Pulling the Thread, Chasing the Dead: Behind the Screen

(Note: this is a record of two sessions)

Top tip for running the visage battle: plan in advance how you will keep track of the visages’ concentration, as well as their dominate person usage. I didn't do this, and combat slowed to a crawl at some points.

You cannot run this encounter optimally for the monsters. The most tactically optimal first action for the visages would be to all cast dominate person on their first turn: statistically, the whole party will likely fail their saves, and the fight’s over. I decided that out of 8 visages, a maximum of 2 would cast dominate in a given round. I justified it on the basis that 1) the visages, being surprised, were unable to coordinate attacks efficiently, and 2) arrogant monsters like these bastards could save their most powerful abilities until they’re really in trouble. Split the visages into groups, with their own initiative counts.

Instead of giant eagles saving endangered PCs, if your players successfully saved Glittereye back in Chapter 2, then why not have Glittereye be your saviour if things go bad? The squirrel can stand at the rim of the Salience and cast call lightning, saving the players from death and giving the ratatosk a nice redemption arc. I made one frustrating mistake this session – namely that I planned the above but didn’t use it. Instead, when the combat became a little hairy, I warned the players to be very careful and decisive in using their actions, thereby implying that their prior actions were wasted or wrong. I immediately regretted this, apologised minutes later, and things were fine. I felt like I’d told my players they were playing D&D “wrong” – a cardinal sin. I got so worried and frustrated I forgot the insurance policy of Glittereye. But mistakes keep us humble.

I enjoy playing Veridis – it’s nice to RP a powerful clever person, and to give in-character responses for the party’s questions about the world. He’s “unpleasant but useful”, exactly as should be. Sharing knowledge of the visage’s soul devouring powers after the party returns from the Salience is a perfect example of this.

I had committed in my heart to Ranais’ Illusory Temple of Instant-Death, so it was especially terrifying during the brief moment when the party seriously discussed entering it. Be generous in offering saving throws against the visages, i.e. at the same time as Perception checks.

Our next session is in-person, and so I was keen to get the party to Tcian Sumere and avoided the use of random encounters to achieve this. The Lovelost will remain lost, I guess.

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