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Pathfinder Adventure Path #6: Spires of Xin-Shalast (Rise of the Runelords 6 of 6) (OGL)

4.60/5 (based on 14 ratings)
Pathfinder Adventure Path #6: Spires of Xin-Shalast (Rise of the Runelords 6 of 6) (OGL)

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A Runelord Rises!

The Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path concludes! The Runelord of Greed, Karzoug the Claimer, stirs in the legendary city of Xin-Shalast. There are more forces than an ancient evil wizard at work in this remote corner of Golarion, a place where the boundaries between reality and nightmare are unnaturally thin. Karzoug's minions have awakened as well, among them giants and dragons and devils and worse. Could there be an even deeper evil poised to emerge from the darkness at the dawn of time? Can the Rise of the Runelords be stopped?

This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path concludes the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path and includes:

  • "Spires of Xin-Shalast," an adventure for 14th-level characters, by Greg A. Vaughan.
  • Full details on Karzoug, the Runelord of Greed, by Greg A. Vaughan.
  • Expanded rules for adventuring in high-altitude environments (beware those abominable snowmen!), by Greg A. Vaughan.
  • The sixth installment of the Pathfinder's Journal, by James L. Sutter.
  • Seven new monsters, by Greg A. Vaughan.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-041-4

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

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5/5 —

Great Back-Matter, but Use Anniversary Edition

4/5 —

NO SPOILERS

Alright, here we go! The final book in the Rise of the Runelords adventure path, a campaign I spent three years' of Sunday nights and uncountable hours of prep to run. It was an amazing ride and an unforgettable experience, and I'm really glad I got the opportunity to take part in it. But I'll have more on my personal experiences later--for now, I'm here to review specifically Chapter 6 of RotRL as published in the monthly AP format. I'll discuss the (mostly) non-spoilery back matter of the issue first, and then move onto the adventure itself in the Spoilers heading below.

First up is "Hazard's on the World's Roof: Adventuring at High Altitudes." This section builds on and expands the (then-DMG's) rules on topics like mountain climbing, cold weather, and altitude sickness. The PCs are headed to the very extremes of the world, and perhaps past the point where humans can be expected to survive. The section is very detailed and very useful, and I used it extensively as a supplement to the shorter treatment in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook and RotRL Anniversary Edition. There's a lot of detailed tracking involved, and some GMs probably just handwave thinks like climbing checks, nonlethal damage from cold, fatigue from thin air, and so forth--but I went all out on the theory that these things are crucial for rewarding "wilderness-ready" PCs and making it clear how dangerous this terrain is. (My group of players definitely didn't fall in the "wilderness-ready" category, so they made up the shortfall with extensive spellcasting every morning).

Next is "Of Endings and Beginnings", the last serialized entry in the fictional escapades of Eando Kline (for now). The noted Pathfinder has been trying to figure out what's in a mysterious puzzle box, and in this chapter he takes it to a wizard at Korvosae's Acadamae for help. There's a betrayal, a Hellknight, an exciting escape, and a very satisfying conclusion to the tale. Though, I do wonder . . . what's in the box! I'd like to sit down and read these all in order one day (I think they've been collected as e-books). I'll definitely use some of the flavour from them for my next big campaign.

The issue's bestiary is quite extensive, with seven new monsters, all but one of which receives a two-page entry chock-full of background and description. There's only one bland entry (a crag spider), while the others all expand on the creatures the PCs might meet in their quest to stop Karzoug such as the dreaded wendigo, the massive rune giants, and the creepy-cool denizens of Leng. Three of the entries and much of the shared background in the section fleshes out the "lamia" category of monster. Here, we have kuchrimas (birdlike scavengers), harridans (the leaders), and hungerers (amorphous, terrifying monsters--sometimes the classic artwork is better than the new stuff!). With the one exception, this is a winning collection of new monsters that incorporates a great deal of setting lore.

Last up is a four-page preview of the next adventure path, Curse of the Crimson Throne. This is for GMs only, as it's quite spoilery. But I'm convinced!

SPOILERS!:

A brief foreword explains the inspiration for this chapter: a lost city along the lines of Shangri-la or El Dorado. There's also a bit about why a wizard like Karzoug was chosen to be the big-bad for the entire AP.

Part One, "On the Trail of Xin-Shalast," explains how even finding the legendary City of Greed is incredibly difficult due to its location on one of the highest peaks in all of Golarion (Mhar Massif) and its proximity to a thinning in the dimensional wall with another plane known as Leng. Although the PCs may know the name of the city they need to find in order to face Karzoug, actually locating Xin-Shalast is another matter entirely. The adventure assumes the PCs call on Brodert Quink, a local sage in Sandpoint who has always had a fascination with all things Thassilonian. If they do, Quink is able to dig up a story about the Vekker Brothers, dwarven miners who claimed to have discovered a lost city of gold high up in the Kodar Mountains. However, the Vekkers disappeared decades ago. The PCs will need to travel to the Vekkers' old mining cabin to see if they left any hints about Xin-Shalast's location behind. This part of the chapter is mostly exposition and role-playing, but it worked perfectly (and quite organically) when I ran it because the PCs had already built up a rapport with Brodert Quink. It's always nice when those connections with NPCs, built up over many sessions, pay off.

Part Two, "Whispers on the Wind," starts with the PCs at the Vekkers' mining cabin. The cabin is in a remote part of a treacherous mountain range, and the adventure leaves it up to the PCs to figure out exactly how to get there. My group had a fun, brief detour in Urglin and then made their way into the mountains. The GM can start implementing the rules for mountainous terrain (discussed above) at this point. The bulk of this part of the adventure is essentially an elaborate variant on a haunted house. An extremely grisly tale involving starvation and cannabalism will be slowly revealed to the players through encounters with haunts. But they're extremely flavourful, creepy haunts that work well in the atmospheric setting. Until re-reading the book for this review, I had never noticed the (obvious) thematic connection to greed in the backstory. Events in the cabin gradually dovetail in a nightmarish, multi-step haunt and the looming presence of a battle against a wendigo. I think it was one of the most memorable parts of the campaign, as one of the PCs (the only one with a low Will save) fell under the sway of the cabin's evil. I was blessed with some excellent role-players in the group, and this section of the adventure can really bring out some quality storytelling if your group is up for it. This part could also easily be adapted a standalone story arc for high-level PCs who aren't in RotRL. Interestingly, the original version of the adventure here doesn't have the encounter with the frost worm that appears in the Anniversary Edition--something I noticed because that thing killed half the party when I ran it!

Part Three, "On the World's Roof," is all about the journey from the Vekkers' cabin to Xin-Shalast. The process is rather complicated the way it's laid out here (and in the Anniversary Edition), so I had to take careful notes in prep. There's a possible encounter with a sort of icy swamp nymph who, if befriended, can give the group some useful information about what they'll encounter in the City of Greed. But for the most part, this section of the adventure is where the PCs will be hit the hardest by the rigors of travelling through the foreboding Kodar Mountains. My group made things easier on themselves by wind-walking much of the way, at the cost of missing out on some encounters and clues they might have otherwise come across. But all choices have consequences, and I can't blame them.

Part Four, "Xin-Shalast," is probably the meat of Chapter Six. This section sees the PCs reaching a city of truly gargantuan scale (it was built with giants in mind, after all) and incredible age (ten millenia since it was largely abandoned!). There's a lot to take in here for both the GM and the players. The adventure addresses it by providing an overview of different sectors of the city and brief description of some major landmarks, and then devoting more content to a few particular events that will occur as the PCs explore. As the PCs will discover, their ultimate goal is to defeat some of Karzoug's minions in order to gain magical items needed to safely pass through the "occluding field" around his headquarters. Much of the adventure here is open-ended and freeform, which I appreciate from a "lack of railroading" perspective. The difficulty I found, however, is that there's too little detail for parts of the city, and passing mentions that this area here is full of strange and terrifying forms of plant life and that area there is full of strange undead beings makes a lot of work for the GM at a point in the campaign when coming up with custom content is at its peak difficulty. Another annoyance is that too much of the limited description of the city is about what particular areas or buildings were like 10,000 years ago, when I what I really need is more information about what they're like *now*. Every GM needs improv skills, but this was probably the one part of the whole adventure path where I really wished I had more detail and guidance to work with. Even more artwork of what buildings look like from "street level" or a sample encounter map for random encounters would have really helped convey the scale of the place. I don't need extensive handholding from adventures, but this was more in the line of "here's some seeds--go plant some crops".

The next part of the adventure, "Scaling Mhar Massif", is also labelled as "Part Four". This section details the full effects of the occluding field (nasty!) and gives capsule descriptions of the buildings around Karzoug's headquarters. Again, I felt like I didn't have enough to work with here. It's a very brief section that's fleshed out slightly in the Anniversary Edition with an encounter with Leng spiders that provides more insight into what's happening inside a particular part of Karzoug's palace.

Part Five/Six is "The Pinnacle of Avarice." This is the final "dungeon" of the campaign, and it's quite the affair. The sheer scale of Karzoug's fortress is difficult to represent (I combined several blank flip-mats and we had to play on the floor!), and what's inside is a cascading series of battles against Karzoug's upper echelon of servants. A really useful summary is provided, however, of the inhabitants, their response times, and their replenishment rates. One thing the PCs may or may not be aware of is that Karzoug's ascension to freedom really is imminent, and if they take too many rest breaks in between assaulting the place, they might lose by default. There are different routes through the Pinnacle of Avarice, and through happenstance some groups could go the "hard way" and fight almost everything (which happened to my PCs) or go the "easy way" and only have a few encounters before the big finish. Either way, the GM really needs to prepare well for this considering how many lengthy and complex stat blocks they'll have to deal with at any given time.

And the climactic showdown? First, I have to say that the Anniversary Edition handles it *much* better than the original version does here. In the original version, the battle takes place in a bland circular room and Karzoug is all by himself. Whereas in the Anniversary Edition, the battle is in an awesomely-described throne room and Karzoug has bodyguards in the form of a blue dragon, a rune giant, and some storm giants. This is crucial because even a level 20 wizard can get cornered and locked down in a confined space by a couple of melee brutes and beaten much easier than he should be. This is much less likely in the Anniversary Edition, and the resulting battle in my campaign was much more epic and memorable (even though it sadly ended with Karzoug victorious).

So all in all, Chapter Six as originally presented has some flaws: Xin-Shalast is described in too cursory a manner, and Karzoug probably wouldn't be challenging enough for most groups. On the other hand, there's a fantastic horror story inside the Vekkers' cabin and the issue contains excellent back-matter entries. I'd recommend a RotRL GM buy and read this issue for the useful content, but should use the Anniversary Edition for the big finale.

And don't forget the hidden message in the credits: "The runelords will return."

The Thundering Climax of the Rise of the Runelords.

5/5 —

Paizo had a lot riding on this product suceeding, launching the flagship to carry a "obsolete" edition forward. They passed most peoples wildest expectations. Spires of Xin-Shalast challenges even hardened veterans, but makes the pain and torture fun. Check my full review Spires of Xin-Shalast

A great high level exploration scenario

4/5 —

Pro :
- Xin-Shalast is fully detailed (1/3 of the book) : I had the strong impression to read a city book guide (something between a whole book like the Guide of Korvosa and a single entry from Cities of Golarion) + an high level sandboxing scenario in the same time. It pleasantly surprised me.
- The wendigo/haunted cabin part is awesome
- No monster bashing unlike some other high level AP issues

Con :
- Not a real drawback but the side articles are really small (3 pages each without the title pages) because of the Xin-Shalast big description.

Portuguese - Br

5/5 —

Rise of the Runelords terminou com um final digno e épico. A aventura final é um tratado de como conduzir aventuras de nível elevado em D&D. A campanha como um todo teve seus altos e baixos, mas de certa forma merece sua enorme popularidade entre os fãs (não é minha preferida, mas está no meu top 5), que gerou uma enorme lista de discussão que até hoje trocam mensagens discutindo atualizações para outros sistemas, erratas e formas de se conduzir cada minima parte dela. Spires of Xin-Shalast é o resultado de todo esse trabalho e mesmo assim ainda funciona muito bem individualmente. Um clássico que eu tenho muito orgulho de ter em minha biblioteca e que certamente figurará entre as melhores aventuras de todos os tempos.

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I see that by Spires of Xin-Shalast, the PC's should be around 15th level. Will chapter 2 "Curse of the Crimsom Throne" be assumed to start at the same time in the same world? Does chapter 2 assume you will create new level 1 characters? If so, how adaptable is the plot so you could continue with your characters that finished chapter 1 "Rise of the Runelords"?

Hey Bargle,
I don't think that they announced the level range of the second AP. But I'd expect it to take up 15-20 levels, which would mean this AP would start with PCs at 1st to 6th. IMHO, That would be very difficult to modify for 15th or 16th level characters.
Scarab Sages
Bargle Lives! wrote:
I see that by Spires of Xin-Shalast, the PC's should be around 15th level. Will chapter 2 "Curse of the Crimsom Throne" be assumed to start at the same time in the same world? Does chapter 2 assume you will create new level 1 characters? If so, how adaptable is the plot so you could continue with your characters that finished chapter 1 "Rise of the Runelords"?
James Jacobs in response to a question about the level range of Curse of the Crimson Throne wrote:

Oh, and this AP will probably cover levels 1–15. Could go higher or lower. We're still working out those gory details.

-Ungoded the Answer-Dragon

Is anyone else excessively excited for this one? An ancient city with the stylings of the Runelord of Greed, fully detailed and taking up pretty much an entire volume?

If Paizo's past efforts at this sort of thing are any indication of how cool Xin-Shalast will be, having a whole volume for them to detail ought to inspire a lot more beyond capping off the first Pathfinder AP.

Hope this one becomes a classic!
Riskbreaker wrote:

Is anyone else excessively excited for this one? An ancient city with the stylings of the Runelord of Greed, fully detailed and taking up pretty much an entire volume?

If Paizo's past efforts at this sort of thing are any indication of how cool Xin-Shalast will be, having a whole volume for them to detail ought to inspire a lot more beyond capping off the first Pathfinder AP.

Hope this one becomes a classic!

Think of all the treasure! Mountains and mounds of gold!

Spoiler:
And everyone remember to mention the gold the PCs put into the pillar thing at Thistletop when they get to Xin-Shalast.
Scarab Sages

Now I can only wait for the stats for those giants!

OoOo! I need Karzoug's stats!

And who is that dwarven avenger?

God that's a great cover.
Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

By the gods, I'm not usually one to complain about WAR's work, but those swords are horrid abominations imo. Can't agree with the blog's "original but authentic" description. Forget the fact they're way to wide, what's with those rings? How would one sheathe such a sword? Certainly with them weighing as much as they must, you wouldn't expect someone to just carry them around unsheathed.

I LOVE the giants, otoh. Nice work there. Gives a cultural feel different from the rest of the creatures we've encountered so far.
Scarab Sages
Reckless wrote:

By the gods, I'm not usually one to complain about WAR's work, but those swords are horrid abominations imo. Can't agree with the blog's "original but authentic" description. Forget the fact they're way to wide, what's with those rings? How would one sheathe such a sword? Certainly with them weighing as much as they must, you wouldn't expect someone to just carry them around unsheathed.

4 words: Fantasy is not reality...

That's all I can say. I love the look of these beasts and I can't wait to see them in action!

I adore the cover. When I looked at the huge swords, the first thing I thought of was not about how they sheathed them. I was more interested in the overwhelming drama and allure of a great battle against a breathtaking backdrop.

As far as sheaths go, I'd assume they'd have sheaths to hold such swords, and/or there are alternate means to keeping them around without always having to hold them. Perhaps the rings are an illusion that only appear when unsheathed.

On another note, I am absolutely ecstatic to see the iconic Dwarf and to see him done well. In the background, it looks like there's another newcomer to the group as well (the one sporting the shield). I'm curious to get a closer glimpse to this new one as well.
Reckless wrote:
Forget the fact they're way too wide, what's with those rings? How would one sheathe such a sword? Certainly with them weighing as much as they must, you wouldn't expect someone to just carry them around unsheathed.

I imagine WAR was basing them off of the Chinese nine rings sword (I want to say "ba gua" but I'm probably wrong), which, given the Xin-Shalast architecture in the background, is probably appropriate thematically. Any sword sheaths that they might carry would probably accommodate said rings in their design, probably leaving one side of the sheath open, with a cup or pocket for the tip of the blade and a securing strap near the hilt.

Oh. They're also giants. I don't imagine they'd have difficulty carrying a broad blade.
The Exchange Kobold Press
Lilith wrote:
I imagine WAR was basing them off of the Chinese nine rings sword (I want to say "ba gua" but I'm probably wrong), which, given the Xin-Shalast architecture in the background, is probably appropriate thematically.

I'm with Lilith on this, Reckless: it's clearly based on the historical Chinese swords, which also appear in wuxia films with some frequency.

I've seen one at the Field Museum, I think. They're reasonably well known to students of Oriental weaponry.
Scarab Sages
DarkArt wrote:
In the background, it looks like there's another newcomer to the group as well (the one sporting the shield). I'm curious to get a closer glimpse to this new one as well.

She looks like Kyra to me, with the scimitar and blue/gold/white clothes. While her PF4 cover art shows no shield, she has one in her equipment.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Yeah; these guys (they're new giants called Rune Giants) are going to have strength scores close to 40, I'm guessing. Big weapons like that aren't going to be a problem for them.

And yes... the concept of rings in swords is indeed based on real life. There are swords like that in real life and from real world history. It's certainly tied in with the flavor and themes of Xin-Shalast, which has a heavy dose of Asia in its makeup (but also India and Europe and lots of other places... it doesn't really have an exact real world historical analoge).
Scarab Sages

Very cool giant designs. I've heard talk about Pathfinder miniatures and you know what ... if Paizo made a couple of Rune Giants (male and female) armed and armored just like that cover ... well, damn.

I'd buy it.

Gary
Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16

By the Gods how does one fight such beasts!!! Those giants are Gargantuan! A longsword wound would be like a pin prick on these bruisers. Love the underbite though... I immediately thought Ogre Magi crossed with Fire Giant samurai.

A dwarf and his Crossbow... ah the iconicness of it. Swoon.
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
primemover003 wrote:
A dwarf and his Crossbow... ah the iconicness of it. Swoon.

It looks like a heavy crossbow, too. Sweet. I've been playing around with the thought of developing either a Combat Style (Crossbow) for the ranger and/or Dwarf Ranger substitution levels to make it easier for dwarf rangers to concentrate on "traditional" dwarven weapon choices (axes, crossbows, hammers, picks).

Combat Style (Crossbow) would probably consist of Rapid Reload at 2nd, Crossbow Sniper at 6th, and Penetrating Shot at 11th. I'm still deciding what changes to make for the substitution levels. Racial Favored enemy at 1st and Toughness instead of Endurance at 3rd are easy choices (as well as upping HD to d10 for the substitution levels), but I'm still figuring out what other one ore two levels I want to change.

EDIT: Funny typo above...
Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Kewl enough. I'm by no means an expert on swords at all... just struck me as weird an unwieldy...

But then, later on, I came up with my own reasons for the rings... keeping track of kills...

Gotta say I love the cover, and now I've learned something too. Thanks guys. (Goes off to search the internet to learn more about these swords...)

heh.. found this out there:
"This is a classic and truly awe inspiring sword. The 9 rings were meant to disorientate and confuse the enemy. Imagine the sound of 1000 of these swords pounding on the warriors shields - amazing."

now imagine the thunderous sound of 1000 giants clanging these rings... brrrrr...

Reminds me of the Mongolians with their whistling arrows, etc. I would imagine the rings would have some merit as mentioned.
Dark Archive

Any news on when this will ship? Will January be the double Pathfinder month?
Scarab Sages
Pathfinder Maps Subscriber
Atrocious wrote:
Any news on when this will ship? Will January be the double Pathfinder month?

That is a great question...

Silver Crusade

I suspect this will ship so late in January that it will probably arrive in mailboxes in February. The first supplement in Curse of the Crimson Throne is scheduled for March, so it would be odd of Paizo to leave a hole in their schedule for February.
Scarab Sages
Pathfinder Maps Subscriber
Tzzarg wrote:
I suspect this will ship so late in January that it will probably arrive in mailboxes in February. The first supplement in Curse of the Crimson Throne is scheduled for March, so it would be odd of Paizo to leave a hole in their schedule for February.

I had not noticed that PF7 had slipped... Bummer.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Shem wrote:
Tzzarg wrote:
I suspect this will ship so late in January that it will probably arrive in mailboxes in February. The first supplement in Curse of the Crimson Throne is scheduled for March, so it would be odd of Paizo to leave a hole in their schedule for February.
I had not noticed that PF7 had slipped... Bummer.

We expect PF6 to arrive in the last days of January, and PF7 to arrive at the end of February.

Scarab Sages
Pathfinder Maps Subscriber

Ah Vic, Music to my ears.
Sovereign Court
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Vic Wertz wrote:
We expect PF6 to arrive in the last days of January, and PF7 to arrive at the end of February.

Excellent!!! After flying through #5 I'm ready to see #6.

So, is Greg Vaughan now the go-to-guy for climactic high level modules?
Vic Wertz wrote:
Shem wrote:
Tzzarg wrote:
I suspect this will ship so late in January that it will probably arrive in mailboxes in February. The first supplement in Curse of the Crimson Throne is scheduled for March, so it would be odd of Paizo to leave a hole in their schedule for February.
I had not noticed that PF7 had slipped... Bummer.
We expect PF6 to arrive in the last days of January, and PF7 to arrive at the end of February.

Any idea why my PF5 hasn't even shipped yet?

Is there a reason why this issue of Pathfinder costs more then the other 4 issues for Charter Subscribers? I'm showing being billed 20 dollars before shipping and handling, when I normally am only paying 18 and that's after shipping and handling. This seems strange to me.

I have no info about billing issues. I also cannot give specific arrival data for various zip codes and various foreign countries, because all the mail carriers have time windows as opposed to exact dates. So why is the warehouse monkey posting you ask? Well to let you know that I am safely tucking all your Pathfinder 6s into those adorable little envelopes. It appears that the great majority of them will be out the door by Friday.* ... and now back to the warehouse.

*By great majority I mean those individuals who are not involved in monthly shipments or who have orders waiting on other items.

Woo Hoo!!!

I do have information about billing/shipping issues!

Keoki,

Your Pathfinder #5 is currently waiting in your account sidecart for your monthly shipment. It should ship a little later this month.

Kevin,

Your Pathfinder is being billed to you at the same subscriber rate, but you shipping does look like it's set at Priority Mail. If this isn't correct, please shoot us a quick email at customer.service@paizo.com.
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