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| Wyrmlord Saarvith |
Here is the Chapter 2B Conversion doc, and here is the Starsong Hill doc.
Starsong Hill
I ended up doing a separate writeup for Starsong Hill, even though there's not a ton there, as we do want the PCs to have a place to gear up!
I created a set list of items that I thought made sense to be available for trade, because 1. I don't think everything should be available, and 2. that's the sort of thing that's a lot of work for GMs to improvise. Of course, feel free to add things you think the players will specifically want!
I also added an idea not in the original module, which is that the Tiri Kitor are self-sufficient enough that they don't have much use for money, but are happy to trade for useful or pretty things! As such, gold and silver coins are only worth half as much to them (they'll probably melt it down to craft things), but magic items or other treasure can be traded at (roughly) full value! You can also use vibes instead of monetary value depending on what's easier for you as a GM.
Finally, while combat breaking out with the leaders of the Tiri Kitor is unlikely, if that looks to change in your game you might want to add bard spells to Sellyria Starsinger or change Illian Snowmantle's spells to be more nature themed. Make sure to apply the Tiri Kitor Adjustment listed in the doc, both to these two and any other NPCs you add!
Starsong Hill Sidequests
If you want the PCs to spend more time getting to know folks here (and earn another chance to earn Alliance Points - feel free to award an extra 1-3 per side quest), here are some quick ideas for sidequests:
- The elves need the essence of moonshade to properly conduct Lanikar's funeral, but patrols are stretched too thin! It only grows in the grove of the Tar Tree, so PCs will have to be either very quick or clever to avoid a fight.
- A smaller nearby village has gone silent - some necromantic influence has turned many of them into Bog Mummies! Maybe there's a Bog Mummy Amalgamation from the ruling family, or a Bog Mummy Cultist who caused all this (a servant of the Ghostlord, looking for his Phylactery? A result of horrific experimentations on the part of the Red Hand?)
- There are reports of goblins in the area, roaming the swamp! Turns out they are actually refugees fleeing the hand, and trying to organize a resistance - potential allies!!
- Along similar lines, Orcs from the North are patrolling the swamp, investigating the harrowblade incursions onto their lands - they are inclined to stay out of the war, but could pretty reasonably be persuaded to fight against the Hand's advance if the party makes a lengthy side trek North to do diplomacy...
- A big scary monster lurks in the swamp! Dire Crocodile? Dracolisk? (related to the Hand?) Dread Wraith? (A servant of the Ghostlord?)
The Blackfens
Greenspawn Razorfiends are extremely important for this chapter. I based them off Old Thrasher who I used in Strength of Thousands, and gave them a Spring Attack ability (based on the Giant Monitor Lizard's ability) and a Breath Weapon. I also gave them some Infernal weaknesses/resistances in order to foreshadow some of the devil/Tiamat shit and encourage folks to potentially get Silver weapons down the line.
Random Encounters. Like the Witchwood, these are Bad and should be Avoided. They're also much more straightforwardly "things that want you dead" rather than "potentially interesting but probably still bad situations". 10 XP per random encounter (5 XP if you're level 7+), whether you successfully escape or kill it or trick it or whatever.
Blockade. Mostly converted this one straight! We get to use troops though which is fun. Won't have time for much more of that.
Blackfens Sidequest: Mad Mage's Manor
There's a throwaway line on page 52 that says the Razorfiend "plundered a ruined wizard's manor not far off" - the first time I ran this, I turned it into a little mini dungeon! There were mimic couches that just wanted to make sitters comfortable, a talking (broken) door that was very lonely and three of those rolling library ladders that were absolutely sick of each others company, a golem, some fun magic items, and a ruined laboratory (that had some fun uncommon formulas for our alchemist) - I might do a full writeup at some point, it was a fun little location! But at this point I don't have it written up in a useable format as it was just hand-sketched notes, but could be fun to integrate in your game!
The Ruins of Rhest
The Red Hand at Rhest are an active threat that will respond like a military force. They have made nice with the Lizardfolk, who have historically clashed with the Tiri Kitor, and have a lookout post (the Bell Tower) about 500 feet away from the main base in the Town Hall. If the party don't try to disguise their approach, they will be seen, and the alarm will be raised. If they approach from the Northeast from the North in a boat at night, they might be able to get to the Town Hall, but any fighting there will likely trigger the alarm. Maybe it will be too late at that point, however! Make sure to read through the sections on pages 56-59, they have a lot of really useful setup info.
These encounters are individually on the easier side. The Belltower is severe, but it's also isolated from the rest so the PCs can likely heal up at least a little if they go for it first. If they go at night and successfully take it out without raising the alarm, leave and come back, or sneak up to the main area without hitting the belltower, they might be able to do a sneak attack! In which case they can likely take the encounters one at a time, and might do some solid damage before needing to retreat. There are also a fair number of healing potions in the Town Hall in case they need to heal up quickly - feel free to add more if the PCs are really struggling!
The big loss condition is the alarm being raised before the PCs have caused enough chaos. Page 58 has some excellent walk throughs of when this might happen, but remember too that if folks in the Bell Tower notice the PCs they will raise the alarm right at the start of the fight, and the Wyrmlord on Dragonback might come investigate... There is a strong chance the PCs will have to attack multiple times, retreat, etc.
Lastly for this section, I recommend having different groups behave differently during different parts of day:
- The Ogres and Ettins sleep through the Morning.
- Saarvith and Regiarix go hunting each Afternoon for several hours.
- Everyone starts asleep during the Night other than a few guards - two ogres remain on the Boardwalk, and 2 of the Hobgoblins in the Belltower are on watch. If the alarm is raised, it takes 2 rounds for folks to rouse and start moving towards the threat, but 5 minutes to put on armor.
Monster Conversions
To save time, I didn't do any actual converting this time, but if you wanted to get more specific you could!
Kulkor Zhul Mindbenders use the Cult Leader stats. Cult Lore becomes lore about the Red Hand and Tiamat, as does the Incomprehensible Book. Protect the Master! works for any Hobgoblin minions (or other loyal servants like the Ettin). Cut Gather Converts, and replace it with Telepathy 100 ft.
I had Wyrmlord Saarvith be a normal Level 7 Hunter, and gave him a Giant Eagle instead of an eagle familiar because I really like him riding on stuff, but riding on the Dragon gets crazy FAST.
Finally, I made Regiarix Elite so that he wouldn't be weaker than Ozyrrandian, which woulda felt lame. This makes him an extremely difficult fight for Level 6 characters, however, with the amount of room he has to fly around the lake.
Expanding the Lizardfolk
In the actual module, it feels kinda weird how unimportant the Lizardfolk are. Seems like big "all the monster people are evil" kinda vibe, which is not my favorite. I think it'd be rad to expand this - add actual characters and politics and stuff, including more powerful NPCs so all the Lizardfolk aren't just weaklings - but that's beyond the scope of this conversion. Maybe I'll do a suplemental article at some point! HMU on reddit (u/hauk119) of you'd be interested in that.
More importantly, I recommend making them obey the Red Hand primarily out of fear, rather than loyalty - perhaps their bodies are the basis for the Harrowblades, with an infernal ritual merging their soul with that of a foul Devil? This way, the PCs have a chance to win them over or at least get them to stand aside, rather than only being able to sneak past or kill them.
Connecting Fall of Plaguestone
If you played The Fall of Plaguestone first, and either the Sculptor or some of his Hobgoblin Alchemist sidekicks escaped, this would be a great place to bring them back! In this case, Rhest serves not only as a Razorfiend hatchery, but also as a place for vile experimentations as the Hand tries to develop a weaponized version of Vilree's final weapon that, if the Players don't stop it, will be deployed at Brindol. You can either add a 3rd building in the lake where the Alchemists work, put them in the Belltower, or replace the Mindbender.
That's all for now! Next time, we'll be moving Southwest to the Thornwastes to see what that nasty little Ghostlord is up to. See you then!
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