I am looking for opportunities to use the “Is this true?” oracle question. That is an excellent way of diverging from the script of a published adventure. You read what the adventure says, and then ask the question. Yes, the scene plays out as described. If the answer is no, you can either use your intuition to change something, or as a backup question, such as, “Is it worse than described?” or the reverse of it. Sometimes it will be obvious what could change, and keeps the thread of the story intact, and other times you can use a lot more latitude.
In the arrival at Illos, there is little or no chance for deviation from the script. The old king has to be dead or the adventure doesn’t work, seeing that they burn him on the beach, one would certainly hope that he was dead. There is a thing in this scene or series of scenes, the funeral procession, the funeral pyre, and the interaction with Xanthos, his hoplite guards, and the king’s old retainers. The adventure gives several, three or four, low DC chances to pick up on the animosity between the king’s retainers and Xanthos’s, how the guards are taking their lead from Xanthos rather than Prince Hektor, and so on. I think this is supposed to sow a seed of suspicion that will forewarn the characters for later, but I failed every single one of these rolls. I am proficient in Insight and Religion, and I had a fair chance at making every one of these rolls, but I had one of those spells where rolling higher than a five seemed impossible.
If we had a party of five characters, what would be the chance of none of the characters making a DC12 insight test? What would be the chance of them making none of the three attempts? Now you are talking very low, failing to get a 12 plus on 15 rolls (five characters and three skill checks each), and easier if they are proficient or have stat bonuses?
I have noted down these failures, and I am curious about how that will impact later scenes.
My Bullet Journal
People often ask about my bullet journals. Bullet Journals are so flexible that no two are likely to ever look the same, but I thought I would share some photos of the first section of the adventure, and then later on, I will show more as the journal evolves.
This is my index so far
I have a separate Map Index. This is a very pretty PDF, and it is D&D so there will be dungeons to explore.
It is a brave man who writes his character sheet out in pen! A lesson I remember before I went too far. The character sheet is from the end of Part I when I just hit 3rd level.
The PDF may be pretty but my laser printer can destroy any image. But, it still serves as an aide do memoir. You can see the Cornell note format with the columns, with something I didn’t want to lose pulled out into the left column and the summary at the end of the scene.
My First Deviation
This part of the PDF lists all the highlights of the town of Illos, and potential quests’ key NPCs can offer. Most of them have no real interest in Helios, and he wouldn’t visit them, or if he did, he would be less likely to engage with the NPCs to the point that they would offer side quests. These are places like the Bronze forge, but as a Philosopher, I don’t really have much use for weapons and armour, and the barracks, why would I want to visit the barracks? The shrine to Thessa is different. I have been playing Helios as quite devoted to Thessa, so visiting the shrine and talking to Myrrine the acolyte would make sense. If rumour travels faster than a sightseeing tourist, then Myrrine will know that I rescued the villagers from a Thessan temple overrun by Merrow, so it would make perfect sense for her to confide in me about the state of the city, the human sacrifices, and the lost sword. She can warn me about Xanthos and his evil ways, and the fear of the townsfolk. This solves me possible problem of having missed all the signs earlier at the funeral.
When I get to the palace, this is what the adventure says.
Now, there is clearly a potential here to either be armed or not armed. There are also clearly factions among those loyal to the old king and Hektor, as well as those loyal to Xanthos. So this is an opportunity to use the “Is this true?” Question. What if the servant had been bribed, intimidated, or persuaded by someone disloyal to Xanthos to skip the weapons check, or the cultist servant had been replaced by someone loyal to Hektor? Both of these are possible. I will ask the question, and assume that the servant is most likely to be the loyal cultist the books says they are, but there is always the chance of other forces at work. I get a yes but, answer. It is true, but I will lower the DC on the Charisma check because this person has doubts. I roll a 4 on my Charisma check, they take my staff and daggers anyway. Some days things just don’t go your way!
Despite the failed roll, I have identified where things can deviate whilst remaining true to the adventure. There are factions, people can be bought or intimidated. The guard rails on this adventure have some flexibility.
The scene that follows my being disarmed is a somber meal where Hektor is resigned to being sacrificed to a Kraken to lift the curse on Illos. Now I am a bit more in the know due to Myrrine’s intervention, I can see the pressure being put on Hektor. There is still little chance to do anything to interfere.
In the morning, it is the day of the sacrifice. As I am unarmed, I am allowed to watch. Hektor is taking to a platform out in a private palace dock and shackled to a stone pillar by some cultists who then retreat to the dockside. Xanthos is there with two of his hoplites on either side of him. He starts the ritual to summon the kraken.
This seems like the right time to act. I use Thunderwave using a second level slot, to blast Xanthos, the hoplite on either side of him, and the two cultists in front of him into the water. I use the oracle to just to ask if anyone notices me trying to cast. I could roll perception checks for everyone, but there are seven ‘enemy’ and an unspecified number of spectators. I don’t want to make that many checks. I make some assumptions. Everyone who cares about Hektor is likely to be watching Hektor shacked to the platform out in the water, or on Xanthos. The book says that the water starts to roil and a dark shadow can be seen rising from the depths. It has to be that everyone in awe of the kraken will be watching that, there have been many sacrifices so far, so they know what is coming. Those that cannot watch, won’t be watching. So taking all that into account, I decide the chances of anyone watching me who would likely give me away is low. I roll my d12 oracle with disadvantage, roll twice and take the lower result. The result is a No, but… The books says that there is a guy called Arcturus who is loyal to Hektor and has some Hoplites that are still loyal. I decide that Arcturus notices me. This gives me a new thread I can pull at. If Arcturus thinks I am going to harm Hektor he is likely to turn on me!
I cast my spell. Xanthos, one hoplite, and both cultists fail their save. Furhter the cultists and one hoplite are taken to 0hp by the damage. I don’t know if it is an error and omission or intentional, but there are no stats for Xanthos. He doesn’t have any hit points, level, class etc. The book talks about him being defeated, but also his confession if he is defeated. I assume the intention is that he would be reduced to 0hp, and later bound and questioned. But, without the game stats I don’t know how you could defeat him. I had prepared lots of options. I had Mage Armor, Shield, Thunderwave, Sleep, Charm Person, and Knock prepared. The plan was to try and Thunderwave, if that failed then I could have put people to sleep, and if that failed, Charmed Xanthos who would not have let them kill me, if it had worked.
The book says if Xanthos is defeated, the hoplites would surrender. I asked the oracle, as a straight 50/50 roll, does the Kraken like its food alive? The answer came back as a yes. I assumed then that it would go for the bodies in the water, rather than Hektor on the platform. Xanthos was thrashing around and shouting, which would draw its attention. The others were on 0hp, so floating or sinking.
I looked at the kraken’s stats and it is a tough old beasty, 84hp, 4 attacks around, although it can only attack one person with one tentacle each round. It could have engaged most of a party, but a solo character would have a slight advantage of only suffering one attack around. Anyway, I didn’t have to fight it. Arcturus rushed up with his loyal Hoplites, I jumped down and ran to Hektor, and used Knock to break his shackles. The kraken was engaged this round with attacking Xanthos and the other bodies in the water.
I played one more round, where the Kraken had a chance to attack me, thinking the movement may have attracted it, and this is supposed to be a heroic action. The Kraken has the initiative, and attacked, it hit, but it activated my Shield spell and that caused it to miss. I didn’t attack back, but used my action to protect Hektor as we ran back across the 30′ causeway to the dock.
I asked the oracle, likely so d12 with advantage, if Arcturus’s hoplites would attempt to drive off the Kraken with their javalins, and the answer was yes.
I also asked the oracle, did they save Xanthos? I got a negative answer. So I did not read the details of his confession. this leaves me less well informed than would have been ideal, but that is both par for the course so far, I keep failing skill tests that could give me useful information, and it makes more interesting to not know what is going on.
Do I think a solo character could have defeated the kraken on their own? No, not unless you were extremely lucky with your dice rolls. It has 82 hits, a +5 bonus to hit, and deals an average of 6 [1d6+3]damage per hit. I was 3rd level when I faced it, if I had used milestone leveling, I would have been 2nd level. With no game stats for Xanthos, I don’t know if he could be defeated quickly in combat. The hoplites and cultists would not have been difficult; anything area of effect, burning hands, or thunderwave could have been effective. All of them at once would have been tough.
So, I did manage to save the prince, defeat the evil Xanthos, and make a friend of Arcturus. This completed part II of the adventure and levelled me up to level 4. I got the stat increase, an extra cantrip and I can now prep more spells and have more slots per day. I also have more hit points; I am up to 26 now. I don’t feel so fragile. The adventure is going to assume a part of five 3rd-level characters from this point on, so the challenges will get tougher.
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