Adventures in Elsir Vale before Red Hand of Doom starts? - please no RHoD spoilers

[Friendless]

I recently acquired Red Hand of Doom and will be taking my players through it when they're high enough level (they're 2nd at the moment, RHoD starts at 5th). The core plot of my campaign has been that the PCs are prophesied to overthrow the leader of the goblins at the culmination of a long war. When I read that RHoD was a similar plot and so I wouldn't have to do so much work I was very impressed .

As my campaign doesn't have much background world at the moment I want to get the PCs into Elsir Vale and get them making friends with the locals so that when RHoD starts they have an emotional investment in the place and some contacts to work with.

Has anyone use Elsir Vale in this way? What did you come up with? As these adventures will happen before RHoD I can only vaguely foreshadow what might happen. If you're vague enough (or just give page number references if anything) it shouldn't be necessary to post RHoD spoilers in this thread.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Brindol is a great place but there is no time to get to know Brindol once the Red Hand of Doom begins. Therefore you should try to squeeze as much adventure out of Brindol as possible. There is a lot of stuff that can happen in Brindol (even suggested in the module) but after the module none of it feels current anymore, so use it prior.

Red Rock is a an interesting location too. If I were you I'd start off in Brindol and have Red Rock be part of the first mission. Red Rock reeks of Last Man Standing/Yojimbo and there is a dungeon there to boot.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Yeah, I would have the PCs get to know the NPCs and the things going on in Brindol. Then send them west into the mountains on an adventure or two to raise their levels. On their way back through Drellin's Ferry, then start RHoD.

 

[Peni Griffin]

Read and reread all the background information in the front of the book and see which hooks can be lined up with your established characters and incidents. The descriptions of the settlements are full of references to brigands, local politics, shady characters, and so on. You just have to go for the ones that are most plausible and/or interesting.

While you're at it, don't forget to read and reread the NPCs and see which ones are interesting and which ones are in the Vale prior to Day One of the scenario. You could find yourself coming at the module sideways instead of in the anticipated order, and that could be a good thing.

 

[Friendless]

Read and reread all the background information in the front of the book and see which hooks can be lined up with your established characters and incidents. The descriptions of the settlements are full of references to brigands, local politics, shady characters, and so on. You just have to go for the ones that are most plausible and/or interesting.

My latest ideas are that the halfling's mother lives in Dauth. She's a rogue, and her sworn enemy is that woman from Brindol whom everyone owes the favours to. The half-orc in the party may be from Red Rock, but given that he doesn't speak (he's my NPC with INT 6) it might be hard to develop his character.

I have another idea which some of you might enjoy. One NPC who is not currently with the party is a cleric of Fharlanghn (sp?) who is committed to making the roads safe to travel. RHoD mentions that some of the roads are dangerous, and it's that that has attracted him to Elsir Vale. When the PCs next encounter him his project will be to "plant" treant saplings along the Dawn Way. I would then have a treant force as a potential deus ex machina if the PCs get in trouble against the Red Horde.

 

[Peni Griffin]

This is thread drift, but I have a serious lack of desire to start yet another RHOD thread. Too many threads on this board and not enough ways to track them. But anyway...

The PCs, aka the Companions of the Claw, have been IDed as a serious nuisance. They're also established badasses, and my players are not shy about getting support from others - in addition to the Companions proper, their entourage includes two giant eagles, eight pegasi, two warhorses, a war dog, two junior paladins, and Morlin and Sertieren from Drellin's Ferry. (I know, I know, but if the players can play out a good recruiting drive why can't they get allies? "Because it makes the DM's life harder" is not an answer I'd accept as a player.) The next few nonrandom encounters will be increasingly nasty assassination attempts, which will strive to divide the party into smaller, more manageable units with decoys, lures, traps, and anything else I can think of, then hit the units as hard as they can. The territory they're crossing, from the Hammerfist Holds to Brindol, is readily accessible by the Horde's airborn units (dragons and wyvernriders, chiefly) and they're carting Ulwai, who can easily be scryed for their location, along for good measure.

But - I have every reason to think that the Companions will, when separated, divide into units which can chew up and spit out every resource sent against them in a fair fight or in an ambush. (For one thing,they're buggers to ambush, between the giant eagles, the dog, and the rogue with the maximized Spot check.) At some point, Kharn is going to get tired of throwing good troops after bad in pursuit of a group that isn't even the campaign objective. The best bet to take them out - have all three surviving dragons strafe them from orbit - involves committing and risking some big guns needed for taking Brindol. Not acceptable.

So, I figure at that point I'll need something more subtle than assassins from the sky. How to go about neutralizing these rogue elements? HQ can communicate with Ulwai via Sending, which allows her to provide a certain amount of intelligence not only on movements, but on vulnerabilities. She's doing her best to convince her captors that she's ripe to be turned, but it's not clear how well she'll be able to win their trust and they're keeping her gagged when she's not actually being fed or questioned, which limits her options.

Trapping the bulk of the group in a caved-in dungeon, giving them some urgent sidequest, or using Miha Serani (not yet encountered) to discredit them with the Brindol authorities are all I've thought of so far, and I'm not moving quickly on the specifics. Ideas?

 

[Friendless]

Where do I find the other RHoD threads? I'm new here and haven't investigated all the nooks and crannies yet.

 

[Land Outcast]

Don´t feel intimidated, there you go!

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=161679

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=162236

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=165325

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=167910

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=173428

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=177171

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=177562

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=178385

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=179888

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=183314

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=185570

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=189703

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=190010

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=193606

 

[Klaus]

Whatever you do, make sure to take this opportunity and foreshadow things that are part of the adventure, like the rumors of restless spirits in the southweastern wasteland, or the elven tribe to the north. Introduce the guide in Part I early, as a former mentor or something, etc.

And there's a "Use This Book Tonight" encounter for Red Hand of Doom in WotC's site, designed for 4th-level characters, to segue into the adventure. Go to WotC's D&D product listing, click on Red Hand of Doom, and all pertinent links will be in the RHoD product page.

 

[Ry]

A lot of the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde should be adaptable to that region.