<br /><br />Chapter 24: Cut Throat's Gold - Introduction

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Wednesday, April 2

Chapter 24: Cut Throat's Gold - Introduction

This is one of a series of adventures in Tales of Freeport, "Cut-Throat’s Gold," written by Graeme Davis and (loosely) set in the Arcanis setting. You can read more about Arcanis at http://www.onaraonline.org. Please note: This adventure contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

• Dungeon Master: Michael Tresca (http://michael.tresca.net)
• Beldin Soulforge (dwarf fighter) played by Joe Lalumia
• Bijoux (fihali druid) played by Melissa Tresca
• Calactyte (ss’ressen barbarian) played by Joe Tresca (http://www.creepyportfolio.com)
• Ilmarė Galen (elf bard/fighter) played by Amber Tresca
• Kham Val’Abebi(val rogue/psychic warrior) played by Jeremy Ortiz (http://www.ninjarobotstudios.com)
• Nauris Drilian (human rogue/ranger) played by Mike Best
• Sebastian Arnyal (dark-kin sorcerer) played by George Webster
• Vlad Martell (human fighter) played by Matt Hammer

This adventure is notable for the fact that it had nearly every player in the campaign, which makes things alternately confusing and exciting. Unlike previous adventures where I was surprised by how many PCs showed up, I was ready for them this time.

The PC levels ranged from 5th through 7th level (the adventure is for a party of levels 4-7), but I boosted every monster’s stats in anticipation for a much larger party. I used all the Challenge Rating calculation rules and was pleasantly surprised to discover they really do work. By the end of the adventure, things were grim and we finally had our first PC death. I’ll let you guess who.

This adventure is essentially a series of battles with not a whole lot of plot thrown in. As a result, the PCs took over (with eight people, they’re practically their own adventure!) and I let them run free with the role-playing. Then I beat the crap out of them with everything the Sulfur Marsh had to offer. Or not offer, as the case may be.

I’ve also learned the beauty of using terrain and weather to seriously disadvantage characters. When coupled with a monster or five, it turns a bad situation to worse. But that’s okay, there’s eight PCs, they should be able to handle it, right?

Probably the biggest challenge in running this adventure was convincing everyone to go. You’ll see that Dril doesn’t particularly like ss’ressen (as well he shouldn’t), that Sebastian sympathizes with the racial biases against them, and that Calactyte really doesn’t care one way or another. This is Cal’s adventure—it’s his home village, after all—but it doesn’t mean he is necessarily in control.

I used Saltmarsh from the DMG II, placed it in Milandir at the edge of the Sulfur Marsh, and renamed it Sulfurmarsh. The rest fit perfectly, right down to the lizardfolk embassy and the lizard-friendly inn. I use the DMG II more than I use all of the other core rulebooks combined.

A few things I learned: Death Masters (from the first volume of the Dragon Compendium) kick ass. Entombers are hysterical. And all those necrotic spells from Libris Mortis are really, really nasty.

P.S. Did I mention Death Masters kick ass? [MORE]