Sessions Forty-Seven and Forty-Eight
August 9 and 16, 2020
The Start of Book Six and the Return to Talasantri
Confession Time: Hi, I'm Lisamarlene, and I'm getting tired of GMing. I haven't played a PC in two years, since we finished up the CoCT campaign that Nobody's Home was running, and then left California. Running a campaign is work. I just want to play for a while. And now that I can see the end in sight (Book Six! Yay!), and my husband has agreed to run the next campaign (He's considering dusting off Fate of Istus, because the kids need to learn some history), I just want to be done. So I haven't prepped much and I haven't written anything down in two weeks. Sue me.
Abdak puts an end to Xochatli the clockwork nautiloid while Bruce goes to fetch Drecissa from her "this-is-for-your-own-good" prison. She gives Bruce back his magic spoon. They introduce her to Abdak, spinning a massive yarn about the pivotal role he played in the Vanquishing of All Enemies, the Freeing of the Trident, and, ultimately, her liberation. Bruce asks if they may bring Abdak with them to escort her home to Talasantri. Abdak protests his innocence on all charges, but Drecissa thinks he's just being humble and demure. She tells him she cannot wait to tell her mother of his heroism and his valiant efforts on her behalf.
SSSB bamfs the party back to Talasantri, and Drecissa's family are overjoyed to see her again. Anemora has food brought for the PCs and instructs the servants to prepare rooms for them and to take them to the house's thermal vent saunas to freshen themselves up after their arduous voyage. She begins to plan for a celebratory dinner to welcome Drecissa home and to honor Abdak and the PCs. A messenger soon arrives from Rillkimatai, saying that the old man has heard Our Heroes had returned and would like to speak with them as soon as they are available. The PCs head into the center of town and notice that the city seems quiet and dark.
Rillkimatai welcomes them with an apology and tells them that Ruinquake has arisen and is on his way to Talasantri. He begs them to fight. They, of course, promise to do so at first light, and stop by an armorers on the way back to Anemora's house to see what can be done about upgrading SSSB on short notice. They get their eight hours of rest, taking time first to ask Anemora to please make sure Drecissa is tied up in the cellar or something before they leave in the morning so she can't follow them.
At first light, they rise and prepare for the battle. Servants bring them breakfast, and they head to the armorers to pick up SSSB's upgraded shiny bits. Then they head to the dropoff just outside of town and await Ruinquake.
There is SO. MUCH. BUFFING. Arwen uses her Sharing the Gift spell to give Bruce three extra slots to give all the PCs Heroism, S3B casts Prayer, and Bruce casts Stoneskin, Gravity Bow, Mirror Image, Shield, and Haste. Because that's just how he rolls.
Ruinquake approaches.
S3B misses. Arwen crits with her Aberration-bane bow. Ruinquake targets Bruce (as the bearer of Seaspike) with its Clashing Rocks attack; Bruce uses Windy Escape. Abdak hits with Fists of Thunder. Bruce attacks with Seaspike and double-crits on his first attempt. Bruce takes fire damage from the critical as a gush of magma bursts from the wound.
The next three rounds are much the same, minus the criticals. Even with his 15 DR per hit, Our Dauntless Heroes are really good at beating up monsters. They end a CR17 baddie in four largely unremarkable rounds.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Session Forty-Nine
August 23, 2020
Big Damn Heroes
Ruinquake is dead. His body is a vast debris field of hunks of rapidly-cooling rock, scattered across the seafloor, and one ginormous hunk of pure adamantine. Bruce, SSSB, and Abdak stay to stand guard while Arwen and Fluffy return to report to Rillkimatai.
Rillkimatai is surprised to see Arwen, back so quickly and alone. The conversation goes something like this:
R: Ummm... weren't y'all going to go save the city this morning? Stop Ruinquake?
A: Oh, yeah, we did that already.
R: I'm sorry, what?
A: Yeah, that's done.
R: You left like five minutes ago.
A: It was pretty easy.
R: Ruinquake. Was pretty easy.
A: Yup.
R: Where are the others? Is everyone alright?
A: Guarding the body. It's this huge glowy warm chunk of pure adamantine. I'm not exactly sure, but Bruce thinks it's enough to make like six suits of heavy armor. Maybe it's worth like 50 or 60,000 gold. Anyway, we wanted you to know so you could send some men out to pick it up. It's our gift to the City.
R: You're giving it. To the City.
A: Um... yeah. Why not? We can't carry it. Can't you use it?
R: Well, yes, but... that's a very generous gift.
A: Look, we've got big damn hero stuff to do right now, like, oh, save the world from a veiled master bent on the destruction of all of Golarion, and staying behind to divvy up the spoil in this particular instance is not particularly convenient right now. BUT, if maybe later on, when we have time, if we can come back and have the city's smiths make us each one custom magic piece of weaponry or something...
R: The city is in your debt and would consider it an honor.
Rillkimatai beckons an aide and whispers some orders. He tells her the guards will be waiting out front in a few moments to return with her. He offers her some tea. She demurs.
When Arwen leaves Rillkimatai's office a moment later, she finds a large wagon pulled by what can only be described as the Clydesdales of the seahorse world, flanked by a squad of Talasantrian guardsmen.
She leads them back to the site of the battle. The guardsmen load the adamantine onto the wagon, and then everybody heads back into town.
They return to Vhenarryn's arcana shop in the Whalefall district where Bruce and SSSB had gone on their last stay in Talasantri, and Bruce spends lots of money. Vhenarryn feels torn between greed and civic duty, and gives him an *almost* ten percent discount. SSSB tells her how the "useless" Wand of Overland Flight she had given him on their last visit was instrumental in recovering Seaspike on Blood Lily Cay, and thus saving the city. Bruce asks her if she would like to hold Seaspike. She asks if she could get an iconograph with Bruce and the fabled spear. Bruce says of course, and she calls for an assistant to come out of the back of the shop. Bruce beckons the rest of the PCs into the frame to pose, with Vhenarryn in the middle with Seaspike, and the assistant takes the iconograph. She asks them all to sign it for her. A decent Perception check sees her glancing around the walls of her shop, looking for the best place to display it.
By the time Our Heroes are done shopping, a small crowd has gathered outside. As they swim back to Anemora's house, more citizens gather along their route, cheering and waving, and it has the feel of a small parade.
They arrive back at Anemora's to find the house full of activity preparing for the evening's celebration, and Anemora herself in a tizzy. Her small party honoring the adventurers who returned her daughter to her has become a much larger affair, honoring the Big Damn Heroes who saved Talasantri from Ruinquake, and the guest list, menu, entertainment, etc. have all increased exponentially. It's going to be expensive but also a social coup she can use to her advantage for years. Anemora, in other words, is in her own personal heaven. She tells the men that she hopes they don't mind, but she's asked a tailor to come round and fit them with evening wear. It isn't a question.
A servant informs the PCs that a few locathah are waiting in the servants hall to speak with them, and one of them says she knows them.
One of the locathah is, indeed, Debebedi, who tells them that she had joined the Okoloro community of locathah in the waters near Ancorato. That community, and others nearby, have all been displaced and are under constant threat by ulat-kini, and have formed a refugee camp just offshore from Talmandor's Bounty, but some of the locals are mistrustful and don't want them there. The seafolk are worried, the Ancoratan settlers are xenophobic, and gee, they could really use some Big Damn Heroes to come sort things out. If it wouldn't be too much trouble.
As SSSB had worked with the Ancoratan settlers to sort out the mystery of the disappearances before he first met up with Bruce and Arwen, and feels something of a duty to help them, and as they *all* feel disposed toward helping the locathah, they promise to drop by on their way to the Compass to sort out the rest of the world.
Abdak is not happy about this. He wants to go straight to the Compass. They argue and eventually decide to go to Ancorato first, right after the party. They go to their rooms to rest and recover their spells before the party begins in the evening.
The party is what one would expect. The who's who of Talasantrian society are all there. The PC's are wildly feted. Mostly they just enjoy the food and wait for it to be over so they can leave.
After they retire to their rooms in the early hours of the morning, they change clothes quickly, grab their gear, and make their way to the stables to collect Fluffy before teleporting to the same saferoom where they rested in the Cathedral of Amaznen. It takes a few hours to swim from there to Talmandor's Bounty, and they arrive at dawn. They come up on land, Arwen casts Personal Raincloud on Fluffy, and SSSB leads them all up to Ramona Avandth's house. She is glad to see SSSB, gives him an update on what has transpired on the island since Our Heroes rescued the colonists, and asks for his help with the new leader of the Bountiful Venture Company soldiers, Serge Berengar. She's concerned he may try to take command of the colony, impose martial law, and try to oust all the seafolk rather than aiding them.
At this point, my children asked me what the Bountiful Venture Company was. I told them to think of the East India Company. They said, "Oh, they're the bad guys." I said, "Not exactly, but they're definitely LN, and I wouldn't trust them too far."
Our Heroes promise to be diplomatic and mosey down the beach to the Bountiful Venture Company camp. They introduce themselves to Serge Berengar, who is torn between wanting to enlist their help in convincing the seafolk to move along somewhere else for their own good, thus ridding the area of evil/dangerous seafolk as well, and his bias against Arwen as a sea elf riding a dire lobster. (Bruce is in dwarf form, and makes no mention of his Selkie nature.) He claims that the settlement is in dire need of cleansing and reinforcement against outsiders, for security purposes.
While he is talking, Abdak is, as an almost automatic reflex, scanning all the soldiers he can see, Sensing Motives and Detecting Evil. He taps Bruce, who asks for a moment to speak with his colleague. Abdak tells Bruce he has detected six BVC soldiers whose motives and intentions are malign, and also detects spells around them. He tells Bruce that, unless there is a compelling reason not to, he intends to cast a Greater Dispel Magic. Bruce agrees this is probably a good idea. Abdak does so, and the six soldiers react by first looking horror stricken, then by approaching Berengar and explaining that they had been under the Imperiatus Curse the influencce of a Dominate spell. They explain what their orders had been.
Berengar looks at Our Heroes, and Abdak supplies an explanation. Berengar asks if they could walk through the entire camp together so Abdak could look at the rest of the company and make sure no one else is affected. Abdak agrees.
Berengar is now much more impressed with the PCs, and decides they can be useful to him. He asks for their help "talking to" the locathah and seeing what they can do to sort things out.
Session Fifty
August 30, 2020
What, you want us to roleplay this?
Bruce and SSSB go visit Rayland Arkley in the Governor's House. The retired Governor is puttering about his garden, but is please to see SSSB again, and greets them with winged words. He invites them into his home and offers them some of his homebrewed ale, saying that he hopes to open the main room Governor's House as the local pub, with a couple of guest rooms for travelers when Talmandor's Bounty grows. He starts to go into details of the patches of hops and barley he is planting, and would have gone on for quite some time had the boys not finally gotten down to business. They ask Rayland where they should look for the locathah settlement, hoping that he might have an insight or two to offer. He suggests that, having their numbers greatly reduced and having become refugees, they would want a sheltered place as close to the village as possible. He says that his own ship, the Liberty's Herald, was stolen and scuttled by agents of Onthooth when the troubles first began, to keep the colonists from fleeing the island; he surmises that it wouldn't have been taken far to be sunk, probably just to the reefline just offshore.
(Bruce has, by this point, in his Dwarven form, accepted and consumed a second mug of Arkley's excellent ale, and offers financial support to back the creation of the pub. He even suggests that The Aboleth's Head might be a good name, and he would be happy to provide Onthooth's severed head, preserved and mounted over the bar, as a namesake and conversation piece. Arkley thanks him and promises to consider it.)
Our Heroes waste no time in going down to the dock, entering the water, and swimming out through the channel to the reef. As Arkley had surmised, they quickly find the remains of the Liberty's Herald , broken apart, within the coral canyons of the reef in about thirty feet of water.
SSSB, Master of Subtlety, hollers out, "Hey, Koloshkora! Are you here? Debebedi? It's Supersonic Swimmer Boy! And, you know, the others. KOLOSHKORA!"
Koloshkora and Debebedi poke their heads out of different parts of the wreckage, and Koloshkora rushes to greet her friend. She invites them all to come into the hold of the broken ship, where they have set up a common room for the refugees to gather. They tell her of what transpired in the soldier's camp, and of their conversations with Ramona Avandth and Serge Berengar. Koloshkora tells them that, after having their settlement wiped out and becoming refugees here in the reef, with their numbers so greatly reduced, it is only natural to be paranoid, but she is certain that some of her fellow locathah are acting strangely. She asks quietly if she can give them a tour of their camp and if Abdak can have a look at everyone. Abdak consents. She then takes them on a circuit of the area around the ship, showing them the small coral caves where locathah families have made the undersea version of a tent encampment. Abdak notices that the four "locathah-who-are-not-locathah-and-altogether-evil" are stationed in four small caves on either side of a cut between the walls of coral, just even with the break between the stern and aft of the ship. This makes a sort of intersection. They return to the break in the ship with the appearance of chatting amiably, and Abdak quietly explains which four "locathah" need to be attended to. He then blasts the two closest to him (#3 and #4) with Chain Lightning. Bruces rushes to attack #1 with Seaspike, pointing at #2 and shouting, "You're next, Laddie!" on his way. SSSB attacks #1 with a Spear of Purity. Fluffy maneuvers Arwen in-between #1 and #2 to try to prevent Bruce from becoming flanked, and Arwen shoots #2 with two arrows using Deadly Aim. All four baddies take potions of Invisibility. This poses no problem for Abdak (hooray for True Seeing), who attacks #3 with Fists of Lightning for 66 points. #3 is blinded. Bruce continues to attack #1 (hooray for Blindsense) and succeeds in one hit. SSSB does likewise with his Vindictive Harpoon (hooray for a 50% miss chance). Two of Arwen's four bow shots make the 50% miss chance against #2. #1 and #2 both succeed in attacks on Bruce and Arwen, rendering them both visible but doing minimal damage. #3 and #4 both move to attack Abdak, only one succeeds, but his critical hit is rendered almost entirely useless by Abdak's DR against Chaotic. Abdak hits #3 and criticals #4, killing them both. Bruce stabs #1 three times with Seaspike (one of them a crit), killing him. SSSB and Arwen concentrate their firepower on #2, who moves to Bruce, stabbing him.
Abdak lifts one of the Faceless Stalker Assassin bodies (which no longer resemble locathah) up for all to see, and addresses the camp, telling them that four of these creatures of evil have infiltrated them, but three are already dead and the fourth is about to be, and they need not fear the PCs, who are only trying to save them. With a Diplomacy check of 37, and the evidence before their eyes, they are convinced.
Bruce activates Seaspike's Fire Shield (whereupon my children both burst into song with "Flaming Bruce doo doo dah doo dah doo..." to the tune of "Baby Shark", because they are CN), goes all stabby stabby on #2 and crits, taking him down to just one hit point. SSSB then makes a harpoon attack with Vital Strike and kills him. (The Faceless Stalker Assassin. Not Bruce.)
Koloshkora accompanies Our Heroes back to Talmandor's Bounty to meet with Ramona Avandth. She sends for Berengar. The PCs explain the situation and offer their help defending the town against the coming threat but ask in return that the locathah be temporarily allowed to stay within the walls of the town until the threat has been neutralized. They are persuasive. Avandth agrees, Berengar grumbles but consents, and the PCs return with Koloshkora to escort the locathah back to the village.
Avandth makes the disused barracks buildings available for the locathah's use. They begin to settle in and put up larger versions of the localized rain spell inside the barracks buildings with Avandth's consent, promising to clean and restore the buildings entirely when they leave.
The PCs go to make a tour of the settlement's defenses with Berengar.
Session Fifty-One
September 6, 2020
Only the biggest combat I've ever run, no stress, right?
Berengar stations two soldiers at each of the triangle's three points, two at each gate, two on the dock, two in front of the bunk houses, two in front of the town hall, and one in front of Ramona's house. He has eight more patrolling in pairs around the perimeter of the settlement walls, so there are always two on each side and each pair can always see the pair ahead of them. The human women and children are ensconced in the chapel, although a few of them come out and set up a large stew pot in the center of town, and start making chowder. They feed the settlers, and the refugees, and the soldiers, and the adventurers. As day turns into night, they come around with coffee for those on watch. Gradually the busy sounds of camp fade to the sounds of the quiet island night.
It is far too peaceful.
Abdak, who does not need sleep, eventually prevails upon the PCs to go lie down and try to get a little rest. Bruce bunks down with the locathah, SSSB with the settler families in the chapel, and Arwen pillow against Fluffy's side in the courtyard.
Around three a.m. (thank you, d4), Arwen awakens when she feels Fluffy tensing and alert beneath her. Her ridiculously high Perception alerts her to something large--more than one somethings large--tunneling beneath the courtyard. She leaps up into the saddle and calls to the guards nearby that something is tunneling beneath them. They spin around to see two gargantuan Purple Worms emerge from the soil of the courtyard. SSSB runs out of the chapel and attempts to shoot, but misses. Abdak begins to run across the courtyard, but even at his full move, is very far away with no ranged weapon. Arwen uses her wand of Overland Flight on Fluffy, who takes to the air to get her out of range. The two soldiers nearest shout, "PURPLE WORM!" and try to shoot it, but only one of their six combined shots actually strikes home. Bruce steps out of the locathah bunk house and sends a maximized Magic Missile at the Worm closest to him. The first Worm bites and grapples one of the soldiers; the other does the same to SSSB.
SSSB is unable to break the grapple, but is able to stab the Worm in the roof of the mouth. Abdak closes with the Worm chewing on SSSB, but is not able to attack. Arwen misses four shots in a row. The soldier still on the ground attacks the Worm chewing on his friend, and the soldier in the Worm's mouth (who is likewise unable to break his grapple), stabs his worm in the mouth with his dagger, twice, critting once. Bruce casts Gravity Bow. The Worms continue to chew on their wriggly snacks.
SSSB Dimensional Hops six squares away. Abdak uses his Fists of Thunder and Lightning to severely bruise one of the worms. Arwen shoots and scores. The soldier on the ground tries to shoot, misses, falls down, gets up again. The soldier in the Worm's mouth still cannot break the grapple, but continues to stab at it. Bruce shouts, "BOIL, BEASTIE!" and casts Geyser. The Worm shoots 50 feet into the air on the geyser and then falls, taking 26 points of damage and clearing the hole out of the ground. The other Worm continues to chomp on the soldier. The boiled and fallen Worm attempts to bite Abdak, but is confused when it fails.
SSSB channels positive energy (19 points) for himself and the the soldier in the Worm's mouth. Abdak continues to pummel the Worm that tried to bite him. Arwen continues to shoot the same one. The soldiers continue to attack the Worm chewing on the soldier. Bruce hits and crits the Worm that had attacked SSSB. It dies. Two troops of Ulat-Kini emerge from the hole vacated by the Worm when the geyser tossed it.
The Ulat-Kini forces try to attack Abdak and fail spectacularly. SSSB and Arwen focus their attacks on the remaining Worm while Abdak pummels the first troop of Ulat-Kini forces. Serge emerges from Ramona's house, and he and the soldiers guarding Ramona's house and the town hall focus their attacks on the Ulat-Kini troops, while the first two soldiers continue to attack the Worm (one from inside the Worm's mouth still). Bruce attacks the Worm. The Worm chews on the soldier.
At the top of Round Six (in case you're counting), the second troop of Ulat-Kini attempt to attack Abdak, but are unsuccessful. (The first troop by this time are all deceased.) A third troop emerges from the tunnel and makes a ranged trident attack in the direction of Serge and the soldier guarding Ramona's house, but again fail. SSSB attacks this new troop with his Spear of Purity. Abdak attacks the second troop and the rest of the PCs and soldiers concentrate on the third troop. Bruce Dimension Doors himself to the top of the tree next to Ramona's house. Both the second and third Ulat-Kini troops attempt to attack him in the tree, but all miss. A fourth troop emerges from the tunnel. SSSB attacks the second troop with his harpoon, Abdak attacks the same troop, Arwen and Serge attack the third troop, and one of the soldiers finishes off the second troop. Only the fourth troop remains. The soldiers focus their attacks on this troop, and Bruce drops a Fireball into the tunnel beneath them, targeting not only this last troop but anyone who might be behind them in the tunnel as well. (Spoiler: no one is there.)
At the top of Round 8, the remaining Ulat-Kini try to attack Bruce and miss; SSSB, Abdak and Arwen finish them off.
Serge suggests that this was only a prelude to a stronger attack and notes there were no leaders among these troops. He directs his soldiers to fill the tunnels with the bodies of the dead, but Bruce asks if the PCs could go into the tunnel first to try to trace it back to the Ulat-Kini headquarters.
Session Fifty-Two
September 13, 2020
Neutralizing the attack on Talmandor's Bounty
Our Heroes discuss the situation with Serge Berengar and Ramona Avandth. They concur that the Purple Worms and Ulat-Kini advance troops were only sent to assess the strength of the colony's defenses, and the main attack is yet to come. Serge says his men can easily handle the Ulat-Kini forces, but that concerted magical attacks are another matter. The PCs decide to follow the worm tunnels back to their source to try to surprise whoever sent them. Bruce suggests to Serge that the bodies of the worms be used to block the holes, and they can use the Insistent Doorknocker to get through when they come back.
Our Intrepid Adventurers buff up (Arwen gives Bruce three uses of Channel the Gift for three uses of Heroism, and Bruce casts Stoneskin on himself and SSSB, as well as Mirror Image (7), Gravity Bow, Shield, and Bull Strength) and start down the tunnel. (Note: some of these might have been cast two paragraphs later, but I wrote it down on the wrong part of the page. I don't always take careful notes when I'm writing by hand.)
My son won't stop talking about random things and interrupting me, so I roll the Condition/Rounds dice and come up with Nauseated for two rounds. I tell him it's because the worms excrete as they tunnel, so he's seeing bits of partially-digested Ulat-Kini, Locathah, small animals, etc, all mixed up and covered with purple goo, lining the path and getting on his boots. He promises to be quiet.
Before too long, Bruce and Abdak, with their ridiculously good darkvision, see an Am-Ulat-Kini with a double-bladed sword coming down the tunnel, flanked by two barefoot, unarmored, barely-armed gillwomen.
Gee. I wonder if they have any magic?
It's dark. The bad guys don't see the PCs yet. Bruce casts a maximized Fireball. Arwen shoots the ugly guy a whole bunch. The sorceresses try to cast Freezing Spheres, which bounce off everyone except SSSB.
Sharopech (the big bad) takes a potion of Heroism, but Bruce double-crits his next attack, and Arwen makes another three solid hits with Deadly Aim, and the sorceresses prove themselves almost entirely useless except against SSSB, and Abdak ends the fight. Boom. They tie up and interrogate the sorceresses, strip and decapitate Sharopech's body, and head back up the passage to find the Ulat-Kini troops almost entirely routed. With the enemy defeated, Our Adventurers go with Shokokora to check the Locathah encampment and make sure it is safe for them to return, and then escort the seafolk back there. Arwen and Fluffy stay overnight with the Locathah, while Bruce, SSSB and Abdak return to the town and stay in Rayland Arkley's house overnight. (Not really overnight; it's around four a.m. by the time they all get to sleep, and around noon by the time they've had eight hours to properly rest and reset spells.) He politely knocks on their door to tell them there's a proper fry-up awaiting them downstairs, and also, they have a visitor who claims to be a friend of theirs.
The visitor is none other than Nieran Codali, the Mordant Spire ranger they had rescued from the machinations of Onthooth in the Cathedral of Amaznen. He tells them of Ochymua's forces massing in the Azlanti ruins of Kalas-Ti, and asks their help in dealing with three points of concern: (a) a mysterious newcomer to Kalas-Ti who has been fleshwarping many of Ochymua's troops; (b) a network of "Mesh Nodes" on the island, basically aboleth cell towers; and (c) troop transports, giant metal crayfish build to carry large numbers of Ulat-Kini troops more efficiently.
The PCs make their goodbyes in Talmandor's Bounty, swim out to the Locathah camp to collect Arwen and Fluffy, and head south toward Kalas-Ti.
Session Fifty-Three
September 20, 2020
On Kalas-Ti
Our Intrepid Heroes arrive at the Mordant Spire "camp" with Nieran Codali and quickly realize that (a) the rangers are massively outclassed and out of their depth [NOTE: I had to do this, or Bruce would have insisted on taking a few of them along for the rest of this section of the book, and just... no. I made a mistake in letting them do that with Abdak, and I have regretted it ever since.]; (b)the rangers' intel isn't really all that great, other than giving the PCs a rough map of what is where, and (c) they're going to have to wing a sabotage mission by the seats of their pants and pray for good rolls.
They ask the rangers if the waterways are patrolled. The rangers say, "No, we don't think so, but we haven't explored them much, we've mostly stuck to the shoreline."
Bruce uses Invisibility to scout out the waterway leading toward the temple of Aesocar, and quickly discovers the presence of the Isonade heading down the waterway toward the sea. He sends a telepathic message to Arwen and SSSB, telling them to get out of the water and what's coming toward them. As she observes it from a safe distance, Arwen realizes that it is not natural for this creature to be in this small waterway, and that something seems amiss. She asks Abdak to see if he can detect anything. Abdak does detect, and dispels, the Dominate spell on the creature. Bruce sends a telepathic message to the creature, explaining what has just transpired and asking it only for free passage in the waterways for their party as they attempt to stop the creatures that had enslaved it. He is successfully persuasive. The entire party heads downriver to the temple.
And here's where things really go off the rails. Look, I'll admit it; there was one warning sign after another that I should have just called the game for the day and picked it up again the following week: my daughter Hermione (Arwen's player) was having a rabid attack of tween attitudinality, my son was hopped up on sugar, and I was tired and grumpy because the previous day had been my husband's birthday, and between the drive-by party, and the distanced visits from my inlaws, and the making of lots of food, and cleaning, and stuff, well, yeah. I was not making good decisions. I feel like I should care just a little bit more about that. I kinda don't. Sue me.
So Our Heroes approach the temple of Aesocar. They spot the two Clockwork Angels guarding the entrance. They discuss things, because Clockwork or not, Neutral or not, actual Angels or not, they are still the guardians of a temple devoted to a Good and helpful deity, and the PCs don't want to scrap with them, because they'd feel guilty about destroying them. So, led by Abdak, they make an impassioned and incredibly persuasive plea to the clockwork angels as to why their goals are the same and how they are serving the same ultimate end. I'm not going to reproduce the whole thing, because no one but me is going to read this anyway. Sufficed to say, it worked.
At this point, I finally called the game out of sheer embarrassment.
...because no one but me is going to read this anyway...
LOL.
You might be surprised.I'm running Ironfang Invasion now but thinking of doing Ruins of Azlant next.
Well that's embarrassing.
Session Fifty-Four, parts A and B
September 26-27, 2020
Nothin' but Net
My son, Teensy Valeros (SSSB's player), came up with a great idea last Saturday. He suggested that we start playing our Sunday afternoon game over dinner Saturday night to get all the arguing about stuff out of the way so Sunday would actually be fun. It totally worked. Good kid.
Having secured the Temple of Aesocar (at least, for the moment) as a relatively safe base of operations, Bruce and SSSB decide to bamf back to the Mordant Spire camp and teleport the rangers back to the temple, mostly because our Big Damn Heroes would feel kinda guilty if the silly elven n00bs got themselves killed.
Looking at the rough sketch the rangers had made of the area, Our Adventurers decide to go check out the most remote of the Mesh Nodes (A6a) first, to see how difficult it is to disable. Bruce casts an Invisibility Sphere and they set out overland. SSSB successfully spots and disables a Symbol of Persuasion trap in some ruins as they pass. I'll admit, letting my son burn every single skill point allowable in Disable Device, Perception, and Knowledge Religion ("allowable" meaning I let HeroLabs tell him when he has to stop) was a bit of an experiment in seeing what would happen when a character is ridiculously specialized in some areas and kinda dense in others. What ended up happening is you've got a guy who's led a very sheltered life where he's had time to devote himself to his interests without having to care about the world outside his interests because other people take care of it for him. A seven-year-old-boy inside a Cleric/Rogue disguise, basically.
Arriving at the first Mesh Node--a twenty-foot-high gooey blue triffid--the party agrees that SSSB and Abdak will approach it alone while the rest remain at a safe distance by the edge of the river. The two easily make their Will saves as they approach, and SSSB makes ridiculously high Perception and Disable Device checks. Just as Abdak is saying, "There is no one around; don't you think you should take te...", SSSB jumps up, grabs the calyx of the flower, and pulls out the pistil and stamens. Kinda like an anime half-elven Michael Jordan. "I'm sorry, you were saying?" he asks.
Yeah.
The party heads for the nearest canal and gets into the water, following it toward the next Mesh Node at A6c. At the junction of two canals, Arwen spies some symbols carved into flat paving stones under the water. (As you may recall, these canals used to be the streets of the city.) She tries to get SSSB's attention. He is humming to himself and looking at fish. (My son rolled a 1 on his Perception.) Arwen signals to Fluffy, who conks SSSB upside the head with a massive claw. Lovingly. SSSB turns around and Arwen points out the symbol. He finally notices the trap and disables it.
Upon reaching the second Mesh Node, the action is almost exactly the same as the first. Except this time, as Abdak asks, "Are you sure you don't want to take..."
SSSB says, "Nope!" and successfully disables the node.
The party gets back into the canal and heads north toward the sea to reach A6d. This time, Abdak asks, "Are you..." and then stops, knowing words are a waste of time. SSSB jumps, tries to grab the calyx as before, misses, and falls to the ground. I say, "You know how every once in a while, Jordan would go up for a perfect dunk and he would just inexplicably miss out of nowhere and the ball would ricochet off the rim and he would fall back to the court with that look on his face? Yeah, that's you."
Abdak says, gently (for an Inevitable), "Are you... quite... sure you do not wish to take ten?" My son looks at me. I nod. He takes ten and successfully disables the node. Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to do that. Shut up. He only missed it by 1 the first time, and it's not like his character didn't know how after doing it successfully twice before.
The party goes down to the beach, gets in the water, and takes the long way around through the sea to loop around and approach the final node (A6b) from the west. It's dinner time, and most of the denizens of Kalas-Ti are hanging out around a bonfire of unholy stench, barbequeing something large and fishy over the flames. Best not to get too close or ask questions. At least they're distracted.
SSSB waits for the right moment, disables the final node, and the party heads back west, then into the sea again. They swim bak around to the first canal entrance and heads to the stone hut where the Mordant Spire rangers had told them the new fleshwarper had been seen regularly. They watch the hut from the canal and eventually see Doctor Hacksaw approach from the direction of the camp dinner. The Doctor is accompanied by two gillmen agents. "I have much work to do this evening. I would prefer to do it without distractions," Doctor Hacksaw says. The gillmen agents depart.
Our Heroes buff themselves as they usually do: Heroism for SSSB, Arwen and Bruce; Stoneskin for SSSB and Bruce; Shield, Bull Strength, and Mirror Image (4) on Bruce. (I swear, next time, my husband is NOT allowed to play a spellcaster.) They approach and Abdak (having the longest reach) throws open the door.
Doctor Hacksaw drops behind the operating table in the middle of the room and takes an Elixir of Shield. SSSB casts Spear of Purity (17 points and Hacksaw is blinded for a round) and moves into the room. Fluffy flies Arwen into position while she shoots lots of pointy things, hitting twice, for a total of 45 points. (Gotta love Deadly Aim.) Bruce moves up to the tablee and makes one spear attack for another 20 points. Abdak marches in and uses his fists. At this pointt, the four Fleshwarped Cloakers drop from the ceiling. Two miss their attacks entirely, one tries to bite Abdak (DR 15 against Chaotic creatures), and one bites Arwen, who is, happily, resistant to poison. Doctor Hacksaw takes an Elixir of Protection from Arrows. SSSB steps in to flank Hacksaw and does sneak attack damage with his Sword of Subtlety. Arwen changes her target to one of the Cloakers, hits twice (one of them a crit). Bruce casts Haste. Abdak targets Hacksaw with Chain Lightning, with the four Cloakers as secondary targets. Hacksaw makes her save and only takes 29 points of damage, but is now unconscious (-1). Two of the Cloakers make their saves for half damage, the other two take the full 58 points. The Cloakers continue their attacks, two of them on Arwen and two on Abdak. SSSB gives the coup de grace to Hacksaw. Arwen, Bruce, and Abdak continue to fight the cloakers.
I could go on, but we all know who won. The fight is over by the end of round 5. The bodies and the room are checked thoroughly for anything of use or sufficiently high resale value. My kids fight over the loot, which is the signal that it's bedtime.
Well that's embarrassing.
ROTFL!
You are more than welcome to read my chicken scratchings in the Ironfang Invasion channel :-)
And totally with you on maxing out skills.
Have a rogue with +31 to disable device at level 9. She could basically stop now and still be able to beat just about every check for the rest of the AP.
Session Fifty-Five
October 4, 2020
You know what Ben Kenobi needed on the Death Star? He needed me.
Our Heroes finish looting Doctor Hacksaw's laboratory, swim back up the channel to the sea, and scope out the giant metal lobster troop transports. Assuming that each of the ten transports can hold roughly 100 soldiers, and assuming they'd fought off roughly one company at Talmandor's Bounty, the PCs believe there could be as many as 900 Ulat-Kini, gillmen agents, etc. in this wretched hive of Skum and villainy.
Cue Inigo saying, "At my best, I could never defeat that many."
Our Heroes are far from cowards, but they don't like their odds. Bruce suggests casting Greater Invisibility on SSSB and sending him up onto the beach to sneak around and sabotage the transports, as the guy with the fabulous Disable Device check is *also* the guy with the best Knowledge of Engineering and the *only* member of the party with a halfway decent Stealth. Except, for some reason, for Fluffy. And Fluffy ain't doing it.
The players then argue among themselves for some time as to how many transports need to get sabotaged. My husband and son vote for all ten; my daughter wants one left so they can steal it and use it to infiltrate the Compass, just like the rebels using the Imperial Shuttle Tydirium to land on Endor in Return of the Jedi.
This argument goes on for a very long time. I make dinner.
Finally, SSSB agrees to save one transport (the one in the best position near the water) for last, and starts out.
I could take you through all thirty-seven rounds and every single roll, but really, why? In the end, SSSB is able to study and decommission the transports, without being captured, and is further able to figure out that it would take half an hour to get the transport ready to launch, at which point, it would be a colossal target that would be impossible to hide. My daughter is in tears because her plan got mothballed and it is A Thing. SSSB disables the final transport and the party sets off down the coast of Kalas-Ti for The Tangled Morass.
Sessions Fifty-Six and Fifty-Seven
October 11-12, 2020
Into the Tangled Morass
Our Heroes swim down the coast to the first inlet which Nieran Codali and the Mordant Spire rangers have told them of. They head inland, scanning both underwater and above the surface to look for... stuff. Whatever. You know.
They see a number of broken ioun towers, some close, some far, but don't leave the water to investigate. Arriving at the gardens of the ancient Spindle Solution facilities, Arwen uses her Speak with Plants ability to question the well-tended beds what they know of the entrance to the Compass. They say they don't understand her questions, but the Gardener knows all, and they will summon him through their root network for her. After some little time has passed, a wyrwood approaches and introduces itself as the Gardener. After a little conversation, they satisfy him that their intentions are not malign, and he proposes that, if they will agree to go with him to the mud flats to dispose of the creatures currently occupying it, he will show them the way to the entrance and help them to the extent that he is able.
Our Adventurers agree, and on the way to the mud flats, the Gardener tells them something of the history of the Compass, and of the Spindle Solution members who headed it: Jazradan, Harighal, Lurisian, Rashimos, and Varliss. The Gardener speaks of them all in the past tense and says he is able to give them no information on what they may find within the Compass itself, as he has not been inside the facility in thousands of years.
Arriving at the mud flats, the PCs find and do battle with four Somalcygots. Big icky flat worms that spit acid. Whee! Like all their fights, its no big thing. Bruce uses Seaspike to great avail, and Arwen shoots a lot. Crits once. SSSB flanks with his Sword of Subtlety as much as he can. The icky moon worms die. The Gardener thanks the PCs and guides them through the jungle two a few of the ruined ioun towers so they can find some of the ioun stones that power them, then guides them to the entrance to the Compass. By using Overland Flight to get to the platform, and by the very good fortune that the Gardener has the highest initiative roll, he is able to beam the party down to the Convergence Hall of the Compass before the Lusca would have struck. Which is a damned shame, because I had already sculpted the damned thing to scale out of Play-Doh. I was ready to eat some PCs for dinner.
Bummer, dude.
Sessions Fifty-Eight and Fifty-Nine
October 18 and 22, 2020
In Which Our Heroes Finally Enter the Compass
Arriving in the Convergence Hall (C), Our Heroes encounter Jazradan, who appears atop a projection pad and greets them. He welcomes them, says he is not undead, but rather a lingering mental presence within the projection pad network, tells them that Ochymua is down in the Doomsday Stores in the lowest levels of the Compass, and informs them they will need to collect three ioun stone keys--one from each wing of the facility--to unlock the passage to the lower levels.
Our Heroes are a bit suspicious, but can't quite put a finger on what Jazradan isn't saying, and really want to get to the Doomsday Stores to kill Ochymua, so they set off into the Research Wing to begin their mission.
In the central corridor (D1), they encounter an Ioun Golem. Teensy Valeros and Hermione ask me to explain how it works and what it looks like. I say it's kind of like a giant robot version of the Infinity Gauntlet, except it can't dust people. Probably.
Bruce attempts to explain that Jazradan sent them there to get the ioun stone key and they're following J's orders, but the Golem isn't having any of it. Bruce is persistent. He acts like I'm GMing wrong. This ought to be their first clue that Jazradan is not entirely to be trusted, but my players are either not getting it or are just shrugging it off. Whatever. The Golem dies.
SSSB puts away the ioun stone that would trigger the doors and rolls a nat 20 on his Perception to listen at the doors to both D2 and D3 says that he's pretty sure D2 is entirely empty, but there's like a cocktail party or something going on inside D3. Cue both my daughter and my husband quoting Admiral Ackbar.
They decide to check out the quiet room first, discover the magical beds in the Guest Quarters (D2), and Bruce rolls high enough on his Spellcraft check to understand the beds' properties. Hooray! A safe place to rest between encounters!
They move on to the Lounge (D3), and everyone, even SSSB, blows their Perception check to see through the illusion. Nope! no Mohrgs here, just a group of friendly Azlanti having one last hurrah before their impending doom. Happily, as some of their new friends offer them beverages, Bruce and SSSB make their Will saves, see through the illusion at last, and Bruce dashes the cup from Arwen's hand just as she is about to drink, and they all fly UP, because their Overland Flight is still in play.
Combat begins. SSSB mostly channels positive energy, Arwen does a lot of shooting, and Bruce makes brilliant use of Dagon's Eye by shooting not into a Mohrg, but into a central point in the floor (nice of the Azlanti to make the ceilings in this area 30' high).
Like most of their fights of late, it's all over in four rounds.
I realize that, even what with missing out on the giant three-headed sharktopus skipping an entire encounter in Talasantri, and the party doing a Brave Sir Robin with the Ulat-Kini and Gillmen forces massed on Kalas-Ti, the PCs still have more than enough XP to level up. Only having three PCs in the campaign helps. Good. Now I have leverage to get my kids to clean their rooms. You can't level up until your room is done and your laundry is put away. Properly.
Session Sixty
November 1, 2020
The Research Wing and the First Ioun Key
Hooray! The kids got their rooms cleaned and they leveled up in time to play on Sunday. The rooms stayed clean for Grandma to come over for her birthday dinner on Tuesday, then promptly got trashed again. Sigh.
Leaving the Lounge, Our Heroes move on down the central corridor of the research wing, and investigate the Meeting Room and Communications Array (D4 and D5). They spend an inordinate amount of time rolling to check for traps, spells, hidden loot, and ways to use the Communications Array, and are rewarded for their troubles with a spectacular amount of nothing.
They move on to D7, the Magic Items Vault, where they score huge tracts of loot. Yay, loot. They didn't even fight over it too much (this time).
Then to D6, Lurisian's chamber. They get the door open, discover the crystal, and Arwen figures out they have to do something to the crystal to contact Lurisian. That part isn't hard. Lurisian appears, they question her (boy howdy is my husband good at talking NPCs to undeath), and eventually get every shred of information possible from her before she vanishes. Yay, intel.
Our Heroes move on the Archives, where, between Perception and various Sense/Detect skill checks, they realize that the Archivist is not Human, not Good, and not someone they'd normally prefer to trust/do business with/leave unstabbed. When he explains why he is willing to help them and what he feels he would be getting out of the deal, they don't like it, but agree to accept his help. He is delighted and even gives them some research succubi to assist them in their efforts.
Ahem.
As a result of their research, they learn the nature and effects of the Synchrony Device, the existence of the clockwork overseer that heads all the other clockworks within the Compass (and without which they would cease to function in an organized manner), and they discover the first Ioun Key. They also receive confirmation of the intelligence on the senior members of the Compass which the Gardener had given to them.
Satisfied they have fully explored this wing, Our Heroes return to the Convergence Hall to move on to the Testing Wing.
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loving the RL asides :-)
Perhaps have a (very) small side quest where a child has gone missing and they have to track them down (should be quick), but keep getting hampered by difficult terrain (messy rooms) and so end up getting delayed while going to some important function.
Sessions Sixty-One and Sixty-Two
November 8-9, 2020
The Testing Wing and Harighal
As I mentioned on FaWtL Sunday evening, this session began with AN HOUR AND A HALF of WW and the kids, all of whom had just leveled up their PCs to 17, arguing with each other about how best to avoid four CR 12 clockwork guards. Which they only had to face two of at a time. So I wandered off to the kitchen, started making dinner, and screamed silently into the void for a while.
Of course, you're talking to the girl who once had her PC dive, ululating, into a Hungry Pit to attack a Corpse Orgy because it was an abomination that needed to die.
All I'm saying is, there is a happy medium in there somewhere.
Bruce casts Sphere of Invisibility and Our Courageous Heroes stealthily creep up the passage toward the first guard, who utterly fails to perceive anything. SSSB makes an improved vital strike sneak attack. The other guard, who is roughly 50' further on down the passage, makes a full move to assist, but doesn't get close enough to engage. Abdak hits and crits. Arwen makes one successful shot, but fumbles on the second shot and overextends her elbow, taking a -2 penalty for the remainder of combat. Bruce hits twice more with his greatspear, killing the first guard. SSSB holds his action until the second guard moves up and attacks him, hitting the guard in return, then taking a 5' step away. Abdak, Arwen, and Bruce all team up on the guard. SSSB drops behind the guard with his harpoon, but rolls mostly ones on his damage roll. The guard turns around and does a 91 pt full attack to SSSB with his flaming halberd. Thankfully the guard only has 8 HP left, and Abdak pummels him to death, then heals up SSSB, who heals Arwen's elbow.
They explore the chambers with the Mindswap Trap, which they successfully avoid but do not attempt to disable, and the Ravaged Vault ("Hey! Does this book mean we could make our OWN Clockwork Golem?!?") before discovering Harighal's chamber. SSSB attempts Diplomacy, and makes a decent effort, but Harighal was planning to attack them anyway, and had a perfectly good Scintillating Pattern prepared, so why waste it?
Arwen stabs herself with the arrow in her hand, Abdak punches himself in the face, SSSB just stands there, babbling like an idiot, and Bruce, who is miraculously unaffected, attempts to shoot his crossbow but misses entirely. Arwen rolls a natural 20 on her Perception (bringing her to 40-something) and notices the grey ooze behind a tapestry on her 4:00. She attempts to shoot it but misses. Abdak marches up and attacks it, and it damages Abdak with its Morphic Weapon. Bruce shoots it. SSSB continues to babble.
Another miss from Arwen, who is really not doing well today, another Hasted attack by Abdak, more Morphic Weapon damage *to* Abdak, more babbling from SSSB, and one more successful shot from Bruce and Harighal is dead. Yay! We have another Ioun Key.
Our Heroes take the other door out of Harighal's chamber and discover the Mezlan Production room. Arwen decides to take no chances and shoots the female Mezlan, who responds by hitting the party with Chain Lightning. Her partner follows up with a Freezing Sphere. Bruce, Abdak, and SSSB all team up on the female Mezlan and drop her damage to less than half, but at the end of the first round, I realize we're half an hour past bedtime on a school night, so I mark everyone's positions on the map and send them off to the bath.
Session Sixty-Three
November 15, 2020
Concluding the Testing Wing
The fight with the Mezlans is over in three more rounds. Arwen, Bruce, and Abdak do lots of damage (Hermione's dice finally start to behave and she crits twice in round two, hasted attacks with Deadly Aim and Clustered Shot.) Meanwhile, my son thinks it's more fun to "say the stuff that the French guys say to the silly English kuhniggits, but in Thassalonian" to taunt the Mezlans, and he does a wiggle butt dance while he recites it.
Not exactly the behavior you'd expect from a Cleric, but he's seven.
Moving on.
Our Heroes wipe out the last two Spindle Solution Defenders in the hallway outside the Mezlan Production Room fairly swiftly and trot off down the hall to investigate the rest of the wing.
SSSB removes his Ioun Stone to use his Door Sight ability on room E6 (the Planar Gateway), and as a Cleric of Elion, easily recognizes the symbols in this area for what they are, and lets the party know that, unless they fancy a trip to the City of Brass or other temples of Onos, it's probably best to be avoided.
They move on to area E7, the Observation room, and my daughter insists that Arwen get to do the investigating and perception this time, so she looks through all the portholes to see what there is to see, core dumps, and the party moves on to...
E8, Operational Control. My family has been looking forward to this battle ever since they found out there was a massive construct they could put out of commission. Abdak and SSSB decide to move in close, Abdak pummelling it and SSSB hitting it repeatedly with Gozreh's Trident. Bruce first Lightning Bolts it, then closes and attacks with his Greatspear. Arwen crits in the first round and fumbles in the second. The Clockwork Controller itself attacks Bruce as the person who did the most damage to it in the first round, but as Bruce has Mirror Image up, all it succeeds in doing is popping two images before being destroyed.
Our Heroes investigate E9, the Energy Collider, decide very quickly that whatever is in that big pillar in the center is something they want no part of, go back to the Guest Quarters in the Research Wing, and rest up.
Next Week: On to the Application Wing
Sessions Sixty-Four and Sixty-Five
November 22 and 25, 2020
The Application Wing
The kids and I were on vacation from school this week, and we can't go anywhere or do anything, so there was more time to play. Could be worse.
Our Heroes enter the Application Wing, and all but Abdak are delighted to discover that this wing is flooded. Arwen and Fluffy can swim instead of using Overland Flight! Bruce can revert to his Elephant Seal Selkie form instead of his Dwarf form! SSSB can put on his Merform Belt and do his best to keep up! It just occurred to me, right this moment, that since he has the Helm of Underwater Action *anyway*, they *could* have just given the Merform Belt to Abdak, because that would have been funny. Sigh. Oh, well.
Heading down the stairs in the main hall, Our Intrepid Adventurers notice four large, ash-covered statues that look like cyclopes. The gholdakos' stealth is greater than the PCs' Perception rolls, and this little ambush doesn't qualify as a trap for SSSB to detect, so the party is almost through the room when the gholdakos attack. Even so, the fight is over quickly and our heroes win. Are we surprised? Nope, not really.
In the Weapon Testing room, SSSB successfully detects and disables the Electrified Defense Field around the Cerebrum Drill so that they can scarper off with the weapon. In the Biological Appliance room, they quickly detect the Gray Goo, decide it's not really something they want to bother with (since there is no other door on the other side), and they go away again. They easily spot that the Detection Training chamber is "a Holodeck" ("It's just here to burn our buffs and waste our spell slots"), and are initially in favor of skipping it until they realize they have to go through it to get to the door on the other side, so Bruce Dimension Doors them across.
In the Rear Hall (F6), they meet the Yarahkut Inevitable Quatronicus, and after Abdak gets done fanboying, he explains their purpose. His attempt at Diplomacy is successful, and Quatronicus gives them the lay of the land. As our heroes feel that time is of the essence and do not wish to be distracted or delayed, they decide to skip the Clockwork Forge (F7) and go straight on to deal with Rashimos. They make short work of the mutant galvo monstrosities in F8 (a maximized Fireball really puts a hitch in their giddyup) and buff a bit more before moving on to the cove where Rashimos and her four fiendish elemental servants await.
Abdak immediately casts Chain Lightning, and three of the five baddies make their saves. SSSB casts Holy Smite. The elementals all attack Abdak. Rashimos tries to Smite Good at Bruce but the attempt fails. Bruce convinces all the PCs to do the Scooby Doo run away and get the elementals to follow them out of the cove so he can put up a wall of force and they can go back and deal with Rashimos by herself. Because Arwen and Fluffy have trained in Combat Riding maneuvers, she is able to take her full hasted attack while Fluffy does all the swimming too and fro, and Rashimos is dead pretty quickly, and the Elementals are all gone in another two rounds. They loot the demon's gear, blade, and ioun stone. They return to the guest quarters to rest and restore their spells one last time before heading down to the Doomsday Stores.
Next time: One Second to Midnight!
Just wanted to say that I'm thinking of playing with some Underwater Parts Only RoA. Not with elementary age kids, but with coworkers. So this has been just as inspiring ;)
Would you have re-tuned it to start at a lower level if you could have, in retrospect?
Just wanted to say that I'm thinking of playing with some Underwater Parts Only RoA. Not with elementary age kids, but with coworkers. So this has been just as inspiring ;)
Would you have re-tuned it to start at a lower level if you could have, in retrospect?
Dungeon level, or PC level?
Dungeon level: There was definitely some plot that we missed out on by starting in The Flooded Cathedral, and that had to be compensated for when we started book 6.
PC level: I started the PCs at level 9, the recommended level for book 3 of this AP. My players found the combats in book 5-6 a bit easy. My friend Nobody's Home (usually to be found on FaWtL) tends to deal with this by maxing out all the monsters (ie, if a standard Skum has 20 hp (2d10+9), NH would give that Skum the full 29 hp) and always using the baddie's deadliest spell or mode of attack. Which I should be doing more often. Because, all too frequently, this AP will specify that a monster does x action in round 1, y in round 2, etc., when it's really letting the PCs off kinda lightly. A few times, my husband (who's been GMing for about forty years) would just say, "SERIOUSLY?!? WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?!?" and I would have to explain, no, it's not just that I'm a rookie (only GMing for four years, and only for my family), this is really how the AP is written.
So, yeah, starting them a level lower wouldn't be entirely a bad thing.