I'm running Rise of the Runelords for my long term group, but we've got 6, maybe 8 sessions left before we have to take a looong hiatus. We tend to manage only one combat per session, and that's if we haven't gotten too hung up on puzzles and ethical dilemmas first...
I'd like to aim it so the party gets to defeat Mokmurian before we go on hiatus, but... We only just got up the Storval Stairs and tracked the giants back to Jorgenfist, and there are so many encounters to go! I'm going to need to cut things, possibly dynamically as I see how far we're getting and how fast.
So, I have three angles to this situation you can help me with...
1) What were your favorite encounters once in Jorgenfist through the end of Book 4? Ignoring everything else, what would you want to make sure we all experience?
(My party loves story and plot connections most of all, but everyone enjoys memorable combats)
2) Any homebrew cleverness or mechanics you experienced or heard about to not lose the feel of the army or fortress being massive and well prepared without having to fight our way deeper every ten feet (so to speak)? IE if I'm dropping the number of combat encounters to save on time, what are other ways this could feel like a dangerous and populated enemy fortress?
3) There's a lot of physical ground to cover too. Favorite or least favorite ways to move a party quickly through a dungeon, or facilitate skipping if we're falling behind on pacing? Make the map smaller, give them a copy of the map so there's less puttering around... Teleports or gaseous form potions?
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Since you want to streamline the adventure, I'd recommend making it easy to scout the area and realize an assault upon the Black Fortress is a really bad idea, and that the caves by the river could be another way in. I'd recommend replacing the wyvern cave with Longtooth's, and cutting his normal location entirely. If the party has already killed him, then they get the hoard for free, and if not, then they get to encounter him.
Deathwebs are fine as is.
Once inside, cut Enga - as fun as it is to surprise players with a surprisingly vicious kobold, her encounter isn't necessary. In fact, I'd recommend that most of the encounters on the upper level aren't necessary - move Conna to that area, and have her exposit Mokmurian's backstory. I would adjust the story to that Conna's cabal of loyal giants is much larger than as written, so that there's next to no interference on the way down to the Thassilonian level. The encounters I'd recommend keeping are the two red dragons and the two lamia, just to set up the lamia connection to Xin-Shalast.
After that, the necessary encounters for me would be Mokmurian, the hounds of Tindalos, and probably the Headless Lord. Make the vault impassable without the key that Mokmurian has, and get rid of the summoned shining child.
So, encounters left would be:
1. Longtooth (?)
2. Deathwebs
3. Red dragons
4. Lamia
5. Headless Lord
6. Hounds of Tindalos
7. Mokmurian
What's your party make up? You might be able to seed some treasure to facilitate faster travel into the hoards, based on their abilities.
Since you want to streamline the adventure, I'd recommend ...
This has been perfect! Thank you so much for your response and the reasons behind it. To keep you updated, I used NPCs (part of our heroes backup-character party) to give the scouting report of the area and they went in through the river caves. Deathwebs were fun (especially when they realized what they were exactly) and I turned Enga into a roleplay encounter that lead into the two red dragons and lamias.
The party consists of a mystic theurge, dual weapon ranger, paladin/cavalier, necromancer(ish) wizard, unchained monk, and a crossbow fighter/gunslinger. The wizard has teleport and invisibility sphere now to help with mobility!
I'm likely combining The General in with Conna as part of the expanded loyal giants to get his perspective out. Also to provide potential consequences depending on how that interaction goes... Then on to the Thassilonian portion! On the backburner, I've got a hit and run from the forgefiend that was suggested elsewhere on the boards if there's time some session.