Need advice for an adventure in Hillsfar.

[Scrivener of Doom]

How did your game go, [MENTION=34179]Kristivas[/MENTION]?

 

[Kristivas]

How did your game go, @Kristivas?

Sorry it took me so long to reply. It's been an icy wonderland of hell here.

It went AMAZING.

I went with your idea about the poison. It was lowering the wisdom scores of the townsfolk. Most folks just kinda became sheep, willing to listen to those in authority without much question. Inhibitions were lowered by some, paranoia and racism driving through the roof with others. Trade was being hurt, and many of the higher ups in the city were desperate to find an answer. The two Elves didn't have much trouble getting in.

The generous Lord and Lady Patarrin (the bad guys) were throwing parties to raise funds for the poor and sick of Hillsfar (most of which was going to their personal coffers). The sickness is a side-effect of the poison, and whenever it broke out, the kind Lord and Lady were there to ease the suffering of the masses with curative potions and spells.

A few gather info checks had the party rogue telling the group most of the knowable details. The sudden illness and the new champions of the poor, etc. The two names of the Lord and Lady matched the initials on a letter/clue they'd found. Seems they'd found their targets, and then they had to decide what to do.

The BBEGs had a plan to discredit First Lord Torin Nomerthal, so that he would be declared incompetent in his old age and be ejected. Then it was a simple matter of getting on the Senate (of which there were about to be quite a few vacancies), and becoming elected. Success meant having control of the town when the Zhent remnants moved to reclaim the ruins of ZK and the CotR.

Another fundraiser party was coming. The elite of the city who had refused to support the BBEGs were being invited to a party that would spare no expense in trying to get them on the side of the Patarrins. Little did anyone know that these folks weren't being a chance to reconsider. It was a murder party, from which Dopplegangers were going to assume many of the identities.

The group found one such partygoer, and got an audience with him after bribing off his butler. Gregory is a minor noble who used to be big in the merchant/shipping industry. All he cares about these days is fun, partying, and the fairer sex. He agreed to help the group get into the party, letting them act as bodyguards/driver and one of the elves as a servant because he found them to be "smashing good fun". They had their way in. They were doing investigating of the house when the clock struck 1 am. Then, the murdering began.

With sealed doors, the party had no choice but to fight. Unfortunately, all of the other nobles save for Gregory died. The PCs hid him in a secret room they'd found with a few bottles of wine to keep him company. Gregory survived, and he was extremely fun to do lines for. Imagine an old Russel Brand.

The battles and exploration throughout the Patarrin's House took ages. They eventually made it to the bad guys' lab.

I wanted to make this encounter frustrating. Lord Patarrin kept using Wings of Cover to stop those really big attacks, like the charge/leap attack from the Warblade.

There were a few cages within the room, and one of them held a Mind Flayer. Between the Cleric watching over the wizard and his (multiple hehe) uses of Wings of Cover cheese, it looked dangerous. The Blade Guardian was on the archer like stink on poop. There was an antimagic area 10 feet in front of, and behind the door. The caster had to get uncomfortably close to the melee to be out of it's range. The lab was underground and the ceilings not high, so flying out of range wasn't an option.

Recognizing a fellow psionic being, the Mind Flayer telepathically offered to aid the Psychic Warrior in return for it's own release. The cell prevented the use of it's psionics, but it made it clear it had other means to help.

The PCs forced another wings of cover use before the Psychic Warrior (8 PW/1 monk/1 swordsage) grappled him and shoved his back against the Illithid's cage after a Dispel Magic from the Sorceress took out some buffs. The instant it was able, the Illithid hit with all 4 tentacles and easily made the grapple check. The Wizard was very physically weak, making up for it with his buffed Blade Guardian and high Int. 2 of the PCs stood between the cleric and the Wizard, blocking her way. Dimensional Anchor had been cast. The Psychic Warrior was holding his hands bound. You can probably guess what happened next round...

Extracted his &%@$ing brain!

I honestly didn't think they'd trust the Mind Flayer, but after the battle was over, they were true to their word and released it. It teleported away with but a slight nod of it's bloodied, tentacle-laden head.

My best friend had played D&D with me for more than 15 years said. "You know, of all the times we'd ever fought Mind Flayers, I'd never actually seen one rip out a brain before! That was awesome!"

With the wizard dead and the super-buffed Blade Guardian disabled, the Cleric alone was pretty easy work, except for a Harm she laid on the Warblade. He was fortunate enough to make his save and not get completely smashed down to 1 hp, though he was really close to death. Had the Blade Guardian lived another round, he would have been killed without a doubt. Some fortunate saves had stopped earlier crowd control, and the cleric wasn't really as effective as I'd wanted her to be. Such is the roll of the dice, so says Lady Tymora.

By the time the night was over, the party had expended most of their spells/pps and a lot of their healing wand/pots. They found a hidden tunnel which led to not only a secret door just outside the walls of Hillsfar, but also to an underground stream that flowed directly to... you guessed it.. the town water supply. The poison, formula of the poison, and a detailed account of the Patarrin's goals was found to be turned over to the Red Plumes/Senate/First Lord. Details of the next step of the quest were also found.

The note (which is a trap) revealed that the Crown of Horns is beneath the Black Altar in Mulmaster.

The PCs were given a gold reward by the city. The Seal of Hillsfar was added to their Adventurer's Writ. The Elves were given passes to come and go freely in the city, a rare privilege that not all citizens are happy with. The group will also gain possession of Patarrin Tower.. once the murder traps are removed, and once the cavern to the water supply is sealed off.

They looted and sold valuables from the Tower before finding this out. "Basically, guys, you looted and sold off your own stuff!"

I kind of want to do something drawn out and much more complex with Mulmaster. The PCs are being led into a trap, so that's going to be fun. Might throw in a side-quest or two in order to delay the confrontation between the group and Imperceptor Vikan, the guy who first came up with the plot to restore Myrkul.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

You're right.

That was AWESOME. I particularly love the part involving the mind flayer ally. That was good DMing/play.

You certainly get through a lot in a single session!

 

[Kristivas]

You're right.

That was AWESOME. I particularly love the part involving the mind flayer ally. That was good DMing/play.

You certainly get through a lot in a single session!

When we play, it's on my wife's day off. It has to line up with my best friend not having any photo shoots. It also has to line up with the best friend's kid (he's 14, and we're teaching him D&D with this game) not being in school that day or the next. When those magical days do line up, we start around 1 pm, break once for dinner, and end.. well.. around 1 am.

With the group making allies (they'd previously aided the Church of Gond, members of the church of Ilmater, a Dwarven Prince from Citadel Adbar who'd been captured by slavers, and now a Mind Flayer) and about to meet the Harpers, I think their allies will be represented in Mulmaster when they go for the crown.

I think it'd be rather nice if one of them is retelling the tale one days and says something like "We wouldn't have made it without the the help of that Mind Flayer." I'm imagining the looks on the faces of people listening to that story and it's awesome.

I'm just glad none of them went the LG route and are willing to work with evil characters to defeat a stronger evil. It gives me a lot of options for fun, and lets me set up a huge betrayal down the line.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Oh yeah, you have to bring the illithid back.

I did something similar in my first 3.5E campaign with an aboleth. The PCs encountered it at 1st- or 2nd-level... and then encountered it again at 16th-level or so and then realised that everything they had done in the campaign had been manipulated by said aboleth.

(It actually hadn't. It was just coincidental that their choices ultimately led to results that were consistent with the aboleth's goals... and I just explained it that way. I never actually railroaded them. The surprise on everyone's faces when they realised what had happened one year in real time after that first adventure was priceless....)