in the nave before retreating on the first level; on the second level i put them in an ambush of cascading waves of zombies, and everything else, which isn't over...
the bodak put 1 negative level on 2 PCs before they ran from him... and they are really at the end of their ropes, but still haven't found Balthazar and had to let the pukwudgie escape after their jujus appeared.
the overseers have Robes of Bones. After the PCs defeated the ghost and their own zombies and beat back Kalamuk, I had 2 new low level monsters thrown at them each round. I probably should have used them earlier, but that might have been disastrous.
The low level undead can't hurt the party, but it scared the heebeejeebies out of the PCs. Even the plague ogre zombie couldn't stand up to a single round of combat... but it did burn up valuable ammunition and channels and rage rounds.
Also, when Valthazar loses his screen of zombies, the book says that he retreats and then comes back... but he's so soft! There's no way he comes back just to get murdered!
So I had Valthazar escape the Bastion entirely. He escaped with a witchcrow [long story] and most of his research and literally runs for it. He can get through the fetoring maw, the PCs can't, and might as well make a run for it rather than getting stabbed to death.
Now I have a recurring villain I can use at almost any point going forward - doesn't hurt that he killed one of the PCs before making his getaway. Also, I had the two overseers surrender immediately when the PCs broke into their room... it's going to be a fun session next Tuesday...
|
|
Are there any additional resources for the town of Roslar's Coffer in any splat book or hardback? I want to do an extended Session 0 type thing to get my players invested much like Find The Path did with the Remembrance Moon festival, but want to make sure I'm being as lore specific as possible.
Thanks.
There's a paragraph in the Inner Sea World Guide. Otherwise you just have the slim material in the TG player's guide and books 1 & 2
I would try to develop the settlement w/ the players in a collaborative manner, and be open that there's not a ton of canon to go on.
The most important points are:
1 - small, rural town
2 - the Bastion of Light having been recently 'liberated' by Pathfinders
3 - the orc attack. I moved that to a generation ago as one of the players wanted to be a half-orc
Beyond that, you can probably work out everything with them. I think this is a really good idea that will give you a ton of additional tools in the first two books.
|
|
Are there any additional resources for the town of Roslar's Coffer in any splat book or hardback? I want to do an extended Session 0 type thing to get my players invested much like Find The Path did with the Remembrance Moon festival, but want to make sure I'm being as lore specific as possible.
Thanks.
Check out PFS 10-04 Reaver's Roar, it fleshes out Roslar's Coffer a bit.
|
|
At the very, very beginning of this Part should the PCs be utterly sleepy or ravenously hungry because they just exited the Boneyards (which are "timeless") at the end of Part 1? Thanks.
sleepy? no. they'll die.
hungry? probably.
i decided that my game would take place in the middle of winter. while i should have told the pcs not to pack rations when they did their original build, i didn't, so they had rations in book 1 (which were not needed, since, you know).
so basically when they got back to the real world, they were very much on a real timeline - the whole village is wrecked, they can't get out, and they have very limited food. manton did some hunting for them, but he was low as well (and then in the middle of the adventure he disappeared).
when my party got to the Cathedral, after they cleared the first floor, they were anxious to retreat. I told them to roll sense motive, they did well, and I told them that this is almost certain death. the Whispering Way didn't know about the secret entrance, but now they do (Valthazar was playing a board game with a certain witchcrow from Book 1 on the altar, giving me time for a fun villain soliloquy - he escaped to the second floor after taking an arrow to the shoulder). They can just block that entrance off, and the PCs would starve to death in the tomb / village.
made the fight to clear the cathedral really, really interesting, and they approached it with a lot of caution and strategy.
Does the Whispering Way cult have any distinguishing (or even common) marks, symbols, color schemes, items, tattoos, etc.?
The most prevalent symbol of the Whispering Way to my knowledge (having played Carrion Crown where they feature regularly) is a skull with a gag. Often this symbol can be found hidden among a cultist's possessions as a silver amulet, or sometimes drawn on a wall.
In the later books of Carrion Crown, the adventure introduces the concept of a 'moribund key' used by greater agents of the WW
As for whether the Whispering Way is thought to be active or not, the cult has existed for probably 10,000 years, but are not widely known. Those who do know of them, however, know that due to the events of Carrion Crown, the cult's greatest power bases in Ustalav have been raided and its members scattered to the wind. If you go by publication date, that could have been as much as 7 years before, where the cult was forced basically to go back into hiding and bide their time.
|
|
* by the end of "The Dead Roads" the PCs have not received any hints that the Whispering Way is behind the deaths in Roslar's Coffer? (I didn't spot any.)
i put some hints in that the destruction was man-made in origin, but part of Book 2 is figuring out who exactly did the deed, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
In Book 2 I had the PCs see Valthazar & Co. take their bodies out of wrecked houses. They blew their stealth checks when they tried to get closer, so that's when I had Valthazar send the ghoul w/ scythe after them (almost killed a PC w/ a crit... rolled a 3 on a 2d4... had I rolled a 4, he woulda been donezo). In the aftermath, they saw Valthazar disappear into the mist.
My party was having awful trouble with the Yaoguai. It wouldn't have been a TPK because they were preparing to run into the forest in different directions to get away. But it would have killed a few of them.
One of them still had the bead of force they got from Mrs Pedipalp in the Scriptorium and had the bright idea of using it. So now the Yaoguai is trapped for ten minutes, and I'm having to work out when/if to spring it onto the party later.
I think I'll have them be taken to a place of safety by Jando and have him offer to track the beast for them after they rest up. I'll have him strongly hint that leaving it alive might be very dangerous as it may be likely to ambush them at an inopportune time.
|
|
My party was having awful trouble with the Yaoguai. It wouldn't have been a TPK because they were preparing to run into the forest in different directions to get away. But it would have killed a few of them.
One of them still had the bead of force they got from Mrs Pedipalp in the Scriptorium and had the bright idea of using it. So now the Yaoguai is trapped for ten minutes, and I'm having to work out when/if to spring it onto the party later.
I think I'll have them be taken to a place of safety by Jando and have him offer to track the beast for them after they rest up. I'll have him strongly hint that leaving it alive might be very dangerous as it may be likely to ambush them at an inopportune time.
maybe have them help build a better trap for it? and like... he needs iron spikes from the blacksmith's shop or some ropes from the stablery, and the PCs have to go into town to get them for him?
Agree with Yakman here, a little bit of setup time for the PCs and you could have a really satisfying encounter of luring the Yaoguai into an ambush, completely turn the tables on it! There are very few points in this campaign where the PCs can really feel in control, and a little revenge ambush could certainly lighten some spirits.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Agree with Yakman here, a little bit of setup time for the PCs and you could have a really satisfying encounter of luring the Yaoguai into an ambush, completely turn the tables on it! There are very few points in this campaign where the PCs can really feel in control, and a little revenge ambush could certainly lighten some spirits.
oh, and hey, maybe have a friendly ghost, that they find in the ruins who suggests insane Rube Goldberg-esque machines to capture this foul creature.
and like... actually have it be friendly. and satisfied (a.k.a. gets to depart this world) when you succeed.
Agree with Yakman here, a little bit of setup time for the PCs and you could have a really satisfying encounter of luring the Yaoguai into an ambush, completely turn the tables on it! There are very few points in this campaign where the PCs can really feel in control, and a little revenge ambush could certainly lighten some spirits.
I considered doing that, but in the end decided against it. They'd already had a satisfying table-turning encounter with the lurkers-in-light. They decided they couldn't win so ran away and came back after 8 hours with a gltterdust spell, which rendered the fight very one sided.
I ended up using the Yaoguai to kill Jando Parr. The party was knee deep in the fight with the whispering way ghoul and cultists, when the Yaoguai pounced on Jando and proceeded to rip him to shreds. The party finished off the cultists and ran - I'd timed it so they could do so without having to battle the Yaoguai.
I did this for two reasons: 1) to keep the party nervous and on their toes; and 2) I wanted to kill Jando as they're a six-member party and an NPC would have made encounters more unwieldy.
The party's working their way through the real Roslar's Tomb. One of the players has a pretty good memory and can remember a lot of the tomb from the Dead Roads, even though we played it months ago. So he's picking up details/differences that the others are missing.
The party is getting really, really sick of monsters that do ability damage. Last session they were up against the xenopteid zombie and the vampiric mists, both of which did con damage. That's fine, because next week they're up against the Guecubu which will curse them instead.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The party's working their way through the real Roslar's Tomb. One of the players has a pretty good memory and can remember a lot of the tomb from the Dead Roads, even though we played it months ago. So he's picking up details/differences that the others are missing.
The party is getting really, really sick of monsters that do ability damage. Last session they were up against the xenopteid zombie and the vampiric mists, both of which did con damage. That's fine, because next week they're up against the Guecubu which will curse them instead.
you are going to have to be careful with those, since the fight in the Bastion is not easy. Might want to swap monsters out. There's a lot of good undead monsters at or around that CR who are more "basic".
In the last session, the party finished off the trip through Roslar's Tomb and made it into the Bastion of Light.
The only problem was that they took damage from the sarcophagus trap, fought the Venedaemons, the Living Walls and the Rot Grub Swarm before entering the cathedral of the Bastion WITHOUT RESTING or even healing. So they were in no fit state to fight the welcoming party. We're two rounds in and they've decided to run away and return later.
So: what should I have waiting for them? Now that the cult is aware of the secret way in, they should do something to secure themselves from attack from that direction. I'm thinking traps, alarms and a much larger contingent of cultists. Not to mention a greater level of alertness from the other denizens of the Bastion.