| Tinalles |
This thread mentions another thread about altering Book 3 such that Barl Breakbones assaults the PCs at Fort Rannick rather than waiting for them to come to Hooktongue Mountain.
I'd like to read that thread, because I'm considering something similar for my group. But I can't find it. It's not linked in the post that references it, my google-fu has failed me, and I quail at the prospect of manually sorting through thousands of threads.
Anyone know where to look?
| Tinalles |
I failed to find the thread, so I've gone ahead and devised my own plan for having Barl Breakbones assault Fort Rannick, defended by the PCs. Here's a write-up. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Needless to say, there are lots of spoilers to follow.
1) In the adventure as written, Barl took over the tribe based purely on his possession os Sihedron medallion. This strikes me as a tad unrealistic, so instead Barl overawed them by animating the corpse of Gargadros as a zombie under his own control. The gentle repose effect of Gargadros' sihedron medallion meant the body was in sufficiently good shape for this, though Barl did need to cast Desecrate in order the be capable of animating such an enormous corpse (I have given him a custom magic item that casts Desecrate 1/day for that purpose, which is a nice item for any necromancer to have anyway).
Once Gargadros woke and was obviously under Barl's control, Grolki surrendered. Here are stats for Gargardros (he's a fast zombie rune giant).
XP 819,200
Male fast rune giant zombie (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 288, 289, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 130)
NE Gargantuan undead
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
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Defense
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AC 29, touch 7, flat-footed 28 (+1 Dex, +22 natural, -4 size)
hp 143 (26d8+26)
Fort +8, Ref +9, Will +15
Immune undead traits
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Offense
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Speed 60 ft.
Melee slam +31 (3d6+24), 2 slams +31 (2d6+16)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 20 ft.
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Statistics
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Str 43, Dex 13, Con —, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 10
Base Atk +19; CMB +39; CMD 50
Feats Toughness
Skills Acrobatics +1 (+13 to jump)
Languages Common, Giant, Terran
SQ quick strikes
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Ecology
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Environment cold mountains
Organization solitary, pair, patrol (3-6), squad (7-12), or company (13-30 plus 2-4 fighters or rogues of 2nd-4th level, 1 oracle or sorcerer of 5th-8th level, 1 ranger or monk commander of 5th-6th level, 10-20 yetis, 1-4 cloud giants, 8-12 frost giants, 10-16 stone giants, 4-8 lamia matriarchs, and 1-2 adult blue dragons)
Treasure none
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Special Abilities
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Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Quick Strikes (Ex) Whenever a fast zombie takes a full-attack action, it can make one additional slam attack at its highest base attack bonus.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities and use Cha in place of a Con for all effects.
Technically Gargadros retains the spell-like abilities he had in life, but since he has no intelligence, I chose to eliminate them. I also removed his armor and weapons, on the grounds that they were no longer in good enough shape to provide him any benefit (and I want my fighter to have a prayer of hitting him). Consider describing him as wearing armor so ancient and crumbling as to provide no useful benefit.
2) Barl has not killed his second stone giant minion. He just cut out his tongue.
3) Barl sent a messenger to go talk to Jaagrath; but he came back to report that the castle's been taken by adventurers and Jaagrath's dead. Enraged, Barl musters his forces and sets out.
4) Myrianna is not dead. Lamatar's animal messenger never made it to her. Perhaps it was a small bird that became a tasty snack for a hawk halfway there. Anyway, she's alive, and wondering why she hasn't seen Lamatar lately. She finally decides to investigate, and leaves Whitewillow to seek out Lamatar at Fort Rannick.
5) Myrianna has never visited Fort Rannick before, and in the course of avoiding Turtleback Ferry, she takes a wrong turn and gets lost. Emerging at the north end of the Kreegwood, she catches sight of Barl's forces -- a rune giant zombie can be seen from quite far away. It's easier to get her bearings once clear of the Kreegwood, by looking at the mountains, so she turns and rushes to Fort Rannick to warn Lamatar that an army of ogres and giants is heading for the fort with an enormous creature of some kind.
6) Myrianna throws caution to the wind and runs headlong into Fort Rannick calling for Lamatar. Instead she finds the PCs. A lot depends on how the PCs and Myrianna react to one another; you could run this as a hostile encounter in which Myrianna reacts badly to the news of Lamatar's death and lashes out in her grief. But it's more likely that they'll react with sympathy, and she'll deliver her warning to them instead, and potentially stay to assist. In my own game I've added two levels of druid to her. Here's a stat block for her:
XP 9,600
Male advanced nymph druid 2 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, 217)
NG Medium fey
Init +11; Senses low-light vision; Perception +18
Aura blinding beauty (DC 23)
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Defense
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AC 29, touch 27, flat-footed 21 (+9 deflection, +7 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 natural)
hp 99 (10 HD; 8d6+2d8+62)
Fort +20, Ref +22, Will +23
DR 10/cold iron
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft., swim 20 ft.
Melee mwk dagger +13 (1d4+2/19-20)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +17)
. . 1/day—dimension door
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +17)
. . 8/day—icicle (1d6+1 cold)
Druid Spells Prepared (CL 9th; concentration +14)
. . 5th—cure critical wounds, ice storm[D], wall of thorns
. . 4th—control water[D], flame strike (DC 19), reincarnate, spike stones (DC 19)
. . 3rd—call lightning (DC 18), dominate animal (DC 18), stone shape, summon nature's ally III, water breathing[D]
. . 2nd—chill metal (DC 17), flame blade, flaming sphere (DC 17), fog cloud[D], gust of wind (DC 17), wood shape (DC 17)
. . 1st—charm animal (DC 16), cure light wounds, entangle (DC 16), faerie fire, obscuring mist[D], produce flame, speak with animals
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic, flare (DC 15), light, mending
. . D Domain spell; Domain Water domain
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Statistics
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Str 14, Dex 25, Con 22, Int 20, Wis 21, Cha 29
Base Atk +5; CMB +12; CMD 34
Feats Agile Maneuvers, Combat Casting, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +13, Diplomacy +20, Escape Artist +19, Handle Animal +20, Heal +16, Knowledge (local) +12, Knowledge (nature) +20, Perception +18, Perform (dance) +14, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +18, Stealth +20, Survival +7, Swim +21, Use Magic Device +20
Languages Aquan, Common, Druidic, Elven, Gnome, Sylvan, Varisian
SQ inspiration, nature bond (Water domain), nature sense, stunning glance, unearthly grace, wild empathy +25, woodland stride
Other Gear mwk dagger
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Ecology
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Environment temperate forest
Organization solitary
Treasure standard (dagger, other treasure)
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Special Abilities
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Agile Maneuvers Use DEX instead of STR for CMB
Blinding Beauty (DC 23) (Su) Blind humanoids in 30 ft if they look at the nymph (Fort neg). Can suppress as a free action.
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Damage Reduction (10/cold iron) You have Damage Reduction against all except Cold Iron attacks.
Druid Domain (Water) Granted Powers: You can manipulate water and mist and ice, conjure creatures of water, and resist cold.
Icicle 1d6+1 cold (8/day) (Sp) As a standard action, ranged touch attack deals cold dam to foe in 30 ft.
Inspiration (Su) Chosen creature gains +4 to Will saves and Craft/Perform checks while carries a mark of favor.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Stunning Glance (DC 23) (Su) As a standard action can stun one creature in 30 ft for 2d4 rds (Fort neg).
Swimming (20 feet) You have a Swim speed.
Wild Empathy +25 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
Woodland Stride (Ex) Move through undergrowth at normal speed.
I intend to have her assist in the fight, primarily using spells like Spike Stones and Wall of Thorns, plus perhaps some summoned creatures.
7) Myrianna's warning should give the PCs about half a day to make preparations. Adjust to taste.
8) Barl's forces consist of: himself, Gargadros, 2 stock stone giants, 5 ogre fighters (at 5th level), 5 ogre barbarians (4th level), 10 stock ogres. I intend to play up the zombie rune giant. "Some massive creature approaches. You can't see it yet, but you can hear it, feel it through your feet like the beating of some horrid heart: doom .... doom ... DOOM. Finally it pushes through the trees opposite Fort Rannick: a giant unlike any other you've seen before."
The assault will take place in several stages.
A) Barl offers them swift death if they surrender and come out of the fort. Trash talk and threats back and forth. Barl makes a point of bragging that his forces have already taken this fort once, and that their former commander is now his undead puppet, at which Myrianna shrieks in outrage and grief.
B) Barl points at the southern gatehouse and says "Gargadros: destroy that gate, and kill any who oppose you." Gargadros proceeds to demolish the gatehouse, using his bare dead hands to tear the walls apart; if attacked he changes his focus to the defenders, but he lacks any intelligence and merely attacks mindlessly until destroyed. During the fight the ogres should chant encouragement: "Gargadros! Gargadros! Gargadros!" At his fall, they howl and shriek in dismay.
C) Earlier, Barl ordered his 2 stone giants to flank the mountain. The party should not have seen them yet. Their instructions are to hurl large rocks down on the defenders as soon as Gargadros gets into the keep; if Gargadros is destroyed, they start chucking rocks then. If the party asks a Black Arrow ally how they dealt with this kind of thing, they'll say that the eagles (now dead) ran off any hostile creatures attempting to reach the summit.
D) Barl waits until the defenders are distracted by the stone giant rock throwers, then orders all of his ogres in at once. Barl uses his spells to support the ogres. The ogres with levels fight to the death; but the stock ogres lose morale and flee if 6 or more of leveled ogres die. The 10 stock ogres I've added mostly for dramatic effect and intend not to roll out -- they can fight in the background with surviving Black Arrows. They can either be encountered later in Hook Mountain, or else they can disperse and flee into the forests and mountains.
E) Finally, when all else has failed, Barl enters the fray himself.
9) Lamatar is not there, but Barl's bragging should have revealed his fate. He and the three hags were left behind at the clanhold. After the dust has settled, Myrianna will beg the party to go and destroy him, and return his body so that she can reincarnate him. At this point, taking on the clanhold will take very little effort -- it contains the three hags, Lamatar, and perhaps a few stock ogres.
I hope this is not too much. My party is not heavily optimized. It's going to be a hugely complex fight to run.
| Tinalles |
Thank you!
And good advice -- I'll be sure to insert a session or two between sieges.
In our campaign, Xanesha escaped the party (barely). In fact, the party is currently working for Xanesha (unknowingly) in her cover personality as Lady Diana Baythorne, Chief Intelligencer of Magnimar. She used the PCs to destroy her rival Lucretia, and while they were away she has successfully assassinated Mayor Grobaras. So I think there'll probably be a session or two devoted to political intrigue over his death and succession, plus the party discovering that Lady Baythorne isn't what they thought she was. Mwa ha ha.