JollyDoc's Shackled City-NPC's Only

[JollyDoc]

After a bit more thought and research, I have decided to make the bad guys of the Kelemvor church Velsharoon worshipers. This seems to fit on many levels. First, their domains include Death and Magic, which Wee Jas also has. Also, undead figure prominently in their religion, and though Kelemvor abhors undeath, Velsharoon considers Kelemvor one of his primary adversaries, and as an up and coming power, he may just have his eye on Kelelmvor's portfolio. Also, Velsharoon's followers have ties with the Cult of the Dragon, specifically the Wearer's of Purple. This provides and excellent link with the Black Egg linker. So, Velsharoon worshipers have infiltrated the church of Kelemvor in Cauldron and are working with the Cagewrights as well as the Cult of the Dragon.

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

JD, what are your plans for Caine? Are you going to let the party search for him or will you be bringing him back yourself, maybe at some crucial moment later in the campaign?
Both plots look appealing, although the first does have a "The Search for Spock" kinda feel to it.

 

[Ilmyryn]

JD, or other DMs running this adventure. How did you handle Zenith trajectory. Specifically they give no info on how to get to Bhal-Hamtugn, other than an entrance to the underdark. Is the party just supposed to wander around the underdark until they run into this place? I know my players will balk at this prospect. I have thought of having celeste provide a map or some such, but that seems a bit too convenient.

Any thoughts?

 

[LordVyreth]

Jolly, have you read up on Lords of Oblivion yet, and when will the group start playing it? Or have they already? What are your comments, if any, on how you think the encounters will go? The first chapter with the thieves' guild looks laughably easy, but the second chapter is almost guaranteed to be a TPK if the party goes a hack and slash route. You know the players better than any of us; how do you think they'll handle it. Also, what did you think of the final battle? I thought it looked pretty easy, and I don't think Lord Valantru (or however his name is spelled,) will last a round unless he beats a vast majority of the group's initiative, which is sad for what was the main villain up to this point. Hard to believe we have another three adventures after this one, isn't it?

 

[bbarrington]

JD, or other DMs running this adventure. How did you handle Zenith trajectory. Specifically they give no info on how to get to Bhal-Hamtugn, other than an entrance to the underdark. Is the party just supposed to wander around the underdark until they run into this place? I know my players will balk at this prospect. I have thought of having celeste provide a map or some such, but that seems a bit too convenient.

Any thoughts?

Pg.43 of Dungeon 102 "The Fissure" states its ten miles to Bhal-Hamatugn. I just played it as a straight shot from the fissure to the temple.

 

[gfunk]

JD, or other DMs running this adventure. How did you handle Zenith trajectory. Specifically they give no info on how to get to Bhal-Hamtugn, other than an entrance to the underdark.
Any thoughts?

I don't know how it was handled in the module, but in our campaign, JollyDoc used Jarrod the crazed Bard as the info source for the location of the Kuo-Toan city. Either that or we simply made a bee-line towards the city upon entering the Underdark.

Jolly, have you read up on Lords of Oblivion yet, and when will the group start playing it? Or have they already?

They have started Lords according to JollyDoc. The first encounter was a breeze, though an important antagonist escaped. I haven't read the module though, so I can't say how the final encounter might go.

I plan on stopping by to hang with the fellas in the last week in June so if they are running the final encounter AND JollyDoc lets me participate, then I guarantee multiple fatalities.

Starting with Rusty . . . to put an end to his accursed revifications!

 

[cidak]

Lord Valantru ..snip.., which is sad for what was the main villain up to this point. Hard to believe we have another three adventures after this one, isn't it?

He certainly has been the public face. However we are still to see the head of the temple of Velsharoon, Embril Aloustinai who is by now a very high level Mystic Theurge, the Arch Demon Adimarchus from Test of the Smoking Eye as well as other senior Cagewrights, not to mention Hookface the powerful Red Dragon, who's son the Party encountered in Zenith Trajectory. So I think there will be enough BBEG's out there to keep the party busy. .

I must admit that this series gets better and better as it goes on. Keep rolling.

 

[LordVyreth]

The first chapter with the thieves' guild looks laughably easy, but the second chapter is almost guaranteed to be a TPK if the party goes a hack and slash route.

Well, so much for that theory, I guess. I'm surprised they handled what was essentially an EL 20 encounter so well, though, despite the element of surprise. That's got to help them catch up with the levels. Will you be adding some of the survivors to the final battle, Jolly? Also, are you actively looking for new players to replace Gfunk and Wathros' player?

 

[JollyDoc]

Well, so much for that theory, I guess. I'm surprised they handled what was essentially an EL 20 encounter so well, though, despite the element of surprise. That's got to help them catch up with the levels. Will you be adding some of the survivors to the final battle, Jolly? Also, are you actively looking for new players to replace Gfunk and Wathros' player?

Sorry for the delays in answering some of these questions guys. I must have missed the posts. Gfunk answered the question about Bhal-Hamatugn. Crazy Jered knew the way, and drew them a rough map. After that, it was just a matter of calculating how long it would take them and checking for random encounters along the way.

I was pretty surprised about the outcome with the LoO's. However, the group came in through the observatory, instead of the front door. They basically stumbled into the ballroom and the meeting. As Joachim mentioned, the party was buffed, anticipating some sort of battle. The LoO's, on the other hand, were not, as no alarm had been raised. Also, as it states in the module, not all of the adversaries there are itching for a fight. Mhad, for instance, stayed out of it completely, only sending her dread wraith in, but thanks to Grimm, and his force effect weapon, that was no challenge. Also, the confined space worked against the villains. Dalthon managed to toss off a maximized fireball into the room and killed the necromance before he even reached initiative. He damaged the priest of Cyric so badly, that he spent the rest of the battle desperately trying to heal himself, and ultimately ended up leaping out a window to escape. Also, Kiko was unbeatable. He had stone skin cast on him, and his AC was up around 35 or so. His reflex saves are great, and he has evasion, so few spells could touch him, plus he has SR of 24 now. That and he has improved trip. He was a melee nightmare. Thifirane teleported out with her shield guardian and the ogre mage, who was down, but regenerating. Mhad escaped on her own. Thifirane and the ogre mage will be showing up at Vhalantru's place. As for Vhalantru himself, I may change the template that he has. Gfunk has given me some ideas that tie in with the Liche Queen story hour, namely the possibility of using one of those templates, or the pseudonatural one so that I can bring Entropy's role into the story a bit more. We'll see.

As for players, we are having a problem with that. Lee/Wathros left in a huff a few month's ago, and frankly, that was probably for the best. We replaced him with Ricky/Kiko, a great player. G is another issue. Hard to replace. We had Eddie/Dalthon, and his brother Fred/Kylon (whom you haven't seen yet in the SH), but home/personal issues with them have prevented them from playing regularly. So, currently we have Richard/Grimm, Brian/Rusty, Chris/Tilly and Ricky/Kiko. Rusty has gained a cohort, so that will help. We have one more player in the wings, a guy who used to play with us awhile back, but had to quit because he was working on a master's degree. He finishes that in August, and has said he plans to rejoin us. Also, we hope (strong hint) that Gfunk may find time to join us as he can.

 

[LordVyreth]

Sorry for the delays in answering some of these questions guys. I must have missed the posts. Gfunk answered the question about Bhal-Hamatugn. Crazy Jered knew the way, and drew them a rough map. After that, it was just a matter of calculating how long it would take them and checking for random encounters along the way.

I was pretty surprised about the outcome with the LoO's. However, the group came in through the observatory, instead of the front door. They basically stumbled into the ballroom and the meeting. As Joachim mentioned, the party was buffed, anticipating some sort of battle. The LoO's, on the other hand, were not, as no alarm had been raised. Also, as it states in the module, not all of the adversaries there are itching for a fight. Mhad, for instance, stayed out of it completely, only sending her dread wraith in, but thanks to Grimm, and his force effect weapon, that was no challenge. Also, the confined space worked against the villains. Dalthon managed to toss off a maximized fireball into the room and killed the necromance before he even reached initiative. He damaged the priest of Cyric so badly, that he spent the rest of the battle desperately trying to heal himself, and ultimately ended up leaping out a window to escape. Also, Kiko was unbeatable. He had stone skin cast on him, and his AC was up around 35 or so. His reflex saves are great, and he has evasion, so few spells could touch him, plus he has SR of 24 now. That and he has improved trip. He was a melee nightmare. Thifirane teleported out with her shield guardian and the ogre mage, who was down, but regenerating. Mhad escaped on her own. Thifirane and the ogre mage will be showing up at Vhalantru's place. As for Vhalantru himself, I may change the template that he has. Gfunk has given me some ideas that tie in with the Liche Queen story hour, namely the possibility of using one of those templates, or the pseudonatural one so that I can bring Entropy's role into the story a bit more. We'll see.

As for players, we are having a problem with that. Lee/Wathros left in a huff a few month's ago, and frankly, that was probably for the best. We replaced him with Ricky/Kiko, a great player. G is another issue. Hard to replace. We had Eddie/Dalthon, and his brother Fred/Kylon (whom you haven't seen yet in the SH), but home/personal issues with them have prevented them from playing regularly. So, currently we have Richard/Grimm, Brian/Rusty, Chris/Tilly and Ricky/Kiko. Rusty has gained a cohort, so that will help. We have one more player in the wings, a guy who used to play with us awhile back, but had to quit because he was working on a master's degree. He finishes that in August, and has said he plans to rejoin us. Also, we hope (strong hint) that Gfunk may find time to join us as he can.

Well, with help, Vhalantru will probably be a lot harder, especially if he can hang back and concentrate on using his eye rays and antimagic cone, instead of that still "float up and bite them" tactic that the module recommends.

I'm sorry to hear that Lee's exit was so unpleasant. I had a few players departures in my current campaign (the one I'm doing the Story Hour on,) as well, and they were always hard to deal with, both in-game and out. What made him so mad, if it's not too personal a question? We might be able to form a "DMs with disgruntled players" support group!