[Freeport] Freeport in Greyhawk

[Set]

[Some ideas that came to me while I was pondering over how to fit Freeport into Greyhawk while at the gym.]

The Serpent’s Teeth replace the Olman islands, Freeport replaces Narisban on South Olman Island. It's hardly a trading 'hub of the world,' but the middle parts of the Azure Sea are reputed to be aswarm with beasties, making coast-hugging traffic the way to go, and Freeport the center point / resupply point of choice for trade going between the Hold of the Sea Princes and the Sea Barons.

The original pirate settlers of Freeport were primarily Suel, and the core shrines that popped up in the city were to the sea gods Osprem and Xerbo, and also to Kord, Lydia, Norebo and Wee Jas. Lydia's temple ended up becoming prominent as the setting-off point for numerous scholarly expeditions into the southern lands, and it was always something of an odd duck in the otherwise rowdy atmosphere, a city where a temple to a god of knowledge is otherwise out of place.

Within decades, a group of Boccobites, attracted to the ancient lore being found in the area, arrived as well, but combined resources with the priesthood of Lydia, whose libraries they ended up using frequently, rather than construct their own temple. Priests of Delleb and Pholtus also arrived and joined the ‘Temple of the Gods of Knowledge,’ but the Pholtus worshippers were soon pushed out, as they proved to be incompatible with local situation and the other faiths. The temple has shrines now to Boccob, Lydia, Delleb and Rao, and most of the towns scribework, official research, genealogical data, etc. comes from the temple to the Gods of Knowledge. Lydia’s faith remains a quiet one, and most visitors to the city would think the temple run by the priests of Boccob (which it technically is), as the nuns of Lydia are more dedicated to artistic pursuits these days than the more commercial aspects of the temple. Indeed, the current head administrator / high priest of the temple is a priest of Boccob, and the one before was a priest of Rao. There is, perhaps surprisingly, little politicking for this position, which is generally regarded as a distraction by the priests, who, if anything, compete *not* to be elected leader…

Within the formative years, Oeridian settlers also brought their gods into the growing town, and the ‘gods of war,’ Heironeous, Hextor and Erythnul, each had enough adherents to form a shrine. They did so, but the local temple of Kord continued to surpass all of them in attendance and popularity, and open fighting between priesthoods in the streets was not unknown (although some conflicts, such as the internal fighting between Heironeans and Hextorites, was conducted at night behind closed doors). The Oeridian temple to the ‘gods of war’ burned, not once, not twice, but three times, and the priesthood of Kord managed to avoid the blame each time. Since then, the three Oeridian war gods have maintained only a token presence, and as the town became a city, it was less tolerant to the Hextorite slaver creed, or the Erythnul’s savage faith, and, paradoxically, less tolerant of the Heironeans intolerance. The temple to Kord remains the dominant temple to the ‘God of War,’ and the high priest there allows worshippers of other ‘lesser’ war gods to pay respects in observance of their faith within it’s walls, which is a tradition meant to discourage other ‘war gods’ from building up enough momentum to try and build a competing temple again. Followers of Mayaheine are rare in the city, but welcome in the temple of the God of War, more so than other ‘war gods,’ oddly.

The most widely accepted temple is that to the Sea Gods, Xerbo and Osprem, and that temple is the closest thing to a ‘state religion’ in Freeport, with the temple even having a permanant seat on the Captain’s Council. Followers of Procan have attempted on many occasions to establish a temple in Freeport, and have failed ‘mysteriously’ every time. Unlike the more cosmopolitan temples to the Gods of Knowledge and War, Procan’s faithful are not tolerated within the Temple of the Sea Gods.

Within the merchants quarter, quite a few businessmen keep personal shrines to Procan within their homes (and at least as many do the same for Zilchus), but they know better than to advertise their faith too loudly.

At least a dozen other temples exist, many to gods that appeal strongly to the pirates who originally settled here, such as Norebo, Beory, Pelor (called Sol), Celestian, Fharlangn, Obad-Hai, Olidammara, Rudd, the Velaeri (Velnius, Telchur, Atroa, Sotillon and Wenta) and Zilchus.

Hidden shrines to Sekolah, Erythnul, Hextor, Heironeous (who technically doesn’t have to hide, but the local ‘high priest’ is paranoid and believes that his faith would be persecuted in this ‘lawless den of villainy’) and Tharizdun also exist. Norebo remains much more popular than Olidammara within Freeport, despite Olidammara being more popular among visitors to the city, and indeed, Olidamma’s protégé Rudd is also more popular than he! Celestian and Fharlangn share a shrine, staffed by a priest who doubles as a cobbler and staff-carver on the side, but worshippers of Celestian also will find a much more impressive shrine tucked away within the Wizards Guild, one that is better stocked and attended than the somewhat perfunctory shrines to Wee Jas and Boccob to be found within.

The Oeridian wind-gods temple would be all-but-forgotten, if not for the priests of Wenta and their popular Brewfest revels. Sotillon, Atroa and Velnius are poor cousins to the Alewife, and Telchur’s neglected shrine within their shared temple only is tended by the generosity of the plentiful ‘worshippers’ of Wenta. As libations of ale are to be generously consumed even during holy ceremonies, they can get a bit loud and often degenerate into drunken ‘moving festivals’ through the streets of the temple quarter. These throngs of 'worshippers' are suffered to stagger throughout the temple quarter, weaving into and out of various temples and shrines, mostly with good humor, but the Temple to the Gods of Knowledge has been known to escort them out if they get too loud and the Temple of Wee Jas shuts its doors until they have wandered off, as the high priestess has little patience for such affairs.

While Wee Jas has a temple within the city, it is equal parts library, arbitration hall and hospice, staffed by three different castes of priests. A smaller more specific temple of Wee Jas has been erected on a neighboring islet, and serves as the Freeports Crematorium, primarily centered around Wee Jas as goddess of death. Other priests of Wee Jas can be found in the temple of the Gods of Knowledge, although they generally avoid religious discussion (remembering too well why the library's resources are no longer available to Pholtus' devout), and still others work within the Sea Lord’s Guard, discoursing on matters of law and justice. Wee Jas is regarded as a tripartite goddess by the local faith, and the three different branches of the priesthood, lawyer, mortician and sage, dress differently and follow different tenets, despite serving the same goddess and worshipping in the same temple. By tradition, Freeport’s executioner is always a priest of Wee Jas and they lobby hard to hold as many of the criminal law judge positions (and civil law, to a lesser extent). Several advocates are devotees of Wee Jas, and their exorbitant fees are often heavily tithed into temple coffers. As the first ‘civilized’ god in the town, by their own standards, Wee Jas was a preferred god amongst the ‘nobility,’ such as it was, back in the day. Members of the upper classes are as likely to follow Zilchus, the ‘gods of the Sea’ or (quietly) Procan, these days.

The current Executor of Justice (executioner) in Freeport is a Monk in service to Wee Jas. The condemned are strapped face down on a board and he strikes them once at the base of the neck. He's never had to strike anyone twice, and is recognized as a master of whatever art he uses. The Executor, despite his rank in the church, is forbidden from holding a court position, either as advocate or judge, due to the widespread belief that he is an operative of the Scarlet Brotherhood. (He was indeed a member of that group, which briefly controlled Freeport during the Wars, but was quickly pushed out after a series of 'accidents' befell most of the occupiers during a single night. He was within the walls of the temple of Wee Jas during the 'night of fire,' and the clergy recognizes that his loyalty is to the goddess first and foremost, and not to the Brotherhood that trained him.)

The majority of ships coming into Freeport are elven, human or orcish. The elves have been shipping along these routes for centuries, and Freeport, a recent arrival in their eyes, is simply a useful stopping point.

Humans from the Hold of the Sea Princes use Freeport (which they also have attempted to claim by force, on three seperate occasions, but have long since accepted as a 'free city' that they must respect) as a resupply point on any journey east, and similarly the Sea Barons use Freeport on travels to the west. Trade vessels from Keoland, the Principality of Ulek, Idee and Onnwal are also seen on occasion. Scarlet Brotherhood ships avoid the city completely, briefly attempting to reclaim it during the Wars only to be repelled.

Orcish ships are generally pirates, with few exceptions, some from the Pomarj and others from the jungles to the south.

[bryan.mullins]

Great Work! I love the tripartide incarnation of Wee Jas. Is it permissible to steal that idea for my Freeport game?

>WBM

[timemrick]

Your description of the high priest of the Gods of Knowledge reminds me of the senior reference librarian at my college. She told me once that she had finished her MLS degree but not her doctorate because if she did that, she would get shunted into the top-level admin jobs. She vastly preferred her daily interaction with patrons and books.

[Set]

Great Work! I love the tripartide incarnation of Wee Jas. Is it permissible to steal that idea for my Freeport game?
>WBM

Please do!

Since the 'god of death' was already detailed as being part of the Crematorium, I figured she'd have a temple there. But since she's also a god of law and a god of magic, I figured that she'd have a presence in the courts (being THE Suel god of law for the city, she'd have been the most common god of the burgeoning 'noble' caste) and justice system, and also possibly have a connection with temple of the Gods of Knowledge, who basically get along. While most people think of the sea gods as the 'official gods of Freeport,' the temple of Wee Jas has quite a bit of political power from it's connection to the guard and courts.

One other minor tweak to dieties. The Unspeakable One grants access to the Trickery Domain. Maybe he didn't a millenia ago, but these days, he's all about the hiding in plain sight, so his clergy are likely to have ranks in Bluff, Disguise and Hide and access to spells like Disguise Self, Invisibility and Nondetection.

[Set]

How I started Death in Freeport.

Party (1st Human Fighter, 1st Human Transmuter (raven familiar), 1st Human Druid (riding dog companion)) starts out on the Mist Dancer, a merchant ship crewed by elves, led by Captain Hennisey (who uses this name for the convenience of humans, his real name is Alamandrien, and the ship is named Tulathiel).

The elves are bone-white in color with fair colored hair, go barefoot on ship and wear light loose clothing that whips across their lean frames in the wind. They wear ‘jewelry’ of coral and shells and fish bones and birds feathers. The boat is made of a grey wood that is light and strong, and has outriggers that serve as landing boats, and that can be detached (and their support spars unbolted and raised out of the way, when not in use). They sing while working, the captain being a 6th level Bard who has the Windsinger feat from Stormwrack, and their first mate / ship’s mage / ship’s medic being a 3rd Druid / 2nd Sorcerer (who has a Familiar Companion parrot), who is prone to eating seaweed and casting goodberry on kelp ‘berries.’ The ship’s ‘marines’ have silk ropes around their waists, and tie them off to gunwales-type structures to dive overboard and deal with threats to the boat in the water (or repair stuff), using spears that they store on the sides of the ship. The ship’s ‘boy’ is a quiet elven monk who runs around handing stuff to people, which he seems to be really good at. At least one of the elven sailors has the ability to run across water at full speed for 1 round, possibly several times a day, as some sort of Feat based on a partially sea fey heritage.

Ship is holed while they are traveling past an island called ‘The Toe,’ and is sinking fast. The elves have to repair the hole, and the captain ends up steering into a sandbar to keep them from sinking. (The parrot is flying overhead at this point and warning 'Sandbar! Sandbar!' and the Captain chooses to ram into one instead of avoiding them.)

The hole is created by an Apparatus of Kwalish-type construct, and the raiders driving this device intend to loot the ship after it has sunk. When it fails to sink, they just leave, having no interest in fighting the elven crew. [This will come up again later, when the party is higher level and can fight these undersea raiders, who have a lair in a cavern under Toe isle, only accessible underwater. It was an adventure seed from Tales of Freeport, I think.]

Tanglefoot Bags might be involved in the hull-breach resolution. The Parrot and / or the PC Transmuter's Raven familiar might work together to find a sandbar to run into. In any event, since the ship is blessed with two Int 6 talking birds, they chat a lot about nothing...

The party has been hired to safeguard the goods of a merchant from New Liberty, and he demands that they rescue his goods from the sinking ship. Of course they can’t, and if they don’t try to stop the ship from sinking, not only will the goods *still* be lost, but they’ll also all die. He’s young and doesn’t listen to reason and ends up firing them all as the seawater ruins his shipment of foodstuffs and paper. The merchant is young, seventeen, and this is his first run, and he's convinced that his life is ruined by this turn of events. [Party did a good job of bailing water, the Fighter jumped right in the hold and started trying to block the rushing water with his shield (epic fail), but they managed to plug the worst of it before they grounded out on the sandbar. Eight hours of bailing later, they were ready to get underway again, and the tide was coming in around the Toe Islands, so they were drifting off of the sandbar anyway!]

The party Druid might be able to get a few crates of apples for extremely cheap, as they are spoiled by the seawater, but perfectly salvageable with Purify Food & Drink. (The merchant can also take advantage of this, but the cost for the spellcasting will eat up any profits he would have made.) Other food items, such as radishes are ‘more salvageable’ than others, and the merchants keeps these to sell at a loss, to pay for his return trip to New Liberty, if nothing else. [The Druid did indeed use Purify Food & Drink, quite a bit, having prepared that spell in all of his cantrip slots.]

The merchant ‘fires’ the party, but as they have helped to rescue the ship, the elven captain, who also has no money (as he has to pay for repairs and recoup his own losses on the failed voyage) offers them a free ride at a later date, as he owes them. [Will turn out to be conveniently in port when needed to go find the Jade Serpent or whatever, *after* he fixes the big@$$ hole in his boat...]

[Mist Dancer flag is a blue square with an uneven white ‘mist’ across the bottom and a slim stylized dancing humanoid figure (looking sort of like a stick figure ballerina) in the middle. They'll need to recognize it at a distance later.]

Getting to the docks, they are dismissed by the hysterical merchant with only half of their promised pay, and are promptly set upon by 8 marines who are serving as a press gang (1st Fighters, who still kinda suck without armor or good weapons). Transmuter casts Enlarge Person on the Fighter, Druid orders his dog to attack, chaos ensues. Fighter doing 2d6+5 with Cleave and a 5 ft. reach is not a pretty sight. 2 press gangers jump off the pier to get away. Another is ordered off the pier by the Druid (who threw his spear off the pier accidentally, and makes the marine go get it as repayment for not siccing his dog on him...).

They see Egil watching, and come to the conclusion that he's a mage working with the bad-guys, sending first the dog, then the Enlarged Fighter after him (he's at 0 hp when the Fighter grabs him and hoists him out of the dogs reach!). His cries that he is not with them fall on deaf ears initially, but they intimidate a surviving press ganger to find out that the press gang doesn't have any idea who he is (Sense Motive is required as the press ganger has the brainstorm of claiming that Egil is their boss and hired them to beat up the party! They don't fall for it, and Egil lives another day!)

[Set]

After smoothing things over with Egil, who barely survives to offer them employment (begrudgingly conceding that he was looking for people who could 'take care of themselves in a fight' and got more than he was bargaining for!), the players go first to Lucius' house and gently ransack it, and, thanks to a brain-fart on my part (I randomly said 'turnips' among the types of food being carried on the Mist Dancer), go off on a tangent for a moment. Oops. They then rest at the Scholar's Quill for the night. Next morning, they go chat with Captain Scarbelly (successfully *not* getting into a fight with his crew), then with Milos at the temple (Milos drops a subtle hint by calling the Sea Lord 'Drayse,' which I've decided is what the Sea Lord pretentiously calls himself, and only his flunkies tend to go along with, since previous Sea Lords have pronounced it Drake).

At this point, the players confidently say, 'Well, we've rattled some windows, let's see who comes after us.' Prophetic. The Yellow Shields answer their call, and the fight is amazingly close, with all three of the party members hitting zero hit points at various times. (I changed Rittoro to a 2nd level Urban Ranger, dual-wielding masterwork throwing axes, Belko to a 1st level Battle Sorcerer with a Flying Lizard familiar, and the 4 others to 1st level Fighters. I don't care for NPC classes much, and the Urban Ranger thing seemed ideal for a mercenary leader who needs to be able to function in the city and track down targets. I also made the press gang into 1st level Fighters, but without armor and with sub-par weapons, they still went down like a celebrity on a bag of coke.) Note to self, crossbows at 1st level are pretty deadly. Other note, Burning Hands at 1st level is an incredible waste of time. If I'd given Belko Sleep or Color Spray, he could have wiped the party. With Burning Hands or Magic Missile, he's a complete joke. Must. find. happy. medium.

Since the party had been at the temple meeting with Milos, Egil (whom I also rewrote as a 1st level Archivist) was not with them, and he runs up at the end of the fight to offer healing. (They suspect him once again of being a bad-guy, since he 'conveniently' missed the ambush, unaware that Egil got stuck shelving books when his bosses at the temple noticed that he'd been away from post so much in the last day or two. Poor Egil!)

They are so beat up during this fight that they literally retreat into an alleyway, listen at doors and break into the first unguarded warehouse they find to hole up and rest. And by rest, that means also interrogating the surviving Yellow Shields (Rittoro is the only one who wakes up after an hour, and cooperates when offered a chance to lead them to his employer or die). The party follows Rittoro back to the Yellow Shields hideout (where the two that fled combat, including Belko, who was also at zero hit points, are also licking their wounds) and they then wait for the rendezvous, using a familiar and some subterfuge to follow the cult contact back to the bricked-up house. They are still have less hit points than fingers, and no spells, so they decide to wait a day before storming the house. The DM sighs in relief at this uncharacteristic show of caution.

The party wakes up at 4 AM (having gone to bed early with the intent to do their house-warming party in the predawn) and breaks into the bricked up house (no rogues, so 'lockpicking' consists of the fighter making a Str check while the others look both ways for curious passersby). They find their way to the pit trap and avoid it, cleverly prodding ahead of themselves with a pole (old school D&Ders!) and take one look into the Initiation Chamber and say, 'Uh, no thanks' and close the door. Such uncommon sense! (They do miss the candles though, which I specifically made yellow wax with green flecks of herbs in the wax, just like the candles they'll later hear about in Madness in Freeport for the summoning of critters. I like foreshadowing and consistency.)

4 Degenerate Serpent Folk (1st Barbarians, Raging) jump out of the secret door and attack, and are summarily dispatched by a Color Spray and some Fightery sword-swinging action. And so ends our first session.

We've had two combats end with a few people at zero (fairly amazingly, only one person has gone to negatives, the Fighter), and so I'm real happy with the finagling I've done to classes and encounters to make them challenging. Hopefully I can keep this up and not have any stupid TPKs (at least none that are *my* fault!) or not any 'epic' encounters that turn out to be anticlimactic cakewalks!

I suspect that I may have to do some serious re-writing for Terror in Freeport (I've already rewritten the NPCs to suit my tastes, since they blew through the majority of Death in one night and I want to be prepared), because they were making funny noises about crashing at Lucius' house rather than paying for an inn. (Being monumentally cheap, I admire this sort of thinking!) I strongly suspect they are gonna try to take over the bricked-over house and it's subterranean love-nest for their base of operations, which will put some cramps into a lot of the assumptions of Terror.

There are also about a bazillion colorful sights to see, and I'm trying to pace them and have each 'day' in Freeport include exactly one interesting character passing by (such as the potion vending mage, or the dude with the monkey circus, or the 'Freport Fir Dpt'). I don't want to spend too much time on descriptive stuff 'cause 1) boring, 2) the players might mistake some local color for a plot point and go haring off on another red herring!

[Set]

Thoughts on the Order of Starry Wisdom for my game (I do not have Cults of Freeport, so I have no idea if the 'Crawling Chaos' is further spoken of in canon).


Celestian worshippers, Elven Starlight Mages (Monte’s Book of Eldritch Might III), Pseudonatural Alienists.

Quite the mix. The original Order consisted of Elven followers of Celestian, who PrC’d into the Starlight Mage class, calling down starlight and using it to make wonderful substances, etc. They later included Humans as well among their ranks, although the PrC had to change to accommodate them (speak Elvish instead of being Elvish), navigation skills, etc? The Elves became aware of an alien presence out in the stars, and some naively tapped that power, while others abjured it. Alienists became known among them, and a schism rent the Order. The surviving Starlight Mages were forced to deal with that which was called up (or, down) by their brethren, and, seemingly to a man, were lost during this final fight with Mooncalves and other strange horrors never-before-seen. (Some entered Temporal Wombs, and may return later.) The remaining humans (and a few half-elves) reformed the Order based on exceedingly esoteric rites and orders of initiation, hoping to keep the blasphemous knowledge that nearly destroyed them (and, possibly, the world!) from being rediscovered and widely used. (This battle occurred far to the north, at a site where a ‘star’ was pulled to the earth by the corrupted faction, in hopes of harvesting it’s power, only to find that the star was tainted and corrupted the lands around it, spawning many horrors, such as Gibbering Mouthers. The meteor called down was in fact home to a monstrous intelligence that began warping the world around it, and the Orders’ greatest mages gave their lives to bind it and prevent its spread.)

To the vast majority of those affiliated with the Order, they remain a Wizard’s and Sorcerer’s Guild with ties to Celestian (and, to a lesser extent, concerned with navigation, astronomy and mathematics, as well as more esoteric fields, such as the study of ley lines, ‘gem magic’ and magics related to space and time, such as dimension door and slow).

Only the most select among them learn the secrets of Starlight weaving, or even of it’s existence, although the Order is known to have a highly secretive technique (presumed to be alchemical in origin) for strengthening materials (using starlight baths). The great telescope at the top of the Order’s building concentrates starlight falling upon the earth, and generates one gallon of liquid starlight per night. Combined with the summoned starlight available to the highest ranking members of the Order (Tarmon has nine levels in the Starlight Mage PrC, atop five Wizard levels, for instance), this is their sole source of liquid starlight.

Only the top three members of the Order know of the horde of dangerous Alienist knowledge they are sitting on, and all recognize the need to guard it with their lives, preserving it primarily so that they have the knowledge needed to recognize and fight it should it be rediscovered elsewhere.

Magic items from the Order tend to be fairly utilitarian in appearance, as the Order doesn’t wish to advertise any of their affiliations. And yet, Tarmon dresses in a Starry Robe that has the seven stars of Celestian in the center of a black field, stars he can pluck forth and hurl as fireballs (ranging from 2nd to 9th level, and recharging one per day, starting with the lowest level one, so that if were to use all seven in a day, it would take seven days to recharge, and the 2nd level fireball would be the first to recharge).

The PC Wizard (a transmutation specialist, who would have less reason to be overly interested in the abjuration, conjuration, divination and evocations preferred by Order arcanists) may or may not learn any of this, but there is one other NPC in town who knows far too much about these secrets, a former familiar of a Wizard who has gone missing (Imprisoned, perhaps?). The Scalewing named ‘Blackie’ knows many things, and is just smart enough to realize that not all of the things he knows should ever be spoken of, not for any amount of money…

[Set]

Tonight we made it to the rock crusher trap, and after some blown Str checks to get the door open, the party ended up clinging to the small viewport, with two of the members having thrust arms through it, and the wizard having slammed a tanglefoot bag into the fighter, pinning him to the wall amongst them. Meanwhile, the operator, Lon, was being bedeviled by the wizards Raven familiar and a Badger summoned by the Druid. The trap made it to round four with nobody falling in and dying before the badger got some serious hits in and sent poor Lon into negatives. Using Mage Hand, a grappling hook and some finagling, they managed to get the trap closed up through the viewport, so that they could stop clinging there making Str checks (and / or pinned there in Tanglefoot goop).

It was the funnest Goblin fire-drill I've seen from this group, hanging from the wall of a death-trap, using Tanglefoot goop to 'stick' to the walls. But they lived, most importantly, and are that much closer to getting to the big finale of Terror in Freeport.

I'm using the collected Freeport Trilogy (as a base, I'm rewriting all of the encounters to challenge my group, three of whom took out a jacked-up Yellow Shields encounter pretty handily, even if all three of them went to zero hit points at least once during the encounter). One funny bit was the Aranea encounter in the Holiday in the Sun interlude, which said 'see appendix for details.' Only, not so much. Whatever appendix that Aranea was in didn't make it into the compilation!

Having forgotten exactly what an Aranea was, I used the Monster Manual stats, and mixed in some Neh-Thalgu by accident, having the Aranea display sac-like protrusions on it's back that contained pulsing brains, brains stolen from arcanists it had captured and used to power it's own sorcerous abilities. It cast spells per day as a Sorcerer of it's HD, but had spells known based on what was available to the brains it had taken, giving it a slightly larger spell list (potentially, this specimen only had two arcanist brains and four empty extra sacks). Creeped out the Transmuter adequately when he made a Knowledge (arcana) roll and figured out that this creature ate the brains of arcanists to fuel it's own magics, and it recognized him as an arcanist and snared him in webbing for 'later.' Fortunately, his teammates managed to defeat the creature before his brain got assimilated...

[bryan.mullins]

Set,

Still reading and still loving this. I'm not sure if I envy your players though...



>WBM

[Set]

Set,
Still reading and still loving this. I'm not sure if I envy your players though...

Cool! Glad ya like it. I was going to do an after-session review (mostly for my own use, it helps me to clarify my thoughts and figure out what worked and what failed in each encounter), but we game on a weeknight, so I'm pretty darn ready for sleep by the time the game is over and my resolve vanished.

So far my big 'oops' moment was pitting the 1st level party against a couple of cultists with ACs in the 20s. (Armor, Shield, a pair of Skeletons flanking using Aid Other actions to add to their AC.) They won, but it took too damn long and stoppsed being fun. (They twigged to the fact that they had to kill the Skeletons to make the cultists easier to hit, but I overdid the Skeletons, giving them leather armor and shields, and *they* were too hard to hit!)

[Set]

Specific stuff I've tweaked, for those who have any use for stat-blocks;

Freeport Trilogy
p 14
Marine Press Gang
Male Human Fighter 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d10+4 (10 hp), Init +1 (+1 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 12 (+1 Dex, +1 Dodge), touch 12, flatfooted 10, Base Atk +1, Grapple +2, Atk Sap +2 melee (1d6+1 nonlethal) or Belaying Pin (club) +2 melee (1d6+1), AL NE, SV Fort +2, Ref +1, Will -1, Str 12, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8, Acrobatic, Dodge, Toughness, Acrobatics 2 (+5, inc +2 for Acrobatic), Climb 2 (+3), Craft (boats) 2 (+2), Jump 1 (+4, inc +2 for Acrobatic), Profession (sailor) 4 (+3), Swim 1 (+1)

Reason for tweakage; I don't like NPC classes. Eight 1st level Fighters might seem a bit rough for three 1st level PCs, but the Fighters have no armor and crap for weapons. They got wtfpwned bad.

p 22
Yellow Shields

[4] Male Human Fighter 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d10+1 (9 hp), Init +1 (+1 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 16 (+1 Dex, +3 studded leather, +2 heavy wooden shield), touch 11, flatfooted 13, Base Atk +1, Grapple +2, Atk Short sword +3 melee (1d6+1 S) or Lt Crossbow +2 ranged (1d8 P), AL CN, SV Fort +3, Ref +1, Will -1, Str 12, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8, Weapon Focus (short sword), Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Acrobatics 2 (+3), Climb 2 (+3), Jump 2 (+3), Profession (soldier) 4 (+3), Ride 1 (+2), Swim 1 (+1)

Belko, Sorcerer of the Yellow Shields
Male Human Sorcerer 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d4+4 (7 hp), Init +2 (+2 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 mage armor), touch 16, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +0, Grapple +0, Atk Quarterstaff +0 melee (1d6 B) or Dagger +2 ranged (1d4 P), AL N, SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +2, Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 14, Combat Casting, Toughness, Bluff 2 (+4), Concentration 4 (+5), Craft (scrimshaw) 2 (+2), Knowledge (arcane) 2 (+2), Spellcraft 2 (+2)
Spells Known (cast 5/4); 0 – daze, detect magic, mage hand, ray of frost, 1 – burning hands, mage armor
Familiar – Flying Lizard (Tiny)

[consider using Battle Sorcerer, Warmage or Warlock? Use elite array?]

Belko, Battle Sorcerer of the Yellow Shields
Male Human Battle Sorcerer 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d8+3 (9 hp), Init +2 (+2 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 chain shirt), touch 11, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +0, Grapple +0, Atk Quarterstaff +0 melee (1d6 B) or Dagger +2 ranged (1d4 P), AL N, SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +2, Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 14, Combat Casting, Toughness, Intimidate 2 (+4), Concentration 4 (+5), Craft (scrimshaw) 2 (+2), Knowledge (arcane) 2 (+2), Spellcraft 2 (+2)
Spells Known (cast 4/3); 0 – daze, detect magic, ray of frost, 1 – burning hands

Belko, Warmage of the Yellow Shields
Male Human Warmage 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d6+4 (8 hp), Init +2 (+2 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 17 (+2 Dex, +4 chain shirt, +1 light wooden shield), touch 15, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +0, Grapple -1, Atk Spiked Gauntlet +0 melee (1d4 P), spiked light shield +0 melee (1d4 P) or Dagger +2 ranged (1d4 P), AL N, SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +1, Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 12, Combat Casting, Toughness, Warmage Edge (+Int mod damage to spells cast), Concentration 4 (+5), Craft (scrimshaw) 2 (+3), Knowledge (arcane) 4 (+5), Knowledge (history) 0 (-), Spellcraft 4 (+5)
Spells Known (cast 5/4); 0 – acid splash, disrupt undead, light, ray of frost, 1 – accuracy, burning hands, chill touch, fist of stone, hail of stone, magic missile, lesser orb of acid, lesser orb of cold, lesser orb of fire, lesser orb of electricity, lesser orb of sound, shocking grasp, true strike

Belko, Warlock of the Yellow Shields
Male Human Warlock 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d8+3 (9 hp), Init +2 (+2 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 chain shirt), touch 11, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +0, Grapple +0, Atk Quarterstaff +0 melee (1d6 B) or Dagger +2 ranged (1d4 P), AL CN, SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +2, Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 14, Combat Casting, Toughness,
Bluff 4 (+6), Concentration 2 (+3), Craft 0 (-), Disguise 2 (+4), Intimidate 1 (+3), Jump 0 (+0), Knowledge (arcana) 1 (+1), Knowledge (religion) 1 (+1), Knowledge (the planes) 0 (-), Profession 0 (-), Sense Motive 0 (+0), Spellcraft 0 (-), Use Magic Device 1 (+3)
Invocations Known – Eldritch Blast (1d6), Baleful Utterance (DC 13)

Reason for tweakage; I wanted to mix it up a little. I ended up using the Battle Sorcerer variant. The Warlock looked like a joykiller with that Baleful Utterance... I passed on the Warmage because I didn't feel like having that many spells to choose from for that encounter. Gosh, Burning Hands at 1st level is such a toothless attack spell, but if he'd taken Sleep or Color Spray the high chance of TPK intimidated me...

Rittoro v1.0
Male Human Fighter 2: CR 2; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d10+4 (16 hp), Init +2 (+2 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 18 (+2 Dex, +4 chain shirt, +2 hvy wooden shield), touch 12, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +2, Grapple +4, Atk Battleaxe +5 melee (1d8+2 S) or Throwing Axe +4 ranged (1d6+2 S), AL CN, SV Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +2, Str 14, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 12, Power Attack, Cleave, Weapon Focus (battleaxe),
Acrobatics 2 (+4), Climb 2 (+4), Craft () 2 (+2), Jump 1 (+3), Profession (mercenary) 4 (+3), Swim 1 (+3)

Rittoro, Mercenary Leader of the Yellow Shields
Male Human Urban Ranger 2: CR 2; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d8+4 (14 hp), Init +2 (+2 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 chain shirt), touch 12, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +2, Grapple +4, Atk Masterwork Throwing Axe +6 melee (1d6+2 S) or Throwing Axe +5 ranged (1d6+2 S) or 2 Masterwork Throwing Axes +4/+4 melee (1d6+2/1d6+1), AL CN, SV Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +2, Str 14, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 10, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus (throwing axe), Two-Weapon Fighting (B), Track (B), Favored Enemy (humans)
Acrobatics 2 (+4), Climb 2 (+4), Concentration 0 (+2), Craft (traps) 2 (+3), Handle Animal 2 (+2), Heal 2 (+1), Jump 2 (+4), Gather Information 5 (+5), Knowledge (local) 5 (+6), Notice 2 (+1), Profession (mercenary) 4 (+3), Ride 1 (+3), Search 4 (+5), Sense Motive 2 (+1), Stealth 4 (+6), Swim 1 (+3)
Languages: Human, Orcish
chain shirt (100 gp, 25 lbs), 2 throwing axes (16 gp, 4 lbs), 4 potions of cure light wounds (200 gp, 2 lbs), 2 masterwork throwing axes (616 gp, 4 lbs) 68 gp left
Urban Ranger (Unearthed Arcana p 55-56)

Reason for change; the Urban Ranger with twin throwing axes was way sexier and more distinctive than just some 2nd level Fighter. Plus it fit the concept of a mercenary band that hunted down prey in the city to fulfill their contracts.

The Yellow Shields encounter rocked. All three PCs hit zero hit points at one point or another (thankfully not all at the same time!). Very dramatic.

p 26-27
Degenerate Serpent Folk Berserkers
Male Serpent Person Barbarian 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid (reptilian); HD 1d12+1 (8 hp), Init +0 (+0 Dex), Spd 40 ft., AC 14 (+1 NA, +3 studded leather), touch 10, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +1, Grapple +3, Atk Hvy Flail +3 melee (1d10+3 S) or Darts +1 ranged (1d4+2 P), AL CE, SV Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +0, Str 14, Dex 11, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 6, Power Attack, Climb 2 (+4), Craft 0 (-), Escape Artist 0 (+4, CC), Handle Animal 0 (-1), Intimidate 0 (-1), Jump 1 (+3), Notice 4 (+4), Profession 0 (-), Ride 0 (+0), Stealth 2 (+5, CC), Survival 3 (+3), Swim 0 (+10), Language (Valossan)

Hvy Flail (15 gp, 10 lbs), Studded Leather Armor (25 gp, 20 lbs)

Combat Stats while Raging (+4 Str, +4 Con, +2 Will saves, -2 AC)
HD 1d12+3 (10 hp), Init +0 (+0 Dex), Spd 40 ft., AC 12 (+1 NA, +3 studded leather, -2 Rage), touch 8, flatfooted 12, Base Atk +1, Grapple +5, Atk Hvy Flail +5 melee (1d10+5 B) or Darts +1 ranged (1d4+4 P), AL CE, SV Fort +5, Ref +0, Will +2, Str 18, Dex 11, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 6, Power Attack, Climb 2 (+6), Craft 0 (-), Escape Artist 0 (+4, CC), Handle Animal 0 (-1), Intimidate 0 (-1), Jump 1 (+5), Notice 4 (+4), Profession 0 (-), Ride 0 (+0), Stealth 2 (+5, CC), Survival 3 (+3), Swim 0 (+12), Language (Valossan)

LA +0 Degenerate Serpent Folk adjustments
+4 Escape Artist and Stealth, +8 Swim
+2 Str, -2 Int, -2 Cha, Poison Bite, +1 NA,
Nonelite array - 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Serpent folk prefer curved blades (kukri, scimitars, falchions) or flexible weapons (flails, whips, chains), but will use anything in a pinch.

Reason for change; I wanted them to be LA +0, and I liked the idea of making them Barbarians. The bit about Serpent Folk prefering flexible weapons or curved blades just felt 'right' to me. I like themes that the players can notice if they pay attention. (So far they haven't noticed this quirk, even after K'Ral attacked them at the end of Terror with a Scorpion Chain, from the Eberron Campaign Setting, basically a weaker version of the Spiked Chain that only does 1d6 damage.)

p 27
Minor tweak - noted that the ritual candles were yellow wax with green herbs mixed into the candle, making for sudden 'spikes' of sharp herbal scent at intermittent intervals while burning. In both of the later Freeport adventures, summoning candles are presented, and it is a plot point in the third point that they look like this. So basic black is right out.

p 27 and 29

8 armed and armored skeletons (created in Desecrated temple)
Human Warrior Skeleton: CR 1/2; Medium Undead; HD 1d12+2 (9 hp), Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative), Spd 30 ft., AC 19 (+2 Dex, +2 natural armor, +3 studded leather, +2 hvy wooden shield), touch 12, flatfooted 17, Base Atk +0, Grapple +1, Atk Morning Star +1 melee (1d8+1 B/P) or Javelin +2 ranged (1d6+1 P), AL N, SV Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +2, Str 12, Dex 14, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1, Improved Initiative, DR 5/Bludgeoning, 60 ft. darkvision, cold immunity, undead traits

Reason for change; I wanted them to be less of a joke. But AC 19 for a 1st level party? BAD, BAD GM! They couldn't really hurt the party, but took for-freaking-ever to take down. Boring chopping-firewood levels of tedium. Very much a bad idea. I also used them in the final encounter, two flanking each Cleric, and each using Aid Another to add to their bosses ACs. The PCs figured out that they had to take down the Skeletons to even have a chance to hit the Clerics, but, since the Skeletons were also really hard to hit, that combat also dragged out longer than was fun.

p 29-30
Cultists
Male Human Cleric 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d8+3 (8 hp), Init +0 (+0 Dex), Spd 20 ft., AC 16 (+4 scale mail, +2 hvy wooden shield), touch 10, flatfooted 16, Base Atk +0, Grapple +1, Atk Morning Star +1 melee (1d8+1 B/P) or Hvy Crossbow +0 ranged (1d10 P), AL CE, SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +3, Str 12, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10, Improved Turning, Toughness, Concentration 2 (+2), Craft 0 (-), Diplomacy 2 (+2), Heal 2 (+3), Knowledge (arcane) 0 (-), Knowledge (history) 0 (-), Knowledge (religion) 0 (-), Knowledge (the planes) 0 (-), Profession 0 (-), Spellcraft 0 (+0), Language (Common), Language (Valossan)
Domains: Destruction, Death
Bolster/Rebuke/Command Undead as 2nd level Cleric
Morning Star (8 gp, 6 lbs), Scale Mail (50 gp, 30 lbs), Hvy Wooden Shield (7 gp, 10 lbs), Wooden Holy Symbol to the Unspeakable One (1 gp)

Spells (3/2+1); cure minor wounds, guidance, resistance
cause fear (D), bane or bless, cure light wounds

Tactics: when doors open, they cast resistance and then guidance on selves. If still able to cast spells, they then throw bane and bless (respectively) and then toss down their snake charms, before wading into melee with their smite attacks. Skeletons will attempt to ‘run interference for them’ (2 skeletal ‘shieldmaidens’ each) using Aid Another to give them +2 AC while casting, and attempting AoOs on anyone passing them to get at the Clerics.

Altar to the Unspeakable One radiates a continuous Desecrate effect until it is defiled (say, by having holy water poured over it). Undead in the room have a +2 profane bonus to attacks, damage rolls and saving throws, and turning attempts have a -6 profane penalty.

Milo
Male Serpent Folk Cleric 3/Sorcerer 1: CR 4; Medium Humanoid; HD 3d8+3 +1d4+1 (22 hp), Init +0 (+0 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 19 (+4 mithral chain shirt, +2 hvy wooden shield, +3 natural armor), touch 10, flatfooted 16, Base Atk +2, Grapple +3, Atk Morning Star +3 melee (1d8+1 B/P) or Hvy Crossbow +2 ranged (1d10 P), AL CE, SV Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +7, Str 12, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 12,
Improved Turning, Toughness,
Concentration 2 (+2), Craft 0 (-), Diplomacy 2 (+2), Heal 2 (+3), Knowledge (arcane) 0 (-), Knowledge (history) 0 (-), Knowledge (religion) 0 (-), Knowledge (the planes) 0 (-), Profession 0 (-), Spellcraft 0 (+0), Language (Common), Language (Valossan)
Domains: Destruction, Death
Bolster/Rebuke/Command Undead as 2nd level Cleric
Morning star (8 gp, 6 lbs), mithral chain shirt (1100 gp, 10 lbs, 10% ASF), hvy wooden shield (7 gp, 10 lbs), golden Holy Symbol to the Unspeakable One (250 gp)

Cleric Spells (4/3+1/2+1); cure minor wounds, detect magic, light x2
cause fear (D), command, cure light wounds x2
death knell (D), aid, spiritual weapon

Sorcerer Spells (5/4); acid splash, arcane mark, daze, prestidigitation
alarm, shield

+2 amulet of natural armor, Scrolls of ray of enfeeblement, grease and charm person, 3 potions of cure light wounds

Tactics – casts aid on self, then shield (10% ASF) when party enters doors, orders two Skeletal Warriors to stand ready and guard him (each uses an Aid Other roll to add to his armor class, and may take AoOs on anyone passing them to get to him). Begins by throwing down Snake Talisman, then casting Spiritual Weapon, follows up with command and cause fear if not engaged in melee yet. Once in melee, he uses Smite and channels any remaining 2nd level spells as Inflict Moderate Wounds, then follows up with morning star attacks.

Reasons for change; nothing really major, just playing around. Adding the Skeletons using Aid Another, and buffed up by the Desecrate altar, spiced up a predestined party win, but I should have made the skeletons easier to hit.

Egil was present as an NPC for some of these fights (not the docks or Yellow Shields ones, though), and since I knew Undead were going to be involved and most strenuously did not want the NPC trivializing those encounters, I made him an Archivist. He did succeed in a Knowledge check and use Dark Lore to allow the party a +1 to hit the undead, but that was perhaps not as much as they would have liked. :)

Egil, Acolyte of Boccob
Male Human Archivist 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d6+2 (8 hp), Init +2 (+2 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 12 (+2 Dex), touch 12, flatfooted 10, Base Atk +0, Grapple +0, Atk +0 melee, +0 ranged, AL NG, SV Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +2, Str 10, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 10, Master of Knowledge*, Dodge, Scribe Scroll (B),
Concentration 0 (+2), Craft (calligraphy) 4 (+7), Decipher Script 3 (+6), Diplomacy 0 (+0), Gather Information 0 (+0), Heal 1 (+3), Knowledge (arcana) 4 (+8), Knowledge (dungeoneering) 2 (+6), Knowledge (geography) 1 (+5), Knowledge (history) 2 (+6), Knowledge (local) 1 (+5), Knowledge (nature) 2 (+6), Knowledge (religion) 4 (+8), Knowledge (the planes) 2 (+6), Profession (scribe) 2 (+4), Search 2 (+5), Spellcraft 2 (+5), Languages: Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven

Spells
0: (3) Detect Magic, Cure Minor Wounds, Read Magic
1st: (3) Bless, Cure Light Wounds x2

*Master of Knowledge (+1 to all Knowledge checks)

200 gp in gear; Chain Shirt (100 gp, 25 lbs), 4 Daggers (8 gp, 4 lbs)

Prayerbook (all cantrips, Cure Light Wounds, Bless, Summon Monster I, Protection from Evil, Comprehend Languages, Sanctuary)

Enc Lt (33 lbs), Med (34-66 lbs), Hvy (67-100 lbs)

For later;
Archivist of Nature (nature check, giants and fey)
Draconic Archivist (arcane check, dragons and constructs)
Knowledge Devotion? (Complete Champion)

[Set]

In between Death and Terror, I ran the little intro adventure (p 32) involving Captain Lydon and the assassin Jesswin (whom I re-wrote as a 5th level Rogue, as I didn't have access to the Assassin class, and didn't want to use it in any event). The party took her out pretty handily, took her stuff and let her go!

She decided later she wanted her stuff back, and some revenge, but things went very badly for her.

The Rogue Cal (p 41) provoked an AoO from the Enlarged Fighter and his head came clean off. (He was around -18 ish. I decided to be graphic.) The Orcs took some heavy hits and the one left standing managed to persuade the party to let him gather up his buddies and leave. Unlike Jesswin, I've decided that these Orcs will *not* come back for revenge. They might even have a strange sort of respect for the party. IMC, Orc status is often determined by who can beat the crap out of whom...

Ah, poor Batora (p 44). The party was seriously wanting information at this point, and watch a bit too much 24, I fear, as she got waterboarded pretty egregiously. Lacking any useful social skills, they just kept dunking her until she talked. She attempted some lies, but her Bluff rolls sucked compared to their Sense Motive rolls... They seemed really interested in who she was working for, so I made up a name, Caliban, and figured I'd deal with it later.

Party meets Reikart Lloyd and Verlaine. Blah blah. One of the players figures out immediately that he's being set up for a fall and isn't really the Big Bad. It's to be expected, we're all long time Vampire players so a mere triple-cross is kiddie stuff.

The party dashes off into the sewers on god only knows what red herring (I forget), and I just run with it and have them find the death-trap. It's not like they could have run into a fake Egil, since they had the real Egil in tow at the time... Convenient for the DM, at least.

They go back to Verlaine's, deal with the encounter there (and manage to avoid a conflagration), rescue Reikart, and find the 'new temple,' (p 57) in which I introduce the legendary Caliban. He's a Serpent Folk mutant, with the powers and abilities of a Civilized shapeshifter and a Savage berserker (Sorcerer / Barbarian). He's in dragonscale armor. His two Savage bodyguards are also spiked hide armor, and use TWF to combine their Flail attacks with off-hand Spiked Armor slams. They are augmented by Caliban's pet, a Fiendish Constrictor (who also has venom equal to a Viper of the appropriate size), who tries *really, really hard* to kill the Druid's Companion. Thanks to a lot of healing, the dog survives to plague me another day.

I'll get you Mr. Druid, and your little dog, too!

Even with the testimony of Reikart, they get a *ton* of crap from the 'captain of the night watch' who is an evil elf I took from a Paizo mini-adventure tileset (rescue of some Dwarven prince Thorgrim), and named 'Boss Tillenghast' after a character mentioned as having been Xander Williams predecessor. As usual, the party has been skulking around in the pre-dawn hours, and as the sun rises, Xander Williams 'captain of the day watch' shows up and sends Boss Tillenghast away. The two guard captains clearly hate each other (with Williams suggesting that Tillenghast 'crawl back under his rock, since the sun is up and the city could ill-afford his bursting into flames under it's light...'), and the party is very careful not to lie to Captain Williams, which makes me very happy.

They get to the Temple well ahead of any unpleasantness, and have time to wake up the residents, which now include a high priestess of Lydia who looks about 150 years old. (Taken from Priest's Quarter, by the Game Mechanics, which I cannot recommend enough, named Issra Silvereye, IIRC.) The next encounter is a bit anticlimactic, as I kinda sucked at such a large mass combat. The PCs did do a wonderful job of throwing alchemical fire, tanglefoot bags and oil of slipperiness all over the freaking library, but nowhere near any of the attacking cultists... Such amazing rolls. (I had already determined that the bookcases where enchanted with fire resistance, to protect the valuable tomes, but it was fun watching the Wizard freak out.)

I turned the majority of cultists into Cleric 1 / Rogue 1. They were pretty fun with the sneak attack option and the low level spells. The leader was a Serpent Folk with a Scorpion chain who also did some interesting stuff (tripping the Fighter), but died within a few rounds.

One bit of local color, apart from the 'nuns of Lydia' (two spearmaidens who stood on either side of Issra and protected her with great violence), was a local Wizard who served as a lay worshipper of Boccob, and had a black rod of his own invention that had the Launch Bolt and Devlin's Barb (from Monte's Book of Eldritch Might) cantrips at will. Basically it served as a crossbow, creating it's own ammunition with Devlin's Barb and firing it via Launch Bolt. It appeared to have three grooves, with crossbow bolts along each of the three sides of the triangular 'rod,' and after a bolt was Launched, the user would flick it towards the ground and a new bolt would appear in the appropriate groove, sort of like the 'reload' maneuver done in some arcade shooter games. The Transmuter very much wants to acquire one of these (even 'though it's nothing more than a strangely-shaped crossbow that makes it's own ammo).

The group learns Thuron's secret (and Thuron admits that he was ordered to fess up by Issra, who is taking over as head of the Temple of the Gods of Knowledge).

I totally skip Interlude II (p 67) and add some of my own side-treks here.

[Set]

The events of Terror took several days. Days in which Batora hung from a beam in Lucien's basement (where the party was still living...), as the party hadn't decided what to do with her (she had the Death & Destruction Domains, and attempted to use them on multiple occasions against the party during interrogations. Sadly, she *sucked* and failed to connect with any of these Smite attempts).

Meanwhile, walking home from the last adventure, the Druid's dog freaks out. The party discovers that a note has somehow gotten wedged inside it's collar. (Planted there by an invisible flying animal, who will later be a significant NPC, a Flying Lizard familiar named Blackie.) The note is in Druidic, from Dundoren, who hires the party to rescue Prince Thorgrimm (from the aforementioned Paizo tileset mini-adventure / encounter thingie, the Liberation of Prince Thorgrim). They take the Elixers of Hide he gives them to sneak to the hidden cells in the sewers, kill Tillenghast and his obese barbarian flunkie (the wizard plows a couple of Flaming Spheres into him, and leaves them on his corpse. Wow, that must have been an exciting new smell, even for people who just snuck through a sewer...) and free the dwarven prince.

The party, still using elixers of Hide, manage to evade a bunch of guardsmen who show up at some secret alarm triggered by Tillenghast pre-death. They get the dwarven prince to safety. Dundoren turns out to be poor, and pays the party in 'favors' (some potions of Lesser Vigor and training the Druid in casting this spell, as I allowed only Core spells to start). He also tells them that they can bring metal items, such as armor or weapons, that they acquire in their 'adventures' to a pair of dwarven smiths in town, who will pay them 50-75% of market value, depending on the shape the gear is in. I figure that reliable 'fences' for reselling of captured gear would be more useful than another handful of coins at this point.

Xander Williams shows up at Lucien's pretty much as they scurry back in the light of dawn, and tells them that something terrible has happened. (He's notably smiling as he says it.) The party feigns ignorance, and he goes on to explain how the captain of the night watch has been killed. The party feigns surprise and Captain Williams goes on to mention that he was in a certain section of the sewers, and pointedly notes that the party, who hasn't had time to clean up, is drenched in that particular odor. He interrupts their attempts to explain by mentioning that Tillenghast was up to no good, he thinks, if only there was some evidence to prove that... The party Wizard promptly hands over the diaries and evidence of Tillenghasts crimes that they stole from his bedroom, with a fairly amusing 'story' of how they just happened to find it in the sewers in the course of their own investigations into the serpent folk. Captain Williams admitted that was a lucky coincidence, and improved their story by suggesting that perhaps Tillenghast fell afoul of the Serpent Folk, perhaps as a result of some deal that fell through among those scoundrels, and perhaps the Serpent Folk / cultists killed him. The party nodded enthusiastically, and Captain Williams paused to add that he was keeping an eye on them and that if he wasn't so busy, having just this hour been promoted to Commander of the Guard, he would look into it more thoroughly. They sagely congratulated him on his promotion and went to bed. :)

Batora is still hanging from the rafters. I decide that she'll die of a mysterious ailment called 'the DM is sick of this NPC now' no matter how much they feed / water / heal her.[url][/url]

[Set]

Second pre-Madness Side Trek;

One of the PCs (they roll, the Druid gets it) awakens from a vivid dream that sticks with him;

In the dream, you are in a classroom with a bunch of other students. Some are talking in accented voices about coming from a far-away land and how their own countrymen seem strange to them now, as if they have changed so much that they can never come back. You end up talking with one girl who is playing some word game with another girl that also involves the name of a country she can’t seem to figure out. The teacher is a tall woman with long black hair, who doesn’t seem to do any teaching so much as lean back and ignore you while various discussions take forth, rarely interjecting some comment or correction, although she seems a bit bored, and even dismissive at times.

At the end of class, you are looking a picture that someone has made with chalk in one of the desks, of a young boy with hair forward in a mop over his eyes and a white mask covering his lower face, along with another girl, a half-elf with amber colored eyes, who is wondering who drew that, since it’s been there forever. You leave class together, only instead of a hallway, you are in a damp tunnel, leading up to the sunlight. The girl you are with walks out into the sunlight, but you stay behind.

*************************************************

On the streets of the city, you bump into a woman in the market place, she’s got a severe expression and was clearly distracted. She’s dressed in a moderately expensive looking dress with a tight leather bodice, painted to match, and has a fair amount of makeup on. Her hair is shoulder-length and brown, dyed with red henna, and her eyes are amber. She has clear half-elven ancestry, and you know you recognize her from somewhere. She looks up ready to snap off an angry comment, from the looks of it, but stops herself and just stares at you before turning to leave.

The girl from the marketplace is a high-price courtesan. (Lexi, from Denizens of Freeport.) Talking to her takes time and effort (the PC will likely have to 'pay for her time'), since she refuses to believe that you are who she thought she saw for a second.

It turns out that she lived through whatever dream you just had as a child, almost 40 years ago (which is why you can’t be the boy she saw, because he was human and would be much older)! Only it wasn’t a ‘classroom,’ although she admits that children might want to remember it that way. It was a slave-pen in a bluffside cavern near the city, where slavers would stow away their illegal cargo before sailing into port to meet with their underground contacts. This particular pen held only children, and the ‘teacher’ was a dour-faced black-haired woman who made sure that they were fed and that nobody got away. Almost all of the children were young girls, with one or two exceptions, and were mostly human, with a few halflings and a single half-elf. The two girls who spoke of their homeland were from the Scarlet Brotherhood, sold into slavery by their own parents, who had been holding out for blonde-haired, blue-eyed children, and sold off their ‘impure’ kids.

The ‘chalk drawing’ of the masked boy was made by an earlier inhabitant of the pen, scratched into the rock with another rock, and some of the kids would fantasize that the masked boy was going to come and rescue them some day.

The half-elf woman remembers a gift for sorcery even then, demonstrating Animate Rope (which she uses these days on high-paying clientele, who have strange interests) and explains that she used it on the twine holding the bamboo ‘bars’ of their pen together, and then to restrain the woman standing guard over them, while the children made a run for it, the larger ones carrying the smaller ones in a dash for freedom. Other guards at the end of the tunnel made short work of that escape attempt, and only she escaped, to return to town and find that her mother had vanished in the months she’d been away, and turning to a life on the street, finally landing herself in a job at an upper-class brothel, thanks to her ‘exotic looks.’

Lexi can be convinced to point the PC in the direction of the slave-pen, in the bluffs to the east/west/whatever of the city, but points out that it’s been forty years and she can't imagine why these dreams would happen now...

*********************************************

The party goes overland to the caves, finding a ship docked out of sight of the city around the edge of the shoreline / bluffs. It turns out to be a familiar ship, as the Orcs of the Bloody Vengeance have gone into slaving. The party descends on ropes, while being fired at by Orcish archers and a pair of ship-mounted ballistae! They pretty much lay waste to the Orcs on the ship, including Aggro (who nearly guts the Transmuter...) and Captain Scarbelly, as well as a tainted deformed Sorcerer of some sort (Daelkyr Half-blood, from the Eberron setting) who is working with them.

They also end up fighting a pair of humans who have been guarding the slave-pen in the cave, where, indeed, children are stored for sale to customers with 'peculiar interests.' These humans look kind of like Polynesian islanders, but have a shark fetish, wearing shark-hide armor, weapons and jewelry adorned with shark's teeth, and having filed their own teeth to points! (They attempt to grapple and bite, having the Vile Deformity (bite) feat as their 'free' human bonus Feat.) The Fighter, who has been training with Bill Sangalapulatele, recognizes that they are the same sorts of people. (Also, in my game, Bill and his guards keep their mouths shut most of the time, and are later discovered to *also* have filed teeth. They aren't actually cannibals, but are part of a shark-worshipping culture and also use a grapple-and-bite style of fighting. People don't just hire Bill because he's a good bodyguard, but also because his people are *freaking scary!*)

The party rescues the children, and having no idea what to do with them, brings them back to the Temple of the Gods of Knowledge (a couple of times they have brought massive loads of books to 'donate' to the temple after adventures, in return for help finding trainers for leveling, finding buyers for loot, etc.). Thuron drew the line when they showed up with the second head to be Speak with Dead-ed. "You will *not* continue bringing severed heads into this Temple!"

The next day, they'll come back to find a 'fair' going on at the Temple. Priests from most of the temples in town will have shown up to adopt these abandoned children as acolytes or lay flunkies. Xander Williams will also be there, and one child will leave with him to train to become a town guard (after a few years of being their waterboy). No children will leave with the representative from the Temple of Wee Jas, because he terrified them. The head of the House of Serenity will be there, and by the time the party has arrived, she'll have spun the situation to make it sound like 'her girl' saved these kids and sorta skipped anything about the adventurers... They'll no doubt correct her version of events, and since she's chosen to keep the name of 'her girl' anonymous 'for her own safety,' they'll manage to get as much credit as they want for defeating the child slavers.

[Set]

Third pre-Madness Side Trek;

The party returns home (between rescuing the children and the next day's 'placement fair'), to find that the Druid's Companion won't enter the house and starts barking. The Transmuters Raven Familiar says, 'BAD!' and flies across the street, also very much not interested in going into the house. They open the door to Lucien's, to see a sickly yellowish glow and wisps of yellow smoke coming up from the trap door to the basement, where they were 'storing' Batora.

They open the trap and slithering flying jellyfish like creatures come pulsing up out of the smoke-filled basement. The creatures have three yellow tentacles coming from a central yellow undulating core, looking pretty much exactly like the Yellow Sign come to unwholesome life! The Fighter slams the trap door shut, but another one comes up through the floor, as the creatures are Incorporeal! Tense fight, as the Wizard (with a wand of Magic Missiles) is the only one who can really hurt these things reliably, and their Incorporeal Touch attacks inflict Lesser Confusion, Ability (wisdom) damage *and* nonlethal damage. They can possess unconscious (or dead) people, but everyone stays conscious (and alive).

With two exceptions. Jesswin snuck in to set a trap for the party, knocked out Lucien and freed Batora. Batora rewarded her by summoning up these X'sval (my own version, obviously) using some sort of Invocation (from PHB2) and having one of them possess Jesswin and another possess the body of Lucien (whom she sacrificed to summon up these creatures). Jesswin and ZombieLucien work at knocking the trapdoor open, while the Fighter stands on it, trying to slash (mostly ineffectually) at the Incorporeal menaces, while unbalanced from the people trying to open the trapdoor he's standing on!

Due to some funny dice rolls, ZombieLucien makes it out of the trap door, but Jesswin gets knocked down the ladder three times in a row! Batora is downstairs trying to prepare herself with spells, and is nearly crushed a few times by the Amazing Falling Jesswin.

ZombieLucien is dispatched. (The DM, playing Egil, ever-so-briefly RPs Egil's grief over the death of his friend. The party realizes belatedly that with Lucien's death, they will have to start paying rent on his house and stop mooching. They discuss selling his stuff, until Egil gives them the stank eye and suggests that his things would be most appropriately donated to the Temple...)

Batora is knocked to zero hit points and thinks to herself 'not again' when the party starts talking about killing her or keeping her alive. She uses her daily Death Domain power to kill herself. The party, annoyed at having this choice taken out of their hands, kill her some more. Just in case.

Jesswin is incapacitated, and the X'sval possessing her floats out, does some damage, and is dispatched by Wand of Magic Missiles Lad. Jesswin fails in attempts to convince the party that she didn't come to kill them and take her stuff back, and they argue a bit and then decide to turn her over to the city guard.

The next day town guards show up and ask them to come to the courts of justice. Xander Williams is there, Cetti, a Cloistered Cleric of Wee Jas (and the presiding judge of the Dusk Court), and a Scarlet Brotherhood-looking Monk of imposing size and dour expression. Having discovered that the symbol of Freeport is a Winged Hourglass, the slightly unhinged DM thinks 'time is fleeting?' and then promptly decorates the Court of Justice with two long banners, one depicting a Winged Hourglass and the other depicting a Cracked Bell. Nobody gets the joke, but that's okay, I didn't make it for *them.*

Cetti is a 5' 2" waifish anime-looking child-woman with pale skin, a severe expression, platinum blonde hair and concealing Wee Jassian robes in black and red, with gold trim. Instead of a gavel, she calls the session to order by smacking the table with a heavy life-sized skull carved of solid ivory, lit by a dull scarlet Continual Fire.

Jesswin is present, tied up, and charges, including assassination, attempted assassination, attempted murder and complicity in the murder of Lucien, are read. The party is asked some perfunctory questions and figure out that a Zone of Truth is in effect in the courtroom. Fortunately, none of them are disposed to lie at this point. The judge hears their testimony and rules that Jesswin is guilty, sentencing to be carried out immediately. Jesswin struggles, but is dragged out into the courtyard, shoved face down onto a slab of stone, and the Scarlet Brotherhood-looking Monk karate chops her in the back of the neck, killing her instantly. The party is suitably impressed with the speed and seriousness of 'justice' in Freeport, and Commander Williams very gently reminds them that he will 'keep in touch.'

[The Monk *is* ex-Scarlet Brotherhood. In the Greyhawk/Freeport homebrew I'm using, the Brotherhood took over Freeport during the Greyhawk Wars, and the predominantly Sueloise churches (particularly that of Wee Jas) managed to retain their influence. After a rebellion ousted them, with the Wee Jassians somehow managing to avoid being tarred as quislings through their own honorable dealings with the rebels, the Nameless Monk was one of the few Scarlet Brotherhood members to remain behind, even after the city changed hands. He had sworn allegiance to the Temple of Wee Jas, and when they chose to honor their old agreements to defend Freeport and it's stability, even against their Scarlet Brotherhood kinfolk, he chose to preserve his 'honor' and stand with the Temple (and therefore, the 'rebels'). He's now the official town Executioner and does ridiculous damage with a Coup de Grace on a helpless prisoner with less than 10 hit points...]

After dealing with the child-slavers, the party will have enough renown to justify the 'Order of Drake' that they'll be receiving at the beginning of Madness in Freeport.

The main reason for the X'sval encounter was to have a more direct hint that the Unspeakable One is about more than some crazy cultists and serpent men. There's *something* out there, and it doesn't like them...

It also wrapped up some loose ends, namely Batora, Lucien and Jesswin, all of whom I wanted cleared out of the way before the party at the beginning of Madness, which is gonna be an NPC-palooza.

[Set]

Attack on the Temple NPC stats;

Sisters Bette and Viole
2 Female Human Clerics of Lydia 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d8+1 (9 hp), Init +0 (+0 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 15 (+4 chain shirt, +1 shield), touch 10, flatfooted 15, Base Atk +0, Grapple +0, Atk shortspear +0 melee (1d6 B) or thrown daggers +0 ranged (1d4 P), AL NG, SV Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +4, Str 10, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10,
Domains; Knowledge and either Sun or Moon, Turn Undead as 1st level Cleric,
[32] Concentration 4 (+5), Craft (calligraphy or painting) 4 (+5), Diplomacy 4 (+4), Heal 4 (+6), Knowledge (arcane) 4 (+5), Knowledge (history) 4 (+5), Knowledge (religion) 4 (+5), Knowledge (the planes) 0 (-), Profession 0 (-), Spellcraft 4 (+5), Languages (Common, Ancient Sueloise)

Cleric Spells (3/2+1); detect magic, guidance, light
faerie fire or detect secret doors (D), bless, protection from evil

chain shirt, lt wooden shield, shortspear, 2 daggers

Tactics
Round 1 – cast bless or protection from evil (on Issra) or faerie fire, whichever seems most useful at the time
Round 2 – ready action, fighting defensively, guard Issra
Round 3+ - continue guarding Issra, follow her, Cure as needed

Issra Silvereye
Female Human Cloistered Cleric 7: CR 7; Medium Humanoid; HD 7d6+7 (35 hp), Init +0 (+0 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 15 (+4 chain shirt, +1 shield), touch 10, flatfooted 15, Base Atk +3, Grapple +3, Atk Quarterstaff +3 melee (1d6 B) or thrown daggers +3 ranged (1d4 P), AL NG, SV Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +8, Str 10, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 14,
Domains; Knowledge, Family, Good, Turn Undead as 7th level Cleric,
[90] Concentration 10 (+11), Craft (-) 0 (-), Decipher Script 10 (+12), Diplomacy 0 (+2), Heal 5 (+8), Knowledge (arcane) 5 (+7), Knowledge (geography) 10 (+12), Knowledge (history) 10 (+12), Knowledge (local) 5 (+7), Knowledge (nature) 5 (+7), Knowledge (nobility & royalty) 5 (+7), Knowledge (religion) 10 (+12), Knowledge (the planes) 5 (+7), Profession 0 (-), Spellcraft 5 (+7), Languages (Common, Ancient Sueloise, Draconic, Elvish, Dwarvish, Celestial, Auld Bakluni)

Cleric Spells (6/5+1/4+1/3+1/1+1);
amanuensis, detect magic, guidance x2, light, read magic
bless (D), bless water, comprehend languages, protection from evil, remove fear, sanctuary
detect thoughts (D), calm emotions, lesser restoration, silence, sound burst
clairaudience/clairvoyance (D), create food & water, daylight, remove blindness/deafness
holy smite (D), discern lies

+1 mithril chain shirt, +1 expertise quarterstaff, dagger, Silver Eye (acts as Holy Symbol, allows detect magic and detect poison at will and functions as a normal eye, canceling out any penalties Issra would have for being sightless in that eye)

Tactics
Round 1 – Essa activates the Aeonian Lanterns as a Free Action, penalizing the attackers, and then casts Holy Smite on one of the attacking forces.
Round 2 – Uses her Family Domain power as a Free Action to shield herself and any other allies within 10 ft. (which will include her two nuns) and casts Sanctuary.
Rounds 3+ – Cures anyone in need of it, flanked by her nuns. Depending on the situation, she may break Sanctuary to cast Sound Burst or Silence.

Aeonian Lanterns (all bad-guys get -2 morale penalty to attacks, saves and checks, from Monte's Book of Holy Might, IIRC).

Thuron
Male SPOILER Cleric of SPOILER 6: CR 6; Medium Humanoid (SPOILER, SPOILER); HD 6d8+6 (36 hp), Init +2 (+2 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 19 (+2 Dex, +4 chain shirt, +2 magic armor sleeves, +1 natural armor), touch 12, flatfooted 17, Base Atk +4, Grapple +4, Atk Quarterstaff +4 melee (1d6 B) or thrown daggers +5 ranged (1d4 P), AL NG, SV Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +8, Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 10, FEATS!,
Domains; Knowledge, Magic, Turn Undead as 6th level Cleric,
[40] Concentration 5 (+6), Craft (-) 0 (-), Diplomacy 5 (+5), Disguise 0 (+10, includes bonus from alternate form), Heal 5 (+8), Knowledge (arcane) 5 (+7), Knowledge (history) 9 (+11), Knowledge (religion) 5 (+7), Knowledge (the planes) 1 (+3), Profession 0 (-), Spellcraft 5 (+7), Languages (Common, SPOILER, Draconic)

Cleric Spells (5/4+1/4+1/3+1); detect magic x2, light, read magic x2
detect secret doors (D), bless water, comprehend languages x2, magic weapon
identify (D), consecrate, gentle repose, lesser restoration
dispel magic (D), locate object, remove disease, speak with dead

mithril chain shirt, quarterstaff, 2 daggers, +1 armor sleeves

Elkrin Orbalastar
Male Human Wizard (Conjuror) 3: CR 3; Medium Humanoid; HD 3d4+3 (12 hp), Init +3 (+3 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 13 or 17 (+3 Dex, +4 mage armor), touch 17, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +1, Grapple +1, Atk Dagger +1 melee (1d6 B) or Bolt-Thrower +4 or +5 ranged (1d6 P or 1d6+1 P), AL N, SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +3, Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 10, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Spell Focus (conjuration), Scribe Scroll (B), Forbidden Schools (illusion, necromancy)
[30] Concentration 5 (+6), Craft (alchemy) 6 (+8), Decipher Script 3 (+5), Knowledge (arcane) 5 (+7), Knowledge (history) 2 (+4), Knowledge (local) 2 (+4), Knowledge (religion) 1 (+3), Knowledge (the planes) 1 (+3), Profession 0 (-), Spellcraft 5 (+7), Languages (Common, Draconic, Auld Bakluni)

Wizard Spells (4/3+1/2+1);
acid splash (B), detect magic, mage hand, message, prestidigitation
grease (B), mage armor, mount, unseen servant
acid arrow (B), glitterdust, web

Silver dagger, cold iron dagger, spellbook, Bolt-Thrower (iron rod that casts Devlin’s Barb as a free action up to once / round and Launch Bolt as a Standard action), 2 tanglefoot bags, 1 alchemists fire, 1 alchemists frost, 1 alchemists spark, 1 acid

Tactics (he will not use his alchemist’s gear or his acid arrow spell, save in extremis, as he is miserly and prone to saving his ‘big gun’ for later, and never getting around to using it…)
Round 1 – draw Bolt-Thrower as move action, 5 ft. step behind table, throw grease, glitterdust or web, as most convenient
Round 2 – fire 2 bolts from Bolt-Thrower, reload 1 as free action
Round 3+ - fire more bolts from Bolt-Thrower, or step back and use grease, glitterdust or web to shake anyone coming near him

Estevao and Colin
2 Male Human Clerics of Boccob 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d8+1 (9 hp), Init +1 (+1 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 12 or 16 (+1 Dex, +1 armor sleeve, +4 mage armor), touch 15, flatfooted 15, Base Atk +0, Grapple +0, Atk quarterstaff +1 melee (1d6 B) or thrown daggers +1 ranged (1d4 P), AL N, SV Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +4, Str 10, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 9,
Domains; Magic, Spell, Turn Undead as 1st level Cleric, Weapon Focus (quarterstaff), Two-Weapon Fighting
[16] Concentration 2 (+3), Craft (calligraphy) 2 (+3), Diplomacy 1 (+0), Heal 1 (+2), Knowledge (arcane) 4 (+5), Knowledge (history) 1 (+2), Knowledge (religion) 1 (+2), Knowledge (the planes) 0 (-), Profession 0 (-), Spellcraft 4 (+5), Languages (Common, Draconic)

Cleric Spells (3/2+1); detect magic, guidance, read magic
mage armor (D), comprehend languages, magic weapon

quarterstaff, 2 daggers, armor sleeves (from Arms & Equipment Guide)

Tactics
Round 1 – cast mage armor on selves
Round 2 – cast magic weapon on quarterstaves
Round 3+ - hit people with them, converting other spells to Cures as needed

Phaerin Greytooth
Human male Cleric of Boccob 3: CR 3; Medium Humanoid; HD 3d8+3 (9 hp), Init +0 (+0 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 12 or 16 (+1 Dex, +1 armor sleeve, +4 mage armor), touch 15, flatfooted 15, Base Atk +2, Grapple +2, Atk Burning Brand +3 melee (1d6 B + 1d4 fire + 1d4 positive energy vs. undead) or thrown daggers +1 ranged (1d4+1 P), AL N, SV Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +5, Str 12, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10, Weapon Focus (quarterstaff), Point-Blank Shot
Domains; Magic, Spell, Rebuke Undead as 3rd level Cleric, Weapon Focus (quarterstaff),

[24] Concentration 2 (+3), Craft (calligraphy) 2 (+3), Diplomacy 2 (+2), Heal 1 (+2), Knowledge (arcane) 4 (+5), Knowledge (history) 2 (+3), Knowledge (religion) 5 (+6), Knowledge (the planes) 1 (+2), Profession 0 (-), Spellcraft 5 (+6), Languages (Common, Draconic)

Cleric Spells (4/3+1/2+1);
detect magic, guidance, read magic
mage armor (D), comprehend languages, magic stone, magic weapon
identify (D), bull’s strength, make whole

Burning Brand (MW quarterstaff w/ one head on fire, doing +1d4 fire damage +1d4 positive energy damage to undead), 2 daggers, armor sleeves, 2 potions of healing

Tactics
Round 1 – cast bull’s strength on self
Round 2 – cast magic weapon on quarterstaff, if time permits
Round 3+ - hit people with them, converting other spells to Inflicts as opportunities arise, drink potions while withdrawing if badly hurt, hurl magic stones at foes at range

4 1st Experts (librarians, bookbinders, calligraphers)
2 1st Adepts (acolytes and assistants, useful spell is a single cure light wounds)

Bookshelves have Resist Fire on them, permanently. Priests will make use of fire with impunity, which may surprise people not expecting so much alchemist's fire to be flung around in a *library.*

Adepts have only a single Cure Light Wounds prepared (and a Comprehend Languages), and that’s the extent of their help. (Rutherford, Ningel)
Experts shriek and then run and hide. (Baxter, Hugh, Norton, Salec)

Boccob – Magic, Knowledge, Trickery / Illusion, Portal (summon monster I), Rune, Spell (mage armor)
Lydia – Good, Knowledge, Sun, Travel / Family (bless, good power), Moon (faerie fire)
Rao – Law, Good (prot fr evil), Knowledge


Raid on the temple

K’Ral
Female Serpent Person Cleric 2 / Fighter 2: CR 4; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d8+2 + 2d10+2 (22 hp), Init +3 (+3 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 20 (+3 Dex, +4 mithral chain shirt, +1 natural armor, +2 amulet of natural armor), touch 10, flatfooted 15, Base Atk +3, Grapple +3, Atk MW scorpion chain +7 melee (1d6 B or 1d4 P) or thrown daggers +6 ranged (1d4 P), AL CE, SV Fort +7, Ref +3, Will +5, Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 10, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (scorpion chain), Weapon Focus (scorpion chain), Combat Reflexes, Weapon Finesse, Domains; Destruction, Death, Rebuke Undead as 2nd level Cleric,
[4] Bluff 4 (+4), Concentration 0 (+1), Disguise 0 (+0, +10 using Change Shape), Language (Common), Language (Valossan)
[4] Acrobatics 4 (+7), Climb 0 (+0), Jump 0 (+0), Swim 0 (+8)
Escape Artist 0 (+7), Stealth 0 (+7)

Cleric Spells (4/3+1/2+1); cure minor wounds, detect magic, light x2
cause fear (D), command x2, protection from good

+2 amulet of natural armor, 2 potions of cure light wounds, wand of cure light wounds (20 charges), mithril chain shirt, golden holy symbol to the Unspeakable One (250 gp), 1 oil of bane (-1 morale penalty to attacks and fear resists), 2 oils of magic weapon (+1 atk/dam with scorpion chain)

K’Ral Tactics
Protection from Good and will use potion of Shield of Faith and an Oil of Magic Weapon before she enters, swing with Scorpion Chain to disarm foes and make them easy pickin’s for her crew. Cause Fear and Command as needed tactically, she holds actions as much as possible, taking pot-shots at casters with her Reach, or using spells to disrupt effective looking enemy tactics. She will try to save her Smite for Thuron.

Groups [4 to 6] of Cultists
Male Human Rogue 1 / Cleric 1: CR 2; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d6+1 +1d8+1 (11 hp), Init +1 (+1 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 15 (+1 Dex, +4 chain shirt), touch 11, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +0, Grapple +0, Atk MW Dagger +2 melee (1d4 P) or thrown Dagger +2 ranged (1d4 P), AL CE, SV Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +3, Str 10, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 9, Toughness, Weapon Focus (dagger), trapfinding, +1d6 Sneak Attack, Domains; Destruction & Trickery, Rebuke Undead as 1st level Cleric
[36] Acrobatics 2 (+3), Bluff 4 (+4), Climb 1 (+1), Diplomacy 2 (+4, *), Disable Device 1 (+1), Disguise 2 (+2, +4 to act in character), Escape Artist 1 (+2), Gather Information 4 (+4), Intimidate 0 (+2, *), Jump 0 (+0), Knowledge (local) 4 (+4), Knowledge (religion) 1 (+1), Knowledge (history) 1 (+1), Notice 2 (+2), Search 1 (+1), Sense Motive 2 (+2), Sleight of Hand 2 (+5, *), Stealth 4 (+5), Swim 2 (+2), Use Magic Device 0 (-)
*includes +2 synergy bonus from Bluff
[3] Bluff +1 (+5), Concentration 1 (+1), Heal 1 (+2)

MW Dagger, 2 Daggers (8 gp, 4 lbs), chain shirt (100 gp, 20 lbs), Wooden Holy Symbol to the Unspeakable One (1 gp), potion of cure light wounds

Spells (3/2+1); cure minor wounds, guidance, resistance
Disguise self (D), cure light wounds, magic stone

Cultist tactics
Cultists – Magic Stone while closing, attempting to hit flat-footed targets for SA damage as well. Close and attempt to flank for SA dice, striking with Daggers. Drink potion as needed, burn Cure to Inflict if the iron is hot. Guidance and Resistance before entering, will have 8ish rounds of that bonus. (Burn Guidance on initial Magic Stone attack.)

Continue adding waves of cultists as long as it's fun. Enough to be challenging. Not so many that it gets old.

Post-combat note; 1st level Cleric / Rogues with Guidance and Magic Stone can get some FREAKY first-round damage. Holy Smite can utterly annhilate one group, and get Issra seriously beat up by panicky survivors flinging everything they have at the old bat...

Random descriptive junk for new stuff introduced;
Alchemical Fire – globe-like bottle of glass holding orange-red fluid (looks like curry), thick and slightly warm to the touch.

Alchemical Frost – same bottle, holding clear electric blue liquid, in the open space above the liquid, the ‘air’ in the bottle is white mist, bottle is cool to the touch.

Alchemical Spark / Storm-god’s Kiss – same bottle holding what looks like dull-gray quicksilver, but on closer examination is very fine metal particles, tingly to the touch.

Alchemical Solvent / Alkahest – same bottle holding light yellow liquid with dark brown sediment at the bottom, when agitated, mixes into a thick bubbling bright green, then quickly settles back into the yellow oil and brown sediment.

[Set]

Strange hybrid Civilized / Savage Serpent Folk (replaces the 1st level Adept in the encounter on p. 57, because I wanted to spice that bit up).

Caliban
Male Serpent Folk Barbarian 2 / Cleric 3: CR 5; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d12+4 +3d8+6 (39 hp), Init +1 (+1 Dex), Spd 30 ft., AC 19 (+7 Dragonhide half-plate, +1 Dex, +1 Natural Armor), touch 11, flatfooted 18, Base Atk +4, Grapple +5, Atk MW Hvy Flail +6 melee (1d10+1 B (19-20/x2)) or MW Throwing Dagger +6 ranged (1d4+1 P), AL CE, SV Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +5, Str 12, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 12, Domains: Destruction, Death, FEATS,
[20] Climb 1 (+2), Craft 0 (-), Handle Animal 4 (+5), Intimidate 5 (+6), Jump 1 (+2), Notice 5 (+7), Ride 0 (+1), Survival 4 (+5), Swim 0 (+1)
[6] Concentration 2 (+4), Craft 0 (-), Diplomacy 0 (+1), Heal 0 (+2), Knowledge (arcane) 1 (+2), Knowledge (history) 1 (+2), Knowledge (religion) 1 (+2), Knowledge (the planes) 0 (-), Profession 0 (-), Spellcraft 1 (+1)

Spells
0 [4] cure minor wounds x2, guidance, resistance
1 [3+1] cause fear (D), cure light wounds, magic stone, shield of faith
2 [2+1] shatter (D), bear’s endurance, spiritual weapon

MW Dragonhide half-plate (Med armor, +7 AB, MDB +1, ACP -6, w/ MW Armor Spikes made of dragon fangs and talons), MW Hvy Flail, 2 MW Daggers (poisoned), gold holy symbol of the Unspeakable One (250 gp), 150 gp

2 savage Berserkers
Male Serpent Folk Barbarian 2: CR 2; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d12+4 (18 hp), Init +2 (+2 Dex), Spd 40 ft., AC 15 (+2 studded leather, +2 Dex, +1 Natural Armor), touch 12, flatfooted 13, Base Atk +2, Grapple +4, Atk MW Hvy Flail +5 melee (1d10+2 B (19-20/x2)) or Throwing Dagger +4 ranged (1d4+2 P), AL CE, SV Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +0, Str 14, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 8, Power Attack,
[15] Climb 1 (+3), Craft 0 (-), Handle Animal 2 (+1), Intimidate 5 (+6), Jump 1 (+3), Notice 4 (+4), Ride 0 (+1), Survival 2 (+2), Swim 0 (+2)

MW Studded Leather w/ Armor Spikes, MW Hvy Flail, Dagger, alchemical fire oil for weapon (+1d3 fire damage on a hit, lasts 1 minute after applied), 5 gp

Raging Berserker stats
Male Serpent Folk Barbarian 2: CR 2; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d12+4 (18 hp), Init +2 (+2 Dex), Spd 40 ft., AC 13 (-2 Rage, +2 studded leather, +2 Dex, +1 Natural Armor), touch 10, flatfooted 11, Base Atk +2, Grapple +4, Atk MW Hvy Flail +7 melee (1d10+4 B (19-20/x2)) or Throwing Dagger +6 ranged (1d4+4 P), AL CE, SV Fort +7, Ref +2, Will +2, Str 18, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 8, Power Attack,
[15] Climb 1 (+5), Craft 0 (-), Handle Animal 2 (+1), Intimidate 5 (+6), Jump 1 (+5), Notice 4 (+4), Ride 0 (+1), Survival 2 (+2), Swim 0 (+4)

Sithic
Advanced Fiendish Serpent
Medium Magical Beast (extraplanar); CR 4-5; HD: 4d10+11 (35 hp); Init +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Imp Init); Spd 20 ft., climb 20 ft., swim 20 ft.; AC 15 (+3 Dex, +2 NA), Atk +4, Grapple +7, Atk +7 melee (1d3+4 plus poison*), Constrict (1d3+4 B), Improved Grab, Scent, Saves; Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +2, Str 17, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 2, Balance 0 (+11), Climb 1 (+12), Stealth 2 (+8), Notice 3 (+8), Swim 1 (+12), Alertness, Improved Initiative, Toughness, Grapple on a free action after a successful bite, constrict for 1d3+4 on a successful grapple check.
*Sithic has Viper venom, DC 15 (1d6 Con/1d6 Con, +2 racial poison DC)

+4 racial Stealth, Notice, Spot, +8 racial Balance, Climb, take 10 Climb, use Str or Dex for Climb, +8 racial Swim, take 10 Swim, ‘run’ while swimming in straight line

Smite Good 1 / day (+4 damage), 60 ft. darkvision, DR 5/magic, Fire/Cold Resist 5

*******************************************************

Rescue of Prince Thorgrimm side-trek;

Boss Sirris Tillenghast (non-caster)
Male Elven Fighter 2 / Rogue 3; CR 5; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d10+2 +3d6+3 (36 hp), Init +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Imp Init), Spd 30 ft., AC 15 (+3 Dex, +4 mithril chain shirt), touch 11, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +5, Grapple +6, Atk +1 Short Sword +9 melee (1d6+1 P) or twin Short Swords +7 melee/+7 melee (1d6+1 P/1d6 P) or thrown MW Dagger +9 ranged (1d4+1 P), AL LE, SV Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +3, Str 12, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 12, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (short sword), Weapon Finesse, Two-Weapon Fighting, Toughness

[48] Acrobatics 2 (+5), Appraise 2 (+2), Bluff 5 (+6), Climb 0 (+1), Diplomacy 0 (+3, *), Disable Device 2 (+2), Disguise 1 (+2, +4 to act in character), Escape Artist 1 (+4), Forgery 5 (+5), Gather Information 5 (+8, +2 from Knowledge (local)), Intimidate 4 (+7, *), Jump 0 (+1), Knowledge (local) 5 (+5), Notice 3 (+4), Search 3 (+3), Sense Motive 4 (+4), Sleight of Hand 2 (+7, *), Stealth 4 (+7), Swim 0 (+1), Use Magic Device 0 (-)
*includes +2 synergy bonus from Bluff
[4] Intimidate +4 (total +11)

Mithril chain shirt, +1 short sword, MW short sword, bracer of Law (1/day a non-chaotic wearer can use Protection from Chaos as a standard action, lasting 1 minute and 1/day can use Command (DC 13) as a standard action), 2 MW Daggers

Boss Sirris Tillenghast (caster)
Male Elven Fighter 1 / Rogue 3 / Sorcerer 2; CR 6; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d10+1 +3d6+3 +2d4+2 (32 hp), Init +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Imp Init), Spd 30 ft., AC 15 (+3 Dex, +4 mithril chain shirt), touch 11, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +4, Grapple +5, Atk +1 Short Sword +8 melee (1d6+1 P) or twin Short Swords +6 melee/+6 melee (1d6+1 P/1d6 P) or thrown MW Dagger +8 ranged (1d4+1 P), AL LE, SV Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +5, Str 12, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 12, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (short sword), Weapon Finesse, Two-Weapon Fighting

[48] Acrobatics 2 (+5), Appraise 2 (+2), Bluff 5 (+6), Climb 0 (+1), Diplomacy 0 (+3, *), Disable Device 2 (+2), Disguise 1 (+2, +4 to act in character), Escape Artist 1 (+4), Forgery 5 (+5), Gather Information 5 (+8, +2 from Knowledge (local)), Intimidate 5 (+8, *), Jump 0 (+1), Knowledge (local) 5 (+5), Notice 3 (+4), Search 3 (+3), Sense Motive 3 (+3), Sleight of Hand 2 (+7, *), Stealth 4 (+7), Swim 0 (+1), Use Magic Device 0 (-)
*includes +2 synergy bonus from Bluff
[4] Concentration 4 (+4), [2] Intimidate +2 (total +10)

Spells per day (6/5)
Spells known; 0 – daze, detect magic, detect poison, read magic, open/close
1 – charm person, sleep

Mithril chain shirt, +1 short sword, MW short sword, bracer of Law (1/day a non-chaotic wearer can use Protection from Chaos as a standard action, lasting 1 minute and 1/day can use Command (DC 13) as a standard action)

[I wasn't sure if I wanted caster Tillenghast or non-caster Tillenghast, so I made one of each. I went with the caster.]

Jailer Mott
Male Human Folk Barbarian 5: CR 5; Medium Humanoid; HD 5d12+5 (18 hp), Init +1 (+1 Dex), Spd 40 ft., AC 13 (+2 studded leather, +1 Dex), touch 11, flatfooted 12, Base Atk +5, Grapple +8, Atk MW Greatclub +8 melee (1d10+3 B) or Throwing Axe +6 ranged (1d6+3 P), AL CE, SV Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +1, Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 10, Power Attack, Cleave, Intimidating Rage,
[32] Climb 0 (+3), Craft (toys) 8 (+7), Handle Animal 4 (+4), Intimidate 8 (+8), Jump 0 (+3), Notice 5 (+5), Ride 0 (+1), Survival 2 (+2), Swim 5 (+8)

MW studded leather, MW greatclub, 2 throwing axes,

[Set]

Batora is ‘rescued’ by Jesswin, who has shown back up to set a death-trap for the PCs, only to be betrayed by Batora, who arranges for her to be possessed by X’sval! Lucius is sacrificed to call up these creatures, and his corpse is also possessed.

Jesswin and corpse-Lucius will be possessed by small X’sval, which will issue forth from their bodies if they are defeated. A pair of additional small X’sval will also be in the room, hoping to possess the bodies of the newcomers…


X’sval
Small Outsider (chaotic, evil, extraplanar, incorporeal); CR 1; HD: 1d8+1 (9 hp); Init +3 (+3 Dex); Spd fly 30 ft.; AC 15 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +1 deflection), touch 15, flat-footed 12, Atk +1, Grapple -8, Sp/Rch 5 ft./5 ft., Atk slam +4 melee (1d4 plus 1 pt. Wisdom damage), Saves; Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +3, Str 2, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 13, [16] Notice 4 (+5), Search 4 (+1), Stealth 4 (+11), Survival 4 (+5), Attack Finesse
Incorporeal
Unwholesome Aura - non-Outsiders viewing it must make a Will save or be Shaken for the duration of the encounter (if the save is successful, that target is immune for 24 hours). Animals, wild or domesticated, refused to enter a 30 ft. radius and become panicked if forced to do so.
Maddening Gaze – An X’sval has a gaze attack that causes Confusion (DC 13 negates). The DC is Con-based. The effect lasts 1 round, if successful.
Soul Strike – an x’sval’s slam attack does 1d4 non-lethal damage and the target must make a Will save (DC 13) or take 1 pt of Wisdom damage.
Possession – an x’sval can possess helpless, willing or unconscious targets (or corpses, which rise as Zombies with the X’sval’s Int, Wis and Cha scores and no Single Actions Only special quality).
SLA - False Life on host 3/day as a swift action, costing 1 Con to a living host (costs 1 Con to X’sval for an undead one!). Cast as a 1st level Sorcerer.
Sunlight Powerlessness – X’sval are powerless in natural sunlight (not merely a daylight spell) and flee from it. An x’sval caught in sunlight cannot attack and can take only a single move action or standard action in a round. An x’sval possessing a host is unaffected, although the host may be recognized due to it’s dislike for sunlight.

[I didn't use Medium or Large X'sval, but I went ahead and statted them up for later use.

X’sval
Medium Outsider (chaotic, evil, extraplanar, incorporeal); CR 2; HD: 2d8+2 (15 hp); Init +3 (+3 Dex); Spd fly 30 ft.; AC 14 (+3 Dex, +1 deflection), touch 14, flat-footed 11, Atk +2, Grapple +0, Sp/Rch 5 ft./5 ft., Atk 2 slams +5 melee (1d6 nonlethal plus 1 pt. Wisdom damage), Saves; Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +4, Str 6, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 13,
[30] Knowledge (arcane) 5 (+3), Knowledge (the planes) 5 (+3), Notice 5 (+6), Search 5 (+3), Stealth 5 (+8), Survival 5 (+6, +8 to follow tracks), Attack Finesse, Track
False Life, Confusion gaze as 2nd level Sorcerer

X’sval
Large Outsider (chaotic, evil, extraplanar, incorporeal); CR 4; HD: 4d8+4 (27 hp); Init +3 (+3 Dex); Spd fly 40 ft.; AC 13 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +1 deflection), touch 13, flat-footed 10, Atk +4, Grapple +4, Sp/Rch 10 ft./10 ft., Atk 3 slams +7 melee (1d8 nonlethal plus 1-2 pts. Wisdom damage), Saves; Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +5, Str 10, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 13, [56] Bluff 5 (+6), Decipher Script 5 (+5), Diplomacy 5 (+8, includes synergy from bluff), Knowledge (arcane) 5 (+5), Knowledge (the planes) 5 (+5), Notice 5 (+6), Search 5 (+5), Sense Motive 5 (+6), Spellcraft 5 (+5), Stealth 6 (+5), Survival 5 (+6, +8 to follow tracks), Attack Finesse, Track
False Life, Confusion gaze as 4th level Sorcerer, +1 save DCs to confusion gaze and unwholesome aura.]

X’sval appear as dull yellow glowing representations of the Yellow Sign, a central gelatinous mass with three undulating tendrils that flail out to attack nearby foes with a slam attack that strikes like a foul-smelling bludgeon, despite the incorporeal nature of the entity. When it batters someone unconscious, or comes upon a helpless, sleeping or deceased target, it settles over their face and slithers into them, possessing them from within. A possessed target has all of its own abilities, but uses the x’sval’s Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma and skills. The x’sval appears to be able to make use of any class abilities or racial traits of a possessed host. A deceased host arises as a standard Zombie of its race, using the x’sval’s mental attributes and skills, and lacking the Single Actions Only special quality of a standard Zombie. The possessing x’sval can artificially ‘push’ a host creature as a Swift Action, causing a living host to take 1 pt. of Con damage, but gain the benefits of a False Life spell. If used upon an undead host, the x’sval must expend some of its own life force to augment it’s hosts failing flesh, and it is the one that takes the Con damage.

X’sval can merge or split, as desired, into larger or smaller versions of themselves. Four small x’sval can thus spend a round merging into a single large x’sval, and a large X’sval can choose to split into a medium and two small creatures, so that it can possess multiple targets while retaining a separate presence.

X’sval can communicate with each other, their possessed hosts and chaotic or evil outsiders via telepathy with a 100 ft. range, but must communicate using other methods with other creatures.


‘Jesswin’ (possessed by an X’sval)
Human f Rogue 5; HD 5d6+5 (25 hp), Init +3, Spd 30 ft., AC 17 (+3 Dex, +4 mithral chain shirt), touch 13, flat-footed 14, Base Atk +3, Grapple +5, Atk Short Sword(s) +5 melee or +3/+3 melee (1d6+2), Dagger +3 melee (1d4+2), thrown Dagger +6 ranged or +4/+4 ranged (1d4+2), SQ Sneak Attack +3d6, trapfinding, evasion, SV Fort +2, Ref +7, Will +1, Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 13,
[72] Acrobatics 5 (+8), Appraise 0 (-4, -2 to appraise poisons), Bluff 5 (+6), Climb 2 (+4), Craft (poisonmaking) 5 (+1), Decipher Script 0 (-), Diplomacy 2 (+5, inc +2 from Bluff), Disable Device 8 (+4), Disguise 5 (+6, +8 to act in character), Escape Artist 1 (+4), Forgery 0 (-), Gather Information 5 (+8, inc +3 from Knowledge local), Intimidate 0 (+1), Jump 2 (+6, inc +2 from Acrobatics), Knowledge (local) 5 (+1), Notice 5 (+6), Perform (-) 0 (-), Profession (-) 0 (-), Search 8 (+4), Sense Motive 1 (+2), Sleight of Hand 5 (+10, inc +2 from Bluff), Stealth 8 (+11), Swim 0 (+2), Use Magic Device 0 (-), Language (Common)
Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Two-Weapon Fighting
Chain Shirt, 1 MW Dagger, 3 Daggers, 2 Short Swords, 2 doses Large Scorpion Venom (DC 14, 1d4 Con/1d4 Con)

‘Zombie’ Lucius (X’sval-ridden corpse)
Medium Undead; HD 2d8+5 (18 hp), Init +0, Spd 30 ft., AC 12 (+2 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 12, Base Atk +1, Grapple +2, Atk Slam +3 melee (1d6+2), SQ Undead Traits, SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +5, Str 12, Dex 10, Con 0, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 13, Toughness
[The X’sval can use False Life up to 3/day as a Swift Action on those it possesses. This costs the host (if living) or the X’sval (if possessing a corpse) 1 pt of Con damage.
+1 profane bonus to attack, damage, saves and +1 hp/HD, -3 to Turn Undead attempts on it

[Treat X’sval possessed corpses as Zombies with Dex 10, No Single Attack Only SQ, the mental attributes of the X’sval and as if created in a Descrated area.]

[Set]

Random setting detail, observed at the Bloom's 'herb garden.'

Snakeweed
Jungle fern, found on these islands. Common snakeweed is the leaves all mashed up and smoked. Really cheap pot, by comparison, rumored to be an aphrodisiac, but not really. Good stuff is ground up central stem, which is really good pot, and mildly aphrodisiac.

‘Bite’ is the drug made by waiting until the snakeweed has a full head of golden pollen, plucking the stalk, draining the white milk into a vial (using oil to keep it from contacting too much air and drying out), then hanging it upside down in a curtained room with no drafts, so that the pollen falls onto a pan. Drops of the white milk are daubed into the golden pollen and rolled around, pollen darkening as the milk dampens it. These little balls of milk-darkened pollen are then placed in vials or snuff boxes or whatever (preferably close to airtight, to prevent drying out). Placed under the tongue they cause intense hallucinations and euphoria, sometimes for many hours. Shared, they are said to create shared visions, and are also an intense aphrodisiac, often used by high-priced courtesans for the richest customers. (Typically shared by placing it under the customers tongue and then having a minute-long ‘deep kiss.’) Any resemblance between the hallucinations and what happened to Lucius is strictly intentional… After learning how Bite works, it would be easy to mistake what happened to him for a ‘bad trip.’

[Set]

Replacing the Blooms as the Druid's 'spiritual advisor,'

Dundoren
Male Dwarven Druid 5; CR 5; Medium Humanoid; HD 5d8+10 (38 hp), Init +0, Spd 20 ft., AC 19 (+6 magic darkwood breastplate, +3 magic hvy darkwood shield), touch 10, flatfooted 19, Base Atk +3, Grapple +4, Atk MW Shillelagh +5 melee (2d6+2 B) or magic stones +3 ranged (1d6+1 B/1d6+1 B/1d6+1 B), AL N, SV Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +7, Str 12, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 10, Craft Magic Stuff,

[40] Concentration 2 (+4), Craft (alchemy) 8 (+9), Diplomacy 0 (+0), Handle Animal 1 (+1), Heal 5 (+10, includes synergy from profession (herbalist)), Knowledge (nature) 8 (+13, includes synergy from Survival), Notice 2 (+5), Profession (herbalist) 5 (+8), Ride 0 (+0), Spellcraft 2 (+3), Survival 6 (+11, +13 in aboveground natural environments), Swim 0 (+1)

Animal (plant) Companion, nature sense, wild empathy, woodland stride, trackless step, resist nature’s lure, wild shape 1/day

Spells per day (5/3/2/1)
Spells known;
0 – Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Poison, Guidance, Purify Food & Drink
1 – Goodberry, Lesser Vigor, Charm Animals, Entangle
2 – Animal Messenger, Chill Metal, Lesser Restoration
3 – Stone Shape, Remove Disease

+1 Darkwood breastplate, MW club of Shillelagh, pouch of Goodberry (8 per day), pouch of magic stones (3/day)

Companion
Carnivorous Defender; Small Plant; HD 4d8+8 (34 hp), Init +1 (+1 Dex), Spd 20 ft., climb 20 ft., AC 16 (+1 Dex, +5 natural armor), touch 11, flatfooted 15, Base Atk +3, Grapple +5, Atk 4 thorny vines (1d2+1 S) or constriction (1d6+2 B) or bite (1d4+2 P), Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with vines), AL N, SV Fort +5, Ref +1, Will +1, Str 14, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 3, Multi-attack, Toughness, Improved Grab, [Link, Share Spells, Evasion], Escape Artist 1 (+3), Notice 2 (+3), Stealth 2 (+8, +12 in undergrowth)
+4 racial bonus to Stealth in foliage or undergrowth
Bite poison (DC 10 1d2 Dex/1d2 Dex)
Improved Grab – to use this ability, a Carnivorous Defender must hit an opponent of any size with a thorn vine attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and automatically deals bite damage and can constrict.

The Carnivorous Defender is from another Monte idea. I think it was a Druid spell in Book of Hallowed Might. I liked the idea of this plant-centric Druid / herbalist having a plant companion instead of an animal companion.

As an NPC that is unlikely to see combat, he really didn't need stats at all, but it takes me 15 minutes or so to bang these out, so I went ahead to see what he looked like. I find it easier to RP them when I know their skills and what sorts of powers they can call up.

[Set]

Slaver Dream Side-Trek;

Use the Bloody Vengeance map (p 17),
Replace Captain Scarbelly (Ftr 3) with Ftr 4/Bar 1?
Aggro (Ftr 2) with Ftr 4?
Orc Crewmen (Ftr 1) with Ftr 2?
‘pet’ Darkmantle (flies off to report to Cuttleblack?) Familiar? Fiendish with an Int 6? Darkmantle serves as ‘guard?’

Assorted children

Captain Scarbelly
Orc m Barbarian 1 / Fighter 4; HD 1d12+2 + 4d10+8 (46 hp (56 hp Raging)), Init +5, Spd 40 ft., AC 15 (13 Raging) (+1 Dex, +4 chain shirt), touch 13, flat-footed 14, Base Atk +5, Grapple +5, Atk Hand Ax(es) +8 (+10 Raging) melee or +6/+6 (+8/+8 Raging) melee (1d6+5 (1d6+7 Raging)), Dagger +8 melee (1d4+3), thrown Dagger +6 ranged (1d4+3), SQ Rage, SV Fort +8 (+10 Raging), Ref +2, Will +1 (+3 Raging), Str 16, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 12,
[12] Climb 1 (+4), Craft 0 (-), Handle Animal 0 (+1), Intimidate 4 (+5), Jump 1 (+4), Notice 3 (+3), Ride 0 (+1), Survival 2 (+2), Swim 1 (+4)
[4] Acrobatics 1 (+2), Intimidate +1 (+6), Profession (sailor) 1 (+1), Language (Orc, Common)
Extra Rage, Weapon Focus (hand axe), Exotic Weapon Proficiency (dire hand axe), Intimidating Rage, Weapon Specialization (hand axe), Improved Initiative
MW Chain Shirt, 2 MW Dire Hand Axes (1d6+2 P), 2 Daggers

Aggro – Fighter 4 (Weapon Specialization (greataxe))
Orc m Fighter 4; HD 4d10+7 (35 hp), Init +5, Spd 30 ft., AC 15 (+1 Dex, +4 chain shirt), touch 13, flat-footed 14, Base Atk +4, Grapple +9, Atk Short Sword(s) +5 melee or +3/+3 melee (1d6+2), Dagger +3 melee (1d4+2), thrown Dagger +6 ranged or +4/+4 ranged (1d4+2), SQ Rage, SV Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +1, Str 18, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
[14] Acrobatics 1 (+2), Climb 1 (+5), Craft (shipbuilding) 3 (+3), Handle Animal 1 (+1), Intimidate +1 (+1), Jump 1 (+5), Profession (sailor) 4 (+4), Swim 1 (+5), Language (Orc, Common)
Power Attack, Cleave, Weapon Focus (greataxe), Weapon Specialization (greataxe), Toughness, Improved Initiative
MW Chain Shirt, MW Greataxe, Dagger

Six to Twelve, depending on how well the party is doing...

Orc Slavers – Fighter 2 (Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bolas))
Orc m Fighter 4; HD 4d10+7 (35 hp), Init +5, Spd 30 ft., AC 15 (+1 Dex, +4 chain shirt), touch 13, flat-footed 14, Base Atk +2, Grapple +4, Atk Hand Axe +4 melee (1d6+2), Dagger +4 melee (1d4+2), thrown Dagger +4 ranged, SV Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +0, Str 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 8
[14] Acrobatics 1 (+2), Climb 1 (+5), Craft (shipbuilding) 3 (+3), Handle Animal 1 (+1), Intimidate +1 (+1), Jump 1 (+5), Profession (sailor) 4 (+4), Swim 1 (+5), Language (Orc, Common)
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bolas), Improved Initiative, Toughness
Chain Shirt, Hand Axe, Dagger, Bolas (2)

[Set]

Other Terror in Freeport encounters;

Orc ruffians
Male Orc Barbarian 1 / Fighter 1: CR 2; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d12+2 + 1d10+2 (17 hp), Init +0 (+0 Dex), Spd 40 ft., AC 13 (+0 Dex, +3 studded leather), touch 10, flatfooted 13, Base Atk +2, Grapple +5, Atk Greataxe +5 melee (1d12+3 S) or Throwing Axe +2 ranged (1d6+3 S), AL CN, SV Fort +5, Ref +0, Will -2, Str 16, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 7, Cha 6, 60 ft. Darkvision, Brute (can use Str for Intimidate), Power Attack,
[12] Climb 2 (+5), Intimidate 4 (+7), Jump 2 (+5), Notice 2 (+1), Survival 0 (-1), Swim 2 (+5), [1] Acrobatics 1 (+1)
Studded leather, greataxe, throwing axe, dagger, 15 gp

Raging stats
HD 1d12+4 + 1d10+4 (21 hp), AC 11 (+0 Dex, +3 studded leather, -2 Rage), touch 8, flat-footed 11), Atk Greataxe +7 melee (1d12 +5 S) or Throwing Axe +2 ranged (1d6+5 S), Sv Fort +7, Ref +0, Will +0, Str 20, Dex 10, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 7, Cha 6


Cal, ‘messenger boy’Male Human Rogue 2: CR 2; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d6+2 (9 hp), Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative), Spd 30 ft., AC 14 (+2 Dex, +2 leather), touch 12, flatfooted 12, Base Atk +1, Grapple +1, Atk Short sword +3 melee (1d6 S) or Dagger +3 ranged (1d4 P), AL Ne, SV Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +1, Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 12, Improved Initiative, Run, +1d6 Sneak Attack, Trapfinding, Evasion,
Acrobatics 3 (+5), Appraise 1 (+1), Bluff 5 (+6), Climb 2 (+2), Craft (forgery) 1 (+1), Diplomacy 1 (+4, *), Disable Device 1 (+1), Disguise 2 (+3, +5 to act in character), Escape Artist 2 (+4), Gather Information 3 (+5), Intimidate 0 (+3, *), Jump 2 (+2), Notice 4 (+5), Perform 2 (juggling) (+3), Search 3 (+3), Sense Motive 3 (+4), Sleight of Hand 4 (+8, *), Stealth 5 (+7), Swim 0 (+0), Use Magic Device 1 (+2)
*includes +2 synergy bonus from Bluff
Masterwork leather armor, short sword, 3 daggers, tanglefoot bag, 15 sp


Verlaine’s Guards
Male Human Fighter 2: CR 2; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d10+5 (17 hp), Init +5 (+1 Dex, +4 Imp Initiative), Spd 30 ft., AC 17 (+1 Dex, +4 chain shirt, +2 heavy wooden shield), touch 11, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +2, Grapple +3, Atk Long sword +4 melee (1d8+1 S) or Lt Crossbow +3 ranged (1d8 P), AL N, SV Fort +4, Ref +1, Will -1, Str 12, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8,
Weapon Focus (long sword), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Notice)
15 Acrobatics 5 (+6), Climb 1 (+2), Jump 1 (+2), Notice 5 (+7), Profession (soldier) 2 (+1), Swim 1 (+1)
Chain shirt, longsword, lt crossbow, 10 bolts, 5 gp


Batora
Female Human Cleric 2: CR 2; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d8+2 (12 hp), Init +4 (+0 Dex, +4 Imp Initiative), Spd 20 ft., AC 18 (+0 Dex, +6 splint, +2 heavy darkwood shield), touch 10, flatfooted 18, Base Atk +1, Grapple +2, Atk MW Greatclub +4 melee (1d10+1 B) or Lt Crossbow +1 ranged (1d8 P), AL CE, SV Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +5, Str 12, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10, Domains: Destruction, Evil, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Improved Initiative
[15] Concentration 3 (+4), Diplomacy 2 (+2), Heal 3 (+4), Knowledge (arcane) 1 (+1), Knowledge (history) 1 (+1), Knowledge (religion) 1 (+1), Knowledge (the planes) 1 (+1), Spellcraft 1 (+1), Common, Valossan
2 potions of shield of faith, 2 oils of shillelagh, 2 potions of cure light wounds, MW greatclub, splint mail, hvy darkwood shield (107 gp, 5 lbs)

[4] Degenerate Serpent Folk Berserkers
Male Serpent Person Barbarian 1: CR 1; Medium Humanoid (reptilian); HD 1d12+1 (8 hp), Init +0 (+0 Dex), Spd 40 ft., AC 14 (+1 NA, +3 studded leather), touch 10, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +1, Grapple +3, Atk Hvy Flail +3 melee (1d10+3 S) or Darts +1 ranged (1d4+2 P), AL CE, SV Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +0, Str 14, Dex 11, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 6, Power Attack, Climb 2 (+4), Craft 0 (-), Escape Artist 0 (+4, CC), Handle Animal 0 (-1), Intimidate 0 (-1), Jump 1 (+3), Notice 4 (+4), Profession 0 (-), Ride 0 (+0), Stealth 2 (+5, CC), Survival 3 (+3), Swim 0 (+10), Language (Valossan)
Hvy Flail (15 gp, 10 lbs), Studded Leather Armor (25 gp, 20 lbs)

Combat Stats while Raging (+4 Str, +4 Con, +2 Will saves, -2 AC)
HD 1d12+3 (10 hp), Init +0 (+0 Dex), Spd 40 ft., AC 12 (+1 NA, +3 studded leather, -2 Rage), touch 8, flatfooted 12, Base Atk +1, Grapple +5, Atk Hvy Flail +5 melee (1d10+5 B) or Darts +1 ranged (1d4+4 P), AL CE, SV Fort +5, Ref +0, Will +2, Str 18, Dex 11, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 6, Power Attack, Climb 2 (+6), Craft 0 (-), Escape Artist 0 (+4, CC), Handle Animal 0 (-1), Intimidate 0 (-1), Jump 1 (+5), Notice 4 (+4), Profession 0 (-), Ride 0 (+0), Stealth 2 (+5, CC), Survival 3 (+3), Swim 0 (+12), Language (Valossan)

Reikart 4th Fighter, captain of Verlaine’s personal guard, +4 2nd level Ftrs as above

Nikko (in disguise as Egil)
Male Human Rogue 1 / Cleric 2; CR 3; Medium Humanoid; HD 1d6+1 + 2d8+2 (17 hp), Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative), Spd 30 ft., AC 16 (+2 Dex, +4 mithral chain shirt), touch 12, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +1, Grapple +1, Atk Dagger +1 melee (1d4 P), Unarmed Strike +1 melee (1d4 B) or thrown Dagger +3 ranged (1d4 P), AL CE, SV Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +7, Str 10, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 12, Improved Unarmed Strike, Deflect Arrows, Improved Initiative, Trapfinding, +1d6 Sneak Attack

[36] Acrobatics 2 (+4), Appraise 1 (+1), Bluff 4 (+5), Climb 2 (+2), Craft (forgery) 1 (+1), Diplomacy 2 (+6, *), Disable Device 1 (+1), Disguise 2 (+3, +5 to act in character), Escape Artist 1 (+3), Gather Information 3 (+5), Intimidate 0 (+3, *), Jump 1 (+1), Notice 2 (+4), Search 2 (+2), Sense Motive 3 (+5), Sleight of Hand 2 (+6, *), Stealth 4 (+6), Swim 1 (+1), Use Magic Device 0 (-), Speak Language (Valossan)
*includes +2 synergy bonus from Bluff

[6] Bluff +1 (+6), Concentration 2 (+2), Heal 2 (+3), Knowledge (arcane) 0 (-), Knowledge (history) 0 (-), Knowledge (religion) 0 (-), Knowledge (the planes) 0 (-), Profession 0 (-), Spellcraft 0 (+0), Stealth +1 (+7)

Domains: Destruction, Trickery
Bolster/Rebuke/Command Undead as 2nd level Cleric

Cleric Spells (4/3+1/2+1); cure minor wounds, detect magic, light x2
Disguise self (D), command, cure light wounds x2
Invisibility (D), aid, spiritual weapon

2 potions of cure light wounds, 1 potion of disguise self (CL 3), mithril chain shirt
1 snake talisman (summon monster II, spell completion item, lasts 6 rounds, but only summons a fiendish medium viper)

[Since the party had Egil with them, and wandered into the death-trap on their own, I never used this NPC. No great loss, I didn't really like him anyway!]

Verlaine’s house

McNeil
Male Human Fighter 2: CR 2; Medium Humanoid; HD 2d10+2 (17 hp), Init +5 (+1 Dex, +4 Imp Initiative), Spd 30 ft., AC 17 (+1 Dex, +4 chain shirt, +2 heavy darkwood shield), touch 11, flatfooted 13, Base Atk +2, Grapple +4, Atk MW Longsword +6 melee (1d6+1 S) or Lt Crossbow +3 ranged (1d8 P), AL CN, SV Fort +4, Ref +1, Will -1, Str 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 8,
Weapon Focus (longsword), Toughness, Power Attack, Improved Initiative
[10] Acrobatics 4 (+5), Climb 4 (+6), Jump 2 (+4), Swim 0 (+2)
1 potion of cure light wounds, 1 flask alchemist’s fire, MW longsword, chain shirt, heavy darkwood shield, 18 gp

Slaan
Male Human Rogue 3 / Fighter 2: CR 5; Medium Humanoid; HD 3d6+3 +2d10+2 (29 hp), Init +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Imp Initiative), Spd 30 ft., AC 19 (+3 Dex, +4 mithril chain shirt, +2 ring of protection), touch 13, flatfooted 14, Base Atk +4, Grapple +4, Atk MW Short sword +9 melee (1d6 P), two MW Short Swords +7/+7 melee (1d6 P) or thrown Dagger +5 ranged (1d4 P), AL NE, SV Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +1, Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10,
Two Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (short sword), Improved Initiative, Blind-Fight, trapfinding, evasion, +2d6 Sneak Attack

[60] Acrobatics 4 (+7), Appraise 1 (+2), Bluff 5 (+5), Climb 4 (+4), Craft (forgery) 2 (+3), Diplomacy 2 (+4, *), Disable Device 5 (+6), Disguise 4 (+4, +6 to act in character), Escape Artist 2 (+5), Gather Information 5 (+5), Intimidate 4 (+6, *), Jump 4 (+4), Knowledge (local) 1 (+2), Notice 3 (+3), Search 2 (+3), Sense Motive 2 (+2), Sleight of Hand 2 (+7, *), Stealth 7 (+10), Swim 1 (+1), Use Magic Device 0 (-),
*includes +2 synergy bonus from Bluff
**includes +2 synergy bonus from Acrobatics / Jump

[8] Acrobatics +1 (+10, **), Climb +1 (+5), Craft (trapmaking) 4 (+5), Craft (poisonmaking) 1 (+2), Jump +1 (+7, **),

2 MW Short swords, mithril chain shirt, 2 potions of cure light wounds, 2 flasks of alchemist’s fire, 2 smokesticks, amulet of continual fire, +2 ring of protection

[Set]

At this point, the party has received their invitations for the Ball, and the game is on hold for the summer due to everyone's schedules being all over the place.

I intend to have all of the standard NPCs at the ball, some elven musicians, Bill Sangalapulatele and some of his pointy-toothed security men, an Ambassador from the Iovan Gnomes, Judge Cetti and her Monk bodyguard, the town Executioner.

Entering the building, the Transmuter will be expected to leave his Raven, and the Druid his Dog, in the 'cloak room,' which will also have a Flying Lizard familiar lying on a windowsill, Tarmon's toad familiar resting on a chair, a siamese cat curled up in a half-elf's lap (he is officially 'watching' the Familiars and such) and the 'familiars' of the Iovan Ambassador and his retinue, a Gargoyle and a pair of Grotesques (Small size Gargoyles), along with a very grumpy looking black and silver-robed Iovan Gnome who has been ordered to stand and make sure nobody messes with the Gargoyle-kin (or, more to the point, that the Gargoyles don't 'mess with' any of the other guests or their familiars...).

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In the party itself, the Sea Lord will introduce the 'heroes' and award them the Order of Drake (he says 'Drayse' because he's a pretentious yob, those who flatter him also say Drayse. Those who like to tweak his nose pronounce it Drake). He will make some comment about the Sea Lord manor or position, only to be snarkily corrected by Judge Cetti, who will pendantically point out that the position of Sea Lord can also be awarded to an heir of Francisco, not just an heir of Drake. Drake will snottily reply that the point is moot, since Francisco didn't spend enough of his attentions on the ladies to produce any heirs. Tittering occurs, until Cetti seizes that opening to seque into inquiring when Drake and Melkior (who, as always, is standing close enough to be mistaken for his bodyguard) will be providing Freeport with a Drake heir...

Melkior has to be held back by the Sea Lord. Melkior's wife, who was stuffing her face over at the buffet storms out in a huff. Cetti's 'bodyguard,' the city Executioner, blithely ignores this potential firestorm while Thuron diplomatically engages Cetti in chit-chat that gets her safely away from Melkior and the Sea Lord.

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Earlier in the game, the party Fighter bought a magic longsword from a young noblewoman named Arilee Stormcrest. (Actually, he traded a magic rapier and a suit of mithral chain for it.) He was unaware of her other job, and Arias Soderheim will recognize that the Fighter is wearing his family blade, which was stolen from his own home not two months ago! Awkward.

The Transmuter, training under Delinda Knorbertal, has been shown a commision that she was working on, a lovely crimson silk dress with a hand-tooled dark-brown stained leather bodice and fine golden chains around the wrist and neck (with the pectoral / neckpiece resembling a large golden spider in a web of golden chains). The Transmuter doesn't generally make dresses (and, indeed, sub-contracted the actual dress design to Alcindar), but this dress is magical and with a twist at the golden spider at the throat and a command word transforms into a sleek dark leather body suit and thieve's tools (the spider becomes a grappling hook, and the silk dress unravels into a 50' rope for climbing while the various other metal accoutrements turn into lockpicks and such).

Oh-so-conveniently, Arilee Stormcrest is not only at this party, but is wearing her newly commisioned dress, as she's 'casing the joint' and preparing for her most daring job ever, robbing the Sea Lord's Palace!

*If* the Transmuter player is on his game, he'll be able to expose her by twisting her necklace and speaking a command word, revealing her thiefly garb to the entire Ball and backing up the Fighter's assertations that Arilee was the one who sold him the stolen Soderheim heirloom! The mortally embarassed elder Stormcrest will agree to reimburse the Fighter with a different magical longsword, as Soderheim wants his family sword back.

If the Transmuter player isn't quite as quick on the draw, the Fighter might lose his sword *and* get in trouble with the law!

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The Prophet of Yig will be incorporeal. I'd rather not some quick action on the part of a PC interrupt his schpiel. :)

The Sea Lord spins the prophecy as a sign that the Serpent Folk's 'dead god' doesn't like the idea of Freeport becoming a great power (because of the Lighthouse) and overshadowing the former glory of the Valossans. (Patently false, but it plays well to the non-Serpent Folk in the room...)