# Quest for the Frozen Flame GM's Guide Overall, I love this AP. However it suffers from a bunch of editing mistakes and a somewhat badly explained plot. ## Will I Like the AP This AP is for you if you like: * Classic Fantasy * Exploration * Tundra/Wilderness * Survival * Lots of small encounters * Months worth of playtime per book * Crafting * Inserting your own material * Wrath of the Righteous themes (plot & region) * Kingmaker without the kingdom building You won't like the AP if you: * hate one-dimensional villains * want a dungeon crawl with spell slot resource management * want to run a 3 book AP in less than 6 months * want a simple story line that allows you to easily prep the next session * like big towns and easy ways to craft, retrain or buy items * hate the very sparse and badly explained hexploration rules in the GMG * don't want to touch loot ## Recommended Soundtrack * Horizon Zero Dawn * Kingmaker * Wrath of the Righteous * Baldur's Gate 3 ## Plot Overview The plot overall is a bit convoluted. There are 2 main threads: **First thread**: * The Burning Mammoth went to war against the demons of the World Wound, making use of their artifact: the Primordial Flame * Some clansmen stole the flame to prevent it from falling into the demons hands * Afterwards they separated into a new tribe: the Broken Tusk * Without the flame, the Burning Mammoth got decimated * They decide to send one of their warriors, Metuak, to retrieve the tribe's artifact * To enhance his strength, Metuak was fused with a demon * Metuak however lost the artifact to a dragon when returning home and struggled to overcome the demon * He ended up in a Mendevian crusader prison in Sarkoris where he succumbed to the demon **Second thread**: * A Burning Mammoth warrior named Ivarsa returns from the crusade against the demons, only to find most of her kin dead * The remaining people blame it on the flame's theft * Ivarsa, furious with rage, takes over the tribe and marches against the Broken Tusk to retrieve the flame, but first and foremost she wants revenge * The PCs are members of the Broken Tusk and are ambushed by Ivarsa and her clan * Their tribe has to flee east, passing by the cave where the flame was once stored * To no one's surprise, the flame itself is gone (Metuak took it) * They square off against a couple of Burning Mammoth and barely escape an avalanche, meant to trap them * The only way forward leads into an untouched valley which is ruled by a dragon * Yes, the dragon that took the artifact * They defeat the dragon and retake the flame, only to find out that it is cursed * They march towards Hillcross to find shelter from the pursuing Burning Mammoth * They learn that they need to locate Metuak to break the curse and need to head east * Shortly afterwards, Hillcross is attacked by frost giants, who allied with Ivarsa * The frost giants secretly plan to break off the alliance to retrieve the flame which is an anathema to them * The Burning Mammoth are marching against Hillcross as well except for Ivarsa * She wants the PCs dead, so she waits for them at Metuak's castle, trying to ambush them * The PCs then move east, meet Metuak, face off against Ivarsa and finally lift the curse ## Plot Issues Almost issue related to the plot is caused by how the BBEG, Ivarsa, is weaved into the whole thing. It's a giant mess. To untangle things a bit, we need to roll things up from the very end in book 3: * From early on, the members of the Burning Mammoth instilled a deep hatred for the Broken Tusk into her * The Broken Tusk were painted as traitors that stole an artifact which was absolutely essential in fighting against the demons * She admired warriors that were able to fuse with demons * During the war against the demons she came to enjoy war and the atrocities surrounding her \pagebreakNum * After the war, when she returned to her tribe, few of the tribe were alive * **All of her loved ones had died** * She united the remaining warriors and painted a common enemy: it's all the fault of the Broken Tusk * She started building an army by attacking and enslaving tribes all around the Realm; she even assaulted Hillcross, and captured Jessari, one of the witches that lead Hillcross * Hegremon, a Frost giant, partners up with her; secretly he wants to claim the flame for himself This leaves us with the following motivations: * Ivarsa's primary objective is to take revenge on the Broken Tusk and retrieve the flame * These two things support her claim as the leader of the Burning Mammoth * Through sheer luck, she got a hold of Jessari, who disclosed to her that the flame is cursed and that a warrior related to the flames curse went east * Ivarsa hopes to break the flame's curse with Jessari's help at Grimgorge Castle * She's fascinated by demonic warriors ### Answers So this kinda answers most of the common plot issues that come up throughout the book. > **Book 1**: Why does Pakano join the Burning Mammoth so easily Lomok, his Aasimar grandfather, is still serving under the Burning Mammoth and vouches for him. She's not 100% convinced, therefore she lets him prove himself by defeating the scouts at the end of book 1. **How to Communicate**: When the Burning Mammoth attack for the first time in book 1, tell the PCs of a particularly powerful warrior who is mowing through the ranks of their tribe. His eyes are glowing white and a faint halo can be seen above his head. Make sure to mention Lomok in old stories to the PCs, like Pakano taunting the PCs with: "My grandfather Lomok would have snapped your pretty neck in two, you fight like a chicken". > **Book 1**: Why doesn't Ivarsa straight up kill the Broken Tusk scouts and instead cause an avalanche She wants revenge, misery, torture. Since she's assimilated so many warriors already, she wants to capture and enslave the whole Broken Tusk as well. In particular she wants to make an example of the Broken Tusk of what happens with traitors. She doesn't really care about the scouts, she wants the whole tribe. **How to Communicate**: Let Ivarsa or Pakano taunt the PCs before the final fight in book 1: This avalanche will trap you here, it's better to give up and we will show mercy. > **Book 2**: Ivarsa supposedly has already met with the dragon who carries the flame. Why didn't she simply take the flame when she had the chance to The easiest answer to this question is to just scratch it. The plot won't suffer, in fact it's good to not let her be one step ahead of the PCs at all times. Remember, this is the chapter where her tribe has lost track of the Broken Tusk! If you still want to incorporate this piece of information: she knows that the flame is cursed and is hoping that someone of the Broken Tusk might be able to wield it until she is able to remove the curse at Castle Grimgorge. **How to Communicate**: Let the Sutaki tell the PCs that Ivarsa had her eyes on the flame at all times, but prevented her warriors from going near it for some reason. Add in Jessari and Ivarsa in B40 as described. > **Book 2**: Why doesn't Ivarsa finish off the PCs/tribe **Book 1**: Ivarsa is not paritcularly interested in them and the Mammoth Lords might pose a too high risk to assault them on her own. She needs to corner the whole tribe in a favorable position. **Book 2**: Ivarsa doesn't know where the PCs are at and has no way to divine their position **Book 3**: The PCs are now too strong to confront them directly **How to Communicate**: Let Ivarsa address the tribe in book 1, completely disregarding the PCs. In book 2, when the PCs meet her agents, they should inform them, that Ivarsa will soon find them. They might even use their first turn in combat to cast a message spell. In book 3, they learn that Ivarsa is not heading their way. > **Book 3**: Why doesn't Ivarsa capture Hillcross together with the giants The giants have only allied with her temporarily and want the flame for themselves. They stage a surprise attack prior to Ivarsa's arrival, being tipped off by Yana No-Trail. Ivarsa doesn't know about the attack and it's not disclosed to her by Hegremon since he's still looking to betray Ivarsa once he gets a hold of the PCs. **How to Communicate**: During the siege, let the giants taunt the PCs that they are much too trustworthy with their tiny brains and that no human should ever wield such a despicable artifact. > **Book 3**: Why does Ivarsa move east instead of attacking Hillcross together with the giant army \pagebreakNum She's looking to recruit Metuak into her army, ideally to make him slay the PCs. Afterwards, when he is at his weakest, he's easy to kill to break the curse. Since she is so fascinated by demonic warriors, she might even be looking into fusing some of her warriors into demons. **How to Communicate**: Adalemma is supposed to lore dump the PCs on Ivarsa, but it might be better to let the witches take that role. In addition to Ivarsa, Jessari might also ride on that frost worm, leading the witches to believe that they are underway to contact Metuak. They might tell the PCs that they must prevent Ivarsa from gaining the knowledge of the half demon, lest they might face an even deadlier army of demonic warriors later on. ## House Rules ### Harvesting Creatures This is the exploration/crafting/survival AP so your players likely want to skin creatures. Here's my simple house rule for that: > If you are trained in Survival, you can try to harvest leather or other parts from a creature by taking 10 minutes of time. They creature has to have the **Beast**, **Dragon** or **Animal** trait. Perform the [Earn Income](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=23) activity for 1 day with the creature's level as the task level. ### Survival If the PCs explore on their own (as in: are not travelling with their tribe like in book 1 or staying at Hillcross in book 3), they need to take care of their food as well. Water is abundant so I wouldn't let them roll for that. After exploring for the day, the PCs can [Subsist using Survival](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=27), taking a -5 penalty. If they don't make it, they need to consume a ration or suffer from [hunger](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=537). I set the DCs at: * **Plains/Forest**: 10 * **Hills**: 15 * **Mountain/Swamp/Any terrain in book 3**: 20 The important part here is to limit the PCs' amount of rations that they can carry. This is reasonable since food spoils. They can stock up on rations at a settlement, like the crusader camp, their tribe, Lyuba or Hillcross. I limited the amount of available rations at 2 weeks. This also makes for interesting trade-offs, since the PCs will often want to use food to befriend and recruit animals. This will likely be the first thing that your players will get rid of by either casting the [Create Food](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=52) spell or by taking the [Forager](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=786) feat. Don't worry, this will make your caster or survival expert shine and level 2 spells will become utility spells later on anyways. Keep in mind that not eating anything for the day [will leave them fatigued](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=537), barring them from taking exploration actions! ### Weather Each day, roll weather. The weather depends on the area (aka book): #### Book 1 <table> <tr> <th>d12</th> <th>Weather</th> <tr> <td>1..8</td> <td>Sunny</td> </tr> <tr> <td>8</td> <td>Snowfall</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9</td> <td>Blizzard</td> </tr> <tr> <td>10</td> <td>Fog</td> </tr> <tr> <td>11</td> <td>Rain</td> </tr> <tr> <td>12</td> <td>Thunderstorm</td> </tr> </table> #### Book 2 <table> <tr> <th>d12</th> <th>Weather</th> <tr> <td>1..7</td> <td>Sunny</td> </tr> <tr> <td>8</td> <td>Fog</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9</td> <td>Heavy Fog</td> </tr> <tr> <td>10</td> <td>Rain</td> </tr> <tr> <td>11</td> <td>Heavy Rain</td> </tr> <tr> <td>12</td> <td>Thunderstorm</td> </tr> </table> #### Book 3 The PCs have access to the Primordial Flame which prevents any blizzards and storms to form. However the heat might evaporate water/snow producing fog, therefore we only distinguish between Fog and Sunny: <table> <tr> <th>d4</th> <th>Weather</th> <tr> <td>1</td> <td>Heavy Fog</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2</td> <td>Fog</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3..4</td> <td>Sunny</td> </tr> </table> #### Weather Effects ##### Sunny No changes ##### Fog * concealed after 30ft * hidden after 60ft * +1 circumstance bonus to Stealth checks * -1 circumstance penalty to visual Perception checks ##### Heavy Fog * concealed after 15ft * hidden after 30ft * +2 circumstance bonus to Stealth checks * -2 circumstance penalty to visual Perception checks \pagebreakNum ##### Rain * Slippery surfaces are uneven ground ##### Heavy Rain * Slippery surfaces are uneven ground * -2 circumstance penalty to attack with ranged weapons ##### Thunderstorm * Slippery surfaces are uneven ground * -2 circumstance penalty to attack with ranged weapons * Roll a Flat Check 20 each round to check if lightning is hitting a standing, non prone creature. The creature performs a basic reflex saving throw with the following DC or suffers 4d12 electricity damage or 4d12 fire if in heavy metal armor: * tiny: 15 * small or medium: 20 * large: 25 * huge or gargantuan: 30 ##### Snowfall * Creatures suffer from [mild cold](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=642), halving their hexploration activities * concealed after 30ft * hidden after 60ft * +1 circumstance bonus to Stealth checks * -1 circumstance penalty to visual Perception checks ##### Blizzard * Creatures suffer from [severe cold](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=642), halving their hexploration activities and taking [1d6 cold damage](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=591) if they Reconnoiter or Travel. Wearing Winter Clothes reduces this damage to 0. * concealed after 15ft * hidden after 30ft * +2 circumstance bonus to Stealth checks * -2 circumstance penalty to visual Perception checks ### Leadership: Lieutenants I highly recommend to ignore the "Lieutenants as Cohorts" subsystem, since adding NPCs that fight along the PCs only serve to make combat longer. In addition, these NPCs do not automatically scale in level and gear, requiring you to manage an ever growing roster of GM PCs, adding feats and keeping their equipment on level. Instead I suggest to replace them with feat like abilities: During your daily preparations you can select any number of Li+eutenants up to your organization's "Max Follower Level". * **Shaggy Shegvem**: During exploration, you can use the Korred's Stone Stride ability: You step into a block of stone large enough for you to fit inside and instantly teleport to any other stone within 30 feet that has the same minimum size. Once you enter the stone, you instantly know the rough locations of other sufficiently large stones within 30 feet. You can exit from the original stone, if you prefer. You can't carry extradimensional spaces with them when they Stone Stride; if the you attempt to do so, Stone Stride fails. * **Harbinna Farwander**: Each day, Harbinna can create 1 vial of poison, that, when applied to a weapon using 1 action, deals an additional 1d4 poison damage. Furthermore she's speaking Common (Taldane), and 2 more languages that the PCs don't yet know * **Yraka**: During exploration, Yraka can cast the following spells once per day: Featherfall, Speak with Animals. Furthermore during exploration, Yraka can transport one small or tiny PC 30ft into the air. * **Glyptodon**: During combat, the Glyptodon can use its carapace to act as 2x2 square of cover and difficult terrain. In order to receive standard cover benefit, you need to position yourself behind the Glyptodon. You can command the Glyptodon (Command Animal) to carefully move up to 25ft using a successful DC 20 Nature check. * **Vare**: Each day, Vare can prepare 4 snares from the following list which can be set up using 1 action during combat: * Alarm Snare * Hampering Snare * Irritating Thorn Snare * Marking Snare * Signaling Snare * Smoke Screen Snare * **Nukiak**: Nukia scouts faster than any of the players, giving one PC the ability to receive an additional exploration activity (hexploration) each day. * **Montgrim**: Montgrim protects you, granting a player a Defend exploration action * **Gavaga**: Gavaga gives all players a +1 circumstance bonus to Recall Knowledge * **Kasan**: Once per day, Kasan can restore a spell slot for a single character * **Hatli the Small**: Hatli knows how to prepare your animal companions. During daily preparations, Hatli equips your companions with the appropriate footwear, feeds them the food they need and prepares them mentally for the day, providing them a +1 status bonus to Athletics and Acrobatics checks. * **Sela**: Sela can aid a PC when using Crafting (+18 modifier, master). Furthermore she can transfer runes automatically at no cost. \pagebreakNum ### Hexploration Hexploration in itself works well, but it's very bare bones: you've got the **Travel** and **Reconnoitering** activities plus only 2 individual ones that come up sparsely or not at all: **Fortify Camp** and **Map the Area**. Since I've included random night encounters in book 2 (see further down) and book 3 includes random encounters, **Fortify Camp** has its uses there as well. #### Navigating [Map the Area](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=479) currently has no uses, so let's actually make **Navigating** a hex a thing. Add this system in, once the PCs hit book 2. The tribe in book 1 takes care of navigating. The DCs to navigate a hex are based on the Terrain Difficulty of the current hex that the PCs want to move out of, so mapping the area takes effect immediately. Do not require a navigation check for non difficult terrain: * **Difficult**: DC 15 * **Greater Difficult**: DC 20 Ask one PC make a check to [Sense Direction](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=64). Others can still aid as usual. If the hex has been mapped already, reduce the DC by 2. * **Success**: You move into the designated hex normally * **Failure**: You become lost. Don't move the players' token. Instead number the edges of the current hex from 1-6, roll a D6 and make a note into which hex the PCs have moved instead. The PCs know the terrain of the current hex they are in. Add the token back to the current position, the next time the PCs have successfully navigated again (which is after they tried to move into a new hex). If the PCs can not move into the new hex, they waste the travel activities that the hex would have taken. * **Critical Failure**: As **Failure** but they don't know the terrain they are in #### Hunting (Individual Activity, 1 activity) Attempt to [Subsist](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=27) using a Survival check (see **Survival** section). Do not take a -5 penalty. #### Cook Food (Individual Activity, 1 activity) Make a Crafting check with a level based DC using your PCs' level: * **Critical Success**: Gain a +2 status bonus to Navigating and Searching a hex * **Success**: Gain a +1 status bonus to Navigating and Searching a hex * **Failure**: No change * **Critical Failure**: Gain a -1 penalty instead #### Craft Consumables (Individual Activity, 1 activity) Craft 1 batch of ammunition or 1 consumable (alchemical potions, talismans, etc) which is at least 4 levels lower than your own. If you have the necessary tools and succeed at the Crafting check, pay for it immediately to receive it. \pagebreakNum ## Book 1 Hold a session 0 to figure out each of the PCs' connections to the tribe. Ideally one of the PCs is somehow connected to Ivarsa or the Burning Mammoth. This makes it easier to communicate her sadness and anger. One of my players took the Amnesiac background so I made him an ex Burning Mammoth, infused with a trace of the same kind of demon that Metuak was afflicted with. Ivarsa wanted to learn more about his demonic possession to enhance her warriors. You could also make one of your PCs an ex crusader that fought along her. Since this book was a rail road most of the time and was well written, I was able to run it as is with minimal changes. The hexploration rules are super trimmed down and that's fine. You don't need to change them. Allow the players to internalize the movement costs. The rules will become more interesting and complex in book 2 onwards. ### Time Frame ~4 days for chapter 1, ~24 days for chapter 2 and ~38-68 days for chapter 3, so roughly 3 months without downtime. The book expects the PCs to reach Sarenith (June) by the end of the book, so I'd recommend to start out at the begin of Calistril (February). ### Shopping In book 1, the tribe is always next to the PCs so just let them trade with their tribe. Their tribe is probably a level 2-3 settlement. ### Crafting & Loot If you like crafting, this is your AP. Unfortunately the book does not give you any formulas, nor any workshops to craft. Since the PCs will mostly get valuables, you need to add in formulas to the loot. You can do that by letting the PCs find broken gear that they can break down to learn the formula. There's a surprising lack of striking and potency runes as well in book 1 so add in some more of these in whatever way you want to. They should at least get access to a striking rune formula. The [Magical Crafting Feat](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=812) is a must. If you've ever wanted to use [Automatic Bonus Progression](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1357), this is the AP. As for workshops: you are pretty restricted in book 1 (there likely aren't any forges) but treat the tribe as a versatile workshop for primitive and magical gear. In book 2, I highly recommend giving the PCs a [Private Forge](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1282), e.g. when meeting the crusaders. ### Downtime Each PC should be able to take Downtime as usual. Except for a forge, the tribe should have access to most crafting utilities and NPCs that can act as trainers to retrain. Earning Income should be possible by helping out around the camp. Use a Diplomacy check to [Gather Information](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=49) based on level 0-5, offering the PCs tasks of the chosen level or lower #### Tend to the Wounded (Medicine, Lv 2) Help out Nakta to help people recovering from hunting accidents or injuries sustained from the Burning Mammoth attack #### Record Clan Lore (Society, Lv 1-3) Help out Argakoa to record your tribe's history: * Level 1: organizing the songsingers equipment * Level 2: learning a new piece of lore * Level 3: actively asking around camp to record important events #### Hunt Game (Survival, Lv 0-5) Ask the PC to make a check to [Track](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=66) instead of a **Diplomacy** check. The result determines the task level: * **Critical Success**: Up to PCs' level +1 * **Critical Success**: Up to PCs' level * **Failure**: Up to PCs' level -1 * **Critical Failure**: no game found that day #### Perform at the Fire (Performance, 1-3) In the evening, a PC can perform at the campfire: * Level 1: Serve food and drink * Level 2: Play drums * Level 3: Play melodies on an instrument #### Gathering Supplies (Nature, Lv 1-3) Help identifying and gathering: * Level 1: Firewood * Level 2: Berries, nuts and mushrooms * Level 3: Medicinal herbs ### Chapter 1 Everything can be run as written, but make sure to give Pakano a bit of a malevolent brat vibe. In addition, Pakano secretly killed Wipa's husband, Weohatan, because he regarded him as competition for the next leader of the Falcon house. This piece of information is incredibly juicy and you want to make it possible for the PCs to partially uncover this piece of information. Ideally you let them investigate the recent accidental death of Weohatan without giving out any usable evidence. In addition make sure to let him gush over Lomok, his Aasimar grandfather that took the leadership of the Burning Mammoth after the split. Once the Burning Mammoth attacks, play up how people are looking for Pakano and the arrival of a powerful Aasimar warrior. ### Chapter 2 The railroad chapter. The whole chapter is about teaching the players the ropes of the hexploration system. Just go with it and let your players internalize the movement costs and reconnoitering. \pagebreakNum The encounter with the Syarstik cat is a lore dump and boring to explain, so spread some information throughout the cave instead. There are lots of wall paintings so why not add some lore that way? ### Chapter 3 The PCs can finally choose where to go! Hurray! However the map is kinda empty. This is the best chapter to add in some custom encounters. Depending on where the PCs go, they might lose lots of time so keep that in mind! The fight at the very end was a joke for my group, so maybe you want to amp things up a bit. The important part is to figure out why Ivarsa wants to use an Avalanche instead of straight up killing the PCs (see plot). You also need to explain the devastation after the avalanche hits, since this is the reason why the Burning Mammoth only start to catch up to them after 5 months in book 2. \pagebreakNum ## Book 2 Awesome book that really opens up. The PCs can go everywhere in the valley and can also stumble into higher level areas. The big parts in this book are demonic infestation near the Sarkoris Scar that are linked to Metuak's possession and the ice dragon, that carries the Primordial Flame. Run Survival and Hexploration as described in the House Rule Section. This is also the section where I've changed the most since it's so open, plus the Blood Owls thing didn't really work for me, see chapter 3 for that. ### Time Frame The PCs are expected to finish the adventure by at least Lamashan (October) and start out in Sarenith (June). That's a lot of time. The justification for this is the avalanche, that was so massive that they themselves now need to take the long way round. Keep an eye on the events that trigger at certain points in time and foreshadow the Burning Mammoth moving in. Award the PCs extra time from the first book, if they made haste and arrived at the pass quickly in book 1. This gives them time to craft and to complete more encounters, earning more XP and loot. ### Shopping They are still with their tribe in the beginning, so let them buy stuff there, but the tribe will slow them down significantly to one hexploration activity per day plus they are expected to explore on their own. Their access to shopping in Lyuba will depend on their reputation. Vare and the crusaders should also be able to trade with the players. Vare has access to level 4 snares, the crusaders probably sport a lv 4 settlement. Lyuba should probably be a lv 4-5 settlement. I added a trader that comes up from time to time based on the added random encounters, see the random encounter section further down. ### Crafting & Loot There's a single +1 armor in this book in chapter 1, your players need to break down that rune and learn the formula if they want to stay competitive. Again, no striking runes. There should be enough time in this AP to craft some stuff. The first priority for the PCs should be to up their speed to 30. You can achieve that by: * [Fleet](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=784) * [2nd level Longstrider](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=175) * geting a 30ft+ animal companion that's one size larger than you to use as a mount, like the griffon at the start of the chapter This will give the heaps of time to craft. You need to inform your players of this fact if they haven't read the hexploration rules themselves. The [Inventor](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=798) feat is a must! Your players will have access to a forge once they meet the crusaders in the south, the remaining workshops should be available where there tribe is at. Their access to crafting in Lyuba will depend on their reputation. ### Downtime Each PC should be able to take Downtime as usual. Except for a forge, the tribe should have access to most crafting utilities and NPCs that can act as trainers to retrain. These activities should be possible without gathering information first: #### Trading (Society, Lv 5) Seek out traders or natives and try to turn a profit buying and selling equipment. #### Hunt Game (Survival, Lv 3-9) Ask the PC to make a check to [Track](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=66) instead of a **Diplomacy** check. The result determines the task level: * **Critical Success**: Up to PCs' level +1 * **Critical Success**: Up to PCs' level * **Failure**: Up to PCs' level -1 * **Critical Failure**: no game found that day #### Looking for Treasure (Nature, Lv 5-7) Help identifying and gathering: * Level 5: Magical crafting components * Level 6: Items from dead corpses * Level 7: Valuables from ruins ### Reputation This determines how the players are received in Lyuba and their access to shopping/crafting. Simple system but keep it hidden from the players, they already have enough on their plate with survival and exploration. If they receive reputation, let them know that word of their actions will be spread. Reputation can be gained in the following way: * **Calamity Cave**: up to 6 points for helping the Sutaki: * Helping and tending to the Sutaki: 1 * Returning the possessions of the dead scout: 1 * Escorting the injured Scout: 1 * Escorting Dini, Tedanu, Eokoe: 3 * **B32**: up to 4 points for freeing Nukiak: * Kill Turkek: 2 * Get her to join: 2 * **B35**: Killing the Roru: 1 * **B39**: up to 2 + # of characters points: * Each character that successfully passed checks to hunt: 1 per character * Helping to carry meat: 2 * **B40**: Freeing the prisoners and defeating the Burning Mammoth: 2 * **B41**, B43: Returning the severed head to Wonoak: 1 * **B44**: up to 3: * Returning with the information on the slain: 1 * Returning the bodies as well: 1 * Help transporting the bodies: 1 * **B47**: 2 for helping all 4 Sutaki groups \pagebreakNum * **B48**: up to 2: * Help teaching Gavaga's students: 1 * Getting Gavaga to join: 1 * **B50**: Taking offerings from the bowl: -5 With a party of 4, this will add up to a maximum of 27 points before actually hitting Lyuba. In Lyuba the PCs can earn more points, up to 25: * **Event 5**: up to 2 * Defeating Bone Warriors: 1 * Battle outside: 1 * **Event 6**: up to 4 + # of characters * Being stealthy: 1 per character * Sparring with Onak and Zedak: 2 for a critical success, otherwise 1 * Successfully helping Ieasa: 1 * Successfully tire out Fela and Awa: 1 * **Event 7**: up to 9, one for each deed * **Event 8**: # of characters that stay conscious during battle * **Last Stand**: 2 for defeating the enemies In the best case scenario, this will add up to 52 points, which funnily enough is not enough to add up to the highest bracket of 61-70 points. If we assume that 70 points are possible to attain, then 18 points are missing for party of 4. Award these points for defeating Venexus and Ashen Swale. For each character in addition to 4 players, subtract 2 points from 18, for each PC less than 4, add 2. ### Random Encounters This is the first time, the full hexploration rules come into effect. The question however is how you can make a base speed of 30ft useful and rewarding, since the only hexploration activities left is Fortify Camp. I used the [Random Encounters](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1276) from the hexploration rules in this chapter and roll each day. So far, it hasn't slowed down the game but added a lot of flavor, lore and world building My encounters are below (roll a D20), combat happens at night to reward PCs for fortifying the camp: * **1**: You meet a merchant with a random 5th or 6th level permanent item. He also sells all common items of up to lv 4 * **2**: Combat: 2 Brimoraks * **3**: Combat: 4 Gargoyles * **4**: Game passes by allowing each player to forage a days worth of rations for free * **5**: Combat: 2 Poltergeists * **6**: A giant white dragon passes over your camp * **7**: You make contact with Sutaki hunters revealing the terrain of a nearby hex * **8**: Evil voices prevent you from getting enough sleep to recover from the fatigued condition unless you ward them off using a DC 20 Religion check * **9**: A silent night allows you to sneak in some crafting for the day * **10**: Fungus infests your rations. Unless everyone succeeds at a Survival or Nature DC 20 check, one ration spoils per character * **11**: Your deity has heard your prayers, gifting each character a hero point * **12**: You meet a couple of Mendevian Crusaders who set up camp with you and protect you from hazards * **13**: You hear someone digging in the distance * **14**: The trees in this area seem to have lost all leaves and creak eerily in the dark * **15**: You feel a ripple in the fabrics of magic detecting the use of a teleport spell a couple miles away * **16**: You make contact with Sutaki people, giving you the chance to trade for common items up to lv 4 * **17**: Something shimmers in the dark, it's a 5th level consumable if you pass a perception check * **18**: The smell of smoke is in the air * **19**: You come across a broken item, still beside or worn on a skeleton. You can take apart the item to learn a formula of a common item of lv 5 or lower with a successful crafting check using the item's DC * **20**: The stars shine bright this night, offering their guidance. You learn the location of the closest waypoint. ## Leadership Events This is a small subsystem to make the Leadership mechanic more interesting and is modelled after the Wrath of the Righteous/Kingmaker CRPG events. I only added these for book 2 and plan on adding more for book 3 since leadership takes off in book 2. Instead of events you can tie these things to leadership level ups. ### A Spy in Our Midst **Trigger**: The PCs have recruited the crusaders and tamed an animal or beast from Necromancer territory **Event**: Crusaders demand an audience: some of their people have been ambushed recently and barely made it out unscathed. They fear for their men and speculate that there's a mole providing intel to the enemies. They assume that a secret Necromancer hides under the Sutaki people. In fact it's a small animal that the PCs recruited in necromancer territory that necromancers control using a spell. The crusaders demand a resolution. Each week that advances where the PCs haven't resolved the issue, 1d2 followers die in ambushes. * Side with the crusaders: 1d4 crusaders leave the following disagreeing with the PCs' choices * Side with the sutaki: 1d4 spell casting Sutaki are expelled from the following * Investigate the issue: Each week one chosen PC rolls makes a DC 20 skill check. On a success they find the culprit. * Diplomacy to talk to the people * Religion/Arcana/Nature/Occultism (with Religion/Nature being easier) to watch for magical connections Once the PCs get a hold of the culprit: * The PCs can cast Dispel Magic or beat an Religion/Occultism DC 20 (trained) check to cut the connection \pagebreakNum * If they fail, the need to cast out or kill the animal, losing 1 member, or else they will use 1d2 crusaders each week due to ambushes ### Dangerous Rituals **Trigger**: The PCs have recruited the crusaders and are in demon territory **Event**: The Sutaki shamans perform their annual rites to honor the spirits of the land. The Crusaders worry that the demonic taint affecting the valley might corrupt the following: * Try to sanctify the grounds of the ritual with a Religion DC 22 check or suffer the deaths of 1d2 warriors on a failure * Forbid the ritual with a successful Intimidation DC 20 check or the shamans continue the ritual in secret, corrupting 1d4 warriors, leading them to leave or die by attacking the following ### Dwindling Food Reserves **Trigger**: The PCs have recruited Sutaki **Event**: The Sutaki demand an audience. Someone or something has been stealing from their food reserves. In fact, a Sutaki woman has secretly brought in her relatives (children and old people) which are mostly unfit to work. The PCs can uncover this with a successful Survival DC 20 to Track. On a failure no consequences happen and the PCs can't try again for a week. On a success, the PCs find the people and can decide: * Expel them from the following and save (aka receive) 200gp in resources * Add them to the following: 10 Sutaki join the following ### Skillful Trainers **Trigger**: The PCs want to retrain **Event**: The following asks the PCs to select someone from the following to leave the hunting and gathering section and advance to an expert. They need 25gp to cover the cost for a year. Make up a trainer for each class that the PC's have and let them select one or more of them. ### Supporting the Local Economy **Trigger**: The PCs advance to lv 5. Use this event to balance out loot for additional players. **Event**:Two competing artisans asks for preferential treatment with regards to resources. Choose one and receive either one after 1 week: * Skeleton Key * Boots of Elven Kind ### Repentance **Trigger**: The PCs have defeated Turkek **Event**: One member of the Sutaki, an ex-necromancer, offers their knowledge about necromancy, offering to teach the party the following spells. Siding with him will cause 1d4 crusaders to leave the following: * Talking Corpse * Bone Spray * Bone Shaker * Grave Impressions * Call of the Blood ### Possessed **Trigger**: The PCs have recruited the crusaders and venture into demon territory **Event**: The crusaders captured a maniac and want to execute her, saying that she's posessed by a demon. She's screaming that all of your following will die and that their souls are cursed. She was bound to a demon by using an ancient ritual, similar to what has happened to Metuak * If the PCs do not execute her, they will lose 1d4 members after a week when she runs amok and the crusaders kill her * The PCs can try to excorcise her using a Religion check: * Critical Success: She regains her memories and tells them of the place where she was bound to the demon allowing the PCs free 1d4 additional posessed that join the following * Success: You exorcise the spirit leaving the body of the woman, adding +1 member to your following * Failure: You exorcise the spirit, but her mind becomes broken * Critical Failure: You kill her during the exorcism before she frees herself and lunges at a fellow member ### An Old Feud **Trigger**: The PCs have recruited Vare and Montgrim **Event**: Vare and Montgrim have a falling out. Vare accuses Montgrim of sabotaging her work by calling her methods unfit in Iomedae's eyes, Montgrim doesn't want to support guerilla tactics. Both demand a resolution: * If the PCs side with Vare, they receive a shadow rune formula * If the PCs side with Montgrim, they receive a fearsome rune formula * If the PCs want to reconcile both, they need to beat a DC 22 Diplomacy check and receive both runes ### A Deadly Disease **Trigger**: The PCs have ventured into demon or necromancer territory **Event**: The PCs locate a herd of 8 bison, that seem disoriented. If the PCs decide to tame them, they gain 8 followers. After 1 week, a deadly disease starts spreading throughout the camp, killing 1d2 followers per week. The PCs can locate and cure the animals by performing a DC 20 Nature check to Treat Disease. If they succeed, the disease stops. If they fail, they can not try again for a week \pagebreakNum ### Helping Iomedae's Faithful **Trigger**: The PCs have recruited the crusaders and venture into Necromancer territory **Event**: The head cleric of Iomedae consults with the PCs to rescue a small group of lost crusaders which have been shown to her by a vision. The PCs can divert their efforts to the rescuing 8 new followers, which many deem reckless. Make a DC 20 diplomacy check to rally a rescue group. Either way, the cleric offers divine spellcasting services up to lv 3 as a token of gratitude: * **Critical Success**: No one dies * **Success**: 2 casualties * **Failure**: 4 casualties * **Critical Failure**: 8 casualties ### Chapter 1 **Vare**: * Make sure to play up Vare's grief and stubborness. She wants to avenge her brother and doesn't mesh well with the other crusaders in the valley. She's more concerned with her revenge than following the tenets of Iomedae at that point * Vare is intended to give the PCs a rough overview over some parts of the valley * The book does not give you a good reason why Vare is inside the cave instead of her hut in the mountains. She's spending the winter in the warm caves rather than freezing in the cold mountains. If the PCs are interested in helping her get her revenge, she'll move back to her summer residence to kill the Chimera **The Sutaki**: * The Sutaki are there to pray to the old gods. Dini, a small child is supposed to become the next god caller, a grave threat to the current leader, Ashen Swale, who does not tolerate any god callers beside himself * They should introduce the PCs to the current power struggle in the valley: the Sutaki are governed by a tyrant, the Ashen Swale, who tries to kill all who oppose him and his Goddess, Venexus. * The whole setup also has a religious undertone: when a god caller steps down and let's another one take over, they equate it to rebirthing the people. How fitting that Ashen Swale is not only is a necromancer but also stopped that symbolic rebirth by declaring himself as the only one. * The most important information however that you should drop here is that the Sutaki have been trapped in the valley after Venexus froze the only way outside and built her castle on top of it. * Make sure to play up the loss of Dini's mother Nukiak, as she will become important when the PCs infiltrate the necromancer's tower. ### Chapter 2 This is the fun part: a huge map, filled to the brim with encounters, lasting many months of weekly play. The encounters tell a nice story: * To the south, there's a camp of crusaders. They try to get out of the valley but are threatened by the supposed dragon spawn to the west, "ghosts" to the north and necromancers to the east. They are desparate and want to regroup. Their ultimate objective is to take down the necromancers in B32, because they see them as a massive threat to their own escape corridor. Play up the bigotry, let them swoon over Iomedae and their justice while keeping the deserter topic on the side. Incidentally, these guys also have a forge, perfect for crafting! * To the north, the lands are infested by demons from the World Wound. * To the east, the necromancers of Ashen Swale hold dominion and kill/reanimate people and wildlife. * Settlements/Trade hubs: the PCs should be able to trade with: * Vare, either in the cave or mountains * The crusaders in their camp * Lyuba, the final Sutaki settlement #### Important Encounter Notes * **B19**: This setup doesn't work super well if the PCs spot the Babau far ahead. I made this Babau a cleric of Pazuzu and gave him raven wings. He poses as a druid that wants to corrupt the PCs as he did with their ancestors. Pazuzu itself is described as being fond of possessing humans, so perfect fit here. > You came here like your ancestors once did. They were besieged by demons on all sides. The sent forth one of their bravest warriors who made a great sacrifice. He took in an ancient and powerful spirit to make him stronger than anyone could ever imagine. > Tell me, aren't you in a similar bind? Though not hunted by demons, but mere men. Nonetheless, I shall honor the word that I gave to your ancestors. Ask and I shall pray to the gods of this very land, and so that they might instill a mighty spirit into your bravest warrior as well. * **B4**, **B22** are vantage points. My players had a [Fine Spyglass](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=54) so I let them view the terrain of an additional hex * **B31** is a TPK, so let the players know that they're heavily outnumbered. \pagebreakNum * **B32c**: how do 4 large Zombie Brutes fit in here? The don't, at least not particularly well. They brush on the palisade on the very top, causing the logs to get loose. Mention that to your players. Mine sabotaged the logs with thievery while unnoticed and plunged all of them to their deaths, but your PCs might also want to remove logs with an action and shove the Zombies to their death (Important: these guys can shove for free after an attack) * **B37**: The PCs can lure out Venexus and kill her here. If they do so, Ashen Swale takes over as the sole ruler of Lyuba, declaring himself as a god instead * **B40**: In book 2, Ivarsa and her henchman don't know where the PCs are heading. Instead she's focusing on cutting off their escape route by taking Lyuba. This is your chance foreshadow Ivarsa, Jessari, the flame's curse and their alliance with the giants. When the PCs arrive, the Burning Mammoth surround Ivarsa who gives a speech. > Ivarsa: "... cut off their escape route to the west, until our main force has arrived. Tell your scouts to wait until they get themselves into a fight with the dragon, then strike when they are the most vulnerable, ideally after they've dealt with the dragon. If the dragon is still alive, use her brother as leverage. The man or woman who brings me the flame shall receive a fifth of the spoils in gold and slaves." > Jesssari: "Remember, the flame is cursed." > Ivarsa: "Don't interrupt me, Jessari! I might just rethink our deal if you continue questioning my directions. You know, I'd really like to add your witch friends to my collection. Sezela, you take over. I need to consult with this dammned Hegremon and his brain dead Frost Giants to plan our siege on Hillcross." Afterwards she and Jessari teleport away. This might be a chance for the PCs to cause chaos by letting the dragon escape, but let them know that the deck is stacked against them, if they want to ambush Ivarsa, Jessari and the whole camp on top. ### Chapter 3 So this is the part where the PCs should join an underground organization to overthrow the current "government". Something that has been pretty much left out is that Ivarsa's henchmen are planning to storm Lyuba (see encounter 40) and, if the PCs free the Sutaki in that encounter, the people in Lyuba will actually know about that threat. This is your chance to raise tensions inside Lyuba: let the ruling caste get wind of the massive, approaching army. They get nervous and start preparing to counter the threat, and will most likely also thin out the stationed force to prepare ambushes and fortify defenses. This is the chance for the underground organization to start the coup. Furthermore this also neatly ties into the reason of why the Sutaki join the PC's following in droves and why they are going to leave their motherland behind. And of course why the PCs and their tribe need to leave the valley through the dragon's lair. #### Why Rebel Against the Ashen Swale Why should the PCs put up a fight against the current ruler rather than simply requiring passage? The only passage that safely leads out of the valley is hidden behind a thick sheet of ice in Venexus' Glacial Palace that Venexus does not want to melt under any circumstances. She fears that giving the Sutaki an escape route would provoke an uprising. Since the dragon is somewhat insane you don't have to elaborate further. The approaching horde should be a good enough motivator to take out the ruling class. #### Attacking Lyuba The players shouldn't be able to simply sack the settlement with their following: The crusaders see this as dishonoring themselves, an anathema to Iomedae, the Sutaki don't want to slay their own people but instead get them out beforehand (which is actually how it's done in the book). Remember: the Blood Owls are a secret organization that many of the Sutaki don't know of. If the PCs want to go ahead with this, consider letting the Sutaki and Crusaders leave the following, reducing the army to a size that is not suitable to take Lyuba. No, this isn't railroading, that's just accepting consequences. #### Skipping the Blood Owls This chapter railroads you super hard into joining the Blood Owls which might work for your group, but didn't work for mine. I also had trouble with Event 6 and 7: it requires a lot of player buy in and running the RP scene with the built in reputation rewards was too inorganic and difficult for me. If you can work with it, go ahead, but be warned that you need to put a lot of work into this to make it feel right. Instead I propose the following setup: don't mention the Blood Owls at all. It's supposed to be a secret organization to overthrow the current ruler. Casually mentioning it multiple times to outsiders seems ill advised. Instead, make them work against the ruler in parallel to the PCs: once the PCs start an uprising against the Ashen Swale, have the Blood Owls join in and support them. The PCs might discover their existence, when the people of the Hearth silently take out the Bone Warrior sentries or when the Blood Owls sabotage something. If it makes sense, have them propose an alliance with the PCs on equal terms, rather than requiring the PCs to become subordinates to their cause. \pagebreakNum #### Organizing an Uprising without the Blood Owls If you want to get off the rail road, you need to organize the current events a bit differently. There are a couple of challenges to that need to be completed before storming the palace * **Dragon currently resting in her palace**: Let them overhear rumors that their god Venexus hasn't left the palace in days and people are wary of possible executions to feed the dragon. Ashen Swale is in the palace to calm down Venexus, who is throwing a fit because of all the recent fires. * **Outnumbered by Ashen Swale's forces**: Mention the tight security and massive amount of sentries (hundreds of bone warriors and necromancers) * **Elite Forces**: **Desiak** regularly patrols the grounds and might even have an encounter with the PCs where he seems to be instinctively wary of their plans. Tell the PCs that they will die if they don't subjugate themselves to Venexus and Ashen Swale. **Azi** should be impossible to access since she's barricaded herself in the inner quarters. * **Local Distrust**: People might whisper things that the PCs might pick up on, like them openly distrusting them or even keeping track of them to report them to the sentries. The PCs do not have to deal with everything, but their following will have to step in to support them, possibly leading to heavy losses and Kotasi's death (see further down). ##### Event: Kotasi Riles up the Crowd To get things going, run the following event: People seem to gather at the center of the town, where a hooded figure clothed in black rugs stands on a box: > Hear, hear people of Lyuba. Your vile, necromantic actions have gone unpunished for long enough. The Judge of Souls has sent a massive army of warriors that will soon reach Lyuba. Repent now, renounce your allegiance to Ashen Swale and their necromancers, lest you don't fall victim to purge! After a little while, Ashen Swale himself shows up to deal with this matter personally. He does not want any disturbance since Venexus is about to grow very angry and will demand a sacrifice. He complains about her breaking their deal (she was allowed to hold rituals for the deceased in her tower). Soon he orders either Desniak or Azi to throw her into one of the oubliettes until they'll feed her to Venexus. If Kotasi sees that the PCs want to intervene, let her stop them, telling them to put their trust into the ancient gods. This event will create unrest and distress among the local populace and more guards seem to be stationed at the gates, some sent out as scouting parties. The PCs will likely want to rescue Kotasi but they will need to come up with a plan to rescue her. ##### Dealing with the Local Distrust Let one NPC approach the PCs and ask for help with a certain task. They think everyone deserves a fair chance to prove themselves. This NPC could be Eokoe or the local Tavern owner Illuin. Hand out some of the tasks in Event 7 and offer more when their reputation rises. ##### Dealing with the Elites Run Event 8 as listed in the books but let the PCs find out about Desiak's pattern themselves. ##### Dealing with the Forces After the PCs took out Desiak, they should receive a note from the Blood Owls that they will support their cause. They will stand by and join the fight, once the PCs decide to act. They will however insist on taking out Desiak prior to them joining in. ##### Dealing with the Dragon The PCs will need to distract the dragon if they want to enter the palace. Since Venexus is furious right now, it shouldn't be hard to figure out how to cause her to leave the palace in rage. If the PCs can't figure out how, let one of their lieutenants suggest a distraction. They can also enlist the help of the local people if their reputation has reached 30 or higher or enlist the help of the Blood Owls. ### Entering Lyuba For how the NPCs react to the following, check out the public opinion sidebar on page 44. Nukiak and Wonoak accompany the PCs into Lyuba. Nukiak was supposed to be eaten by Venexus after she denounced Ashen Swale, so she leaves quite an impression on the townsfolk. The first she does is get a drink in the local Tavern, the Hearth. This makes it much easier to steer the PCs towards that location than the suggested Xenophobia in the book. If your PCs don't want to take the fight outside but start a tavern brawl, let the bar owners dispose some of the warriors on their own and inquire the PCs to keep their mouths shut about what happened. This should hint at the existence of the Blood Owls. \pagebreakNum ### Reputation Reputation should have the following additional effects: * **0-10**: The bone warriors at the gate won't let the PCs pass and attack them if they ignore their warnings * **11-20**: The PCs are forced to make an offering to Venexus of around 100+gp in the form of coins and/or items. If the PCs ignore the asking, have them arrest 4 of their following members after 3 days, killing one each week. Each week, the PCs can try to rescue the members by succeeding at a stealth DC 22 check. * **21-30**: Offer PCs to buy common items of up to lv 5 * **31-40**: Offer PCs downtime activities and crafting utilities * **41+**: Allow the PCs to retrain, give them access to cleric services of all common spells up to lv 4, and give the PCs access to downtime tasks of the chosen task level + 1 ### Downtime Activties in Lyuba Once the PCs have accrued 31 or more reputation, allow them to assist in the daily life. Use a Diplomacy check to [Gather Information](https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=49) based on level 4-7, offering the PCs tasks of the chosen level or lower: #### Educate the Children (Society, Lv 5) Help out Gagava #### Prepare Materials for the Insurrection (Crafting, Lv 7) Craft items and sell them to support the Blood Owls #### Gather Supporters (Intimidation/Deception/Diplomacy, Lv 7) Convince the inhabitants to donate resources to the insurrection. Intimidation and Deception increase the DC by 2. #### Perform Songs (Performance, Lv 6) Perform songs at the Hearth. #### Help the local Healer (Medicine, Lv 5) Help Lahi to to trait injuries and diseases. #### Herd Lagofirs (Nature, Lv 4) Tend to the Lagofirs in the Lagofir Pen. ### Attacking the Ashen Swale Since they need to distract the dragon, they've got a limited time frame. Give the PCs 2 days to complete the rest of the chapter, aka 1 long rest and let them know about it. If they need more time, they need to distract the dragon with additional risky maneuvers, causing the death of 10 followers per day. ### Glacial Palace #### D1 Instead of the Dragonkin guarding the entrance, let these guys haul buckets of water, complaining about it driving them mad and being on the verge of quitting. Unfortunately, the writer of this adventure screwed up their damage stats: 1d6+5 or 1d10 on a hit? That's missing one striking rune at least. I'd recommend to use the moderate column in the [Creature Building](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=995) rules section for their fist attack (2d6+8) and high for their tail attack (2d8+9). #### D6 Let the PCs attempt an Arcana/Nature check to Recall Knowledge when they see the chamber of Venexus' young. If the PCs succeed, they realize that the temperature is way too hot for white dragons. #### D7 Why would the PCs claim the flame if they knew that it was cursed? Simple, Venexus' palace blocks the exit of Lost Mammoth Valley. Instead of letting it melt on its own, let one of the characters use it to melt the thick ice wall that covers a cavern entrance. All of their followers are wary of the artifact, and some members suggest that it is rightfully theirs and that it shouldn't fall into Ivarsa's hands. Ashen Swale is supposed to be a Summoner, but his companion acts like a normal creature. As for Venexus: this gal has a lv 7! spell available (Sunburst) which has the potential to instakill your entire party with a 60ft burst, dealing from 8d10 up to 16d10 for undead PCs. I reverse heighented it to 6d10 and even then it posed a threat, since the party is likely not at full health. The best way to use this is probably to just trigger it just before Venexus goes down crying something like "You'll never take it from me!", then let your party roll saves for 6d10 fire damage. If anyone goes down, they are immediately tended to by Blood Owls or other Sutaki (ideally Kotasi if the PCs rescued her), potentially even raising them from the dead, making this more of a story device. This will remove the thick ice keeping them from leaving Lost Mammoth Valley. \pagebreakNum ## Book 3 ### Time Frame If the PCs took all time possible in book 2 (end of Lamashan, October), they'd arrive in Hillcross at the begin of Calistril (February) because of how chapter 1 starts out with "Three months have passed since the Broken Tusk recovered the Primordial Flame". The book expects the PCs to reach chapter 3 by mid Kuthona, which is straight up impossible that way. So I suggest that you reduce the time spent to reach Hillcross to 0 months. That gives you around 1.5+ months for chapter 1 and 2, depending on how early they finished in book 2. Since your party will tame Megafauna and will get a mount, their speed will range from 25ft for the Triceratops to a maximum of 60ft for the Roc (with flying speed). You can increase your speed by 10ft if someone hands out 2nd level [Longstrider](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=175) spells and they potentially get access to a [Shadow Walk](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=275) spell, increasing their speed by a factor of 20 for 8 hours, allowing them to cover terrain worth of 20 days in 1 day. Since flying essential ignores terrain difficulty and if you ignore weather, you're looking at a minimum duration of 4-60 days to reach Castle Grimgorge in the straightest line possible, depending on your PCs' slowest mount. Long story short: you're fucked. If you want to stay true to the book and keep Mid-Kuthona as the time limit: * Let your PCs know about it by letting **Adalemma** tell them about the exact point in time * Let the Hillcross witches suggest fast Megafauna mounts such as the Roc, since there might not be enough time left until Ivarsa gets behind the demonic warrior secret If everything fails, move the date to begin of Spring (21st of Pharast, March) or Summer (21st of Sarenith, June, Summer Solstice) instead. ### Crafting & Loot Most loot in this book is super concentrated in a few locations. Everything else is awarded through dead enemies' equipment so keep an eye on that. Again, there's a massive lack of runes. This time however, you can at least buy a resilient rune in Hillcross. Since the tar forest is a barren waste, crafting shouldn't be possible unless you've handed out a [Private Workshop](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1282). Consider adding at least one +2 weapon potency rune formula. ### Shopping Thankfully this time we've got a settlement statblock: Hillcross is a level 8 settlement. On the hex map, players would probably be able to trade with the Sphinx and Adalemma. ### Downtime #### Explore the Deep Caves (Athletics, Lv 9) Venture deeper into the caves and make more areas accessible #### Grow Crops (Nature, Lv 6) Help out the Growers to grow mushrooms in the caves or other foods outside of Hillcross #### Hunt Food (Survival, Lv 7) Move outside Hillcross to hunt #### Mediate Conflicts (Diplomacy, Lv 6) Broker peace between warring clans #### Gather Spell Components (Arcana, Lv 6) Supply the witches with a steady stream of materials #### Trade (Diplomacy, Lv 6) Buy and sell goods from wandering traders ### Leadership You gain followers in chapter 1 exclusively: * **Shamed**: Recruiting Kasan nets a lieutenant and 25 followers * **Out of Time**: Recruiting the Charging Rhino: 1 lieutenant and 100 followers * **Weiko Thieves**: Recruiting the Proudhawk: 1 lieutenant and 75 followers * **Foreign Traders**: Recruiting the traders: 1 lieutenant and 50 followers * **Dueling Personalities**: Recruiting the Mountain Serpent: 2 lieutenants and 50 followers * **Unfollowed**: Recruiting the Bears of Hatli: 1 lieutenant and 50 followers * **After the Battle**: 25 followers for each encounter during the siege, netting a max of 125 followers * **Taming Megafauna**: 25 followers for each tamed megafauna ### Chapter 1 Run the following event to link book 2 and 3 and lore drop Metuak's story: > A sharp pain pierces your chest. That blow might have broken a few ribs, but thankfully you've doged most of the force with your great axe. Just in time, you see a giant ice blast coming straight at you, originating from dragon's mouth. You're able to duck underneath, but the blast's icy particles evaporate from the heat of the Flame hung around your neck, obscuring your vision. The next blow hits you straight in the gut and flings you across the room. \pagebreakNum > "Foolish creature! You will pay for insolent actions. Your tiny brains can not comprehend the power of this artifact. I shall take it." The dragon moves closer, extending its claws to rip the tiny cage off your neck. Gathering your last strength, you wait for the right moment and unleash a giant, fiery explosion, heavily burning the dragons belly. The shock wave rips the artifact from your neck. It disappears in a giant crevasse, in the vicinity of the dragon. "You will live on" whishpers the familiar voice in your head. "Let me take over. I. Will. Save. You." > You emerge from the beasts lair. Most of your wounds have closed miraculously, but you haven't fully regained your strength. You need to get back that flame, but you don't have the slightest clue how. Your body is in great pain and you feel ashamed. The elders in Hillcross might be able to help you. The PC who took the flame slowly awakens. Nakta and Kotasi tending to their wounds. > "You're awake. Someone tried to take the flame around your neck to create a shortcut in the ice and you attacked them. You must understand, we had to stop you. You were going to bash in that unfortunate warrior's head if we'd let you." Nakta tells them, that they want to visit the witches in Hillcross. The tribe will reach the settlement in a couple of days. As the PC emerges from the tent, the crusaders seem to be stuck arguing with the other PCs. > Some kind of demonic taint is spreading inside of them. They are too great of a risk to take with us. Unfortunately our best clerics have long perished in the demonic invasion so we recommend locking them up in a cell in the nearest settlement until we find a cure. A part of Xeleria has infected the flame itself and is slowly spreading to the player. Use that to impose a time limit on chapter of this book in addition to the demonic warrior threat that the PCs will learn about when they meet the witches. Sutaki scouts under the leadership of Vare come in to report that they've run into Frost Giants. They seem to try to erect a blockade in one of the routes leading to Hillcross. They recommend making a little detour to avoid them. Skip the silly Recall Knowledge section; instead embed the lore dump in story, role play and quests: * **Nakta**: They look forward to an audience with the Witches. They want to consult with them with regards to the Flame. Once the PCs are ready they should meet up with Nakta to visit the witches. During their travel he tells them about their spells that keep the settlement safe from the blizzards. * **Wipakoa**: She wants the PCs to retrieve items from the clan's storage site. They are running low on supplies, especially medicine * **Merthig**: He is eager to recruit more people. He asks the PCs to ask around. * **Letsua**: Once the PCs reach the gate, Letsua tells them about the Three Rights: Peace, Shelter and Store. He points to a clan leaving through the other gate to make room for them * **Event 2**: Instead of Kasan coming to the PCs, they meet him at the base of Soulcliff where Nakta meets up with the PCs * **Event 8**: Consider using the [Chase](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1210) subsystem #### The Siege Your PCs will likely want to prepare for the siege in some way. They've got access to the following units: * **Mammoth Lords (Charge of the Mammoth Lords)**: A larger horde of mounted riders with martial weapons, unsuitable for fighting inside Hillcross * **Brave Warriors (Defenders of Hillcross, Strike)**: Several groups of foot soldiers with short range weapons, including young adolescents that are best fighting in teams * **Witches of Hillcross (Curse of the Hillcross Witches)**: Good with curses but don't want to leave Hillcross * **Flaming Arrow Archers (Release the Fire)**: Vulnerable in melee combat * **Alchemists on Gliders (Summon the Flying Mammoths)**: Need high ground to operate and have bombs They've got the following areas to defend: * **Evening Gate and Walls (West)** * **Morning Gate and Walls (East)** * **Aerial Attacks and Artillery** Let the PCs make up a plan and allow them to fortify positions using skill checks to get circumstance bonuses to attack rolls or armor class by providing additional cover or flat-footing enemies in advantageous positions. Each unit is bound to their dedicated position except for the mobile alchemists. Completing the assault on their dedicated location opens them up for re-use in other areas that qualify. \pagebreakNum ### Chapter 2 So unfortunately I had to cut all of the random encounters of this chapter due to scheduling issues but nothing of value was lost. You are starting out on a Hexmap with ~180!! hexes containing only 5! proper encounters. Most of the random encounters on the hexes consist of forgettable combat encounters that add nothing to the story. That's in stark contrast to the really good hexcrawl in book 2. The author even includes a way to skip most of the content via shadow walking so you might be interested in skipping the Hexcrawl too. The 5 larger encounters all try to rectify one of the biggest issue in book 3: getting to know the location and story of Ivarsa and Metuak, sometimes in the most absurd ways. I ran the laid out encounters as is but I've run the Sphinx without any knowledge of Metuak (why would he?). If you want to run the encounters as written, beware of the Fossil Golem's petrification ability which is impossible to remove in the wilds. Only the Sphinx is able to remove it, but for that, you need to transport a big rock which is a challenge in itself (even more so if the Fossil Golem is still alive). #### Deal with the Demon The players meet a shadow demon called Senestris. This can occur via possession when camping in the wilds or in my case, a player has been possessed by the demon from the start of book 1. Senestris tries to strike a deal with the players. Senestris once fought Ivarsa during the 5th crusade and barely escaped alive. Pazuzu, their deity, stripped them off their ranks and most of their powers which stranded them in the Realms. Senestris wants revenge and they are enthusiastic, that they had a chance to recently encounter and follow Ivarsa. Senestris hopes to regain their god's favor by killing Ivarsa. Their plan is to retrieve the remains of Ivarsa's brother, Kalur, who once also partook in the ritual to become a demonic warrior. Unfortunately, he did not survive the ordeal so he was interred in a temple of Pazuzu. The temple was once used by the Burning Mammoth itself. In exchange for souls, the Burning Mammoth sacrificed many of their weaker members to create powerful, demonic warriors like Metuak to stand against the uncountable demonic hordes. The temple itself holds many records of the committed atrocities and provides you with an opportunity to hand out gear and XP. Once the PCs pay an abyssal "merchant" with the soul, Senestris is bound to Kalur's remains, reviving the warrior itself, albeit fully controlled by Senestris. This gives you a much more natural way to lore dump some of Ivarsa's background story and paints her in a more humane light to make the PCs somewhat sympathetic towards her. It also gives you the possibility to resolve the final encounter without fighting Ivarsa herself. Senestris, posing as Kalur, wants to tell his sister Ivarsa the truth about the death of her friends and family, recounting the stories of the sacrificed Burning Mammoth. He tries to get close to her, proposing to leave the Realms behind them and building a new life in a more peaceful place. If the players don't prevent it, Senestris stabs Ivarsa with a poisonous dagger once she finally embraces Kalur, causing her to go straight to dying 1. This leaves Pakano as the only threat. Afterwards, Senestris grows 2 pairs of raven wings, taking off to the skies. If the PCs try to fight Senestris in Kalur's body, scale up an Invidiak to lv 12. If the PCs try to get rid of Senestris without taking their offer, let the witches provide the PCs with a ritual to perform at the temple. Before they are exorcised, their final bargaining attempts reveals Ivarsa's location as a symbol of good faith. ### Chapter 3 So many fights in this chapter and many are unnaturally squeezed together in a tight fashion. I've moved some of the fights around. #### G4. Shattered Barracks Move this demon into G8. #### G8. Southern Ruins Instead of letting the PCs hit Jessari head on and letting the PCs potentially kill her, Let them fight against an overwhelming force of demons (the Glabrezu from G4 and Hezrou from G10). If the PCs want to let the fight play out normally, let Kazhan intervene and command them to save Jessari. Jessari herself is a powerful caster. It is unlikely that she wouldn't have been able to escape over the past year, so instead let her be there out of her own free will. I changed her background story in the following way: Metuak's calling has attracted many demons that wandered the lands. Jessari realized that at some point, a critical mass of demons would have formed at Castle Grimgorge, that would have threatened Hillcross. Being the next in line after Oga however, Oga forbid her from solving the problem by going after Metuak. When she was cornered by Ivarsa a year ago, she struck a convenient deal: she would go with Ivarsa, if Ivarsa supported her to eventually root out the demons at Grimgorge Castle. Ivarsa agreed, however plotted to betray her at a convenient point in time to get Metuak for herself. Ivarsa is planning to get the Flame and/or Metuak to betray the Frost Giants, when they launch their all out assault on Hillcross. The attack on Hillcross is more of a ploy to rid herself of her soured alliance and claim the artifact, before the Frost Giants can. Jessari can also know where Metuak is located, but they haven't made a lot of progress until the PCs arrived. The demons and undead proved to be a major hurdle once they've arrived. When the PCs arrived, they've grown frustrated enough to launch a head on attack against the demons, leading to Jessari (almost) being killed and the tower entrance to the north being overrun. This change also opens up a way to get to Metuak without the Deus Ex Machina appearance of Everbright. Either way, make sure to inform the PCs how to kill Metuak \pagebreakNum #### G10. Flooded Den Move this demon into G8. #### G14. Metuak's Prison This room suffers from being way too tiny. Instead, use a 3rdparty castle prison map for that. #### G17. Parapets Similar to G14, this room is way to tiny. Expand it with a bigger tower map.