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Is the spider critter in the backstory that the "Rod of 7 Parts" was used to kill important to the story? I know the artifact is; but I was wondering if changing the spider to another creature would cause an issue with the continued story.
Otherwise - how important is that spider creature to the overall story (other than the fact it illustrates that the artifact was used to kill it?)
Thanks
Robert
Nope. In fact, I was kind of disappointed that the Rod and the Wind Dukes didn't play a more important role in the main plot. I went out of my way to rewrite stuff so that it WAS more significant... but it's basically just there to get things started.
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Nope. In fact, I was kind of disappointed that the Rod and the Wind Dukes didn't play a more important role in the main plot. I went out of my way to rewrite stuff so that it WAS more significant... but it's basically just there to get things started.
Well - that was what I was going to do.
I've set my campaign in Varisa of Golarion - since the "spider" has no future impact - what I've decided to do is make the Whispering Cairn a tomb for Wind Dukes who were devoted followers and protectors of the First King Xin (who I'm essentially considering to have had control of the elements - and the wind dukes were his minions of air.).
The spider will be replaced by a minion of one of the rebelling runelords; whom the wind dukes killed.
I figured it was a Rod of 7 parts. 1 part devoted to battle each of the 7 runelords. The wind dukes in the whispering cairn used that part that was used to battle "Gluttony"
Kyuss will be a reincarnation of the Runelord of Gluttony. (or a secret weapon of sorts); since the sin of gluttony is affiliated with undead....
Does only the one part of the rod of seven parts appear as part of the adventure - or is an important aspect of the Age Of Worms adventure path spent finding all seven parts or what?
Thanks again,
Robert
You know, you should probably actually *read* the adventures before planning to run them... just saying...
But to answer your question, the Rod of 7 Parts has little to do with the main story. Another part does show up, much later. Basically, there is a long list of prophesies that have to come to pass before Kyuss can return and bring about the Age of Worms. The reappearance of various lost and powerful artifacts are among these prophesies. Where ever possible, the Ebon Triad has tried to engineer and/or manipulate events so as to make this happen sooner - but in some cases they have no choice but to just wait.
What I did to help tie things together (and much of this was inspired by discussions here on these boards) was as follows:
In ancient times, there was a mighty war between forces of Law (the Wind Dukes and others) and Chaos. The Wind Dukes created the Rod of Law (a kind of super weapon) and defeated Chaos - but doing so destroyed the rod, breaking it into 7 parts, which are now scattered to the far corners of the earth. After this great war, some of the Wind Dukes stayed on the Prime Material Plane (to bury their dead, and help their human helpers rebuild, etc.). Some may have chosen to stay, find mates, raise children, etc. Thus began a powerful bloodline - humans with Wind Duke ancestry. Some of these became powerful druids and rangers, and eventually formed the Order of the Storm: a powerful organization dedicated to protecting the land and its people from the forces of evil. This group eventually fought and defeated Kyuss the first time around.
So, the fact that the rod reappears just as Kyuss's followers are preparing for his return may not be such a coincidence after all. And there may yet be people in the Cairn Hills area (Diamond Lake) that still possess the ancient blood line. It's weak now, and they probably have no clue - but that explains why they have the potential to be so "heroic" (and fated to battle Kyuss and his minions, as did their ancestors centuries before). Alaster Land may have belonged to this bloodline. That explains why he was drawn to the Whispering Cairn, and how he managed to avoid so many of the deadly traps, and why his ghost is willing to help the PCs, etc.
His later appearance can be used to explain some of these details, in case the PCs never figure it out on their own.
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You know, you should probably actually *read* the adventures before planning to run them... just saying...
Thanks for the obvious advice. I fully intend to. However I haven't had the time to read more than the first 5 chapters, and my next game is this Saturday. The answer to the question I needed could have helped prevent a big story-line breach later.
I do intend to read the rest - but it may take me another 2 weeks to get them all. Regardless - I wouldn't have found out this piece of info until I read chapter 10 apparently, so I'm glad I asked.
But to answer your question, the Rod of 7 Parts has little to do with the main story. Another part does show up, much later.
Thank you for the rest of the info as well.
Robert