Oh, I left out a combat that Dianthus short-circuited with a natural 20 on an Intimidate check ("I am the Lord of Dis" indeed!).
There were two skill challenges in tonight's game; the first the pcs failed and only completed due to Ble's aid. The second the pcs completed successfully.
SUMMONING CHARON (Skill Challenge; XP 22,000)
The pcs must figure out how to summon Charon. This is a complexity 2 skill challenge, requiring 6 successes before 3 failures. A few possible approaches include:
Arcana: A creature can make a DC 22 Arcana check to recall that summoning and conjuration effects cast on the banks of the Styx for the specific purpose of summoning Charon may succeed, if used by a particularly powerful individual. This check earns no successes or failures in the challenge, but provides a way forward.
A creature that casts a conjuration or summoning with the intention of calling Charon may make an Arcana check, DC 30. If successful, this counts as one success towards completing the challenge. Failure counts as a failure in the skill challenge. Each creature can earn only one success or failure this way.
Athletics: A bold creature may enter the River Styx and attempt to summon Charon by simply daring to swim in it. Such a creature earns one success in this challenge each time it makes a successful save against the Touch of the Styx effect detailed above, but once it fails, it can earn no more successes this way. Failure has its own consequences.
Diplomacy: A creature shouting an appeal to Charon across the waters of the Styx have a slight chance of attracting it. The creature must offers something of interest to Charon, such as a bag of 100 pp, the soul of an epic-level, non-evil mortal, special privileges in Hell (made by Dianthus), or the like. A successful check, DC 39, earns a success in the challenge, and if a creature succeeds once, it may attempt to earn a second success the same way. Failure on this check is a failure in the challenge, and further appeals made this way will be ineffective; they no longer count toward the challenge.
Religion: A creature can make a DC 22 Religion check to recall that Charon may respond to a verbal summons made by a religious official who asks the Ferryman to take the corpse of a powerful dead individual with platinum coins on its eyes. A DC 30 check reveals that this is more effective when the individual in question was mortal and evil. A DC 39 check reveals that certain sacrifices will also draw the favor of Charon (see sacrifices, below). This check earns no successes or failures in the challenge, but provides a way forward.
If a creature with the divine power source performs such a rite at the edge of the Styx and makes a DC 30 Religion check, he or she earns one success towards completing the challenge. If the dead individual was a mortal, the officiant instead earns 2 successes. If the dead individual was evil, the DC drops to 25. Failure on this check counts as a failure in the challenge.
Sacrifices: A non-evil mortal may earn an automatic success on this challenge by making any of the following sacrifices to the River Styx in the name of Charon: the body and soul of a non-epic, non-evil mortal; a bag of 1,000 pp; the blood of a non-evil, epic mortal (which permanently costs the character a healing surge); or the burning of 1 Wyrd. Each creature on the banks of the Styx can earn one success via sacrifice, but no more.
SUCCESS: If the pcs succeed at this skill challenge, Charon gradually appears on his skiff from the mists that rise from the Styx. Move on to “Negotiating with Charon”, below.
FAILURE: If the characters fail the challenge, Charon will not respond to them for 24 hours, and they must begin anew. Meanwhile, they are subject to the harassment of creatures native to the Styx.
NEGOTIATING WITH CHARON (Skill Challenge; XP 33,000)
Once the ghastly figure of Charon arrives, the pcs must negotiate with it to learn what they desire. This requires another skill challenge.
Roleplaying Charon: Charon has a breathy, sepulchral voice, and is mostly disinterested in mortal affairs. It is, however, always interested in the dead, and pcs can play on this. It knows about Dianthus' ascension, and views her as only slightly inferior to it, while it sees all others as far beneath it. It is easily bored by the mortals supplicating it, and is not especially forthcoming about anything unless properly persuaded.
It is up to the pcs how to proceed; the most effective method is to offer to take care of Charon's Far Realm problem, but they must first discern the fact that he has one. This challenge is complexity 3, requiring 8 successes before 3 failures. A few possible approaches, as well as some disastrous choices the party could make, include the following:
Acrobatics: If the party learns that Charon needs aid, it may demand proof of their might before agreeing to tell them what they want to know. A clever creature may use Acrobatics to show its uncanny skills, but this is a poor method of persuading Charon. It requires a successful DC 39 check to earn a success, and failure counts as a failure in the challenge. Any given creature can only earn one success this way.
Arcana: If the party learns of Charon's problem, a creature may attempt to use its knowledge of arcane lore to demonstrate its might. It must succeed at a DC 39 Arcana check to persuade Charon that it is mighty enough to risk employing; if it succeeds, the creature earns a success in the challenge. If it fails, it earns a failure. Each creature can only earn one success or failure this way.
Athletics: If the party learns that Charon needs aid, it may demand proof of their might before agreeing to tell them what they want to know. One method of demonstrating their might is via some sort of feat of strength. An Athletics check, DC 30, is sufficient to earn a success, but any given creature can only earn one success this way. A failed check counts as a failure in the challenge.
Bluff: Charon is difficult but not impossible to bluff. A creature attempting to trick it into believing that Tenebrous' return is a threat to it must make a DC 39 Bluff check. Success earns the creature one success toward the challenge, while a failure counts as one failure toward the challenge.
Alternatively, creatures may attempt to trick Charon into believing that they can offer it something it is interested in that they really cannot. (See Diplomacy for some examples of what interests Charon.) In all such cases, the DC to Bluff Charon is 39.
Daily Epic-Level Powers: Once the party knows that Charon needs aid, they can attempt to persuade it that they are powerful enough to be of use. One method is to expend an epic-level daily power. This earns an automatic success, but each creature may only earn one success this way.
Diplomacy: Creatures may attempt to persuade Charon to aid them by offering it several types of sacrifice. If a non-evil epic mortal offers its soul after death and makes a successful DC 22 Diplomacy check, it earns one success. If a creature offers to cast at least 101 evil mortals into the River Styx as sacrifices to Charon and makes a DC 30 Diplomacy check, it earns one success. If the offer is at least 1,001 evil mortals, the DC is only 22, and the creature instead earns two successes. An offer of one or more epic magic items and a successful DC 30 check earns the creature one success. An offer of an epic non-evil mortal's own soul upon its next death earns an automatic 3 successes. In all cases except the character's soul upon death, the sacrifice must be made before Charon fulfills its side of the bargain, and a failure counts as a failure on the check.
Once a creature has made an Insight check to discern that Charon needs aid with something (see Insight, below), a creature may make a DC 22 Diplomacy check to offer it aid. If this is the party's final success in the challenge, the challenge ends in success. If it is a success but not the final success in the skill challenge, Charon explains his problem (see below, under Success), but insists that the party demonstrate that it is mighty enough to have a chance at concluding the matter before it agrees to tell them what they want to know in exchange, and the challenge continues.
Heal: If the party has learned that Charon needs help and it has demanded that they prove themselves, a creature might do so by attempting to demonstrate the healing lore that it knows. If it succeeds at a DC 30 Heal check, it earns a success, but unless it rolls a 21 or less, it does not earn a failure. Each creature can gain only one success or failure this way.
History: A creature can attempt to recall obscure lore about previous negotiations with Charon. If it makes a successful DC 30 History check, it remembers that Charon finds poetry and rhyme somewhat compelling, and any creature that makes a Bluff, Diplomacy or Intimidate check for the rest of the challenge while speaking in rhyme or poetics gains a +2 bonus to its check. Failure does not count as a failure toward the challenge.
Insight: Insight is usable in several ways during this skill challenge. In each case, the creature attempting the check must describe exactly what it is trying to learn or do.
A creature that makes a successful DC 22 Insight check while trying to figure out what Charon values will be able to discern that the dead are its primary concern, especially ferrying dead evil mortals to their final resting place. This counts as a success on the challenge, but can only be earned once. It doesn't open new avenues- the pcs can make offers involving the dead without making this check- but it does help guide them.
A creature that makes a successful DC 30 Insight check while trying to figure out if there is something that they can offer Charon can discern that Charon has other things weighing on its mind, and will realize that the party might be able to offer to assist it with a problem that it has in return for its information. This counts as 1 success toward the challenge, and opens up a path forward- though Charon must still be persuaded of the pcs' puissance before it is willing to accept their aid. Failure does not count as a failure toward the challenge, but the pcs cannot hope to offer Charon aid without a success; it will simply ignore such offers unless they know that it has such a concern.
Intimidate: Any attempt to out-and-out intimidate Charon is doomed to failure, and earns the pcs a failure toward the challenge.
However, once the party discerns that Charon needs aid with something, it may demand that they prove their might before agreeing to let them help. In this case, a creature can earn one success by making an Intimidating show of its might and succeeding at a DC 24 Intimidate check. A given creature can only earn one success this way, and a failed check earns it a failure.
Nature: Once the party knows the nature of Charon's problem (see Insight, above), a creature can attempt to show Charon how strongly it is connected to the world by making a DC 30 Nature check. Each creature can earn one success in the challenge this way. If the creature fails but gets at least a DC 22 on its check, it does not earn a failure, but a 21 or less does count as a failure toward the challenge.
Religion: A character can make a Religion check to attempt to recall obscure religious lore to compel Charon to reveal what it knows. If it succeeds at a DC 39 Religion check, it either earns two successes toward the skill challenge (if this would complete the challenge) or removes up to two failures from the challenge otherwise. If this finishes the challenge, Charon is compelled to reveal what it knows without forcing the pcs to deal with its problem first if they haven't already agreed to do so. See Total Success, below. If the party has no failures but two successes will not finish the challenge, the creature making the Religion check earns a success and allows the group to ignore its first two failures later in the challenge.
If the creature fails the check, it remembers incorrect lore, and in attempting to use it, the party earns a failure. The group may only successfully use Religion in this challenge once, but each creature may make the attempt until one of them succeeds.
SUCCESS: If the party succeeds without achieving a total success (as indicated above under Religion), Charon will tell them the dreadful truth after they solve a difficult problem that it has (see Total Success, below, for details of the dreadful truth). There is a small bywater of the Styx that is suffering from the corrupting influence of the Far Realm. Like an open wound seeping pus, a small hole to the Far Realm is slowly leaking its inchoate power into the Styx, changing a part of it into something anathema to Charon. Because he cannot leave the Styx proper, he cannot enter the bywater himself, and he has discovered that the mere presence of non-aberrant creatures, such as his demon minions, increases the danger. The simple fact that a creature perceives the entrance to the Far Realm causes it to grow larger, spilling more and more farspawn invaders into the bywater.
Charon is thus reluctant to let the party attack the problem until he is convinced that they will not do more harm than good. Once he decides to trade their service for the dreadful truth, he explains that they are likely to find themselves facing farspawn in large numbers as they sail their spelljammer up the Styx, and that more will pass through the gate as they close on it. Moreover, there are powerful aberrant things that guard the gate, though Charon is unsure of their true nature; he will describe them as “creatures like the hands of the Far Realm itself, bringing madness and distortions of space and mind with them.” They key thing, he emphasizes, is to somehow shut the gate. Because of the unnatural nature of the Far Realm, he suggests that someone with a strong connection to nature may be able to somehow use that, but he leaves the exact method up to the pcs.
The pcs will NOT have time to take an extended rest before reaching the Far Realm gate. The Styx will move them along, carrying their ship inexorably by the force of their bargain with Charon. They will prove unable to move it, even via plane shift, until they have fulfilled their part of the deal.
