The biggish picture has been the plotline for the investigation. Based on difficulty, the optimal order for the Haunted Keeps is air, earth, water, fire. However, investigating the delegation's disappearance points to earth and water. Granted, I can't control how the party proceeds, but if there's a logical through-line, then the party at least has a way to get to the optimal progression.
I had been thinking of having the caravan encounter the remains of a previous caravan, which had been attacked by large birds and was missing bodies -- let all the outdoorsy types exercise their tracking skills to analyze the scene. That would lead them to Feathergale Spire with suspicions. However, that means two investigations. Then I realized: If I show them a caravan which was attacked by large birds, and they hear about another caravan going awry, they could assume it's the same root cause. So they deal with the air keep, then have to investigate the delegation, which points to the earth and water keeps. At that point, they'll probably investigate the fourth keep (fire) because they've figured out the pattern. If not, they can find out that the "druids" have advertised a ritual which will end the weather problems, which the human barbarian will want to check out. In a pinch, I can always have Rosemary meet up with some druids in Red Larch, and head out to the fire fest in order to make business contacts.
Next up: I want the players to have a chance to test out their characters before committing, which implies an adventure in Triboar before the caravan leaves. I like introducing the fire element early, so we'll let the fire snakes show up here. They hatch from obsidian eggs, and burning down the inn is totally up the fire cult's alley. So, a half dozen eggs, each packed in a pitch-lined cask cushioned with straw, left in a few locations around the inn. Now I have to come up with an inn layout, but I can borrow bits from the Bargewright Inn.
In order to help all the characters get acquainted, I'm going to have them sign up with the caravan master as either cargo or employees. They'll get to demonstrate their skills. So, caravan master Marco and head drover Val. How many wagons? There will be a couple spare drovers, so let's say 8 wagons and 10 drovers. Ideally two guards per wagon, but maybe 6 characters and 10 NPCs. Now I can set up a page in Roll20 for caravan encounters. I researched element-related creatures and I think a flock of cockatrices would provide a challenge. Plus the jackalweres from the random encounter table are interesting.
New question: If the characters sign on as caravan guards, how can they leave the caravan in Red Larch? Say a caravan arrives from Secomber; part of that will travel north to Triboar and another part will circle south to Waterdeep. That will give their caravan enough protection to continue without them.
I reviewed all the character sheets in Roll20, as much as was there. I want to allocate some uncommon magic items, utility doodads. The barbarian is the only one without darkvision, so we'll want a convenient light source. The Gem of Brightness seems like something the gnome would have. The ranger gets a Quiver of Ehlonna for lots of ammunition for the dungeon crawls. Always nice to have a bag of holding; that seems like something a traveling wizard would pack. The human barbarian is an Uthgardt, which makes magic tricky. But she took proficiency in medicine and the herbalism kit, so she gets a jar of Keoghtom's ointment from her shaman.
I like the weapon of warning and the ring of water walking, but they feel a little too powerful for 3rd level. Maybe a couple of +1 daggers to round things out. I'll have to study the magic items some more.
Map issues: Lots of talk about discrepancies in the maps. I bought the online versions and printed everything out. Most things line up internally, although I'll rotate a couple of nodes to avoid collisions. The bigger issue is arranging the Haunted Keeps. I'm going to resize the Dessarin Valley map scale so 1 hex = 5 miles, not 10. I'm not too chuffed about lining up the entrances to the surface, since most of them are pretty far from the temples. However, the Sacred Stone Monastery should move north of the Riverguard Keep.
Things to do:
- Dessarin Valley map adjustments
- Set up Triboar inn in Roll20
- Set up caravan in Roll20
- Prod people to complete characters
- Finish doodad allocation
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