... And the campaign goes over a waterfall. Help? (My players keep out)

[Neonchameleon]

I wasn't being metaphorical. Last session, in the War of the Burning Sky campaign I'm running, the PCs decided that white water rafting using home made rafts to leave the Burning Forest over a waterfall rather than travel to the heart of it as the module wants is the best option. This despite one of the PCs having become a flaming zombie himself (and therefore being violently allergic to water). It's their decision for good and ill - so I'm going to run with it.

Still, that leaves me planning the climactic encounter. White water rafting on home made rafts down a 40' wide river towards a waterfall while, on either side, the forest blazes without being consumed. Trying to stop them are a small demon (vicious little bugger, level 8 elite lurker) who wants a box they are carrying, and something that in a very real way is the Burning Forest and is annoyed they are trying to leave (he can't be present in person - but can create fire curtains for them to raft through). And various allies both of them can bring - but most of those allies are already on fire and take half damage - unless plunged into water (which is precisely why they are rafting).

It's an ... awesome premise. Awesome enough I'm scared of completely screwing it up. Any advice anyone can give please?

 

[Stumblewyk]

My advice: Who cares if you screw it up - it'll still be awesome.

In all seriousness though...if they're white water rafting, consider a fairly difficult (and perhaps lengthy) skill challenge (Nature, Athletics, maybe Acrobatics, Perception as a secondary) to navigate the river. A failure on checks results in the loss of Healing Surges to simulate getting tossed around by the rapids.

 

[Talysian]

Keep in mind that the person on fire, will die once he leaves the Fire Forest...

 

[Neonchameleon]

My advice: Who cares if you screw it up - it'll still be awesome.

Thanks - it's just a touch of nerves.

In all seriousness though...if they're white water rafting, consider a fairly difficult (and perhaps lengthy) skill challenge (Nature, Athletics, maybe Acrobatics, Perception as a secondary) to navigate the river. A failure on checks results in the loss of Healing Surges to simulate getting tossed around by the rapids.

Yup - and then there's going over the waterfall itself. (Fortunately half the party has ended up with safewing amulets).

Keep in mind that the person on fire, will die once he leaves the Fire Forest...

I know (and he basically knows - I haven't been subtle with that one).

Also my version of Kazyk has an attack which teleports his target 10 squares (I redid the stat sheet adding the invisible blade template to a MM2 lurker*) - and so could pull them off the boat. This could get messy. Well, messier...

* The last time they fought him, the Warlord ended up on negative hit points, no remaining surges, and in a burning tree before they rescued her.

 

[Robtheman]

Making a molehill out of a mountain

So here's my take on this one.

There are a lot of elements you have mentioned. When the going gets complicated I get structured.

I'd suggest sequential combat encounters and skill challenges.

1. Ambushed by fire elementals (always start a post cliff-hanger adventure with initiative in my opinion)

2. Skill challenge as they recover. This can involve patching the boat up, putting out fires, arcana to spot the next wave of elementals, etc.. Also a 2 Healing Surge tax for failure, 1 for success.

3. Repeat step 1, except let them get an ambush round of their own if they succeed in step 1. No ambush if they fail.

4. Repeat step 2, however if they choose to use Perception they spot the Level 8 Lurker coming up on them all Gollem style (hidden behind a fallen log).

5. Lurker attacks during round 2 of this third combat. It tries to steal the box. Now you have a skill challenge using minor actions (or standard actions if they want a bonus) to keep possession of the box while fighting the fire elementals. If they are not openly cursing you and throwing die at this point you can turn up the heat by making one an elite or teleporting a party member away to the shore. I'd be cautious with that last tactic though. They need a plausible chance at success. Perhaps the fire zombie will get teleported away and never seen again.

6. Over the falls!!! Let them roll Endurance checks to stay alive. Each failure uses a healing surge. Decide on the fly how many successes they need. Ideally they will come out of it by the skin of their teeth with at most 1 PC death.

PS. If you can arrange a valiant sacrifice by the PC that will is already a zombie, all the better.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

From my own experience GMing, skill challenges are most fun when they are part of a combat and allow the PCs to interact with and modify their environment. This sounds like a perfect chance to have your players do so!

So, in addition to such use of skills to steer their rafts, swim to get back on, and other such "movement" related skill checks, I would also recommend considering how to use skills (or abilities) to capsise enemy boats, lead the enemy's onto rocks/into deadfalls, have trees fall on them, etc.

Anyway, it sounds like it should be lots of fun! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Goonalan]

I would go for one long skill challenge with various stages of success, and create some scenery for the players to react with- rapids, over hanging branches etc, tight twisting corners- not only do the PCs lose Healing Surges but the rafts get damaged (something simple like Raft has 6 points, fail skill check and lose 1 point). The PCs can stop and repair their craft but that may lead to an Elemental Attack.

So maybe two stages of the Skill Challenge en route to the Falls, with constant skill checks needed in between these- but with only minor consequences for failing- boat damage, -2 on next check; checks at this point are only Minor Actions.

During these quiet times on the river the Elementals Attack so the PCs need to continue with the minor action Skill Challenge (just something like inhabitants of each craft need to gain one success/turn or else some minor damage as above).

After one or two Elemental Fights, personally I'd only go for one and perhaps throw in a different encounter with something Fey/Sprite-ish, that the PCs could befriend- some guardian spirit of the Fire Forest (I've not read the module, although I've got it) or else the spirit of the River (actually the later is my favourite)- possibly throw this in as another Skill Challenge, particularly if the PCs stop to repair their boats- really simple Skill Challenge 4/3, the Spirit of the River tells them nothing much but if successful provides bonuses to Skill Challenges to guide the boat down the river.

Think Studio Ghibli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Ghibli)- Spirited Away, that kind of thing- with the PCs hurtling along a large Brown Trout leaps out the water and-

“Hello” Sploosh.
Cue confused PCs.
Talking Fish (River Spirit) needs a personality of course, and acting up- something fun to break up the mad Skill Challenge combats, and reward good play if it’s a Skill Challenge, so feeding him is a Success, obviously compliments are good also.
The River Spirit is just curious, obviously he’s also a bit pissed what with all the fire, it puts people off, he’s lonely- he wants to chat and just make friends.

Obviously if the PCs don’t make friends with the fish then they get no help later on, someone in the boat should figure it out that an aquatic creature would be a suitable ally if they’re making checks to stay afloat.

Then the climax with bad guy, and with the PCs having X turns of river left before they're pitched over the falls- the ongoing Skill Challenge steps up, but still can be done with Minor's (although Standard Actions increase likelihood of success), and of course the River Spirit may be there to help them. This with the ongoing fracas with the Lurker et al should keep them busy- obviously the Lurker has to get the box before the PCs go over the falls and out of reach- he gets desperate, even trying to stop the boats from going over the falls.

Whatever happens the boats finally go over and either...

Continue Skill Challenge as per previous comment (Endurance checks, Acrobatics/Athletics to get to the surface (an individual Skill Challenge (Check = Move Action so can do 2/turn) for each PC (although can aid another)- need 2 successes to break surface, each failure say goodbye to another Healing Surge or Level HP).

Or else...

The PCs find themselves in a small damp chamber, underwater and having no problems breathing- including the Flaming Zombie guy, and soon after beholden to the River Spirit- which gives you another Plot point in which you can introduce something that's two scenarios from now, a new Patron. Flaming Zombie guy effectively geased- succeed at whatever the quest is or else the River Spirit will release his/her magic and they will become Flaming Zombie guy- set a time limit and make the transformation slow if you like, so the PC become zombified and flaming in slow stages- some of which may be beneficial (flaming hand attack), some of them less so (reduced to 0 HP automatically on critical, or at least takes extra damage on crit.)

Make it memorable, either way I think you’re on to a winner, as previous structure- this follows this follows this, obviously you can shift things around (the order, drop encounters etc.). The players have gone off-road, your turn to do the same.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Thanks everyone who's replied so far. The next session's in the middle of next month.

Current plans break the session into four segments.

1: Raftbuilding + talking to local contact (left over from last session). Also scouting by lurker demon and recurring nuisances.

2: Setting off. Attacked by lurker demon (who has a nasty power to teleport other people ten squares) and a few allies. Smart PCs will think of the obvious way to handle him - he loves following the letter of instructions while violating the spirit. Lurker demon's also made things hard for the PCs by dropping logs to try to dam the place up. If lurker survives this attempt without succeeding he'll reappear in section 4 (but teleporting people off the raft is just that bit too lethal...)

3: Studio Ghibli interlude (and thanks for the idea). Especially surreal as they know there's nothing living in the river. I have enough plot - and the PCs are heading out of the Fire Forest at high speed to get back to the main plot. Skill challenge for rafting at the same time.

4: Climactic battle going over the waterfall. Curtains of fire. Zombies using other zombies as rafts. Possibly a still surviving lurker (who at this point will explicitely tell the PCs what he wants).

5: Cliffhanger ending. PCs thrown over the waterfall then washed to shore. River widens out into a mangrove style swamp. Surviving PCs rest on something to catch their breath, then see a small black triangle approaching (cue Jaws theme tune) - which gets closer. And then two eyes appear above the water - the triangle was the tip of a black dragon's tail.

Fire zombie PC's self-sacrifice is up to him...

 

[Riastlin]

Wow. Awesome setup, so awesome in fact that I consider it "yoink" worthy and will have to do something similar in one of my campaigns.

That being said, I think you have a great idea on how to go about it with what you already laid out. I would probably structure this as an ongoing skill challenge within a series of combats.

Start off with the first part of the challenge being for building the raft (Thievery and maybe Athletics/Nature to make sure the bindings are tight/won't leak etc.) Once on the water Athletics/Nature to guide the raft, Acrobatics to stay on the raft/Athletics for those who fall off, Endurance to keep up the pace of guiding the raft (perhaps with bonuses if they switch off navigators to rest them). Heck, I might even allow an Arcana check to affect the water (provided the player can describe what they are doing). Perception obviously lets them spot hazards as they crop up, and Insight might even be used to let the players get a feel for what the best route will be.

I like the idea of the River Sprite mentioned above which brings in Diplomacy/Bluff/Intimidate, maybe even Religion or History if you want to flesh the Sprite out further.

Finally, as they go over the waterfall you again have Athletics/Endurance, maybe Nature.

As for the combats, make sure to keep the raft moving at all times (give it an intiative score and speed). The raft automatically moves its speed downriver on its turn, though I would allow the PCs to increase or decrease this speed with successful Athletics checks as a move action. The raft generally stays more or less centered on the river if the PCs do not try to alter its course, though the raft may start to rotate particularly around bends. Place hazards (rock outcroppings or dead branches, etc.) in the River that the PCs need to navigate around or risk damaging the raft or spinning it. I would also give the raft hitpoints and defenses, if it takes enough damage, it falls apart (you can actually tie this into the first part of the skill challenge, subtracting hps for each failure). Make steering the raft an Athletics check that takes a Standard Action (this forces the PCs to have to make a choice of Attack or Steer).

With the lurker, you can still give him a teleport power, just maybe reduce it to teleport 5. Enough to get them off the raft (if they fail the save) but not enough to draw them to shore. The PC that gets tossed can then try to swim back to the raft or grab onto an outcropping, etc. All in all, I might structure the overall ongoing SC as mini individual SC's that add up to the total success -- i.e. they need to succeed on 2 of 3 SC's to be succesful.

All in all it should be a really memorable encounter. Now I might also need to check out the adventure.