Pbartender said:
Incidentally, what level are they and what resources do they have available? By the time my group had reached Act 4, we had Giant Owls from the Kiri Tor elves to take us any place we hadn't yet been, and enough teleportation magic to take us and the owls back to any place we already had been. I think we were a week ahead of schedule by the time we made it back to Brindol.
Ok, this will require a quick rundown of the changes I had to make the module to make it fit (literally) into my campaign world.
The gameworld combines the geography, kingdoms, and NPC's of the Birthright setting with various Dragonlance campaign elements (Draconians, Knights of 'Anuire', Towers of high sorcery, and the pantheon). The Red Hand adventure is taking place in the Rhormarch, and advanced soutward from Kiergaard. Drellins Ferry was on the border intersection of Kiergaard, The city of Brindol is really the City of Oden. The city of Dennovar is really the city of Kiedel. The ruins of Rhest were actually within the Ruins of Esden, And the Ghost lords realm is dropped in place of the Vampires Hold.
What does this mean for the adventure? Drellins ferry is a whole hell of alot closer to 'Brindol' then it ought to be. I compensated for this by having the Red hand occupy most of the rest of the kingdom of Rhormaarch.
The Rhormaarch is just getting past a civil war, and not entirely united, as there rightful heir to the throne, Prince Oden, was forced off of the throne by his uncle Duke Alric. Duke Alric did this because Prince Oden is something of an evil bastard who demands absolute loyalty and executes dissenters. The players met Prince Oden just after inadvertantly helping his psychotic half ogre barbarian henchmen / leutenant out of jail prior to the initial events of the Red Hand of Doom adventure. They basically sworn loyalty to him, then went on a 'scouting mission' that they never bothered to return to. But they did manage to prevent the Red Hand from exploiting Prince Odens guerilla war against his uncle, and turned him onto harrassing the Red Hand, buying an extra couple of days.
Duke Alric takes the role of the good king / leader of the human forces in my game.
I have a fair amount of campaign specific plot that is ongoing at the same time. There is the previously mentioned Rhormarch Civil War. There is an ongoing feud with a noble family that wants to kill the players in retribution for killing the family patriarch way back in the campaigns first encounter. There is a long term campaing arch where the players are trying to locate several 'black stone keys' to an obsidian portal the players found within the Sunless Citidel. The ONLY reason they give a damn about the Red hand adventure is because Azar Kul has one of these keys (he is using it in his own planar related rituals). And on top of that, because of me needing a Deus Ex Machina way back near the beginning of my campaign to avert a TPK, the players have basically in debt to Hiddukel, (the god of Lies, Greed, and Betrayal). After lying dormant for a long time, this plot hook was activated, and I told the players to start doing side quests for him. The side quests so far have very little obvious purpose, and a very generous deadline. however, the players opted to go with those side tracking quests.
Instead of the Kiri Tor Elves , the players worked with the Blood Spear Orc tribe. Orcs in my world tend to be the epitome of chaotic neutral 'Nightmare players' that you may have gamed with. All they ever care to do is eat, fight, and breed. They did not side with the Red hand because the Red Hand "Did not invite us to their war". Also, they lived in Rhest holding the lizard folk under their control, tending to kill them for sport. The Red Hand drove them out.
The players were only partially successful for Act 2. They actually managed to capture / dominate Wyrmlord Saarvith (using the scroll from the Mind bender), and kill the black dragon. However, they left Rhest before they discovered / destroyed the hatchery. They told the Orcs that the dragon was dealt with, and the Orcs retook their swamp. Instead of Giant Owls, the players were given items that can transform their horses into Giant Wasps which will expire at the end of 60 or so days. But, they players did recruit them, and convince Duke Alric to tolerate their help. For what its worth, aside from traveling through mountains and dense forest (and losing time as a result) to evade Red hand patrols, the players completed act 2 pretty damn fast.
No Dragonspawn. I like Draconians better. The players did lose some time when they went to Nimons Gap (trying to go around the red hand forces that occupied the area of Drellins Ferry), and took a day to recover from a fight with an Aurak Draconian with 'Spectacular Death Throes' (upon death, it exploded in a 6d6 burst, 20 ft radius, DC 16 Reflex for half. Then it got back up and proceeded to explode another 5 times while trying to chase them). This encounter replaced the 'Sick Spy'.
Anyway, getting back to the matter at hand:
My players are doing pretty damn good at the moment within the adventure. I tend to run a bit of a harder game in some respects, but hey, it works for us. I would be surprised if the players do not successfully complete the adventure. But they have not bought into the urgency of the Red Hand events largely because the other plot elements interest them more. I have made it plain that the Red hand is dangerous, and a menace to be stopped, but they have not bought into it much.
I think that the only way they will realize how dire the situation is would be if they realize how close the Red hand is to winning this war. I cannot convey that without them at least already encircling Brindol.
I intend to give my players a choice. They have one of Hiddukels plot elements to pursue, which will need to completed in 3 weeks. They will be told by a Blood Spear messenger that "The party is about to get started at Oden. But if you want to make it, your gonna have to get there fast. Should be pretty fun getting past them. Wonder what they are waiting for, camping all around that city..." Now, the players can easily put that off Hiddukels task until after the Battle of Brindol / Oden. But if they want to get in, they are going to need to figure out a way in. And if things go badly, there will probably be some fighting.
If the players opt to instead go directly to Kiedel for Hiddukels task, then Oden will fall, and the events of the battle of Oden will take place at Kiedel / Dennovar.
The ONLY reason that this question is important is that it will be easier to stop the Red Hand if they are defeated at Oden / Brindol, but it will also be more dangerous. My original post was a general question about what would be a reasonable combat obstacle for them to fight past if necessary without guaranteeing a TPK. That is why there will be no easy way (tunnel or teleport) into Brindol. The information may also be useful if the players are in Keidel when the Red Hand arrives. I have only one player that actually qualifies as 'Good' right now. They could all just choose to cut and run, and the same obstacles could face them trying to get out.
As for party resources: They have access to flying mounts, and are all 9th level. There is a Fighter, a Cleric, a Sorcerer, and a Fighter / Ranger (2 / 7). The fighter player took the Leadership feat and ended up with a 7th level henchmen (human barbarian, chosen from his backstory). They are quite effective combat wise. The Sorcerer either goes invisible and summons stuff, or he can blast with magic Missile and Lightning bolt. The Cleric is optimized for healing. AC's are generally high (23 for the pure fighter, 21 for the Cleric, 18 for the Ranger, and Sorcerer is very often Invisible). They have little to fear from pure melee opponents, though Ghost Blood Berzerkers have their respect due to the high damage output on full power attacks when raged. The Ranger and Barbarian henchmen have decent Survival skills (which has been getting a solid workout, as I use it as a catch all check for wilderness crap).
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