So my campaign may implode *spoilers*


Carrion Crown


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

And just before such a satisfying ending, too.

Party consists of Schneider - Human Undead Scourge Paladin/Holy Vindicator, Kaleb - Halfling Fighter/Rogue, Will - Human Mindchemist Alchemist/Gunslinger, and Paul - Human Inquisitor/Flowing Monk, all level 14.

In the fight against the Urgathoan fly,I managed to drop not one, not two, but three different party members. First to go was Will, taken out by a channel. Cecil managed to get him back up with a breath of life, so he at least survived. Then Paul decides its a good idea to move adjacent to the fire, where one of the clerics had already cast slay living, but not actually connected with the touch. The cleric connects, the damage is enough to send Paul into negatives. At the top of the round (on his turn, when he takes the fire damage), Paul dies, with Cecil nearby ready to heal. Too bad the enemy goes first, and takes Cecil out with a channel. Overall an absolutely brutal encounter, and the party ran in almost completely unprepared.

They now have a long shot idea to use the Cecil's scroll of planar ally to call up a petitioner cleric who has access to raise dead and hoping death didn't purge too many spells/slots from the two who actually got all the way dead. Further complicating things, they are led to believe that the Count is being moved that night, and while they may have a chance to rescue him as he is being transported to Adorak, the chances are slim, at best.

So, do I actively do anything to attempt to salvage this? Obviously I'm going to see what they come up with, but I'd like to have some ideas (beyond my own idea of statting up the Tyrant reborn and hoping for the best) waiting in the wings for next session.

Sczarni

So two out of 4 party members are dead? Easily salvageable at that level, I would think. Find someone willing to cast resurrection magic.

Or for a more epic feel, Here's what I would do, in order to keep the horror aspect strong:

Spoiler:
A figure shows up, dressed in a plain brown robe and a featureless black mask. Guess who?

Mr. Norgorber offers to return the dead party members to life, in return for just a very simple little favor in return...


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

The biggest problem is that its going to take them days to leave and get back, in which case the Whispering Way has more then enough time to get Count Galdana to Adora and complete the ritual, thus disaster.

I can always solve it via deus ex machina, but that'd cheap and would probably just annoy my players. The chance of failure has been hanging over their heads this entire time, spurring them on against all odds. To step in with a cheap "jk lol you guys can't *really* die" would feel cheap to me and them.

In a good bit of roleplaying, however, Paul (who has died and been brought back twice before in this campaign) was showing Cecil around the "waiting room," so to speak, of Pharasmas Graveyard and came up with the ideas of attempting to find a Contract Devil and signing away his should for 3 wishes in a last ditch effort to get back in the fight. I'm debating letting that happen, figuring out how to taint the wishes and such, but I don't think the Pally would be too happy about it.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Well, it sounds like you have a few options there. Sounds like they kinda thought ahead of time with that scroll. That's not so much a deux ex machina as cashing in on your insurance.

The contract devil thing's a bit sketchy, since it's happening after death, but certainly if handled well could lead to future interesting adventure possibilities.

Other options... still while trying to keep things in the PCs hands... what friends/contacts/allies do the PCs have from earlier in the AP? How about the Beast of Lepidstadt and/or the Count Carromarc? Or the Order of the Palentine Eye? Did they help out those Knights of Ozem at the beginning of the adventure? Or even the vamps (or Quinley Basdel) from Ashes at Dawn- I seem to recall vamps usually hate the Whispering Way. It'd be up to your PCs to call in a favor from past services rendered (or services to be rendered), of course, but these people might be interesting ways of bringing back the dead PCs or introducing new one. Carromarc could come up with some alchemical contraption to bring back a dead PC, or perhaps you could let one of the players of the dead pcs play as Quinley or even the Beast of Lepidstadt.

Also, remember that even if they capture the vessel for the Whispering One's next incarnation, by default the ritual is likely to fail. If the PCs still have the artifact the cult was looking for "Wake of the Watcher" then that can be a valuable ingredient the cult needs for their final ritual. If the cult doesn't have it, you can justify a modified version of the final events of Shadows of Gallowspire happening with Adlivion's failed ritual.


My gut feeling is go with your player's idea and see where it leads. Its a horror campagin if someone wants to make a bargain with the devil how can you say no to that?

Otherwise, dreaming psion's suggestions of bringing in some allies (assuming they've made some). Caromarc zapping a PC back to life (with some interesting side effects, natch) is a good suggestion.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Thanks for the ideas. I'm actually thinking, short of infernal bargains, the allies idea will be the parties salvation. Not only did they manage to make the Knights of Ozem friendly, they impressed the knights with their tenacity and combat ability. Enough time has passed that the knights would have finished their patrol, rallied some allies, and made their way to Renchurch to act as reinforcements for their newfound allies. Knowing that one of her followers (Will, the alchemist) is in a deadly situation, and that the rest of the party made the effort to cleanse and rededicate an ancient shrine to her, I can see Desna taking a hand in things, as well, clearing the way for the reinforcements to reach Renchurch in time to help the party. This also has the effect of causing the Whispering Way to postpone moving the Count until they can call in sufficient forces to fight their way through the party AND the knights. Hopefully I will be able to avert the implosion of the campaign while still preserving at least the illusion of the possibility of failure. If not, well, ROTRL here we come :)

Grand Lodge

Keep in mind that you can manipulate when the time is right for the Ceremony. That timeline moves at the speed of plot.

The Knights arrive with a cleric of appropriate level for Raise Dead. Restoration scrolls in hand you can bring them back without too much stretch... AND now you have some Red Shirts who can die in the first round when AA's draconic friend breathes all over them etc.

Scarab Sages

I would second the bargain with the devil. Always room for creative interpretation on his end...


I vote let them fail, change the circumstances of the fail slightly with a loop hole in such a way that they can leverage help from allies to overcome said fail and strike back for revenge.


devil.in.mexico13 wrote:

And just before such a satisfying ending, too.

They now have a long shot idea to use the Cecil's scroll of planar ally to call up a petitioner cleric who has access to raise dead and hoping death didn't purge too many spells/slots from the two who actually got all the way dead. .

Just a question - but why would they loose spells/slots?

Quote:
In addition, the creature reduces its current and total hit points by 5 for each negative level it possesses. The creature is also treated as one level lower for the purpose of level-dependent variables (such as spellcasting) for each negative level possessed. Spellcasters do not lose any prepared spells or slots as a result of negative levels. If a creature’s negative levels equals or exceeds its total Hit Dice, it dies.

Dieing shouldn't make them loose spells.

Dark Archive

I like the infernal bargain also. But since the character is so desperate, make the devil only offer 1 wish.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Ckorik wrote:
Dieing shouldn't make them loose spells.
Raise Dead wrote:
A character who died with spells prepared has a 50% chance of losing any given spell upon being raised. A spellcasting creature that doesn't prepare spells (such as a sorcerer) has a 50% chance of losing any given unused spell slot as if it had been used to cast a spell

If they're successful in summoning the petitioner it will only have access to Raise Dead, and there's a 50% chance per spell slot that that spell is lost until they rest. If the inquisitor sells his soul, its a different story, as wish can replicate Resurection, in which case they'll have all their spells.


TY - makes sense now :)

Grand Lodge

Victor Zajic wrote:
I like the infernal bargain also. But since the character is so desperate, make the devil only offer 1 wish.

Always have more in hand - you need a contract devil with a fall back position, after all a Paladin and an Inquisitor? those are valuable souls.


1 Scroll of Planar Ally

Planar Ally = up to 12 HD = Marid = 1 Wish/year...

Why a Marid? I can see a genie owing a god a favor - planar politics can lead to strange bedfellows.

An Efreet could give them 3 wishes.

Note that with a scroll of planar ally, the material component costs (but not the payment to the ally) are already covered - that's why they cost so much relative to other scrolls... (see table 7-38 of UE, pg 381. A scroll of planar Ally costs 2900 gp, regular 6th level spells cost 1650 gp. The material component costs are 1250gp...). 3 Wishes should run them about 80K in other treasure...

Grand Lodge

This would be less harsh on the Paladin...

Contributor

2 people marked this as a favorite.

You know, the Whispers could be capable of replicating resurrection *evil grin*

Grand Lodge

Binding the players to the location even? Interesting.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Brandon Hodge wrote:
You know, the Whispers could be capable of replicating resurrection *evil grin*

That's just mean...create undead would be so much more fun...especially since the paladin has the undead scourge archetype. This may need to happen...


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

And I just realized something. They are going to have to go back through the room with the whispers. It's either that or fight. They haven't cleared the other side yet...this could get a lot messier.


I don't have the book handy atm, but don't people who die in Renchurch automatically come back as undead within 24 hours? Renchurch is hardcore, and a bad place to get flattened.

One screwed up option would be the party reanimated as ghosts who are "anchored" to the one surviving PC.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Tough call, devil. My players have not yet gotten to Shadows of Gallowspire, but I have read ahead and I see how dangerous it is. Multiple opportunities for glorious/inglorious TPK (like the worm flood Weird Haunt.) It is moments like these that test us as DMs!

I have come to a conclusion on something I am going to do, and it may be an option for you: my players are still holding onto the Harrow cards they have found throughout the adventure. I have incorporated them in subtle, discreet ways: the one gained in Broken Moon under the Desnan moonlight came fluttering down like a fallen star as the PCs were waking up and realizing they all had freakish silvery irises. The one in Wake of the Watcher they found after wresting the infant away from its ignorant father who had to be intimidated to leave town so that he wouldn't just hand the child over after the PCs had left...the baby was playing with it like a toy, and just kind of offered it up to one of the PCs to take.

My subtle suggestion has been that these Harrow cards might be "gifts" from the gods, a hint that the gods have a vested interest in the PCs' success in their endeavors against the Whispering Way and their mad designs to bring back the Tyrant.

I have decided that in the final adventure I am going to allow the PCs to "cash in" a Harrow card at the bleakest moment to curry the favor of a deity. Will it be deus ex machina, god from the machine? Yes. But I have established just such a possibility, and while it will not save all of the PCs, it will be something that I deem will give them a fighting chance once cashed in (in addition, they will come with other costs, too, and may very well come with the price tag that PC in question must dedicate his or her life to said deity from then on if they want to survive.)

Not sure if your PCs still have their Harrows, or if you even used those rules (they were optional), but that is an idea.

Otherwise, I would use the setting to your advantage. Play with the story a little bit, but not much. For example, one of your concerns is that they can pick themselves up by the bootstraps, but doing so will cost them time, and by your clock, the Gray Friar will most certainly have Galdana in Adivion's hands well before then.

So invent something that would slow the Gray Friar down on his trek to the spire, such as the remnant of the Knights of Ozem in a military blockade of sorts that the Gray Friar must fight to get through on the way to the spire. It slows him down and allows the PCs a little bit of time to catch up (and possibly some XP opportunity to make up for the encounters they'll miss below the Urogathoan Fly).

Having Galdana in Adivion's clutches is actually not a bad thing, I have found, as it is a minor change I intend to make for my own adventure. Adivion has begun writing to the party, particularly addressing the party's leader (a Chelaxian noble born wizard who specializes in necromancy, thus a kindred spirit to him!) and being shockingly candid with her about his disillusionment with society (and by extension, with humanity), and about his fears of having his rare genius go to waste and disappear from history. He has effectively promised, respectfully, to guarantee "immortal unlife" to any PC who falls, because they are "better than the riff-raff" of common society and truly do deserve to be amongst the ranks of the ever-living. He will be tasking the necromancer of the party to ensure that his work, his genius, and his sacrifices are never forgotten, even if she should defeat him, a reality he humbly acknowledges. And he will explain in a final letter that they need not fear him succumbing to the traditional hubris of a wizard and trying to make himself Tar-Baphon reincarnate, but that he is merely the assistant, the alchemist, the great mind that finally bridged a gap of generations between death (Tar Baphon) and life (Galdana). Though the subtext they will read with Linguistics will be that secretly, he wants to BE in the limelight, he wants to have the power himself, but is exercising great restraint and self-control.

Thus, in the final encounter, he will have Galdana in his clutches, as well as the Carrion Crown potion, action readied to administer (so there can be no tricks to disarm him). The PCs will have at least 2 choices: they can make the extremely difficult choice to take a single action and kill Galdana with a well-placed crossbow belt or spell before the Carrion Crown Elixir can be administered fully for effect (at which point Adivion consumes the remains and proceed as normal), or my crafty players can make a Diplomacy check to capitalize upon Adivion's secret desire to be the one in the limelight, to have his shot at being the Tyrant Reborn, and if they succeed, he will be properly swayed and take it himself, thus averting the tragedy in favor of his own heretofore well-bottled ambition.

Alternatively, if they take neither action, my solution is Galdana breaking free in a last ditch effort and flinging himself from the top of the spire, choosing to kill himself instead of become the Tyrant Reborn, and thus forcing Adivion to consume the Elixir himself.

Obviously, it all hinges on dramatic timing, but my players have gotten used to my style.

Thus, having a final showdown where Galdana is actually in Adivion's hands is not an immediate endgame, and can be scripted to be very neat. Either way, good luck in getting your party to the end! Eleventh Hour TPKs really suck.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Unfortunately I'm not using the Harrow Cards for this, just regular hero points. We have instituted a house rule that if all the players agree they can all spend one hero point and an hour of rest counts as a full 8 hours, so they have that option if they need it.

Basically the whole thing hinges on the scroll of planar ally going off. If that doesn't work, the inquisitor is resigned to selling his soul. His back story is actually that, while in training, he deliberately let a Paladin of Iomedae die, pouring out a potion of neutralize poison as the pally succumbed. The paladin had been on his way to falling, actually torturing a suspect at one point. Paul couldn't stomach this and let the man die, knowing that it would most likely damn him. He has only recently been informed that he certainly isn't damned, if he ever was, and it would be perfectly in character to use his own immortal soul as a bargaining chip.

If all else fails, I may end up using the Knights of Ozem, but only as a last resort, and only to hedge against something monumentally stupid on the parties end, like if they decide to charge in two party members down and go down in a blaze of glory. Even still, its entirely likely that they'll have three archons with them if they do press on. The party managed to save Haloran in the last adventure, even going so far as to teleport to Absalom so they could get his resurrected after he met the sunrise. Instead of that happening, they turn around after he dies, and there he is, newly promoted to archon status. In stead of his gear they got three gems that would summon him for two minutes. There was talk of popping all three and just pushing on. They might stand a chance, but they are really low on healing, so I may have to prevent it.


Well it is going to come down to some form of divine intercession. But that can be cheap.

Idea 1
You could have them break there souls out of hell, with the final devil they encounter having a device similar to the dagger in the prince of persia sands of time. In which they can revisit the moment before they died with added knowledge of the encounter so they can change things.

Idea 2
Similar to above except Desna intervenes with a so called butterfly effect from the ritual of the high throne.

Idea 3
Baron Samedi, an aspect of Pharasma offers them a deal (rather then a devil). According to wiki;

Samedi:

He is usually depicted with a top hat, black tuxedo (dinner jacket), dark glasses, and cotton plugs in the nostrils, as if to resemble a corpse dressed and prepared for burial in the Haitian style. He has a white, frequently skull-like face (or actually has a skull for a face) and speaks in a nasal voice.

He is a sexual Loa, frequently represented by phallic symbols and is noted for disruption, obscenity, debauchery, and having a particular fondness for tobacco and rum. Additionally, he is the Loa of sex and resurrection, and in the latter capacity he is often called upon for healing by those near or approaching death, as it is only Baron who can accept an individual into the realm of the dead.

Baron Samedi spends most of his time in the invisible realm of voodoo spirits. He is notorious for his outrageous behavior, swearing continuously and making filthy jokes to the other spirits. He is married to another powerful spirit known as Maman Brigitte, but often chases after mortal women. He loves smoking and drinking and is rarely seen without a cigar in his mouth or a glass of rum in his bony fingers. Baron Samedi can usually be found at the crossroad between the worlds of the living and the dead. When someone dies he digs their grave and greets their soul after they have been buried, leading them to the underworld.

Loa are essentially psychopomps. Perhaps the Baron can offer them a favour for a favour. Eg choose one of you whom will die when the carrion crown is destroyed. A gift which will allow the baron to partake in the pleasures of the flesh. This could be the ravens head artifact or something similar.

1dea 4
Lady Hawkren may appear as an apparition and save them by offering her own soul, fommiting it to oblivion. Or perhaps she possesses a body temporarily. Doing so frees the Harrowstone ghosts once more that seek to torment there captors.

Idea 5
Instead of just the wish, the PCs have to duel a demon with either cards, wit (challenges whether quizzes or riddles) or some other form of game for years of servitude to the demon/devil. Use chips to wager as years or the like in which they must serve the demon.

Idea 6
One of the great old ones reforms the pcs material bodies (see HP Lovecrafts Call of Cthulhu when the ship rams the ancient diety). However they come back twisted or deranged in some metaphysical way. Er go insanity or madness of some kind.

No matter what you choose it will be a gray area. Whatever you choose, make sure they have to give up something valuable for it.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

So, quick update here. I am exhausted after a nearly eight hour gaming shift, but they emerged victorious. I don't just mean conquered Renchurch, I mean the ap is finished, we are moving on to ROTRL next week.

Essentially, plan a worked, the summon planar ally went off and Paul and Cecil are alive again. They buffed and charged back into the fray, easily sorting then juju zombies from the count with positive energy and got him back to Caliphas. Taking a couple days there to resupply, they did a little research into adorak itself, realized they could just fly in to the top of the tower, and did just that.

Marrowgarth was tough, but the pally's smite hurt and she had trouble staying out of reach since the whole party was flying. A couple of dispels did her no good, and by then they had noticed Adivion cursing them. Making a straight for him, they pally moved right up to him and activated a cube of force, trapping them both in side. He proceeded to solo the fight, while then rest of the party took on the nightwings. It was a rather epic showdown. The whole thing had a nice flow to it, with such a high chance of failure with rescuing the count in the beginning of the session to a rousing victory in the end.

Thanks again for everyones suggestions and help, luckily the party got out of it on their own wits, but I was ready to salvage it thanks to the great suggestions I got here. An overall great time for what was our first AP finished, and in just about a year. It was definitely a blast, I actually want to run this again at some point, or play in it, but that would be more difficult.

*EDIT* If any of this seems disjointed, I apologize, it is currently 4:30am here. Also, as I live in Massachusetts, I have to give credit to my players for coming out to game while everyone else was getting ready for a hurricane, which I can currently hear the wind picking up for as I type this.

Sczarni

FANTASTIC! Congratulations on finishing, and even more, on running a great game that your players loved!

Good luck on the hurricane. Stay safe!

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Adventure Path / Carrion Crown / So my campaign may implode *spoilers* All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Carrion Crown