Andrew Mullen Contributor |
Bellona |
Alaznist surely looks madly irritated, but she's also incredibly gorgeous. *---*
She's been woken up to find her rivals aren't all gone, much of her power base is lost, and she drew short straw for first module of the AP. Also, Runelord of Wrath?
And by "much of her power base is lost", I assume that you mean that basically her entire realm has sunk into the sea? :D
Generic Villain |
Uhm I dunno about that...I mean since when did Kingmaker have a Runelord??
He's referring to Nyrissa being the final villain despite being largely absent from the rest of the plot. But yeah, Alaznist is the BBEG this time around. That or some thing she summons/creates/unleashes. The avatar of Yog-Sothoth is on the mockup of the final adventure after all.
Generic Villain |
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That's no Avatar, that the Great Old One Tawil at’Umr!
Tawil at’Umr is Yog-Sothoth's avatar. And I'd say Gods help the PCs if he's involved with this AP, but I'm pretty sure even the Gods wouldn't tangle with that dude. It's way too early to be guessing, but maybe ole' Tawil will show up in Continuing the Campaign chapter.
Arkat |
Player Character concept for Return of the Runelords
Name: Iolanthi
Oracle of Pharasma, The Spiral of Fate
Mystery: Time
Race: Trueblood Azlanti
Sex: Male
Background:
When Iolanthi was young, he suffered from almost debilitating deja vu. After Iolanthi reached puberty, his deja vu got to be so bad his parents fretted about him ever being able to become a productive member of Azlant society.
The night before Iolanthi was to reach the age of majority, both his parents had an identical dream in which a hooded form appeared to them and directed them to take their son to "The Spiral of Fate" for aid.
That morning, Iolanthi did not wake up. He was most definitely alive but no matter what his parents tried, he just would not wake up. Heeding the "advice" of the hooded figure from their dream, they carefully placed Iolanthi in a carriage and took him to the local Temple of Pharasma.
When they arrived, the high priestess was standing on the temple steps waiting to greet them. SHe explained she was expecting them and that they should bring Iolanthi inside which they did.
When inside, the high priestess examined Iolanthi and asked for more information about their son.
The parents explained what had happened that morning as well as Iolanthi's debilitating bouts of deja vu over the past few years.
The high priestess explained that Iolanthi was not dead nor was he sleeping. He was in a state of stasis and that it was most likely that Pharasma put him in that state the previous night the moment he became an adult.
Iolanthi's parents were naturally quite worried and wanted to know why Pharasma did this and when he might recover?
The high priestess said that sometimes Pharasma's motivations were completely inscrutable and that it would be completely up to her when Iolanthi would be released from his stasis.
The high priestess advised that Iolanthi was physically fine and that he would not need to eat, drink, or even breathe while in stasis but he was still very vulnerable to anyone or anything that wanted to hurt him. She advised Iolanthi's parents to leave him in her care and that the Pharasmins would ensure his safety.
Iolanthi's parents agreed. They never saw their son again even though they tried to visit him over the years. The priesthood explained they entombed him deep inside their catacombs and warded his tomb with powerful wards that would take much effort to re-establish if they were broken for such a mundane reason as a "visit."
Time passed. In fact, thousands of years passed until one day, Iolanthi awoke. He had no idea how much time had passed but when he exited his tomb (with much effort) he realized he had no idea where he was. The Temple had been destroyed LONG ago and he counted himself as lucky to be alive and able to exit the temple's ruins.
Trying to orient himself in both location and time (he sensed he was no longer in "his" time), Iolanthi found a safe place to sleep for the night and dreamed.
He dreamed of a hooded figure telling him he was a favored of Pharasma and that his strange connection to Time would be needed in the days ahead. The last thing Iolanthi could remember about the dream was the hooded figure pointing him in the direction of a large city that he sensed was close by.
The next morning, Iolanthi set off towards that city.
The Mad Comrade |
Sorshen stats: none. Full-on goddesses get no stats as per Paizo's policy regarding full-on deities :-)
Demi-gawddess at best. Mine had a, oh, 50-odd Charisma and a +83 Bluff without any spells ... hrm ...
*Sorshen whispers in his brain*
[monotone voice] No stat blocks to see here, move along, move along.[/monotone voice]
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Marco Massoudi |
I honestly can't wait - my group is literally on the doorstep to fighting Karzoug in RotRL (level 20 - mythic tier 3!) and they all voted overwhelmingly to continue with this AP once the playtest is over.
Cool, i wish my group didn't break down after narrowly defeating the Lich in book 5.
That being said, i really didn't like that Shattered Star has a mega-dungeon in every book, but will most probably run this AP! :-)Ckorik |
Ckorik wrote:I honestly can't wait - my group is literally on the doorstep to fighting Karzoug in RotRL (level 20 - mythic tier 3!) and they all voted overwhelmingly to continue with this AP once the playtest is over.Cool, i wish my group didn't break down after narrowly defeating the Lich in book 5.
That being said, i really didn't like that Shattered Star has a mega-dungeon in every book, but will most probably run this AP! :-)
Ha - I bumped him a bit due to my group already being higher level and mythic - and he hit the cavaliers dog mount with a prismatic ray spell - that ended up sending it to another plane of existence - I rolled randomly against the entire list of planes - and it ended up being the plane of dreams.
That left for a very interesting and fun side adventure where they had to infiltrate the dream plane and rescue the dog. The Cavalier now spent two wishes - the first to 'awaken' his dog - the second to give him speech - it's been an interesting campaign to say the least
The Mad Comrade |
Ckorik wrote:I honestly can't wait - my group is literally on the doorstep to fighting Karzoug in RotRL (level 20 - mythic tier 3!) and they all voted overwhelmingly to continue with this AP once the playtest is over.Cool, i wish my group didn't break down after narrowly defeating the Lich in book 5.
That being said, i really didn't like that Shattered Star has a mega-dungeon in every book, but will most probably run this AP! :-)
The AP does warn one of this in advance. ;)
Marco Massoudi |
Marco Massoudi wrote:The AP does warn one of this in advance. ;)Ckorik wrote:I honestly can't wait - my group is literally on the doorstep to fighting Karzoug in RotRL (level 20 - mythic tier 3!) and they all voted overwhelmingly to continue with this AP once the playtest is over.Cool, i wish my group didn't break down after narrowly defeating the Lich in book 5.
That being said, i really didn't like that Shattered Star has a mega-dungeon in every book, but will most probably run this AP! :-)
Yes, it does and it has a few very good parts (i like the first and last book especially and the second book has a great dungeon), it's just too much for my taste. ;-)
Berselius |
I may be wrong but it seems to me that this Adventure Path is setting up a possible nation of New Thassilon as a major power player in Golarion for the coming new edition of Pathfinder. If so, I'm guessing that one of the Runelords that achieved a measure of immortality will be it's ruler (with my guess on either Sorshen, Xanderghul, or Zutha). If New Thassilon rises again I'm hoping at least Magnimar can resist it's rule or expansion. I'd really hate to see one of the few cities of the continent of Avistan that worships the Empyreal Lords fall to to the tyranny of sin.
The Mad Comrade |
I rather doubt that a long-dormant Runelord will have - by default - come to rule all of Varisia by the end of the Return of the Runelords.
The bearers of the Sihedron themselves are more than a match for most of the Runelords save Runelord Sorshen and especially Runelord Xanderghul.
They presumably have the far-from-inconsequential resources of Magnimar's Golemworks and seemingly innumerable quasi-deific Empyreals that would not lightly let their city fall into the clutches of tyrants. Only Xin could unmake the Sihedron, so its phenomenal power is wholly at the disposal of all of the "Sihedron Heroes" and their cohorts (as applicable).
Similar can be said about the veterans of Rise of the Runelords - and they have had more downtime and much more significant wealth to draw upon than the Heroes of the Sihedron, although they lack a centuries-old city-state with which to marry their resources. What they do know how to do is craft runeforged weapons with which to oppose in most efficacious fashion all of the Runelords given a small amount of time upon which to act against the risen Runelords.
18-20th level characters with no few years of downtime and vast wealth at their disposal are not going down easily to any one of the Runelords. If anything, arrogance by one or more of the 'lesser' Runelords would see their ruin smote upon their Sihedron Tomes.
Korvosa's new rulers may well be similarly seasoned adventurers in the aftermath of Curse of the Crimson Throne. Were they to be made aware of Runelord Sorshen's mastaba being directly accessible, they would certainly undertake drastic measures of their own accord. These persons themselves have had nearly a decade of their own and the second-largest Varisian city-state's resources upon which to draw, plus presumably a cooperative alliance with the not-inconsiderable abilities of the Shoanti clans to their immediate east... If they befriended Cindermaw, a carry companion spell provides an enormous tunneling entity able to chew its way to the heart of the mastaba in a few minutes' worth of rock munching.
Xanderghul - pending his development during Return of the Runelords I feel is ... elsewhere, and has been, for quite some time now.
Varisia is remarkably well-defended all things considered. Depending on the former realm, there may well be a third or fourth "team" of almost equally powerful heroes along Varisia's perimeter.
A certain Jade Empress hails from humble Sandpoint. Word of such a terrible event arising may well see her advisors return almost immediately to Varisia to investigate - few of whom are strangers to Varisia.
Thomas Seitz |
Korvosa's rulers might also have access to a major artifact. Admittedly it's more useful against Zon-Kuthon and his followers, but a +4 holy Zon Kuthon Bane bastard sword that can bypass/counts as silver AND cold iron...not a bad combo weapon. I mean it's not the ONLY major artifact...but I'd say it's a pretty hefty one to have lying around...
Shivok |
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I remember hearing something about New Thassilon maybe becoming something like the city-state of Ravounel in "Hell's Rebels".
I seem to remember that James Jacobs said that Varisia would still exist largely within the same borders in Pathfinder 2.0.
Well the Runelords were awesome with stasis and time magic so it can be that the New Thassilon starts off with a bunch of Thassilonians released from stasis. Xanderghul's city has never been found for all we know it could be still operating in its own demiplane and get back in golarion. You also have Crystilan, The folks in Runeforge and rumors of ancient thassiloninans in Magnimar in the ancient bridge structure or in Hollow Mountain.
Probably not enough to make a viable empire at first but just enough to make a small city-state. Hey you never know.