One of the things I’ve been wanting to do since I started Council of Thieves is a one-shot with the lower level Children of Westcrown. I wanted something that would fit the plot, but that was still something appropriate for them: Not too central, not too heroic, but still meaningful.

Because I didn’t feel like plunking down cash on a bunch of scenarios, I looked in my library for one that could work. Tide of Morning was about the right level, so I started reworking that.

From Paizo’s site:

Venture-Captain Dennel Hamshanks sends you to convince an Andoren druid named Hemzel to allow the Pathfinder Society to study his recently discovered lorestone, a minor magical item that unlocks some of the mysteries of the ancient Andoren druid circles. When you arrive and find Hemzel murdered and the lorestone missing, you must race against time to recover the lorestone and stop Hemzel’s murderers from using it against the druids of Andoran.

What I changed

The names, premise, and location, of course, had to be changed. Instead of Hamshanks, I had the request come from the visiting Pathfinder, Ailyn.

The new premise:

After returning from the Asmodean Knot, the Children of Westcrown are approached by Ailyn Ghontasavos (a visiting Pathfinder) about a delicate issue regarding a druid and an item of great power.

Years ago, a druid named Hezmel came into possession of a lorestone. Lorestones are vast magical repositories of druidic knowledge embedded in small stones. Studying lorestones provides information on natural phenomena such as weather patterns and seasonal changes, but can also unlock a deeper truth. Those who unlock these truths gain access to the lorestone’s true powers hidden within.

A group of Pathfinders caught wind of the lorestone and overstepped their bounds in trying to acquire it. According to them, they simply had a conversation with Hezmel that went poorly. Whatever actually happened, Hezmel fled to Chelliax, where the Pathfinders would hesitate to follow.

Ailyn has gotten word that Hezmel has settled disturbingly close to Westcrown, and she worries that the powers that be might take an interest in this lorestone. Hezmel has likely assumed that his proximity to the Hagwood will keep the city’s forces at bay, but he is woefully ignorant of what the city will risk for an interesting artifact.

Because the more experienced members of the group are unavailable, she has asked if some of less tried members can attempt to quietly warn Hezmel away. While she wouldn’t turn down a chance to add the lorestone to one of the Pathfinder lodges, all she asks is that the Children of Westcrown convince Hezmel to move his new circle further away from the prying eyes of Westcrown.

I also tweaked the motivations of the main villain, Cyflymder, to work with the AP cannon. Before the Council of Thieves AP begins, the hags of Hagwoods were involved with the Council of Thieves. Two of them were killed in a cover-up, and one fled. While the AP has her going back to the Hagwood, I’m opting to place her elsewhere. Since their murders / disappearance, there have been a number of fights due to the power vacuum, with Cyflymder being the latest pretender.

The ending is also slightly different, with Ailyn giving Vitti a month to study the artifact, allowing him to re-class as a druid. After Book Three is complete, she’ll be taking her leave of Westcrown and (theoretically) taking the lorestone with her.

The mains goal of this session are to get Vitti converted to a druid and to plant the seed that the remaining hag of the Hagwoods may have some information that could benefit the rebels (which will come up in the book, The Mother of Flies).

Getting started

I laid out the premise for this session right after the PCs returned from The Asmodean Knot. Due to their new fame, they’re being watched carefully, so it would be best if they spent a month being as boring as possible (this also allowed the players to use the downtime rules to re-class, start a business, and build a temple). They were asked to pick four of the rebels to go, with Jeniven and Areal suggesting Vitti, Sclavo, and Rizzardo. The PCs chose to send Amaya as a diplomat.

I made sure to suggest Sclavo, since one of the most important puzzles includes using the linguistics skill, and he’s the only rebel who’s trained in that. The puzzle could also be solved with comprehend languages or by someone who can speak Druidic, but that didn’t apply to any of the rebels they were likely to send (one of the PCs already had plans for Tarvi).

I sent the Hero Lab portfolios to the players, telling them that they could change the characters’ archetype, but not their base class. They could also outfit the characters with whatever was in the rebels’ armory, but if they bought something, they’d need to tell me where the cash came from (the rebels, outside of Tarvi and Yakopulio, live pretty much hand-to-mouth).

How’d it go?

It went really well! It offered a nice break from the characters everyone had been playing for so long, and everyone was able to give the character they were controlling their own spin.

One thing I didn’t expect: The characters left through the sewers, and I had zero maps / encounter tables at the ready for that. I ended up hand-waving that portion since the meat of the adventure was to be had outside of the city.

What would I change?

I would absolutely have sewers maps ready! In fact, this is something I’m going to have on hand from now on, just in case. I would also find another way to keep track of time. Most of our sessions take place in areas where time isn’t really an issue, but for this encounter, it could potentially change the final encounter quite a bit.

Overall, I feel like it was a solid scenario that I could see inserting into many a campaign, changing the lorestone as needed.