What have you all done for the exceptionally long travel times? Do you just roll with it and do the random encounters and location stuff along the way or have you expedited things in some manner, aside from the teleportation network and air ship?
Any ideas on how to handle Maelstrom?
I want to do it by the book, but it pretty much guarantees a TPK. The party arrives in Maelstrom, the sisters lead them to a private room, then ambush them with 5-7 giants. That's instant death. Even if the party survives, Serissa has now turned against them, and all of Maelstrom's forces are standing in their way.
In short, the party is screwed no matter what they do. Mirran and Nym will refuse to take them to Serissa, and the party then dies in an ambush.
So... any ideas?
What I did was allow the characters in the campaign I was running to sneak behind the guards in the main audience room and get to the kitchen (which is just off to the side of the steps up from the entry area) - everyone in the audience room was paying attention to the sisters' performance. I then had the giant leaders come into the kitchen for refreshments during an intermission, which allowed the hidden party to overhear their conversations, dropping hints to each giant's "agenda". This gave them enough information so they were able to say the right things to each giant, allowing them to make persuasion rolls with advantage when the confrontation occurred. They were able to persuade all but one of them (the frost giant) to take them to Serissa.Any ideas on how to handle Maelstrom?
I want to do it by the book, but it pretty much guarantees a TPK. The party arrives in Maelstrom, the sisters lead them to a private room, then ambush them with 5-7 giants. That's instant death. Even if the party survives, Serissa has now turned against them, and all of Maelstrom's forces are standing in their way.
In short, the party is screwed no matter what they do. Mirran and Nym will refuse to take them to Serissa, and the party then dies in an ambush.
So... any ideas?
Interesting idea, but how does the confrontation play out then? The book says that the storm giant sisters and their guards are present during the ambush. It also says that the other giants won't defy them. So even if the other giants are persuaded to stop attacking, you still have four very angry storm giants in the room, which is a TPK.What I did was allow the characters in the campaign I was running to sneak behind the guards in the main audience room and get to the kitchen (which is just off to the side of the steps up from the entry area) - everyone in the audience room was paying attention to the sisters' performance. I then had the giant leaders come into the kitchen for refreshments during an intermission, which allowed the hidden party to overhear their conversations, dropping hints to each giant's "agenda". This gave them enough information so they were able to say the right things to each giant, allowing them to make persuasion rolls with advantage when the confrontation occurred. They were able to persuade all but one of them (the frost giant) to take them to Serissa.
I don't have SKT with me, but if I remember right, after they have the characters escorted to the room, one sister goes to slander the party to Sarissa, while the other leads the giant nobles to ambush the party. I do distinctly remember that that sister immediately leaves as soon as the ambush is sprung, telling the nobles to finish the party off. Unfortunately, I don't remember what exactly happened in regards to the guards - I'm guessing the nobles persuaded or intimidated them to stand down.Interesting idea, but how does the confrontation play out then? The book says that the storm giant sisters and their guards are present during the ambush. It also says that the other giants won't defy them. So even if the other giants are persuaded to stop attacking, you still have four very angry storm giants in the room, which is a TPK.
In any case, I think I've come up with a solution of my own. It departs from the book, but it should work for this group.
For those who wanted to know what I ended up doing... One of the characters had lost a family member at sea, so I had that NPC alive and well in the Maelstrom (I'd actually planned this from the beginning when I gave the players a list of optional backstory details). Luckily, the party searched the adjoining rooms before heading upstairs, so the NPC was able to warn them about the current situation in Maelstrom before they got in over their heads.Any ideas on how to handle Maelstrom?