Heya!
I noticed that there wasn't made any threads like this for any of books for this AP so I took it upon myself to make one! They've been super useful to me in the past when I've ran other APs, so hopefully this one will be too.
Anyway, I started running this AP back around New Year's and have been doing some reading and planning for the future. Here are some of the thoughts I have about stuff I might change / adjust:
- I need to ump the ante on the Narseigus' presence throughout the story. Don't get me wrong, he has plenty of mentions and does plenty of shenanigans throughout both book 1 and 2, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed by the fact that the PCs never meet or even see him until late in book 3.
- I really like Court of Ether as a location. It's such a cool place and idea. One of the things I noticed however was the encounter where a Redcap's cap turns blue. That reminded me that there exists another folklore creature known as a Bluecap, so I thinking of having the hat colour change also end up having a much profound effect on our "good" friend Interhoof. And as a result I am going to make myself a homebrew Bluecrap statblock in case I ever need one.
- Speaking of the Fey and the Court of Ether, one of the ideas I have for fleshing out the BBEG is to have them being helped by a group of Dero Worm Callers / servants. My only reason being that I really like Dero and I want to use them now that I have the opportunity. I might even turn Narseigus into a Dero who's using magic to appear to be a Hryngar, but we'll see.
I'm also working on making random encounter tables for the Darklands travel. Will post my results here when I am done.
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Good catch! I hadn't really noticed this discrepancy myself. The Foundry module doesn't actually list their levels in the encounter text like in the book does, but looking at the pdf I can see that you are indeed correct.
I had found it a bit strange that there was going to be an encounter against 3 Redcaps on mounts as a solitary redcap has instilled the fear of Pharasma into my players in a previous campaign, but I hadn't actually looked much harder at it.
I will probably just slap the weak template on them as well (or not, depends on what the math turns out to be for 6 PCs).
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I am confused of the Geography.
Is Hagegraf close to Highhelm? and upper the court?
I am confused of the Geography.
Is Hagegraf close to Highhelm? and upper the court?
According to the book, the Court of Ether is a two-weeks travel from Highhelm. Which I don't think is correct when you look at the map the book provides. By my calculations, Highhelm is 550 miles away from the Court of Ether when you draw a straight line between the two cities, which (assuming 25ft speed that most PCs have) would take 27 days of travel to complete.
The exactly length of the journey from the Court of Ether to either Hagegraf or back to Highhelm is not stated in the book, but my "straight line" estimate using a ruler puts it at 560 miles, which makes for 28 days of travel with 25ft speed creatures. Again, this is with a straight line on the map.
Finally between Hagegraf and Highhelm the straight line is about 100 miles, or 5 days of travel for a 25ft speed creature.
Of course, both the Court of Ether and Hagegraf is entirely underground, unlike Highhelm which is at the surface. But I hope this helps you.
Did anyone figure out what the "Gather Preliminary Information about Hagegraf and Narseigus (see below)" freakin refers to, because I can find NOTHING.
My players are currently in the Court of ether and they are HATING this part of the adeventure. They feel the tone set by the first book is lost, the encounters aren´t interesting, the challenges are bland and they don´t care at all about the fey people (why they would?).
I was worried about this when I prepared the adventure, and I am worried about the 3erd chapter also, because I am pretty sure they are going to hate the Hryngar city too (being a party of 4 dwarf is not going to help).
Not sure if it´s just me and my group or is a feel that other tables are having.
Still playing through Book 1, so I could not say for sure. But my group has so far picked up on there being a lot of Fey related stuff coming up in the adventure so far, so I think it will go over well for my group.
Fey stuff so far:
The trouble with the House Spirit at the stable, the Fey scribbles of Skribellon, and a Skelm lurking about causing trouble (I dropped hints at the Tomb of there being a Skelm about. And when they learned that "Skelm = Male Hags?" they assumed that Skelms are feywild creatures). It also helps that they saw that Fey was a recommended language in the Player's Guide and thus I think they picked up on there going to be somewhat of a Fey presence in the adventure. One of the players even decided to play a Fey Summoner specifically due to this hunch.
Did anyone figure out what the "Gather Preliminary Information about Hagegraf and Narseigus (see below)" freakin refers to, because I can find NOTHING.
I have the same problem, i draw out narseigus description in the last book. Look at the summary at the start.
I realised that Narseigus obsession with the avernal worm is with having powerful subordinate.
I give the aubergist a way to give the side quests
At least my players hate Hagegraf. That a good thing! Sadly they weren't interested at the forge so they miss the resilient rune.
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On page 6, it says Jirelga rolls along with the PCs to get victory points, but I dont' see a stat block for them anywhere. I was just going to assume a +10 to all relevant skills.
Yes, this is an issue. At the end of Mantle of Gold, it's 'You'll actually get Jirelga out of prison and maybe bring down the corrupt warden.' in the next book. Book two starts with Jiregla leading the group into the Darklands, with no information at all about her, or why she is the guide, or anything like that. There is information on what she tells them, but nothing about why she has to - or even wants to - be a guide.
I don't know if the Book 1 and 2 authors didn't coordinate, or editing missing that, or it was cut for some reason, but it is connective tissue that needs to be adjusted by the GM.
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On page 6, it says Jirelga rolls along with the PCs to get victory points, but I dont' see a stat block for them anywhere. I was just going to assume a +10 to all relevant skills.
Yes, this is an issue. At the end of Mantle of Gold, it's 'You'll actually get Jirelga out of prison and maybe bring down the corrupt warden.' in the next book. Book two starts with Jiregla leading the group into the Darklands, with no information at all about her, or why she is the guide, or anything like that. There is information on what she tells them, but nothing about why she has to - or even wants to - be a guide.
I don't know if the Book 1 and 2 authors didn't coordinate, or editing missing that, or it was cut for some reason, but it is connective tissue that needs to be adjusted by the GM.
any thoughts on how best to address this?
I have been giving this some thought, yes.
I think, for me, the question has revolved around why Tuom had Jirelga tossed in jail. She has very few allies, why take one off the board?
What I've decided is that the destruction of Guldrege totally imbalanced Jirelga. If Thenur had lived, I think she would have put the reasons for the attack together and been able to adjust to it.
What if Jirelga could not figure it out? From her perspective, one day, out of the blue, the Avernal Worm, a legendary creature, just wipes out her village for, as far as she is concerned, no reason at all!
She is one of the few survivors and finds herself in Highhelm, and she becomes a conspiracy theorist.
She sees the worm everywhere. In the way that tea leaves fill her cup. In the way that grubs move, or mushrooms grow. In graffiti on walls. That's why she learns about the fey and wants to track the cult to the city.
It also explains why Tuom takes her off the board. When she is lucid, Jirelga is an excellent smuggler who knows plenty of secret passages in the Darklands. When she is not, she might just grab someone and spout nonsense at them - Tuom could worry that some of that nonsense might not be nonsense and decide to make sure that Jirelga can't give her away, but doesn't want to murder her. So, fake evidence, a bribe, and Jirelga is in the Broch, and no longer a liability.
It also lets me ignore the lack of stats for Jirelga. In combat, she screams and hides, and out of combat, she guides, and may offer advice, but isn't really coherent enough to use skills.
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I have been giving this some thought, yes.
I think, for me, the question has revolved around why Tuom had Jirelga tossed in jail. She has very few allies, why take one off the board?
What I've decided is that the destruction of Guldrege totally imbalanced Jirelga. If Thenur had lived, I think she would have put the reasons for the attack together and been able to adjust to it.
What if Jirelga could not figure it out? From her perspective, one day, out of the blue, the Avernal Worm, a legendary creature, just wipes out her village for, as far as she is concerned, no reason at all!
She is one of the few survivors and finds herself in Highhelm, and she becomes a conspiracy theorist.
She sees the worm everywhere. In the way that tea leaves fill her cup. In the way that grubs move, or mushrooms grow. In graffiti on walls. That's why she learns about the fey and wants to track the cult to the city.
It also explains why Tuom takes her off the board. When she is lucid, Jirelga is an excellent smuggler who knows plenty of secret passages in the Darklands. When she is not, she might just grab someone and spout nonsense at them - Tuom could worry that some of that nonsense might not be nonsense and decide to make sure that Jirelga can't give her away, but doesn't want to murder her. So, fake evidence, a bribe, and Jirelga is in the Broch, and no longer a liability.
It also lets me ignore the lack of stats for Jirelga. In combat, she screams and hides, and out of combat, she guides, and may offer advice, but isn't really coherent enough to use skills.
i like that a lot. the last part of the book was poorly edited and it's not clear how you are supposed to set up the final dungeon. this will help me.
thanks.
any thoughts on how best to address this?On page 6, it says Jirelga rolls along with the PCs to get victory points, but I dont' see a stat block for them anywhere. I was just going to assume a +10 to all relevant skills.
Yes, this is an issue. At the end of Mantle of Gold, it's 'You'll actually get Jirelga out of prison and maybe bring down the corrupt warden.' in the next book. Book two starts with Jiregla leading the group into the Darklands, with no information at all about her, or why she is the guide, or anything like that. There is information on what she tells them, but nothing about why she has to - or even wants to - be a guide.
I don't know if the Book 1 and 2 authors didn't coordinate, or editing missing that, or it was cut for some reason, but it is connective tissue that needs to be adjusted by the GM.
In Book 1, as a player, we meet a lawyer explaining the situation and guiding us we didn't want to associate with this corrupt officer.)
Jiralya doesn't make the skill check during this section. (And i was an earth kinethesist.)
any thoughts on how best to address this?On page 6, it says Jirelga rolls along with the PCs to get victory points, but I dont' see a stat block for them anywhere. I was just going to assume a +10 to all relevant skills.
Yes, this is an issue. At the end of Mantle of Gold, it's 'You'll actually get Jirelga out of prison and maybe bring down the corrupt warden.' in the next book. Book two starts with Jiregla leading the group into the Darklands, with no information at all about her, or why she is the guide, or anything like that. There is information on what she tells them, but nothing about why she has to - or even wants to - be a guide.
I don't know if the Book 1 and 2 authors didn't coordinate, or editing missing that, or it was cut for some reason, but it is connective tissue that needs to be adjusted by the GM.
In Book 1, as a player, we meet a lawyer explaining the situation and guiding us we didn't want to associate with this corrupt officer.)
Jiralya doesn't make the skill check during this section. (And i was an earth kinethesist.)
Our gm said that after this event she pursed trace of the Worm, before going into highhelm. Also, we used the reincarnate ritual to save her sister.