So in preparation for running IWD I've decided the sacrifices and Sephek Kaltro content is not the best. Without going into the reasons why here's my rough ideas for adjusting the material.
Sephek. No info from Hilm. 1st encounter is seeing Sephek walking by in one of the larger cities. He makes eye contact and eludes players if they follow. Two murders have occurred at this point but the players have yet to learn about them. The victims are prominent citizens because Sephek believes he can do more damage to the ten towns by causing anarchy than adjudicating lottery cheats. The town leaders will post wanted posters with a reward of say 200gp. Then it would be up to the players to investigate. A tavern patron will know victim name and location and players should go to scene of crime to investigate. At the scene reluctant witness will give suspect description. The hunt is on now. Next time the party is at a tavern and npc will burst in announcing "there's been a murder". Now the chase is on.
My players are 3rd level so I will keep Sephek s stats about the same but add 18 dex to boost AC. If Sephek is down to 40% HP I will have him Misty step and escape for further encounters.
I've been running it as a murder mystery, but my players keep going and doing something else instead! By the time they work it out he will of killed 1000s! LOL
I think your adjustments are reasonable. I can't speak to the stat block, because I never actually went up against him.
When I played this module, my DM made Sephek a mysterious figure. We didn't even learn his name until we cornered him to arrest him. All we knew is that there was a guy killing people and he was seen acting suspiciously near two murder scenes. We chased him down, and he surrendered without a fight. He was eerily calm and cooperative and waxed poetic about the Frostmaiden...and when we got ambushed by duergar in the middle of the night, he used that opportunity to Misty Step away. Because realistically, we level 2 babies weren't a threat to him and he just wanted to be with his goddess.
Aw man that sucks. What are the details of your murder mystery?
In chapter 1 they were pretty much following Torg's, by their choice, not mine, and at each destination there had been a murder, of a lottery dodger, or someone related to arranging lottery dodging. Each body is found with a cut throat and an icy dagger in their heart.
They have worked out that the murderer is obviously the same person, but then they get sidetracked by something else and deal with those threads instead. They have actually traded twice with Torg, and have met Sephek. There is also a mad monk that they meet every so often that goes on about the "The Gray Walker; Brother Blue; "He sees your betrayal with HER eyes." "Cold doesn't bother him; cold doesn't bother anybody. He travels here and there they say. Eyes like the ice of a dagger."
It'll come back around before they end their game, as one of them in inadvertently dodging the lottery themselves :) I'll just have to turn the dials a bit on the sta block so it's a challenge at whatever level they are when it goes down. (they are level 4 now!)
Ha. That's funny how your players get distracted and don't finish Sephek off. I can picture you at the table rolling your eyes as your players pan yet another opportunity to kill Sephek
That's interesting. Did you enjoy how your dm ran it.
Yeah, it was fine. Our DM made the whole adventure very PC-centric, though; at the time, the paladin (who was a member of Bryn Shander's city watch) was falsely accused of rigging the lottery and banished, so us finding the true person responsible for the deaths was pretty personal. We caught Sephek and locked him up in Easthaven, and we intended to parade him in front of Ten Towns to clear the pally's name...but the duergar fight Sephek escaped in was nearly a TPK and we lost two PCs. With our captive gone, we decided to pursue the duergar threat instead, and Sephek disappeared from the campaign.
To be honest, though, we all thought the module as-written was a hot mess. I loved the campaign for the setting and the story it ended up becoming, and my DM did a ton of work to make it enjoyable, but I think it requires reconstructive surgery on the DM's part to make it logical and fun. Best of luck to you and your players!
The module as written is a hot mess. I'm having to all sorts of reconstructive surgery. Glad to hear that others have the same opinion. There's good things to work with but alot is ridiculous. It's like the module was not beta tested and rushed to publication. The sea monster in Bremen is another example. Why would my players hop in an unseawothy boat into frigid waters just for a few coppers?
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So in preparation for running IWD I've decided the sacrifices and Sephek Kaltro content is not the best. Without going into the reasons why here's my rough ideas for adjusting the material.
Sephek. No info from Hilm. 1st encounter is seeing Sephek walking by in one of the larger cities. He makes eye contact and eludes players if they follow. Two murders have occurred at this point but the players have yet to learn about them. The victims are prominent citizens because Sephek believes he can do more damage to the ten towns by causing anarchy than adjudicating lottery cheats. The town leaders will post wanted posters with a reward of say 200gp. Then it would be up to the players to investigate. A tavern patron will know victim name and location and players should go to scene of crime to investigate. At the scene reluctant witness will give suspect description. The hunt is on now. Next time the party is at a tavern and npc will burst in announcing "there's been a murder". Now the chase is on.
My players are 3rd level so I will keep Sephek s stats about the same but add 18 dex to boost AC. If Sephek is down to 40% HP I will have him Misty step and escape for further encounters.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
I've been running it as a murder mystery, but my players keep going and doing something else instead! By the time they work it out he will of killed 1000s! LOL
Aw man that sucks. What are the details of your murder mystery?
I think your adjustments are reasonable. I can't speak to the stat block, because I never actually went up against him.
When I played this module, my DM made Sephek a mysterious figure. We didn't even learn his name until we cornered him to arrest him. All we knew is that there was a guy killing people and he was seen acting suspiciously near two murder scenes. We chased him down, and he surrendered without a fight. He was eerily calm and cooperative and waxed poetic about the Frostmaiden...and when we got ambushed by duergar in the middle of the night, he used that opportunity to Misty Step away. Because realistically, we level 2 babies weren't a threat to him and he just wanted to be with his goddess.
In chapter 1 they were pretty much following Torg's, by their choice, not mine, and at each destination there had been a murder, of a lottery dodger, or someone related to arranging lottery dodging. Each body is found with a cut throat and an icy dagger in their heart.
They have worked out that the murderer is obviously the same person, but then they get sidetracked by something else and deal with those threads instead. They have actually traded twice with Torg, and have met Sephek. There is also a mad monk that they meet every so often that goes on about the "The Gray Walker; Brother Blue; "He sees your betrayal with HER eyes." "Cold doesn't bother him; cold doesn't bother anybody. He travels here and there they say. Eyes like the ice of a dagger."
It'll come back around before they end their game, as one of them in inadvertently dodging the lottery themselves :) I'll just have to turn the dials a bit on the sta block so it's a challenge at whatever level they are when it goes down. (they are level 4 now!)
Ha. That's funny how your players get distracted and don't finish Sephek off. I can picture you at the table rolling your eyes as your players pan yet another opportunity to kill Sephek
That's interesting. Did you enjoy how your dm ran it.
Yeah, it was fine. Our DM made the whole adventure very PC-centric, though; at the time, the paladin (who was a member of Bryn Shander's city watch) was falsely accused of rigging the lottery and banished, so us finding the true person responsible for the deaths was pretty personal. We caught Sephek and locked him up in Easthaven, and we intended to parade him in front of Ten Towns to clear the pally's name...but the duergar fight Sephek escaped in was nearly a TPK and we lost two PCs. With our captive gone, we decided to pursue the duergar threat instead, and Sephek disappeared from the campaign.
To be honest, though, we all thought the module as-written was a hot mess. I loved the campaign for the setting and the story it ended up becoming, and my DM did a ton of work to make it enjoyable, but I think it requires reconstructive surgery on the DM's part to make it logical and fun. Best of luck to you and your players!
The module as written is a hot mess. I'm having to all sorts of reconstructive surgery. Glad to hear that others have the same opinion. There's good things to work with but alot is ridiculous. It's like the module was not beta tested and rushed to publication. The sea monster in Bremen is another example. Why would my players hop in an unseawothy boat into frigid waters just for a few coppers?