Maglub's page

Many thanks for the suggestions, I must have overlooked (or disgregarded immediately) the devastating Blasphemy and Word of Chaos abilities. With those alone, he would be able to destroy the party in 2 rounds, except the Smoking Eye character, who is actually chaotic good (and evil). The rest: LN, CG, NG, CN, NG, LN.

So, actually, Word of Chaos kills 4 of 7 and Blasphemy takes 2 more, leaving the Smoking Eye behind.

Although that would actually be exactly what Adimarchus is supposed to do, when running him by the book, I still don't see how this can be the intended outcome, as it would be pretty much inevitable from the start. Actually, I'm not going to do that, as it would end the game right there with a bad taste to boot.

The question I'm posing myself is now, whether I should decrease the caster level of the abilities and still scare the hell out of them by paralyzing half the party, maybe even to start a chat with the remaining Smoking Eye, whether I should just keep those abilities for a last ditch resort, if the battle goes too well for the party, or whether I should I just drop them for the sake of survivability.

What will offer the best value for money and still be in flavor ?

I also wonder, whether Death Ward protects from being killed anyway ?

Many thanks,
Nib

My group (average level 20) happens to be in the final fight against Adimarchus (we use 3.5 core rules only). The CL30 is a mistake in the magazine, which unfortunately was not corrected in the hard-cover. If you search the database you will find James' reply [url=http://paizo.com/dungeon/messageboards/shackledCity/archives/quickAdventurePathErattaSpoiler[/url] on this matter. It should be CL20, similar to other demon-lords like Graz'zt. And what would be the point in killing the party outright?

On the other hand, deathward (Nidrama can cast that spell, which she did in on all group members) might protect the characters from instant death depending on your own ruling. As far as I understand it this spell protects against all death effects and not only those with the death descriptor (immune to all death spells, magical death effects, etc.). That leaves only the paralyzation :-).
Anyhow, after 8 rounds the party has done 470 hp of damage against his angelic form and 270 against the demon form. Currently the monk with the smoking eye is at -7hp, the wizard without functional spells, the rogue searching for his cold iron arrows that missed and Nidrama paralyzed. Everything depends now on the priest (one miracle left) and the fighter (hurt but not dead yet).

A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it

Technically, no they can't teleport into mid-air. However, it could be argued that Orbius is a valid support.

If you want a 10 foot cube of rock to fall on somebody, you have to transmute a 10 foot cube of air. ;)

IMarv

That's about conjuring creatures. However, the description of teleport says: This spell instantly transports you to a designated destination (a place you know well, because you can currently see it), and when "On Target" you appear where you want to be.

Just my thoughts

A really superb final of a great campaign!!

Well done, Robert.

Maglub wrote:

Uzziel the Angel wrote:

Room C17 of the Fiery Sanctum contains a secret door in its north wall that leads to an unlabeled, rectangular room. The rectangular shape appears to indicate a constructed room. The map of the room shows what appears to be a bench or table in the southwest corner and what appears to be a manufactured border to a lava pool in the northeast corner. The description for room C17 on page 279 appears to contain no reference to the secret door or the unlabeled room beyond, yet an artist went to some length to give the secret room some features that we can see on the map.

Does anyone know what's the purpose or the contents of the secret room? Did it appear in Dungeon but get left out of the Shackled City hardcover?

If you've run this part of the adventure and couldn't find anything about the secret door or the room beyond, did you just ignore the room, or perhaps not even have the secret door and room at all? Thanks.

This question has already been answered. Look in the archives.

I made it the secret study room of F. Doorgan, where the papers concerning the construction of the dispersal collar can be found.

Peter

Thanks Peter. I looked through the archives but couldn't find a reference to it. If you could give me the location or just the answer I'd much appreciate it. Thanks. :)

Here is the link I was referring to. Sorry, there is not much in it. You have to make it up yourself.

Peter

Room C17 of the Fiery Sanctum contains a secret door in its north wall that leads to an unlabeled, rectangular room. The rectangular shape appears to indicate a constructed room. The map of the room shows what appears to be a bench or table in the southwest corner and what appears to be a manufactured border to a lava pool in the northeast corner. The description for room C17 on page 279 appears to contain no reference to the secret door or the unlabeled room beyond, yet an artist went to some length to give the secret room some features that we can see on the map.

Does anyone know what's the purpose or the contents of the secret room? Did it appear in Dungeon but get left out of the Shackled City hardcover?

If you've run this part of the adventure and couldn't find anything about the secret door or the room beyond, did you just ignore the room, or perhaps not even have the secret door and room at all? Thanks.

This question has already been answered. Look in the archives.

I made it the secret study room of F. Doorgan, where the papers concerning the construction of the dispersal collar can be found.

Peter

Our cleric had cast an Antimagic field on him. And all other PCs are near him to profit from it. Thus my lovely Orbius hovering below the celeing is unable to do anything with his eyestalks. And the characters are unable to cast spells (because of the two antimagic fields) to do anything except firing some X-bow bolts which are unlikely to hit the beholder. Orbius's spittle is useless, only immobilizing the enemy. Orbius won't come down to bite them, because this would be certain death Orbius would likely only survive in melee for 3 or 4 rounds. The cleric's antimagic field lasts for another 100 minutes or so and no one seems willing to step out of it to fire a devasting fireball or something like that and sacrifice himself (hehe) when Orbius' turn comes in the round.

Kind of stalemate here. Kind of boring up until now and I have no glue of how to continue the fight. Should Orbius takes his chances and come down to bite? Should he try to immobilize the rogue with his spittle and then come down and bite? Any ideas? Thanx

First of all, why would it be useless for Orbius to paralyze the characters? A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act, has an effective Dexterity and Strength score of 0 and is helpless. That’s not too bad. It also paralyzes them for 3d6 rounds.

So if I were the beholder I would start to paralyze the cleric (hopefully for him he has cast freedom of movement), followed by those characters with ranged weapons (ignore the wizard). Then bite them to death (that would take a considerable time, but since the characters have no magic protection they are likely not so difficult to hit) using flyby attacks (remember that his bite also paralyzes).
Or if all the characters are paralyzed (it’s a fortitude DC23 save) I would bull rush one of them outside the antimagic field (it’s only 10’ radius) and then use my rays on him.
Just a thought.

Peter

Maglub wrote:

Have a look at theRPGenius , where I submitted some 30 issues of my version of the Cauldron Herald . A lot of the contents I “borrowed” from different sources on the internet. Some of them where of my own doing. The office of the Cauldron Herald was closed by the governement (read Vhalantru and Skellerang) after the attack of the PC’s on the Cathedral of Wee-Jas.

Peter

Linked

Thanks, hit the submit button to soon.

Anyhow here is an example of one of the Cauldron Heralds:

Adventurers Tax Expanded
Although regular taxes will not be levied until coming month, Chancellor Terri Stanheort announced a 20% sales tax on all weapons, armor, magic items, and spells cast. The new tax will not only make adventuring less profitable but also is threatening to bankrupt many local merchants such as Skie Alderson. Tygot Mispas is one of many merchants grumbling and now seriously contemplating leaving the city of Cauldron, his home for over 100 years!
Rumors of a mind-boggling year end property tax of 30% against all of Cauldron’s merchants and home-owners are spreading in town. Both import and export are greatly suffering from the expanding taxes, causing more and more citizens to be forced out of our gates.

Security Platoons Introduced
Due to increasing disturbances Lord Vhalantru pronounced the arrival of special security platoons to patrol the streets. These sizeable troops will be led by an aristocrat and consist of outstandingly trained elite half-orcs, supplied by Zarn Kyass and assisted by clerics of Wee-Jas. Captain Skellerang proclaimed that future incursions of monsters could be countered effectively now. The city government is grateful for the commitment of the temple of Wee-Jas to protect the common folk.

Narrow Escape Stormblades
The Stormblades searched for a cult of lizardmen, who worship the demon prince Demogorgon. These vile creatures had been attacking caravans and travelers near Cauldron and captured them for sacrifice.
While trailing a recent band through a swamp near the ruins of Shatterhorn, the group was attacked by moss covered treants, giant lizards and a massive black crocodile. Fighting for their lives the Stormblades were lucky to escape the encounter and slew the enormous crocodile to end the battle.

Tension Between Temples of Kord and Pelor Growing
The current enmity augmented after High priest Asfelkir of Kord accused the temple of Pelor of harvesting novices under false pretence. His holiness Shebeleth Regidin replied: “Kord sent spies to our holy shrine, they are clearly jealous of our success. Those joining us do that because we care for the poor and homeless. Perhaps Asfelkir should put less effort in organizing contests and instead focus on the needy in Cauldron’s lower district.” Father Kristof added: “We are prepared to defend ourselves against any threats, whether those are coming from Kord or Wee-Jas!”

Peter

Have a look at theRPGenius [url=http://therpgenius.com[/url], where I submitted some 30 issues of my version of the Cauldron Herald . A lot of the contents I “borrowed” from different sources on the internet. Some of them where of my own doing. The office of the Cauldron Herald was closed by the governement (read Vhalantru and Skellerang) after the attack of the PC’s on the Cathedral of Wee-Jas.

Peter

Mothman wrote:

Yes, Saureya engineered the Test (and influenced Addy into setting it up) in the hope that a good aligned being might win rulership of the plane and be able to re-integrate it into Celestia I believe.

Okay, yes, having re-read the HC again I can see this now. I think I'll have Saureya basically tell the PCs that when they speak to him.

Thanks for clearing that up!
B

Actually the test is so flawed that any ceature, even from the lower planes can acquire the smoking eye and claim rulership of Occipitus. The point is that the first two tests are not neccesary to complete at all. The first test was designed to discourage creatures from the lower planes (remember, Kaurophon could not enter the entrance below the Cathedral of Feathers) to participate in the first test. The last test, sacrificing an ally into the flaming fountain is enough. That’s why Byakala, the marilith (see chapter 12) could become a ruler too. In my game the PC’s and the one who became ruler (a lawful good monk) left Occiptus on it’s own after chapter 6 (test of the smoking eye). After some period Byakala, unknown to the PC’s, arrived on Occipitus (don’t ask me how) and gained the smoking eye by sacrificing Liuvash (the succubus who tried to become ruler with the aid of the noble salamander Arrokh).

At the end of chapter 10, the reborn Orbius (formally known as Lord Vhalantru) returned to the material plane and Cauldron to take revenge on the PC’s. Hmm… he almost succeeded, killing the fighter and the rogue and petrifying the monk. In the end the cleric was able to destruct Orbius.
By now they are planning to return to Occipitus to find Orbius and throw him in the fire (they know that someone with the smoking eye returns to the skull on Occipitus, dead but intact), before eliminating the leftovers of the Cagewrights in Shatterhorn. They will find Occipitus changed for the worst: the good Celestial parts crumbling due to Byalala’s efforts to destroy them.
I’m still thinking what she would have tried to do with the few good creatures left (also the PC’s allies), the avoral guardinal Halalia, the leonal guardinal and Saureya.
Anyhow they will not meet Byakala there when they arrive, because she became bored or so of ruling the plane and planeshifted to Carceri (got to work that out).

Peter

Hmmm, I'm probably not going to run the Seige of Redgorge (good as it looks) if for no other reason than this campaign is already massive and adding more to it seems a tad like overkill. At the moment I'm using auto levelling up at certain stages of the AP and adding in a whole extra adventure of that scale with no experience reward might prove frustrating to the PCs. Having said that I might move towards 30 levels for the AP in stead of 20 (I'm running SCAP 4E) and this might make the Seige a nice interlude. We'll see.

Anyway, given that I'm not planning on running Seige I don't think Nab will be turning up there. But I do plan on having him battle the PCs at some stage in the campaign as he's such an architypal villain (a legendary foe like this need to be battled at some stage). So in fact, him ripping Alek limb from limb in Chapter 5 and the PCs actually attacking him during that fight (plus taking some residual damage from his area attacks) is some great foreshadowing of the main demon and also goes to show them just how powerful he is. It should set them up for revenge when they reach an appropriate level - somewhere towards the end of the Path if I stick to a 20th level version, or somewhere in the not so distant future if I go for a 30th level version.

I also skipped the Redgorge siege. My reason was that I found the resulting battle too complicated and too much time consuming (we are playing almost 3 years now, just reached chapter 11 in 105 sessions).

About the battle of Nabthatoron and the death of Alek have a look at this thread. Nab was already foreshadowed during the Flood Season Ball (amazing work from Delvesdeep) Although Nab could have killed the PC's, he focused his attention on Alek, killed him and ripped his head off to prevent an easy raise dead.
They met Nab again at the end of chapter 9, foundation of the flame. Informed by the Cagewrights that the time was ripe to conquer Redgorge (Cauldron would fall as soon as the permanent portal was established) Nab marched to Redgorge with an army of 2 hezrou lieutenants, a dozen babaus, 6 vrocks and 100 dretches. Just before they reached their destination they were spotted by the PC's. The resulting ambush of the PC's was devastating: Nab took massive damage in the surprise round, lost initiative in the next combat round and then was killed without having had one attack himself. Defeating his army was a peace of cake, ofcourse. My group was thrilled with the result, especially because of the first frustrating encounter, in which they could not save Alek. His head is now permently displayed at the town's square in Redgorge to great joy of the Redgorge population.
In other words don't wait too long with this encounter, otherwise the PC's are way too powerful for the poor Glabrezu.

Peter

In my game, the Striders are investigating rumours of a demonic cult operating in the Cauldron region. One of the characters is an elven ranger whose family died in a orc raid. So I had the Striders approach him with information that his brother is still alive. His brother's name? Kyan Winterstrike (converted to a non-drow, of course).

So as they find out more information, they'll keep in touch with the PCs. In fact, one PC joined the party temporarily as Fellian (for the attack on the Lucky Monkey), but he dropped out soon afterwards.

Actually you don't need to convert Kyan to a non-drow, she is already an elf (see chapter 11). You might have to change her gender though. Or were you referring to Viirdran?

The map of the Fiery Sanctum misses a room description: just north to C17 (Freija Doorgan's room) there is a secret door to a room not described in the text of the HC. I think I'll use it as her secret study/bedroom (books and desk with documents about the dispersal collar)

We are half way chapter 10, 13 cages and yes, I am too extremely interested in how Delvesdeep envisaged the problems the characters encounter in the insane nightmare dreams of Adimarchus. He already gave some good actions for dream 1-3. Nightmare Four – Invasion of Heaven (Revenge) - could be something like to convince Adimarchus to turn his demonic forces against general Occipitus army. Haven't had much time to think about the others dreams yet, but if I have something I will post it.

In any case, this thread is tremendously fun to read.

It give me ideas and insight as to what might happen, and how I might run things in the future (even though the PCs in my group are only about to raid Bhal-Hamatugn).

Here is how it went in my campaign: Hookface appeared from the clouds and terrorized the fleeing people at eastern Obsidian Avenue while searching for magical objects. He landed on the tower of the MTA, ripped it open and robbed a poor gnome from his wand and flung the unfortunate on the street. Meanwhile all the PC's had acquired flying capabilities and just in front of the temple of St Cuthbert they were able to draw the attention of Hookface. Hookface started with his breath weapon and the next rounds used his flyby attack to weaken one of the PC's (the dwarven priest), occasionally breathing fire (which was completely ineffective against the monk and rogue and partly against the fighter, priest and wizard due to protection magic). The rogue/wizard used a wand of dispel magic to remove the dragon's protective spells and the monk was able to attack Hookface each round.

The priest and wizard had little luck in bypassing the dragon's SR and at a certain point in the battle the priest went in the negatives due to not saving for some severe fire damage. Then Hookface snatched the halfling monk, chewed on him and next round unleashed his fiery breath, leaving the monk pretty hurt. Priest got revived, but the PC's were getting desperate: they had done only little damage to Hookface (ca. 100), who was flying with the monk in his beak, chewing him to pieces. Then the wizard got a brilliant idea: He assembled the group and teleported right in front of Hookface, after which the other PC's could make a full round attack (100+ damage). Hookface was not amused, it was time to retreat. He dropped the monk (my fault, assumed casting invisibiliy in combat was not possible, but he has greater invisibility)to cast invisibility to fascilitate escape. Wizard cast see invisibility, priest invisibility purge. Hookface sped away at full speed, to be met by another teleport trick followed by a full round attack = Hookface dead.

The whole battle took about 12 rounds, I think they liked it.

All in all within 24 hours they defeated Cauldron's legendary monsters: the Morkoth, Hookface and Nabthatoron (well, that's another tale).

Peter

my problem at this Moment is the following:

Even before the group finished evacuating half of the city, one character decided to leave the town because he ran out of teleportation magic.

He argues that the citizens can leave the town on their own and that he has better things to do (finding out where the cagewrights are hiding). After all, the whole world is in peril and he thinks he is the only one to stop the portal from opening.

The rest of the group will stay and help evacuate the city and the leaving player is by no means to be convinced to stay as well. So now there are still 10 encounters to go and the group is weakened. Could become interessting when Hookface arrives...

At least they already fought off the Lake Monster...

Hmmmm.... so your player is CS aligned. Well, the best punishment is to give your players a couple of great sessions (just trim down the encounters a little) and let the off wanderer, I don't know his class, meet only boring corridors or so, where ever he is. That'll teach him/her (I do hope it's not your spouse!).

Just my opinion.

Peter

Having said that, the plot requires that they press on for the Fiery Sanctum, but they will be completely exhausted by the time Hookface is repelled/killed. I wonder how I'm gonna solve that...

Cheers,
Nib

The wizard of the group or any other knowledgeable PC might find out that there is still time (the portal will take a couple of days to form). Let them (subtle) know that going after the Cagewrights in their present condition is not such a good idea.

Loosing players really sucks so far in the campaign. Hope you find a relacement.

PeterV

I was most interested in your very first stat. Our group has averaged 6.125 sessions per module, spread over a very long time. I think very soon, it will pass my Giantdowns game as the longest-running campaign I've been in, around 5-1/2 years.

We are near the end of "Foundations" after 53 sessions.

We too after 90 sessions. We play around 6 hours/session. Next session they will meet Hookface.

Hey guys, it's late at night so I'm going to make this question short and sweet. In "The Demonskar Legacy" what prevents a party from simply scrying Alek Tercival and then teleporting to him after they observe his location? Did I read past something that prevents this? I can't see how there could be anything blocking either spell since the end of the adventure has the baddies doing just that.

And to stave off anyone saying that a level 8 party is not capable of doing this, they very much can and I've seen it happen already once with my game. I can easily see the party just doing this and skipping the entire cool adventure.

Hope you slept well?

The solution to your problem is very easy: teleport range is 100 miles/level; thus make Alec's location further away than the caster may reach. Also remember he can take only a limited number of persons with him.
Alec could also make his will save against scrying, but considering his condition this scenario would be unlikely. Another possibility is that Alec is still in the maze when they scry upon him.

Peter

Maglub wrote:

As a Ghaele (I changed her in a trumpet archon, so she could be the daughter of Haloen) she couldn't be charmed by Orbius' eye ray "charm monster", since she has a permanent protective aura on (which functions as protection from evil).

I'm desperately thinking of a possibility for Orbius to capture her, but other than catching her in his anti-magic cone followed by physical force, I don't see.

Don't forget Orbius has allies, most notably Thifirane. Her spells, Orbius' rays, and the aid of Gortio, they could subdue her in one way or another. But you raise a good point, and I will have to remember it when next I run the campaign.

During the session I suddenly realized how they might have captured her. First Thifirane casting a magic circle against good (from scroll), followed by a dimensional anchor to keep her there and then greater planar binding from scroll (calling Celeste). Needs some lucky rolls, but I think that would be a feasible solution of the problem.

The perfect place is O8 of course: A search check in that room reveals a few blond hairs and some silver dust.

Actually, the mention of cleric spells isn't an error. She's a Ghaele Eladrin, and from the SRD:

"Spells: Ghaeles in humanoid form can cast divine spells as 14th-level clerics."

As a Ghaele (I changed her in a trumpet archon, so she could be the daughter of Haloen) she couldn't be charmed by Orbius' eye ray "charm monster", since she has a permanent protective aura on (which functions as protection from evil).

I'm desperately thinking of a possibility for Orbius to capture her, but other than catching her in his anti-magic cone followed by physical force, I don't see.
Also her answer on page 245 is impossible, telling the PC's that she saw Zenith being taken away. She was captured and bound in the painting way before Zenith's return!

EATERoftheDEAD wrote:

On an unrelated note I seem to be missing at which point the party receives Alkhast. It is mentioned that the party already wields Alkhast in the siege of Redgorge event so it must appear sometime during Zenith Trajectory or Test of the Smoking Eye but I'm not seeing it anywhere. I wanted to build a little side trek around retrieving Alkhast but I'm not sure where it should go.

I don't have the HC with me, but I think they find it hidden during the Demonskar Legacy.

Correct, Alakast is hidden behind the watchful eyes (a couple of monkee masks) in the lair/room of the three hags in Vaprak's Voice.

That's the chapter called the Demonskar Legacy.

Hi,

I was the one who uploaded the diary to therpgenius and looking at my own document now, I'm pretty sure, I used "Orbius", not Vhalantru. Reason is that I never used Vhlantru's full name, which DMs some refer to as Lord Orbius Vhalantru. IMC Vhalantru was always just Lord Vhalantru (I recently gave him a French sounding first name: Sibour as an additional hint (we're at chapter 7) *cough*ana*cough*gram*cough* ) and they've met the beholder and heard of him multiple times. He was always referred to as Orbius.

I can't wait until they discover that Orbius and Vhalantru are one and the same. BTW, how does Orbius do the imposting ? He doesn't have any spells that polymorph him into a human, does he ? Does he always need Thifirane for transformations ?

Cheers,
Nib

I used your extended verion of my diary and there is no mentioning of the name Vhalantru.

In the HC his name is Alahind Vhalantru. Among the cagewrights and allies he is known as Master Orbius. He is disguised by means of a simulacrum suit, prepared from the skin of the original Lord Vhalantru. Sometimes, when Orbius is too busy to attend public meetings Gortio the doubleganger poses as the Lord.
According to the HC he is only an ally to the cagewrights, but I made him a Master cagewright and one of the 13 (thanks to Delvesdeep).

Dispel magic can take out the telepathic bond, no?

Certainly, against 14th level magic of Meerthan.

And a beholder's anti-magic cone can cause the bond not to function, quite suddenly, although the cone would have to be shut off before the petrification ray would work.

Nevertheless, the main problem is that Fellian is suddenly cut off from the telepathic bond. Which means trouble, Meerthan and the other striders immediately know something is terribly wrong!

I was pretty sure the telepathic bond was only between Meerthan and each individual strider. And also it only takes a moment to be turned to stone, so no time to send a telepathic message.

From the SRD: You forge a telepathic bond among yourself and a number of willing creatures. Each creature included in the link is linked to all the others.

I agree on the turn to stone.

The rules for scrying are too vague. What happens if the target of the scrying is dead or their body doesn't exist anymore? Lord V would not do anything that would put him at risk for being found out.

Then you just cannot scry on that person, but you could try locate object, perhaps :-)

The doppleganger, of course!

Previously they had left the lord-mayor in Fellian's care, since they expected an assasination attempt. Fellian and the Lord-Mayor have both been eaten by Vhalantru but the PCs don't know that. All they know is that the two of them have been impossible to scry lately. Gortio can make up a story about how they were attacked by *insert villain here* and had to flee to a safer hiding spot on another plane. Gortio can also lie and say that the mayor is the target of some sort of ritual (implying that the mayor is a shackleborn). All this deception serves to turn the attention of the PCs away from Vhalantru and towards the Last Laugh, Cathedral of Wee Jas, or other scapegoat.

How did Fellian disappeared? He has a <i>telephatic bond</i> with all other striders (unless you ruled otherwise, what I should have done actually, but didn't). So unless taken by surprise (instant kill or unconcious), the attempt would be immediately noticed and Gortio would betray himself by not sharing their bond.

Furthermore, the PC's could know the two are dead because of repeatedly failed scrying attempts (any defense against scrying would result in a "blocked" status).
The same problem rises in chapter 9, LoO. Here Fellian is captured at Rhiavadi's estate and brought to the LL safehouse. Why in earth didn't he contact the striders the moment he was caught? (or better, before he entered the place) Instant unconciousness is the only explanation, I think.
Talking about your problem then, if your PC's are so cocky and think they can take over cities command and rule just let them. They may find a gruesome end in the "hands" of Lord V, but that's how it goes when power is wrongly handled.
Anyhow for the story it makes not much of a difference in which order the cathedral, Rhiavadi or V are demasked.

Critic of the Dawn wrote:

While I suppose Lady Rhiavadi would work, I don't think you have to look that far.

A certain 19th level Mystic Theurge with a rather strong association to the Cathedral of Wee Jas just might have played a similar role in the creation or command of the zombies in question as well.

Eric "Critic of the Dawn"

Dang it; I meant to say "Embril Aloustinai". Doh.

Yeah that one was obvious. But I think she is too busy preparing the ritual in the fiery sanctum. Otherwise she could have killed the PC's herself, instead of creating some zombies for Ike.

Another point is the unhallow cast at 20th level in the temple, who did that?
Ike from a scroll? If so, who prepared the scroll then?
I guess I shouldn't think too logically.

Command Undead is a 2nd level spell that lets you control 1 undead for 1 day per level. You could say that he cast that spell a few days earlier on each of them.

All true, but Command undead is a sorcerer/wizard spell. Ike could have cast the spells from scrolls. As creator of the zombies he already could control 2 of them, he needs then 4 scrolls/day for the zombies and the dreath wraith. It's a bit far fetched, but possible.

Maglub wrote:

According to the HC, Fetor adds an additional 2d6 death frost damage to his magic missiles and lightning bolt spells. However, the desciption of the death frost spell explicitly says that it enhances necromancy spells and as an example ghoul touch is given.

I just checked the HC, and I agree that the Death Frost Feat only affects necromancy spells. I then checked the encounter with Fetor and saw that they used the word empower before magic missile and lightning bolt. I believe they are referring to this feat instead of the death frost feat.

Thanks for your reply. Indeed he has an empowered lightning bolt at 5th level, but in my HC, page 356 not an empowered magic missile. He does have a 2nd level death frost magic missile, a 4th level death frost lightning bolt, and at 5th level death frost enervation and empowered vampiric touch.

Funny that nobody noticed. Not that it makes much difference on the outcome of the battle, though.

Just finished the attack on the cathedral of Wee-Jas. One thing keeps nagging me.
Ike has to control the undead he has animated, doesn't he? Otherwise they would attack him, I suppose. He has made 5 grey render zombies of 20 HD each. According to the spell description of animate dead: "The undead you create remain under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level". Since Ike is a cleric of level 13 he can control 52 HD of undead, being two grey render zombies and 12 HD left.
Control undead doesn't add much: "Up to 2 HD/level of undead creatures, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart".
Am I overlooking something?

Soon my group is going to visit Karran-Kural and meet Fetor Abradius.
According to the HC, Fetor adds an additional 2d6 death frost damage to his magic missiles and lightning bolt spells. However, the desciption of the death frost spell explicitly says that it enhances necromancy spells and as an example ghoul touch is given.
So, he could enhance e.g. vampiric touch or chill touch, but not a fireball spell and the like!
Am I missing something?

I too would recommend buying the HC. Not only does it contain lots of extra material, it's also a great possession to have.
And the cost: the campaign will take you maybe 500 hours of play for six. Roughly calculated a meager 10 cents per hour. Divide the costs with your players and you play for a less than 2 cents per hour per player. I can't imagine that would be a big financial sacrifice!

With an appropriate knowledge roll or just from past experience, Kaurophon could've heard of the nexus and its power. He'd be willing to accept the damage especially if he could fool the party's cleric into healing him afterwards.

I intend to have Kaurophon make a big show of "cleansing the evil artifact" and looking quite drained afterwards.

I did something similar. Kaurophon already knew the lich from the past when Myaruk was still among the living. In that time they discussed the possible existence of such a beneficial artifact, the Nexus. During the encounter Myaruk accused Kaurophon of bringing the PC's to his treasure.

This was really interesting. As you know Kaurophon pretented to become a good creature, despite his terrible evil enheritance. During the trip in Occipitus, the PC's brought up the issue of sacrifying yourself for the benefits of the group. A concept which was difficult to comprehend for our evil sorcerer. Thus when the party was stuck, because of Myaruk's apparent immunity in the nexus, Kaurophon volunteered to bullrush the lich out off it. They were so touched by the offer, that the dwarven cleric promised him healing after his heroic deed.
So he got hurt, but gained 4 levels and was healed afterwards.

By the way, did any of you DM's let Kaurophon rise a level? I used McVee's mini-adventure of Occipitus, which is really great and adds a lot of flavor to the journey, which should give him enough XP for level 12. In this way he also doesn't need the scroll of desintegration, he can cast it 4 times/day himself now!

When the PC's meet Kaurophon at the beginning of the Test of the Smoking Eye, he states that he does not know why he was unable to pass the test. When they reach the Cathedral of Feathers, he can demonstrate that he is unable to enter the Antechamber, but he doesn't know why. But when you meet Saureya, the deva says he told Kaurophon why he couldn't get into the Antechamber - he's from the lower planes and is prevented from doing so. This makes Kaurophon look like a liar - which he is, but not about that particular thing. Pick one and stick with it, or your players may make more of it than it's worth.

Hmm, I think that according to the HC he actually said that he chose correctly but was unable to beat the bebelith. So that lie will become already obvious when he can't enter the Antechamber.

In my game Kaurophon did not say much about the challenge, but reacted surprised when he could not enter. So later he got embarassed by Saureya's explanation.
But remember, he is a sorcerer with a lot of charisma but lacks the intelligence of a smart wizard. That's how I played him in the final battle too.

My version of Maple is secretly one of the guildmasters of the Last Laugh. She also happens to be one of the party's cohorts. One of these days she's going to betray them all, and hard.

Yeah dear sweet Maple. My PC's loved her, the cute little halfling.

I see her as a perfectly smart opportunist. And until now she seems to get way with it.
The rogue found out she worked for the Alleybashers and wanted to make a non-aggression pact. Before he knew it he was working the streets as Maple's bodyguard when she was collecting the rent and extracting blackmail money. She introduced him to a couple of Alleybashers and her boss, Filistir, also called the Frog. To gain his trust, he worked on a job to rob Udo the silkmonger. Unfortunately for them, Udo was not unprotected. The Last Laugh were warned by a LL spy also working for the Frog. So our hero got an unpleasant surprise that night when he and Maple were nailed to the ground. All the more when the leader of the LL appeared to be the woman he had met during the Ruphus Laro beat up. Jill let the rogue feel her whip and broke Maples arm emphasizing the power of the LL vs the Alleybashers.
Just a week before the Lucky monkey attack he did his last job.
He had to guard the transfer of weapons (for the LM attack), during which he briefly met Triel (Triel immediately disliked him).
Well, then finally at the Lucky Monkey and Kopru Ruins attack, he had to kill his former Alleybasher "friends".

After the LM and Kopru debacle Maple went underground for a while. Even before the last Alleybashers were killed during the fire elemental attack she became a member of the Last Laugh working with Jill and Finch.
Next step is to introduce those three, perhaps after the assassination attempt when they are searching for clues.

Since there seems to be quite a few new people starting this path, I thought it might be a good idea to have a place to point out jarring logical problems, so that us oldies can help new DMs watch out for various things.

So, to start off: Two things in Flood Season.

1) Considering the time scale, Triel Eldurast must be on her way to Cauldron from the Lucky monkey when the PCs storm out to help Sarcem Delasharn. There is only one road, and the PCs are likely cautious. So why don't they react when they meet her? The easiest solution is that she too is cautious, and takes great pains to hide when the PCs pass by. Then again, that's not too easy in full plate...

Indeed the PC's might wondering, so this is how I solved it.

On her way back Triel sends a scout ahead, so she was warned of the PC's arrival. They drove the cart into a sideway (leading to one of the many Hillfolk settlements) and waited a few minutes to resume their journey. Later when the PC's returned from the Lucky Monkey searching for Triel, Shensen found the tracks of the cart (yep, including sidetrip) leading to Cauldron.

Otherwise she took an alternative route only known to the Hillfolk.

2) The module states clearly that the Kopru ruins are located well beneath the surface of the water in the crater lake. The ruins have a lake that is connected to the crater lake. The ruins could be pressurized, but the passage the PCs take to get down there should bleed off the air pretty quickly. The best fix is not to have a connection between the lakes. =)

I didn't consider this as a problem (the use of the wands to lower the water level all the more though, but that has already been adressed before). The premise is that the water level in the central lake rises thereby putting more pressure on the draining system. (actually not much: think of it the lake's surface is 1300 feet above that of Phantom lake, if it rises 10 feet then the hydrodynamic pressure goes up to 1310 feet, not much of a difference for a draining system).

The nice thing though: it's all fantasy!
So, due to the rising pressure the inflow in the lower lake begins to increase. When they arrive the PC's see the waterfall and might notice that the water level already has risen considerably.
When they have finished their job the beach has flooded (or the ruins themselves) and the path to the elevator...
The Skulvin or Kopru might come in now, if you haven't been able to use them (my PC's used a charge of the wand to lower the waters, thereby angering the Kopru).

Hope this helps

It's funny, my players have this theory that a) if any supposedly good creature offers to help you, it must be evil and they should try to destroy it and b) if any supposedly good creature tells the party that they would love to help, but can't because of (insert various reasons), then they must be truly good and can be trusted. So far in SCAP, this has been borne out 100%. :) Needless to say, the hags didn't stand a chance with my group! Easiest...battle...ever.

-Lisa

So your group tried to destroy Jenya, Meerthan, Maavu, Nidrama and various other good NPC's you introduced during the campaign? :-)

The hags almost killed my party. A bit cheatin' on my side though. When the hags offered the chalice, nobody made his sense motive check. Nevertheless, common sense and the warning of the false sisters by Nidrama made them suspicious and they refused the offer.
I gave the hags a surprise round in which they cast dominate, confusion and eyebite. Some bad saves of the PC's and the next round the hags had good initiative, flew up and due to terrible rolls on attack (fighters are notoriously bad with bow stuff) and spell resistance the hags were able to cast forcecage on the fighter. Half of remaining party confused and odds were not so good. However, the hags were so confident of an easy prey, that they attacked the PC's physically, and then luck turned (i love that confusion spell) and a totally weakened party was able to kill 2 of the hags, 1 escaped to inform Nabthatoron.

In the end I think the dice play a big role in the outcome of battles. Well, sound tactics help ofcourse, but when the dice don't roll properly, hrrrr..

Acrimonious wrote:

One thing you may have missed is that Nab carried a "shield" ring. Its a ring but he has to wield it like a shiled. This ups his AC but prevents him from useing one of his weaker claws.

Thanks for responding. I added in the +2 from shield ring, but still only came up with 31, not 32. I have noticed that the posting of the Battle of Redgorge only has him at 31, also. Didn't realize the shield ring took out one claw attack though, thanks.

Hmmm, the ring is weightless and encumbrance-free, so it might allow him to attack with that claw. Moreover, it can be activated and deactivated at will as a free action. So Nab could deactivate it on his turn, and activate it after his final attack.

About his AC32, I have no idea....
Concerning his tactics, I think if you play him to kill the party, he'll succeed. Ignoring Alec and stunning a spellcaster, like you proposed and reverse gravity on fighters should do the job.
I played Nab concentrating most of his attacks on Alec. When he killed Alec he ripped off his head, knowing that a ressurection is less likely performed than a raise dead. Moreover, they were in the middle of a desert, far away from Redgorge... until Kaurophon appeared.

Hope this helps

Hello,

i own the SCAP hardcover and I'm searching the stats for the smoking eye template. I can't find them, maybe I'm a little bit blind, so please: could you post the page number on wich the stats for the template are described?
Thank you in andvance.

bye, Pyrdacor

329

Preparing for the session, I just noticed that the hags can cast forcecage, which would last for 22 hours:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/forcecage.htm

If they can get this spell off (which allows no save or SR) on one of the PCs, the party will be forced to wait out the duration of the cage before moving through the mirror.

How did the battle with the hags work for those who have already run it?

It was almost a TPK. Maybe because I gave the hags a surprise round in which they were able to cast confusion, domination and eyebite. The next round they flew up and started to cast forcecage, which the PC's were unable to disturb (SR and good reflex saves). After the fighter was caught in the cage and the group partially confused, I thought the end was near. I decided to let the hags attack with their strength reducing claws, instead of waiting until the party had killed its own members. Some lucky dice for the confused ones eventually saved the day.

So indeed they had to sit out the 22 hrs, could sleep and relearn spells. Not that it mattered much during the battle against Nabthatoron. The only thing the demon had to do was to kill Alec, which proved very easy (impossible to miss the poor paladin). I didn't use his stun ability, nor reverse gravity and he teleported away (after he bit off the head of Alec) with 50 Hp's left.

It was a pretty predictable battle, contrary to the hags encounter, there every outcome was possible (oh those dice)

I really like this plot shift but I have concerns about using it in my own game. Mortality at my table is generally pretty high and SCAP looks to be a really tough AP. So players are going to die, my problem is that this plot alteration seems to require a player that can't be allowed to die because if s/he does then this whole aspect of the plotline goes off the rails. There is no way that I can easily fudge most of this as the rules, at my table, are that when the going gets tough the DM rolls in the open and you live and die by those rolls.

No chance on my players giving up on that as its just these tension filled segments of the game when your characters life hangs on the outcome of that d20 bouncing down the table that my players seem to play for (in other words I think they all show up for cheap endorphin highs without all the hard work of, you know, doing exercises or something).

So I'm looking at ways to incorporate these interesting ideas without having to play favorites with a character and concoct some story on why that player can't die.

What the prophesing dreams concerns, it's no problem. In my game one of the players with the dreams retired, but still conveys further dream sequences to the party. And look it from this point of view: Adimarchus has gone insanely mad and his dreams/visions spread out over the Cauldron region. Anyone can be infested by his madness and nightmare dreams. I can see your concern in a later stage, with the smoking eye.

Fortunately, at that stage the dying character appears in the eye of the skull, IIRC.

Well, just my thoughts

I have only one 'rules lawyer' in my party who can annoy me to no ends at times so I can see why you were being cautious.

Yeah, he knows more of the rules than me. But I have to admit I'm a bit of a perfectionist myself. Anyhow, the plot is way more important.

I'm glad the foreshadowing has proven useful to you. The ideas I produced here are untested so I am interested in how they are working in different games so I can cee how they will work in my game in the future (my party has just entered the Demonskar)so...

I have a few questions for you (and anyone else who has or is using the document)-

1 How have the party found the dreams? Did you just photocopy them and hand it out to the Dream Haunted player, the party in general or read them aloud? Are they beginning to pick up clues/make connections or are they just confused ath this point?

The party's elven cleric started to dream just after he was raised from dead (killed by the cryohydra, pit of 7 jaws) on the way to Bhal-Hamatugn. Dreams about the angel (Nidrama), strange red landscape with fireblobs emitting skull, angels fighting demons and the cage. Unfortunately, he retired to Fey forest (a park in SW Cauldron) and has been replaced by a much sturdier dwarven cleric. Through library research, they have found out that the skullthing is on Occipitus and that 50 years ago a great demonic war was fought. They haven't been able to find out who the demonlord of that place is, yet.

We are now close to the tax riot and they have also discovered that more people in Cauldron are having these dreams (a carpet seller, a fishmonger, etc). Moreover a couple of strange suicides happened, a man jumping out of the window, another one drowning himself in the lake.

2 How have you played out the Shebeleth senerio? Has the party taken to him or are wary/suspicious? Did you alter anything to suit you party?

Shebeleth, archbishop of Pelor arrived in a golden coach as reported in the Cauldron Herald. Before they were invited by Shebeleth they heard about his good deeds for the poor and those suffering from the flood damage. Brother Kristof is a good friend of the party and highly praised the archbishop.

During the meeting (Shebeleth presented himself as a spiritual leader, not interested in material enjoyment: cheap wine and bread and a piece of cheese) he revealed himself as the secret investigator of the missing highpriests. He asked them to keep their eyes open for possible corruption in the city and then he implicitly accused the temple of Kord. Why Asfelkir didn't support the poor, while the temples of Cuthbert and Wee-Jas at least did what they could. Perhaps he went a little too far, for the party has also good connections through their fighter with the temple of Kord.
Anyhow, Asfelkir has become suspicious about Shebeleth's true intentions. Although he has more muscles than brains, he can't believe that such a highup Pelor archbishop comes to Cauldron only to feed the poor. The rising popularity of Pelor's temple even taking in promising Kord candidates has made him furious. Recently, wrestling the group's fighter (during sunday rituals) he specifically asked him what he knew about Shebeleth and on which side he stood.
So the enmity between Pelor and Kord is set into working...

[3 Did any of the Necrocaunts escape other than Krython? What was the party's impression of Alurid?

No only Khyron escaped with planeshift. They took the body of Renita home and the cleric asked her a couple of questions: where was their hideout (the village), where is the village (south), who was Malruin, etc. The second try failed (will save), but they will continue dragging out all she knows (which isn't much).

During the scry I showed them an A4 sized picure of Alurad. Great impact! That he had grown mad (he thinks he is Adimarchus, isn't it?) was for a cleric of Erythnul not so strange (they remembered Tarkilar, also grown mad). Meerthan informed them about Alurad (he should have been dead), the Cagewrights and their leader Dyr'ryd, the demodand, but not too much (no clue what they're upto) and the disasterous encounter 30 years ago (where the Cagewrights summoned a twoheaded demodand).

[[4 How is the Cagewright structure working for you? Is the Apprentice/Master/Leader breakdown easier to understand and use? How is all your foreshadowing going for the other Cagewrights?

...

O yeah, this works much better. I was already getting a headache of so many faceless villains. So, yes I'm using the structure you proposed. I will keep a couple of the others in (but not as masters or apprentices, but rather as associates, after all the cagewrights like to have others doing the work). Grehlia I've already foreshadowed during Floodseason (see Skaven's diary) as being involved in the construction of the cages.

Ardeth Webb plays a role on the background. She has been responsible for injecting some fiendish blood in a number of family trees in Sasserine and Cauldron (an idea I found on this forum). The players are currently investigating the pedigree of the Veskar family (anyone interested, I can post it) and the wizard (with the shackleborn sign, which he found out during the fight with Zenith) discovered that his father left Caudron a half a year after his birth and that he took a new name. They also noticed that a certain Ardeth Vaine appeared several times in the family tree. If they are going to search the Kharatys family, they will find her there also.

Vhalantru Malachite fortress, a great introduction. The ball, where he warned them for the Stormblades. When they where invited in the cusp to meet Celeste and waiting in the lounge Vhalantru introduced them to the other nobles as Cauldron's saviors and asked for an applaus.
Later he paid the money for Zenith's rescue (they told him of the sign on Zenith's face and he promised to research it). He also expessed his concerns about the tax raises and blamed Taskerhill and Skellerang. Since they were curious about Zenith's reunion with his father (and wondered why they did not get a response of Celeste after a divine sending one day before they would arrive with Zenith in Cauldron) Vhalantru had to arrange a meeting a couple of weeks later in the cusp. He told/lied them Zenith had arrived safely in the Crystal Mountains and had made peace with his father. The curse was lifted. Celeste was alright, he had recieved a message that she was still in Sasserine, she thanked the PC's for their excellent job. Pc's were very happy then...

However, a week later Terrem disappeared and also a certain Ricaldo Veskar, a skinner once captured by Kazmojen the slavetrader, sold to the drow and rescued from the underdark by the PC's on their way to Bhal-Hamatugn. The group's diviner tried to scry on the boy, but noticed the magical block. Same with Ricaldo: paranoid diviner scrys on Zenith: same result.
Later, after they met Meerthan, the striders travel to the Crystal mountains to find out that Davked hasn't been in Cauldron for 10 years, that he is healthy, his wife still lives and that Zenith was already mad (dreamt about angels) when he went on crusade in the underdark.
They also investigated Lady Celeste and discovered that she doesn't seem to excist, neither in Cauldron, nor in Sasserine. They are getting a bit suspicious about Vhalantru, but will not confront him with their knowledge.

Embril Aloustinai They met her at the ball and were highly impressed, and the wizard PC danced with her without getting embarrassed. He visits the temple of Wee-Jas every sunday and has listened to her compassionate speeches. Since the 13 are complete, she is still in the news, but she does't appear in flesh anymore.

Nulin Wiejeron His name is still unknown, but it is rumored that the jester of the last laugh is actually a twin.
As soon as they are going to investigate the last laugh they will hear more of him. After a more or less disasterous infiltration in the Alleybashers (that was just before the Lucky Monkey attack, where he met his old buddies...), the rogue prefers to keep a low profile.

Gau Kleeoch Nothing yet.

Jil Met her when they saved Rufus. Then disguised when she told them about Drakthar's entrance. The last time was when the rogue was doing a job with the Alleybashers (Maple introduced him). They were going to rob Udoo the silkmonger, but the Last laugh (Udoo's protectors)
was warned and Jil personally (since she knew of the PC's involvement) waited them up with a couple of her thugs. He was pinned on the ground and she humiliated him, let him feel her whip and broke Maple's arm as a warning.

Ike Iverson[/b} They met Ike as judge during the trial on Keygan Ghelve. He asked for a death penalty, while 2 of the PC's defended Keagan. Lord Vhalantru did his best to play the good guy and Keygan got away rather well (later Keagan sold his shop and joined the MTA)

[b]Zarn Kyuss They have only heard of the blue duke during Drakthar's way and know he is an ogre mage (Kallev told that, during her forced labour she was killed by Xoden). Soon he will be installed as second in command after Skellerang, I'm curious how they will respond ("a man in blue will be your doom").

Lady Thifirane Met her at the ball. Played her as a haughty noble. Not much interacting here.

b]Fetor Abradius[/b] Nothing yet.

5 Is there any Cagewright or important NPC that you believe needs more opportunities to be introduced earlier in the campaign?

I don't think so, like I said we are just before Demonskar and too much information also can become dazzling for the players.

So I will gradually introduce the others.
At this point they know that the Cagewrights are led by Dyr'ryd, are organized in master and apprentice structure (Alurad and Khyron), used the Ebon Triad for building cages, are linked to Carceri, may have something to do with the disappearance of Zenith, Terrem and Ricaldo.
They know there is corruption going on in Cauldron, probably for at least 10 years (that Triel investigated corruption they heard from Skylar Krewis)
The dreams and increasing madness in Cauldron are still largely a riddle.
They know still very little of the Carcerian sign, but suspect Terrem and Ricaldo have also one.

Sorry for the long rant, hope you can use some of it.

I can see you are a bit of a rules lawyer :)

I'm one of those annoying DMs who never lets rules get in the way of a good story. As a DM you can always justify anything with a bit of creative manipulation much like what you did with the scrying.

You are totally right, story goes beyond rules. The thing is that one of my players is a long time DM and I and don't want to get embarassed by misusing rules too obvious.

With the teleporting if they really want to know (mine never asked nor cared about the rules/spells etc at the time)

Mine did neither

Meerthan lets Kryon(sp?) go and directs the party to do so, so even without a scroll etc the party should allow him a quick exit. If he dies...well the party do not learn anything about his Cagewright master.

That would have been a pity, since the later scry on Khyron and Alurad proved a fantastic foreshadowing event.

The actual specifics were not my primary concern when I first wrote up the event. I was more interested in creating an opportunity to foreshadow an otherwise 'faceless' collection of villians. The mood, imagery and seen of foreboding/dread of Alurad was my direct motivation.

Sorry about the rule 'holes'. Hope you found the document useful in any event.

Delvesdeep

Don't understand me wrong, I wasn't criticicing your write-up, just pondering the rules issues, no matter how trivial. Anyhow, I'm using a lot of your ideas (Shebeleth, Adimarchus' mad dreams, etc) in my campaign and they are working out fine.

The clash with the Necrocants ended in 5 rounds (they made all the important saves), but was exiting, nevertheless. Thanks for all your efforts and sharing them.

This is great work, Delvesdeep.
One of the party members, a dwarven cleric, lost his previous adventuring party to the Necrocants, 8 years before. So the encounter had a special meaning to him. I've got a couple of questions though (not specifically for you :-)).

Cagewright Foreshadowing

Chapter 5
When they arrive Meerthan is prepared and quickly tells them that Fario, Fallian and Shensen were ambushed by the Necrotaunts are hiding in the jungles a few miles from the Lucky Monkey.

Meerthan teleports them to the Striders...

Meerthan can only teleport 4 creatures, how did you solve that? My party consists of 5 and I counted the halfling as luguage :-)

Khyron retreats after things start to turn against his group...

He won't come far with movement 20' and his invisibility is countered by detect invisibility (standard spell for the group's mage). So I gave him a scroll of planeshift (he shifted to the ethereal plane, but the PC's think he went to Carceri) to escape.

Meerthan produces a large ornate silver mirror and begins to chant...

Takes 1 hour casting time and I thought only the caster can see the image (well, I changed the rules, giving bystanders a hazy view)

The crazed looking Cagewright shifts his attention to the temple around him, silently scanning about the room until his gaze settles directly on the party.

‘And now you have brought them to me!’ he screams on the brink of losing complete control.
Suddenly a cold calm settles over the Cagewright and he speaks directly to the scry...

Detect scrying is not a blackguard, neither a cleric spell, so how did he noticed the scrying? He doesn't wear his ring and his Int is only 8.

Thanks,

Chef's Slaad wrote:

TyroAmberhelm wrote:

Ok I do see this now. It says that the Last Laugh takes him again. Perhaps describes this somewhere past Chapter 5. I have only read up to chapter 5. Does the book go into further detail about the 2nd abduction?

beyond the rumor in the beginning and a short note in Thirteen Cages, there is little else on Terrem.

Tessius wrote:

Do they really even need to kidnap Terrem again? Isn't Zenith the 13th that they need? or only the 12th?

Robert

Zenith is number 12 and soon after the Cagewrights have received the dwarf from Vhalantru, they order the Last Laugh to get Terrem, the no. 13. They won't be heard of until the PC's see them dead and locked in the soulcages. In my campaign he is kidnapped from the orphanage a week after the return of Zenith.

If Zenith is somehow not available (the PC's killed him in Bhal-Hamatugn, they refused to hand him over to Vhalantru and that mean Derro dwarf does not succeed in getting Zenith out of their hands), the Cagewrights might try to abduct a PC with the Carceri Sign.
Or they just find some other poor bastard with the sign, there must be a lot of them. Those demodands...

Thanks for that link, Chef. Like Findas (and those who replied to his post) I'm glad I'm not the only number geek out there. One point, though, the HC gives Cauldron a population of 7500 ADULTS, and although I can undertsand the argument that 12.5 PEOPLE per building is not ridiculous, when you factor in children it gets awful squeezy.

That depends. Notice that the Cauldron map is not properly scaled and that therefore you can make the building areas as large as you would like. Furthermore, most buildings have 2 or 3 floors and are divided into apartments. So those little squares on the map could house from maybe 6 to 10 families of each say 2-6 persons, giving you something of a 20.000 population.

Anyhow the easiest way to resolve this is to say to your PC's the number of peaople living in Cauldron and that the map is not on scale, which is quit common for medieval maps.

Just buy the book.

The campaign will take you 500 hours of play: that's a little more than 1 cent/hour for a wonderful good book giving you the gist of the game.

The wands were just used to redirect the water into the city's own control system. Plus 8 wands x 50 charges = 400 charges at 80 minutes/charge = 533 hours total of usage.

Tx Coridan. I didn't know transmutation spells worked like that. I was under the impression the water just disappears for that time and then pops back into the world.

If I understand you well, a wand transfers the water to some underground location, like a teleportation spell. But what happens after 80 minutes then? Doesn't it come back?
And I don't see why a total of 533 hours would change anything. Of course if the water rises 3 feet you lower it by 3 feet for 80 min. After that you can lower it again, but when it continues to rain you'll need more and more charges to keep the water level down isn't it?
The only way the lake would not flood is when the drainage system can handle the increased influx of water. Which is not the case otherwise the wands would not be neccesary.

I have the strong impression that the writers did not realize that lower water isn't a permanent spell effect.

Hello everyone,

Zenith trajectory: players have entered the holy shrine (area 5) in Bhal-Hamatugn. They are fighting Mangh-Mictho on ground level, who is in grave danger, all his whips and warriors have died. To get the advantage he casts raise water. The whole shrine is flooded to 16 feet height. Luckily the PC's had already precast waterbreathing, afraid that Aabaca would drown them during the crossing of the lake....

But that's not my problem: reading the spell control water, I noticed something interesting. It has a duration of 10 min/level! It's not permanent so to say. Like I said here it's not a problem, in 80 min the water will disappear from the temple's lower level. Maybe some interesting fights on that level if they open the double doors to let the water in (hm.. the draconic fingerlings might escape from their bassin).

But how about the wands of control water used during Flood Season. Wands work like spells, which means that all efforts made by the priests were nullified a mere 80 miutes later, or am I missing something?

Thanks for your insight

I prepared a riddle given by the Star of Justice:

Descend to the lower ring
Where the drinking cup tilts
Between pots and pans
Gold will give it away

Of course my players accepted the first invitation by Arthus and while the rest of the party was close by send the rogue with 500 gp for the info.

Or they might ask Jenya to use the Star of Justice as suggested in the HC. The riddle leads them to the cook of the Tipped Tankard.