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<blockquote data-quote="Tolamaker" data-source="post: 9155644" data-attributes="member: 7031495"><p><strong>Sessions 70 & 71: Best of Frenemies</strong></p><p></p><p>Shalosha and her paladins catch up to the palanquin, and she demands that they hand over the Torch. Corban is able to convince her that they don't have it, which stymies her. She then trades some information, revealing that she has gone behind her father's back in order to work with General Magdus. "Not all Ragesians want this war. It is men like Magdus who will help end it." She reveals that he is willing to face Leska, and believes that he will be a better emperor. She convinces the party to bring a sending stone to Simeon. "It would be best if we share information."</p><p></p><p>The party is let go, and the palanquin comes to a stop about an hour later. They divvy up the loot with Clan Millorn, and find themselves about 80,000 gold richer. With stars in their eyes, they teleport to the treehouse with Darius, who is unsure of his place in a changing world. Aripos, not wanting to have to deal with house arrest for his earlier conviction, concocts an new identity as Sopira, Aripos' cousin from Clan Millorn. Eluriah's husband apparently planned since their last fiery entrance, and had cleared a space out for their return. Going to Simeon, they report on their dealings with Shalosha, as well as introducing Darius. Katrina and Kieran arrive later, with Katrina eyeing Darius when she enters. </p><p></p><p>The party goes about spending their exorbitant wealth at the various stores in Seaquen. Sopira and Corban get memorial tattoos of Aripos. Corban acts as a message carrier for the Resistance, and meets with Mishka's mother in Gate Pass, where he passes on many letters from Mishka, and returns with a belt made by Mishka's mother. Gruz begin researching a cauldron he's heard tell of in the north, and leaves the party for a while.</p><p></p><p>After some days, Simeon asks them to return. He tells that from the information from Darius' visions and Shalosha's collaboration, they believe that the assassin's took Coaltongue's body to Irrendra, the Lost City of Ycengled. He reminds them of Ycengled's terrible fate. "I wish I could give you better guidance, but my divinations are drowned out by the screams of the lost." He tells them that Sheena Larkin will take them to Shahalesti, just south of the forest, and they will have to find their way through its haunts.</p><p></p><p>When they arrive, Ycengled is like a shadowy cancer on the land. Once they enter it is eerily quiet, with no sound of animal or bird, and even their own footsteps are muffled in an unseasonable summer snow. The faint scrape of metal can be heard from the many chains hanging from the trees. Mishka takes the lead, and they travel within the oppressive forest. Eventually, she comes across a pair of meandering footprints, which lead them to a rather ridiculous man in a jester's outfit. Despite his clothing, he is incredibly muscular, and wields a large mallet. He introduces himself as Niel Lovestar, personal jester to Emperor Coaltongue. He has been traveling the continent trying to find out what happened to him. He leans in conspiratorially to reveal that "I believe the Emperor... was assassinated!"</p><p></p><p>As Corban attempts to abandon the fool, the trees around them begin to sway, and a group of trees turn to reveal the desiccated bodies of Taranesti chained to them. Screams howl from their dead lips, and they surge forward.</p><p></p><p><strong>Post-Session Thoughts</strong></p><p>These two sessions were a bit haphazard, because they were separated by a week, and dealt with a lot of bookkeeping from levelling up and tallying up treasure and spending the money as they picked items out. I set the rules that they could pretty much get any magic item Very Rare and lower using the Discerning Merchant's Guide, and no repeats allowed. So everyone can't have animated shields buffing everyone at once. This put a decent dent in their treasure, and I'll be interested to see the effects of the magic item glut. This is more of a lore module in my opinion outside of the Temple itself, so I'm fine to treat this as a test chapter for combat difficulty.</p><p></p><p>I think overall I enjoyed Tears of the Burning Sky, but it did have some lulls. The main issue I had was that the lower level felt like just a holding pattern as before the meat on the top floor. The Sindairese nobles and the devils are ostensibly enemies, but I couldn't think of a way to meaningfully make the players pic up on any conflict there, so it turned into a slog as they killed everything. The party (and I) enjoyed the change of pace, but it started to wear out its welcome until they took the elevator up.</p><p></p><p><strong>Changes to the Module</strong></p><p>So, there is one part of the session that I left out, and that is the matter of Katrina. I decided that it made sense that Darius and Katrina would know each other, and in the session had Darius comment on it after they left. He basically spilled the beans about seeing her with Leska as one of her aides, assuming that this was common knowledge to the party. This lead to a very anticlimactic moment where the players ran back, but I said she had left, and then they seemed to take that as she had already escaped. Then we got caught up in other things, and it fell to the wayside. I've never been more tempted to do a retcon, and I'm still debating it. I had even planned for a chase and chance to talk to her and potentially turn her allegiance, but I had a brain fart that turned the whole thing into a kind of empty preemptive reveal. Part of this isn't helped that I haven't had Katrina feature very much in the campaign, so I think the main thing that makes it hurt is that she's Rantle's sister. So really only the Gate Passers care. I'll ask the players how they feel about it.</p><p></p><p>Going into Ycengled, I have decided to really pare down the encounters, to try and streamline it and keep things moving. This is the first time in some while that I've actively gone through an adventure and mapped out what I hope for each session. Right now, I've got it to seven more sessions. I'm sure it will go over, but it's heartening to see it all out on one notepad. One big change is </p><p>[SPOILER]that I plan to have the temple be in Phorros Irrendra. I have some ideas for how 41 is manipulating Rhuarc, and having the rival party arrive a bit earlier than the temple itself which might lead to some earlier clashes.[/SPOILER]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tolamaker, post: 9155644, member: 7031495"] [B]Sessions 70 & 71: Best of Frenemies[/B] Shalosha and her paladins catch up to the palanquin, and she demands that they hand over the Torch. Corban is able to convince her that they don't have it, which stymies her. She then trades some information, revealing that she has gone behind her father's back in order to work with General Magdus. "Not all Ragesians want this war. It is men like Magdus who will help end it." She reveals that he is willing to face Leska, and believes that he will be a better emperor. She convinces the party to bring a sending stone to Simeon. "It would be best if we share information." The party is let go, and the palanquin comes to a stop about an hour later. They divvy up the loot with Clan Millorn, and find themselves about 80,000 gold richer. With stars in their eyes, they teleport to the treehouse with Darius, who is unsure of his place in a changing world. Aripos, not wanting to have to deal with house arrest for his earlier conviction, concocts an new identity as Sopira, Aripos' cousin from Clan Millorn. Eluriah's husband apparently planned since their last fiery entrance, and had cleared a space out for their return. Going to Simeon, they report on their dealings with Shalosha, as well as introducing Darius. Katrina and Kieran arrive later, with Katrina eyeing Darius when she enters. The party goes about spending their exorbitant wealth at the various stores in Seaquen. Sopira and Corban get memorial tattoos of Aripos. Corban acts as a message carrier for the Resistance, and meets with Mishka's mother in Gate Pass, where he passes on many letters from Mishka, and returns with a belt made by Mishka's mother. Gruz begin researching a cauldron he's heard tell of in the north, and leaves the party for a while. After some days, Simeon asks them to return. He tells that from the information from Darius' visions and Shalosha's collaboration, they believe that the assassin's took Coaltongue's body to Irrendra, the Lost City of Ycengled. He reminds them of Ycengled's terrible fate. "I wish I could give you better guidance, but my divinations are drowned out by the screams of the lost." He tells them that Sheena Larkin will take them to Shahalesti, just south of the forest, and they will have to find their way through its haunts. When they arrive, Ycengled is like a shadowy cancer on the land. Once they enter it is eerily quiet, with no sound of animal or bird, and even their own footsteps are muffled in an unseasonable summer snow. The faint scrape of metal can be heard from the many chains hanging from the trees. Mishka takes the lead, and they travel within the oppressive forest. Eventually, she comes across a pair of meandering footprints, which lead them to a rather ridiculous man in a jester's outfit. Despite his clothing, he is incredibly muscular, and wields a large mallet. He introduces himself as Niel Lovestar, personal jester to Emperor Coaltongue. He has been traveling the continent trying to find out what happened to him. He leans in conspiratorially to reveal that "I believe the Emperor... was assassinated!" As Corban attempts to abandon the fool, the trees around them begin to sway, and a group of trees turn to reveal the desiccated bodies of Taranesti chained to them. Screams howl from their dead lips, and they surge forward. [B]Post-Session Thoughts[/B] These two sessions were a bit haphazard, because they were separated by a week, and dealt with a lot of bookkeeping from levelling up and tallying up treasure and spending the money as they picked items out. I set the rules that they could pretty much get any magic item Very Rare and lower using the Discerning Merchant's Guide, and no repeats allowed. So everyone can't have animated shields buffing everyone at once. This put a decent dent in their treasure, and I'll be interested to see the effects of the magic item glut. This is more of a lore module in my opinion outside of the Temple itself, so I'm fine to treat this as a test chapter for combat difficulty. I think overall I enjoyed Tears of the Burning Sky, but it did have some lulls. The main issue I had was that the lower level felt like just a holding pattern as before the meat on the top floor. The Sindairese nobles and the devils are ostensibly enemies, but I couldn't think of a way to meaningfully make the players pic up on any conflict there, so it turned into a slog as they killed everything. The party (and I) enjoyed the change of pace, but it started to wear out its welcome until they took the elevator up. [B]Changes to the Module[/B] So, there is one part of the session that I left out, and that is the matter of Katrina. I decided that it made sense that Darius and Katrina would know each other, and in the session had Darius comment on it after they left. He basically spilled the beans about seeing her with Leska as one of her aides, assuming that this was common knowledge to the party. This lead to a very anticlimactic moment where the players ran back, but I said she had left, and then they seemed to take that as she had already escaped. Then we got caught up in other things, and it fell to the wayside. I've never been more tempted to do a retcon, and I'm still debating it. I had even planned for a chase and chance to talk to her and potentially turn her allegiance, but I had a brain fart that turned the whole thing into a kind of empty preemptive reveal. Part of this isn't helped that I haven't had Katrina feature very much in the campaign, so I think the main thing that makes it hurt is that she's Rantle's sister. So really only the Gate Passers care. I'll ask the players how they feel about it. Going into Ycengled, I have decided to really pare down the encounters, to try and streamline it and keep things moving. This is the first time in some while that I've actively gone through an adventure and mapped out what I hope for each session. Right now, I've got it to seven more sessions. I'm sure it will go over, but it's heartening to see it all out on one notepad. One big change is [SPOILER]that I plan to have the temple be in Phorros Irrendra. I have some ideas for how 41 is manipulating Rhuarc, and having the rival party arrive a bit earlier than the temple itself which might lead to some earlier clashes.[/SPOILER] [/QUOTE]
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