Source: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/duadp/20081112
Character Level: 7-9
Synopsis
The party is called back to Brindol, where the platinum sword they recovered in RaR speaks to them: they must take the sword to an abandoned githzerai fortress, defeat the gnolls that infest the place and perform a restoration ritual to free the sword's occupant. The party is attacked by mercenaries and joined once more by Gilgathorn, who is waiting for the best moment to stab them in the back. Finding the fortress they battle the gnolls, and repurpose a portal to the Elemental Chaos to free Amyria, an exarch of Bahamut, from the sword.
Locations
- Overlook
- Brindol
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Fortress Graystone
- Webmail
NPCs
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Kalad or Reniss
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Gilgathorn: aka Thorn, one-eyed elven mercenary
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Szagyn: underboss of the Lost Ones.
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Alys: messenger from Brindol
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Zoram Splintershield: dwarf patrol leader
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Sertanian: castellan of the Brindol Hall of Great Valor, first met in RaR
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Kyrion, shadar-kai weaponmaster
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Fangren: Gnoll warchief
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Amyria: Deva. Her spirit has been trapped in the platinum sword.
Main Plot Points:
- Amyria, an exarch of Bahamut, is liberated from the platinum sword found in RaR. However, she does not know who she is or what her role is at his point.
Thoughts
- You may want to make sure your players know what an Exarch is. Mine didn't, and I've got some pretty experienced players at my table. They were suffering from an abundance of "Why are we doing what the talking sword says?" at which point I realized they didn't understand it. Once I explained they said basically "Holy crap, we have to go deal with that. Can't have one of those in the Vale." Also, don't forget that the Red Hand of Doom's main bad guy was an exarch of Tiamat (or was trying to become one, can't remeber). Regardless, Vale-tied characters should react strongly to the idea that someone's trying to become an evil exarch, not just on general principle but because they had a recent bad experience.
- Also, the printed to hit bonus for the Ruin-Touched Bloodwalkers is a typo. If you look at the Ruin-Touched Beastcallers' to hit bonuses of +12 and +13, and the Slaughterfang hyneas' to hit bonus of +11, you will realize the the Bloodwalkers' to hit bonuses of +23 and +24 is insane and should be +13 and +14.
Continuity Notes
- Consider having Szagyn make an appearance in SRoUF as the Lost One mage who ambushes the party
- Do a brief description of Gilgathorn when describing the various members of the assembled masses at the council meeting (SoBW). I described an elf, patch over one eye, bristling with weapons, leading to speculation that he'd put his own eye out on one of his many bristles.
- Consider replacing Alys with one of the kidnapees from RaR, or foreshadow her in RaR.
- When the party travel to Brindol, be sure to describe the picturesque village of Talar and the Green Dragon Inn as they pass through (see BtMT). Talar is about 25 miles west of Brindol.
- You could place Falrinth (from BtMT) in 'The Cells' encounter as one of the prisoners (the sage).
- Consider having Amyria return to the temple of Bahamut instead of Ioun at the end of Den. Given what we know now about Amyria's purpose for existing and eventual destiny (a shard of Bahamut's soul) it doesn't make an awful lot of sense for her to be praying to Ioun. It also helps reinforce the Bahamut theme early on in the adventure path.
Other Resources (103-110 from thread author, 116-118 from Rodney Thompson, the author of the adventure module)
Maps
Comments (9)
Drake said
at 4:36 am on Feb 3, 2011
My group is just getting ready to leave Overlook and head to Brindal. Any suggestion or comments on the Fortress or etc I might want to consider?
evilotto said
at 4:47 am on Feb 3, 2011
The Thorn encounter is horribly broken, and as it stands turns into a long at-will slugfest. As written, he uses each figuring twice, which should be impossible. The XP total is off. Using multiple figurines should be useless anyway because of the requirement to direct them with minor actions. I don't think the stats for the figurines meet with the way they should work according to the AV either. You'll probably want to take a careful at that encounter and re-write it.
evilotto said
at 5:13 am on Feb 3, 2011
*figurine, *careful look. I should probably not be doing this from work. =p
Drake said
at 6:31 am on Feb 3, 2011
Actually, this is one of the encounters I was a little concerned with. The PC's actually had some good RP with him so far. He actually saved there butts with the fight with the lost ones in the temple of Pelor. I will have to see how this plays out and decide. I think the encounter might be better played if he comes along to "Save" the party and a criticle moment, and then "Negotiates" with them or something along those line. Thanks for you advice!
PinkRose said
at 7:10 am on Feb 3, 2011
My group trashed Thorn.
Probably the worst fight since Sinruth.
So be sure to use the new damage and attack numbers from around MM3.
And I would just use the creatures as individual creatures not as minor actions of Thorn.
There is no reason that bad guys have to follow the same rules as PCs.
So some how, that doesn't need to be explained, Thorn has attained multiple figurines that can fight on their own.
In my game, Thorn begged for his life and told them he would tell them everything if they spared him. The group captured him, tied him up and took him along.
BUT in the next fight at the Fortress, Thorn escaped. Mwahahaha.
I'm going to throw him in again in a fight either with or just before Sarshan.
Because TWO reoccurring villians are better then one.
Drake said
at 7:17 am on Feb 3, 2011
I have already let the players believe this guy is a real "bad Ass". When he helped them wiith the Lost Ones I pumped him up big time. I will not run him as the module suggests. I am not sure where yet, but he will be saved for just the right timing with maybe a unbelievable escape, so he can come back later.. I Like that Idea Pink! Mwahahaha!
evilotto said
at 10:46 pm on Feb 4, 2011
I played the creatures as autonomous, but that's partially why it became such a long boring fight. Four Level 6 monsters doesn't add a threat, it just adds a distraction and more hit points to an already vast pool of hit points. And since Thorn already has a ton of hit points and attacks at a time when they're down on daily powers, etc, I think it just further exacerbates the "not a serious threat, just a lot of hit points" problem. (Though technically, it makes it an L11 rather than L9 encounter.) Perhaps making Thorn elite instead of solo and keeping the animals makes more sense. He can still be the primary threat, but only take half the long, drawn-out beating.
Jeremy said
at 2:33 pm on Apr 13, 2013
I've got some handouts with some changes I made for skill challenges my party has encountered so far. Having the skill challenge on the table in front of them has added a sense of stakes and urgency similar to combat that I've enjoyed. I'm going to try and upload them.
Jeremy said
at 2:35 pm on Apr 13, 2013
I put them in the Heroic Tier files.
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