The Exploits of Javelin Company, RHC Flint Chapter [Starting Cauldron Born!]

[RangerWickett]

I like smart players, so throwing down a warding circle around the Very Important Artifacts works for me. And they still have to deal with horrible monsters in the finale.

In the hardcover compilation, we've switched it so Kaja Stewart doesn't get assassinated, and indeed is sent off to work for Risur R&D. So the Ob kill squad in the basement might be less obnoxious there. In the meanwhile, the Ob kill squad could honestly just as easily walk in through the front door, and then have their exfiltration route through the basement.

Xambria's boon, yeah, it's very strong once you get up to maximum concordance. I think I'll tone down how quickly you get up just by leveling -- maybe just +1 per level, so you'll probably be at full by the time you get a chance to let her get her own body in adventures 6 or 7. And then I'll add "carries a bull-whip +1" and "plunders a tomb or dungeon +2."

As for Saxby, some groups talk down their fellow constables (which gives Saxby a chance to run for it), others attack Saxby without talking and force the constables to defend her, and some parties just let her get away.

 

[al_fredo]

In the hardcover compilation, we've switched it so Kaja Stewart doesn't get assassinated, and indeed is sent off to work for Risur R&D.

Cool...about the Boon. Level bonus is pretty big...especially as you get it immediately (level up to 8 right after the battle). I had Kaja shipped to RHC Slate since it didn't seem like I needed her, and didn't want a 2nd assassination of a prisoner.

 

[al_fredo]

We started the battle of the RHC HQ.

I had the Ob kill squad enter the front door of RHC. The PCs could see above them they were on the ground floor. I place two knife-fighters coming in through the morgue area (My PC team is only 4, so want to be careful). I had a few implanters appear in the basement, and start going after the guards and prisoners.

So combat started...they took care of the implanters, and my Cleric wanted to heal the guards...I said they didn't look like they were able to fight - the vertigo was too strong. Ok..they lay dying. Rock Rockus was able to shake it off...and he demanded release. They didn't acknowledge him.

The kill squad comes down the stairs...and they do a pretty good job of not getting bottlenecked. Most PCs are right in the middle of the 5ft wide hallway. The nethermancer comes down, lays down his area attack...and that is bad news. The party was in a bad way at this point...DC21 escape is not a joke, and the cleric basically said to the group "Welp, I'll be here for awhile!". But our wizard laid some smack down, using three of his dailies (uh oh!!!) , and that turned the tide pretty quickly. They pinned and forced surrendered on the last knife guy...who said 2 more entered in the back of the building. The nethermancer's Burst 2 auto-hit for 9 dmg is brutal!

Anyways...we got a late start, so that was it...we're in round 11 - but this was a great first taste of the battle. Happy that they get Encounters back...and with Second Winds, they should have enough healing - but worried about the Thing if it gets out!!

One of the PCs contacts is a fellow constable, and he'll be with Saxby. I don't want to make this an easy convert...and then have the PCs immediately have 4 pretty strong allies...maybe they'll come as reinforcements. We'll see.

 

[al_fredo]

RHC battle, part 2.

The party moves to the first floor, where they encounter the Spikers and the glowing Orb. I also had a mix of constables and civilians getting picked off, so the PCs were scrambling to save them. That fight ended and Saxby and her guards emerge from the stairwell. A bit of a standoff ensues, but the PCs decided to let Dagger Company (headed by Carlao) through with Saxby. They exchange dirty looks, but they let her go.

They know she is bad, but their priority was Delft (they could see the maw above them at his office door). They head up to the second floor, and are faced with a bunch of implanters, the maw...and 2 Eyes of madness. Tough little battle, but they got through it. They head to Delft's office...and a shot hits the door frame. He's shooting at the PCs.

And we ended! I was kinda surprised they let Saxby walk...that fight would have been crazy in the small office corridor. She's pretty tough. Perhaps there is a side mission here, where they hunt her down. They hate her.

A lot of their dailes are gone, and there running out of surges...they won't need to really fight Delft, so all that remains is the Xambria fight, and possible Thing. Oh boy! We are in about round 28 of the encounter.

 

[al_fredo]

Final Battle, Digging for Lies

So on to the final battle. It's been awhile so few details!

PCs go downstairs and get to the ritual with Sihjen and attack. One PC immediately breaks on of the lanterns, which will make controlling the ritual much harder. thing from beyond get's unleashed, and the party is in pretty bad trouble. I had Deflt swoop in with a rifle to help out, and his presence granted PCs and action point (and maybe some healing, I can't remember how generous I was feeling at that point). The fighter got knocked out several times, but with some really big hit from the rouge, the thing went down. Xambria's conciousness went to our red-headed female cleric (made sense!)


The group loved this mission. They didn't really understand all the ziggurat business...and don't know what's up with the Ob, but I think that's the point. They hate Rock Rackus, and have blown him off. He was acquitted at the trial, and the party is annoyed that he is free...and that he got the kill shot on the beast at the fair. I'll have to keep him showing up...maybe in a city on the railroad. The Vekeshi in our party let him walk...and really there was no real consequence, other than that turncoat named some names. Haven't thought about what to do there.

The concordance and bonuses of Xambria are big. Don't know if that was changed, but I think I'm going to advance it a bit more manually.

Otherwise...awesome adventure, and on to the next.

 

[al_fredo]

Begining Always on Time

So we had 2 or so sessions of them just spit balling on cover stories. Kind of awesome.

Ok...so the hated Saxby is out, and their man Delft is in charge. Nice. On a ship (and not the PCs, since they don't have one yet!!) Delft briefs them and are psyched for the undercover mission.

Rouge and Wizard will mask as eccentric antique dealers. The rouge wants to wear her leather under other garments and hide her weapons on her. I allowed it, but will call for a check if someone is scrutinizing her.

Our Cleric is going with streetclothes and posing as a noblewoman with our fighter going as a bodyguard. The initial plan was that they would travel in pairs, assumed no know each other. I told them that their first class tick is a shared suite....they are decided on whether they will keep that or split up (not sure how I'll handle!). There are no first class stand alone seats!

DM stuff:
On to the skill challenge. I have a party of 4. I did not tell them how many successes they needed. I made sure not to suggest courses of action (I wanted to hear it from them). I know the players want to use their best skills...but sometimes, they'd describe what they want to do...and I'd say "OK, roll me a Bluff check"...and they'd say "But I suck at Bluff, I don't want to roll". Me: "But you said you wanted to lie to people in your office - that's Bluff! Roll please!"

I didn't give them prompts on anything, but once they got close I'd say as Delft what he could possible suggest. Here are the results:

Secrecy: First check out the gate, the cleric nails the 'find the spies' check', making other checks DC19. They hit the five in a row fake paperwork, cover their tracks....so they get to 8 no problem. At 7 (full success), I said that they feel good about their work in secrecy (but didn't tell them if that meant partial or full success). They wanted to get another success to be sure.

Covers: They only managed 6 here, so partial success. 2 Bluffs were not a problem, but they struggle on what else they could do. They didn't think Diplomacy or Insight (Legally obtaining visa and rehearsing covers) until very late. Here is an example of me NOT telling them what is available. I needed to hear it from them. "Finishing Touches" is all encompassing...but I needed to hear a good reason. The wizard wanted to become more knowledge about antiques for his cover, so that was a good History check for him. He did it again for Arcana.

Contingencies: They blew it out of the park on this one. They came up with all of this on there own. the one they didn't think of was a supply cache. Anyway:

In Vendricce: Teleporation circle set up. Allies at the Docks AND in the enclave.
In Sid Minos: Teleportation set up.
In Nalaam: Allies in the Enclave

3 Allied Passengers sitting in coach.

RHC agent posing as security detail on the train (will probably use current minor NPC as RHC agent)

And, in studying the plans of the train - I gave the party +2 initiative for encounters that start there.

HOLY CRAP, they blew this one out of the water. I might have to amp the difficulty up because they have a lot of help with them! I think they were smart to back load the help...no doubt the contingencies in Vendricce will come into play. I have to figure out a way for them to pay the 500gp/person, though.

No ship battle, since secrecy was a complete success. Just as well...seemed a bit superfluous. I may have privateers stop them anyway, just for a roleplaying encounter, but no combat. Would be a good test to how they handle their covers.

Good stuff!

 

[RangerWickett]

The concordance and bonuses of Xambria are big. Don't know if that was changed, but I think I'm going to advance it a bit more manually.

If you are a subscriber, the Act One hardcover magic item appendix has an improved progression rate. If you're not, let me know and I can track it down and share it.

 

[al_fredo]

If you are a subscriber, the Act One hardcover magic item appendix has an improved progression rate. If you're not, let me know and I can track it down and share it.

I am (silver)...is there a updated PDF? I can't seem to find it.

 

[RangerWickett]

There's the Act One hardcover, which compiles the first 5 adventures, fixed a few things, and added a few things. I thought that silver subscribers would get that.

In any case, here's the page in question.

 

[al_fredo]

Very cool...thanks. uh, yeah...i thought silver was enough to get all the goodies too.

Also, on Always on time (and as mentioned before) there are missing stats for the Allied Passengers, or possible Allied security detail. It was mentioned to use the ones in Skyseer...but even those got over-written with the newer player manual - in that , these allies CAN die.

So, as of now, I'm going to use the Level 1 Minion Allied Police Officer stats in the newer player's guide (the 11hP threshold version)...and the Level 5 Minion Allied Solider for the security detail. I don't know if these allied people ever 'level up' as the threats increase. Even now, they are typically one-shot dead.