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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MarkB" data-source="post: 8340856" data-attributes="member: 40176">My party have still only completed the Tests of Cruelty and Endurance - this week they opted to rest off their exhaustion levels and spend some time exploring the shipwrecks, which netted them some nice treasure and one precarious moment where their transport strategy of "airlift via wildshaped druid" left the barbarian alone on a ship facing multiple waves of ghouls. So I've had time to think a little more about the other tests.For the Test of Preservation, I agree that Isarr is a cakewalk as written. The issue is that he's mostly just a threat to the PCs - if he tries to go around them to get to the kid, they'll slaughter him. Rather than boosting his stats, I'm thinking of giving him one or two dire wolf pets, and telegraphing that they are aiming to go straight for the kid.For the Test of Isolation I like it as written, but I'm planning to bump up the atmosphere and emphasise the themes of isolation and madness with some different background effects each day:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Day 1 - DC 10: Eerie silence, darkness so complete that nothing can be made out beyond firelight / darkvision range.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Day 2 - DC 12: Howling winds, seeming to carry half-familiar voices.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Day 3 - DC 14: Dark clouds and a distant storm. Massive shapes seem to move in the darkness, though the intermittent flashes of lightning reveal only empty plains.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Day 4 - DC 16: Scuttling noises, always seeming to come from behind or to one side, ceasing the moment you turn around. Prickling sensations as though tiny legs were crawling up your back.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Day 5 - DC 18: Brief signs of movement in your peripheral vision. Small items around the camp seem to have moved from where you last left them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Day 6 - DC 20: Deep darkness again, but this time it seems to creep ever closer. Darkvision is useless, and shadows cast by flickering firelight or even seem to waver and dance menacingly, while attempts at magical illumination gutter out within moments of casting. Eventually the shadows spread and merge, closing in until only the tiniest ring of firelight remains.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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