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I didn't want to stomp on anyone else's story threads, so I'll start my own.
We have really just started. I'm converting the AP to 2E so there is a bit more prep than usual, but Roll20 makes it easy for me to organize things before the session moreso than I can do live. Not sure yet how good/bad I'm doing with comparative challenge ratings, our few combats have neither been deadly, nor one-shots. Reading some of the commentary here has been helpful.
I have the following characters in our group:
Chudd — a human barbarian [fury] born and raised in Phaendar with dwarven ancestry ties so he primarily uses a waraxe/shield and is an apprentice blacksmith under the tutelage of Kining
Sam Smithy — a goblin sorcerer [elemental] originally from Tamran and the adopted child of humans. He is an intellectual and the father is a social scientist studying the effects of "nature vs nurture" splitting time between Tamran and the University of Lepidstadt. Adopted is a bit misleading as he is really just another of the father's experiments. Being a goblin and therefore having related ancestry to the local raiding hobgoblins has made it hard for him to earn a living in Phaendar. Recently, he's been working for Kining in the store as a stock-boy and clerk.
Bridgit — a half-elf sorcerer (draconic) who has the most hatred for the hobgoblins as they are responsible for the murder of her parents. Father was a seer elf with some minor magical skill. Mother was a human herbalist with a touch of draconic blood ancestry. She is studying Herbalism and Nature part-time under the tutelage of Aubrin the Green when she's not working as a waitress at the Taproot.
Phillip Tufang — a human ranger [fury] formerly of Nidal. He was scouting for the Chernasardo Rangers in hopes of joining their organization, but was brutally ambushed by some hobgoblin bandits, a scouting party for the Invasion. He has almost fully recovered by the start of the campaign under the healing of Rhyna (who I changed into a halfling, mostly because that's how I see her based on the included image). His injuries prevented him from earning a living for a number of weeks and if not for the leftovers provided by Bridgit from the Taproot he might have starved. He is looking to use snare crafting as often as possible so it'll be a good chance to see how effective (or ineffective) snares are in 2E.
Fenadonia "Fen" Calinbrew — half-elf rogue (thief), although she's not so much a criminal as a skill-monkey who focuses on agility and finesse rather than brute strength (otherwise, she would be a ruffian). She probably should be a scoundrel, but the player has one of those in PFS so wanted to try a different racket. Another born in Tamran, she is the granddaughter of a so-far unnamed town elder. She knows she is expected to continue her family's tradition of being a leader, but her youth and inexperience are insufficient. She left for Phaendar in hopes of getting some life experience and learning the hard lessons of adventure (not to mention, loot) so she can develop into a respected leader. Because she has some medical knowledge, she's been working as a nurse for Vane Oreld.
The players are in the midst of escaping Phaendar. We spent extra time going over PC-NPC relationships and which PCs know each other and to what extent. I hope that will provide a bit more connection to the rest of the townsfolk and them wanting to help them not only escape but survive in the wilds.
I've decided to add a chase for just after they finish exploring the four main shops in town and try to escape with as many villagers and provisions as possible. I like chases in general and them trying to escape from town as a group of hobgoblins tries to capture them seems a perfect opportunity. Parts 2/3 are so sand-boxy, I hope they come off as organic and not feel like a series of events down a set of railroad tracks.
We are not tracking XP. I'm just going to level them at opportune times as we go along. This saves me from having to watch XP awards and add/subtract to keep them on pace. We are also going to play all the way to level 20 so I will be slightly adjusting the pace and will have to advance many of the encounters in books 5-6 as they will be higher than the printed ones.
I'm looking forward to the release of the APG so I can incorporate the new classes into some of the NPCs. I've already rebuilt Veld the hermit into a witch with a leshy familiar. I'm hoping she becomes a re-occurring NPC, but we'll see. Oh, and I changed her to a goblin to have the "feel" I wanted for her.
Aubrin the Green was a fairly easy conversion. I just made her a ranger with the cleric dedication so I could keep her as close to the original build as possible. I went ahead and built the stat blocks for the four primary NPCs from Phaendar thinking they might be re-occurring NPCs beyond the first book. I have not thoroughly read the rest of the series outside of some quick scanning and reading the summaries.
Our next session is Wednesday June 17th, so I'll have more to report after that.
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I am greatly amused at the similarities between your campaign and my campaign. We both are converting Ironfang Invasion to PF2. We both converted Aubrin the Green to a ranger with the cleric dedication. My wife created a character named Sam who worked for Kining Blondebeard. Our housemate created a ranger studying under Aubrin. My daughter created a goblin champion who was raised in Isger by the Goblinsworth Library, an effort to raise goblins orphans as civilized people, though she was a granddaughter of such an orphan.
Due to my wife's schedule taking her out of town for the first date two players could start, we had a pre-quest for three players to introduce Sam. Aubrin sent them out to scout rumors of the invasion of Ecru. That changed the beginning of the invasion of Phaendar, since the village was expecting raiders, but the Stone Road was an undefended direction. Thus, I cannot compare our games there. We did have a chase: Zinfandel the elf ranger mentoring under Aubrin, was helping husband, wife, and daughter escape via a window while the hobgoblins broke in their front door, and then the hobgoblins gave chase.
Aubrin was not injured, but I had slowed her speed to 20 feet in the conversion. I gave her a cloak of elvenkind (later lent to Zinfandel) that let her carry the bomb to the north bridge invisibly. Thus, she helped fight off the hobgoblins at the bridge (I added four Hobgoblin Soldiers to support Kergri and Kur), and escaped to the north side when the bridge blew up. She has stayed with the refugees while the party serves as her scouts to run errands, find food, and scout safe paths for the refugees to follow.
I have been mostly handling the conversion by substituting creatures from the PF2 Bestiary (now Bestiaries) for the creatures from the module, such as using Hobgoblin Soldier (PF2 Bestiary 1, page 206) in place of the Ironfang Recruits. However, Tonaxian over in his thread Trail of the Hunted 2e Conversion created conversions of almost every creature in Trail of the Hunted. One non-conversion was the troglodyte/xulgath oracle Ighiz, since the oracle class will appear in the Advanced Player's Guide in August 2020. I used a modification of the Zealot of Asmodeus cleric (PF2 Gamemastery Guide, page 213) for Ighiz.
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Based on the release date and our schedule, I am fairly certain APG will drop before I need to present Ighiz, but in the meantime, I converted him to a war priest so he can be a little more combative should the time come. If I like the oracle when the APG drops, I may convert him to that and maybe add Xulgath warriors (if necessary) to make up for his loss of martial presence.
For the time being, I converted Scarvinious to a flurry ranger, though again if I like the APG treatment, I’ll switch him back to a swashbuckler.
Graves was a rather obvious (IMO) monk with wolf stance.
Even if Auburn is healed to full, a distinct possibility, I’m going to keep her hobbled due to the serious nature of the injury. Essentially one of her lungs was collapsed and she has some permanent interactions injuries that will require a regeneration effect or high level magic to resolve. That was she can still be part of the refugee camp, part-time healer, and co-leader with the PCs, but is not in any condition to adventure or get involved in any combat. She will probably be left in charge of the camp when the PCs go investigating. I’m going to do a combined version of hexploration and calendar timing.
I’m still feeling out the challenge levels, but the next 2-3 sessions should reveal if I’m on the right track. Perhaps the biggest change is with treasure. The vast majority had to be changed. I don’t want too many magic weapons right away and the ability boost items all had to be changed. There really aren’t a lot of low level permanent magic items so much of it is talisman’s, elixirs, mutagens, and a few scrolls.
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Second session went well. They decided not to face the hobgoblins outside the Trading Company. They used Stealth to go around to the back door and get Kining and the townfolk out. This resulted in them skipping the smithy so they also avoided the elemental encounter. This meant they missed out on some treasure I had inside and they didn't save the two hiding in the hay loft. the biggest loss was Kining's tools which would have served as smith tools. This means their refugee camp will start with no way craft outside of Oreld's alchemy and our resident shield-weilding barbarian has to be extremely careful not to lose his shield with an ill-timed block. Also, one of the treasure items them recovered is a rune stone with a +1 potency rune on it. Without the tools, they don't have a way to transfer it to a weapon, so far now it just sits in inventory.
They managed to get the drop on the hobgoblin in Oreld's shop and killed him before he even got off an attack. They cleared out the shop and saved the townsfolk.
This is when my added chase came into play. They did very well and managed to avoid an encounter with the pursuing hobgoblins.
They decided to try and blow the bridge, but Kegri his companion and two hobgoblin allies hiding in the shed was a really rough encounter. Their dice went cold and I dropped one sorcerer twice (with a heal in the middle) and the rogue once. They just did get off the bridge before it blew otherwise it would have certainly killed two, maybe three of them.
As the bridge collapsed, I had Scarvinious and a small group of hobgoblins arrive. The gobos scrambled along the bank to find a way to cross, while Scar yelled at them as them fled into the forest, "You can rub rabbits, but we'll hunt you down."
All said and done, they escaped with 10 commoners, 4 warriors, and 6 experts (I eliminated the aristocrat and adept to simplify the proces) plus the two merchants from the 2nd floor of the Taproot, Aubrin and all four named NPCs. Not bad all things considered. Aubrin is the only one with "official" class levels and built like a PC. The rest are an abstraction of an elite expert with some class aspects, but not all of them.
AUBRIN THE GREEN, Creature 4
CG, Medium, Human, Humanoid
Perception +10
Languages Common, Goblin, Varisian
Skills Acrobatics +9, Athletics +6, Crafting +7, Diplomacy +10, Farming Lore +7, Nature +8, Religion +8, Society +7, Stealth +9, Survival+8
Str +0, Dex +3, Con +1, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +2
AC 20; FORT +7, REF +11, WILL +10
HP 42
Speed 15* feet
Melee weapon +6, Damage by weapon (staff or dagger)
Ranged longbow +9, Damage 1d8
*I reduced her speed by 10 feet to account for her permanent injury. She has to lean on her staff most of the time. Plus she has the damaged vision.
CLIDON, Creature 1
Medium, Humanoid
Perception +5
Languages Common
Skills Arcane+5, Mercantile Lore +7, Occultism +5, Survival +5
Str +1, Dex +1, Con +1, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +2
AC 11; FORT +4, REF +4, WILL +5
HP 9
Speed 25 feet
Melee weapon +1, Damage 1d6+1
Ranged weapon +1, Damage 1d6
(10) COMMONERS, Creature 0
Medium, Humanoid
Perception +2
Languages Common
Skills Crafting +2, Nature +2, Survival +2
Str +0, Dex +0, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +0
AC 10; FORT +0, REF +0, WILL +2
HP 6
Speed 25 feet
Melee weapon +0 (traits), Damage 1d4
Ranged weapon +0 (traits), Damage 1d4
(6) EXPERTS, Creature 1
Medium, Humanoid
Perception +4
Languages Common
Skills Crafting+4, Nature +4, Survival +4
*increase the modifier to +6 for their expert profession (2 of each)
Str +1, Dex +1, Con +1, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +1
AC 14; FORT +4, REF +0, WILL +4
HP 9
Speed 25 feet
Melee weapon +1, Damage 1d6+1
Ranged weapon +1, Damage 1d6
FARROW, Creature 1
Medium, Humanoid
Perception +5
Languages Common
Skills Crafting+5, Mercantile Lore +7, Nature +5, Survival +5
Str +1, Dex +1, Con +1, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +2
AC 10; FORT +4, REF +4, WILL +5
HP 9
Speed 25 feet
Melee weapon +1, Damage 1d6+1
Ranged weapon +1, Damage 1d6
JETT, Creature 2
CG, Medium, Human, Humanoid
Perception +4
Languages Common, Shoanti, Varisian
Skills Alcohol Lore+6, Diplomacy+6, Society+6, Tavern Lore+6
Str +0, Dex +0, Con +2, Int +2, Wis +0, Cha +2
Group Impression
AC 14; FORT +6, REF +0, WILL +4
HP 20
Speed 25 feet
Melee weapon +4, Damage 1d6
Ranged weapon +4, Damage 1d6
KINING BLONDEBEARD, Creature 2
LE, Medium, Dwarf, Humanoid
Perception +5; Darkvision
Languages Common, Dwarf, Goblin, Varisian
Skills Athletics+6, Blacksmith Lore+6, Crafting+8, Engineering Lore+6
Str +2, Dex +0, Con +2, Int +2, Wis +1, Cha -1
Quick Repair
AC 15; FORT +6, REF +0, WILL +5
HP 20
Speed 20 feet
Melee weapon +6, Damage 1d6+2
Ranged weapon +4, Damage 1d6
RHYNA, Creature 2
NG, Small, Halfling, Humanoid
Perception +6; Keen Eyes
Languages Common, Halfling, Varisian
Skills Diplomacy+6, Medicine+6, Religion+8, Scribing Lore+5, Society+5
Str -1, Dex +2, Con +0, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +2
Student of Cannon
AC 16; FORT +0, REF +6, WILL +6
HP 16
Speed 25 feet
Melee weapon +6, Damage 1d4-1
Ranged weapon +6, Damage 1d4
VANE ORELD, Creature 2
NG, Medium, Human, Humanoid
Perception +6
Languages Common, Goblin, Halfling, Varisian
Skills Herbalism Lore+6, Medicine+6, Mercantile Lore+6, Nature+8, Survival+6
Str +0, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha -1
Alchemical Crafting
AC 14; FORT +2, REF +6, WILL +6
HP 18
Speed 25 feet
Melee weapon +4, Damage 1d6
Ranged weapon +6, Damage 1d6
(4) WARRIORS, Creature 1
Medium, Humanoid
Perception +4
Languages Common
Skills Survival +4, Stealth +4
Str +1, Dex +1, Con +1, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +1
Leather Armor, Longsword, Longbow w/10 arrows
AC 15; FORT +4, REF +4, WILL +4
HP 9
Speed 25 feet
Melee weapon +4, Damage 1d8+1
Ranged weapon +4, Damage 1d8
When they get boosts, they'll be able to either increase the level of an expert or warrior by one, increase the level of a named-NPC by one, or change a commoner into a warrior or an expert in a skill of their choice. The NPCs max level will be the PC's level.
They recovered 35 provision points, added to the two-weeks of rations they each have in their backs, they had a total of 105 provision points. That might sound like a lot, but given its going to cost 32 provisions per day just to feed everyone, it won't last long. I tweaked the survival rules a bit so they are probably going to struggle a little at first with provisions while they work on shelter. They will have to relocate the camp a few times I expect and that will cost them since I won't let them do other survival activities when they are burdened with moving.
Each day, an NPC can be assigned to perform one specific task around camp. The most useful such projects include:
• Build Shelter: Creating a shelter for one small or medium-sized creature requires a successful DC12 Crafting or Survival check. Beat the DC by 5 and the shelter can accommodate one additional small or medium-sized creature. On a critical success, the shelter can accommodate four small or medium-sized creatures. These shelters are simple, but enough to prevent a character from being fatigued from exposure.
• Craft: With access to the necessary tools, NPCs can craft finished goods using the normal Crafting skill rules. Must be trained.
• Forage or Hunt: NPCs who spend a full day hunting or gathering and succeed at a DC10 Survival check gain one Provision Point. Gain a bonus Provision Point for succeeding by five, and four provision points for a critical success.
• Herd: Phaendar’s sheep and goat herds were scattered in the attack, and many were lost in the Fangwood. NPCs can recover a single goat or sheep with a successful DC15 Nature check. Captive animals can be maintained with a single successful Nature check (DC = 10 + the number of animals) per day. Neglecting to maintain the herd or failing this check indicates one or more animals have wandered off. A captive animal generates one Provision Point every three days, or can be butchered to immediately provide four Provision Points.
• Scout: NPCs trained in Survival or Stealth can scout the area or keep an eye on Phaendar for the PCs. With a successful DC 10 Survival check, an NPC can discover one point of interest in the area (such as an encounter location) or with a critical success, identify one danger in the area of the encounter (if any exist). An NPC can scout one hex per day, but it must be within two hexes of the refugee camp.
• Stand Watch: An NPC can stand watch, attempting Perception checks and even confronting danger while the PCs rest uninterrupted. The base chance for a random encounter is 25% (adjusted for other factors), but each warrior that stands watch reduces the chances by 5%.
• Support: One or more NPCs can follow the PCs to assist them, carrying equipment, standing watch at temporary camps, or providing skills the PCs may lack. NPCs hold back from combat, but should the PCs lose a fight, the NPCs attempt to drag their unconscious leaders to safety.
• Use Skill: NPCs can use any of their listed skills, such as using Nature to train captured animals, Medicine to provide long-term care, or Lore to Recall Knowledge. Regardless of the refugees’ general mood, specific named NPCs (if they survive) take on a helpful role within the group and provide unique benefits so long as they remain alive and friendly to the PCs.
Aubrin is trained in a number of useful skills. She can help most of the other NPCs with their tasks, duplicating the effects or she can perform more specific skills as directed by the PCs. Even if healed, she is permanently disabled and not fit for adventuring.
Jett keeps the resources maintained, making sure the refugees use the most perishable items first and helping people pack balanced loads. So long as Jet oversees the cooking, the camp generates 1 additional Provision Point each day.
Kining Blondebeard keeps everyone’s weapons sharp and true, and trains the refugees how to fight so they do not panic. If the PCs acquire the proper tools, Kining can craft any arms or armor up to her level. Each assistant she has reduces the time to craft by one day. The assistant must be trained in Crafting.
Rhyna can use her medicine skills to treat the minor wounds the refugees suffer each day. Characters in the camp heal one additional hit point each night while they rest so long as Rhyna remains with the group.
Vane Oreld with the proper tools, can attempt to craft almost any alchemical consumable (minus poisons) up to his level. Each assistant he has reduces the time to craft by one day. The assistant must be trained in Crafting.
FOOD
The basic rules for starvation and thirst can be found on pages 500 of the Core Rulebook. The resources the PCs and their followers need to survive are abstracted throughout this adventure as Provision Points. One Provision Point sustains a person for one day and consists of a mix of fluids (clean water, ale, broth, cider, goat’s milk, or sheep’s milk) and three to five pounds of stable food (apples, berries, bread, dried boar, dried venison, hard cheese, mushrooms, nuts, pickled vegetables, and smoked trout). The refugees carry their resources in a hodgepodge of bottles, jars, and satchels stuffed into improvised backpacks. Together one trail ration and a waterskin also translate to 1 Provision Point.
If a person fails to eat the required provisions, they may suffer fatigue. A creature can go one day + Constitution modifier in days without food or water. After that they are fatigued and suffer 1d4 damage (for lack of water) for every hour that passes or 1d4 damage (for lack of food) for every day that passes.
SHELTER
Rules for inclement weather can be found on pages 517-518 of the Core Rulebook. The Fangwood Forest and Nirmathas in general are temperate, with frequent light rains. Shelter can be as simple as an abandoned home, a cave, a lean-to, a ruin, a tent. If a shelter option is not immediately available, temporary shelter can be constructed.
Sleeping without a shelter is cold and often wet, exposing a character to the elements and leaving them fatigued the next day. Sleeping without shelter a second day, causes exhaustion, which persists until they find shelter to rest in for a night. Creatures under the effects of an endure elements spell are not fatigued by sleeping without shelter.
RELOCATING CAMP
Over time, you may decide to move the refugee camp. This requires all NPCs to participate in the relocation. They cannot perform any other activities on a day when the camp is being relocated. The camp can be moved up to five hexes in a day if being led by the PCs, three hexes if led by Aubrin, and only two if led by anyone else.
I am interested to see how they plan to assign survival duties. I just provided the outline of what they can do and the stat blocks for the NPCs. We're hoping to do most of the survival stuff in between game sessions so we can focus on what the PCs are doing when we meet.
They are leveling to 2nd for the start of part II. A PC is taking Battle Medicine as their skill feat so we'll have two PCs with it, plus one with Natural Medicine. All five are trained in Medicine. They technically do not have a combat healer with the best option being their elemental sorcerer with the heal spell and the two with Battle Medicine. Aubrin has healed her hit points, but I gave her permanent lung/organ damage due to the ballista bolt that impaled her, so she is not available to adventure with the PCs. Just stay in camp and help direct survival activities. I didn't give Rhyna cleric levels, just calling hr an acolyte so she's not really built for adventuring. Between those two, and their own resources, the PCs will have plenty of out-of-combat healing each day, but that won't exactly help them while they are hexploring.
I'm doing some relatively extensive rewriting of the sandbox encounters, combining maps, reworking others and scraping a few locations entirely. I'll reveal those as the PCs encounter them over the next few sessions.
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I, for one, am enjoying your 'new' adventures here TK. Very cool!!
In mine, the witch knew terran (in session 0, I hinted that terran, draconic, goblin, and sylvan would all get decent play in this AP) and was able to communicate with the elemental. It expressed it's confusion about where it was, but the party showed it kindness. They let it go and it melted through the back wall leaving a patch of moss. Later, it showed up at the bridge fight, keeping a couple hobs occupied while the team set up the stump remover, before again melting into the rocks of the riverbank.
My 45d chess move is going to be having him show up in the Book 6 assault on the Ironfang-held Phaendar as an Elder Earth elemental.
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I seriously wrestled with the idea of not using the explosives and having the elemental be the tool they used to destroy the bridge and then be a reoccurring NPC, but I already have a long list of reoccurring NPCs and villains so I just felt like I needed to trim the list to avoid it becoming a meme. “Oh look, it’s Bob again. I wonder what aid he is going to provide us with this time.”
I liked the idea of the fire elemental being semi-insane with rage having been bound to the forge for decades and looking to exact some revenge. I was hoping the PCs would have Kining in two when they went in the smithy so the elemental could focus on her, but alas they avoided the encounter. Just means fire elemental is an unused creature and can be used somewhere else without feeling redundant.
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We didn't get much accomplished this week other than working out the survival activities. We didn't get to it between sessions so it took 2/3 of our session working it out. They didn't do bad.
After moving the camp further into the forest and setting up enough shelter (2 days) they started to Hexplore around the camp. Due to a random encounter triggering on the very first day (only 5% chance) I decided to bring in Edran. He was welcomed into the camp, though they remain suspicious of him and told the NPC warriors to keep an eye on him when they are standing guard.
Most of the refugees are on foraging now, though they have recovered a few domesticated animals and Vane is working on crafting minor elixirs of life (they recovered his alchemist's lab when fleeing Phaendar).
The ran across the Hermit, but not much came of it. They got rough directions towards Gristledown, she warned they about Gashmaw, and mentioned there was a ranger station somewhere. They told her about the fate of Phaendar, asked her to come with them and warned her about the possibility of hobgoblins, but she refused. They never asked if she would help them, so they did not get any bonus provisions.
At this point, as long as the PCs are out of the camp, the refugees are netting about 5-7 provisions short of what they need each day, but they have a good stock of 57 days worth. If that number starts to get low, two of the five PCs have Forager and can make up for it in just one day's effort. So, its on to Gristledown now. It'll take a few days before they locate it during which they might stumble across a couple more encounters. We'll just have to see :-D
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Tonight's session was interrupted by a couple of tornado warnings, but it was brief and we were able to saunter through.
With shelter for all the refugees completed most of them are tasked with generating provisions. This is not yet going in the PCs favor and they continue to use more provisions than they are generating. Not be a lot, but enough that they will eventually have to retask the last remaining NPCs from other actions or the PCs may have to abandon scouting and support the provisions for time.
They went searching for Gristledown using the vague directions from the hermit and by sheer luck of choice, they finished the first day of searching in that hex. This actually helps me move the timeline along so I am not disappointed in the least.
To make things a bit easier on myself (maps, etc) I placed the apple tree with the wasp swarm on the Gristledown map as well as the Bramble vines encounter. I eliminated the shredskin (didn't care for it) and added another bloody skeleton. They almost got the drop on the PCs, but luckily, the rogue went up to take a peek at the skins on the wall and detected one of the hiding skeletons. The battle was a bit rough as the dice we certainly going in my favor. The barbarian was dropped twice, the rogue once, but timely use of a couple healing bursts from the primal sorcerer saved the day.
They detected the wasp hive before it "surprised" them so they did some damage before the wasps swarmed. It did some decent damage before being destroyed, but the PCs were never really in danger.
They were surprised by the bramblelash, but it rolled poorly on attacks and they won fairy easily.
The PCs thoroughly searched the ruins and discovered all the hidden loot as well as doing last rites on the burial mound to put them to rest. They were pleasantly surprised that the owl delivered the bonus loot the next morning and they are preparing to head back to base camp.
Not sure if we'll be playing the next session or skipping so it might be a month before the next entry.
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Another good session! They are starting to get a handle on the survival activities and are almost generating enough provisions that they won't starve. Two of the PCs have the Foraging feat which is helping generate additional provisions. Plus they have 8-10 head of herd animals generating more on top of most of the camp now working on that activity every day.
I mixed things up a bit. Due to the hobgoblin patrols getting deeper into the forest, the Hermit moved from her hut to a hallowed tree and sent her companion, a leshy, out to find the PCs. It found them on their way back to the refugee camp from Gristledown. It led them to the Hermit's new, temporary home where she told them about the patrols and the Xulgaths being seen wandering the area. She recommended that they move their camp deeper in the forest otherwise it'll only be a few more days before the patrols find it. This is when the Stormy Night occurred and drove them into an animal warren that happened to be claimed by a couple of wolverines. It was a tough battle, but they won out and used it to wait out the storm.
The next day they made their way back to the camp. On the way they ran into Aubrin, one of the Warriors, and a Nature expert NPC. The expert had been looking for herd animals to recover when he was attacked by Gnashmaw. It killed the goat and he ran back to camp. They tried to track it, but it was too far away from the camp and they didn't want to stray that far so the PCs will be headed out to hunt it next session.
They also learned that someone or something was destroying provisions at night. They were already suspicious of Edran. They had assigned him to foraging for food and caught him lollygagging instead of working. He was intentionally failing his check each day. They brought him before the entire camp, but it was decided to give him another change to make good. He never had another chance, for that night they discovered him sneaking into the provisions "tent" to destroy more of it. Before the PC on guard could do anything, he managed to flee into the woods. They haven't seen the last of him, though he had the unfortunate luck of running into a hobgoblin patrol so his days of spying for Molthune are over. They moved the camp further into the woods are are now only one day's travel from the Xulgath caves should they scout in the right direction.
I've taken to rolling most of the daily survival activities between sessions to save time. I'm looking forward to the next couple of days in game. Next session, they should deal with Gnashmaw, run across the Wolf Lair, and find the Mutilated Body. If we are lucky, we can also work through Bad Water, perhaps encounter the first hobgoblin patrol, and the Hemlock Banner. Unfortunately for them, they have had Aubrin doing some scouting around the camp hex and she is going to run into a patrol. She failed her Perception check to notice them coming and they over-powered her and will take her away to Red Jaw. Unless they are really lucky, she will be missing for at least a few days, but it'll probably be a week or more before they discover the Xulgath caves, after which they will deal with An Ill-Timed Alliance which will give them access to the location of Red Jaw. I don't see a reason to kill Aubrin outright so she should still be there when they arrive, though probably in bad physical condition.
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After a brief hiatus, we were back at it last night. Things were slow. One player was held up so we started 30 minutes late and two players needed to finish on time or a bit early due to an early appointment in the morning. They were able to head out looking for the evil Gnashmaw before it discovered their new camp site and began to ravage the herd. Quickly they ran across the remains of Edram who had the misfortune of running into a hobgoblin patrol. Fortunately for the PCs they had moved their campsite after expelling him from the camp so he was not able to give the hobgoblins much useful information. Moving on, they picked up the trail of the boar, which took them past the miflit encounter with the wolf. I set it up in a large open warren with the mother wolf protecting her three cubs from the miflit attack. The PCs intervened and save the wolves, but were unable to find a way to befriend the animal so they just went on their way leaving the miflit bodies behind for the wolves to feed on. They continued to follow the trail and have reached the boar encounter, but we ended the session before the battle so we’ll pick right up with that next time.
I think I’m going to advance my timelime just a bit and have the PCs cross paths with the first hobgoblin patrol while on their way back from the boar hunt. That should ramp up the stress level a little as they decide what to do next knowing the patrols are getting close. Finding a more defensible camp site is going to become paramount.
I'm not sure if anyone else has gotten far enough in to have downtime mode yet, but... Has anyone figured out how to handle Earning Income? I'm giving my players about 2 months between books 5 and 6. I have Forest Lore, Herbal Lore, and two Underworld Lores. The militia is thriving, the players have access to planetary tree striding, and the ranger picked up Influence Nature so she can make landscape more suitable to their various activities.
I'm thinking I am going to let the players find tasks up to their level (currently the same as their militia level) to reflect the infrastructure they have built, even if the settlement sizes don't really support it. It feels better than trying to use the clunky militia rules to earn gold. Anyone have thoughts?
(Also, sorry if this is thread jacking. I can go dig up one of my old campaign journals, but it seemed like something Twilight and Muse would need to think about eventually.)
I'm only in book 1 so I don't know anything about book 5/6 outside of what is in the summary at the back of book 1
Yeah, I meant more generally how do you think you'll handle Downtime Mode and Earn Income? The lack of settlement access makes it tricky.
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Without understanding the purpose of a month+ downtime it’s hard for me to comment. So far downtime has been fairly easy. While the PCs are off adventuring, the refugees are performing expected duties. They have Vane Oreld crafting minor elixirs with three apprentices. Normally it takes four days to mix a batch of alchemical goods, but since they have four working together, I’m allowing that to happen in one day, assuming they all succeed at the check. Then they each roll for earned income each day to represent the second half of crafting. This continues for a number of days until they have accounted for the rest of the item cost. This allows them to acquire some elixirs that would otherwise be unavailable and maximize the reagents they managed to recover when fleeing Phaendar. So far I am very happy with the results.
They did not investigate Mining’s smithy when they fled the attack so they haven’t had the tools needed to craft any gear, but that might change. They just found enough loose equipment that might allow them to cobble together a repair kit, snare kit, or artisan’s kit. Depending on which one they chose, they’ll be able to repair the barbarian’s shield or craft some arms. The same application of downtime/earned income as above should work out fine. They have a couple runestones that have been sitting in their loot pile unable to transfer the runes because they don’t have a repair kit.
How that apply to what you are describing is hard to say. I’ll have to look at books 5 & 6 in more detail.
I'm only in book 1 so I don't know anything about book 5/6 outside of what is in the summary at the back of book 1Yeah, I meant more generally how do you think you'll handle Downtime Mode and Earn Income? The lack of settlement access makes it tricky.
My whole campaign, which began in October 2019, has taken only 19 days in game time since the start of the adventure path. Three of those days were downtime for moving some weapon potency and striking runes (Transferring Runes). The only other activity resembling Earn Income was Harvest, which is a homebrew activity to use Earn Income to gather raw materials from the surroundings. This replaced Subsist for hunting, because the Subsist rules are incapable of feeding the refugees. Trail of the Hunted had a Provision Point system for feeding the refugees, but I wanted permanent rules for hunting and harvesting. They harvested for food most days, Survival DC 10 in a lush forest to gain their level earned income in food. On one occasion, they harvested for raw materials for magical crafting, Nature DC 20 in a fey-influenced forest with 3rd-level earned income despite the party being 5th level.
Timeline
<Trail of the Hunted begins.>
Invasion Day. At dusk, the hobgoblin Ironfang Legion invaded Phaendar. The party helped 40 humans and 10 goblins cross the north bridge to Southern Fangwood and then destroyed the bridge. Ten traders headed away. The party and the remaining 40 refugees spent the night at the abandoned Weaver farmhouse, after clearing away a centipede swarm.
<The party leveled up to 2nd level.>
1st day after invasion. Some refugees came down sick due to contaminated water skins, so the refugees remained in place. The party spied on Phaendar from north of the river and met Edran, who joined the refugees. They also hunted a velociraptor for food and collected three eggs ready to hatch.
2nd day after invasion. The refugees moved to Veld's shack.
3rd day after invasion. The party headed north to the lumber camp Gristledown. The camp has been massacred and three tortured dead dwarves arose as undead. They returned to Veld's shack to learn that Veld and five refugees had left for Longshadow.
4th day after invasion. The refugees headed toward Keloch's homestead on their way to the Misthome caves. The party scouted ahead and encountered the centaur Yoric at the river, which the players named Battle Creek since Keloch sounds like Kellogg. They learned the Keloch is undead. Binny pickpocket Yoric and obtained the wanted poster and some scrolls. Yoric secretly works for the hobgoblins. The refugees camped in the forest in the rain instead. The velocirapter eggs hatched.
5th day after invasion. Edran and four others charmed Rhyna's grandmother Esther, stole supplies, and sneaked off toward Tamran. The party was recalled from scouting to find the missing grandmother. While talking with the runaways, a hobgoblin patrol found them and attacked. The party won. They discovered that Edran was a Molthune spy and secretly executed him. While laying a false trail for further hobgoblin patrols, Zinfandel and Stormdancer found the dead hunter Gilida Dravonich and looted her bag of holding. The refugees spent another night in the forest and the rain. Their nighttime rest was disturbed by Gahrestrohmeiste hiding from xulgath hunters.
<The party leveled up to 3rd level.>
6th day after invasion. The party befriended Gahree, learned the nature of the evil xulgath, and raided the xulgath caves. They exterminated all inhabitants except for the slurks, frogs, skeletons, and crysmal. The refugees moved into the caves. Gahree returned to his gnome home.
<The party leveled up to 4th level.>
7th day after invasion. Aubrin cast Comprehend Language on Clilassh the crysmal. Clilassh opened the vault for them. Later that day, the deep gnome Novvi visits to trade, guided by Gahree.
8th day after invasion. At Sam's request Stormdancer cast Speak with Animals to ask Pugsley to stay with the villagers. The party made a side trip to Polebridge to the east at the mouth of Battle Creek on their way to the ranger's outpost. They encountered the 4-person Gilliam family in hiding, They killed off the 24-member garrison in Polebridge. They spent the night gathering supplies, hiding them for later, and dismantling the surface of the bridge. Sam informed Aubrin and Pugsley via his Greater Pendant of the Occult.
9th day after invasion. They returned to the Misthome caves with the Gilliams and as much garrison supplies at they could carry. They spotted a lot of tracks from the northwest (Camp Red Jaw) toward Polebridge.
10th day after invasion. The party went directly to the ranger's outpost this time. They sneaked past all challenges except All-Eyes. Sam gladhanded All-Eyes into talking more and with a critical success in Diplomacy, befriended him. The party recruited All-Eyes as a new Chernesardo ranger in charge of the outpost. All-Eyes gifted Zinfandel with two web snares.
11th day after invasion. They checked on Polebridge on the way back from the ranger outpost and grabbed more hidden supplies. The new garrison was 50 strong.
12th day after invasion. The party took a day of downtime for Tikti to move a weapon potency rune to Zinfandel's new composite longbow, using magical raw materials from the ranger outpost. Zinfandel also disassembled a web snare to learn how to make them.
13th day after invasion. The party went to Camp Red Jaw. It was mostly deserted, with only two hobgoblin soldiers, two hobgoblin heavy troopers, the goblin slave Garvex and his wolf companion Kadu, two worgs, and the dwarf slave Grospick captured from the Gristledown lumber camp. The party defeated the hobgoblins. Grospick explained that the hobgoblins had been ordered to move to Polebridge and the hobgoblin alchemist Yissti regularly visited to haul away more of what had been left behind. The party set up an ambush at the ford across Battle Creek. Two hours later the Ironfang Legion party of Scarvinious, Yissti, Skinder, three hobgoblin soldiers, and two dwarf slaves from Gristledown crossed at the ford. The party attacked and won. Garvex could not be convinced that he was free, but he was willing to live in servitude with his wolf and worgs at Misthome. The Misthome residents had spotted an owlbear while the party was out, so they had herded the goats into the caves.
<The party leveled up to 5th level.>
<Fangs of War. begins.>
14th day after invasion. The party hunted down the two owlbears. Stormdancer tried talking with them via Speak to Animals and learned that a pink tree named Longfrond had sent them to find caves to kill people who wore clothes. The owlbears could not be befriended, but their carcasses will provide food for the refugees for a few weeks.
15th day after invasion. Tikti spent downtime moving a striking rune from Scarvinious's shortsword to Zinfandel's composite longbow. The rest of the party was using my Harvest activity to find more magical raw material since that used up the last material from the ranger outpost.
16th day after invasion. The party had not found enough magical raw material, but by sheer luck (the dice liked the players) gnome merchant Novvi showed up with a lot of magical raw material to sell. Tikti spent downtime moving a striking rune from Scarvinious's other shortsword to Binny's composite shortbow.
17th day after invasion. The party heads north to find Fort Ristin. Instead they found a destroyed lumber camp and elf Vardalel Prennder stuck up a tree. After a series of mishaps trying to avoid collapsing the tree, they rescue Vardalel and guide him to Misthome.
18th day after invasion. The party head north again to find For Ristin. Instead they encounter a hobgoblin forest patrol. The patrol was scared by the party's initial attack and ran away. ... To be continued.
My apologies, TwilightKnight, for continuing the threadjacking. In the clarity of morning, I realized that I should have posted my own response to Captain Morgan's question about crafting in a more general thread, such as How are your APs doing?, rather than in your thread about your campaign.
I love reading all of it anyways, so please, all carry on!
Ibzairiak is dead, Jang is dead, Eygara is dead. The Ironfang power on the Chernasardo region has broken. Aubrin the Green, Cirieo Thessaddin, and Cobb Greenleaf form the leadership of a brand new generation of the Chernasardo Rangers and pledge their loyalty to a brand new group in the forest: the Gobstopper Militia are the new heavy hitters in the region. In just under a month the Gobstoppers assaulted and recaptured the 3 ranger forts of the Chernasardo, and it now falls to them to consolidate their gains around Fort Trevalay.
Bad news: Molthuni General Hakar has attacked Misthome and kidnapped several of the survivors living there. On intelligence brought back by Edran the spy, Hakar's forces discovered the caves and managed to bypass Ironfang patrols on the Tamran Highway. The remaining survivors were scattered once again into the woods to fend for themselves. After taking a number of captives, Hakar leaves Edran in charge of a small force at the caves to watch out for the Gobstoppers' return. Hakar himself takes his captives and retreats to the Fangwood Keep where his knowledge of the fort's secret entrances and passageways allows his small force to easily overwhelm the fort's hobgoblin garrison.
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Billy, I think you posted this in the wrong thread. This thread is largely for the recaps of my ongoing campaign and comments/questions related therein. You might want to look at THIS thread. Thx
I thought this thread was for heroes of Golarion! SO MATHMUSE CAN THREADJACK BUT I CANT???? /s
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The PCs were able to track Gashmaw almost back to his lair. The battle was a bit rough as it won initiative and crit charged one PC to Dying and on its next turn followed with two more critical hits. After that they combined to take it down quickly and get a nice boost to their provisions.
Returning to the refugee camp revealed three NPCs were sick. Some tended to them while one PC managed to track down the source of the illness. Between create water magic, medicine, and elixirs, all but one refugee is fine. The remaining person is critically ill and could still die, but we won't know how that turns out until next session.
At the same time, Aubrin did not return from her scouting for the day. So the PCs went out looking for her the next day. They encountered an Ironfang patrol. After the battle they found journals and notes indicating that they had captured Aubrin and she was taken to Scarvinious. They have no measures to find him at this time, but it certainly ramps up their fear of if they'll find her in time to either prevent torture from revealing the location of the refugee camp of her being killed.
Between slow play and a lot of unrelated social-talk, that's all we accomplished this week.
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I think I missed a session, but here we go.
The sick NPC recovered so they made it out of the fever without losing anyone.
Losing Aubrin really shook up the refugees. There was a mix of talk about leaving, replacing the PCs as leaders, etc. It got worse after the PCs ran across an Ironfang patrol out looking for them. They were able to destroy them, but when the camp found out, they really got scared that the hobgoblins were going to find them.
Fortunately, the PCs were able to address the camp and convince them everything was going to get better. As a result, the refugees created the Hemlock Banner. It really boosted the camp morale. The witch came to the camp and advised them about the appearance of Xulgaths, seeing Ironfang patrols, etc. They all decided that a subterranean cave complex would be a better hiding place than a camp in the woods.
The PCs went out primarily looking for Aubrin, but also hoping to find the Xulgath caves. They happened across Yorc. I played him as an opportunist. When they said they were refugees from Phaendar, he decided to try and capture them for the reward. Fortunately, for the players only one PC fell to the poisoned apples. The rest were able to defeat the centaur, tie him to a tree, and question him. I had him coming from Phaendar under orders from the hobgoblins to deliver the General's note, though it was sealed and Yorc did not know the contents. Neither did he know anything about Aubrin's capture. They didn't really try to push him too hard and assumed he really didn't know too much, though their questions were not really well thought out. He even offered to help them, for a price of course, but they couldn't think of any way to use him to their advantage. They stripped him of his gear and left him tied to a tree from which he escaped a few hours later. I don't know yet if I'll have him reoccur or not. He's an opportunist so its possible he might still have a part to play
The PCs returned to basecamp and set the refugees on some new tasks. They finally cobbled together a repair kit so Kining could do some crafting and repair work. In anticipation of another camp relocation in the future, she built a cart. Nothing fancy but it'll hold up to 18 bulk which may help. The kit also comes in handy for transferring magic runes and repairing the barbarian's shield.
They headed out using Yorc's crude map, primarily in search of the Xulgath caves, but also hoping they will find Aubrin. I combined the cave entrance with a few of the surface encounters in the same hex and made the whole thing a blight. Their first obstacle was some spiders and a web lurker. The rogue managed to find and disable the first two of four web traps before the spiders attacked. Because they were on the rogue so quickly with their reaction, she was dropped almost immediately and was suffering from both poisons. It was hit or miss there for a moment when she was Dying one and stage one of both poisons with spiders still adjacent. The rest of the PCs dispatched the spiders fairly quickly and with a combination of healing magic, treating poison, and antidote, the rogue recovered.
It is dusk at the end of the day and they are standing at a cross-road in the blight. They need to decide to either go back a bit and camp in the living forest (no one wants to camp in the blight) or push on in the failing dim light. We'll see what they decide in two weeks.
I'm really struggling with not pushing their level ups a bit. It only takes a couple of quick hits or one decent crit and they are in real trouble. I know if I push them up now, it'll mean I have to rework a big portion of the next book or two. I'm not afraid of a PC dying, but I don't really want it to be because they fumbled an initiative roll and had the bad fortune of being in the wrong place and the wrong time when monsters ambush them.
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...the players decided to camp overnight back in the forest outside the blight. Turned out to be a good idea as there were no random encounters. In the morning, they reentered the blight and took the left fork.
This is where I deviated from the original text a bit. I placed the Chernasardo Ranger Redoubt in a small clearing not too far away. It was a small treehouse 10ft off the ground with a narrow rope bridge leading to another tree that contained a smoke-house. The former resident was a Chernasardo ranger who was investigating the blight that had started about a year ago. Unfortunately, the blight infected him and when he died, he came back as a wight. When they entered the clearing he was "hiding" in the treehouse. Before he turned, he had set up defensive hazards (snares) throughout the clearing to help protect his hut.
Additionally, a twigjack has taken up residence in the brambles and was aware of the hazards. When the PCs arrived, the first thing they noticed was tiny footprints near the hut. Turns out these were from the miflits encountered days earlier. They had noticed the traps and did not have a way to climb the tree to get to the hut, so they left. They were highly aggravated and this is one of the reasons that had attacked the wolf mother and her pups.
When the rogue went to investigate the foot prints, she tripped one hazard (saved, little damage), but perceived another and avoided it. She determined the footprints were miflit. She returned to the rest of the party waiting at the entrance to the clearing. Before they could do anything else, the twigjack attacked. It was a decent challenge for them and one PC was dropped. Unfortunately for the barbarian he missed every swing he took. Roll20 was not kind to him tonight.
After the battle, one of the sorcerer's used detect magic to discover there was some magic somewhere. In an effort to locate it, he did a circuit around the clearing drying to eliminate areas and narrow down where it was. Unfortunately, this resulted in him tripping three more hazards. By the time he returned to the group, he was critically wounded. For the life of me, I'm not sure why he ran off without the rogue and why she didn't go help, especially after he found the third of what turned out to be seven traps. That should have suggested there were more. Odd
I was rolling all along for the wight up in the treehouse, but he never perceived them. Eventually, they approached the treehouse and found the ladder was trapped to drop them into a concealed spiked pit. The rogue disabled it and climbed the ladder. Unfortunately, she lost initiative and the wight clawed her, just missing a crit which would have dropped her. That would have been bad as she would have fallen 10ft, then into the 10ft deep pit lined with spikes! She managed to jump down hoping the wight would fall in the pit if it left the hut.
No such luck as it made a really good Athletics check and jumped down next to her. Managed to claw her, but for minimum damage. Was a straight up battle at that point with each PC moving in, attacking, and moving away. They hadn't had much time to heal so most were low on HP. The ranger stood toe-to-toe with it and was incredibly lucky. In total, I hit six times with the claw during the battle and not one person failed a Fort save against the Drain.
After the battle, they entered the hut and found some loot as well as the ranger's ledger to give them more info and find the recall notice for the rangers to return to Fort Tevalay. Unfortunately, the party ranger who had worked with the Chernasardo rangers in the past and considering joining them, failed his recall knowledge so for now the fort is nothing more than a morsel for them.
It is at this point the PCs level up to third. We probably could have taken a little time to level up and continued on, but one player was exhausted from work and we thought it might be better to break so they could be thorough with deciding what they wanted to do.
Next time when they take the other path in the blight, they will discover the entrance to the Xulgath caves, but before they get there, there is a guardian of sorts near the entrance which is of my design and before that a "random" encounter that popped up. More on those next time...
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Had a bit of an inefficient session. One of the players was 30 minutes late and a couple were still working out the details of their level up to third.
Finally arrived at the Xulgath caves, but just before, they got ambushed by a couple of ankhrav. These were a random encounter that finally popped up and having it occur in the blighted part of the forest made good sense. Fortunately for the PCs, they escaped with only minor injuries. When the first one popped up, they all successfully saved vs the acid spray. I probably should have used the same thing for #2, but I don't like dumping cross-firing breath weapons on a group without a really good reason. I was delaying until round 2 for the second spray, but he was dead before his second turn (poor initiative roll).
Next, I had a forest drake nesting on the other side of the hill from the cave entrance. It approached with stealth and spewed acid down on the first two PCs to go checking out the entrance. Probably should have had it take flight after they closed the distance, but I was trying to maximize its attacks. It didn't get a third turn. The barbarian with his waraxe and rage is mowing through the enemies a bit faster than I like so I have to keep an eye on that.
They were so interested in the caves, they didn't go looking around for the drake's lair, so they missed out on four drake eggs which would have either served as additional provisions or perhaps a trainable companion if they cared for it. Among the bits of junk woven into the nest, there was a heafty amount of coinage, gems, and jewelry, a scrollcase with four spells, a magic staff, and amulet. A very nice haul given the sparsity of the treasure in this AP.
They entered the caves and encountered the entry guards. During that battle, another group from deeper in the complex came to help. We just finished that encounter and called it a night. The ranger and the goblin are at roughly half health and the barbarian is about 20% so they have a hard decision to make next session. To try and quickly do some healing and press on or leave the caves to rest more fully and risk them fortifying the area before they come back. We'll see what happens in two weeks...
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After the initial encounter in the caves, they decided to rest and do some healing. Each ten minutes I rolled an increasing chance that more Xulgath would come to see what the noise was all about and check on their guards. Over the next hour two more groups of xulgath interrupted some of their rest periods. They have dispatched all the xulgath on the first level. They are now investigating the caves. We finished off with a "trap" encounter I set up in the cistern room. Two cavefishers are hiding in the rock walls and they set up a dead xulgath at the edge of the waterline. When the PCs went to investigate, their popped their adhesive strands and grabbed the barbarian. That's where we left off for next time.
Session was a fairly straight forward dungeon crawl. In total they slew 8 xulgath warriors, two elite warriors, Handiss, a monitor lizard with poison bite, and two spear frogs with poison bite. The elite xulgath had poisoned javelins. The PCs never failed a poison save and almost made every save versus the stench and gas bags. Combat is less scary when you succeed at all the special stuff. Oh well, maybe it'll build a level of arrogance and they will be less cautious moving forward for the more rare encounters coming up.
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Started right off with the cave fishers. Was a tough fight, but the fishers spent some time fighting over their prey as they both lashed the same target with their filament. This ate up some attacks that would have otherwise dropped the PCs. I also threw in an opportunistic lizard in the water trying to catch any dropped remains from the fishers. It eventually moved on to the PCs on the shore-line, but didn't last long. They easily recovered the treasure from the halfling at the bottom of the pool.
They moved on to the sleeping cavern. I expanded the trap and while the rogue found one, did not see the others and two of them were triggered. Since the xulgath were already defeated earlier, this was just a speed bump. They looted the room and moved on.
I placed two darkmantles in the tunnel leading down to level 2. Their scout just did notice them before the battle began, but the mantles won initiative and dropped a darkness on the PCs before anyone could act. This was a tough battle dropping both the ranger and the barbarian at different intervals, but the PCs were saved by the barbarian getting darkvision when he raged. That and the goblin's darkvision won the battle. Things would have gone much worse had the barbarian not gained the darkvision.
At this point, they have decided to rest before going down to level two. Probably a good idea. Fortunately, none of the denizens from below would come up, but they decided to use the xulgath sleeping cave to rest and reset all the traps at the entrance to help protect them. By morning they will be back to full resources and ready to move on.
I think I'm going to wind up bastardizing parts of Twilight's, Mathmuse's, and Tonaxian's survival systems for my own. The main thing I want to avoid is needing to roll a separate skill check for every NPC in the group which gets unwieldy fast. Though I also do want the NPCs to feel relevant. I dunno.
I do really like Twilight'a relocate activity. Travel times really seem glossed over in books 1 and 5. I don't suppose you have a hex map you could distribute without violating copy right, do you?