# Trial of Echoed Souls experiences - major spoilers!



## amethal (Sep 3, 2008)

*** Spoilers ***

Rhuarc has finally bitten the dust (reduced to 0 hp by a sound lance, then reduced to –30 hp by a mind thrust that left pieces of his skull dotted all over his mother’s summoning chamber in the High House) but now the characters have a problem.

They can’t figure out what Rhuarc did to sabotage the Torch, and lack any of the suggested means of finding out :-

They don’t have anyone able to raise or speak with the dead
No one is interested in selling their soul to the sword
They don’t have any spells that will enable them to contact Simeon

Instead, they are going to put Coaltongue’s  head back on his shoulders and ask his advice.

I am really looking forward to role-playing the Old Dragon. Anyone else had the pleasure? If so, how did it go?


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## Rugult (Sep 3, 2008)

Ahhhhhh, glad to hear the poor elf is dead!  It took my party two sessions to go through that epic fight.  Luckily after the battle, the players had a cleric who could cast Speak With Dead, so they just pumped the corpse for information (ouuuu  that sounded scandalous).  There was some debate to them raising Coaltongue, and they almost went through with it, but stopped last minute.  I think the problem with bringing Coaltongue into the campaign is the fact that he is such an imposing character in the background of the story.  He is mentioned in every adventure, and has a legendary reputation in the world.  Even a DM of my 'exceptional caliber' would be hard pressed to play that    As far as flashbacks go...  I long ago decided that the Old Dragon would have the voice of Sean Connery, because I think Connery could play a fine grissled half-orc emperor.  I would really start thinking of the ramifications of bringing Coaltongue back, and how to keep him from upstaging the players.  Keep in mind that he is a 20th level IMMORTAL character.  Maybe when he wakes up, all he wants is to get to the nearest island resort and live out the next few centuries in a tropic setting.


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## RangerWickett (Sep 3, 2008)

Well, I also envisioned Coaltongue as an old wiseguy with a sense of humor and enough charisma and gravitas to get men and women to die for him. Sort of like George Clooney meets Winston Churchill, with a dash of Bruce Willis tossed in for the bad-assitude. So he's charming, smart, tough, but someone you can relate to. And while he thinks he knows best and should rule the world because nobody else could do as good a job, he's not like, y'know, Hitler or something. He doesn't think he's infallible or that his enemies deserve to die just because.

What should happen? Eh, I think Coaltongue's initial reaction would be, "Screw this. I'm immortal. I don't want people to keep killing me, and I've lost all my supporters who could protect me. I'm too old for this sh*t." And he'd want to just find someplace secluded, maybe after offering some canny advice to the heroes.

If the heroes went out of their way to encourage Coaltongue to join their side, and painted Leska as a great villain who would ruin the world, he could probably be convinced. But he's smart enough to know that most the leaders of the nations in the area would be afraid of him reclaiming power, and would want to do him in again. So if he did join forces with the heroes, he would try to make clear that he has no desire to rule again. He'd be busy helping plan strategy, and politicking to get allies on their side, so he wouldn't be out actually fighting, at least not until adventure 12. Even then, he's old, and doesn't have any magic gear, so he'd be relying on his leadership skills and immortality, not his combat prowess.

I personally think the image of Coaltongue helping out in a fight, just thwacking people with a mundane mace or axe, getting hacked to pieces and not dying, standing as a sign for the Resistance forces to be resilient and unrelenting, is pretty fun.

Good luck.


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## Volaran (Sep 4, 2008)

RangerWickett said:


> I personally think the image of Coaltongue helping out in a fight, just thwacking people with a mundane mace or axe, getting hacked to pieces and not dying, standing as a sign for the Resistance forces to be resilient and unrelenting, is pretty fun.
> 
> Good luck.




He did beat a celestial to death with a bone once, even if it was a pretty special bone.    I think it would be cool to see Coaltongue in combat for "one last ride" no matter what weapon he brought to the field


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## Rugult (Sep 4, 2008)

I have a new suggestion...  clearly Coaltongue would be Rip Torn from dodgeball.

"If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge the Scourge!"


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## amethal (Sep 5, 2008)

Rugult said:


> I have a new suggestion...  clearly Coaltongue would be Rip Torn from dodgeball.
> 
> "If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge the Scourge!"



That would be hilarious.

Especially since I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in my group who has seen Dodgeball, and therefore the only one who even knows what the game of dodgeball actually is.


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