It looked like the group would not go fighting the dragons, only Babushka would go. So I thought it might be impolite to let all the others wait while you and I play out the fight.
Just to be sure, though: the phoenix of habbakuk can be reborn more than once, right? At least that's what I read from your description, in particular this:
JadedDM wrote:Secondly, the flames of resurrection would destroy all of the possessions she has on her body at the time that are non-magical. This leaves her only with her Fungus Staff and her Longtooth Dagger. However, the rest of her mundane possessions could easily be replaced over time. (For the sake of her modesty, I'd allow her to be reborn wearing simple blue robes instead of completely naked, though. Just this once.)
Basically, once she has 10 levels in Blue Phoenix, she can be automatically resurrected once a week if she dies (or raise someone else instead). But she only has 1 level in Blue Phoenix at the moment, so that ability is not yet unlocked.
She is effectively ageless, so she can't die of old age. But she can still be killed, and if she does so before hitting 10th level, she'll stay that way.
Good that I asked, because I had misunderstood that. Frankly, I don't think I'll ever get that far. Babushka is right now the highest-level character I've ever played, and progress is slow because ever more XP are needed to reach the next level.
I've never managed to run a game beyond 8th level or so (which would take about a year back in my chat games), and if my calculations are correct, that's probably around where the party will be when this game ends.
In any case, regardless whether the party decides to fight or flee, I'd rather them do it together as a group. I know I'm usually pretty cool about splitting the party, but as I am trying to keep this game on track and get it to its ending, I'd rather not deal with a split up.
Seems like Imani and Jerrard want to leave and Babushka and Locky want to fight. I've kept the NPCs fairly neutral in this so far, as I didn't want to take any particular side.
Obviously, fighting two adult green dragons and who knows how many draconians of varying types is going to be a tough, dangerous battle. There's a good chance party members will die; maybe even a TPK. On the other hand, though, you have three powerful kirath NPCs to help and all of that souped up gear you guys found from the wyndlass which were specifically designed to help with this fight (a green dragon-slaying sword, a mask to protect one from poison gas, etc.). And the XP and treasure gained would be tremendous, not to mention you'd make permanent allies out of the kirath themselves.
But, then again, XP and treasure mean nothing if you're dead. So it's a big gamble, to be sure. But whether the party takes that risk or not, I'd rather them do it all together.
I had the misconception that a blue phoenix would be reborn from the moment of becoming one, so it seemed natural for me that Babushka should join the kirath, and persuade the others to leave. It took me a day to find an in-character way for Babushka to be able to change course.
I'm of two minds, on one hand, I want Babushka to survive and to go on playing, on the other, it seems like the whole purpose of this module is to get rid of the dragons.
Of course, we stand a chance in that battle only if we all go. But if we don't, we should at least give the wyrmslayer and the mask to the kirath to better their odds. It is important that the dragons be slain.
And that's it, I guess. Since we're skipping the final boss, the climax and the resolution of the module, there's nothing else. I'll leave the thread open until I calculate XP, then I'll lock it and start the new one. So post freely until then, if you want.
Alright, XP is up, thread is locked. Here are my notes on that chapter.
The whole story of the elven village was meant to come out at the ending, but since we skipped the ending... Basically, during the war when the Nightmare was spreading, this elven archmage foresaw what was going to happen and was determined to protect the village. He set up some kind of complicated, magical ritual that shielded the village from the Nightmare. It also put him into some kind of coma.
When the war ended, a pair of green dragons stumbled upon the village by accident. They disguised themselves as elves with magical jade amulets and then infiltrated the village. Using their charms, they managed to get themselves declared the rulers of the village, and named themselves Lord and Lady Jadestone. Yep, they were dragons the whole time. All that stuff Lady Jadestone said about the men? About them looking scrumptious, how she looked at them 'hungrily', and all that? That was literal. She wanted to eat them.
Anyway, over time they came across some draconians that had been abandoned after the war, and took them in. They ruled the village for decades, eating any trespassers that came by, and keeping the war and the Nightmare a secret from the villagers.
The party wasn't supposed to be captured, as I mentioned before. What was supposed to happen is they were to come across the village by accident. Then when they started asking the wrong questions, they get arrested and brought before the Jadestones. After an interrogation, the Jadestones were to transform and attack. That would have been the final battle.
So the party being captured made me have to rewrite a few things. I honestly thought Breila had some kind of plan to rescue them, but when it became clear she didn't, I just went ahead and took over the narrative. I reintroduced the three kirath (they weren't supposed to appear in this chapter) and had them take charge. That's normally not my style; I prefer to let the PCs get themselves out of trouble, but I'm trying to get this game ended in the next 8 months, and I had a bad feeling that if I didn't step in, nothing would have been resolved. I didn't want another repeat of the handless kender situation.
I admit I was surprised, and more than a little disappointed, that the party opted to not fight the dragons and finish the adventure. The dragons alone were worth 14,000 XP each. I felt like the party had fairly decent odds at winning, especially with the aid of the high level kirath and all of that magic gear they received from the wyndlass.
At least I got the opportunity to use the Sivaks, though. This means I've now used four of the five types of draconians in this campaign--Baaz, Bozak, Kapak and Sivak.
So what would have happened if the party stayed and fought? Well, assuming they survived, they would have learned about the Jadestones plans and all that. It would have also been revealed that Aleaha was not actually an elven kirath, but in truth, an aspect of Habbakuk. He had been posing as Aleaha to keep an eye on Babushka and help the party make their way through the forest.
Habbakuk would have then enhanced Babushka's Blue Phoenix powers and given each party member a gift. Locky would have received a Bag of Holding (so the party never would need to worry about encumbrance again), Babushka would have received some magic armor, Jerrard would have received an ancient Silvanesti spellbook (with lots of powerful spells for when he levels up), and Imani would have received a dragon slaying scimitar. Fikod would have just asked to go home, thus removing him from the storyline. As it stands now, I'll have to get rid of him in the next adventure instead.
As a final gift, Habbakuk would have then transported the rest of the party to the edge of the forest, shaving off months from their travel time.
Anyway, that's that. What's next? Well, it will take the party 5 1/2 months to get out of the forest on their own. Which means, ironically, we'll be fast forwarding over an amount of time longer than their entire adventure so far (the party has only been adventuring together for about 4 months so far--it's August, and it was April when Pod-Caverns started; it will be February when they finally escape the forest).
That's quite a time skip. But nothing is really going to happen during that time, other than a long, boring journey and a battle against the elements once winter starts. The next adventure will take place while they are trying to reach Shrentak. The adventure is optional, but if the party braves the risks involved, it could shave off a lot of travel time to reach Palanthas.
Feel free to consider what nearly half a year in the forest would do to your characters, and how it might affect their behavior after the fact.
I'll get up the new chapter in the next few days, hopefully.
We couldnt have taken on the dragons unless we were united, and Imani had set her mind on fleeing. We had to stick together as a group.
Jerrard will try and make up for his unkind words to Malika, and hopefully gain a little more confidence in himself once again, although not like he was when all this started.
At least one NPC should stay behind with Fikod, for reasons that will be made clear later. Ulster, Thuskar, or Malika--I'll let you guys decide which one stays behind.
