So, I am glad to report that we finished the first adventure in a dramatic session that started with Asrabey literally exploding from a ship and wrecking carnage and ended with the party getting the wedding invitations from Lya.
What happened:
- they blew a lot of
up, including the armory and the stable where the teleportation circle was located (more on this later)
- they loved the interaction between the duchess, Asrabey and Nathan in which I played Asrabey and 2 of my players got handouts and notes to roleplay the other culprits
- they were terrified of going against the elf but decided it must be done when he cut the Ethelyns throat and bolted for the teleportation circle as soon as they exited the inner fort
- they looted a lot of stuff and seem to think they're somehow entitled to keep it (this, perhaps, is my fault)
THE EPIC SCENE:
As they've already been to the teleportation circle and disabled the trap I made a slight modification to the story arc. When Asrabey first appeared, he bolted straight to the circle and inserted a strange gadget thingy made from some gold like substance in to the mechanism. They've seen this cause they cleverly let one of their familiars hang back at the circle. To my surprise, they decided not to investigate. Instead, they followed the elf to the tower.
After the "act out loud" scene in the tower, Asrabey notices the party and makes his demands known - he'll give them the duchess but take the tiefling. No one demands rolling for insight, the party agrees and sends the other familiar to carry the message to the captain.
Almost instantly as they left the fort, all hell broke loose. Asrabey executed the duchess, he quickly ran towards the teleportation circle, his animated shield dragging Nathan a close 20 feet behind. As he sees where this is heading, the party's yerasol veteran decides to fire the flare gun thereby marking the stable as a target for the navy. (they cleverly thought of this earlier when clearing the town of enemy soldiers so I let it slide)
They can't hit Asrabey but manage to shake Nathan out of the Lion shields embrace. They follow the elf to the stable, most of them forgetting of faux air strike the vet called. As he yells at them from a safe distance, and they hear the ships bells, everyone runs for their lives and, luckily enough, they all make their dex saves.
They loved Asrabey so I made an on the spot decision that he managed to teleport away in the last second, which, for know, they suspect, but can't know for sure.
AFTERMATH:
The spirit medium asks 5 questions of the duchess, here is a rough sum up, as well as my answers:
1. Who do you still trust in Flint?
- I pointed out to Nevard and the skyseers
2. What's this Tiefling invasion you're so afraid of?
- she points to all the evidence on axis Island, they are unconvinced
3. How do we defeat Asrabey?
- she told them that there isn't a men fit to match his martial prowess but that his wife is the only one he'll listen to
4. What is the king afraid of?
- the king, much like Asrabey, fears not death or battle, he fears to dissapoint the common man, the average Risuri citizen, he wishes to leave a better future to his people, and failure in that department is his worst fear
5. Do you want us to tell anything to your brother?
- tell him I am sorry, tell him to be careful and tell him to not trust the devils
After all this, they are almost convinced that these events will cause a war where the danorans and the risuri will unite in destroying the elves of the dreaming. I barely held my laughter at that conclusion.
WHAT'S NEXT:
It was a really fun ride and I can't wait for them to start "The dying skyseer". But, as all DM's ever running a premade, I messed up a bit. Burton the goblin gave them some gloves of spider climbing to assist them on the mission. He will be promoted and decorated shortly and wants them back, as captain Rutger already told them.
They found a lot of stuff on the island and don't like the idea of giving it to the RHC although I made it clear from the beginning that was gonna be how the cookie crumbles. Any advice on how to handle that? I had the idea of Burton, in his new position, giving them a pass on the other items, as they're not so gamebreaking, if they return the gloves.
Among other things they also pocketed about 40 of the gold inlayed swords and mean to sell them. Should I just let it slide and make the audit hit home hard when the time comes?
