WotBS Adventure 12 "Forewarned" Question (WotBS spoilers obviously)

squirmonkey · Mar 19, 2018

Okay, my party is gearing up to finish off the campaign with adventure 12 in the coming weeks, they'll be running the assault on the Imperial Palace in just a couple days. Around the start of the battle, Crystin (who my party loves) gives them a couple final prophecies about what's going to happen. Now knowing my party, this is going to derail the game for half an hour while they argue about what she's talking about (fine by me). Now, I get where one of the prophecies ("an enemy twice dead hiding in light") means. It refers to Deceptions previous forms as Vuhl and Earnest, and his new form as Aurana. But the second prophecy has me a little confused, and I worry that when the ambush happens, my players will feel like that prophecy didn't have anything to do with what they experienced. The prophecy says "Be prepared for an ambush tonight, when enemies who hide their faces without masks dress in blue and gold and ring bells to announce their coming, leaving a pyre with their departure".

Okay, hide their faces without masks refers to the possession magic they're using to hide in the allied soldiers. Blue and gold? Is that the color of one of the armies' uniforms? I'm not sure what the ring-bells bit means. And then the pyre part refers to the necklaces of fireballs?

I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on this prophecy, as I'd like to make sure the prophecy is going to align with what I run in a way where my players will get it once it's finished. I know I always have the option to chance the prophecy (and will, if I can't figure it out), but I prefer to stick to the source when I can.

Thanks!
--Squirmonkey

RangerWickett · Mar 19, 2018

It's been like 10 years since I wrote that, so, um, I don't remember. But sure, blue and gold uniforms sound good. Maybe there's a ringing of bells to announce shift change.

Tormyr · Mar 20, 2018

RangerWickett said:
It's been like 10 years since I wrote that, so, um, I don't remember. But sure, blue and gold uniforms sound good. Maybe there's a ringing of bells to announce shift change.

What, you don't remember every single detail?

Seriously though, War of the Burning Sky and Zeitgeist are an amazing achievement. As I am working on the 5e conversion of WotBS, I am constantly pleased by the potential I see for great stories and memories to be built around the table. My selfish wish is that WotC would pick you up to write adventure paths.

Mrpereira · Mar 20, 2018

The blue and gold refers to the colors of the alliance army. To kill the leaders of the alliance, the killers would enter the tent, which has bells at the entrance, so bells will ring when someone enters or leaves the command tent.

RangerWickett · Mar 20, 2018

Tormyr said:
What, you don't remember every single detail?

Seriously though, War of the Burning Sky and Zeitgeist are an amazing achievement. As I am working on the 5e conversion of WotBS, I am constantly pleased by the potential I see for great stories and memories to be built around the table. My selfish wish is that WotC would pick you up to write adventure paths.

That's not *that* selfish.

Lylandra · Mar 20, 2018

seems like Mr Pereira was a tad bit quicker. Though I must say that "Alliance colors" and "blue and gold" read pretty Warcraft-y to me and I somehow considered blue and gold to be the colors of Dassen.

Regarding the selfish wish: I do fear that WotC's adventure standards and RangerWickett's really creative writing would collide too hard. Too many constraints. For example, I don't think that an encounter like the Colossus or Annihilation would have been possible by their guidelines. And if I (selfish me) had the choice, I'd prefer to keep his freedom

(Even if he'd totally deserve to be hired by WotC!)

squirmonkey · Mar 21, 2018

Ah, bells at the entrance to the tent makes sense. I'll have to make sure to mention the bells before the players know to fear bells...

Also [MENTION=6776887]Tormyr[/MENTION], I've been playing an on-the-fly conversion to 5e. I'd be very curious when you're finished to see how you converted some of the encounters.

Mrpereira · Mar 22, 2018

My players caught the bells hint immediately, which surprised me.

trencher7 · Mar 26, 2018

squirmonkey said:
Also [MENTION=6776887]Tormyr[/MENTION], I've been playing an on-the-fly conversion to 5e. I'd be very curious when you're finished to see how you converted some of the encounters.

Same here

Tormyr · Apr 5, 2018

squirmonkey said:
Ah, bells at the entrance to the tent makes sense. I'll have to make sure to mention the bells before the players know to fear bells...

Also [MENTION=6776887]Tormyr[/MENTION], I've been playing an on-the-fly conversion to 5e. I'd be very curious when you're finished to see how you converted some of the encounters.

It is coming very soon! I am just finishing up some of the character options and layout while going over chapter 1 one more time. The Player's Guide, Campaign Guide, and Chapter 1 are in the review process.

In the meantime, you can take a look at my Age of Worms conversion to get a rough idea of how I convert 3.5 encounters.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1254