Post/Author/DateTime	Post
polt 09-29-04, 02:49 PM	Hey guys I need some help with an adventure of mine. Well, i was playing the Forgotten Forge adventure with my PCs (the adventure in The Ebberon Campaign book). After they had recovered the schema, and made their ways to the upper Sharn again, they wanted to play more and I wanted to play more, so I improvised. So Elaydren told them to travel to Wroat, not by Ligtning Rail, but by horse and wagon. Then midways to Wroat, they got attacked by a band of Shifters (who worked for one of The Lord of Blade’s agents) They got their ass kicked, and the Shifters stole the schema. Now what? They still have their horses. They don’t have a lot of HP left, so they cannot follow the Shifters. How do I handle this? I need them to get the schema back, cause I want to do “Shadow of the Last War” with them, and even though the schema may or may not be important for that adventure, it just doesn’t make so much sense to let them go from this to Shadow of the Last War. Please help :)
billseurer 09-29-04, 03:17 PM	Obviously their attackers left a clue as to where they were going to go next so that the PCs can follow once they have healed a bit.
Saurenda 09-29-04, 03:18 PM	They got their ass kicked, and the Shifters stole the schema. Now what? They still have their horses. They don’t have a lot of HP left, so they cannot follow the Shifters. How do I handle this? I need them to get the schema back, cause I want to do “Shadow of the Last War” with them, and even though the schema may or may not be important for that adventure, it just doesn’t make so much sense to let them go from this to Shadow of the Last War. Please help :) Your saying that Elyadren asked the PCs to accompany her to wroat and guard her and the schema or the PCs were stupid enough to keep the schema and travel to wroat without giving the schema to Elyadren?
polt 09-29-04, 03:25 PM	Oh i forget that :P She told them to bring the Schema to a member of the House Cannith in Wroat (i didnt remember if there were one in Wroat, but now there is). Elaydren didnt travel with them, cause she had other business to atend to.
gwreiddyn 09-29-04, 03:35 PM	The shifters don't have to necessarily be miles away by the time the party is back to full hp. Be creative in waylaying them - maybe there's a storm, or maybe they are supposed to meet someone at the next town to handover the schema (and the party just happens to heading towards that town). or Has the party any animal companions or familiars that could quietly follow the shifters while the party recuperates? A ranger who can track? Or A decked-out, exquisitely made elemental coach approaches along the same trail and is flagged down by a PC who almost gets run over. Bodyguards spill out surrounding the PC's, who are savvy enough to bargain with the obviously rich and powerful owner, a Dragonmarked NPC, who will help the PC's track down the shifter's (and provide healing) in exchange for [insert another adventure] (and if the PC's stupidly mention the why's, add another party interested in obtaining the schema). Or One of the shifters is actually a changling wizard/sorcerer/psion in the employ of House Cannith as a spy in the Lord of the Blade's camp. As the shifters retreat the changling sends the message to a PC "I work for House Cannith. I will lead you to the shifters. Look for my [insert familiar] one candle past moonrise. He will guide you." or similar. Or Oh, there's so much you could do. You already know how to improvise so just improvise more. Happy gaming! Gwreiddyn :D
Xeraph 09-29-04, 03:40 PM	So after they are beaten up by the Shifters they venture to First Tower, back to Sharn or to Wroat. Here they contact house Tharrask for their "finding" assistance. Á representative of the house tells them through his Dragonmark powers that they have to go to... wherever, where the Shifters are. Only because of the good discription of the schema is this divination possible ofcourse. Then they are of to a dungeon crawl, find the Shifters in an old ruin where they are lead by some warforged named Kukri, or whatever. Beat the crap out of them all, maybe by the assistance of some house Deneith sentinels. Get the schema, head on/or back to Wroat. Adventure continues... Of my mind.
Saurenda 09-29-04, 03:43 PM	Oh i forget that :P She told them to bring the Schema to a member of the House Cannith in Wroat (i didnt remember if there were one in Wroat, but now there is). Elaydren didnt travel with them, cause she had other business to atend to. And this member of house Cannith is Merrix d'Cannith or some other person you made up? Where the shifters headed out of Breland or toward thier Warforged Leader who will accept the schema from them? Did you pick a place in country or out of country for the Exchange to happen?
Saurenda 09-29-04, 03:45 PM	So after they are beaten up by the Shifters they venture to First Tower, back to Sharn or to Wroat. Here they contact house Tharrask for their "finding" assistance. Á representative of the house tells them through his Dragonmark powers that they have to go to... wherever, where the Shifters are. Only because of the good discription of the schema is this divination possible ofcourse. Then their off to a dungeon crawl, find the Shifters in an old ruin where they are lead by some warforged named Kukri, or whatever. Beat the crap out of them all, maybe by the assistance of some house Deneith sentinels. Get the schema, head on/or back to Wroat. Adventure continues... Of my mind. Then Denneith or Thrasak takes the Schema for themselves. Back to square one =D
Xeraph 09-29-04, 03:59 PM	They dont know what the hell that thing is. Party's like: Hey find this object that looks like this. Tharrask Diviner: Okey dokey, hand me the doe and il point out a location on the map. Tharrask Diviner: What is this object exactly? Party's like: Uhm you know, your average heirloom that needs to be recovered. Tharrask Diviner: Okey dokey. Party's like: Hey Sentinel guys... need some work eh? Sentinel: Ay gurv. Party's like: Righto, follow us, keep you blades ready. Sentinel: Ay squire. Party's like: Right, so you go in, kill em all, take all the loot, but the heirloom's ours... do we understand each other? House Thuranni will be pleased, and further cooperation in bussines can easily be made by your help... understand? Sentinel: Your t'gurv... gurv. Ignorence... beautiful thing.
Bubba333 09-30-04, 04:48 AM	It's funny how brigands tend to raise the ire of the locals, who in turn look to the PCs for help (the locals are either too scared or on the take). What luck that the schema was at the bolthole the shifters were using, eh?
Saurenda 09-30-04, 08:33 AM	They dont know what the hell that thing is. Ignorence... beautiful thing. Strong aura of transmutation, an even more beautiful thing. Also quite noticible to a scryer or divinator.
Xeraph 09-30-04, 02:10 PM	Well, whatever... thing is, what players dont know, they dont question. Could be that the device had a very faint aura of magic, almost no aura at all, or a million other reasons, for its own protection. Who knows. The Cannith guys could have made it like that... perhaps thats even the reason why this thing has been "lost" for so long. Imagination. And as long as the players buy it. Who cares. :rolleyes: (to alter the aura of a magic item, for good or worse, is as easy as killing a toad)
Solarious 09-30-04, 04:13 PM	(to alter the aura of a magic item, for good or worse, is as easy as killing a toad) Yes, but do they have the means? Magewrights may be everywhere, but their spell selections are limited, and Magic Aura is a rather narrow spell which doesn't have too many pratical uses. Maybe a wizard has the spell, but not entirely likely. As a general rule, schema have strong transmutation auras, because of their use in magical item creation (which is what many of them do... can vary, but not too much). There is no real reason why they would change the aura. And the forge is 'forgotten' because the door blocking it is trapped, locked magically, and needs the journal in order to get in. But hey, your campaign. Do whatever you feel is right for it. Lots of the above suggestions are good.
7sigma 09-30-04, 04:23 PM	In my campaign, the players also had their Forgotten Forge schema stolen (by a changeling thief in Black Hole). They hired a Tharrashk specialist to help track down the subject, and it turned out he was trying to sell the schema in Sharn for the highest bidder. It was pretty easy to get back on track, and as the changeling survived, I have a nice recurring character. And anyway, Shadows of the Last War does not require the players still have the schema. It requires that people think they still do. ;)
DV8 09-30-04, 05:53 PM	Why, one of the shifters dropped a napkin with the moniker from the bar they hang out in Wroat. The party hops the on the passing lightning rail train ( in true dramatic cinematic fashion, of course) and beats the shifters to Wroat, where they set up a little welcoming party for the shifters when they show up to meet their contact to fence the schema. Just an idea.
Saurenda 10-01-04, 01:45 AM	(to alter the aura of a magic item, for good or worse, is as easy as killing a toad) *Applies Gargantuan Template to Toad making it the size of a Tower in Sharn* Go skoosh him them.
Xeraph 10-04-04, 03:24 PM	*Applies Gargantuan Template to Toad making it the size of a Tower in Sharn* Go skoosh him them. Hehe, clever. Whatever fools the players. The napkin is good, like the jumping on to a moving Lightning Rail thing... *implanting it into adventure* And setting up a trap for unsuspecting villains, nice *implanting into adventure*... (sp)
Mathus 10-04-04, 03:49 PM	In my running of the Forgotten Forge they lost to teh Warforged at teh end, Saber. One player was killed, the warforged disabled and the other player stablized on his 10% roll. When he came to he healed the warforged (the stablized one was an artificer) and they buried the dead one. I had Saber take the schema and leave everything else behind because he is supplied by the Lord of Blades and thus had no need for thier material goods. Now I am writing up an adveture where Lady Elowyn(sp?) has located this band of rouge warforged and then have to recover the schema again. So In your case, they do not need to discover the location of the lost schema, House Cannith could do it for them. They have the house connections to root out someone trying to move or sell of the item and then they send the adveturers in for some revenge since they have delt with the people who orginally took the item. Hopefully this time with some levels and preperations for the up coming battle.
falling 10-04-04, 04:25 PM	you said that the shifters where working for the lord of blades, maybe the shifters want more money or something because of causalities or maybe they are just greedy, but in any case the contact wont pay or something and decides to just take the schema and kill the shifters or just kill the leader and take the "top dog" position or maybe the contact kill a bunch of the shifters during the conflict and the shifters must run a way and now seek revenge so they "team up" with the PC's but aren't much help more along the lines of a fifth wheel or perhaps the shifters hid the schema because they thought the contact might not pay and now with only a few left nursing there wounds the PC's need to find one and "convince" them to help
7sigma 10-07-04, 02:07 PM	In my running of the Forgotten Forge they lost to teh Warforged at teh end, Saber Wait a sec. How could they? I mean, Saber was only level 2 IIRC, and the players could have been fully healed in the nearby shrine (there was a healing pool and it was a safe place to sleep). I actually had to boost Saber on-the-fly to make it a challenging encounter...
straylance 10-07-04, 07:46 PM	Wait a sec. How could they? I mean, Saber was only level 2 IIRC, and the players could have been fully healed in the nearby shrine (there was a healing pool and it was a safe place to sleep). I actually had to boost Saber on-the-fly to make it a challenging encounter... I thought he was lvl 3. And they can't rest in the shrine in between taking on Saber and the Iron Defenders inside the forge. If they were unlucky enough to have taken on the swarm or the rats and gone straight to the forge without finding the shrine, they may indeed have been in trouble. Erm, at least that's what I remember...
Solarious 10-07-04, 09:34 PM	Nope, you can rest at the shirne, which none of the monsters in the area will enter. It has 3 doses of Cure Light Wounds in a hidden font, discoverable by a DC20 Search check. And I do believe that Saber is a 2'nd level Rogue. Or was it third? I forget too.
Baloo 10-07-04, 09:43 PM	Nope, you can rest at the shirne, which none of the monsters in the area will enter. It has 3 doses of Cure Light Wounds in a hidden font, discoverable by a DC20 Search check. And I do believe that Saber is a 2'nd level Rogue. Or was it third? I forget too. You're probably thinking of the nameless warforged who ambushes the players in the sewers. Saber is a 3rd level fighter with Adamantine Body - quite a tough customer. When I ran it, the party didn't take the opportunity to rest in the shrine (they did find and use the potions, however), but went straight for the forge. They had lots of problems with the iron defenders (I had boosted them a little because I had 6 PCs instead of 4), but I allowed them to rest inside the workshop. They left without being fully rested however (their healing abilities are a bit limited, one druid and one artificer), but managed to take Saber eventually. They left him hidden in a pile of rocks, which means I'll be able to use him again in Shadows of the Last War.
Brastan 10-08-04, 01:24 AM	Most of my experience is with DnD improv. :D In this case the quickest solution is to have the ambushing shifters jumped by someone else. A few suggestions, The Emerald Claw: Players find the sifters are engaged with Emerald Claw grunts (who are also on the look out for schema). Maybe the PCs join the unknown assistance(enemy of my enemy). Either way they end up fighting the survivors over the schema again. This also has the benefit of introducing yet another enemy organization. Though in a Necromancer or Warforged if you want to make it harder. I'd say a 1:1 Emerald Claw vs LoB forces. This means the PCs tip the balance. Or even easier, use a Breland military patrol. Conclude combat with a social encounter were the PCs try to convince the Breland commander that the shiny adametin (sp?) plate is theirs. Don't worry, as long as the Players feel like THEY did something to effect the way the adventure is being run then they'll be happy. And hopefully ignore any gapping plot holes ( casts Modify Memory ). There are no plot holes!