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MrPereira's WOTBS D&D 3.5 Campaign (SPOILERS IN THE POSTS)
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<blockquote data-quote="Mrpereira" data-source="post: 6744841" data-attributes="member: 6781484"><p><strong>Chapter 3 continued (Session 5)</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>The party:</strong></p><p><strong>Galion – Elf ranger lvl. 6</strong></p><p><strong>Shaith – Fire elf fire domain wizard lvl. 6</strong></p><p><strong>Killian – Human priest of Heironious lvl. 3 / Church Inquisitor 1 / Ordained champion 2</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>NPC:</strong></p><p><strong>Torrent</strong></p><p><strong>Katrina</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>February 19 & 20</strong></p><p><em>DM Note: The session started as the meeting from last session was concluded. Since it had been about a moth since our last session and we had ended at a late hour, I started by giving them a short recap of what they had learned about teleportation.</em></p><p></p><p>Kiernan asked the players to try and help out in the town while they were there. A lot of people had some problems that needed handling, and with all the tension building, it would be nice if someone would try and do something to keep the tension down.</p><p>DM Note: At one point they met Commander Foebane, and he invited them to a game of conquest. They would love for their characters to play the game, in-game, but the real life players had no interest in playing a kind of board game / simulated board game. We ended up rolling some dice and that resolved it. I will have to think of something later in the campaign when he wants to play again.</p><p></p><p>The party went about the town listening to rumors and tried to figure out what to do. The first thing that really caught their attention was the dragon and they story about the dragon’s egg. They spend most of the first day trying to figure out how to solve the problem.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: I am pretty sure that they were picturing a not so big dragon, that they could beat down if need be – and of course loot the treasure. I decided that their course of action would need to change, as I had a very bad feeling as how it would end. I decided to pull them a bit by their noses by having Laurabec meeting them while they were walking around the tent camp. </em></p><p></p><p>She was just leaving a tent visibly annoyed when she spotted them. Having met them at the council meeting she had a positive opinion of them and asked if they were free, as she could use a little help with a big problem she had. She told them about the project of uniting the faiths in a single place of worship, and that she was coming nowhere with any of them.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: I expanded the NPC material for the eight leaders of the faiths in much the same way as I had with the council meeting. Only instead of preparing speeches I prepared knowledge checks and gather information checks, so they could figure out how to solve the individual cases. It ended up being a kind of mini game or tiny puzzles if you want, in which they had to figure out how to soften up the leader and then figure out how to do it. It was a lot more fun than I had expected, and they spent quite a lot of time on this quest. It ended up being quite a long almost pure roleplaying scene, with only the few dice rolls to solve the knowledge checks – they mostly role-played through the gather information parts. They really enjoyed the diversity in the individual puzzles.</em></p><p></p><p>The party ended up spending almost two days with solving the problem of getting the leaders to accept the new common place of worship. In the end they managed to convince six of the eight leaders, and fortunately the last two caved in and accepted the common solution. </p><p></p><p><strong>February 21</strong></p><p>After getting the acceptance of all the leaders Laurabec had invited the leaders and the PCs to join her at the site of the new place of worship. But as one could have expected the alliance among the faiths was not very solid and the meeting soon turned into a big discussion about who would do what, and mostly who would pay.</p><p></p><p>The meeting seemed to be going nowhere and Laurabec was getting distraught again. Galion ended up cutting through the big discussion and getting everyone’s attention. He confronted them about their fears and ended up asking, what could be done to help solving the problem. The leader of the Seaquen faith told them that he had heard that the dragon had a Lyre of Building, and if someone could get a hold on that item, there would not be any problems whatsoever.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: With their big interest in going to the dragon they accepted without batting an eyelash <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></em></p><p></p><p>The party started by going Lyceum and asked Kiernan if he could get someone to try and locate the egg, while they went into the swamp to have a nice chat with the dragon.</p><p>Kiernan said he would see what he could do. He told them not to hurt or kill the dragon. The party looked at each other a bit surprised; in their eyes a Green Dragon usually is a problem to be solved. Kiernan told them that Seaquen’s location was its best defense, and a swamp with a dragon is an even better natural defense than just a swamp. That argument made sense to the players.</p><p><em></em></p><p><em>DM Note: I decided that she must have some kind of accord with Lyceum for them to tolerate each other. And with dragons being quite territorial it made sense to me, that she would take offense towards any kind of army marching right through her homeland. And from the dragon’s perspective she would be more likely to ally with Seaquen than Ragesia, as she clearly fear the mages at Lyceum. Better the devil you know…</em></p><p></p><p><strong>February 22 – 24</strong></p><p>The journey to the dragon’s lair and back again through swamp took three days. By now they had a different approach than it seemed like they had originally. The called out to the dragon and asked to parlay. The dragon arrived and was a lot bigger than the party had hoped for. She told them that she wanted them to bring her egg back. They asked her about the lyre, and she told them that if they brought the egg and the thief, she would lend them the lyre for 30 days, while keeping the thief for the same amount of time as collateral… or dinner.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: I couldn’t help myself – I wanted to see what they said to that. They were actually appropriately cowed so they didn’t dare argue with her <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite6" alt=":cool:" title="Cool :cool:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":cool:" /></em></p><p></p><p><strong>February 25</strong></p><p>They talk with Kiernan who has deduced who the culprit is, but not where the egg is. They confront the thief, who is not really interested in wasting his time on the PCs. Killian ask him what it would take to get the egg from him. </p><p><em></em></p><p><em>DM Note: I had him play a very cautious guy when it came to dealing his stolen goods. He never at one point acknowledged that he had the egg, but kept talking about the egg in ‘if – terms’. “I have heard that dragon eggs are worth quite a lot to the right buyer… IF one were to get one’s hands on one of those”…</em></p><p></p><p>In the end they settled on a price for the egg and went to Lyceum to talk with Kiernan. They did not have the kind of money needed and actually they were doing this for the town, as he had asked – and actually solving two problems at once. He was not really happy, but ended up paying for the egg.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: They party already were finally in a town. They had spent all their loot money on new items, bringing them up to level with their equipment. It didn’t really make sense to expect them to dish out that amount of cash for something that they in the end could live with not doing. So I had Lyceum cave in, as Kiernan probably could not live with riots in the town and an angry green dragon.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>February 26-27</strong></p><p>They travel back to the dragon with the egg and the thief, and she happily gives them the lyre as promised. She is very happy to have her egg back. The trip back is eventless.</p><p></p><p><strong>February 28</strong></p><p>After delivering the Lyre the building the building begins. The players having done their part resume their wandering around town to help out. This time they stumble upon another burning house, and track the culprits, two flaming rat swarms.</p><p></p><p><strong>March 1</strong></p><p>Kiernan sends a message for them to come to Lyceum, he has another task for them. Feeling that they do owe him a little goodwill after paying 10.000 gp for the egg, they decide to go up and meet him and help him</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: I had the thief asking a lot, and they forgot to negotiate <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> I guess they were just too taken back about the price that they never did. I suppose they thought that no matter what kind of negotiation they were to make, they would never be willing to pay that price anyway.</em></p><p></p><p>Kiernan wants them to have a chat with another of Seaquens natural defenses; the goblins in the swamp. He wants the players to arrange for a save passage through the swamp for all refugees, and to ask the goblins what that would take.</p><p></p><p>They travel out in the swamp, once again, and at nightfall make their camp at the outskirts of the goblin territory, where they meet the wife of the goblin king, who talks to them about what they are doing there. They tell her the wishes of Seaquen and ask what it would take. She tells them that any paths through their territory would have to be a path marked with poles on each side making it a safe zone to travel through. Any travelers moving off the path would be fair game. Also, she wanted to have a real chef come and cook for the king, to have the three tieflings killed, some magical trinkets and finally having a safe conduct agreement for the goblins to go to Seaquen and Lyceum to trade without being attacked. </p><p></p><p>Having already killed witches, that part was easy. As to the other demands they had to go home and deliver them. They didn’t think that the marked path would be a problem, but the goblins in town might be. Also, they would be surprised if a chef was given to the goblins, but if they were to hire and pay one, they ought to have a chance. She agreed to the latter part.</p><p></p><p><strong>March 2</strong></p><p>They return to Seaquen and tell Kiernan the demands. He finds them very reasonable and thanks the players for their effort. He will see if there is a chef among the refugees who would like a job and send a message to the goblins accepting their demands.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: I could sense that the players were not in a mood for hunting down the goblin king in the swamp. They had a lot of fun talking to his wife, but the many tiny missions were wearing thin, so I cut it short here.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>March 3-7</strong></p><p>The players take a deserved break. They try a bit half-heartedly to find the missing girls. They look around a bit and then decide to talk to Cernaban about it. He changes from friendly and nice to a real mob boss, which results in the players backing down. They never did find out exactly what happened.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: They walked around town and showed only cursory interest in the Tattoo parlour and none in the Biomancy shop. They didn’t even look inside and see Paradim again – he will return later in the story instead. They also spend an afternoon at the rehearsals, and I had them watch the fourth act of the show as the part they were rehearsing that day. Tiljann of course joined the auditions and got a part in the show earlier in the chapter, so they also spend some time visiting her. </em></p><p><em>I had an old bard from Lyceum look them up one evening; he wanted to see if it was true that there was a Seela in town. He had met Etinifi long ago when he came through. This makes Tiljann very happy, and the party made no real note of it.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>March 8</strong></p><p>Today is the Day of the premiere of the big show. The party goes to the harbor with their tickets and they are feeling a bit nervous. They have a feeling that something is up.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: I decided that Giorgio had given out vouchers and not tickets and the council meeting. The players went to the harbor one of the other days to convert the vouchers to tickets. I did this as there was limited space up front in the theater and the real dignitaries would of course get a front row seat. The players along with the other special guests, Katrina and Haddin, would not be given these first class tickets, but instead got tickets for seats further back.</em></p><p></p><p>At the dock they meet Katrina and Crystin, much to their surprise. She tells them that her father had no intention of using his ticket, so she took it. She can see from her ticket that she is placed right next to the players, Torrent and Katrina.</p><p></p><p>As they enter the theater they notice that the weather is taking a turn for the worse, and are quite relieved that the inside of the theater is quite calm and even, not swaying with the sea.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: I wrote up the story of the show so it would be easier to deliver in a dramatic way, filling in some more things and happenings. I also added some different special effects and told them when the light went up and down, when the music rose and fell. It had them quite captivated. I think they had expected a few lines of the show is about this and that. </em></p><p><em>Sadly I am not sure how much help my notes on the play would be to anyone, as I wrote them up in Danish <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/ponder.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":hmm:" title="Hmmm :hmm:" data-shortname=":hmm:" />Anyway, back to the story. </em></p><p></p><p>The party watched the show and act one and two passed by having the full attention of everyone in the theatre. </p><p><em></em></p><p><em>DM Note: I did change the story a bit at this point; I had act three begin as well as I had something special in mind. For that reason I had written the story about the elemental mages fighting the dragon, and presented it to the players.</em></p><p></p><p>The third act started with elemental mages gathering at the mountain mourning the death of their friend. They then decide to kill the dragon and to avenge Toteth Topec. They finally track down the dragon and the fight beings.</p><p></p><p>First the Earth elemental mage tried and failed to kill the dragon. Second was the fire elemental wizard. He used his powers to gather a gigantic ball of flame, which I then had exploding in the theater killing everyone in a gigantic blast of fire. </p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: Since they were in a extradimensional space, enhanced with a lot of special effects I thought that it would be natural that these environments had an influence on Crystin’s gift. This time the entire party took part in the premonition and saw their death in a big ball of fire.</em></p><p></p><p>The party blinks their eyes stunned at what just happened. Act three is just beginning and the mages are mourning at mountain. Crystin gasps “Stop him” and point at a figure about to climb the stairs and leave the theater.They of course follow him, and in the process recognize him as Giogio. Once outside the fight begins and they recognize the two henchmen from Lee’s place.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: They did not connect the dots at this point, only now remembering the initial encounter with these guys.</em></p><p></p><p>The fight starts out bad for the party but soon the tables are turned. The half-orcs die and the rogue suffers an embarrassing capture. She is blinded by a glitterdust going blind. She drinks her water breathing potion and jumps overboard. As she does not know the spell she thinks she is safe sitting still at the bottom of the harbor.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: I almost felt sorry for the poor girl.</em></p><p></p><p>Giorgio teleports off the ship and escaped, just as the rest of the guests started to come up through the hatch. Outside the weather had taken a turn to the worse, and everyone hurried to the shore. The players went with the mages to Lyceum to talk with the captive.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: Giorgio might have escaped the ship, but he had nowhere to go. He tried to find some shelter from the storm, but sadly it was not his night. He was killed by the raging storm only to be found afterwards with a broken neck and back.</em></p><p></p><p>While trying to get answers from the captured thief they watch the doomed attempt of the Lyceum fisherman fleet trying to break the blockade. The meaningless deaths of the fleet make them quite sad. They do not get many answers from their captive, who is quite willing to talk. She just doesn’t know much.</p><p>The storm grows stronger and just as the players are convinced that it is a part of an elven plot to subjugate Seaquen they watch the storm breaking the blockade, sinking quite a few ships of the elven fleet.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: They did not see that coming <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite6" alt=":cool:" title="Cool :cool:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":cool:" /></em></p><p></p><p>The storm grows stronger and Simeon deduces where the eye of the storm is, asking the players to try and stop the madness. </p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: I thought they might need the help, so I let Lyceum lend another tear to Katrina, so she could join the party.</em></p><p></p><p>The trip to the prison and first part of the prison doesn’t really take much effort for the party. The first real hindrance is the portal to the other plane, which stop them for a while. They do not feel safe and don’t really feel like going through. In the end, they do go through, though. </p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: It might have been me misunderstanding something when I read about the portal, but I did manage to put a big fear in them. They were pretty sure it was a one-way trip to Ragesia. At this point they were sure it was Ragesia who was behind the plot.</em></p><p></p><p>They go through the portal and are greeted by bow wielding Ragesians who enjoy shooting at the sitting ducks. After the players reached the ground, the situation changed and the Ragesians died fast.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: The look in Shaith’s face as he realized that his firespells worked a lot better AND the opponents weren’t immune to fire was priceless. He had felt it was a tough trip through the Inenotdar forest.</em></p><p></p><p>They notice the entrance to the tomb, but decide to let it be for now, as they expect more resistance down here, and have other doors to check first. At the end of the dungeon they face another inquisitor, underlining their suspicion, Ragesia are behind this plot.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: The inquisitor did manage to hurt them a little, first with his fire wall, and then by dispelling Killian, who was pretty buffed up. That more or less took him out of the fight, and actually also put him at a major disadvantage at the final fight, as his boon was dispelled as well.</em></p><p></p><p>After the fight they find two survivors, who can tell them a bit about the situation. They describe another person in league with the Ragesians, and from their descriptions the players deduce it is Lee. Torrent is really upset, and feels betrayed. The prisoners also tell that Lee took some kind of control device. They head back out of the prison ready to head back to town to tell Simeon and Kiernan about Lee’s involvement. As they leave the front door they are surprised by Lee who is waiting for them</p><p></p><p><em>DM note: With Killian dispelled he had trouble leaving the entrance, as the waters kept him there. It made the fight a little harder for the others, as they were one man down. He eventually got the tear from Katrina, who stayed inside.</em></p><p></p><p>Lee manages to hurt them a little but in the end he is rather easily killed, thanks to Gillions bow shooting, crowned by a critical that killed him. As he is slain he turns his face to the heavens and shouts: ”Master let your winds destroy them”. The winds then tear him apart.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: At that point they did not take much note of the phrase, so I let it slip for now. Later in chapter four when they had a little time to think I had them have a conversation about this encounter, as something seemed to be a little off. I had them recall this moment and slowly it dawned on them what had annoyed them in the back of their head. Every time they had med an inquisitor, they had been in charge, and it was also what they had learned about Ragesia in general. However, it seemed that in this case it hadn’t been the Inquisitor, or at least he had shared that position with Lee. Also, I had them recall the shout to the heavens; the wording of ‘Master’ had been clearly male and not Mistress as it ought to have been if it had been Leeska. But that was as I said only later that they realized this. At this point they were sure that the Ragesians did this all by themselves.</em></p><p></p><p>As the party head back to town victoriously they see Laurabec’s mount fly in their direction. It lands and tells with a voice filled with sorrow, that his mistress is dead. She died helping those in need in the storm. He also tells them that his mistress respected them a lot and was very grateful for their help with uniting the leaders. He tells them that he is sure that his mistress would have wanted them to have her weapon as a memento. He then bids them goodbye and flies off.</p><p></p><p><em>DM Note: They sold the Ranseur first chance they got – no one used a weapon like that. So much for sentimentality <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/erm.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":erm:" title="Erm :erm:" data-shortname=":erm:" /> After the fight I paraphrased a little about what happened in the town after the storm, as a week would pass until next time. I had Paradim arrested for kidnapping the girls, and experimenting on them. This is important as the jail has burned down the next time they arrive in Seaquen. </em></p><p></p><p><em>End of chapter musings: This chapter was very different from the others with much larger focus on roleplaying and having a massive NPC gallery. It worked out well for us, but mostly because I did a lot of preparation before playing the chapter. The Unity through Diversity mission, for instance, worked very well, but mostly because I had given NPCs a more detailed background. </em></p><p><em>The council meeting was the highlight in this chapter, but I can easily see it being a flat and quite boring experience if handled the wrong way. </em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>I am pretty sure that the way I did it, was the only way that scene could be as great as it ended being with my party. That’s not to say that it is the best solution for everyone, as it puts quite a big pressure on the players and their performance.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Another high point was again that the players had no idea as to whom or what was the bad guy, changing several times throughout the chapter. Keeping the party guessing and never knowing what to expect is part of what has made it a great experience so far. It also has the players wanting to know more; they are still in the dark and eagerly wait for the next session in the hope of getting enlightened.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>The chapter also has some weak points, at least if the party is not up to the challenge. There are some long stretches where nothing really happens unless the players seek things out. That can kill the momentum of the story. Also the many side missions that add a lot to make Seaquen a thriving and living town were a good thing in my campaign, but can be a killer in other campaigns, as they don’t drive the story forward.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>The amount of NPCs is a thing I like a lot, but also see as a weak point. The players all but drown in names and NPCs in this chapter. They end up losing track of somethings, in my campaign it was the two half-orcs and Paradim. One could add, though, that it simulates real life quite well <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" />.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>In this chapter I really felt the lack of good handouts and pictures for the NPCs. It would have been nice if the entire council had been on a picture that could have been given as handout. I hate to have a scene like that, where half the people have a portrait in the art work of the adventure, and the rest don’t. Also, a poster for the show would have been a nice touch. From what I have seen of Zeitgeist, that is something that has been improved upon, which is good, and makes me want to run the AP after this one.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>A final thing is the way the encounters have been placed in the chapter. If you play with XP, you will have a bit of a challenge to get the players to level up at the right point in the story (not just in this chapter), so I will recommend to anyone planning on plying this AP to consider keeping XP out of the equation (except for Item creators, that will need a little adjustment), it makes things easier to run as a DM</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>All in all, we had a lot of fun roleplaying through the adventure and despite having some periods that could have been a little “dead” the players did not feel that way, luckily. The first two chapters were in my opinion better, but this was in no way a bad chapter, and our council meeting is still remembered and referenced.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mrpereira, post: 6744841, member: 6781484"] [B]Chapter 3 continued (Session 5) The party: Galion – Elf ranger lvl. 6 Shaith – Fire elf fire domain wizard lvl. 6 Killian – Human priest of Heironious lvl. 3 / Church Inquisitor 1 / Ordained champion 2 NPC: Torrent Katrina February 19 & 20[/B] [I]DM Note: The session started as the meeting from last session was concluded. Since it had been about a moth since our last session and we had ended at a late hour, I started by giving them a short recap of what they had learned about teleportation.[/I] Kiernan asked the players to try and help out in the town while they were there. A lot of people had some problems that needed handling, and with all the tension building, it would be nice if someone would try and do something to keep the tension down. DM Note: At one point they met Commander Foebane, and he invited them to a game of conquest. They would love for their characters to play the game, in-game, but the real life players had no interest in playing a kind of board game / simulated board game. We ended up rolling some dice and that resolved it. I will have to think of something later in the campaign when he wants to play again. The party went about the town listening to rumors and tried to figure out what to do. The first thing that really caught their attention was the dragon and they story about the dragon’s egg. They spend most of the first day trying to figure out how to solve the problem. [I]DM Note: I am pretty sure that they were picturing a not so big dragon, that they could beat down if need be – and of course loot the treasure. I decided that their course of action would need to change, as I had a very bad feeling as how it would end. I decided to pull them a bit by their noses by having Laurabec meeting them while they were walking around the tent camp. [/I] She was just leaving a tent visibly annoyed when she spotted them. Having met them at the council meeting she had a positive opinion of them and asked if they were free, as she could use a little help with a big problem she had. She told them about the project of uniting the faiths in a single place of worship, and that she was coming nowhere with any of them. [I]DM Note: I expanded the NPC material for the eight leaders of the faiths in much the same way as I had with the council meeting. Only instead of preparing speeches I prepared knowledge checks and gather information checks, so they could figure out how to solve the individual cases. It ended up being a kind of mini game or tiny puzzles if you want, in which they had to figure out how to soften up the leader and then figure out how to do it. It was a lot more fun than I had expected, and they spent quite a lot of time on this quest. It ended up being quite a long almost pure roleplaying scene, with only the few dice rolls to solve the knowledge checks – they mostly role-played through the gather information parts. They really enjoyed the diversity in the individual puzzles.[/I] The party ended up spending almost two days with solving the problem of getting the leaders to accept the new common place of worship. In the end they managed to convince six of the eight leaders, and fortunately the last two caved in and accepted the common solution. [B]February 21[/B] After getting the acceptance of all the leaders Laurabec had invited the leaders and the PCs to join her at the site of the new place of worship. But as one could have expected the alliance among the faiths was not very solid and the meeting soon turned into a big discussion about who would do what, and mostly who would pay. The meeting seemed to be going nowhere and Laurabec was getting distraught again. Galion ended up cutting through the big discussion and getting everyone’s attention. He confronted them about their fears and ended up asking, what could be done to help solving the problem. The leader of the Seaquen faith told them that he had heard that the dragon had a Lyre of Building, and if someone could get a hold on that item, there would not be any problems whatsoever. [I]DM Note: With their big interest in going to the dragon they accepted without batting an eyelash :D[/I] The party started by going Lyceum and asked Kiernan if he could get someone to try and locate the egg, while they went into the swamp to have a nice chat with the dragon. Kiernan said he would see what he could do. He told them not to hurt or kill the dragon. The party looked at each other a bit surprised; in their eyes a Green Dragon usually is a problem to be solved. Kiernan told them that Seaquen’s location was its best defense, and a swamp with a dragon is an even better natural defense than just a swamp. That argument made sense to the players. [I] DM Note: I decided that she must have some kind of accord with Lyceum for them to tolerate each other. And with dragons being quite territorial it made sense to me, that she would take offense towards any kind of army marching right through her homeland. And from the dragon’s perspective she would be more likely to ally with Seaquen than Ragesia, as she clearly fear the mages at Lyceum. Better the devil you know…[/I] [B]February 22 – 24[/B] The journey to the dragon’s lair and back again through swamp took three days. By now they had a different approach than it seemed like they had originally. The called out to the dragon and asked to parlay. The dragon arrived and was a lot bigger than the party had hoped for. She told them that she wanted them to bring her egg back. They asked her about the lyre, and she told them that if they brought the egg and the thief, she would lend them the lyre for 30 days, while keeping the thief for the same amount of time as collateral… or dinner. [I]DM Note: I couldn’t help myself – I wanted to see what they said to that. They were actually appropriately cowed so they didn’t dare argue with her :cool:[/I] [B]February 25[/B] They talk with Kiernan who has deduced who the culprit is, but not where the egg is. They confront the thief, who is not really interested in wasting his time on the PCs. Killian ask him what it would take to get the egg from him. [I] DM Note: I had him play a very cautious guy when it came to dealing his stolen goods. He never at one point acknowledged that he had the egg, but kept talking about the egg in ‘if – terms’. “I have heard that dragon eggs are worth quite a lot to the right buyer… IF one were to get one’s hands on one of those”…[/I] In the end they settled on a price for the egg and went to Lyceum to talk with Kiernan. They did not have the kind of money needed and actually they were doing this for the town, as he had asked – and actually solving two problems at once. He was not really happy, but ended up paying for the egg. [I]DM Note: They party already were finally in a town. They had spent all their loot money on new items, bringing them up to level with their equipment. It didn’t really make sense to expect them to dish out that amount of cash for something that they in the end could live with not doing. So I had Lyceum cave in, as Kiernan probably could not live with riots in the town and an angry green dragon.[/I] [B]February 26-27[/B] They travel back to the dragon with the egg and the thief, and she happily gives them the lyre as promised. She is very happy to have her egg back. The trip back is eventless. [B]February 28[/B] After delivering the Lyre the building the building begins. The players having done their part resume their wandering around town to help out. This time they stumble upon another burning house, and track the culprits, two flaming rat swarms. [B]March 1[/B] Kiernan sends a message for them to come to Lyceum, he has another task for them. Feeling that they do owe him a little goodwill after paying 10.000 gp for the egg, they decide to go up and meet him and help him [I]DM Note: I had the thief asking a lot, and they forgot to negotiate :D I guess they were just too taken back about the price that they never did. I suppose they thought that no matter what kind of negotiation they were to make, they would never be willing to pay that price anyway.[/I] Kiernan wants them to have a chat with another of Seaquens natural defenses; the goblins in the swamp. He wants the players to arrange for a save passage through the swamp for all refugees, and to ask the goblins what that would take. They travel out in the swamp, once again, and at nightfall make their camp at the outskirts of the goblin territory, where they meet the wife of the goblin king, who talks to them about what they are doing there. They tell her the wishes of Seaquen and ask what it would take. She tells them that any paths through their territory would have to be a path marked with poles on each side making it a safe zone to travel through. Any travelers moving off the path would be fair game. Also, she wanted to have a real chef come and cook for the king, to have the three tieflings killed, some magical trinkets and finally having a safe conduct agreement for the goblins to go to Seaquen and Lyceum to trade without being attacked. Having already killed witches, that part was easy. As to the other demands they had to go home and deliver them. They didn’t think that the marked path would be a problem, but the goblins in town might be. Also, they would be surprised if a chef was given to the goblins, but if they were to hire and pay one, they ought to have a chance. She agreed to the latter part. [B]March 2[/B] They return to Seaquen and tell Kiernan the demands. He finds them very reasonable and thanks the players for their effort. He will see if there is a chef among the refugees who would like a job and send a message to the goblins accepting their demands. [I]DM Note: I could sense that the players were not in a mood for hunting down the goblin king in the swamp. They had a lot of fun talking to his wife, but the many tiny missions were wearing thin, so I cut it short here.[/I] [B]March 3-7[/B] The players take a deserved break. They try a bit half-heartedly to find the missing girls. They look around a bit and then decide to talk to Cernaban about it. He changes from friendly and nice to a real mob boss, which results in the players backing down. They never did find out exactly what happened. [I]DM Note: They walked around town and showed only cursory interest in the Tattoo parlour and none in the Biomancy shop. They didn’t even look inside and see Paradim again – he will return later in the story instead. They also spend an afternoon at the rehearsals, and I had them watch the fourth act of the show as the part they were rehearsing that day. Tiljann of course joined the auditions and got a part in the show earlier in the chapter, so they also spend some time visiting her. I had an old bard from Lyceum look them up one evening; he wanted to see if it was true that there was a Seela in town. He had met Etinifi long ago when he came through. This makes Tiljann very happy, and the party made no real note of it.[/I] [B]March 8[/B] Today is the Day of the premiere of the big show. The party goes to the harbor with their tickets and they are feeling a bit nervous. They have a feeling that something is up. [I]DM Note: I decided that Giorgio had given out vouchers and not tickets and the council meeting. The players went to the harbor one of the other days to convert the vouchers to tickets. I did this as there was limited space up front in the theater and the real dignitaries would of course get a front row seat. The players along with the other special guests, Katrina and Haddin, would not be given these first class tickets, but instead got tickets for seats further back.[/I] At the dock they meet Katrina and Crystin, much to their surprise. She tells them that her father had no intention of using his ticket, so she took it. She can see from her ticket that she is placed right next to the players, Torrent and Katrina. As they enter the theater they notice that the weather is taking a turn for the worse, and are quite relieved that the inside of the theater is quite calm and even, not swaying with the sea. [I]DM Note: I wrote up the story of the show so it would be easier to deliver in a dramatic way, filling in some more things and happenings. I also added some different special effects and told them when the light went up and down, when the music rose and fell. It had them quite captivated. I think they had expected a few lines of the show is about this and that. Sadly I am not sure how much help my notes on the play would be to anyone, as I wrote them up in Danish :hmm:Anyway, back to the story. [/I] The party watched the show and act one and two passed by having the full attention of everyone in the theatre. [I] DM Note: I did change the story a bit at this point; I had act three begin as well as I had something special in mind. For that reason I had written the story about the elemental mages fighting the dragon, and presented it to the players.[/I] The third act started with elemental mages gathering at the mountain mourning the death of their friend. They then decide to kill the dragon and to avenge Toteth Topec. They finally track down the dragon and the fight beings. First the Earth elemental mage tried and failed to kill the dragon. Second was the fire elemental wizard. He used his powers to gather a gigantic ball of flame, which I then had exploding in the theater killing everyone in a gigantic blast of fire. [I]DM Note: Since they were in a extradimensional space, enhanced with a lot of special effects I thought that it would be natural that these environments had an influence on Crystin’s gift. This time the entire party took part in the premonition and saw their death in a big ball of fire.[/I] The party blinks their eyes stunned at what just happened. Act three is just beginning and the mages are mourning at mountain. Crystin gasps “Stop him” and point at a figure about to climb the stairs and leave the theater.They of course follow him, and in the process recognize him as Giogio. Once outside the fight begins and they recognize the two henchmen from Lee’s place. [I]DM Note: They did not connect the dots at this point, only now remembering the initial encounter with these guys.[/I] The fight starts out bad for the party but soon the tables are turned. The half-orcs die and the rogue suffers an embarrassing capture. She is blinded by a glitterdust going blind. She drinks her water breathing potion and jumps overboard. As she does not know the spell she thinks she is safe sitting still at the bottom of the harbor. [I]DM Note: I almost felt sorry for the poor girl.[/I] Giorgio teleports off the ship and escaped, just as the rest of the guests started to come up through the hatch. Outside the weather had taken a turn to the worse, and everyone hurried to the shore. The players went with the mages to Lyceum to talk with the captive. [I]DM Note: Giorgio might have escaped the ship, but he had nowhere to go. He tried to find some shelter from the storm, but sadly it was not his night. He was killed by the raging storm only to be found afterwards with a broken neck and back.[/I] While trying to get answers from the captured thief they watch the doomed attempt of the Lyceum fisherman fleet trying to break the blockade. The meaningless deaths of the fleet make them quite sad. They do not get many answers from their captive, who is quite willing to talk. She just doesn’t know much. The storm grows stronger and just as the players are convinced that it is a part of an elven plot to subjugate Seaquen they watch the storm breaking the blockade, sinking quite a few ships of the elven fleet. [I]DM Note: They did not see that coming :cool:[/I] The storm grows stronger and Simeon deduces where the eye of the storm is, asking the players to try and stop the madness. [I]DM Note: I thought they might need the help, so I let Lyceum lend another tear to Katrina, so she could join the party.[/I] The trip to the prison and first part of the prison doesn’t really take much effort for the party. The first real hindrance is the portal to the other plane, which stop them for a while. They do not feel safe and don’t really feel like going through. In the end, they do go through, though. [I]DM Note: It might have been me misunderstanding something when I read about the portal, but I did manage to put a big fear in them. They were pretty sure it was a one-way trip to Ragesia. At this point they were sure it was Ragesia who was behind the plot.[/I] They go through the portal and are greeted by bow wielding Ragesians who enjoy shooting at the sitting ducks. After the players reached the ground, the situation changed and the Ragesians died fast. [I]DM Note: The look in Shaith’s face as he realized that his firespells worked a lot better AND the opponents weren’t immune to fire was priceless. He had felt it was a tough trip through the Inenotdar forest.[/I] They notice the entrance to the tomb, but decide to let it be for now, as they expect more resistance down here, and have other doors to check first. At the end of the dungeon they face another inquisitor, underlining their suspicion, Ragesia are behind this plot. [I]DM Note: The inquisitor did manage to hurt them a little, first with his fire wall, and then by dispelling Killian, who was pretty buffed up. That more or less took him out of the fight, and actually also put him at a major disadvantage at the final fight, as his boon was dispelled as well.[/I] After the fight they find two survivors, who can tell them a bit about the situation. They describe another person in league with the Ragesians, and from their descriptions the players deduce it is Lee. Torrent is really upset, and feels betrayed. The prisoners also tell that Lee took some kind of control device. They head back out of the prison ready to head back to town to tell Simeon and Kiernan about Lee’s involvement. As they leave the front door they are surprised by Lee who is waiting for them [I]DM note: With Killian dispelled he had trouble leaving the entrance, as the waters kept him there. It made the fight a little harder for the others, as they were one man down. He eventually got the tear from Katrina, who stayed inside.[/I] Lee manages to hurt them a little but in the end he is rather easily killed, thanks to Gillions bow shooting, crowned by a critical that killed him. As he is slain he turns his face to the heavens and shouts: ”Master let your winds destroy them”. The winds then tear him apart. [I]DM Note: At that point they did not take much note of the phrase, so I let it slip for now. Later in chapter four when they had a little time to think I had them have a conversation about this encounter, as something seemed to be a little off. I had them recall this moment and slowly it dawned on them what had annoyed them in the back of their head. Every time they had med an inquisitor, they had been in charge, and it was also what they had learned about Ragesia in general. However, it seemed that in this case it hadn’t been the Inquisitor, or at least he had shared that position with Lee. Also, I had them recall the shout to the heavens; the wording of ‘Master’ had been clearly male and not Mistress as it ought to have been if it had been Leeska. But that was as I said only later that they realized this. At this point they were sure that the Ragesians did this all by themselves.[/I] As the party head back to town victoriously they see Laurabec’s mount fly in their direction. It lands and tells with a voice filled with sorrow, that his mistress is dead. She died helping those in need in the storm. He also tells them that his mistress respected them a lot and was very grateful for their help with uniting the leaders. He tells them that he is sure that his mistress would have wanted them to have her weapon as a memento. He then bids them goodbye and flies off. [I]DM Note: They sold the Ranseur first chance they got – no one used a weapon like that. So much for sentimentality :erm: After the fight I paraphrased a little about what happened in the town after the storm, as a week would pass until next time. I had Paradim arrested for kidnapping the girls, and experimenting on them. This is important as the jail has burned down the next time they arrive in Seaquen. [/I] [I]End of chapter musings: This chapter was very different from the others with much larger focus on roleplaying and having a massive NPC gallery. It worked out well for us, but mostly because I did a lot of preparation before playing the chapter. The Unity through Diversity mission, for instance, worked very well, but mostly because I had given NPCs a more detailed background. The council meeting was the highlight in this chapter, but I can easily see it being a flat and quite boring experience if handled the wrong way. I am pretty sure that the way I did it, was the only way that scene could be as great as it ended being with my party. That’s not to say that it is the best solution for everyone, as it puts quite a big pressure on the players and their performance. Another high point was again that the players had no idea as to whom or what was the bad guy, changing several times throughout the chapter. Keeping the party guessing and never knowing what to expect is part of what has made it a great experience so far. It also has the players wanting to know more; they are still in the dark and eagerly wait for the next session in the hope of getting enlightened. The chapter also has some weak points, at least if the party is not up to the challenge. There are some long stretches where nothing really happens unless the players seek things out. That can kill the momentum of the story. Also the many side missions that add a lot to make Seaquen a thriving and living town were a good thing in my campaign, but can be a killer in other campaigns, as they don’t drive the story forward. The amount of NPCs is a thing I like a lot, but also see as a weak point. The players all but drown in names and NPCs in this chapter. They end up losing track of somethings, in my campaign it was the two half-orcs and Paradim. One could add, though, that it simulates real life quite well ;). In this chapter I really felt the lack of good handouts and pictures for the NPCs. It would have been nice if the entire council had been on a picture that could have been given as handout. I hate to have a scene like that, where half the people have a portrait in the art work of the adventure, and the rest don’t. Also, a poster for the show would have been a nice touch. From what I have seen of Zeitgeist, that is something that has been improved upon, which is good, and makes me want to run the AP after this one. A final thing is the way the encounters have been placed in the chapter. If you play with XP, you will have a bit of a challenge to get the players to level up at the right point in the story (not just in this chapter), so I will recommend to anyone planning on plying this AP to consider keeping XP out of the equation (except for Item creators, that will need a little adjustment), it makes things easier to run as a DM All in all, we had a lot of fun roleplaying through the adventure and despite having some periods that could have been a little “dead” the players did not feel that way, luckily. The first two chapters were in my opinion better, but this was in no way a bad chapter, and our council meeting is still remembered and referenced.[/I] [/QUOTE]
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MrPereira's WOTBS D&D 3.5 Campaign (SPOILERS IN THE POSTS)
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