WotBS Oops... Seaquen is no more.

[aartvb]

Okay, slight spoilor for those following along my thread about my war of the burning sky campaign: I just TPK'd my party. Lee, his gargoyles and his squid were way too strong.
So, that means that Lee's plot succeeded: Seaquen is destroyed. What now? I will probably bring him back in adventure 5, but in the meantime: how should I start adventure 4?
It says that the Ragesians would be invading Dassen to take in Seaquen. But if Seaquen is gone, why would they invade Dassen?

 

[RangerWickett]

Hm. Fascinating.

Seaquen devastated doesn't necessarily mean everyone who was there is dead. Some folks could survive and head to try to take refuge with Dassen.

And, of course you want the players to be happy with the story and the characters they make. Do you have any idea what the players are interested in?

Remaining adventures are:

Dassen has a civil war.
Seek help from the monastery to reach Castle Korstull through the firestorm.
Delve the firestorm castle to try to get the Torch.
Keep chasing the trail of the Torch to Ycengled.
Attack the Scourge.
Liberate Gate Pass.
Endgame stuff.

So maybe you'd tell the players, "Make a party of PCs who know each other and have worked together, and who have reasons to oppose Ragesia. Please have one person with close ties to Gate Pass who'd want to liberate it, one person with close ties to Dassen, and one person with close ties to the Shahalesti elves. And maybe even have a monk from the Monastery of Two Winds for reasons."

 

[aartvb]

That's a good idea, I'll do that, thanks!
But I'm still having a hard time figuring out why Ragesia would want to go through Dassen to go to Seaquen. Of course not everyone in Seaquen is dead (I'll think of some magic to keep people at Lyceum save for example), but why would Ragesia still see Seaquen as a threat, and make a non-agression pact with Dassen to go through Dassen to Seaquen. Or even beter, can the events in that adventure be put in a different light, to still make sense.

 

[DarkRevenant]

Ultimately, Freedom (the Trillith leader) wouldn't want events in Dassen to go too smoothly. After all, if the Ragesians at Alydi Pass pack up and leave, they really only have two directions to go: either they could leave and go rein in Magdus' remnants in Sindaire, putting Leska in a much better position to recover the Torch, or they could go secure Gate Pass for good. Either of these options are not ideal for the Trillith agenda.

Freedom would want the Ragesians to march through Dassen to either become embroiled in a lengthy land war, occupy Bresk, or march through to Ostalin. So, Madness would be instructed to try and make the Ragesians do just that. Fortunately for her, that's exactly what the Ragesians plan on doing.

Dassen wants to remain neutral, but Madness brings the fearmongering to bear against Ragesia in place of the now-destroyed Seaquen. A good ol' civil war is still on Madness' itinerary, however, so she plays the nobility against each other as usual, scapegoating the PCs wherever they're from. The events of the module still largely play out intact, since ultimately the Ragesian army is going to invade Dassen regardless of what happened to Seaquen.

 

[Tormyr]

Dealing with Seaquen is as much a ruse as anything. Ragesia wants to suppress Dassen as well. Getting through the Alydi Gap is the first step in an invasion of Dassen.

As for how Ragesia's story might change: just because a storm hit Seaquen, Ragesia still needs to move in and make sure that the dangerous elements in Seaquen have been dealt with. And now there is a new urgency, they need to render aid to the survivors.

Another DM that wrote about Seaquen being destroyed had Shaladel take things over and instruct the PCs to try to get aid from Dassen. I think the Resistance moved its stronghold to Dassen as a result of the adventure.

 

[aartvb]

Thanks everyone for the input! I decided to use another motivation: the Ragesians can't seem to get hold of Gate Pass, so they decided to attack Gate Pass from another side as well, by going through Dassen and the forrest of Innenotdar. It made more sense to me. Also, the players couldn't keep their mouth shut about the forest not burning anymore, so it was a nice way to show the consequences: because they told everyone, the Ragesians found out the forest isn't burning anymore, which started this whole Dassen ordeal. Actions have consequences!

 

[aartvb]

Oh, I had Simeon tell the new group as much. Basically insulting the old party, lol.