Xanathon III: Yada yada yada

I know you've all moved on and by continuing to harp on X3 I am committing a heinous act of post-mortem equine assault, but here I am with nothing else to say, so, with apologies to Monsieur Niles, once more into the breach.

As mentioned in previous posts, this heavily plotted adventure requires that you follow a set of prescribed "scenarios," each hopefully providing enough clues to lead the players to the next. For those wanting a refresher, here are the 5 steps to recovering from this module:

1. break into the Ducal Barracks in order to find justification for breaking into the barracks. 
   
2. investigate the temple of Cretian and contemplate why demon worship is so popular in this town
   
3. follow the mad priest's instructions on how to find the crystallized soul of a mad priest. 
4. use the Soul Crystal to bully the mad priest into doing your bidding--or just kill the jerk, and 
5. cure the duke of his madness while the Evil Draco and his henchfolk wait in ambush in a room that is 280 feet away (~1.6 km). 

Despite--or because of--this active plot line that, ahem, guides the action of this module, many of the significant encounters are described in a very static fashion. For instance, according to the key to the barracks, Draco Stormsailer, treacherous Master of the Ducal Guard, will never actually be in his lavish quarters in the Barracks; probably because he's concerned--with good reason--that the rickety stairs to the officers quarters might collapse underneath him. [There are two sets of stairs to the officers quarters on the upper level of the barracks, both of which are described as rickety to the point that they will collapse if the PCs try to bash open the door at the top of the stairs.]

Instead, Draco is permanently stationed in the Ducal Linen Closet (DLC)--along with two officers of the Ducal Guard--waiting to jump the PCs when they arrive to cure the Ducal Curse. It should be noted that there is no door connecting the Ducal Linen Closet to the Ducal bedroom, so it is quite likely that the PCs will be able to save the Duke without ever encountering Draco. There is, however, a secret door mentioned in the write up of the text that does not appear in the map. Probably the cartographer left it out on purpose as revenge for the fiasco with Xanathon's lab.

Shortest route from Draco's "ambush" to the Ducal Sleeping Chamber

The only entrance to the Ducal bedroom shown in the floor plan is from the Ducal Mistress's room (99) next door. Which means that, well, it means that someone screwed up the map. I've been trashing on this modge for a while now, but I doubt very much that this was Niles's intent. It's my assumption that there was meant to be a door from room 103 (Ducal Sitting Room) into room 107 (Ducal Boudoir) and a secret door to connect room 105 (Ducal Dressing Room) to 107--though who would bother putting a secret door to their dressing room? Especially since there is a non-secret door from your dressing room to your sitting room?

Demotion in the Ranks

In addition to Draco two other officers of the Ducal Guard are listed as "not present" when the PCs raid the Barracks in stage 1 of this fiasco: Draco's High Commander will be with his mistress in town while one of his two Captains's quarters will be unoccupied by its resident Captain. We do learn that the High Commander is a 9th level fighter while the Captain is a 6th level fighter.

We also know that, back in the Ducal Linen Closet, Draco's two companions-in-ambush are a 9th level fighter, and a 6th level Fighter. It seems safe to assume that these are the same individuals who were absent from the barracks, except that the 9th level fighter is now called "Captain" and the 6th level fighter is called "Lieutenant." Which means that Draco must be displeased with them as he has busted his High Commander down to captain and his captain down to Lieutenant. Which probably make sense depending on how things went in stage 1. If the PCs slaughtered and hacked their way through the barracks killing off one third of the entire force, then, yeah, you might demote your remaining officers. 

It should be noted that there are no lieutenants listed in the barracks.