Travel: Littletown¶

This quest should begin some time after dealing with the events at the “Pitax River Bend” area as part of the quest The River’s Justice. One of the three areas you’ll have to travel to in order to deal with Irovetti’s varied threats - in this case the beasts Irovetti is loosing on your kingdom - is “Littletown”. Its location, starting at the Rushlight Fields, is as follows:

• Southwest
• East
• North
• Northwest
• West
• South
• West
• West
• West
• South

De-Barding Littletown¶

North of where you arrive you’ll spot a trio of Bards. Although they’re hostile, they won’t actually attack you until you get fairly close, and this naturally means you can get the drop on them with spells… not that it’s terribly necessary in this case. Their main tactic seems to simply be to spam Hideous Laughter at the closest foe, and while their DC his high enough to potentially threaten your warriors, they’re not otherwise potent enough to hinder you even if they do debilitate a warrior or two. Charge forward and dispose of them, then turn east from where they were to find a pile of rocks [Perception 30] near some water. This hidden treasure yields a Skymetal Cogwheel when plundered.

Further north you’ll find more of the same… much more, in fact. Immediately to the north are two Bards, but beyond some benches to the east are many more - nine in total. While two or three are hardly a threat at all, this many are bound to overwhelm your saving throws simply due to the multitude of spells they cast. A simple way to spoil their assault is to summon any creature (or creatures) near the closer, western Bards and let them waste their spells on your disposable minions. When they start attacking in melee, bring your party up to chastise the Bards, who should flee once a few of their fellows fall.

After that scrap you’ve eradicated the largest group of enemies in Littletown’s exterior. There are a few stragglers near a tavern to the north and by a building housing hostile propaganda to the east, but in their small numbers they shouldn’t pose any serious challenge to you. Sweep the town, chase off or kill the Bards lurking about, then search along the southern end of the building which holds the aforementioned pamphlets to find another pile of rocks [Perception 30] which hides a Token of the Dryad. One final bit of loot can be found in a crate to the northeast of the tavern [Perception 35] wherein you’ll find several book and Righteous Punishment, a Heavy Mace +4 that gives its wielder an extra +4 bonus to Attack Rolls against foes affected by Smite Evil or Mark of Justice.

Once that loot is yours return to the tavern, spellbuff heavily, then enter the building.

Battle: Trebricent¶

Inside this tavern you’ll find the rest of Irovetti’s propaganda machine, run by Trebricent. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because you found correspondence between Trebricent and Irovetti at the Rushlight Tournament. Seems Irovetti had put this scheme of his into motion even as he invited you to his tournament.

Being a political minion of Irovetti’s, Trebricent will waste little time in challenging you. If you spared Ivar at the end of his quest in Lake Silverstep Village, you’ll find him in this tavern, where he may just come in handy for this fight. Other bards in the tavern are of dubious loyalty, as well, and you can detach them if you protagonist is [Neutral] or if you succeed at a [Diplomacy 10] check [Chaotic Good]. Not much effort to get these bards to turn on Irovetti, eh? In this case, the bards in the northern corner will avoid conflict entirely, while the ones to the northeast will turn on Trebricent. Any other options lead to a fight against all the collected bards.

At full force there are four Bards, three Bandit Bards, four Bandits and of course Trebricent himself. All of the Bards - bandit or otherwise - follow the Littletown mold in that they prefer to launch multiple rounds of Hideous Laughter at you before feebly attacking in melee. As for the bandits, two are melee warriors and two are archers, and although their stats aren’t high, they’re dangerous enough to take advantage of characters affected by various enchantments.

Trebricent is the real threat, as he’ll start out the fight with Mind Fog, followed by Song of Discord, then two bouts of Resonating Word (Fortitude Save 23, unlike his previous actions, which all challenged Will Saves - this spell can do a fair amount of damage over time) before finishing up with multiple castings of Confusion. The DCs on these spells are in the mid to low twenties, and once Mind Fog is in place, you’re in trouble.

His Hit Points and Armor Class aren’t great, however, and his minions aren’t threatening enough to truly deter a direct assault from a highly spellbuffed party. Your casters should immediately challenge the enemy casters with any debilitating spells they have - Phantasmal Web may prevent them from acting, or at least from taking advantage of any of the enchantments that may affect you while Chain Lightning or Disintegrate can do serious damage. Take Trebricent out as quickly as possible (a feat made much easier if you talk four of the bards out of fighting you) then endeavor to keep your casters and archers out of trouble.

When Trebricent falls you’ll have ended the propaganda that was damaging your standing. Loot Trebricent for a Chainshirt +3, a Belt of Mighty Constitution +2 and a Headband of Alluring Charisma +4.

It’s now time to return to the Rushlight Fields and follow the directions given to the other two areas from which Irovetti’s minions threaten your kingdom (War of the River Kings - The Menagerie or War of the River Kings - River Blades’ Camp).