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Court of the Shadow Fey game session and queries

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richgreen01

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:27 am Post subject:

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Joined: 06 Apr 2008
Posts: 784
Location: London, UK

Hi Jesse,

The 5 x 5 stuff looks very useful - thanks for posting!

Rich

mightymongo

Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 2:14 pm Post subject:

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Joined: 20 Jun 2010
Posts: 1028
Location: Portland, OR

jessemriley wrote:

I like this. I was thinking of flowcharting the adventure myself, but the links got too complicated too fast, and I don't have the capability for 3D modeling.... Laughing

Not a complaint, just a compliment on the wide-open nature of the adventure...

Blackwarder

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:01 pm Post subject:

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Joined: 18 Feb 2011
Posts: 103
Location: Israel

Mumble mumble, I hate RL take away from my gaming....

Jess great write up, your experience with running this adventure is really helpful. Hopefully my groupmwill meet again this suterday night to continue from where we stoped.

I'm thinking about turning the rummor about shadow fey hunters in the city into an actual encounter, I would probably use the rakes from the first encounter only they will be armed with hunting spears (great spears) and they'll be mounted, anyone got any idea on where I can find some sort of a fey horse?

Btw, I'm not getting notifications to my mailbox when some one post on the threads I'm subscribed to.

Warder

Blackwarder

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:26 pm Post subject:

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Joined: 18 Feb 2011
Posts: 103
Location: Israel

Second meeting.

Ok, so we just finished our D&D meeting, sadly we lost a player due to scheduling problems, I'm hunting for new players we will see how that goes.

So the party just finished cleaning the floor with the shadow fey rakes and cutthroats in the sun god temple. Kale, the bard, went and read the note that been stuck to the doors while Pretorian went to help Oleg and Misha with their wounds, Veridian checked the assassins bodies for loot and clues the meeting commenced with a great start when Veridian rolled a total of 14 on his perception check and received "they are definitely fey and they carry bladed weapons"

After some investigation the party figured that the statue of Pelor was desecrated with matter from the shadow realm and that the assassins were shadow fey, Oleg and Misha knew nothing about why this happened (although Pretorian suspects Misha) and Oleg gave the party a small book with some rituals (my players never used rituals and usually don't buy them so I figured about giving them some in hope that they will start using them)

The party headed back to the King's Head where we had some fun role playing the party interaction with Joewlander, the King's Head resident bard, Pretorian decided that that there is something suspicious about him and conforted him about his involvement with the attack on the sun god temple (don't you just love it when the players just take some minor npc and make him the center of the game?) while kale got on stage and gave a small performance.

After that the party headed to the Hedgehog tavern next to the arcanium collegium to search for some arcane help. Veridian talked with Rodomir the owner while kale got pranked by Ariela, the illusionist master.

That night, back at their room in the King's Head, or in the case of Pretorian in the common room serounded by 20 empty mugs of beer, the party members all failed their endurance check and didn't enjoyed an extended rest, from what I understand from the text it means that they won't get an extended rest until the end of part one of the adventure, is that true?

In the morning after a restless night The party gathered in the inn's kitchen for some breakfast and headed out to the city when the first of many strange things happened, the river have frozen during the night, the night before Veridian learned from Rodomir about the bad batch of ale in the white rose browser and went to investigate, there they met with a sourly dwarf and tasted the bad ale taking some to go.

A runner summoned the to the city council were I role played the shadow councilors event with the PC in the room, during the day the party also visited the collegium and tried to figure why the city watch can't reach the city gates, they tried to take one of the patrols to the gate but since Pretorian tried to intimidate them I rolled it as an automatic failure and the patrol just fled.

Also, Goblin criers started showing around the city declaring that cursing is now banned and dissapearing back to the shadows, later that night notes declaring that the festival of the sun is canceled started showing around the city.

We finished the session with Kale snuggling in his bed in the King's Head with a busty barmaid and Veridian and Pretorian camping on the wall near the Dwarven Gate with a keg of ale to see if something tries to enter the city now that the watch can't guard them, aside from some rare glimps of white tabard wearing shadow feys they see nothing.

The party wants to head next to the market squer and ask people about the fey dealing in the city since Veridian learned that some feys bought trinkets from the traders in the market. I intend to incorporate the Hunt event into this and maybe turn it into a combat encounter but I'm trying to find a way to add the fact that the hunters are only interested in their prey and disregard the players and the humanes and dwarves in the market.

I'll probably hand them the invitation to Winter's Kiss the night after that fight I'll probably also add the assassination attempt right after it.

All in all it was a fun meeting.

Warder

Blackwarder

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:32 am Post subject:

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Joined: 18 Feb 2011
Posts: 103
Location: Israel

jessemriley wrote:

Awesome. Thanks for the advice! I picked up a copy of Guide to Game design vol. 3 yesterday. Gave it a read and picked up some ideas. Realized the sandbox was too wide open for me personally to be comfortable with. I added some structure to it to help me wrap my head around it and really enjoyed doing it! I used Dave Chalkers http://critical-hits.com/2009/06/02/the-5x5-method/ and chatty DM's 5x5 adventure design ideas http://critical-hits.com/2009/07/29/using-the-5x5-method-for-adventure-design/. Here's what I came up with:

5x5 Adventure Plan for Act 2-4 of Courts of Shadow Fey

Major/Minor Quest Hooks

Akyishigal or the Blind Seer is rumored to have some sort of connection to the summer king. Defeat Akyishigal or the Blind Seer to learn key information about how to access the king.

The Black Prince is searching for the firebird to impress his mother, with whom he has fallen out of favor. Secure the firebird for the Prince or the Queen.

Dueling and courting courtesans are excellent ways of gaining status. Enough status will surely earn you the attention of the royal family. Duel and defeat Lightning Lord Suvid, or Court Maraya the Sapphire.

The swan feast is occurring. The queen and possibly even the king are rumored to attend. Meet with the queen at the feast learn more about the relationship between the king and Zobeck.

The winter queen’s claim on zobeck is somehow connected to the departure of the summer king. Discover the key to the King and Queen’s rivalry and convince one or both of them to give up ownership of Zobeck.

Quest Components

Akyishigal or the Blind Seer is rumored to have some sort of connection to the summer king. Defeat Akyishigal or the Blind Seer to learn key information about how to access the king.

ii.

iv.

The Black Prince is searching for the firebird to impress his mother, with whom he has fallen out of favor. Secure the firebird for the Prince or the Queen.

ii.

iii.

iv.

Dueling and courting courtesans are excellent ways of gaining status. Enough status will surely earn you the attention of the royal family. Duel and defeat Lightning Lord Suvid, or Court Maraya the Sapphire.

ii.

iii.

iv.

The swan feast is occurring. The queen and possibly even the king are rumored to attend. Meet with the queen at the feast learn more about the relationship between the king and Zobeck.

ii.

iii.

iv.

The winter queen’s claim on zobeck is somehow connected to the departure of the summer king. Discover the key to the King and Queen’s rivalry and convince one or both of them to give up ownership of Zobeck.

ii.

iii.

iv.

Optional Combat Related Encounters (for random boosts of Status)

Hi Jess, you've been linked by Dave in Critical Hits. Very Happy

Warder

Blackwarder

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 1:39 pm Post subject:

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Joined: 18 Feb 2011
Posts: 103
Location: Israel

This one is going to be short since I'm feeling a bit under the weather, I'll try to add to it later in a day or two.

So last night we had another meeting.

The party convened at the King's Head in the morning (Varidian and Pretorian spent the night on the walls guarding against shadow elf invasion...)

Considering that beside the fact that the city council don't rule the city any more the normal man on the street don't feel the occupation right now so the party stayed in during the morning.

Some where around noon a muffled boom came from the arcane colligium and a large cloud of smoke could be seen raising from the colligium, a short hour later Leonardo, the grand master of the arcane colligium entered the King's head bringing a wizardy help to the party in the form of Jinx the gnome Mage. (long story short Jinxy was the one responsible to the boom and smoke at the colligium)

Later that day the party managed to get one of the city patrols to the dwarf gate only for the patrol to start wondering and get lost shortly after the party left them.

I added the hunters event as an encounter, although the party was well on it's way to conclude it peacefully Varidian and Jinx decided to attack and we had a quick battle, after 2 hunters died the rest just disappeared.

After that the PC shadows started taunting them, next session I intend to run the assassination encounter and on the following night the PC will receive the invitation to winters kiss.

I'm sorry for the terse post, as I said I'm a bit under the weather.

Does any one have the handout for the invitation to winter kiss? I'd love to hand it over to my players.

Warder

Evilhalfling

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:33 pm Post subject:

Joined: 13 Feb 2011
Posts: 1

posting my play experiences here (sort of) I got the map for the shadowcourts - and made up the rest of the details, because it was only one of several branches the PCs were offered. Additionally I only wanted 1-2 sessions here, as they only have 2 weeks in game before they hit a solstice ceremony that they cant afford to miss.
From reading the other comments its still a very similar adventure.

1. The PCs had to decide which members of the court to help, which to thwart. They ended up providing the most help to one of the courtesans, who has the goal of bringing down the whole court. They hate her, but every move they made advanced her agenda.
1b. They also helped out the lord in charge, but its mostly been moral support, just getting him to put down the wine glass was an accomplishment.
2. The low status player had the least fun. (a low int/chr- goliath fighter)
he was assigned a job catching fish for the feast, but otherwise had little to do.
3. The PCs agreed to help a knight morning for his lost love, and almost gotten eaten, when it turned out they were both vampires.
4. One of the players stuck his hand in the well of night. (I swear PCs and magic fountains - its like moths to a flame.)

I have a few questions - ill make up answers if no one wants to share...
1. what does the silver tree in the courtyard do?
2. what are the circles in the hall of the new moon?

Blackwarder

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 1:54 pm Post subject:

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Joined: 18 Feb 2011
Posts: 103
Location: Israel

Hi evilhalfing.

The answers to your questions are in page 34 of the adventure.

Anyone got a good idea about how to change the assassin encounter to a 3 person party encounter?
I can run the 4 man party version and just wing it...

Warder

Wolfgang

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:30 pm Post subject:

Kobold Overlord

Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines

I'm happy to hear someone is running an alternate-take based on just the map: way to homebrew it!

For the assassins at the start, I'd say you're fine keeping it as a 4man version. It's a bit of a cakewalk as it stands.
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Blackwarder

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:34 pm Post subject:

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Joined: 18 Feb 2011
Posts: 103
Location: Israel

Thanks Wolfgang.

Any suggestions on buffing it up if I see that it's too much of a cakewalk?

I want this encounter to be the one when my players begin to realize that this one is not going to be a walk in the park.

Warder

Wolfgang

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:41 pm Post subject:

Kobold Overlord

Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines

The easy way to do this is to bring in 1 or 2 more hounds and assassins into the fight after the party thinks they've got it figured out.

Don't add any more after the first party member goes unconscious.

Alternately, add a shadow terrain effect that mutes one of the party's main keywords (Radiance would be convenient).

How tough do you want it to be?
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Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press

Blackwarder

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:51 pm Post subject:

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Joined: 18 Feb 2011
Posts: 103
Location: Israel

Well, the entire party failed the endurance check for the extended rest so technically they are after 1.5 fights with several HS down and some dailies used.

I want this fight to be hard enough so that the party won't start the Winter's kiss scene by kicking down the doors and start killing everyone.

On the other hand, tomorrow I'm only having three players:Kale the bard, Pretorian the Swordmage and Varidian the dagger master.

Encounter balancing was and is my weak spot.

One more thing, does the PC have to go through the endurance check once fro the entire chapter in Zobeck or on each night when they try to take an extended rest?

Warder

Blackwarder

Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 9:45 am Post subject:

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Joined: 18 Feb 2011
Posts: 103
Location: Israel

Ok so we just finished the last meeting.

At the end of the previous game session the party just finished chasing away some shadow fey hunters from the greenmarket, at the end of the encounter their shadows started taunting them and telling them that they should throw their lot with the hidden ambassador.

The party decided to report the incident to Havarth the guard captain, on their way back to the King's Head Kale decided to do some advertising and invited everyone to the King's that evening for a special show of his bardic skills, the party wanted to use the show for some streetwiseing (I invented a word!!!)

We have a blast roll playing the show and in the end the party learned that right before the show at dusk a new addict was announced forbidding the worship of Reva. On that point the players decided to try and find the hidden ambassador and kick some ass.

That night the party had a strange visitor in their dreams who invited them to Winter's kiss to meet the hidden ambassador when they woke up they found an invitation sitting in their room.

So the agenda for that day was to find the hidden ambassador and their first stop was to go to the arcane colligium for advice, Leonardo was impetiante and sent them to do some research in the library.

On the way to the library I ran the assassins encounter.

A word of advice to every one who intend to run this encounter, at the start of the encounter put a cloying shadow (the minions) near each character and the Umbril Voids (the lurkers) and Passing Darkness (the controller) on the sides, it will serve two purposes:

1. You will start the fight with all the minions in the write up.
2. When the non minions shadows start jumping around from shadow to shadow it will give the party clues to the fact that the shadow are jumping around and to the fact that there are three different kinds of shadows.

On the first turn the passing darkness will use his actions to conjure his zones.

None of the heroes had high passive perception so they never realized that something was wrong before the shadows attacked (I gave the shadows a surprise round), it was a hard fight, the HS stealing minions are a real pain, and the fact that the shadows look all alike took some time for the players to realize.

All in all, the party came out of this fight in a bad shape, Varidian lost all his healing surges and only stayed on his feet due to some nice thinking on Pretorian part when he managed to keep the shadows focused on him and mainly missing.

A question on the endurance check for the extended rest, I'm thinking about giving the party anouther endurance check to see if they get an extended rest after they meet the hidden ambassador, since they will need for the way to the court, what do you think?

Warder

Blackwarder

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 3:08 pm Post subject:

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Joined: 18 Feb 2011
Posts: 103
Location: Israel

I'm back.

During my absence from the forums (and it hurt me so to have missed so much of the disscution on the Midgard forums) we ran two sessions but since they both revolv around the party meeting the hidden ambassador and than finding the ritual to the shadow roads putting it Down one post seems appropriate.

So after the fight the party headed to the house of vigilant scribes near the arcane colligium where they met with Bernard the elderly master scribe and his (probably) gay servant, who were the only people in the house when the party arrived since the rest of the guild was out in the city helping the council try and run the place.

When asked about Winter's Kiss Bernard said that he had no recollection of such a place and when pressed to try and find something in the scribes archives he showed the party the vast underground libraries onder the guild house and explained that he alone won't be able to shift through them and find an answer to the PC questions without so reference to start working, Bernard subtly encouraged the party to try some divine or arcane means to find the place (my players are not used to using rituals)

Kale decided to to try speak with nature to find out something about the place and after some time and alot of walking in the city they finally found the place.

As I planed, the party wasn't in the best condition to start a fight so we had a nice time roleplaying with Pretorian (being an Eladrin) taking the lead on talking and Kale and Varidian (who don't know elvish) taking the role of servants, it was a bit touch and go for a time when Pretorian kept repeating that the shadow feys are not the rightful rulers of the city and Thelmandrin (the hidden ambassador) accused him point blank of being a traitor for the crown but some quick thinking from Kale brought the tensions down (when Kale started talking in elvish the ambassador was delighted and said "oh how marvelous it can talk a civilized taunge!!")

In the end the party learned about the ritual to get to the shadow roads and also got the boon "a visit from my tailor" for not being brutes. Should they also get XP from this?

So armed with this new information the party set out on the next morning to try and find the ritual to open the gate to the shadow roads their first stop was the colligium where they were directed to a small group of apprentices who are fascinated with al things fey, there they met Zelda, Fistandantilus (a joke that only 1 player got) and Arthur.
Kale quickly took Zelda for some quality time alone while Ace and Pretorian talked with the other two.

I must admit that while reading thus section in the adventure I asked my self how could it be that the PC will go through the Lynch Gate and Knockeltooth before finisheing in the colligium, well I got my answer when after getting the bit about finding a fey creature to barter for information the party just left the colligium and went in search on said fey creature.

I must admit that I'm not the best when I comes to running skill challenges and if any one got some experience running those specific ones I'll appreciate them since mine weren't as smooth and fun as I wanted them to be. Could also be that after meeting knuckletooth we ended the session and continued the skill challenges on the next one so the players lost a bit of Intrest in them...

Anyway after some running around and one failed attempt to cast the ritual (Ace caused the ambassador to leave the pier when the rest of the players weren't paying attantion) the party finally managed to open the gate to the shadow realm and to the shadow roads.
On the way they collected Jinx from his tasks for the colligium (AFK player in the last meeting) and met their old friend Gardain the Dwarven priest (my brother who joined the group).

After meeting with the hidden ambassador I allowed the party to try to rolle endurance checks to get an extended rest, Ace, Pretorian and Kale failed miserably on the first few check so on their last night in Zobeck Gardain and Jinx came up with a plane to knock the party for the night, Gardain brew some sleeping elixir (I had him roll a heal check with an easy DC since he had the alchemist feat) and Jinx wanted to cast sleep in the entire party (arcane check modarate DC), Kale sang lulebys.
All those preparations did the trick the the party enjoyed a full night sleep.

A point of order, the encounters for the shadow road are organized in the wrong order, the ghouls encounter should be the first one since it happens in the "ruins" of Zobeck, not the last one.

Back to the play report, we finished the last session after the party finished the encounter and they are about to start their way on the shadow road.

Next meeting is in 14 hours, since the party failed on the the Lynch Gate SC and since they failed the pier SC the shadow court knows that they are coming and they will get one more encounter on the road maybe even two.

One thing I don't understand is, how does the shadow court knowing that the party is coming will effect the play, I don't remember reading anything about this.

Warder

terraleon

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:23 am Post subject:

Contributor

Joined: 16 Jan 2008
Posts: 2032
Location: upstate NY

Well, the additional encounters are reflective of the fact the Court knows the adventurers are coming-- they ensure the party meets with more resistance on the road, spending more resources and possibly not even arriving.

You might also give the various factions prejudices and knowledge about the group, predisposing them to help or hinder based on that information.

-Ben.
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