Dying Skyseer Plot Twists (SPOILERS, obviously)

[gideonpepys]

[MENTION=63]RangerWickett[/MENTION]

A couple of questions, if you can spare the time. The first couple might help just about any DM who runs the adventure:

If a group rejects Lorcan Kell's offer on (say) day 4 of the investigation, would he still wait til day 7 to betray Wolfgang? I can't for the life of me think why he would, but bringing the deadline forward would clutter the adventure up massively. And this seems a very likely turn of events, as a party can discover Kell's involvement quite readily.

Another quick question on Wolfgang is how would you anticipate his reaction to a fake travel arrangement being made for him (through Camp and Kindleton). My players want to try this, and I'd like to reward (or at least not block) their ingenuity. However, drawing Wolfgang out of hiding cuts out a huge and very exciting chunk of the adventure.

My final question is much more singular, and pertains to a new character being introduced into my campaign. He is fey, and we decided to introduce him at the end of adventure #2 as an emissary of the Unseen Court, sent to 'learn' from the party (and thus seconded to the RHC), while at the same time keeping an eye on them.

This got me to wondering about how far to take this. Just who might he be reporting to? Kasvarina Varal, even (or someone who at very least reports to her)? Or is that too much too soon?

It also got me thinking about how much interest (negative or otherwise) the powers that be - as represented by Stanfield - would be taking in the group in general.

Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated (as would the contributions of other DMs).

 

[RangerWickett]

Eh, he might figure it's worth waiting a day or two to see if the PCs change their minds. Or maybe he'd try to extort one of Wolfgang's contacts.

I thought I included something about that. Wolfgang keeps the documents hidden in the church, even if he personally leaves, because he'd be worried it could be a trap. If the party grabs him, they might be able to talk him into trusting them, but they'd still have to go find the documents, which would leave to an ambush.

The Unseen Court is not at all affiliated with Kasvarina. Her role was to promote violence and rebellion by the eladrin, against the Clergy (plus a variety of other magical tasks). But the eladrin are not part of the Unseen Court. The court is ruled by true fey, and while they might employ some eladrin as minions, the actual leaders are too aloof for the Ob to try influencing them.

The powers that be are too busy to notice the PCs until they've finished adventure 2. That's when they start making contingency plans to silence them. In adventure 3, the PCs are lucky that their boss takes them off the case temporarily, because it gets the villains to back down. But by the end of adventure 3 the Ob will be looking for a way to take out the party without tipping their hands.

(That plays out in part 4.)

 

[gideonpepys]

Thanks for that. Just wanted some input before I missed a trick or two. Incidentally, none of what I asked was intended as a criticism of the way I which the adventure is written. I'd rather have an adventure that challenges me the way this one does, but I'm also keen to take advantage of the fact that we have a community of DMs here - and the writers of the adventure path - on hand to make the experience even better.

Moving forward, I think that Kell might work out that the unit is aware of Kindleton's correspondance and encourage his men to make Wolfgang suspicious. Then Wolfgang will write and reveal his concerns to Kindleton, causing the unit to reconsider Kell's offer. At least, that's what he hopes...

I'll completely rethink the Unseen Court business.

One more question, which I'm very much hoping is not too stupid for words:

What exactly are the PCs supposed to do with (or gain from) the detect planar energy ritual? (The most obvious thing would be to help find the creepy warehouse, but my party probably won't meet Gale until after that.)

 

[Noodle]

I had the idea that Kasvarina (and the eladrin) were involved with the UC as well. I figured out why when I went back and reread the campaign guide this past week. In the synopsis for Island, it says:

Asrabey is the son of Kasvarina, one of the heads of the Obscurati conspiracy.
She has sent him to silence the duchess, under the premise that Risur must be shown the Unseen Court does not approve of her assassination attempt. Conveniently it lets the Obscurati keep their secrets without any blame falling upon Danor.​

Obviously this changed before the actual release of Island.. Asrabey is now a husband of Kasvarina, but separated from her, and by himself in the service of the UC.
Good to know the UC is supposed to be separate from the eladrin in general and Kasvarina in particular.

 

[RangerWickett]

Ah, I love it when I screw up. Something else to add to the list to fix if we ever do a re-release.

The detect planar energy ritual also crops up in adventure 3, to help the party track a . . . well, let's call it an 'illegal alien.'

 

[RangerWickett]

Ah, I love it when I screw up. Something else to add to the list to fix if we ever do a re-release.

The detect planar energy ritual also crops up in adventure 3, to help the party track a . . . well, let's call it an 'illegal alien.'

 

[Noodle]

No worries, Ranger. Just think how much errata WotC has for 4e on their site.

Like gideonpepys said, no criticism here - just trying to help out any DMs who come after us, and get clarity for my own game.

 

[gideonpepys]

I wondered where I got that notion from. But I am happy not to over-complicate matters anyway. And thanks for the clarification on the detect planar energy ritual.