Tonight's game - help.

[Rechan]

So what did you end up doing, Ranger?

 

[MarkB]

I thought of that, but I'm struggling to come up with a credible threat that

a) won't actually kill the Caliph or Ahm-La-i-m (because if the assassins can pull it off, hey, why should the PCs interfere?), but also

b) is dangerous enough that the Caliph and his guards can't handle it themselves.

Late to the party, I know, but one option would be a group of revenge-obsessed would-be assassins from a rogue element within the PCs' home nation, who would have a credible chance of killing him, but would unequivocally implicate the PCs' home nation in the attack.

 

[jbear]

If this guy is a Villain, I'd show his villainry off. Show the state of teh common people of Kequalak during the parade; utter poverty in the shadow of million gp homes, executions or sentences to the gladitorial arena for petty things like vandalism or insulting a nobleman, etc. Show why this guy needs to be killed.

Or, if he's not that bad of a guy, play up that he isn't that bad of a guy, maybe the PCs will be at least a little squimish over whacking him.

You could have the PCs interact with him - perhaps during some sort of sporting event. Polo, or whatever the sport of kings is there.

This might be too late as well, but I liked the idea of the arena. Maybe included in part of the festivities. The arrogant leader showing his prowess slaughtering Dragonborn (rulers/nobles from the region of the dragon he wishes to conquer). Maybe the assassin has provided the unarmed dragonborn with poisoned weapons, thus getting past the guards and remaining in the shadows.

Maybe the dragon attacks and the action takes place while the leader finds himself in a very tricky situation, trying to scramble out of the arena, surrounded by vengeful dragonborn, probably poisoned and many assassins waiting in the shadows. He orders his men to the airship to take up the fight with the Dragon there and then.

Perhaps the PC's were given a chance to win favour competing as gladiators previous to the leaders performance, so they are very close to the action when the Dragonborn produce the hidden weapons.

In the chaos anyone could be blamed for his death. And the airship and the dragon are still in it. Also with so much chaos the PC's will have lots of room to come up with an original plan of action.

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, the game was short due to traffic holding up a player, and then we got a teensy bit sidetracked by the assassin PC deciding she wanted to buy . . . well, basically anthrax, and infect another PC so the guy would be weak and vulnerable in the final encounter.

(The target is the bard, who has been stealing the limelight by writing the assassin out of the songs he writes about their victories. Since this is just a short campaign, I threw in a side plot where one group in Kequalak is trying to drive out the Wayfarers, and the bard is a Wayfarer, so they hired the PC assassin to kill him.)

This went way weird when the assassin botched her bluff and stealth checks, and when the bard got suspicious of her lurking around his stuff, she decided the best way to allay his suspicion was to pretend she was romantically interested in him. This led to a completely not-part-of-the-adventure but hilarious nonetheless segment of the bard wooing her and her playing along. Good times.

Anyway, that left us with little time for the actual intrigue. They knew in advance that the Caliph has a guard diabolist who keeps a bottle imp that can read thoughts, so after much discussion, the PC wizard came up with a ritual to trap a portion of an elder god they'd crossed paths with earlier into the back of his mind, and he made a point to talk to the diabolist first. Cue the sound of an imp's head splattering the inside of its bottle.

The bard and the assassin jumped into the festive atmosphere, trying to show everyone how cool they were. The assassin impressed Ahm-La-i-m by integrating knifeplay into a belly dance routine, while the bard performed a retooled version of his earlier songs, now showcasing the assassin's beauty and heroism while battling dragons.

The group mingled briefly with a lot of different groups, and I dropped hints that stuff was up, but they seriously didn't follow up on anything. They managed to impress the Caliph, so they'll get a chance to fight the dragon and get Ahm-La-i-m killed, but unless they wisen up quick, they'll only get a partial victory, because there's another successor waiting in the wings.


Another two highlights:

I stopped by at Barnes and Noble before the game and found this - http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Dragon-Hunters-Handbook/Adelia-Vin-Helsin/e/9781435102040 It made for a good prop for the game.

Also, one of my players bought the Legends of Drizzt pack for Icingdeath last year, and I got him to bring over the gargantuan white dragon mini. I mocked up a cardboard cut-out of the airship they'll be taking to fight the dragon, and the airship is 25 ft. by 60 ft. The dragon is 20 by 20. I think the group is appropriately daunted.

Next week, the climax!

 

[Rechan]

The bard and the assassin jumped into the festive atmosphere, trying to show everyone how cool they were. The assassin impressed Ahm-La-i-m by integrating knifeplay into a belly dance routine, while the bard performed a retooled version of his earlier songs, now showcasing the assassin's beauty and heroism while battling dragons.

I'm curious what you used to emulate the perform skill.

 

[RangerWickett]

Description.

 

[Rechan]

Cool. I'm glad to see not everything has to resort to skill checks; sometimes players are just badass enough to Get Away with Describing it.

the PC wizard came up with a ritual to trap a portion of an elder god they'd crossed paths with earlier into the back of his mind

An on-the-fly ritual design?

Also, putting a fragment of an elder god in the BACK OF YOUR MIND? THat's like swallowing a condom full of depleted uranium.

BTW. The PCs killed the Leper Dragon - who was the other lesser dragon?

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, the wizard had sort of multiclassed into warlock in order to make a pact with the elder god. For a short mini-campaign, I felt it was a cool idea to turn the mind-reader's power against it, so I ran it as a mini-skill challenge. Make a Religion check to meditate and find the focus. An Arcana check to maintain a rational mind as the chaos tries to overwhelm you. Then a Bluff check to make it seem like nothing at all was amiss.

 

[RangerWickett]

Ugra Vyakti, a sort of serpentine Osama bin Laden, who commanded fanatical nature spirits and elementals to try to overthrow the reign of humanity. He worshipped Adveja, the slumbering primordial whose awakening is fortold to herald the end of the Age of Man.

So after they killed him, the wizard figured, "Hey, a pact with an elder god can't be that bad, right?"

Basically it was an unorthodox form of treasure, providing some benefits directly instead of being a magic item.

 

[Rechan]

Very cool.