Brainstorming a bit here. I finally got around to running my players through a pretty heavily retooled Shadows of the Last War (SotLW). The core concept was still there (expedition to a Cannith secret research facility now in the Mournlands to recover the Xulo schema and Creation Pattern).
A lot of the details got pretty heavily tweaked beforehand. Whitehearth got expanded a great deal, and kept focused as a Cannith construct research facility, as the schema and pattern possessed by Cannith had special effects in that area of magic. As a for instance, the exploration of Whitehearth played roughly like Aliens - the remaining main threat were a form of hiveminded arachnoid constructs that were originally designed by Cannith to act as area denial systems (e.g. landmines). And there were lots of them...
(on the subject of the "spider-mines"...they're deployed as roughly rune-covered iron balls, when approached, they unfold legs, mandibles, etc and attack the victim... Cannith intended for them as a siege-breaking weapon - a single catapult "load" would carry a dozen or so, and in numbers, would make quick work of the city's occupants - civilian or otherwise. I definitely intended on Whitehearth being used for the research of "morally questionable" weapons, like their vitrification bombs that are essentially an area-effect Flesh-to-Stone, with the special-effect that it's glass)
The PCs have made it through all of that. They're on their way out.
In the original SotLW, Garrow is waiting for them, and forces them to hand over the schema by sheer overpowering numbers. It's pretty anticlimactic, and a bit of a buzzkill.
However, the PCs know Garrow is after the schema (they met him at Rose Quarry and elsewhere), so he's been set up as a bit of a recurring villain at the periphery, so having him show up isn't a bad thing. I've also been foreshadowing a betrayal by one of the NPCs the party has been traveling with through the arc of SotLW for a couple months at this point - they (the players) know someone is leaving breadcrumbs for Garrow. So I can't NOT have my "curse you and your inevitable betrayal!" moment.
But I'm somewhat stymied as to playing out the betrayal without making it turn out to be full of suck, rather than awesome.
I can have Garrow waiting at the entrance to Whitehearth, with his armed airship and deployed platoon of Emerald Claw footsoldiers augmented by a handful of Karrnathi war skeletons, and basically end up with the same ending as in the main book...
Or I can tweak it. Clearly, I need to expose the traitor at the very least.
Maybe a hostage situation? The party left one of the significant NPCs (a renamed Failin, the Orien elemental land cart "wheelman") outside. Failin, while clever, doesn't have a deathwish - he's more of a "survival by any means necessary" type of guy, so it's easily plausible that he would have surrendered. The PCs are deep enough into the Mournlands that leaving without Failin's land cart would be...inadvisable.
To be honest, I'm not at all invested in the PCs being forced out of keeping the schema. I didn't end up using the "duplicated schema" part of SotLW, so there's no "easy out" of handing Garrow the duplicate (though in retrospect, a clay "model" of the artifact, engravings and all would have been appropriate). I'd rather Garrow survive. And I think I've got a few tricks to make that happen.
I guess I'm leaning towards the hostage situation. Anybody have any thoughts?
To summarize the current state:
- PCs leaving Whitehearth, much loot, and the McGuffin.
- PCs have Elaydren, her cousin, and three "expendable" NPCs in their party
- Failin was stationed outside
- Garrow waiting in ambush, wanting the McGuffin.
- Garrow has an armed airship, plus a whole bunch of troops
- Garrow has an agent planted in the PC's midst, whose actions led Garrow to Whitehearth.
Thoughts?
The PCs ended up finding Director Halea's vault - so they ended up getting some pretty impressive loot (a stack of the equivalent of Cannith bearer bonds, among other things). So I've no qualms forcing them to work for it...
After the battle is over, the NPC could fill the PCs in on Garrow and his plans, to make him a more memorable villain. Beyond that, this ex-villain NPC could bring a more human face to the otherwise unsympathetic Emerald Claw.
Course, if the PCs haven't been treating the agent well, things might go a little differently. Maybe a small skill challenge to bring the agent over to their side.
Also depending on the alterations and how things turned out you could have Rorsa's pack aid them in fighting off the order while Garrow escapes on an air skiff.
So I do not know the fight is doable in a normal campaign though with your additions it may be too much compared to what my group had to deal with.
Good idea with the betraying NPC. If the PCs have treated the NPC well during the adventure, and suitably brefriended him/her, you could play up some animosity between him/her and Garrow.
They've...tolerated him. Granted, he's not exactly been sunshine and candycanes to deal with, either. That said, he's also been helpful to the party, too. Basically, both sides are doing what it takes to "work together."
That said, the turncoat thought he was working for Cannith East, not the Order of the Emerald Claw. Certainly, the fact that the party is convinced that Garrow is a vampire is giving him some pause for reconsideration. Prior to Rose Quarry, "Garrow" was merely someone his contact in Cannith East told him to work with.
Just as the enemy appears to be winning, he/she stabs Garrow and takes the schema away, setting off a difficult but winnable battle.
Well, save the PCs are the ones with the schema at the moment. I suppose if the PCs fall for handing over the schema in order to save Failin's life, we can go this route...
Shame Elaydren came with the party
It's a long story. Basically, the PCs came into the picture as the 2nd party Elaydren got involved. The rest of the expendable NPCs are Elaydren's first group of hired help... Elaydren was on her way out to meet the first group when she was ambushed in Trolanport.
since my suggestion was that Garrow would disguise himself as her and take it from the PCs just as the real Lady Elaydren showed up. Cue one confusing switcheroo moment when Garrow switches his magical disguise to match the Lady and performs the whole evil twin grapple to confuse the PCs as the Emerald Claw bust down the door.
It's a thought. That said, we're still at the point in the adventure where Garrow's true identity isn't known. The party is still convinced he's a vampire.
I plan on keeping Garrow's abilities secret for now, as it makes for the most reasonable/least contrived excuse for his escape if things go poorly.
It's a thought. That said, we're still at the point in the adventure where Garrow's true identity isn't known. The party is still convinced he's a vampire.
The way I had imagined it, Garrow wouldn't have to tip his hand, since he doesn't need to show off his Vampire personna. As far as the PCs know, he's another of Garrow's henchmen.
(He could even call back something like "Garrow sends his regards for this lovely gift" in an attempt to mess with the PCs.)
The way I had imagined it, Garrow wouldn't have to tip his hand, since he doesn't need to show off his Vampire personna. As far as the PCs know, he's another of Garrow's henchmen.
Well, I think part of the point is to show off the vampire persona...
Besides, I have plenty of other "power behind the scenes" villains kicking about - I don't need to add Garrow-the-Vampire to that list. Ultimately, Garrow is merely a pawn of his higher-ups within the Emerald Claw - he's commanding the current expedition on orders from his superiors.
And I think there's a certain internal logic to Garrow maintaining his vampiric guise among the Emerald Claw detachment he's with - it probably works out best for the footsoldiers to believe they are being led by one of Vol's chosen (a vampire), rather than a changeling poseur wanna-be. I can even understand his two lieutenants being aware of his true identity, but perpetuating the ruse.
So I figure in the grand scheme, the Emerald Claw (as an organization) gain something by having Garrow officially occupying the guise of a vampire - he even has some magical doodads that help perpetuate it (a medallion that's got a variation on Nystul's Magic Aura that makes him detect as supernatural evil, plus give him the whole red-glowy-eye thing).
I struggled rather a fair bit with Garrow's cover identity - it seemed almost blasphemous for a devout follower of the Blood of Vol to merely impersonate one of the more powerful, sentient undead (nevermind that an actual Vampire or Vampire Spawn would have been horrendous overkill for the original SotLW's 2nd level adventure). So clearly, Garrow must have some kind of "special dispensation" - pretending to be a Vampire, versus actually BEING one (my players are roughly equivalent to 10-12th level characters, so making Garrow be an actual vampire is an option). For instance, giving the illusion that a vampire is acting in the area can provide some rather substantial effects on friendly and enemy morale.
Plus, as he's not actually a vampire, he doesn't Turn/Dispel like normal undead...so assuming his other actions have convinced the party (and others that may matter) that he's a vampire, perhaps the fact that he doesn't burst into flames walking into a church suggests that he's a VERY powerful vampire...
In any case, thinking on it, I don't think I came to a reason why Garrow wouldn't keep Garrow-the-Vampire front-and-center as the primary power-exerting identity. Certainly, it'd be fairly strange if the Jade Fury showed up somewhere without Garrow-the-Vampire commanding the Emerald Claw forces above...
Sure, he's got other guises (and the PCs met him in one of them)...
(He could even call back something like "Garrow sends his regards for this lovely gift" in an attempt to mess with the PCs.)
I guess that's true. Ultimately, I think, my intention would be to have the PCs win the fight, and then have Garrow just barely survive and slip through the PC's fingers (perhaps by disguising himself as a corpse among the wreckage of the Jade Fury). He can then spend the next few days fuming and plotting revenge as he sneaks through the Mournlands, and going slightly more insane/obsessed in the process.
The PC's and their entourage exit the Whitehearth facility and are immediately swarmed by Garrow and his cronies. Garrow cackles demonically and demands the hard won schema from them. The PC's(and entourage) are obviously outmatched by Garrow's small army and quickly make whatever decision it is they will make. Just as it's all about to come to a head (the PC's surrender or not) an explosion erupts from the airship above, and chaos ensues as the elemental is released. Everyone begins fighting, Garrow shouting orders to his men splitting them between the PC's(and entourage) and this new annoyance. 5-10 figures repel down from the ship as it tilts dangerously toward the quickly approaching ground. These new combatants are another group opposed to the Claw, possible a third group hired by Elaydren or her associates(maybe even the first group you mentioned before). The fight is very hard, but Garrow's forces are split between the other, badass, group, the freed and very upset elemental and the PC's.
The new group could even lead the PC's directly into their next adventure, something that needs to be taken care of with haste. "We must hurry or all we've accomplised here, to get this schema, will be for naught!"
I don't know, you probably already ran the next session but I thought I might as well try.
I like what you've come up with so far, but here are my thoughts;
The PC's and their entourage exit the Whitehearth facility and are immediately swarmed by Garrow and his cronies. Garrow cackles demonically and demands the hard won schema from them. The PC's(and entourage) are obviously outmatched by Garrow's small army and quickly make whatever decision it is they will make.
So far, so good. I went back and did a continuity check - Garrow doesn't have a "small army" - but "only" about a dozen troops (low-level warriors), a handful of Karrnathi Skeletons, and a small pack of "Grave Hounds" (ghoul wolves) he's using as tracking animals in conjunction with his vultures.
That, and the Jade Fury. While it is armed (it's got some siege wands aboard), Garrow doesn't want to risk it in actual combat - as valuable as it is for intimidation, he doesn't want to get stranded in the Mournlands, either. The Siege Wands will mostly come into play as background events - blowing up terrain features dramatically, rather than targeting individuals.
The PCs have a few advantages on their side. For one, they're not going to walk into the ambush totally unprepared (they'll have some advance warning); and second, not all of the opposing forces are lined up for the ambush. The Claw is fairly certain there's other exits, plus other potential valuables in the area. So it won't be like walking into a firing squad. Third, while the party is "only" outnumbered about 2:1 (in total numbers; for the initial encounter, it's likely to be about 3:2 or 4:3 for the first wave), they're several levels higher than the opposition.
So ultimately, I think the fight is winnable, even if the PC's are partially expended on resources (hp/spells/etc), morale effects notwithstanding.
There's two items that will probably keep them from combat. The first is the airship; the second is that their elemental cart driver is the hostage. Garrow doesn't actually want them dead immediately either - he can't kill them until he's got the schema, and ideally finding out how much they know of the overall purpose of the schema...
I think the way we'll play it is that Garrow will offer a hostage exchange - he'll hand Failin back in exchange for the schema, delivered by one of the Party (he'll select the traitor; else he'll volunteer). That said, there's someone else he might end up picking instead...
My guess is that the PCs will start shooting sometime during the exchange...
Just as it's all about to come to a head (the PC's surrender or not) an explosion erupts from the airship above, and chaos ensues as the elemental is released. Everyone begins fighting, Garrow shouting orders to his men splitting them between the PC's(and entourage) and this new annoyance. 5-10 figures repel down from the ship as it tilts dangerously toward the quickly approaching ground. These new combatants are another group opposed to the Claw, possible a third group hired by Elaydren or her associates(maybe even the first group you mentioned before). The fight is very hard, but Garrow's forces are split between the other, badass, group, the freed and very upset elemental and the PC's.
It's tempting. As much as I'm sure the players know that there's people more badass out there than them, I've been hesitant to have anyone that'd overshadow the PC's as the protagonists...
That said, it's certainly possible to throw a third faction into the mix. I don't know if I'd want to bring them in "just because" - and bringing in Faction X may just muddy the waters even more. Who are these guys? How did THEY find out about the Secret Cannith Facility? Why trust them? The game's been gray enough and the players canny enough that they won't fall for the "Enemy of my Enemy" schtick without some sound backing.
Well...ONE faction comes to mind, and I've already hinted at their activities in the area.
The Lord of Blades. Or at least, Warforged bearing markings of his followers.
Now granted, it's extremely unlikely the PC's would trust them. And like everyone else, they've met some moderately sympathetic followers of the LOB, along with some monstrous ones. So there's the outside chance that they might talk rather than shoot.
I guess if things get really ugly, I can always have some of those spider-mine constructs wake up and start killing indiscriminately (and by dramatic coincidence, targeting more of the bad guys than good guys).
I don't know, you probably already ran the next session but I thought I might as well try.
Actually, I haven't. Due to various events (business trips, some work schedule stuff, players/me getting sick), we ended up taking all of July off.
This has definitely been a worthwhile brainstorming session.
I'm starting to like the idea of getting some reinforcements from the Lord of Blades (whether they're fanatical psychopaths or something more sympathetic is going to make for a fun decision). It'd allow a for some pretty interesting roleplaying again.
Those spider-mines sound pretty cool. Did you use an existing creature or cook up your own stats? If you have stats I'd appreciate taking a look if you're willing to post 'em.
They're mostly just a reskinned Iron (Brass? Whatever the weakest one is) Clockwork Horror from MM2 or 3 (I forget which). I also dropped the (effective) CR by a bit, making them Small, and reducing the Magic/Lightning resistance a bit. They're not intended to be especially dangerous to high-level folks unless they're in significant numbers - they're terror weapons intended to tear through squads of low-level soldiers and "noncombatants". Basically, an ambushing cluster of 3-4 should make short work of a squad (6-10) 2nd or 3rd level warriors, and then gang up on the leader.
Bear in mind, I'm playing Eberron using the Savage Worlds system. I can post some stats, but they'll be back-converted over to 3.5 after my tweaks from the original, and I'm rather less adroit at balancing stuff mechanically or getting my ideas to work mechanically as I envision them in D&D.
Hate the system, love the setting.
(ok - I don't hate 3.5 - It's just extremely inconvenient for me as a gamemaster to use)In case anyone was curious how things turned out - we played through the Escape From Whitehearth over the last couple of weeks, and it resulted in Escape Back to Whitehearth, if that hints at how it went...
The party was still planning on doing a more thorough sweep of Whitehearth, in particular the Black Level, assuming they could find an access keycharm. However, before doing so, they thought it may be a good idea to check back on Failin, who was waiting outside, and relay information and drop off some of the loot into his Elemental Carriage. Probably a good idea, considering they had been underground and out of contact for the better part of 8 hours.
The party reaches the base of the warehouse elevator (that the Cannith used to transport raw materials into the facility), and discovered a wadded-up piece of cloth (Failin's blue cape), with a scrap of wood wrapped within, with a military marking for "Enemy Sighted" drawn on the surface using ash from Failin's pipe - clearly a warning.
The PC's returned to the surface, duly warned, to find Garrow's infantry detachment securing the "farm" that acted as the camouflage for the warehouse entrance (and guard facilities). They hadn't yet located Failin's cart (hidden in the barn under an Illusion-tarp), but they had captured - and begun interrogating - Failin. Prior to his capture, Failin did what he could to cover the party's tracks (dust of tracklessness).
The PC's attempt to sneak out and try to rescue Failin, but are inevitably observed, and combat ensues. The PC's have surprise on their side - while Garrow knows roughly how many were in the PC's party back at Rose Quarry, he's not sure if they've gained any additional support. The PC's attacking from the woods did help mask their numbers...
After the first few surprise rounds, Mallora was able to get a magical signal flare off (dancing lights/pyrotechnics/etc), to summon the Jade Fury, which had been circling nearby. The Fury was armed with two Siege Wands of Lightning Bolt on the port and starboard sides, and a smaller Siege Wand of Magic Missile on the bow. The airship approached, but did not yet open fire...
Garrow (in his vampire guise) ordered his troops to cease fire, and offered to accept a prisoner exchange - Failin for the Schema.
Chances of the party accepting that were fairly slim to none, even with Garrow showing essentially overwhelming force (what with the Fury and his surviving troops). He's still playing up the "noble/honorable" persona. He appears to be perfectly legitimate in his offer.
The turncoat made overtures to deal - rather sensible, considering the circumstances. But the PCs would have none of it, and break the cease-fire. The Paladin of the Silver Flame opened fire with her bow, the Artificer used his hawk-form shapeshifting charm to try to fly up to the Fury and use his last blast disk on it...
And it kind of went downhill from there. The shooting match was back on - buildings got blasted by the Siege Wand, the friendly NPCs got whittled down by flanking tomb hounds (ghouled Darguul prairie wolves with paralyzing bites).
The turncoat put a knife to Elaydren's throat while he tried to wrest the schema from her beltpouch - which made him priority #1 for the warforged and his greatsword. In retrospect, I could have handled the turncoat better, it was much more in character for him to just try to grab the schema, rather than trying to take Elaydren as a hostage. In any case, it got him dead, and the schema scattered around the forest floor.
There was a surprising amount of to-and-fro in the big battle. The PC's took some losses. Garrow's forces got scattered with some well-placed Cause Fear/Turn Undead attempts by the paladin. That also gave Failin a chance to escape and get to his cart...
The PC's lost track of Garrow in all of the confusion of the fight - he'd invoked some scrolls of Invisibility and Flight in order to circle around the party in search of Elaydren. The PC's mostly left her unguarded as they went to engage Garrow's forces. It gave him an opportunity to snatch her up and try to fly her to the Fury...
The Artificer managed to cause a substantial amount of damage to the Jade Fury, but not enough to bring her down. However, he used one of the mysterious weapons he found in Whitehearth to do so - a softball-sized glass sphere filled with a faintly glowing bluish liquid.
It was a vitrification bomb (essentially a small splash-area-effect Flesh-to-Stone effect, but glass instead of stone). Unfortunately, the Artificer picked a bad time to bungle a throwing roll, and he ended up in the splash radius too (along with a couple of Garrow's siege wand crews).
He did manage to activate the blast disk and jump overboard before he finally succumbed to the vitrification effect (and his ring of feather-fall activated before he hit the ground).
Watching the Jade Fury explode was the turning point for Garrow. At this point, he was content to just get away with himself, the Fury, and Elaydren. Even if he didn't get the schema, he'd have both a strong bargaining chip and would likely have gained a great deal of intelligence as to the purpose of the schema... (he just knew that they were powerful, and he had orders to get them)
It was looking like the PCs had won the greater part of the pyrrhic victory. The remaining Emerald Claw footsoldiers were disengaging and retreating to "Point Cinder," according to Garrow's last commands. They had the cart, the driver, the schema, and the pattern. But they'd lost their patron... And were just about all the better part of half-dead.
...That is, until the Kalashtar, who had just picked up the two scattered schema, shouted out to one of Garrow's remaining zombie vultures shouted out that he'd hand over the schema if Elaydren was returned. There's a few rounds of fairly one-sided negotiation between the Kalashtar and the listening vulture. The Kalashtar gives one of the schema to the vulture as a gesture of "goodwill." (The rest of the PCs: "You do WHAT?!" But they weren't really anywhere to do anything about it)
The vulture is allowed to fly off, unmolested, to deliver the schema. The Kalashtar seems sincere enough, and rolled incredibly well on his persuasion attempt. So Garrow and the Fury wheel back around.
The Kalashtar is standing in the open,
Elaydren is being lowered by rope harness from the hovering airship.
Garrow's second vulture flies to the ground in front of the Kalashtar.
The vitrified Artificer is juuuust about dispelled and returned to flesh.
Elaydren's on the ground, the vulture grabs the second schema, and starts flying off.
The Paladin decides that she can't allow that to happen, and tries to shoot down the vulture. She succeeds rather spectacularly (using some Action Dice to ensure it works).
The vulture and schema crash to earth.
Garrow's now been betrayed twice. He has the airship open fire with all of the siege weaponry.
Much collateral damage ensues. Farmhouses burn. Many new smoking craters.
The elemental cart (which had most of the PC's in it at the time, en route to escaping) takes a full broadside, and goes kablooey. The PC's, naturally, are able to dramatically jump free of the fireball. The wounded NPCs and Failin, on the other hand...get stuck in the burning wreckage (I probably neglected to mention that the Artificer had brought along his own light siege weapon, including several large clay pots filled with alchemist's fire/oil). So big explosion... And a free-roaming Large Earth Elemental.
Garrow thinks he's got the PC's on the ropes at this point - so he brings the Fury in low to pick up the rest of his footsoldiers.
Unfortunately, some fumbled Use Magic Device/spellcasting rolls result in an Obscuring Mist combining with a Lightning Bolt to form a rather large Living Spell. So a third front opens up, providing the PC's just enough distraction for them to...
Flee back into Whitehearth.
Garrow's still pretty upset, so he basically blasts the barn (that covers the Whitehearth access elevator) to pieces. Unfortunately, he never knew it was there...
So now the PC's are stuck in one end of Whitehearth (they were told there was a second entrance...but they were never told where it was), with the access elevator threatening to collapse on their heads. Plus a wounded, but still heavily armed airship captained by a very angry vampire waiting for them outside, should they try to leave the way they came in.
...And they thought Whitehearth was the safer place to be.
On the upside, they did get Elaydren back. On the downside, Garrow most likely was able to recover the other schema, meaning he now has three of the four. But at least he didn't seem to know about the Pattern.
And, um. They're back inside Whitehearth. And about 30-60 miles into the wrong side of the Mournlands border and their transportation got blown up. Along with all of their supplies (food/water/etc).
Interesting times, indeed.