HenryLockwood
First Post
Well, I've just got back from a weekend running Skyseer for a group of friends. A good time was had by all: people praised the quality of the plot, and the complexity and number of parallel threads. I did change a few things around...
First off, the group had requested a level 4 start. We're not generally very keen on level 1; of course this meant adjusting many of the encounters quite a lot. I also had to prune some of the encounters as we're not a very fast group; typically we manage 3-4 encounters in a full day of play.
Characters were:
Osric, a musket-wielding Ranger
Barhan, a Fighter/Barbarian focused on Power Attack and Intimidate
Zell, a Chirurgeon Alchemist
and Tebrin, a Mechanist Summoner.
We started off with the Coaltongue encounter out of Island at the Axis of the World. This was a big hit: people were a little slow to warm up to the skill challenge for docks security, but the combat itself was a lot of fun. Zell had stood guard by the Duchess' door for the hour's voyage, ignoring the tour of the ship "in case the Duchess wants anything". Not only that, but as the King's big speech approached Barhan and Tebrin went to find Delft and tell him that the Duchess was still in her room, and her handmaiden was saying she wasn't intending to come out. The constables returned to the room; Barhan kicked open the door when they heard the window open, and then the violence erupted. Sokana immediately made a break for it in gaseous form; Ilton delayed the constables just enough; and the constables ran about almost like headless chickens for long enough that the boiler was within 2 rounds of erupting. Tebrin's mechanical eidolon fought off the saboteurs; Osric returned from the main deck (having gone to see if any other guests were behaving suspiciously) just in time to finish off Ilton; Barhan sprinted downstairs to wrench open the furnace door; and Zell's timely intervention with a pair of frost bombs cooled things down enough that disaster was narrowly averted.
I then gave a summary of the rest of Island, explaining that other constables had dealt with the infiltration and so on. Gale's terrorism was becoming more of a problem to the city; the tremors had started; there were fires in the factories; and industrial unrest. We then picked up the adventure with the adventure at the Consulate.
The PCs started off in typical form, ignoring LeBrix and Braden to investigate the body. I reminded them that there might be witnesses or staff to talk to; this went as far as listening to LeBrix's story then asking a couple of bystanders what they'd seen. One of the witnesses pointed them to the alley, so they tore off in that direction. The deed of ownership for a canal barge had them determined that there was a barge at the centre of the mystery, and I was subsequently inundated with questions like "is there a canal nearby? Are there any barges?".
I steered them back on track by mentioning Nilasa's bail certificate, and the fact that Heward had posted bail for her. Though I did mention the accomplices in prison, there was very little interest in tracking them down. The conversation with Heward went well; my players kept rolling Sense Motive, and when Osric failed (drastically) he began doubting every word he heard.
(More to follow)
First off, the group had requested a level 4 start. We're not generally very keen on level 1; of course this meant adjusting many of the encounters quite a lot. I also had to prune some of the encounters as we're not a very fast group; typically we manage 3-4 encounters in a full day of play.
Characters were:
Osric, a musket-wielding Ranger
Barhan, a Fighter/Barbarian focused on Power Attack and Intimidate
Zell, a Chirurgeon Alchemist
and Tebrin, a Mechanist Summoner.
We started off with the Coaltongue encounter out of Island at the Axis of the World. This was a big hit: people were a little slow to warm up to the skill challenge for docks security, but the combat itself was a lot of fun. Zell had stood guard by the Duchess' door for the hour's voyage, ignoring the tour of the ship "in case the Duchess wants anything". Not only that, but as the King's big speech approached Barhan and Tebrin went to find Delft and tell him that the Duchess was still in her room, and her handmaiden was saying she wasn't intending to come out. The constables returned to the room; Barhan kicked open the door when they heard the window open, and then the violence erupted. Sokana immediately made a break for it in gaseous form; Ilton delayed the constables just enough; and the constables ran about almost like headless chickens for long enough that the boiler was within 2 rounds of erupting. Tebrin's mechanical eidolon fought off the saboteurs; Osric returned from the main deck (having gone to see if any other guests were behaving suspiciously) just in time to finish off Ilton; Barhan sprinted downstairs to wrench open the furnace door; and Zell's timely intervention with a pair of frost bombs cooled things down enough that disaster was narrowly averted.
I then gave a summary of the rest of Island, explaining that other constables had dealt with the infiltration and so on. Gale's terrorism was becoming more of a problem to the city; the tremors had started; there were fires in the factories; and industrial unrest. We then picked up the adventure with the adventure at the Consulate.
The PCs started off in typical form, ignoring LeBrix and Braden to investigate the body. I reminded them that there might be witnesses or staff to talk to; this went as far as listening to LeBrix's story then asking a couple of bystanders what they'd seen. One of the witnesses pointed them to the alley, so they tore off in that direction. The deed of ownership for a canal barge had them determined that there was a barge at the centre of the mystery, and I was subsequently inundated with questions like "is there a canal nearby? Are there any barges?".
I steered them back on track by mentioning Nilasa's bail certificate, and the fact that Heward had posted bail for her. Though I did mention the accomplices in prison, there was very little interest in tracking them down. The conversation with Heward went well; my players kept rolling Sense Motive, and when Osric failed (drastically) he began doubting every word he heard.
(More to follow)
Last edited:
