So a number of you expressed interest in just WHAT is Carrion Crown. It's understandable as you all think "Gee NF, why do you post so much random info instead of just summarizing it all in neat concise paragraphs."

To which I reply "I'm lazy. That and the fact the entire Adventure Path is pretty...extensive. Each "chapter" of the story is about 30+ pages long. That's a lot of material to cover, even in D&D. So I try to just toss out snippets instead."

Now I've decided to help you kind folks out, I'll post the FIRST chapter summary for Carrion Crown. (Since that's where my PCs are currently)

Each additional part of this thread will contain a summary of each chapter followed by what the PCs are doing.

I will summarize the group and update them as players come and go. (Believe me, a year long or more campaign, people don't always make, even when it's alternating groups.)

But that will be for another thread. For now here is the brief synopsis on

       The PCs come to Ravengro to attend the funeral of an old friend, Professor Petros Lorrimor, only to become embroiled in the village's problems—the ghosts of the haunted prison on the hill are spreading down into the town. After researching the pasts of the town and prison and handling several local haunts (perhaps even recovering a stash of old ghost-hunting gear from the cemetery), the PCs head up the hill to investigate Harrowstone.

         There, they find evidence that the Whispering Way has been up to something, and that the cult's tinkering has upset the balance of things. In order to prevent the souls within the prison from escaping, the PCs must ally with the ghost of the prison warden's wife to defeat the five most dangerous spirits active within and below Harrowstone's walls.

Group A (newbies)

Josh - Thorius Ironstar (dwarven fighter) (currently 4th level) (originally from the Five Kings Mountains)

Laura (Josh's girl) - Evelyn (assimar Oracle of Flame with a few touches of Life Mystery) (previously from Caliphas)

Zach - Gruskh - Half Orc Magus with the Black Blade Archetype (formerly of a splinter tribe of the Black Sun called Black Star now defunct and current chieftain.) (homeland - Hold of Belkzen)

Ben (Holliwin) - Elven Ranger (guy that likes to do ranged attacks) (homeland - Kyonin)

James (Serrusk) - Human (Taladene pureblood) Cleric of Iomedae. (He doesn't show up in the first session.) (Homeland - Lastwall)

Mike (not the same Mike as listed below) (joins us for the last session of this chapter) - Varick - human alchemist (hails from Caliphas)

When first introduced to each other, there was some obvious tension between the dwarf and the half orc. (Probably because the Half Orc tends to be a jerk.) However they do manage to band together well as they see that their friend, Professor Lorrimor, service is being disrupted by a band of rather not so nice local ruffians that are calling him a "nigromancer"
After a little hesistation, they fight. No one dies but Father Vauran Grimburrow, the local high priest of Pharasma, comes in and fixes people up. The group gets worried but Father Grimburrow berates the ruffians and tells them off royally.

The PCs then proceed to go about seeing the services. They do decently (With Evelyn giving an exceptional speak along with Thorius) The time for the will comes but before that, they are given the chance to "spend some time" before the will is read. This is when they notice (after I pull each aside) some strange happenings going on. Thorius gets attacked by a sphere of blueish light after seeing to the local forge. (1 HP of damage.)  Evelyn sees the sight of blood and the letter V painted on everywhere in the library. Which vanishes. Holliwin (who is also near by) is nearly scared out of his mind as a strange ghostly hand scratches the windowpane in the same house as the Library. (It leaves the letter V on it.)
Finally, the Half Orc dreams of fire, and imprisonment while sleeping outside.

They all gather together, talk it out. Then comes the reading of the will. It helps to show the PCs that perhaps Lorrimor's death wasn't as accidental as some might think. Even so they agree to the will's terms and also decide to start doing research. We end the session with the PCs finding out some on the Whispering Way and Harrowstone (on the following day) but not before the local monument dedicated to the victims of Harrowstone fire, is desecrated by someone writing, in blood, the Letter V. (It doesn't come off, even after the blood has clearly dried.) The locals start getting scared. They also meet with the Church and learn about how things are done with Councilman Heartmount.

Group B (The Vets plus two newbies)

Sarah - Katarina (female dhampir sorcerer (with Undead/Sanguine Bloodline) Oracle of Life (A life long resident of Caliphas and distant cousin of Mickey.) (currently 2 levels of sorcerer/two of oracle.)

Ben (Yes same Ben as above. I only had three PCs before James. He was a way to get 4. Plus he helps with stuff.) - Horgart Mickey Gossemburg, nickname Mickey male dhampir (with the young template) Bard with the Archeologist archetype. (Also from Caliphas. Looks 7 years old but is MUCH older than he appears.) (currently 4th level.)

William - Drake (Male Human Monk) (hails from the mysterious island of Herma. Devout Atheist.) (Currently 4th level.)

Mike - Vickius - male halfling alchemist. (Hails from the River Kingdoms.) (Enjoys blowing stuff up.)

Rob (recently joined the group after the third session) - Name escapes me - male human paladin of Iomedae. (Hails from Lastwall) (see a theme here with late joiners and divine spellcaster?)  

Unlike the previous group, no one here was that interested in interparty conflicts. Indeed they were more interested in seeing what was going on. They were gravely suspicious about the fact Professor Lorrimor's service having him being covered. They also had difficulty with the locals, (as described above.) but didn't kill anyone. Indeed they did a much better job of NOT killing than they did of killing. That being said, they clearly didn't like the 'in game' haunts I used along with the one "Flaming Card" trick. (A harrow deck mysteriously caught on fire, and died out after 30 seconds.) They also deduced quickly that Professor Lorrimor was murdered. They did however spend time doing the research. (Along with several encounters that the other group did, seeing the children sing a creepy song about the fire of Harrowstone and the prisoners.) They also managed (after a little help from Mickey) to give back the stuff they found at the graveyard. (Both groups did enter there WITH permission from one of the councilmen. Group A (with the great aid of Evelyn's....assests) by Hearthmount. Group B thanks to Garius.) (Both enounctered undead.) They also found the desecration at the monument. (Along with being berated by Hearthmount.)

So...how does this help for people that might want to know what's going on...

Or comparison of group styles. ?

Seriously, do I need to write more? Cause I can. I mean those are just two groups that have done one session (5+ hours) of gaming.

Don't have time to read this today, but I did bookmark it and will give it a read later. Tomorrow, probably.

Thanks for sharing.

Yes, this is good. Did you want comments on some specific feature?

How well detailed is the town, and can the PCs recruit followers or assistants from the local population to help them deal with the ghosts? Also, why can't the PCs demolish the prison from the get go if it's a source of evil shit?

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;485680Yes, this is good. Did you want comments on some specific feature?

Specific, general. Whatever.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;485680How well detailed is the town

Very well detailed. If you want me to show a picture I can upload it. So it will show up at the bottom.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;485680Can the PCs recruit followers or assistants from the local population to help them deal with the ghosts?

Well understand the local populace isn't that equipped to deal with spectral undead. Father Grimburrow is a fairly high level NPC cleric (7th level) but his concerns are generally more towards tending to the town's needs, not out hunting ghosts. Otherwise there is very little high level PCs in a thorp size town.

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;485680Also, why can't the PCs demolish the prison from the get go if it's a source of evil shit?

Two reasons. One they are first level (at least when they start out.) More importantly, the prison isn't just some "random building" It's a HUGE place, with four underground prison wings. Destroying them would take considerable effort. Again I'll upload a picture for you of Harrowstone.

Here's the entirity of Harrowstone inside


As you can see it's a pretty damn big building and thus destroying it would akin to destroying a small city.

As you can see it's a pretty damn big building and thus destroying it would akin to destroying a small city.

So maybe I should continue? I would but I wanted to see more replies other than mine.

Quote from: Nightfall;485616So...how does this help for people that might want to know what's going on...

Or comparison of group styles. ?

Again, thanks.

A few questions:

How many sessions have these groups completed? It sounds like you've really just got underway. Did you have a chargen session? (If you have a thread on that, apologies for missing it, but do link me up.)

You mentioned the haunts not working with group B. Did you use the same ones as with group A? And if they worked with the latter, how so? How did they react? What reactions are you looking for?

I am somewhat skeptical of how well haunts would work with my players. Hence my curiousity.

Quote from: FASERIP;485926A few questions:

And I have a few answers!

Quote from: FASERIP;485926How many sessions have these groups completed?

Well let's see...I started on September 4th for Group A. (Pretty sure about that.) And Group B started the following week (I believe that's the but it might have been 17th. Not sure.) I'm reasonable sure both have either 4 or 5 sessions. I know I've ran at least 11 total.

Quote from: FASERIP;485926It sounds like you've really just got underway.

Well kind of. I mean Group B, they're just about done with the deep dungeon level. Splatter man and the Mosswater Maurader are all that are left. For Group A, I expect them to fully dispel two if not three haunts this Sunday.

Quote from: FASERIP;485926Did you have a chargen session? (If you have a thread on that, apologies for missing it, but do link me up.)

I did. But only in the sense I spent time online with them. I didn't sit down with lots of PCs. I did spend...maybe one day with a handful of PCs. The newbies had my right hand man Ben helping them along.

Quote from: FASERIP;485926You mentioned the haunts not working with group B. Did you use the same ones as with group A?

Pretty much. I basically ran Group A as a kind of "test run' for Group B in places. That being said, Group A often comes further in plot while Group B goes further along with killing stuff.

Quote from: FASERIP;485926If they worked with the latter, how so?

For starters I didn't have a monk. Also Group A is newbies and they aren't optimizing their characters like my Vets are in Group B.

Quote from: FASERIP;485926How did they react?

Group A reacted pretty much as I expected. They did a decent job in fighting off some haunts, but mostly the ones where they had to make Will saves, the DC was too low for me to do much as I wanted. (Course in doing Character Gen, the lowest scores I have for most of them are 12 I believe.)

Quote from: FASERIP;485926What reactions are you looking for?

Mostly I was looking for "Holy shit! We're screwed!" That being said, the Haunts for Father Charaltan and the Piper weren't bad. They just could have been beefed up by the fact more minions/smaller ongoing encounters could have worked.

Quote from: FASERIP;485926I am somewhat skeptical of how well haunts would work with my players. Hence my curiousity.

Haunts work fine. My only major gripe with them comes from how low the DC is for some effects. If these were actual creatures...I think the DC might have been higher. That being said, I'm still okay with most of the haunts. I just am convinced low level haunts (anything under a CR 3) are not nearly challenging to a well made out character than say, some sub-optimal PCs. Higher level haunts (I'd say in the CR range of 5 to 10) are about where they should be. CR 10+ are pretty darn powerful and fun.

Alright so here's the setup for 'day 2" for each group:

Both Group A and B have come to the conclusion they need more information on the five prisoners/evil spirits of Harrowstone. However they both also realize they need to win over the local populace to determine how much information they can receive. So after both received word of a town meeting, they attended. This is ALSO where our two new players, (James who is our Half Elf Cleric of Iomedae for Group A and Rob our Paladin of Iomeade with the Undead Hunter Archetype) join in. Both came in as "exorcists" specialists. (Not exactly a tough sell thankfully.) They both were presented as "saviors."

As the town council meeting went on, more and more people went into a panic about the strange goings on (from disappearing livestock, to some that had been killed in mysterious and unnatural ways, to household pets and crows attacking the peoples.) It was then the "tipping" point occurred. The oil lamps in the town hall exploded and proceeded to catch everything on fire. The PCs then had following options: put out the fire using non flammable material; help with the rescue of those on fire; or run away.  


Here's the major difference in the scenerio for each group: Group A had the good fortunate DM error on the fact that a decanter of endless water DOES NOT cost 2,000 gp. In fact it costs nearly all the starting gold for a 5th level PC! Yeah. I was shocked too. Don't believe me? See here:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/c-d/decanter-of-endless-water

Anyway so Sukril (James' character) pulled it out of his backpack and managed (even with a few bad rolls to hit) to put out the fire. In the interim, four flaming belching skulls came through the windows The dwarf and the Oracle (Evelyn and Thorius) managed to direct traffic, while the ranger (Houlwin) and Gruskh dealt with the flaming skulls.


Group B on the other hand, couldn't do much even though I did mention they should have water on hand. Apparently though it wasn't enough to save the town hall. (Though the villagers did survive.)

So I'm thinking DM intervention might have been the only way to save the town hall...even though they ARE right by a river. (That or they needed a cleric to cast "create water" maybe...)

Naturally after spending three days of research, both groups felt they had all they needed to take on the five prisoners and Harrowstone. So off they went. Both groups dealt with the haunts and the rat swarms with pretty good efficiency. The warden's house didn't really injure anyone. However Group B, instead of going through the front door, went up along the side where the haunted animated scythe was and thanks to a good roll (DC 30 Disable Device check), they entered into the second floor. It was there they encountered a large host of skeletons and stirges. This occurred also while the Piper of Illmarsh haunt was active. Thanks to the paladin touching the walls, he managed to destroy the haunt. But NOT before the monk found the remains of Father Charaltan. This led him to be haunted by it. The following session, I introduced Nate's character (who's name escapes me) a changeling Ranger with THREE Archetypes: Falconer, Infiltrator and Scout. The PCs explored more of the second floor but found nothing of interest. They did however find out Drake, the monk, (William's character) was haunted by the spirit of Father Charaltan. However since the haunt wasn't active, they couldn't actually harm it.

So they went down stairs. After a few other encounters that didn't amount to much (in terms of making PCs either dead or badly wounded.) the spiders they found in the chapter managed to wound Drake enough to cause him to fall over. I told William his character was dead. I then proceeded to tell him about the fact his character awoke to a strange red-haired priest of Pharasma. He of course didn't believe it and tried to interact with it. I made him roll me three Will saves. He made two. That was enough for me to make him come back in to rejoin the group and the fight. So after they dealt with the spiders, the PCs managed to banish Father Charalton. A few strange encounters later, the PCs managed to contact Vesorianna. (Though they did pick a fight with her. I decided to not let her undead status do anything. Plus they only cast disrupt undead, not any serious spells.) They proceeded to descend down the only entrance to the dungeons/prison wings: A hole in one of the rooms. There, after a few small encounters, they found the Lopper. Let me say this: IF your PCs AREN'T prepared for spectral undead, (or in this case, the party paladin isn't there!), the Lopper can SERIOUSLY do damage. Unlike a normal wraith, his touch attack allows him to HEAL the damage he inflicts via doing negative energy AND bleed effect. In any case thanks to some good work by both Vickus (Michael's halfling alchemist) throwing holy water and disrupt undead by Katarina, (Sarah's Sorcerer2/Oracle of Life 2), the Lopper was defeated. HOWEVER I did manage to drop Nate's character to almost 0 HP. (5 hp...) It was...memorable.   Their next session comes this Sunday (October 30th) so it should be interesting!

Group A however dealt primarily with the ground floor, where the poltergeist managed to scare Gruskh and cause him to run out the door. Later on, (a following session for Group A) They managed to break the lock on door leading to the property room where they found loot and cursed items! They also managed to make peaceful contact with the spirit of Vesorianna, the wife of the Warden. She told them of Petros murder, along with the spirits. She also informed them that the cursed items belonging to the five prisoners had properties that might harm them (The ghosts) along with the wielder. After that, they broke for the next session. The following session, they came VERY well prepared along with having a new PC join them. Michael's character Varick the human alchemist. (I know. Another one! If they weren't anything alike (or at least not the same players.) I'd be convinced I was running the same game!) Anyway he hooked up with the PCs. They proceeded to decimate the second floor with ease. (Taking out the Piper's Haunt but NOT before I managed to get Gruskh caught in one of the haunt's effects. (Shaken and then Hold Person.) ) Evelyn made the error of coming into the room where Father Charalton had died. Thus she because haunted.

Fortunately they didn't have any encounters on the way down since they had already taken care of the near by haunts with some positive energy. (Mostly the cleric using a few cures.) (Everyone bought a lot of potions and had some scrolls). The fight with the Lopper went about what I expect. (Though I had hoped to kill a PC. But I did badly wound a few.) Then I ran the encounter with Father Charalton who, because Evelyn got close and was attacked by the Lopper, became the subject of the haunt. Fortunately she wasn't out long and the fight with the Lopper was pretty one sided. (Ghost touch arrows man...)

Grushk and Thorius have an ongoing rivalry (since the half orc is kind of a jerk...) and part of the fun is watching them do things to each other. (Not KILL each other, but at least pull pranks and/or do a game of one upsmanship.) This led to Thorius (who had promised earlier to toss the Half Orc down the hole) to try to do that and they all ended up falling down the hole with Howiln (who had been on a roped HELD by Grushk the half orc.) Gruskh decided to pay back Thorius for this slight and thus PUSHED him into the hole where the Lopper's body was. He fell but survived the fall. Coming back up the rope Holwin used, Gruskh then proceeded to urinate  on Thorius. Thorius took exception to that and PULL Gruskh by his unit DOWN the hole. So much fun was had falling holes!

After that they tried to open the cell block where the Splatter Man was. However that was impossible as the iron portcullis was down and locked. Plus the only winch in there was broken. Fun ensue when they tried to use the Mosswater Maurader's hammer. Hiliary ensued as first Thorius to kill Varick only to have Varick swipe the hammer and then try to kill Thorius! Then they went to next cellblock where they were met with strong resistance by the spirit of the Mosswater Marauder. It went good for them since they concentrated on the skulls instead of the haunt. (Though the Marauder DID get one hit in...) They found a secret stash behind the table where the Marauder had died. There thanks to using the keys, they found a grand stash of stuff.

Next came the torture room. Fortunately they managed to disable the haunted Iron Maiden and find the badge of Office from the Warden's body. Then they found a secret passage, fought a gray ooze. Then came Splatter man. Thorius was the first affected by it, and thankfully his 'rage" and attacking dealt enough damage to effectively kill the haunt. However it was late in the evening and our FLGS owner wanted to go home. So Splatter man didn't make it a round (even though the ranger only used undead bane arrows, NOT Ghost touched!) But I counted it as a win...and I can always run it again next session.

Thus for Group A, they have complete Chapter 1 and are now moving on to chapter 2!

look I know this might be a long shot...but how about some feed back? Seriously?