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Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–22: Out of Anarchy (PFRPG) PDF
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Funny I just answered another thread with almost exactly the same concerns.
I would finish up at a modified 'Lords of Oblivion'. I go straight from the Secrets of the Souls Pillars to the first half of Lords, then I would pinch a few choice parts of Foundations of fire then finish up at Orbius Manor where I would have the Tree of Shackled Souls. I won't include anything else.
Hello Guys,
If it was me and I was attempting to shorten the Adventure Path I would stop at Lords of Oblivion. I think Orbius is the real arch villain of the campaign and the plot would not seem to be completed unless their was some resolution to his influence.
If you were only to choose 5 adventures I would make it -
1) Life's Bazaar - introduces adventure & Orbius
I would not bother with Drakthar's Way (even though it is a good adventure) because it offers nothing to the story. 'Zenith Trajectory' and 'Test of the Smoking Eye' follow the Adimarchus/madness plot thread so unless you modify these adventures to link with the Vlauntru/Orbius theme somehow.
I would modify the 'Secrets of the Soul Pillars' to link back to Orbius obsession in finding clues to opening gates into the realm of Canceri.
With Lords of Oblivion, instead of having Orbius completing unholy rituals under his manor, I would fast forward and have this as the location of the Tree of Souls and the final conclusion to the Adventure Path.
I would use the beginning of Lords of Oblivion, then choice encounters from Foundation of Fire and then lead the players to Orbius house where he is has the Tree Of Shackled Souls beneath. Throw in a few allies and end with the dramatic battle between Orbius and the party.
To be honest this is probably what should have happened and the whole Adimarchus last third of the path removed. This was always a big bugbear of mine and the reason I decided to make the modifications/foreshadowing to try and make the last portions of the path more relevant and linked to the earlier parts.
Imo Orbius Vlauntru should have been the ultimate villain of the SCAP.
Greystaff wrote:
Delvesdeep...all the docs are still at the RPGenius (http://therpgenius.pbworks.com/w/page/22143327/FrontPage). Thanks for your contributions to the AP.
Thanks Greystaff. I noticed the site has a great deal of my early writings. Some of which I forgot I had ever put together ;)
Most of these don't have my name on them though such as -
1.Skie's Treasury
I used all of them except for the last couple of chapter ideas/adventures
Werecorpse wrote:
We were just about to head into the Haunted Village.
Hello everyone,
I haven't been back on this forum for what feels like years now. My game effectively stopped before I was able to play out the final sequence I had planned.
I like the ideas above. I always toyed with how the players would resolve the dreams after they entered each nightmare. I was unsure where it should be 'solid' fragment of his mind they needed to retrieve from each dream or whether the door to this dream simply faded once the characters moved through it.
I preferred a mixture of roleplaying challenges, skills based contests and battles to just another series of hack and slash encounters. I'll fish out the old documents and have a look at the dreams and see if I can get the creative juices flowing again ;)
I envisioned the party entering a circular corridor with doors. Each door lead to one of Adimarchus dreams. When all the nightmares were resolved the inner wall would fade revealing Adimarchus inner demon resting upon a throne of writhing souls. He would be staring into and manipulating a pool that stretched out before him, revealing the Dreamscape.
All in all its nice to hear that people are still using the material. Where are you finding the old documents? Keep up the great work and good ideas!
I doubt whether I will every finish off the Adventure Path now. My goals now to create a new group of players to begin a new campaign using half the old group and a few newbies. Life just keeps getting int he way but I've gone to long without playing now so its time to start again. I'm looking forward to it!
TriOmegaZero wrote:
Oh, that's beautiful dd.
Yes it was only after he claimed power and the party discovered that the half orcs were guarding his noble estate during 'Lords of Oblivion' that it all began to click. Was one of the best player 'ah-ha' moments of the adventure for me, that and when the party cleric discovered that Bishop Shebeleth was a powerful villian after granting him control of her clergy, keep, funds and followers.
Its been a great adventure. I wish we had more time to play so I could see how the last part of the adventure unfolds with my changes.
Patman wrote:
No I never did but my group will be playing that adventure very soon so I will be forced too. I may just use the outline I created and run with it from there. I'll need to revisit the adventure itself and see if where I need to flesh it out and add stats, treasure, villain strategies etc. I'll get back to you though.
Here is the history you can find in the document 'Adimarchus and the New Cagewrights' -
For hundreds of years Adimarchus lead the great celestial armies of heaven against the demonic hordes of the Abyss and in particular, the dark armies of the demon lord Graz'zt.
Adimarchus was cast from the heavens for a crime of love and pride. He was forbidden to descend the mountain to seek the love of a lesser angel. When his deception was revealed and a troop of angels attempted to capture the two. When one angel harmed his love, Adimarchus lashed out in anger slaying the guard before finally being restrained.
In the Cathedral of Feathers Adimarchus was sentenced to the greatest punishment that could be possibly given to an angel – banishment.
Adimarchus was so blinded by his love for Nidrama that he sought the aid of his ultimate enemy - Graz'zt, whose demonic forces he had lead celestial armies against for hundreds of years. The irony delighted the evil lord and he agreed to award Adimarchus command of his greatest army and greatest general...Occiptus.
Graz'zt tore from the angel part of his soul and in return placed part of Occiptus' soul within him – forever linking the two, demon and angel.
Now locked in his cage, Adimarchus is lost to his despair and has become insane from his betrayal. Within his maddening nightmares, Adimarchus' Inner Demon reaches out across Canceri and into the Material Plane to corrupt and control.
One of the first to be touched by Adimarchus' madness and was eventually corrupted by his Inner Demon, was a powerful demodand called Dry'yrd. Adimarchus' Inner demon realized that if he could engineer Adimarchus escape he could completely destroy the angels mind and assume complete control of the celestial forever.
You will find this story explored more in detail in the dreams.
Hope all this helps
I'm trying to remember. I think when the approached Valantru he was in a near stupor that the Lord Mayor was gone and claimed that Taskerhill (the bard leader of the Stormblades dad - I'm struggling to remember names) was petitioning the rest of the council to appoint him as the new Lord Mayor and no one would dare oppose him. The party then actually 'convinced' Valantru to put his name forward and try and stop Taskerhill. In a drunken act of bravardo, Valantru agreed as long as he had the backing of the party. When the party returned later, Valantru had miraculously won the election with the doubting members of the council influenced in no small part by the backing of the all conquering heroes.
Valantru banished the Half Orcs from the city and all seemed well...
Olaf the Stout wrote:
Why not post them on a thread up here?
Event One Ideas
In this adventure the party are likely to enter into two types of combat they would rarely (if ever) entered into - aerial and underwater. Both are 360 degree battles which change the rules in terms of flanking in particular.
In Event One the party travel to the Haunted Village to search for Nidrama. After the dream (above) they may think to just fly in and dive straight into the dark waters of the lake by-passing the village entirely.
Whether they decide to traverse by foot or fly the party will encounter undead. The village undead have been corrupted by both Embril and Alurid to be particularly active and vigilant against intruders. They do not want anything to interfere with their attempt to destroy Adimarchus' mind and free his Inner Demon.
There are some particularly nasty undead in and around the village including - a Crawling Head (FF pg 35) on the outskirts of the village, a group of Elite Vampires with their dread wraith underlings within the town….(any other ideas?)
Flying over and around the town is a 'flock' of specters….(any other ideas?) and of course Alurid and his entourage (see below)
To attempt to ensure they meet Alurid before they descend into the lake, first I will have the Dark Knight riding on the back of a Nightwing (if you would prefer you can swap this for a ramped up Nighmare). Accompanying him is his flesh golem creations who have long wings of taunt skin.
Add to this entourage any of the Necrocaunts or villains that escaped earlier in the campaign (ie Mhad the Vampire).
Olaf the Stout wrote:
Thanks Olaf. I just need to piece together this last, and most important section, of the campaign. I want to make sure I do it justice so your help/ideas and constructive criticism would be extremely helful.
Skies Treasury (Chapter Four)
Vhalantru begins to increase the taxes in the city during this chapter which particularly effects Maavu, Skies main seller and supplier. Maavu has been attempting to dodge the new taxes but has been unable to avoid many of them which has effected his business.
In this chapter these tax increases have an effect on Skie's prices as she attempts to compensate for the increased cost of Maavu's items and the taxes she has been forced to pay. Skie has also had to pay the adventurers tax even though she insisted she was retired.
A large amount of items were sold during chapter three due to Skie's 20% discount and the increase in her customers due to the Festival.
All prices are increased by 10% due to the tax increases and bought items at 40% their value to standard customers.
Note that the inventory total is 5000 gp over what it should be. Feel free to take out the Bracers of Archery or other items that equal this or a similar amount if you wish to correct this. Total inventory amount (Chapter Four -90 000 gp) is taken from the actual item price not the increased price for this chapter.
Inventory & Prices
+1 Heavy Crossbow of Frost 9132 gp 8302 gp
Below are the items that were either bought by my party or were sold to other buyers –
+2 Breastplate 4350 gp 3915 gp
Descriptions & Stories
+2 Keen Bastard Sword (Sword of Sharpness) - 19800 gp 18,000 gp
Description: An antique heavy steel blade with two razor sharp adamantine edges and a diamond tip. Ornate patterns and pictures of knights preforming various heroic acts run along the length of the blade.
Soft white leather encircles the grip edged with a tiny pattern of a black rearing horses. The thick crossbar of the weapon is black, finishing at both ends with small white rearing horses facing away from the blade.
The hilt of the sword is crafted to appear like a black knights helmet. The white leather scabbard of the sword is similarly decorated with ornate pictures of knights matching those found on the blade.
Story: (If the party have become valued customers and friends to Skie she will recount the story is whispered tones. Otherwise Skie simply states that Maavu sold her the weapon and leaves it at that.)
The Lord Mayor himself – Severen Navalant, sold this spectacular blade to me. I have known his lordship for many years now. Not personally but well enough that he knows my name and says hello if he sees me. He is a large, robust, jovial man with a mane of fiery red hair and a booming voice that commands respect. Strangely this was not he appeared when he visited my store recently.
He came in just before closing, hidden beneath a hooded cloak and without any entourage or guards. When he revealed himself to me he looked a gaunt shadow of himself with sunken eyes and deep lines of worry etched into his face. I asked him how he was and he replied 'fine, just in a bit of a hurry Skie'. With that he pulled aside his cloak and placed the sheathed blade upon my counter.
I took the opportunity to mention to him that I could not give him full price for the weapon because of the tax increases. He said that they are an unfortunate necessity to safe guard the city and then under his breath said 'or so my adviser has assured me' and that they were only temporary but apologised for the impact they were having upon my business. It seemed to me he really didn't support the tax increases himself which I thought was strange considering.
After I few more fruitless attempts at conversation I bought the weapon from him for rather more than I normal would have. He is the mayor after all and, between you and me, I really felt sorry for him. He just seemed so worried but what would the mayor of Cauldron have to worry about I wonder?…
As to the blade itself, he never told me where he got the weapon from and strangely I never thought to ask. I'm guessing it is a family heirloom but I can't be sure. Where ever it came from I almost cut my finger off when he left just by gentle touching the weapons edge. I couldn't even imagine the damage such a blade would cause it combat.
Side Note: The weapon is indeed a family heirloom of Severens. Severen recently began to suspect Vhalantru's motives for dismissing many of the city guards and replacing them with half-orc's that are loyal to him.
Vhalantru has also begun to announce decrees and give orders without consulting him in the slightest. The last straw was when Vhalantru, with the support of many of the council, openly dismissed one of the lord mayor's decisions in a sitting of the council.
Severen decided to secretly hire someone to look into his elusive advisors past and his recent dealings. If his suspicions were confirmed, Severen was hoping to acquire enough funds to hire a troop of mercenaries from Sasserine to wrest back control from his traitorous adviser and Vhalantru's Half-Orc guards before it is too late. Rather than using the cities funds, of which Vhalantru is currently in control of and vigilantly monitors, Severen thought to secretly sell his weapon and gain some money that way.
DM's Notes: The deathblow delivered with this blade cleanly severs a limb, decapitates or slices an opponent cleanly in half.
+2 Longspear 8800 gp 8000 gp
Description: Eight-foot long crystal shaft tipped with a three foot long, tear shaped, white metal point. When grasped, the crystal shaft erupts into a brilliant white/blue light, covering a 100-foot radius area with its shine.
Story: (Note this explanation was designed specifically for my campaign so may not be appropriate for yours. Feel free to use or adapt any ideas from the story as you see fit.)
Created by a powerful order known as the 'Knights Chivlar ' or "Soldiers of the Sun' who passed through this regions but a decades past a go. I remember the event because it made quite an impression on me in my wide-eyed youth. This spear was wielded by the commander of the group who held it aloft and set it alight to guide his way as he lead his knights through the west gates and into the jungles beyond.
Word has it that they were searching for a traitorous leader of their order who was given the ominous task of building a new headquarters of the order in these frontier lands but instead disappeared with over half the Orders treasury.
Unfortunately the knights crusade did not meet with victory and the only thing that I am aware of that returned from the fated mission was this spear and that appeared decades later.
A scholar, who referred to himself as Felor or Fetor or something like that, sold it to me just last week. He said he had defeated a band of one-eyed half-orcs, each a black tattoo of smoke encircling their missing orb, of which the leader had been in possession of the spear.
To me he seemed to be making the tale up as he went and did a poor, almost deliberately bad, job of hiding the fact. It was almost as if he was urging me to challenge his tale but I swallowed my suspicions and bought the spear.
I would much rather have this splendid spear in my possession or in someone like yours rather than in one such as his…
Side Note: Skie is usually a great judge of character and this was no exception. Fetor was in charge of the band of bandits, monsters and corrupted knights that each bore the mark of the Smoking Eye. Fetor was the traitorous leader that the knights rode out to hunt down decades a go. He was the learned sage, scholar, wizard and loremaster of the order who had researched the frontier lands and Cauldron for over a decade even before the Order was cast out of their homeland and branded traitors.
Fetor led a band of knights and builders into the region intending to construct a new safe haven for the order 30 years previous. During construction though, the group unearthed a strange black rock that seemed to whisper alluringly to Fetor of secret power and truths.
Fetor claimed the stone and, guided by visions and nightmares, Fetor had sculptures work the stone into a statue depicting a dark angel with a single smoking eye. Fetor erected the statue in the camp, marvelled at its beauty and claimed it was a sign from heaven that they would now have an angel to watch over them.
As the weeks passed and construction continued, Fetors dreamed were plagued with images of alien landscapes, battles between armies of angels and demons, a great skull that spewed fire from its colossal eye and lastly visions of an imprisoned dark angel.
The visions eventually utterly corrupted first Fetor, then the knights, workers and even creatures found in the surrounding area.
Fetor sent his knights out to spread the teachings of the Smoking Eye and instructed the workers and newly assembled monstrous followers to complete the construction of the keep and guard it against attack.
With that he left behind his followers and guided by his nightmares and visions, and with the statue in tow, Fetor discovered the Soul Pillars and began his obsessed research. Occasional he would scry upon his followers and watch out for the knights he was sure would attempt to track him down.
When the troop of Knights Chivlar attempted to track down Fetor years later, Fetors corrupted knights and monstrous followers were warned by their absent leader. They then ambushed the 'Soldiers of the Sun' and slew the chivalrous troops to a man. The fallen knights possessions, including the leaders spear and circlet, were handed over to Fetor arrived in the aftermath of the battle to collect the items and issue new orders.
Decades later, completely obsessed in his research and all but abandoning his past followers to their own direction, Fetor eventually chose to make an impromptu and rare excursion to meet with his new Cagewright allies, sell the knights items and purchase some needed resources.
DM's Note: In the hands of a Knight Chivlar, this spear is reputed to gain other qualities including the ability to cast blindness and searing light which shines directly out from the tip casing 8d6 damage.
Arcane scroll of Cloudkill 1237 gp 1125 gp
Description: Ocean blue stained parchments with a watermark of a stylised crater with a waterfall pouring over its rim. The edges of the parchments are water stained and some of the writing has run slightly from the water damage.
Story: A fisherman hauled these scrolls out of the lake here just a few weeks a go and sold them to me 4 days past. They were well kept in a watertight scroll case bearing the same encincture as the scrolls themselves. The fisherman actually caused the sight damage to the scroll edges in his haste to discover the cases contents.
Just why they ended up in the lake and for how long they had been siting there is anyone's guess.
Side Note: Professor Crondercamp from the Blue Crater Academy was murdered decades past, weighed down and thrown into the lake by a group of thugs hired and led by a malicious pupil – a young Lord Ankhin Taskerhill, after he failed him and scoffed at his arrogance and attempt to bribe him.
The old lecturer had been just about to begin a much-deserved holiday when he uncharacteristically disappeared without saying goodbye. It was assumed he had begun his holiday early and it was not until a week after he did not return as scheduled that a frantic search ensured. The search efforts were unfortunately directed towards his intended holiday destination rather than to Cauldron itself and the city was given only a brief search.
Professor Crondercamp's body was caught on a rock outcropping a hundred feet below the lake surface and has since all but been decomposed or eaten by the various marine life found in the lake.
The old fellow was quite an accomplished wizard in life but was caught unawares and never had an opportunity to defend himself from the ambush. The scroll case was just one of the magical and valuable trinkets that were carried by the lecturer and may still remain on his body waiting to be discovered.
DM's Note: Hidden in a secret compartment in the scroll case stopper is a small note written on a torn parchment.
Dearest Professor.
Ankhin wrote the note and signed it Ophellha – Crondercamp's favourite student, to lure the old fellow into the ambush. In the corner of the parchment, torn almost completely away except for a small portion of the base, is the Taskerhill family crest. Ankhin tore a piece of one of his fathers personalised letter paper to hastily write down the message after his argument with the professor and arranging the ambush. He overlooked the small portion of the crest when he sent the message and unfortunately for him, before he placed the note in his scroll case, so did Professor Crondercamp …
Circlet of Blasting, minor 7128 gp 6480 gp
Description: A golden headband spun with golden thread and set with a large white opal that glows with an inner light.
Story: Another of the items sold to me by that Fetor fellow and previously owned by the 'Soldiers of the Sun'. Remarkable circlet. Can blast a ray of pur white searing light at an opponent by mere thought by the wearer. Still sickens me somewhat that that despicable wizard had it around his greasy brow. You know, now I remember it, he icicles hanging from his clothes. Does that seem strange to you? It is approaching summer in Cauldron after all!
Divine scroll of protection from elements 412 gp 375 gp
Description: Crisp, clean, white parchments with depictions of figures engaged in various sporting pursuits or acts of strength bordering the documents. The writing is in a thick broad hand.
Story: Young Todd Vanderboren sold them scrolls to me. Had them given to him as a reward from his newly adopted church. The rest of the Stormblades were absent at the time which is unusual. Usually that fiery redhead Cora shadows him around like they are attached at the hip. Maybe there is trouble in paradise! But I'm not one to spread idol gossip now am I, so forget I said anything…
Side Note: Todd is starting to tire of his old love and is actual selling the scrolls to get enough money to purchase a nice gift for Annah Taskerhill.
Written on the back of each scroll is a series of instructions, diagrams and explanations about the various Flood Festival events that were held by the Church of Kord. Todd was given these scrolls and instructions to assist him in organising, preparing for and undertaking the events in future by the Church but never thought them much use. To an astute reader these documents imbue a + 5 insight bonus to checks made during these events in the future festivals.
Harp of Charming 8250 gp 7500 gp
Description: Elaborate, exquisitely crafted golden harp and blanketed with exotic golden flowers. Strumming the glittering mithril strings releases a gentle wave of musical emotion that echoes softly around the audience, caressing their senses and stirring up memories of happy and peaceful times.
Story: A venerable old lady wandered into my shop one morning, browsed around and chatted to me for a long time. She seemed very interested in the events of the city, the adventurers I have as frequent customers, the history of the city and even my past. I found myself being rather forthcoming really. She seemed like such a sweet, kindly old thing and I was just happy to pass the time until a paying customer came through the doors.
I was chatting to her about the recent problems we had with the floods and how you rescued the wands and saved the city and she said something like – 'I think unfortunately the clouds are just brewing my dear but I have something that may help sooth the storm'. From beneath her cloak or out of thin air it seemed, the elderly lady took out this beautiful instrument and passed it over to me with a sparkle in her eyes.
She didn't banter with me for price, in fact she never even counted or looked at the gems I passed over to her for the item. She just seemed pleased I took it from her. Funny thing was after she left I realised she never even mentioned her name nor anything about herself the whole stay. I must have been blabbering on for hours – hard to believe I know.
Someone who is who has take an instant interest in the golden harp is Annah Taskerhill. I could tell by her glazed eyes that she fell instantly in love with the exquisite workmanship and music it produced. If you want the harp you had better hurry. I'm sure Annah will be only one of the many admirers of the wondrous instrument…
Pearl of Power (1st) 1100 gp 1000 gp
Description: A tiny, silver, flawless pearl that changes colour depending upon the user: pure white – good aligned, silver – neutral, deep black – evil.
Story: Amazing how the smallest of things can be the most valuable – bit like me don't you think! This tiny little treasure from the deep is a conduit to the heavens, or hells if that is your leaning. It magnifies a priest's connection to their god and the gift of power they bestow. This little gem allows an increased allowance of the first and most important oracle of prayers. Healing spells can be prayed for in abundance but I'll leave that holy stuff to you godly types. I'm sure that this magical pearl will not last the week out sitting inside this cosy little store…
Side Note: If asked about where Skie got the pearl from she looks a bit sheepish and either attempts to bluff her way around the straight forward question or lies saying she got it from Maavu. If she trusts the party she reluctantly tells them that the pearl fell from Embril's robes during one of her visits. Skie said Embril had been particularly condescending and rude to her that day so, as much out of revenge as for profit, Skie never returned the item.
Potion of Intelligence 330 gp 300 gp
Potion of Invisibility: Rectangular vial with a heavy metal stopper attached to a chain which in turn is attached to the neck of the bottle. Clear, translucent liquid fills the vial making it appear empty except under close inspection.
Potion of Tongues: Tall, tear-shaped bottle, with a large base that gradually tappers off as it reaches its corked mouth at the end of its slightly curved and narrow neck.
Story: The grumpy old proprietor of Weer's Elixirs - Vortimax Weer, came into my shop to have a browse just recently. My guess is he came in more to have a snoop than to actually buy something and he spent most of his time making derogatory remarks and disapproving noises as he thumped around the store. He was particularly interested in the potions I had in store and reserved his most insulting and belittling remarks for these – 'Poor quality – look at the colour', 'What is this bottle meant to contain, Sewage Sludge' and 'By the gods, its remarkable you stay in business with bubbling disasters like these'.
Eventually though, when I had all but lost patience with the cantankerous old wizard, he stopped and became rather interested in a wand I had on sale. 'How much for this 'trinket'' he asked in an off-handed sort of way. 'Oh I'm sorry Vortimax, that items already spoken for' I lied. 'Spoken for! How do you speak for a wand! What is the asking price?' he scoffed, pulling a pouch full of coins from his robes.
'I'm truly sorry Vortimax but I can't sell you the wand. I promised to hold the wand for someone else' I lied again, enjoying his escalating annoyance. 'If my money is no good then, what about my potions. Perhaps we could make a trade.' Vortimax followed, his voice now reaching almost fever pitch.
Now this is when my ears pricked up. Vortimax is certainly a pain at the best of time. He has little patience or tolerance for anyone or anything but he is also a master brewer. 'I don't know Vortimax, what have you got?' I prodded.
Vortimax attempted to make a trade with only the Potion of Tongues here but in the end I was able to negotiate for all three. In the end he was fuming but happy with the wand none the less.
As for me I am more than happy with the potions also. Cantankerous and grumpy Vortimax certainly is but there is no deigning the quality of his potions…
Quiver of Quandary –9185 gp 8,350 gp
Description: Pale green leather quiver with dark green embroidery depicting a great oak tree. The arrows within are a variety of colours and shapes. There are six arrows of each variety.
+2 Iron: Grey feathers, white shaft and triangular iron tip.
+1 Distance: Brown feathers, white shaft and brown tip. The base of the shaft appears like a small silver eagle with the joined legs were the arrow notches, the feathers shaped like its wings and the rest of shaft emerges from the eagles open mouth. The steel tip of the arrow appears like an arrows head and closed beak.
Story: One of the Greenswords, a famous adventuring band who lived in these parts, commissioned these arrows through me many years a go. They have been sitting half finished in the Bluecrater Academy for longer than I cared to remember, until I was recently reminded of them and asked if I wanted them finished. I thought they may be a useful tool for a party. I remember the young lady who commissioned the arrows was having particular trouble overcoming the different types of natural protections many creatures possessed and wanted a way to bypass this damage reduction so came up with this solution.
I wasn't sure of a name for the quiver and toiled over it one night - it was quite a quandary. That's how I arrived on the name – clever don't you agree. Anyway it will do until someone else comes up with a better one or until someone wants me to commission another such quiver. Just be prepared to wait. This one took over a decade so snatch it up while you can.
Staff of Size Alteration 7150 gp, 6500 gp
Description: Six foot spiral ebony staff, peaked with a crafted hand holding a large sapphire in its fingertips. The sapphire glows when used.
Story: Amazing stave. Changes size and changes others size as well. Purchased this beauty from that fellow Garthun who owns a shop in town. I asked where he had procured such a marvellous stave and he said that he was selling it for a friend. I could see he was nervous with this line of questioning so I let it be.
When he sought to buy another item he produced a sack of gold coins. Now I don't deal in many coins now days especially with items more amply priced, so I was a bit surprised. I was amazed he wasn't concerned about the theft of such a horde. When I looked at the coins I noticed they were not Cauldron coins at all but rather coins with a Laughing Jester printed on them.
When I mentioned this to Garthun he said that they were standard currency in the city now days and as a 'friend' of the Last Laugh I will have no problem accepting them would I! When I refused he left the shop quite put out. These coins will soon be the only currency in this city, you'll see. I'm sure the Last Laugh will be paying you a visit about this in the future!'
I just replied ' Tell them, I'm looking forward to their business…'
Side Note: Garthun prints the counterfeit coins for the Last Laugh and has become a bit brazen with his use of them of late. The Last laugh would not be pleased to hear that he is using them so openly and associating their name with the coin creation either.
Perhaps a better 'hook' could be that the party all share a dream one night (to keep in line with the Nightmare/Dream scenerio and link it/her with the dreams the party have been having from Adimarchus)
Nidrama's Dream -
A silver haze filled with tiny twinkling stars fade to reveal strange sinister surroundings. You are lead through the ruins of an ancient village, the light of the full moon your only guide. Your hands are bound and you stumble as your capture, a crazed dark knight with a cloak made from human skin, drags you foward. All around you, you feel unearthly eyes watching you and the groans your shambling goblem guards makes you shudder in fear.
Your long silver hair falls about your face amking it more difficult to see and you trip and fall to you knees. "You're not in heaven now b~~$+ and I'm no angel I can assure you!" you hear the darkguard spit, "Get on your feet before I change my mind and start to skin you for may clothes!". You raise you head and suddenly feel a wave of pain rip through your scalp as you are lifted from the ground by your hair. "I'm sure Embril wouldn't mind if some of that beautiful silver skin went missing!" the knights whispers into your ear before dropping you to your feet. "Now move!"
The pain of your head thuds but you force yourself forward.
The buildings suddenly open up and you stagger into an old village square. Lapping the edges of the crumbling cobblestones, the edges of a dark large sits to its side. The moon reflects in the lakes mirror like surface.
Standing by the waters edge is two shadowy forms. One is a beautiful, darkhaired woman while the other a humaniod with 4 arms.
Embril graped you hand and began to pull you toward the darkness of the lake....
Needs work but something like that anyway. I'll keep working at the rest of the adventure as we go but please lots of suggestions will help!
I'm not sure this is what you have but here is what I have found. If you have any suggestions to improve it please let me know -
Nidrama - Adimarchus' Lost Love
The Haunted Village
Event One –
Event Two –
Event Three –
Event Four –
Event Five -
- Embril and Nidrama lie next to each other in tranquil sleep. Standing over them is a Spellweaver who has weaved a dome of silvery web which glitters like a myrad of stars. Held in one of his hands is a strange device in which the Spellweaver continues spins and twirls, weaving ribbons of the stars around the sleeping figures.
Any items which move into the curtain/dome of stars disappear. Stepping into the dome casts the character into the Realm of Dreams.
When the party step through the gate they float in a great glittering violet and sliver haze 'sky'. Sparkling clusters of dreams float through the landscape like clouds. Looking deeper into the haze they find great black and red rivers slowly reaching out from a great lake of darkness (Dreamheart).
Embril has summoned 'Nightmare Creatures' (any ideas) to immediately attack any creatures stepping through the gate. Once the party desposed of the fiends, they can see two faint figures flying down one of the 'rivers' towards the inky heart of the Realm. The party can see the inky fingers of madness washing over countless dreams and into countless creature's minds.
Willing themselves forward the party find they can 'fly' (Movement equals one foot per point of intelligence). The party attempt to catch the party but are again attacked by summoned fiends. This time Embril has relized the risk and returns to face the party leaving a bound Nidrama to continue to flow down the river towards the heart. The party have 6 rounds to rescue Nidrama who is 100 feet away from the party at the beginning of the encounter.
Once Embril is defeated and Nidrama saved, the party can return through the gate and emerge within the dome. The party can then attack the Spellweaver who immediately stops 'dream weaving' and attacks.
After they rescue Nidrama and take her from the Haunted Village, Nidrama asks for them to find rest. As they sleep Nidrama shares with them the final dream where Adimarchus commits the crime which is responsible for him being expelled from heaven and being torn from Nidrama.
As a side note
Embril captured Nidrama in an effort to finally destroy Adimarchus' mind and therefore releasing his Inner Demon to fully control the angels body, effectively transforming Adimarchus into the demon mind and body.
Embril attempts to 'find' Adimarchus and show the angel his love before she kills Nidrama in front of him and destroys his mind altogether. Embril is unaware that she can not enter Adimarchus' nightmares from the temple.
The party can not enter Adimarchus' Nightmare Realm in this way. Anything appraoching the heart of his Insanity is consumed in this manner. The only way to enter his dreams is to use the Dream Catcher while in his direct presence.
The party can claim the Spellweaver's Dream Catcher to 'Dream Travel' 1/day, as per the Manual of the Planes spell. Only passing into the dream world in Adimarchus presence and through Adimarchus' mind (while directly looking at the fallen angel) can the party hope to enter his nightmares and free him from his Inner Demon.
Skies Treasury (Chapter Three)
By the start of Chapter three Skie has increased her goods quantity and value to 70,000 gp. During each Chapter there is a 25% chance that an item is sold. This usually occurs why the party is out adventuring but may even occur while the party is browsing in the shop or worst still attempting to buy the same item!
During the Flood Festival Skie offers a special discount of 20% to all buyers. As a result the chance of an item being sold during this chapter doubles from 25% to 50%.
New items are highlighted blue. Festival prices are in brackets. Items with descriptions and stories are bolded as above -
Inventory & Prices
+2 Breastplate 4350 gp 3915 gp (8480 gp)
Below are the items that were either bought by my party or were sold to other buyers –
+1 banded mail 1,400 gp 1,260 gp
Once again these are just changes I made for my campaign so do not feel pressured to use them. Feel free to change the inventory depending upon your party and personal choices. If you think there is any items I should exclude or alternatively, include to this list, let me know.
Descriptions & Stories
+1 small steel shield of Blinding 4000 gp 3600 gp
Description: A black circular shield depicting a black beholder painted to appear as if crammed into the confines of the shield face, filling up every portion of the shield front. Silver barbs protrude from the beholder and ebony scales blanket the monster. The creatures eye tentacles and great central eye are painted all directed out towards the viewer. All of the beholders eyes are closed as if asleep.
Story: A traveller passed through Cauldron not a week past and sold this remarkable shield to me. Mentioned she came from beyond the jungles past the ruins of Shatterhorn and chanced upon an old crazed man in the mountains east of here. The old coot kept raving on about his armies and the dragons he sent them to defeat and commanded the traveller to deliver this shield as an offering of alliance to his neighbouring kingdom of Cauldron. Apparently he was quite insistent about the matter.
When the shield came into my possession I immediately thought of you after remembering that story about that beholder you faced beneath the city a month back. That was you right?
Tremendous shield. Not only does it protect the wielder but when the user wills it so, the eyes on the beholder open causing a piercing white flash which blinds all opponents who are caught in its light. Quite amazing really.
Side Note: This shield was created in the Underdark by the drow and used to combat a cabal of beholders that threatened their city. It was one of hundreds created in an attempt to blind the monsters if they attacked. More powerful versions were also created which defected ray attacks and allowed flight. The potency of this shield to beholders still remain untested but Skie is dubious.
Cloak of Charisma (+2) 4000 gp, 3600 gp
Description: A shimmering silver and twilight cloak that ripples as if gently touched by a soft whisper of wind. The beautiful cloth softly reflects the light around it that reflects the wearer's beauty while simultaneously shadowing their imperfections.
Story: Skie -'Breathtaking don't you agree'. I've never seen its equal. I was very tempted to just take the beautiful garment for myself but alas it is too big. Not enough clothes made for diminutive beauties such as myself. The bane of every gnome girl, I fear.
This cloak came from a stunningly beautiful girl herself. Celeste, I recently discovered her name to be, only just moved to our city. She didn't say too much during the sale and seemed extremely sorrowful and reluctant to part with the cloak. Eventually though, she made the sale but it was as if she had sold her heart not just a possession by the look of her. I almost didn't buy the cloak because of the anguish I could see in her eyes.
Side Note: Stitched in a silver thread in the inside of the collar is small message 'written' in celestial.
Let this cloak wrap around you while my arms cannot'.
Celeste's father wrote the heart felt message when he and Celeste's mother gave her the cloak as a parting gift.
Dm's Notes: You may wish to change the writing to common if you do not want to give the players a hint of Celeste's true race. The message may alert potential suitors and make them believe Celeste has had a past love or, worst still, a present one!
Horseshoes of Speed 1900 gp 1710 gp
Description: Steel horseshoes etched with symbols of falcons in flight and studded with emeralds along the sides.
Story: Maavu sold me these marvellous horseshoes. The falcons you see etched into the metal is more than just pleasant to gaze upon, they also illustrate the sheer speed that the shoes imbue upon a steed. Maavu tells me stories of horses barely touching the ground as they fly past in the blur of incredible speed. Not a horse a live would match you with these shoes on your mount.
Side Note: In reality Skie is quite uncomfortable around horses and can't understand the need for them in a city like Cauldron. She is keen to get rid of the item so may even increase the adventures discount to 20% if she sees the party tempted.
Pipes of the Sewers 1150 gp 1035 gp
Description: Intricately carved oak panpipes with pictures of rats in all manner of human-like poses and actions.
Story: A few years back the city of Sasserine was hit by a plague of rats that terrorized the city. At the same time a spate of robberies struck the city as well. As you can imagine the two turned out to be linked. A group of Wererats were using a plague to distract the authorities and mask their movements while they collected quite a horde. When authorities eventually tracked down the villains they were surprised to find that a local store keep was the leader of the rats and was using these very pipes.
The pipes were ordered to be destroyed by the town guard but luckily, Maavu was able to procure them before this could happen now here they are here before you.
Now I don't show these pipes to everyone you understand, after all I don't want a plague of rats in Cauldron any more than the next person. I think it all comes down to good character though, and what people would most likely use them for. As far as I'm concerned good character is something you folk have plenty of…
Ring of Ram (29 charges) 8600 gp 7740 gp
Description: Iron band with a stylised blue rams head. The eyes of the ram are small onyx gems. A pattern of linked, tiny curled horns runs along the inside of the ban. Almost half of the horns appear absent from the pattern.
Story: A customer sold this powerful ring to me not a day past. He told me it was a relic of the Bluecrater Academy. The old chap said that these rings were actually used as a badge of office and as a means of protection for the head scholars of the Academy in years past. Usually the rings are passed on after the sage vacates his position but apparently this ring never did.
Side Note: This ring was snatched by a Last Laugh Pick Pocket only a couple of weeks past from a passed out Vortimax Weer, after one to many wines. The professor has not reported the theft because he is embarrassed and unsure whether he has simply misplaced the ring somewhere. Returning the ring will go a long way in obtaining access to the Academies Library and obtaining a favour from the owner of the Weer's Elixirs.
Robe of Useful Items 7000 gp, 6300 gp
Description: Worn and tattered long brown cloak, covered in pouches and pockets of all makes and descriptions. When it is donned the wearer can open it up to see an array of different shaped patches loosely sewn into the inside lining.
Story: By the look of it, you would think this well loved cloak should be retired into a bin somewhere but this cloak is an amazing, magical resource. Who would think tucked away inside the lining is a boat, a lantern, bags of gems and money, potions, ropes, a dog and just about anything else you could think of. I was almost tempted to start pulling off the patches just to see all the different treasures and items it possesses.
Vestment, Druid's 5,800 gp 5,220 gp
Description: A pale green light vest covered with hundred a deep green animal silhouettes. The vestment bears the subtle perfume of fresh flowers and herbs.
Story: The Stormblades sold this vest to me after a foray into the jungles east of here. They said they had been searching for a cult of lizardmen who worshipped the demon prince Demogorgon, had been attacking caravans and travellers near Cauldron and capturing them for sacrifice.
While trailing a recent band through a swamp near the ruins of Shatterhorn, the group were attacked by moss covered Treants, giant lizards and a massive black crocodile. Fighting for their lives the Stormblades were lucky to escape the encounter and slew the massive crocodile to end the battle. To their surprise, in death the crocodile resumed it's shape to that of an elderly lizardman who wore this very vest. They returned with the vestment but still have no idea where the cult of Demogorgon disappeared…
Side Note: Vhalantru had sent the Stormblades on a wild goose chase to track down the 'Cult'. In reality he wanted them to kill for him a particularly dangerous druid called Scale. Scale had discovered the location of the Cagewrights lair in Shatterhorn by chance and was attempting to amass the lizardmen in the area to expel them from the region.
The Cagewrights wanted Vhalantru to end the potential problem before it began.
Werecorpse wrote:
OK. The side plot deviates from the SCAP somewhat but I'll give you a summary regardless.
My character all had mentors/organisations who trained them up level. Each of them came to the mentors in a variety of manners.
The biggest generator of the side plot/campaign was the wizard's mentor.
Here are the adventures the party completed for the mage between or during the SCAP campaign -
1. Find the Orb of Ice hidden in the Soul Pillars
The Lord of Death and Magic
The party began to complete missions for the mage which they were well rewarded for but they, other than the party member who is his apprentice, are always suspicious that he will betray them or lead them into evil. For much of the campaign the believed he was the mastermind behind the Cagewrights but he has never give them any reason to justify their fears.
The adventures he had they undertake involved retrieving powerful orbs. They eventual found out that these orbs channeled power from different planes. After a time, the mage revealed that he was thousands of years old and it had been the Spellweavers who he had used to help create the orbs to channel the power of the planes before they broke from their enslavement,betrayed him and stolen the orbs.
When the adventures moved every forward the wizards apprenctice learnt that his mentor was actually an immortal Rakashi who was once a leader within an evil empire. Once his minions had betrayed him and created an empire themselves, it had been he who had deceived them into attempting to use the orbs to channel the power of the planes without the correct ritual. This is what destroyed their empire and created the Demonskar.
Once he had retrived what orbs he could he quickly attempted to achieve his ultimate goal - to use the orbs and the ritual to draw the divine power away which still flickered within the petrified remains of uber diety and floated now in the astral plane. He was desperate to complete the ritual before the other evil immortal lords disovered his plans.
The ritual began but something was wrong. In his haste he had believed he would not need all the orbs to complete the ritual but as the ritual began he quicly learnt that he did and he could not control or properly absorb the power of the divine spark. With a great explosion he was sent hurtling through the astral plane where he lost consciousness. When he eventually awoke he did not know how long he had been floating but he discovered a strange phenomia. While his aim had been to channel into him the power of the diety, with the ritual failing, he had somehow absorbed part of the gods consciousness and soul. He had been one of the most evil creatures in the universe but now he found he had a strange care for others - he had become good.
He knew that if the other Lords ever discovered this they would destroy him utterly so he fled to the Material Plane, back to where he had lived with the Spellweavers centuries before, where he discovered a city had been built in the extinct volcano and he hid.
Once he had invested a great amount of his magical energy on wards and protective spells to protect him from detection from the other Lords he sought about retieving the orbs and the ritual tomb once more to, this time, complete the ritual properly. Instead of seeking the power to rule over others though, he now found he had another motivation - he wished to destroy the other immortal Lords.
To complete his mission he needed patience and help. This is where the party came in.
When my party first came to Cauldron they were approached by a cheeky halfling who offered them a job, sneaking into an abandoned nobles villa with him. He told them the garden was protected by strange plants and he needed their help to get him inside. He said he would split the spoils. They agreed but when the noble villa turned out to be well and truly occupied, and they were captured by a strange old wizard, the rogue escaped abandoning the party.
The house was full of whispering voices and the wizard needed to meerly gesture to bring candles, wine decanters etc to him. The party know they were in big trouble when the wizard began to speak to them with ESP. He was able to see that the party was fooled into the break in and after looking into the groups minds further asked the magic user of the party if he would like to become his apprentice.
The rest of the party never truly trusted the wizard but he gave them no reason to believe he was untruthful to them at any stage.
Eventually the mage started to ask the party wizard to complete tasks for him that were linked to the campaign beginning with claiming an orb from the Soul Pillars that was hidden within them. Upon their return from the adventure the party was well rewarded with money and the wizard was given access to spells from the Soul Pillars.
Sorry for the long winded explanation - I have to go and make dinner now but if your interested I'll explain the rest to you later including the other adventures eyc the party did outide those from the SCAP.
Mothman wrote:
Hey Mothman,
No. Can you believe it that I'm still playing the same campaign. When we first began playing 3rd edition the party seemed to zoom through the levels meaning they never had time to embrace their character. They felt they never had the time to develop or role play their character and they became powerful too quickly.
The group loves to roleplay and seem to enjoy the lower levels more than the upper. So as a result, we decided to double the XP required to advance a level. To compensate, I created or found multiple side adventures that threading in and around the SCAP.
Right now the party are nearing the end of the other plot thread and about to take on the Gith Lich Queen in the Astral Plane.
When, and if, they return they will begin the Adimarchus section of the campaign where I'll have them rescue Nidrama and then trek off the Canceri.
Good to hear from you mate
Cleanthes wrote:
The group I DM just began the Kopru ruins this week, but a month or so ago we had a ton of fun with the Demonskar Ball, and I got a whole lot of use out of the doc you're talking about. I'd say it's alive and kicking! Great piece of work, as I know you've heard many times before.
Still love hearing your work is appreciated though mate!
motteditor wrote:
G'day motteditor,
Maybe instead of reducing the size of Jzarine (sp?), perhaps make the secret door that leads to the bootom level more obvious but it has a key. When the players start to find the exploration of the top super dungeon to long or they have risen in sufficent levels, have them conveniently find the key.
Otherwise throw plenty of challenges, battles at them early to build up their XP so they can skip over much of the boring bits.
Another idea to reduce the 'feel' of the initial dungeon is to have them meet up with the two Striders early who would them guide them through the area (taking them to the best bits) before moving on down to the bottom level.
Anyway, hope this helps
Cauldron Coinage
The following information was created to give people a variety of options to chose from or be inspired by, to use as the official currency in the city. Personally my favourites are the Copper Clasp, Silver Steadier, Gold Tumbler and Platinum Cusp but feel free to use any or all of them if you desire.
I hope you enjoy the little explanations in any event and if you come up with any more email me and I will be happy to add them to the download.
Uniform Coin Elements.
Today the practice is still retained for traditional reasons and to symbolize Cauldrons volcanic foundations within the dormant volcanoes mouth.
Cauldron Copper Coins
Option One
The slang term - 'Clasp' comes from the discovery of a skeletal dragons claw found buried alone the lakeside within the basin when the town was first being constructed. Many believe that Hookface's mother once called the dormant volcano its home thousands of years previous until she met her end fighting another of her kind - perhaps even Hookface himself! Others state the claw was of a copper dragon slain by Hookface himself as a youth.
Option Two
Copper 'Cobbler'
The slang 'Cobbler' came from early in Cauldrons history when the local builders and workmen helped build the unique town under the direction of the gnomes who had lived in the regions for hundreds of years.
The workmen at the time had great difficulty with the rocky slopes, loose rubble and jagged stones found within the volcano basin and their poorly constructed shoes, sandals and boots offered little comfort or protection under the conditions.
In response the practically minded gnomes of Jzadirune set about building hundreds of shoes and boots for the workers each bearing a copper buckle and offered them the footwear as part of their payment.
From this point on the workmen would take their footwear to the locale gnome cobbler for repairs as part of their weekly payments. The copper buckles frequently fell off and trading copper buckles to make running repairs became a common and recognizable part of the blossoming currency. Long after the style of shoe had vanished and the town was built the copper buckles or 'cobblers' were used by the workmen for payment until coins began to be minted resembling the workmen's copper buckles from their gnomish-crafted shoes.
This is where the term 'Copper Cobbler' came from and is even attributed to the shape of the coin.
Option Three-
This is where the term 'Copper Common' comes from. A coin for the commoners.
Cauldron Silver Coins
Option One
Silver 'Steadier
Paying a silver to 'steady' the headsman's axe is considered money well spent and is where the term 'Steadier' comes from.
Option Two-
Silver 'Salt'
Salt in Cauldron is both expensive and difficult to acquire and rarely used except at meals such as these. Only those close to the host or are important to them are able to use salt which is kept in a great silver bowl or shaker, resting before the host. Those who are considered lower or of lesser importance and seated further down the table or room.
This is where the term comes from - 'Below the Salt' and also where the term 'Silver Salt' derives from - salt is always kept in a silver shaker or bowl and silver is a coin of value but still below the gold.
Option Three-
Silver 'Silho'
This is where the slang - 'Silver Silho' derived from.
Cauldron Gold Coins
Gold 'Tumbler'
In an attempt to promote his unusual appointment, the nobles decided to spread lavish tales of his royal heritage, importance and grandeur and to hold a grand celebration for his arrival. Rather than endear him to the people, this instead began to alienate him.
For months the citizens of Cauldron were forced to pay increased taxes in preparation of the 'royal' visit. Much of the local food and produce began to be stowed away for the Royal celebration and many of Cauldron's poor began to go hungry By the time the young fop had made his lengthy journey to the city, the citizens of Cauldron were disgruntled and far from welcoming.
As the fop arrived with much fanfare and paraded through the city he could sense the peoples obvious hostilities. In an attempt to alleviate their anger the fop choose to board a local fishing boat, fill it with food, sail around the inner lake and toss the food to the hungry citizens. What happened next became legendary in Cauldron.
Whether it was the weight of the food or the barrage of vegetables that the citizens hurled back at the astonished sovereign, the boat overturned sending the beleaguered fop tumbling into the dirty water. The roar of laughter as the fellow bobbled in the watery mix of food and flotsam was enormous while the fop dragged himself to the shore thoroughly embarrassed and looking like a drowned cat. He left for home that very night, the celebrations were cancelled and the food distributed back to the markets and onto the citizens table.
To this day the Cauldron gold coin has the depiction of the current mayor on one side. To the citizens of Cauldon the mayor is known as the 'Fop' after the poor fellow who 'tumbled' into the lake and the coin his face adorns – Gold Tumbler.
Gold 'Monkey'
The Last Laugh during this time actually had some of the dexterous, nimble little Spider monkeys trained to act as distractions for their pickpockets. Some of the most clever monkeys were even trained to pick pockets themselves, always targeting the wealthy and always targeting their gold!
When people lost their money or their gold coins were spent they would claim that the 'Last Laugh Monkeys' or 'Laughing Monkeys' took them whether this was the truth or not.
This is where the term 'Laughing Monkeys' or simply 'Monkeys' originated.
Gold 'Gambler
From this the term Gold 'Gambler' originated from.
Cauldron Platinum Coins
Cauldron only minted one batch of platinum coins at the demands of the nobility. They are extremely rare in the town.
Platinum 'Cusp'
It is a fact that Cauldron's nobility rarely use platinum coins for little other than as 'chips' in the game of 'Gems' in the club or to pay for drinks, food or services therein.
This is where the term 'Cusp Coin' or simple 'Cusp' originated.
Platinum 'Plodder'
There is a saying in Cauldron –'A lifetime of plodding earns but a platinum' and it is from this that the slang: Platinum 'Plodder' derives.
Platinum 'Prison'
The term Platinum 'Prison' originated from this time.
Skies Treasury (Chapter Two)
My group is just about to begin Chapter 2 in the adventure path and according to the write up on Skies Treasury this means that she purchases an additional 10,000 gp worth of equipment in addition to replacing any sold items.
My group bought a number of items and I rolled randomly to see how many items were sold to other buyers in between their visits. Basically sold items came to another 10,000 gp worth of items.
So here is my chapter 2 inventory. All items were rolled randomly and are from the 'minor items' in each equipment section. Once again a special thanks goes to Chef's Slaad for his entry on the Wand of Shocking Grasp.
New items are highlighted. Items with descriptions and stories are bolded as above -
Inventory & Prices
+1 banded mail 1,400 gp 1,260 gp
Below are the items that were either bought by my party or were sold to other buyers -
Potion of owl's wisdom 300 gp 270 gp
Once again these are just changes I made for my campaign so do not feel pressured to use them. Feel free to change the inventory depending upon your party and personal choices. If you think there is any items I should exclude or alternatively, include to this list, let me know.
Descriptions & Stories
+2 Breastplate 4,350 gp 3915 gp
Description: Black coloured, shaped to appear like a muscular torso. A symbol of a blazing hammer in front an ice-capped mountain is inset into the chest.
Story: A bald dwarf named Xoden sold me this armour in exchange for the chainmail I had on sale a week or so a go. Great deal as far as I was concerned so I didn't probe to much lest he wake up and realize his mistake.
He mentioned something about being a bit big for him and how the symbol upset the orcs he was working with too much. I thought he was joking so I blurted out – 'Dwarves and orcs working together that'll be the day!' but he just scowled at me in response and quickly left with his chainmail.
His loss and our gain I say. You won't find armour as good as this much around these parts especially crafted by dwarves…
+1 Heavy Crossbow of Frost 8, 302 gp 7472 gp
Description: An intricately carved bone crossbow with a crossbar blanketed in tiny overlapping silver scales. Its string is deep blue colour and is blanketed in an array of icicles. The underside grips have thick mammoth fur to protect the hands.
Story: An adventuring group that once frequented this very store many years past, claimed this great bow from the great Frost Giant Jarl known as Khurok. After battling a myriad of monsters, not the least of them being the tribe of frost giants and their stone and hill giant allies, the Greenswords faced the great Jarl ridding his ancient white dragon.
From the aftermath of the battle the giant threat to the region was averted anf this mighty bow was claimed. The amazing ability of this bow does not just lie in its firepower but also in its size manipulation. The bow attunes to the wielder, no matter what the size, and grows or shrinks to fit their hand accordingly.
The item has apparently changed hands many times since this famous event but I recognised the item instantly when Maavu showed it to me. Don't mention it to him but I got it for a steal and now you can have it for one too!
[u]Side Note:[/u] Giants of the region look upon this weapon as sacred and gain a +1 morale bonus to attacks and damage verus characters wielding the crossbow.
Bracers of Archery 5,100 gp 4590 gp
Description: Two thick silver arrows curl around upon themselves and through a stylised eye. The bracers are blanketed in tiny etchings of an eye pierced by an arrow. The tip, feathers and eye are made of gold and rest upon the topside of the bracers. The underside of each are completely covered in a strange array of spidery symbols.
Story: Maavu purchased this item in the Drunken Morkoth Inn a few months past. An elderly adventurer apparently just gave the item to him after sharing a hot mug in front of the fire. The old fellow was an adventurer in these parts who had fled with his group after some of their group was assassinated.
The old warrior told Maavu he had claimed these bracers from one of the assassins bodies. He had returned to Cauldron to find out the employer of these assassins believing that these bracers held the clue but, as his health slipped away from him, he said he now realized his search had all been in vein.
The next morning Maavu said he went to return the bracers to the old fellow in the room he had been staying in or at least pay him some compensation but the elderly adventurer had vanished.
Great item all the same. Maavu assures me you can shoot a fly down in a storm using these brilliant bracers!
[u]Side Note:[/u] A disguised Meerthan gave this item to Maavu when he and the rest of the Striders first tracked the Cagewrights to Cauldron. Meerthan had learnt that Maavu was part of a strong good aligned organisation and he hoped by giving this item to him it would spark his curiousity and, in turn, his organizations, about the sinister group. Meerthan then would use the gift as a future catalyst to broach an alliance against the Cagewrights. Unfortunately Maavu was far more the merchant than investigator or moral crusaders and had sold the bracers before giving the 'old mans' story much more than a fleeting thought.
Meerthan is still embarrassed about the incident but may recall the story for characters who he particularly trusts particularly if they now possess the item.
Dust of Illusion 500 gp 450 gp
Description: A small deep purple pouch with gold drawstrings opens to reveal a glittering mound of ever changing, coloured dust. The dust seems to be in constant motion, altering its colour and shape continuously, forming and blending tiny images and shapes.
Story: Skie –'That handsome fellow Keygan Ghelve sold this treasure to me only recently. He told me he needed the money to help pay for his legal expenditures. I assume he was referring to his…um…well, incarceration and up coming trial after that unfortunate misunderstanding about the kidnappings. He told me his grandfather gave him the dust when he lived in Jzadirune as a child.
I hope it all goes well for him. It's hard to find an intelligent and charismatic gnome in these parts, especially a tall one like Keygan….
Potion of Cat's Grace 300 gp 270 gp
Description: A tall thin crystal tube containing a thick grey liquid. The stopper is shaped to resemble a black cat with its head popping out the top of the vial.
Story: A panic stricken young fellow fled into this shop and week or so past, wanting a quick sale. He hurriedly pulled this vial out of his vest and asked me what I would give him for it. Of course I asked him where he had got the strange looking potion but rather than tell me he got quiet irate, telling me it was none of my business. He constantly glancing over his shoulder and hoped from one foot to the other during the tirade.
When I voiced my suspicions and refused to buy the item for his over inflated asking price without further clarification, he began to threaten me. At this I had a guess at his occupation and source of terror, and mentioned that the Last Laugh were valued customers of mine. His face went from a ruby colour to ashen in half a heartbeat. His attitude quickly changed and so did his price and with that I happily passed over the money and he ran from the shop.
I later mentioned the strange youth to Skylar Krewis but he didn't know anything of the fellow. Something tells me he was in trouble whichever way you look at it.
Anyhow I'm not sure if he knew what he had. One sip of this potion will make you quick, agile, fleet and dexterous.
[u]Side Note:[/u] The silly young fellow was an escaping member of the Last Laugh who decided to steal from one of his team. His plan was to sell the potion and then seek amnesty with the Alleybashers. Fleeing down a alley he never saw the figure hiding in the darkened doorway. No one leaves the Last Laugh…
Quaal's Feather Token(fan) 200 gp 180 gp
Description: A small circular pure white coloured feather that, when held, causes a light breeze to gentle ruffle a persons hair and clothes even on the calmest of days.
Story: This item was part of Maavu's stock. It is rather a simple item but invaluable on the high seas or during a wind swept storm. Nice on a hot day too, I'd imagine.
Wand of Magic Missiles (Special) - 39 charges 950 gp 855 gp
Description: Gold capped, deep ruby coloured wand covered in small gold runes. A noticeable crack sits halfway along the shaft.
Story: A fellow by the name of Pockets wandered in her with his great big dog he called Patches a week or so past. Patches was standing by his masters side one minute and the next he was sniffing away at me heels. Scared the 'begeebers' out of me to tell the truth – a dog disappearing and reappearing all over the place. Seemed a smart dog though.
Anyhow he brought in this wand and asked how much. Told me it had been found in a ruin of a group of six armed magicians or something like that but was obviously damaged. I tested it out and found it quiet powerful yet rather temperamental. For the price you won't find a wand as powerful as this one around here, especially in this shop.
[u]Side Note:[/u] The wand is a standard wand of magic missiles but can fire 2 or even 3 missiles at a time using the same amount of charges (2 missiles = 2 charges). Because of the crack though every time more than 1 missile is fired there is a chance the wand will explode doing the user 10d4 points of damage. Firing off 2 missiles has a 20% chance of this occurring while firing off 3 missiles the chance rises to 40%.
Wand of Shocking Grasp - 43 charges 750 gp 675 gp
Story :This particular wand was found in the dwarven ruins under Cauldron. The bite marks are from a goblin infant, who, believe it or not, used it as a rattle!
Skies Treasury (Chapter One)
Inventory & Prices
+1 banded mail 1,400 gp 1,260 gp
Descriptions & Stories
+1 banded mail 1,400 gp 1,260 gp
Description: Armour crafted with alternate bands of silver and gold, etched with depictions of majestic eagles. Along the arms of the armour are gold wings while the gauntlets are crafted, and fingertip slightly pointed, to resemble birds talons. The full-face helm is toped with a golden eagle poised to take to the air.
Story: Skie – 'I've had this beautiful armour for years and have grown quiet attached to it. A few guards have inquired about it but I turned them away. Armour like this deserves to be worn by a hero, not a common soldier… '
Side Note : Skie purchased the armour years ago when the Hatil noble family were executed for treason and their estate was divided up. The armour was sold to Skie for a fraction of its worth but since that time she has found it extremely difficult to sell it. The truth is that most of Cauldron locals know of the items past and are reluctant to buy the banded mail in fear of getting bad luck themselves or worse still – have the Hatil Family ghosts come back to get it from them….
+1 dagger (Small) 2,302 gp 2,072 gp
Description: A small stiletto bladed dagger with a deadly sharp tip and a crescent shaped crossbar. The hilt is bound with black, soft leather and the base embedded with a small emerald.
Story: A member of the Last Laugh claimed this dagger in a duel with a group of Alleybashers who attempted to ambush her on a rooftop. She was able to duck, weave and tumble past their series of awkward attacks before taking them down with a flurry of pinpoint strikes. A dark gnome offered the blade in exchange of his life. The Last Laugh assassin took both.
+1 kukri 2,308 gp 2,077 gp
Description: Heavy, curved dagger with a razor-sharp edge made of glittering mithril on the inside of the curve. Soft black leather is wound around the handle with a pattern of white linked hands imprinted into the leather.
Story: Skie – I purchased this exotic beauty for my more discerning, worldly customers. It takes a masterful fighter to wield such a blade, one versed in abilities and skills rarely seen in these parts. A different breed of warrior is exactly what we all hope for in our little city and this blade would make the perfect tool for just such a hero…
+1 heavy steel shield 1,170 gp 1,053 gp
Description: A large rectangular shield blanketed with small spikes.
+1 leather armour (medium) (1,160 gp each 1,044 gp each)
+1 leather armour (small)
Description: Stone grey coloured with a symbol of a black rearing horse carved into its chest and on each shoulder.
Story: Skie – This mystic armour was found by a farmer who chanced upon a halfling lying dead by the road with not a mark upon him wearing the treasure. The farmer swore he saw a strange ghostly fish like humanoid floating away from the corpse at the time but the old fellow is know for his theatrics so take the story with a grain of salt. But on the other hand he did say he found it not 20 miles from what we know in these parts as the Haunted Village…so who knows.
+1 light mace (Small) 2,305 gp 2,075 gp
Description: Spiked diamond-shaped head sits upon a short silver shaft. The maces head is gold coloured contrasting with the weapon handle and grip. The base of the weapon depicts a smiling halflings visage and a horn. Etched along the silver shaft in a flowing hand is something written in halfling. The shaft and head of the mace seem strangely mismatched.
Story: Skie –'Just another one of Maavus wares so not much of a story with this one. Perfect size in my opinion. I had the writing translated. It reads –
Strange thing with this weapon is that only the shaft is magical, almost as if the head and handle were put together later and don't really belong together. Maybe its part of a much more powerful weapon, who knows? I would be keen to purchase the weapon on promise alone, let alone the fact that it is a powerful mace in its own right. All it needs is a wielder with the right potential and stature…
Side Note: The shaft is one half of a powerful weapon known as 'Last Rite' - a Mace of Disruption created by the church of Yondalla. A lich from the Haunted Village region defeated its previous owner and attempted to destroy the weapon but only succeeded in dividing the weapon into two parts. He then had his followers disperse the head and shaft to different ends of the land, believing this would ensure he would never come in contact with the item again.
The head of the weapon has the second half of the poem –
DMs Note: The head can be found in any number of locations preferably as part of an existing weapon perhaps wielded by one of the villains such as Ike. While Triel is probably an ideal owner for the 'head' of the mace I recommend discovering the item later in the Path due to the power level of the weapon.
Small Longsword +1
Description: Dark iron blade with an ivory hilt carved to resemble a Zorn with outstretched arms creating a cross guard and with the blade emerging from the zorns 'mouth'.
Story: Skie - ' I was sold this remarkable blade from Cauldron own heroes known as the Stormblades. Have you heard of them? After battling through the deadly catacombs beneath the city and slaying countless yapping bloodthirsty kobolds they faced off against the leader of the tribe - a monstrous kobold with red scales and long horns. After yipping a command at its bodyguards the leader drew its gleaming blade and attacked.
During the ensuring combat one of the Stormblades, the fiery redhead, slapped the devilish leaders blade from its grasp and with one quick motion caught the blade in her off hand and trust it into the astonish creatures heart.
+1 spiked chain 2,325 gp 2,093 gp
Description: Long thick black length of chain with wicked curved spikes permanently stained with blood. Red worm-like symbols squirm around each link endlessly, quickening and glowing when the weapon is wielded.
Story: A strange stooped figure shambled into my shop one rain swept evening, cloaked in a heavy hooded robe and dragging one leg behind it. In a raspy voice the figure asked for the owner of the shop and I quickly blurted out that I was the one he sought. The figure slowly drew something out from beneath its robes which rattled and clinked disconcertingly, and then held the item high. The act reminded me of a tyrannical general triumphantly holding aloft a defeated victims head to his bloodthirsty army. The image sent a chill right through me.
The object dangled down and swayed like a serpent. Lowering the chain onto the counter, the figure said it had heard I enjoyed hearing stories of the objects I purchased. I replied that this was true and, with a cruel smile, the figure began to describe the hundreds of cruel deaths the chain had inflicted upon creatures in the past.
He recalled with glee and delight how it had ripped people apart, how it had teared away their flesh, how it had dismembered and disfigured. With each story the figure became more animated and more excited but I couldn't muster the will to stop him. He sickened and frightened me.
But for all my contempt I could see a profit to be had and offered the figure a pouch of gems for the weapon. Smiling with an overcrowded mouthful of rotting sharpened teeth, the figure snatched up the pouch and slipped from the shop and back into the rain.
This is not a weapon of grace or honour, but it is definitely a weapon of terror and death. I fear to say, but I believe it is a weapon that will have a place in Cauldron future too. What that role will be is only for the gods and heroes such as you to unravel…
Side Note: This weapon and will disappear at the end of Chapter 2 if it is not bought before this time. An Alleybasher will purchase the weapon and, sneaking a peak out the window and onto the rain blanketed street, Skie will see the rogue fearfully hand it over to a black armoured red head outside. This is Triel who will give the weapon as a gift to Takilar, the undead gnoll Ebon Triad leader from Chapter 3.
Due to this purchase, it is very likely the party come in to contact with the weapon during the next chapter and see it used to full, terrifying and brutal, effect.
Arcane scroll of flame arrow 375 gp 338 gp
Description: These three scrolls have been scribed on the same parchment. All of them bear a wax seal, stamped with a sigil depicting a mountain crested by a sun and stars. One of the scrolls (levitate) has a circular hole on its edge, barely touching the arcane writing.
Story : I bought these three scrolls off young sir Splintershield, before he became the master of the Malachite Hold. Says he found them in a grotto beyond his ancestral home, deep within the mountain. They were in a small frayed sack buried under a caved-in section. Sir Splintershield told me he found the grotto in a most peculiar state. Sections of the wall apparently melted away, unnatural cave-ins everywhere, as if it was the site of a great battle. He never did find out what exactly happened there, though...
Side Note: The scroll of levitate is slightly damaged. It has a 10 percent arcane spell failure chance. The scrolls where scribed by the wizard member of a band of adventurers named the Wayscouts. The adventurers were one of the first to be ambushed by Vhalantru. Vhalantru made liberal use of his disintegrate eye-ray in that battle and hit the wizard as he was digging out a scroll. Vhalantru cleared out the cavern after that, but missed the three scrolls. One of the statues in Vhalantru's manor may bear a sigil on his gear identical to that on the scrolls.
Arcane scroll of mirror image 150 gp 135 gp
Cloak of Resistance +1 (red) 1,000 gp each 900 gp each
Description: Long deep ember coloured with a myriad of white symbols covering it. A white thin roper tie encircles the neck with both ends finishing in a white pearl.
Story: Skie – A wandering wizard, in exchange for quick cash, sold this magical wonder to me. He claimed to have secreted it from right out of Hookface's overflowing horde as the massive red dragon slept. I was a bit sceptical myself until he produced a red shield sized scale to verify his claim. Dragon or not the cloak symbols sometimes glow with power. I believe this cloak hold more magic than it has initially revealed. Perhaps all it needs is the right owner…
Cloak of resistance +1 (blue) 1,000 gp each 900 gp each
Description: Just over waist length, twilight blue with white wolf fur lining and silver clasp resembling a wolf.
Story: The gallant Alek Tervical sold this beautiful prize to me. He told me he took it from an orcish shaman in the jungles to the north. The shaman had gifted the item to Alek after he rescued his familiar from a pair of trolls wandering the region.
Divine scroll of dispel magic 375 gp 338 gp
Divine scroll of raise dead 6,125 gp 5,513 gp
Description: Large ash coloured parchments rolled and sealed with a red wax seal stamped with the symbol of death and magic. At the head of each opened scroll is the glaring symbol of Wee Jas that seems to follow the reader's eyes wherever he moves. The writing is a red spidery script which glows and disappears once read.
Story: Skie – 'Not much of a story here I'm afraid. I commissioned these scrolls from the Church of Wee Jas and had to pay through my ears to do so. But not to worry they are all in mint condition, never been opened in fact, were created by Ike Iverson and most importantly to you I won't be passing on the high prices I payed to get them!
Side Note: Hastily penned in one corner of the Raise Dead scroll is a small note
Golembane scarab (flesh) 2,500 gp 2,250 gp
Description: Black, beetle shaped pin with pearl eyes and white tipped legs. The white underside is warm, soft and distinctly flesh-like to the touch.
Story: This little fellow was part of a collection commissioned by a group known as the Tomb Rats who recently sold of all their adventuring possessions in Sasserine. The recently retired party were famous for researching, locating, exploring and plundering ancient tombs, cities, cairns and pyramids in the region.
After undead, undoubtedly the most numerous and dangerous guardians they combated in these ruins were golems. To better prepare themselves for such encounters, the group had a collection of scarabs created, each attuned to a different type.
This one was specifically designed to combat the terrifying, zombie-like golems made of corpses body parts - flesh golems. Horrific to see they are even more horrific to battle. Few live to see the other side of combat with such shambling nightmares.
That is of course, unless you have a secret weapon such as this on your side….
Hat of disguise 1,800 gp 1,620 gp
Description: Floppy leather artist hat adorned with a blue peacock feather.
Story: Skie –' Would you believe Lord Vhalantru himself sold this amazing hat to me. Just strolled in one day and told me an adventuring group gave him the item as a parting gift before descending beneath the city and then never returning. I remember cheekily asking him why he did not use the item himself and after an few uncomfortably seconds of silence he mentioned something about being out of fashion and too small for his head. I never thought he had a big head but incredibly hat none the less. Just between you and me I've even used it myself a few times when I've seen the tax man coming my way or worse still – an annoying family member on their way to visit…'
Heward's Handy Haversack
Description: This backpack is made of fine red leather and bears an eight-pointed star symbol on the left strap.
Story: Skie - 'A few years back, a spry young man passing through Cauldron came by to purchase a scroll, which I happily sold to him. I sensed that he was looking for something else, though. As he spoke, his eyes wandered over many of the items I had on display. I thought I saw his eyes glimmer when he spotted something, but I'll never know what it was. When I came in to open the office the next morning, I found him dead in front of one of my display cases. The town guard, at the suggestion of Lord Vhalantru, granted me possession of his items.'
If asked about the eight-pointed star symbol, Skie replies 'I tried researching that symbol, but it doesn't seem to mean anything in particular. At least, not in these parts...'
If asked what the young man wanted to purchase, Skie answers 'I don't think I'll ever know. The display case I found him at is where I place my rings. But I thoroughly checked them, and they held no special properties other than what they were intended to hold.'
If asked how the man died, Skie says with a twinkle in her eye, 'Well, it's a dangerous business, sneaking into shops at night."
DM's Notes: Maavu purchases this item during Chapter Two if not already purchased previously.
Potion of cure light 50 gp each 45 gp each
Ring of feather falling 2,200 gp 1,980 gp
Description: Gold ban moulded to resemble tiny overlapping stylised feathers.
Story: Skie –'Strangest thing, this ring came into my possession in the most peculiar and mysterious of ways. I came to work one morning and there it was silently sitting on this very counter with a small note lying by its side. The note itself was dusty and cracked with age as if it had been resting undisturbed there for centuries. Written upon the parchment in a broad hand was a simple message faded with time – 'Pillars of Lore, City of cages, Circle of feathers, Key of pages…'
'Never did find out what the message meant nor how the ring or message was left in my shop' adding more to herself than any who listen she whispers 'particularly with all the traps and guardians I have guarding my wares.' Remembering herself Skie winks at the adventures and states – 'I suspect this little ring is more valuable than it seems but I'll still be happy to part with it for a pouch of gold or jewels to the right buyer…'
Side Note: The underside of the ring has been cut or marked with a small series of indentations. These 'cuts' form an uneven pattern. This item is a key to Fetors (or any other of the Cagewrights, of your choice, spell, diary or lore book). Placing it into the circular indentation upon the cover of the tome, unlocks the book and secrets within.
Ring of protection +1 2,000 gp 1,800 gp
Description: A thick steel band crafted to resemble a snake curled around on itself and biting into its own tail. The snake's eyes are small red gems.
Story: A captain of a troop of Sassarine soldiers sold this delicate marvel to me some years back after retrieving it from the jungles west of the mountains. The captain took the ring from a creature he described as part man part snake and said he had lost half his men to the ambush the creature had led.
The captain recounted how from the trees and ground itself swarms of tiny and giant snakes set upon his patrol and if it was not for the fire obsessed war wizard he had accompanying the troop, the rest of them would not have survived.
Rope of climbing 3,000 gp 2,700 gp
Description: Silken black rope with a blue pattern of a vine climbing and weaving its way up the item
Story: Skie – 'One of the many marvellous items sold to me by Maarvu the magical merchant from this city. I believe he told me he purchased this item from Sasserine but told me little else about the rope. I have tested it out myself though and I was able to scale my shop as easily as climbing stairs. An amazing item indeed.'
Sleep arrows (2 available) 132 gp each 119 gp
Description: Midnight blue feathers, white shaft and tipped with a rounded, sandstone blunt tip. A trail of glittering sand marks the arrows flight when fired.
Story: Skie –'I've had these arrows only a short time. They were sold to me by a academic and wizard from the BlueCrater Academy. They are a new type of magical weapon. A far more civilised method of combat I suggest using these arrows. The battles could be won without a drop of blood spilled. If you want more I'm sure I can get them for you.
Wand of cure moderate 1,980 gp 1782 gp
Description: A 2' long ivory wand carved with winding golden pattern of tiny clasping hands.
Story: Not much of a story with this item I'm afraid. Sarcem, the High Cleric of St Cuthbert, created the item and kindly granted it to me after a fairly hefty 'donation' to the church on my behalf. Very kind and powerful man Sarcem, and not a bad negotiator either. I found myself being far more 'charitable' with my gold to gain the wand than I would ever had been here inside this shop. Something to do with being inside a church I'd imagine.
In any event this wand will save you more than money during battle. It may save your life as well.
Wand of Melf's acid arrow 900 gp 810 gp
Description: Clear, thin, crystal 2' in length that appears to be half full with yellow bubbling liquid.
Story: Another of Alek's treasure is the deadly wand called – Molten. It was taken from a venerable, reclusive ogre mage who lived in the Cauldron Environs, west of city, in the jungles close to Redforge.
Sorry I haven't been on for a long time but what I may do is, rather than email them out (there is a fairly significant list of addresses) is just start up a few threads - one fore each of the topics. This way people can find them here without having to search other sites.
Sorry for the lengthy delay
G'day Patman. I came up with Cestentia many moons a go and the idea to link it to Vittrus Bale too but that wasn't one of the dreams I have written. I'm trying to remember if I actually had my group find the Sword in the Chasm or not. I'll have to get back to you on that one.
My group is current undertaking a side trek after completing the Thirteen Cages adventure before I start them on the final stage of the adventure.
Great to hear you are still haunting this board
Steven Tindall wrote:
My advice is to start foreshadowing the main players from later adventures now! :)
I'm not familar with the class or ability but am assuming she is looking for ways to use some sort of advanced disguise ability???
If so here are a few suggestions -
1.What about disguising herself as one of the Stormblades after having a firey first meeting with them?
Not a great deal you can reveal early on but plenty more as the campaign gain momentum.
A lot of excellent suggestions here already particularly the idea of infiltrating the Last Laugh. Has a great deal of merit.
Another couple of suggestions could be that your Ninja has been sent to Cauldron to discover what happened to his master's son. This son was a well-travelled part of one of the adventuring parties that Vhalantru had had working for him before disposing of them when they began to become too powerful. Perhaps the Ninja must also retrieve the family's ancestral katana or other such heirloom etc.
Another possible take on his background story could be that he is actually secretly indentured to the Jester having dishonored his family and being exiled into the services of the person he attempted to kill. Perhaps the Jester travelled to his homeland to purchase an exotic item, learn their skills etc and insulted the teenage Ninja's father. The Ninja went to draw his blade but was chastised by his father and then mocked by the Jester. Later in the night the Ninja sort revenge on the foreigner and crept into the Jesters room to dispose of him only to be quickly unarmed and captured. When he was taken before his father pleading for the honour of killing himself for the shame of his actions, the father instead exiled him and indentured him to the Jester. The Jester then decided to have the foreign boy act as a spy for him and join an young adventuring party to learn his trade and act as a 'sleeper' within the group until such time as he may need them disposed of....
G'day Eduardo. My biggest issues with the latter portion of the campaign were the same as your own but the extent of the problems I felt were greater than one adventure.
My biggest concern was flow and purpose of the lead villians of the Path. For mine, the early villians were much stronger personalities and much better foreshadowed than there later counterparts. This seemed skewed.
Orbius/Vhalantru was the best villian of the campaign yet was not even one of the Paths ultimate villians: the Cagewrights?
There was not enough foreshadowing or links full stop. The Adventure Paths was written in the wrong order - from start to finish rather than finish to start. You never begin a campain without the end in mind and yet this is what the writers did. There as no management of the campaign which is why there is the problems we all can see.
Eduardo Godinez wrote:
My biggest focus was on purpose for taking out Strike on Shatterhorn was as much to reduce the amount of meaningless villians who were meant to be the biggest, most important villians in the campaign. It just didn't make sense that the first time the party heard of these villians they were fighting them. 25+ lead villians is far to much to foreshadow or legitimise.
I removed SoS because it was a clean up adventure which did nothing to further the plot as a whole. Whether you move it before or after other adventures this doesn't change and neither do the villians who make up the adventure. These villians are just another encounter to the party because there are too many major villain and too many faceless villians imho.
In terms of replacing the xp/items from Shatterhorn I have included a new adventure located in the Haubted Village where the party face off against Aluzid and Embril (the only two Cagewright Masters I thought were worth saving and I could easily faoreshadow earlier in the campaign). I tried to design this adventure as a stepping stone to the latter adventures to give the campaign more flow.
Eduardo Godinez wrote:
The importance of including Nidrama came from trying to ensure that Adimarchus became more than a faceless ultimate villian. As written, the party really have little reason to despise Adimarchus or even care about him. Unless the Cagewrights or other earlier villians are linked to Adimarchus then why care if he lives, dies, is saved or condemned?
This is also why I created the Haunted Dreams. They allow the party to learn about Adimarchus and hopefully learn of his sad fate. In my campaign Nidrama is his last link to sanity which is in turn the only thing stopping the Fallen Angels Inner Demon from completely breaking his spirit and consuming his mind completely.
My take is that, Adimarchus needs to be saved and his Inner Demon, who is the true villian mastermind of the campaign, destroyed. Nidrama is Adimarchus' love and reason why he was expelled from the Heavens.
Without Nidrama, the final encounter becomes another meaningless fight against another meaningless villian.
Once more, in my opinion, the campaign loses direction straight after the death of Orbius and at a push - Tree of Shackled Souls Adventure.
This is merely my take of course and I can see we are both trying to achieve the same goal but just coming from different direction.
Werecorpse wrote:
Sorry for being off topic but can someone tell me where the old RPG genius stuff posted by Delevesdeep is now located?- Is it all in one spot anymore?
G'day Werecorpse - I find the site nib has put together excellent expect there are documents that I have included over the years that I can't find or that have not been credited for so if you were looking for things that I had written you wouldn't find it.
Some of these things are -
1.Skie's Treasury
If you want any of these please let me know which ones and I'll either post them up here or forward them directly on to you.
Patman wrote:
Fair enough. Out of interest what costumes did the players that attended the Ball as nobles wear?
Interesting - I never really intended a party to dress as anything other than demons when I wrote the ball but, looking back over my original notes, I didn't specify this in the costume section. This is why I only have description of Demonic Costumes and not Founders Costumes which Cauldron nobility are only entitled to wear.
The idea of this was to allow the party to differentiate between the classes immediately and ensure the group is initially on the back foot with the dignantries at the gathering. It also ensured the division and uncertainty when meeting the Stormblades at the event also.
Wouldn't have made any significant difference to the Ball but may have meant you didn't need to concern yourself with engineering the Founders either.
Makes for an interesting discussion none-the-less :D
Sounds like a great time. My party particularly liked the snobby Bradly-Dippenshires. They invested a great deal of time in lessons to prepare for the event and enjoyed the dance off where one of my players decided to lay a huge wet kiss on Cora which completely disconcerted the normally feisty redhead.
One of my character was completely smitten by Celeste and another decided she would like to give Todd a long painful death.
The drunken half-orc at the table provided plenty of chest pounding also and the test of strength outside was very amuzing when the manure poured all over one of the characters.
They loved the whole feel of the night and the roleplay in particular.
Too bad I don't have another group to run this through with but I'm glad to hear you enjoyed running your group through the adventure as well.
KenderKin wrote:
Here is a very unpolished 'framework' of the adventure.
The Haunted Village
Event One –
Event Two –
Event Three –
Event Four –
Event Five -
- Embril and Nidrama lie next to each other in tranquil sleep. Standing over them is a Spellweaver who has weaved a dome of silvery web which glitters like a myrad of stars. Held in one of his hands is a strange device in which the Spellweaver continues spins and twirls, weaving ribbons of the stars around the sleeping figures.
Any items which move into the curtain/dome of stars disappear. Stepping into the dome casts the character into the Realm of Dreams.
When the party step through the gate they float in a great glittering violet and sliver haze 'sky'. Sparkling clusters of dreams float through the landscape like clouds. Looking deeper into the haze they find great black and red rivers slowly reaching out from a great lake of darkness (Dreamheart).
Embril has summoned 'Nightmare Creatures' (any ideas) to immediately attack any creatures stepping through the gate. Once the party desposed of the fiends, they can see two faint figures flying down one of the 'rivers' towards the inky heart of the Realm. The party can see the inky fingers of madness washing over countless dreams and into countless creature's minds.
Willing themselves forward the party find they can 'fly' (Movement equals one foot per point of intelligence). The party attempt to catch the party but are again attacked by summoned fiends. This time Embril has relized the risk and returns to face the party leaving a bound Nidrama to continue to flow down the river towards the heart. The party have 6 rounds to rescue Nidrama who is 100 feet away from the party at the beginning of the encounter.
Once Embril is defeated and Nidrama saved, the party can return through the gate and emerge within the dome. The party can then attack the Spellweaver who immediately stops 'dream weaving' and attacks.
After they rescue Nidrama and take her from the Haunted Village, Nidrama asks for them to find rest. As they sleep Nidrama shares with them the final dream where Adimarchus commits the crime which is responsible for him being expelled from heaven and being torn from Nidrama.
As a side note
Embril captured Nidrama in an effort to finally destroy Adimarchus' mind and therefore releasing his Inner Demon to fully control the angels body, effectively transforming Adimarchus into the demon mind and body.
Embril attempts to 'find' Adimarchus and show the angel his love before she kills Nidrama in front of him and destroys his mind altogether. Embril is unaware that she can not enter Adimarchus' nightmares from the temple.
The party can not enter Adimarchus' Nightmare Realm in this way. Anything appraoching the heart of his Insanity is consumed in this manner. The only way to enter his dreams is to use the Dream Catcher while in his direct presence.
The party can claim the Spellweaver's Dream Catcher to 'Dream Travel' 1/day, as per the Manual of the Planes spell. Only passing into the dream world in Adimarchus presence and through Adimarchus' mind (while directly looking at the fallen angel) can the party hope to enter his nightmares and free him from his Inner Demon.
Hopefully this is of some use
Patman wrote:
Thanks Pat. To be honest, the problem with sharing the final few adventures is that I haven't written them in full yet. In fact I may run them using the stats I included! I'm still unsure.
I am looking forward to the Haunted Village adventure though. That and Jarl's hold have always been two locations I feel that were unrealised as potential adventure locations in the campaign.
I am looking forward to revealing Nidrama as Adimarchus' lost love. I want to make the last few adventures meaningful for the party and ensure they are drawn to the conclusion rather than just stumble through it. If I can have the party share in the tragedy that is Adimarchus' fall, loss of love and utimate betrayal in which I created through the dreams and finals adventure changes, then I will have feel I have improved the campaign for the better.
The whole journey through Admarchus Nightmares is a further effort towards that goal. I was never 100% happy with the logistics of the 'Nightmare Realm' adventure myself but the crux of it is -
-The Party stands before the caged fallen angel - Adimarchus
-The group uses the 'Dreamcatcher' magical item to step through a gate into Adimarchus' maddening dreams
- The party stand in a circular chamber that has no beginning or end. Doors are periodically spaced out along the external wall of the corridor. Adimarchus' lost mentor Haloen, now a trapped ghost in his subconscious, appears before the party to act as a guide.
- Haloen explains the adventurers that through each of the doors lays the dreams of events that most haunt Adimarchus. They torment him and drive him to madness. Only by entering these dreams and defeating the evil within can they hope to strip his insanity away.
-Haloen appears in every scene next to the party to explain the challenge contained in each scenerio. Behind each door is a scene that will be familar to the party for each is one of the Nightmares they have experienced.
-Once each Nightmares is dispelled the door the party steps through back into the corridor vanishes. Once all the doors disappear, the middle wall of the corridor disappears revealing a large circular chamber. Within the centre of the chamber, upon a throne, awaits Adimarchus' Inner Demon (use Adimarchus Evil demon manifestation).
-Once the Inner Demon has been defeated the party appears before the real Adimarchus and his insanity is cured.
Does this help at all or confuse you further?
Patman wrote:
You sound like you have been on a very similar gaming path to my own with very a similar stance. Sounds like you have the old man rant going here ;) I agree though, part of the excitment of the game is the challenge of surviving which is also one the biggest reasons I love Dming and playing lower level games. One of my favourite games I ever Dmed was when the party began as street urchins without any skills, powers or even money. They fought to survive every day and not all did. They loved it because they needed to rely on their nouse and luck rather than powers. What's the fun in achieving something if you didn't need to fight for it?
I started playing the SCAP when it first came out in Dungeon Magazine (no idea how long a go was that?!) and we are still playing. We are currently facing off against Shebeleth and Dyr'ryd infront of the Tree of Shackled Souls.
We haven't played for over 3/4 a year now as one of the players sadly died so we have taken an unscheduled break. Time to get back into it though as we all love the game.
The next adventure I will run will be one of my own writing as I've changed the ending of the campaign. It will involve the party heading into the Haunted Village to save Nidrama.
I'm looking forward to it
TriOmegaZero wrote:
The party got their invitations the day after they returned from the Kopru Ruins. They had asked Lord Vhalantru to hook them up, and he made sure they were invited. The Stormblades also helped, wanting a chance to show them up. The Last Laugh also took the opportunity to ambush the party and kidnap the Shackleborn character after they left the ball, since they couldn't wear their armor and all their gear to the ball.
Did they make any friends on the night?
Is Orbius going to pay the captured character a visit?
Any funny scenes during the dancing against the Stormblades?
How did they take the whole buildup with costumes, dancing and etiquette lessons etc
What awards did they receive at the end of the evening?
Were you able to foreshadow many of Cauldron's personalities?
Patman wrote:
You can place the Ball where-ever you like before, during or after the adventure. I actually played it after the floods were averted bt any questions you have about the adventure, character etc feel free to ask.
Oliver von Spreckelsen wrote:
Great idea Oliver particularly regarding the town guards. I would have liked to have used this when I played this though.