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So I'm running Age of Ashes, and my party is currently doing downtime things after finishing Book 2.
I'm wondering if I'm missing something that gives them a strong incentive to go through the second portal, using Eclipse.
It's not that they're unmotivated, character backstory's etc. give them a strong reason to want to go after the Scarlet Triad.
It's just that after Hauberk turns up and does his thing, I can see two possible scenarios:
a) They find out he's being ordered around from Kintargo. They then have motivation to get to Kintargo, but no reason to know that taking the portal will get them there.
b) They don't find out where he's getting orders from. Plot stalls until they decide to poke the second portal out of pure curiosity. At which point, what coincidence, this portal leads straight to that random guys boss!
Slightly complicating matters is that they almost died going through the first portal, so I think they might be a bit relucatant to start poking the next one without plot reasons.
I'm also already intending to have the Eye of the Wise not being in the possession of Laslunn, but to instead be in the possession of a scarlet triad agent sent to infiltrate the citadel in order to find the Jewelgate exit, to try and break up the whole beat bosss -> get key -> find out what next boss is up to pattern.
Does anyone have any suggestions/insight into how I can work the portal in more organically?
Thanks
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I mean, the easy solution would seem to be to have some sort of written message on Heuberk Thropp's person implying that he may or may not be able to return to Sunset Imports (or just Kintargo if you don't want to give away Sunset Imports in a letter) magically quickly, and that he should do so if he can.
It probably wouldn't state anything about Alseta's Ring directly, but if you hint hard enough the PCs will probably get the idea that one of the portals goes to Kintargo...which is also where they need to go to deal with this guy having been sent to bother them. At that point they'll probably give the one they have access to a try.
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No. I had to finally make up a good motivation to keep going after the Scarlet Triad. I had them murder a bunch of Breachill citizens and let them know the only way Breachill survives is if the PCs hand over the keys and give up the gates. Now they are sufficiently motivated.
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No. I had to finally make up a good motivation to keep going after the Scarlet Triad. I had them murder a bunch of Breachill citizens and let them know the only way Breachill survives is if the PCs hand over the keys and give up the gates. Now they are sufficiently motivated.
This works fine if your players are into this sort of thing. I would strongly recommend reading the room first, though. Breachill is set up as a place for the PCs to really care about, murdering large numbers of people there with nothing the PCs can do about it is potentially really damaging to player agency and gonna be seriously non-fun for many groups.
Setting up an attack that the PCs get to respond to and potentially stop is a lot more likely to get good results in terms of PC motivation without pissing them off at you, the GM. And, in fact, in many ways that's what Heuberk's presence is, though a lot could be adjusted to make him and the incident in question more threatening.
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To be clear, I don't think there's any chance they're not going to want to track down the Scarlet Triad. Between existing character motivations, and the fact that I'm intending for Heuberk to kidnap an NPC they care about, I'm pretty sure they'll take the bait.
I'm just worried they'll walk/sail to Kintargo.
Having Heuberk have something on him that points to the portal is probably the best way to go, but that's sort of how I was intending to lead into Book 4, given there's a similar lack of motivation there. Although, maybe I need it less for that book, given that Dreamgate not immediately attempting to murder them will probably make them more willing to explore.
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To be clear, I don't think there's any chance they're not going to want to track down the Scarlet Triad. Between existing character motivations, and the fact that I'm intending for Heuberk to kidnap an NPC they care about, I'm pretty sure they'll take the bait.
I'm just worried they'll walk/sail to Kintargo.
Having Heuberk have something on him that points to the portal is probably the best way to go, but that's sort of how I was intending to lead into Book 4, given there's a similar lack of motivation there. Although, maybe I need it less for that book, given that Dreamgate not immediately attempting to murder them will probably make them more willing to explore.
Yeah, I think they'll be less reluctant to use the Gates in book 4. There's also less of a time crunch. They could theoretically wait a year between Book 3 and Book 4 and you could make it work with zero plot changes, if you wanted. They'll surely investigate that portal eventually.
I'd find it very puzzling for my group of adventurers to *not* want know where the magic portal in the basement of their home goes, and what might come through it in the night.
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Well, yes, except that the first one contained some fraction of the essence of an extremely evil god. They don't really have any reason not to think that there might be something similar in all of them.
I'm fully expecting for their curiosity to get the better of them, and for them to head through eventually.
And, honestly, if they do so before Heuberk even turns up, that will kind of solve some of the issues I've got. My problem is that Heuberk turns up, gives them additional motivation to go after the Scarlet Triad, but with no clear link to the next portal.
Apart from some awkward, meta-level, the-portal's-obviously-the-next-hook-ness, why shouldn't they head off to Kintargo first.
I suppose I'm mostly struggling how to re-frame the staggering coincidence that AFAIK Laslunn has no idea about Dreamgate, happens to be based in the nearest major city to its exit, and has sent an agent just as they have obtained the key.
I think that Deadmanwalking is right, and the best bit is to have Laslunn be looking for the exit of Dreamgate, and to have one of Heuberk's tasks be to try and obtain the key if the PCs have it.
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I think Laslunn knowing about Dreamgate is probably more or less canonical. Voz was explicitly her agent and Heuberk is there to, among other things, retrieve Voz's notes. She's very explicitly interested in and doing research on the Aiudara.
The part she clearly doesn't know is the exact location of Dreamgate on her side, since her plans are to get control of the Breachill side, but there's a big difference between not knowing its specific location and not knowing it's 'somewhere in Ravounel'.
I agree it would make sense that she knows about it, but as far as I know, the only gate she explicitly knows the destination of is Jewelgate. Voz explicitly doesnt know where any of the gates go (other than Lotusgate).
Laslunn has reasons for being in Kintargo provided, but these are mundane slave-trade-related-ones.
Well, yes, except that the first one contained some fraction of the essence of an extremely evil god. They don't really have any reason not to think that there might be something similar in all of them.
Right, they might expect the other gates to be similar to the first gate, through which evil cultists entered their (now) home. If my players need more motivation than that to investigate, I'd give up hope of them biting any other adventure hook I present to them. Maybe I have strange players, but they tend to follow hooks I present to them fairly easily. Usually.
Still, players being players, I worked into the background of a new character (entering the game at the start of book two) that he is roaming the land, searching for aiudara, wanting to unlock their mysteries. He will be the catalyst to the party opening the first gate, and given his past he will want to get them all open in order to study them for his own reasons (to create some himself).
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Sounds like this is already a lost cause since you're past book 2, but what I did was to move Eclipse from the Ekujae to Thropp. Laslunn had made arrangements with Voz for her to secure Alseta's Ring and report back, and she hasn't responded. So, he sends Thropp to take a more direct (but still quiet) effort to secure the Ring and figure out what happened to Voz, and Laslunn sends the key along with him. It takes Thropp like 6 weeks or whatever to make the overland journey, but once he's done the job, he should be able to pop back through the gate, with the bonus that now they'll know where the Kintargo side of the gate is (they know it's in the area, but haven't actually found it).