WotBS WotBS advice needed (SPOILERS galore)

[Lylandra]

Oh Balance already hints at Gate Pass... "We ourselves left home twenty years past, passing through the Gate to the sunlit world, where we sought a home, a quest which eventually led here."

it is very well hidden, but Balance reveals quite a lot about the Trillith if you take their words implicitly. If you wish to name more Trillith, you could let Balance name Freedom, as she was one of the (if not the) first Trillith, and maybe Agony. Balance is a pretty old Trillith, so they won't know about the recent plans of their kin.

 

[trencher7]

Something that really bothers me but maybe I am just not clever enough to grasp it.
In Adventure 5 The Monastery of the Two Winds on page 3 it says "He even briefly tricked the Ragesians into allying with him for the destruction of Seaquen, which got him close enough to the leadership of the empire that he was able to learn ist weak points.

I know that Pilus somehow created the Orb of Storms and handed it over in order to help the Ragesians to destroy Seaquen but I can´t see his motivation behind that. What usefull information did he get by doing so?
I fear that when my Players meet him they will ask this very question first and I´d like to have a viable answer.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mrpereira]

Pilus's motivation is to bring down Ragesia - he hates them. I don't have the book right here, but I recall that the brothers were slighted by them and have hated them for years. As fas I recall he hates bullies. Later on he starts to perceive the alliance as being too strong, which is why he changes sides again.

So if they ask him, answer them: Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer

 

[Tormyr]

The Ragesians burned their home village to the ground. He saw getting information on the Ragesians as more important that worrying about Seaquen. His excuse is that he did not realize Seaquen's value until recently.

Pilus will admit to things if caught out but will not volunteer information. His excuse is that he does not know who to trust, so he is cautious.

 

[trencher7]

I think I messed up...
So after some time we finally had time to play again. The session before the group entered Eresh, got to know that something/ someone was messing with the minds of the inhibitants and we concluded when the group had had the first meeting with Balance.

So what happened? The Group found out about Eril and he told them about the fate of his Group. After that they decided to pay a visit to the Monastery, battled the Wind Elemental Guardians and met Caella who told them to just go away. If they wanted to see the masters they would have to lift the curse which has taken over the village. So they went back and talked to Balance again. So they got some Information about the origin of the Trillith, that they pass into the material world in GatePass, they even concluded that the Dreaming Festival might bear some importance. Balance told them that it was dying and that it had not much time left until the calm it provides would disappear.
At the same Moment the 2nd General Magdus reappeared with his troops so that there are now 300 Ragesians in the camp in front of Eresh.
The Group then suddenly decided to put Balance on a cart and bring her to the forbidden valley. On the way they were ambushed by the West- and East Wind Monks and the Mantidrake and defeated them. Balance was injured by the Mantidrake´s Sound burst and the Paladine allowed her to enter his Body. We ended there.

The Paladine´s Player and I talked about that and he decided that he wants his Mount (a giant stag) to serve as Balance´s new Body, so he will lose his Paladine Mount which will give him some (we hope) cool RP opportunities within the Group.

So what will happen? I really don´t know.
As Long as Balance is around there will be no fight for Eresh. In order to get to speak to the Masters of the Wind the Group has to lift the "curse" which, as far as I get it, will inevitably lead to a Ragesian attack. Now that the Group is several hours away from the village they can´t participate should the fight break out.
Is there a way to get to speak to the Masters without the fight between the Ragesians and the villagers?
Maybe you could share so insights?

 

[Tormyr]

Balance's super calm emotions only works over the distance of a mile. Once they were brought outside of that distance, the link was broken, and Balance can get better and grant their boon.

Eresh can either be invaded when the heroes return, or it can become an assassination mission against the general.

 

[Mrpereira]

I think, I would let the Ragesians attack the village and lay siege to the monestary. While Balance is away he/she/it will start to get better, but when they return to the shattered balance, I would let he/she/it die.

I think I would make the Ragesian fight a bit easier, but without any help from the villagers, as they already lost.

 

[Lylandra]

Yep, taking Balace to the Valley is actually discussed in the adventure and they would start getting better immediately as soon as they left Eresh. So both the Rags and the villagers will come out of their stupor by that time.

So, in regards to what happens next, there are a few variables to consider:

• did the party close the wooden gate to Eresh? And if they did, did they lock it?
• did the party reduce the number of Rags in Eresh? (forcing them out, beating them unconscious, locking them up, killing them?)
• did the party tell Caela about the Ragesians?

So what could happen, in my opinion:

• Both sides come out of their stupor
• the Ragesian commander Kormus realizes that his boss (Signus) will call for his head if he cannot deliver results, so he rallies his troops to attack. He does so without rational thought as his emotions flood back at once.
• if the gate is still open, Kormus will storm into Eresh and take the village with relative ease (you'd have a lot of casualties among the villagers as tensions are very high after Balance's disappearance. See poor Tashalanos.)
• if the gate is closed and secured, the villagers might have enough time to set up defenses. Still, the remaining Rags in Eresh may cause a massacre as they're the ones who experience a blood rush and many villagers are stupefied. Should the Rags finally regain a bit of clarity, they may then try to open the gate from the inside.
• if the party removed some or all of the Rags, then Eresh will have a much more easier time defending the village
• if, however, Eresh is taken by the Rags, then Pilus may summon his storm at some point to eradicate all of the village AND the Ragesians.

All in all, what happens totally depends on the party

oh and pst, it's Signus. You probably don't want to kill off Magdus at this point.

 

[trencher7]

oh and pst, it's Signus. You probably don't want to kill off Magdus at this point.

You are, of course, right!

The group disarmed the Rags in Eresh and hid their weapons.

I think at this moment I will go with the Eresh has fallen and the Monastery is sieged by the Ragesians combined with the Kormus has to quickly deliver a success so that the Rags did not take their time to kill every villager but to just drive them away so that they could flee to safety.
My players fear that this will be the "Burning Forest pt. II" and I don´t want to follow this route right now.

Thanks so far!

The next thing is that I wanted my group to get to know some more about what is really going on. They say that they feel at a loss right now and it appears that they are only "Troubleshooting" and reacting to events that are thrown at them. So I´d like to give them some more background info. Now that the Paladine will be Balance´s host for some time I think this might give him some insight into the Trillith.

So what Information would you give the Player concerning the Trillith in order to make him (better) understand what´s going on?

 

[Mrpereira]

I am probably not really the right one to ask about that - I kept my players mostly in the dark until chapter 9

You could drop some information about Trilla and how their mother sleeps while she creates her children. You could maybe even mention that she was saved and brought to her new home by some Drows (or even drop some names of the brave heroes - who will turn up in chapter 7). Balance left long ago, so the information wont be up to date.

Mentioning Trilla will give a link the the statue of her mother in Castle Korstull and the visions in chapter 7.