Tolamaker
Adventurer
Session 79: Soul Survivors
The party take their turns reminding the DM that almost all of them have teleportation abilities, forcing 41 to drop the wall of force, and go toe to toe with Mishka. The onslaught of everyone, alongside their gifts from the temples, leads to the disintegration of 41, leaving only his mask. The party starts to regroup, when the mask regenerates, and they are forced to defeat him once again. Rushing through to the next room, they find the true body of 41. The vision that takes hold shows a young monk who rushes forward too fast, and for the wrong reasons, leaving a soulless husk. But a flicker of hate still burns, and when the forest is in turmoil with the genocide of the Taranesti, 41 awakes, and takes control of the soul-shaping temple. With a single push, the ghost of the master of the temple is able to finally put the weakened 41 to rest.
Post Session Thoughts:
The last session ended on what seemed to be a bad moment for the party, but the teleportation really undercut the moment, and the fight was rather anticlimactic. The reveal of the astral projection was a bit of a jump scare, but pretty easily dealt with. I think if I were to do it again, I would buff 41 with more legendary actions, not more HP. I would probably still buff his AC, DC, and to-hit.
There's a part of me that also wondered if I should have corrupted the gifts of the temple as well. As it is, they are a straight up buff, which I don't believe my group needed (The one-time Heal spell from the sacrifice would still fit, I think). Just as 41 corrupts the visions (I said last time that the book didn't have this explicitly happen, oops, I just missed it on a reread), I think that it might have been a fun turnaround to have the buffs turn around. The regeneration might reverse, the flight might turn into half-speed, and other things like that. Maybe make it a legendary action by 41, once per round, just to build the tension.
This session was pretty short, because we leveled up, and then spent a while talking about what people wanted to change about their characters with the temple. Other than a few stat changes, the only real change was Corban's character trading rapier proficiencies for scimitar so that he could use Shaalguenyvar. I hadn't done any planning or Foundry prep for the next session, so we really just talked about planned downtime before parting ways.
Changes to the module:
The only change I made was that I didn't include a parting vision where Leska told Coaltongue of the Aquiline Heart. No real reason, other than it didn't feel like it fit the moment, and the group already got a lot of information about trillith and the Torch, so I felt like they had enough lore to work with.
Post Module Thoughts:
I liked this module overall, mostly for the Temple mechanics and story. However, while the Ycengled encounters were important for establishing Shahalesti as an antagonistic ally, the actual encounters and characters didn't really emphasize that for me. I think what might have helped here, and made me less likely to cut a lot of Ycengled would have been better Shahalesti characters. 41, Rhuarc, Quillathe and Yvonnel are all characters that have backstories and tidbits that really helped me flesh them out in ways that made them more interesting to interact with. Ycengled really only had Malhun, who has ties to other future enemies, but no real chance or reason to share those connections. I think a good addition to the module would be someone like a Shahalesti commander who is a true believer in High Elf supremacy to give the players a face to hate.
The party take their turns reminding the DM that almost all of them have teleportation abilities, forcing 41 to drop the wall of force, and go toe to toe with Mishka. The onslaught of everyone, alongside their gifts from the temples, leads to the disintegration of 41, leaving only his mask. The party starts to regroup, when the mask regenerates, and they are forced to defeat him once again. Rushing through to the next room, they find the true body of 41. The vision that takes hold shows a young monk who rushes forward too fast, and for the wrong reasons, leaving a soulless husk. But a flicker of hate still burns, and when the forest is in turmoil with the genocide of the Taranesti, 41 awakes, and takes control of the soul-shaping temple. With a single push, the ghost of the master of the temple is able to finally put the weakened 41 to rest.
Post Session Thoughts:
The last session ended on what seemed to be a bad moment for the party, but the teleportation really undercut the moment, and the fight was rather anticlimactic. The reveal of the astral projection was a bit of a jump scare, but pretty easily dealt with. I think if I were to do it again, I would buff 41 with more legendary actions, not more HP. I would probably still buff his AC, DC, and to-hit.
There's a part of me that also wondered if I should have corrupted the gifts of the temple as well. As it is, they are a straight up buff, which I don't believe my group needed (The one-time Heal spell from the sacrifice would still fit, I think). Just as 41 corrupts the visions (I said last time that the book didn't have this explicitly happen, oops, I just missed it on a reread), I think that it might have been a fun turnaround to have the buffs turn around. The regeneration might reverse, the flight might turn into half-speed, and other things like that. Maybe make it a legendary action by 41, once per round, just to build the tension.
This session was pretty short, because we leveled up, and then spent a while talking about what people wanted to change about their characters with the temple. Other than a few stat changes, the only real change was Corban's character trading rapier proficiencies for scimitar so that he could use Shaalguenyvar. I hadn't done any planning or Foundry prep for the next session, so we really just talked about planned downtime before parting ways.
Changes to the module:
The only change I made was that I didn't include a parting vision where Leska told Coaltongue of the Aquiline Heart. No real reason, other than it didn't feel like it fit the moment, and the group already got a lot of information about trillith and the Torch, so I felt like they had enough lore to work with.
Post Module Thoughts:
I liked this module overall, mostly for the Temple mechanics and story. However, while the Ycengled encounters were important for establishing Shahalesti as an antagonistic ally, the actual encounters and characters didn't really emphasize that for me. I think what might have helped here, and made me less likely to cut a lot of Ycengled would have been better Shahalesti characters. 41, Rhuarc, Quillathe and Yvonnel are all characters that have backstories and tidbits that really helped me flesh them out in ways that made them more interesting to interact with. Ycengled really only had Malhun, who has ties to other future enemies, but no real chance or reason to share those connections. I think a good addition to the module would be someone like a Shahalesti commander who is a true believer in High Elf supremacy to give the players a face to hate.