Chapter 7: Trust Issues
I used this chapter for
character development. I let the characters know up front all of the NPCs they
could talk to after an initial conversation with the Princess. I then let each
character choose an NPC they want to speak with one on one. Once everyone had
spoken with one person, I ran an event with Topolah and a Deck of Many Things,
then I let social encounters continue until we neared the end of the session.
Once we reached the end, I made the scene with Warwick escaping from the aartuks
the cliffhanger.
· It will take 21 days for
the Second Wind to reach its destination in Doomspace.
· Princess Xedalli
o
Her twin,
Prince Xeleth, ordered the attack on the character’s home world under orders
from her dying father, Emperor Xavan.
o
When the timing
is appropriate, read her box text.
o
Xedalli is
purely motivated by vengeance.
o
Xedalli
pretends to be rational and compromising but would sooner die than surrender
her claim to the throne.
o
Xedalli vows
to save Faerun if the characters impress her, but she doesn’t take the vow very
seriously.
o
Xedalli wears
a ring of shooting stars.
o
Xedalli never
reveals her ability to summon a Solar Dragon.
o
Things she
will share with the characters:
§ Xedalli and Xeleth were meant to share the throne.
(true)
§ Emperor Xavan wants to become one with Light of Xaryxis
when it is at its brightest, thus the attack on Faerun to siphon energy and
brighten the star. (true)
§ The only way to save Faerun is to destroy the star
Xaryxis. (true)
§ A member of the royal family can destroy Xaryxis by
performing a ritual at the astral front in the Temple of Light in the Imperial
Fortress. (false – anyone with a ring of shooting stars can perform
the ritual)
§ The Imperial fortress will orbit the star until
Xavan ascends, then the fortress will return to the Astral Sea. (true)
· NPC Interactions during travel
o
Commodore Krux
§ Krux is sulking because he tried to destroy the
Imperial Fortress some time ago, but his fleet was routed.
§ Xeleth’s solar dragon did massive damage to his
ship. He turned tail and ran, and it embarrasses him.
§ DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check to get him to
buck up.
§ Krux will tell characters they need to find old
mate Warwyck Blastimoff, who left for Doomspace to join the anti-Xaryxian
coalition.
§ Krux and Warwyck were communicating regularly
before Krux lost his sending stone on Bral.
§ When they last spoke, Warwyck was in Doomspace, on
the moon of Aruun, looking for allies.
§ Once he is out of his melancholy, things to do with
Krux:
·
Shoot guns
(opposed ranged attack rolls)
·
Tell war
stories (Charisma (Performance) checks.)
o
Gambling with Grimzod
Gargenhale
§ Use the rules from Dead Hand’s Dice in Turn of Fortune’s
Wheel
§ Each participant’s player chooses any number of d6s
(known as “bones”) and shakes them in a cup.
§ You choose any number of d6s as well, and roll for
the dealer and participating NPCs.
§ Everyone rolls and reveals their dice at once.
§ The participant with the highest total wins, but
anyone who rolls a 1 automatically loses.
o
Deck of Many Things
with Topolah
§ Have Topolah perform a fortune telling using the cards
from the Deck of Many Things. You can find details on how to do this in the FortuneTelling section of Chapter 14 in the Book of Many Things.
§ Topolah will also allow characters to draw cards
from the deck if they so choose. This can be game breaking, though the Book of
Many Things does a good job of giving DMs the tools to deal with negative
outcomes.
o
Sails and
Styles with Mister Flinch
§ Characters can help Mister Flinch mend sails.
§ Alternatively, Mister Flinch will pointedly critique
any characters style as long as they are willing to hear his candid critiques.
o
Very little
with Starbough
§ Starbough will mostly ignore the characters.
§ Repeated attempts, along with signaling interest
with Wildspace and Exploration, might eventually get Starbough to warm up to a
character.
§ If he does, Starbough can impact all of the information
about Doomspace from later in the chapter.
· Random encounter ideas
o
Mage named Ralph
Strange traveling via astral projection.
o
Sleeping
cosmic horror.
o
Monodrone lost
from the Great Modron March.
o
Unicorns
merrily dancing across the Astral Sea
· Doomspace
o
Show characters
maps of Doomspace.
o
General
backstory: clash with gods led to creation of Eye of Doom. All planets rotate
closer and closer to Eye of Doom, when a planet reaches the Eye it is
destroyed.
o
Fyreen is
closest to the eye and has already lost one moon to it. It will lose a second
in a month’s time.
o
Fyreen’s
residents have already been evacuated to the nine moons of En.
· The Aartuks of Aruun
o
Read the box text
but add a pair of battling Tarrasques in the wasteland. It’s the coolest part
of Doomspace! A moon overrun with Tarrasques!
o
Read the box
text of Warwyck escaping the Aartuks. I used this as the cliffhanger and started
the next session with the combat. I also then left out the bulette combat. That
worked better for timing for me since we had a full session of roleplaying during
travel. Then the next session took us through chapter 8, and featured a lot of
combat.
