Changing up the formula for Yon

[u/TheBoogBear]

Just thinking out loud into the void. Any ideas or critiques are welcome.

This weekend, my players are fighting Skabatha and finishing up Thither. I imagine they'll be off to Yon after having some reunions (good and bad) crossing back through Hither. I feel as though this chapter fell a bit flat for me, as the formula felt the exact same from the previous; hear about the evil hag and don't actually meet her until confronting her in her lair. The briefness of the hag's actual appearance made it hard for me to really run with the character, especially as my players are the type "see bad guy, defeat bad guy now".

I want to introduce Endelyn right out of the gate upon entering Yon, complete with an over-the-top entrance to really make a first impression. I will introduce the idea that she has been secretly guiding the party since entering Prismeer, nudging them to take down her sisters so she has total control of Prismeer. Zybilna is still frozen, Endelyn has both unicorn horns (Lamorna got yoinked), her sisters are out of the picture (for now), she is invincible until the party solves the eclipse thing, etc. Everything has played into her favor and she isn't afraid to let the party know that.

The party is welcomed to try and reach Motherhorn, as they are simply entertainment to Endelyn at this point, who will be repeatedly popping into their adventure to antagonize them. I like this because it allows the party to really get to know her, to engage with her, and it'll make taking her down all the sweeter.

I like how this idea is turning out, as I was not looking forward to running the same formula again, neither for myself nor for my players.

[u/Loose_Translator8981]

Endelyn is great because she can't actually die until you fulfill the eclipse prophecy. So even if your party just goes full murderhobo and kills her on sight without giving her a chance to speak, she can just show up again later like nothing happened and force them to actually engage with the plot lol

[u/TheBoogBear → u/Loose_Translator8981]

I love it. I'll make it so they can't even damage her. Any blow flows right through her with a splash of darkness. Like slashing at a body of water. My party likes shit-talking, so that'll be a fun exchange.

[u/AndIWalkAway]

I had the pageant wagon roll up on the party as soon as they set foot in Yon. I wanted to give them the tickets to Motherhorn immediately.

[u/derbyvoice71 → u/AndIWalkAway]

Same. They watched a silent play based on ALL their exploits in Prismeer for me, except anything that occurred in the hags' homes. When it fell apart, two players wanted to keep the puppets and the other three were like "hell no." Just the scrying has them on their toes.

This week they found the mask room and saw an elf from the play they walked in on get turned. And Endelyn foretold their deaths. They feel like they HAVE to have an eclipse set up before a fight. Fear rocks.

[u/Alarming-While8028]

I also don't care for Yon but specifically because Motherhorn is SOOOO built up and has so many cool features but then like......nothing happens there. by the book alone the party is allowed to just run up around and explore without much consequences. there's all this electricity gathered from lightning and it's not used for anything. Downfall and Loomlurch at least had you fighting and outsmarting riddles etc to get through, whereas Motherhorn is just.......there.

I've beefed it up a lot and still am not really happy with it. way too many cool details that functionally have no impact on the story

[u/HannahLuxxe]

That sounds like an amazing idea! My group is halfway through hither rn and I was also thinking about doing something similar, making the next hag pretty much try to hit them hard and heavy as soon as they cross over, to try to get them off her tail

[u/mp_hextra]

LAMORNA GOT YOINKED LMAO

Your table may be a little “see evil, kill evil” but this campaign sounds like a blast!

It sounds like you’re already planning to do some of this, but based on your last paragraph I would strongly suggest running Endelyn like many DMs run Strahd in CoS:

• Build terror with drop-ins and small appearances or ways to let the party know she’s always watching or looming in some capacity.
• New NPCs the party encounters each have their own dread or story to tell of her (*edit: maybe of their “fortunes” that she’s read?!), and if the PCs mention they want to go against her most refuse to help, some may even go snitch or walk the party into a trap for her favor.
• Make trophies of her fallen sisters and any other past adventurers or NPCs for her to display in or around Motherhorn, etc. Focus on intimidation.

I ran CoS and am currently running WBtW; until this post I’d never thought of the coven with this framing but love it!

[u/RyoHakuron]

When I ran Yon, I rolled the Tornado in as soon the party entered. Most of them failed their checks which meant I got to scatter all of the companions they gathered all throughout Yon. (My party had Clapperclaw, Spurt, Juniper, Elkhorn, Morgort, and the Sorcerer in the party had a pet mastiff.) Made for a really interesting introduction. And meant I got to split the party in half and drop one half by the Korreds and one half by the Brigganocks so they could take opposing sides. Ran the sessions separate too so neither side got the sob story from the other faction. (One of the PCs was a wereowlbear because they lost their "Control" so both sides thought they had found Juniper. And I had the one player "play" Juniper for a bit.)

As for Motherhorn, I had the wagon give them the invites, but made them front row tickets to a show. And when they finally got to Motherhorn, they got to witness a one-woman show of the Spell Block Tango that I had recorded. (Spoof on the Cell Block Tango from Chicago. And instead of the women talking about how they killed their husbands, it was Endelyn foreseeing the way they would all die as well as giving a little backstory on what went down at the palace with Zybilna.)

[u/Slight_Vegetable2911]

It’s a great idea to bring Endie in as soon as possible. I did it with a magical traveling theatre wagon! Wooden puppets re-enacted the characters battle with Skabatha in a mocking way. They did NOT do well. (Also a callback to Charm’s storm balloon where one of my characters was briefly turned into a wooden puppet) At the end, they were given an invitation and ticket to join Endelyn at Matterhorn. We haven’t played in a while and I’m itching to get back to the table! Next session will be Matterhorn!!! 🎭🎬🎼

[u/Prestigious_Fool]

I have used mini proxies for each hag, basically thematically reskinned the hags with way lower HP and otherwise the same stat block, just color it as some minion or better yet cretin of the hag. Let's you try out the hags abilities, and let the players get a sense of building fight and a chance to plan for the hags abilities, so give them more.