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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MarkB" data-source="post: 3455496" data-attributes="member: 40176">Just thought I'd add my own comments to reinforce some of these.Very true. I've run that encounter twice, for different groups, and in one case a character really should have died, whilst in the other, all three of the PCs who were on the ship at the time were knocked down to negative hit points, and it was just random chance that it chose to start eating a downed pirate before finishing them off, allowing the last PC to board the ship and kill it from range.This is with 2nd level characters.My party actually missed out the Crucible entirely - they accessed the lair from the taxidermist's shop, and never saw any of the secret doors leading to the crucible area.What nearly got them killed was the Ixitchoatls (that's close to the right spelling, I think). I'd allowed races and options from Stormwrack, and my seafaring party decided to take on the ixits in the water. Bad idea - with some decent Tumble checks, the ixits managed to inflict extra Skirmish damage with practically every bite, and brought multiple PCs down to single digits despite the cleric standing in the shallows healing them nearly every round. Only some generous interpretation of the drowning rules let the Darfellan barbarian survive after he was reduced to negatives while below water.Good advice. I increased the size of the room, but there's still no real opportunity for Rowyn to strut her stuff and present a serious threat to the party before weight of numbers overwhelm her. She barely managed to tumble out through a gap in the players' ranks and flee down the corridor far enough to drink her potion of Gaseous Form.The Pounce ability is particularly nasty. Attacking a melee-oriented character with decent AC and hitpoints, it dropped him from full health to dying in the surprise round. My party never reached this area. They encountered Harliss first, and then immediately departed to save Lavinia.A truly vicious fight, which saw the first two PC deaths of our campaign, both at the end of the Chief's greatclub. The difficult terrain is a major factor - allies can't 5-foot-step to flank opponents, and if someone scouts ahead - in this case, the party's monk - it can take all too long for the rest of the party to slog through the mud to his aid once battle commences.Not quite so easy in my case, but still a relative pushover. One thing I ensured was that Lavinia had a chance to show off here, slipping free of Drevoraz, then disarming the bullywug shaman to join the battle. They showed a markedly greater appreciation for her once they realised she could fight.That encounter actually preceeded the basement encounter with Chief Lorpth in our game, the PCs making a beeline for the master bedroom on the assumption that Lavinia would be held there.Much the same in my game, except that a PC was watching over Conrad alone when the transformation occurred. Running from the room and slamming the door behind him, he was shocked when the slaad simply employed passwall to step through the wall.His surprise was short-lived, as was the rest of him. One full attack from the slaad was all it took.The flotsam ooze is also a serious danger. Once it grapples, there's basically no way to get free while it's alive, and it gets to make free attacks each round on its engulfed victims. That resulted in one more PC death, and one very close shave.I had a different problem. Due to the above-mentioned deaths and one change of character, suddenly there was nobody left on board the Sea Wyvern who had actually been involved in destroying the Lotus Dragons, and all Rowyn's motivation went out the window.I compromised by having her expend all her efforts in an attempt to destroy the person who had directed those PCs against her - Lavinia. When the Blue Nixie next drew alongside, Rowyn surreptitiously used her summon nature's ally scroll to call down a brace of hippogriffs upon Lavinia, then - in the guise of one of the crew - pretended to train the ship's ballista upon the attacking beasts, instead firing it at Lavinia.The ensuing combat saw Rowyn slain and Lavinia healed back from the brink of death, making an exciting conclusion to that story arc.[quote[3.  I changed a few adventures so I could expand upon Tamoachan, including the intelligent crayfish and hermit crab "gods" from the original adventure.  I also got to use some Spark Lashers (minis handbook) in a fight against the group that was kind of fun.</blockquote>I ran Tamoachan as written. One thing worth noting is that the Will o' Wisp makes a formidable adversary to a party not geared to handle it. Even if they can pinpoint it, its high AC (including Touch AC) means it'll be tough for them to land attacks against it, whilst its +16 electrical touch attack will almost never miss.That's as far as my group has got. It's been very good fun so far, though the deaths during the middle part of the adventure were rather frustrating for my players.[/QUOTE]

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