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I could use some ideas for my first mythic campaign. Thanks for any and all thoughts.

The party has finished Return of the Runelords, and is first mythic tier.
They killed Belimarius and are allied with Sorshen.

The first part of the campaign will involve them helping Sorshen move Xin-Ederassil (by way of a powerful ritual) to Eurythnia. Enemies of the party have made a volcano erupt by the city, and there's only a week before the city will be destroyed. The party has thought about the problem with Sorshen and the plan will be that she will use the Blood Engine, and all the party and herself, to do a ritual to physically move the city (through the air, like a Storm Giant castle). I figure there isn't enough time for anything more subtle to really work out, and the people of Xin-Edasseril have agreed to be moved (rather than just be evacuated) because their city is part of their legacy and their distinctiveness in the new world. Plus, that gives me the chance to have them all attacked while doing the ritual -- and Sorshen will have to spend all her power holding the city in place, unable to take part in the battle, while a large host of enemies attacks and the party is forced to defend Sorshen but with a time limit (before the city falls).

Before all of that, I have planned that the party will have to go get an ingredient for the ritual, and it's a potion that only Baba Yaga has.

I'm looking over the sixth volume of Reign of Winter to see what the interior of the Hut is like, but I'll have to scale up and change the challenges. There is mention of Baba Yaga in the Bazaar in the Dimension of Time, too (in Return of the Runelords volume 6).

I think I may have them go there first to find their leads, but once they find the Hut:

1. What would be some good challenges for level 20 / tier 1 characters, to put in the Hut? One idea I'm definitely fleshing out is mythic goblins, with mythic traps. Goblins are always, always popular in my campaign. Anyone have any good mythic goblin ideas? mythic traps?

2. What might the negotiation with Baba Yaga look like? What test or trial would she put them to? They do have Alaznist's Ranseur, and they would like to destroy it, so a brief foray into Jandelay may be in the making. And the ingredient I'm having them fetch is a bottled-up Jandelayan hurricane, so there may be a tie in there.

Thanks for your thoughts :)

Yayl Thank you for sharing this! Good to see folks had lots of fun with the fight!

Kull wahad!

Well, thanks to all who wrote this amazing AP, and especially to you! I'd say it's the most fun one I've had, to GM. Certainly recommend it to those who are looking for a new AP in 1st ed.

We're gonna play Edgewatch to get ourselves into the 2nd ed rules, and when the re-make of Kingmaker comes out I'm getting that and we're playing it (we have never played it).

Yeah, so here it is. I wrote it all up to keep it for myself, and I'll share it in case, like me, you wonder how the heck this battle might play out. I hope some of y'all enjoy. We had a blast Well, kinda literally, you know, evokers and all. :)

Final RotRL Battle log

The players: Elidy, a tiefling Sheylnite paladin who smites and power attacks with a glaive (3x critical mod, and has stunning critical feat) when necessary. Dale, a fetchling blade bound Magus. Ari, a catfolk time mystery oracle from Sandpoint. Will, an aasimar rogue from Riddleport.

The battle lasted nine rounds and took 3 and 1/2 hours to play.

Initiative: Alaznist, Elidy, Dale, Will, Ari, Clockwork goliath, Rune giants, Iathavos
(Alaznist used mythic surge to win initiative and only just did)

Pre-battle buffs: Resist fire on all party, nine lives on all party, freedom of movement, oracle cast winds of vengeance and true seeing and used miracle to cast telepathic bond, magus case Aroden’s spellsword x2 (to put quicken rod in his sword and staff of life in Elidy’s glaive) and wreath of blades, mirror image, displacement. Paladin activated Angelic Bond (variant, and a powerful one at 20th level) and used aura of justice. The magus made his sword vorpal.

The party had the Sihedron. The paladin began with it, turned to Love point (+8 initiative).
Alaznist had only ten paradox points to start due to the party completely clearing the level before going into the Eye of Fury.

Round 1:

[all party members declare smite vs Alaznist in round one on their turns.]

Alaznist surges to cast time stop, gains 3 rounds and casts true seeing, quickened displacement, project image and quickened greater invisibility, quickened mirror image and crushing hand near the time oracle.

The oracle calls out Alaznist’s true position.

Paladin uses wings of flying to move all the way to within reach of Alaznist.

Magus, who wears a robe of eyes, teleports to Alaznist and into a full attack, 2 hits.

Rogue uses wings of flying to move to flank Alaznist.

Oracle escapes the crushing hand (after being damaged by it) and casts invisibility purge on Alaznist.

Slayers flank paladin, cannot hit him.
Giants reposition.
Clockwork goliath attacks magus, misses

Round 2:

Alaznist throws mythic maximized chain lightning at the party and quickened magic missile at paladin. Magus and oracle blow saves, oracle is insta-killed; her contingency breath of life goes off and I rule that she can make a fly check not to fall into the lava (she succeeds). Paladin takes half damage, rogue none (improved evasion). Mythic chain lightning from a 20th level evoker does 210 points of damage, folks.

Paladin lays of hands on self, and uses his staff of life to heal the magus.

Magus casts a quickened wall of force to block the goliath off from melee and readies a counter spell against Alaznist.

Rogue attacks Alaznist, misses.

Oracle uses Belimarius’ greater extend metamagic rod (they killed Belimarius in book 5) to extend a time stop, gains six rounds. She casts heal on herself twice, moves, uses her staff of a hundred hands to put a crushing hand behind each Rune giant, and then readies a counter spell vs Alaznist.

Slayers hit rogue x2, no criticals.

Goliath hammers on the wall of force, doesn’t break it.

Giants: one grappled by crushing hand, one not, it attacks oracle for 42 hp.

Round 3:

Alaznist casts mythic meteor swarm down into the melee and quickened magic missile at paladin. Magus counter spells meteor swarm, oracle counter spells the magic missiles.

Paladin full attacks Alaznist and hits lots of mirror images.

Magus full attacks Alaznist, misses, and dispels her True Seeing.

Rogue full attacks Alaznist, hits mirror images.

Oracle directs crushing hand to grab non-grabbed giant. Readies counter spell vs Alaznist.

Slayers hit rogue x5, no crits.

Goliath moves and fires four cannonballs at the paladin, all miss.

Giants break grapples from crushing hands.

Round 4:

Alaznist: Ranseur casts lightning at paladin. She repeats mythic meteor swarm on the paladin; oracle counter spells it.

Paladin heals self, full attack on Alanist, again hits mirror images.

Magus force walls the goliath off again, and full attacks Alaznist, misses.

Rogue uses a combat trick to flat-foot Alaznist versus the paladin.

Oracle readies counter spell versus Alaznist.

Slayers hit rogue x4, no crits.

Goliath hits force wall.
Giants attack paladin, oracle, score few hits.

The Iathavos arrives at the end of round 4, actives horrific appearance, no one is affected by that or its stench. Party correctly identifies what it is.

Round 5:

Alaznist wishes the qlippoth banished, it saves.

Paladin full attacks Alaznist,connects twice for 115 damage.

Magus puts up a wall of force between Iathavos and oracle, full attacks Alaznist, misses. (Poor magus rolled lots and lots of low rolls, until the very final round!)

Rogue full attacks Alaznist, misses.

Oracle again readies counter spell vs Alaznist.

Slayers hit rogue again x3, no crits, rogue quite wounded.

Goliath cannonballs paladin.

Giants attack oracle, paladin.

iathavos uses its considerable reach to try to imprison Alaznist; fails.

Round 6:

Alaznist is quite wounded, casts time stop using a mythic surge again (oracle fails to counterspell) and uses two heal scrolls, repositions out of the melee.

Paladin moves to Alaznist and single attacks for 60 dmg, and heals self.

Magus hits Alaznist once, non-crit.

Rogue misses Alaznist.

Oracle time hops to rogue as a move action and casts heal on him.

Slayers attack oracle, miss.

Goliath fires on magus, misses.

Giants attack iathavos.

Iathavos fires entropic rays against all targets, sorely wounds giants; minimal effect on others; oracle is protected by magus’ force wall.

Round 7:

Alaznist casts mythic maximized empowered fireball. O. U. C. H. That does 160 damage and you get to roll twice against the save (same with chain lightning). Oracle fails the save, re-rolls it and fails again, is insta-killed. The paladin uses an immediate action to use the Sihedron to resurrect her.

Paladin full attacks Alaznist and her mirror images are running out, two hits on her one a crit.

Magus full attacks Alaznist + disintegrate spell, she saves.

Rogue again flat-foots Alaznist, this time versus the magus.

Oracle readies counter spell against Alaznist.

Giants, slayer, goliath don’t manage substantial damage in the round. The Iathavos physically attacks Alaznist for some significant damage.

Round 8:

Alaznist again casts time stop, uses last scroll of heal, casts delayed blast fireball into the party and then moves out of the melee. Moderate party damage, no deaths.

Paladin full attacks Alaznist, hits once, and lay of hands on self.

Magus full attacks Alaznist, misses.
Rogue does the same, one hit, sneak attack damage.

Oracle again readies counterspell.

Again, giants manage no significant hits on paladin, and the slayers are out of the melee now (it’s out of their reach, most combatants are flying). Goliath attacks paladin to no hits.

Iathavos unloads a horrid wilting on everything, killing a giant and injuring slayers.

Round 9:

Alaznist casts power word kill on the most wounded party member (rogue) — it fails.

Paladin full attacks Alaznist for 116 damage in 2 hits.

Magus ends the battle. His full attack versus Alaznist lands two hits on her, the second a long-awaited vorpal hit. By this point in the battle Alaznist has spent six paradox points to save various allies and to save herself from being staggered by the paladin’s criticals, so she has only four left. The physical damage of the first hit kills her (she spends a paradox point, lives), the vorpal attack she blocks with two more paradox points, and her remaining point is not enough to save her when he casts power word kill on her. From an action economy it doesn’t work (to let the magus cast power word kill from the Pendant of the First Tears that he has kept, as part of spell combat) but thematically it was a good end so I let it go— he rolled literally a 1, 2 and a 1 one for attack routine earlier in the battle, so he was *very* pleased to finally be the one to beat her down.

Alaznist dies, the Iathavos is banished (the book is conflicted on what happens with that one, but I thought the battle had reached a fitting end), and the explosion of wrath from Alaznist kills everyone else in Alaznist’s party.

After the battle, I ruled that each player got one of Alaznist’s mythic tiers, so each of them ascended to tier 1.

As the rogue is eagerly asking what is on Alaznist’s body, an epilogue that I wrote happened, which is that various heralds appeared, one a time to a party member in turn, and presented them with gifts for their defense of time and of Varisia. Calistria sent the Menotherian to the rogue, and gifted him with Protective Grace (Inner City gods p 28), and then Nethys sent the Arcanotheign to the magus and oracle, gifting each with Nethys’ Protection. The Arcanotheign also gifted the magus with a scroll of permanency that allows one to make Aroden’s Spellsword (his favorite spell) permanent for 15,000 GP. The paladin, lastly, was visited by the Spirit of Adoration and gifted with a ruby rose earring (non-magical) and the Glorious Might ability was given to him as a gift. I wrote a little speech and interaction for each of these, which they much enjoyed.

We stopped there, and we’ll play a bit more next time with the mythic tiers statted up, and they can sell their loot, visit their friends in Varisia (Audrahni, the heroes in Korvosa — their own former PCs from CotCT when they played it, and the Sihedron heroes, and so on). Also I’ll have Sorshen invite them to the Swallowtail Festival in Sandpoint (the oracle is from there), which is reminiscent of how Rise of the Runelords began (their first AP they played together). 

I’m trying to think of some mythical battle they can play, to take the mythic rules out for a spin. I’m thinking about a scenario in the Shadow Plane, where the magus is from — he has a grudge against the umbral dragon to which his family was enslaved. Perhaps I’ll put that dragon under the protection of the demagogue Inkariax, and write a bit of a lead-up to a battle between them and the dragon, with a chance to fight Inkariax at the end of that. Haven’t seriously looked at that yet.


Afterthoughts:

Biggest battle I’ve ever run. I had to prep quite a bit and write notes on everything so that I knew the attack routines, tactics and mythic rules. Even then I didn’t get it all right. It would have been completely hopeless for me without running the prep first. I even ran the whole battle once, simulated, before we played it through.

2. The battle ran just about right. The mythic chain lightning really put the fear in the party in round 2 — that spell offing HURTS -- they had a real “the shields canna take much more!” moment, it was great. Great climactic ending, and a divine heroes’ welcome at the end as the lava cooled around them and the Eye of Fury darkens.

3. I definitely didn’t get all the rules right in all instances in this battle, but it all played well. So, forbear please on commentary about the rules. :)

4. Players loved the campaign. They loved finally playing 20th level and becoming mythic, and in re-visiting Varisia which is where they have played the most. This campaign was a close second to Curse of the Crimson Throne, which is their favorite. We still occasionally yell at each other, “GO! GET! YOUR! PIIIIIIIIIIIG!”

5. We’re learning to play 2nd ed Pathfinder next, and starting the Edgewatch campaign!

bumped!!!!

The Degradation of Thybidos!

Give me some ideas about *what* the insults on the wall say (the stoneworked insults in Thassilonian, etched on every inch of the exposed walls inside the area). Let's have it in the form that Alaznist would have actually had written down.

I'll read the best ones to my PC when they reach that area, next session. Be inventive! Go. :)

Can the oracle use this power on herself, as a sort of desperation move?

Is Sorshen's backstory written out anywhere?

Zapranoth wrote:

This question seems dumb.

So, where, exactly, does Sorshen's dream council image lead the PCs to, if they do "in following this urge implanted by the area, they can arrive at the location with ease.." ?

I've pored over the gauntlet of fury and looked and maybe it's just the cold I'm dealing with and that I'm tired, but I can't figure out where the PCs end up if they say "okay, we go there then."

It's covered in the next adventure, but the short version is "Korvosa."

Thank you for answering questions on a Sunday! And, this is probably my favorite AP of them so far. My players' favorite, perhaps, as well! :)

I took some tylenol and afrin and had another look, and found the reference I was looking for -- it's on page 48, talks about the "overgrown archway depicting two weeping dragons" that leads into area E1. It's just a small enough reference that I missed it at first.

This question seems dumb.

So, where, exactly, does Sorshen's dream council image lead the PCs to, if they do "in following this urge implanted by the area, they can arrive at the location with ease.." ?

I've pored over the gauntlet of fury and looked and maybe it's just the cold I'm dealing with and that I'm tired, but I can't figure out where the PCs end up if they say "okay, we go there then."

A quick question: in the "Heroic Roles" part on page six, is there any reason at all that the PCs *wouldn't* send one Sihedron Hero to each of the four heroic roles? It looks like there's only upside to doing so. Am I missing anything? (Is the intention that the PCs just get all of these bonuses?)

Been fun reading today so far... wow, this is gonna be big rocket tag.

How did other GMs handle the issue of not being able to liquidate any loot while in Scrapwall? We've just finished the fight with Helskarg, and the PCs have a fair bit of loot accumulated. No major marketplaces anywhere near... even if they hoof it back to Torch, they can only spend so much there, so doing any weapon / armor enchanting, or item crafting... ? Or are they just SOL until they finish off Hellion?

Sorry, I misspelled its name. I like Kalindlara's idea very much -- and thank you for the advice regarding the detail. I'll have to work the story out; you're completely right, if I am able to give a high level of detail it seems like something believable. I think I'll have it follow them through the teleportation circles and use its illusion powers to make itself seem trapped in temporal stasis (and then freed) or else the illusory threat ruse.

We do indeed have a Sorshen clone in the party. I will have it prostrate itself before her as her long-lost servant. "Don't you remember me after all these long years, mistress?" :D The PC playing the clone will be really surprised at how relatively easy the Bluff check is to get this Azlanti sorceress to believe she's Sorshen. Yes, that could work.

Greetings,

How would you handle this? In book six, the PCs are just getting into the first sky metal vault, and they skipped the lower hold -- so our favorite veiled lore master is hidden there. They haven't encountered her yet. They did summon up Xin's Guardian, which she undoubtedly would have noticed.

They jumped into the teleportation circle to the first vault, and then we stopped the session (last session).

How should I bring Ogunthunn into play? They will not for a moment believe that it is friendly (in human guise).

Bit of luck is absolutely horrifying if your ally has a vorpal weapon and also that auto-crit-confirm rage power..

Also helpful if your ally is doing some kind of special attack (e.g. a combat maneuver, stunning fist, etc).

If the creature slain is NOT in possession of the Sihedron when slain, can someone else transfer it to the slain person to trigger the resurrection power? (I would assume yes, because the artifact can transfer to retroactively affect a saving throw, more or less.)

Second question: can it resurrect someone several rounds (or longer) after he is slain?

Also, I'm doing a Pages / Word document that illustrates the Sihedron's points and summarizes the powers (so that my PCs can refer to it and use a dot to represent the "ascendant" point). If anyone wants a copy of the file, let me know.

Name: Cal, Huntmistress #2, and Corysis
Race: Elf, Drow, Human
Class/Level: Monk 15, Ranger 13, Sorcerer 15
Adventure: Into The Nightmare Rift
Location: the Core
Catalyst: Mesmalatu the horrid awakened demi lich cleric of Nyarlathotep

Had a near TPK this time, first one that has come close in this AP.

So the party first fought the dhole, and drove it off without too much badness. The cleric of Desna got manhandled but survived -- the dhole bit her and was prepared to swallow her, but she just activated her freedom's call aura and slipped away. Once that battle was won, the party then bent its efforts on smashing the abysium reactor -- they spent much magic (for energy resistance) while smashing the thing, and eventually they did. They healed up just in time to see the grand hall doors open and to see a floating bejeweled skull enter the room. "That doesn't look so bad," the monk comments.

In the ensuing battle, Mesmalatu blasted Xaivanshee with her soul drain attack, but Xaivanshee managed to survive with only the two negative levels (yay). Mesmalatu slew one of the drow huntresses (drow of course were allies of the party) with the first Wail of the Banshee, but everyone else in range managed the save. The party slugged it out with her for a few rounds, making a bit of headway against her DR 20/-, but her second Wail would have slain the GMPC sorcerer -- he spent two hero points to be only at negative HP, and he was out of the fight. The second Wail did slay the monk, who muffed his save.

(The barbarian made the save only because he had a reroll (from the luck blade, which they managed to get by banishing the efreet in book 4) and that reroll sufficed. Had he not had the luck blade on him, he would have died and it would have been one cleric, Xaivanshee, and one huntmistress.. no way to teleport away readily, and several rounds of fleeing while within 300' line-of-effect from the demi lich. So arguably, the luck blade saved a very likely TPK!)

In the following rounds, the sorcerer's clockwork familiar climbed out of his haversack and fished out the last healing potion, and worked to feed it to his fallen master, while the party desperately summoned a greater fire elemental and tried to slug it out with the demi lich. Very soon after that the cleric calls out "this is getting out of hand! retreat!!"

The sorcerer's first act after awakening was to dim door over to the rest of the party (familiar hastily jumping back into the haversack), and as the demi lich prepared her next soul devour he cast greater teleport, and suddenly the lot of them (living only, except the monk) were in the Bazaar of Sails at noon, startling the passers-by.

They raised their dead, researched demi liches, rested and returned, and did away with the undead after much effort (and did the procedure to eliminate her remains). Quite the battle. I was not expecting the battle with the dhole to go easier than the battle with the demi lich. You can never tell.

Edit: huntmistress #1 snuffed it in there somewhere too. I think either the second or third Wail took her down. "Disposable," the charmed and then Quested Rift Drake from the giant steading above, survived only by dint of the cleric mercifully ordering it to flee the battle.

Can a demi-lich fly, or, indeed, do anything at all if it's in an anti magic field?

In book 4, of course, the PCs make a stop in good old Sandpoint.

I am not up on all the various APs but I know something goes on with Ameiko -- not sure when though (Jade Regent). is she still proprietor of the Dragon at this point? Is she too old? Is she moved on to bigger things? Does she have a relative in her place? (how did others handle this?)

Would it count extra damage from an amulet of mighty fists?

*** = The glass golem that Ashamintallu used to inhabit. So how do you do it?

The encounter with Ashamintallu states the specific effects that having the glass golem along would have on the encounter, so it must be possible to do it (at the character levels of typical PCs at this stage in this adventure).

Do the various teleportation effects in the dungeon (the Sorshen murals' foot, the snake frescoes, etc) allow you to bring along passengers as a CL 20 effect?

I can't think of another reasonable way to do it with the usual items and spells, unless I'm missing something.

Zapranoth wrote:

How would you get the glass golem to the final encounter? Dimension door?

dwarf, or dwarven porter if your party lacks a dwarf:)

I am sorry, I still do not get it. Please explain?

@Laveral: I would say it depends on whether or not the alu demon knows that the party is there. Did they set off the sentinels in the hall after Gnaeus? Or did they take out Gnaeus or the giant? If so, the clock is ticking... Remember that she dim doors to the giant and Gnaues periodically to recharm and feed, etc... And the thassilonian sentinels give off that mental alarm

Even knocking off the gray maidens would eventually alert her, if the party is really lolly gagging...

How would you get the glass golem to the final encounter? Dimension door?

Greetings, all. These boards are exemplary.. I have seen so much good advice, so many constructive replies. And I have laughed so hard. :) Thank you all for so much that you contribute.

For my ROTRL campaign I'd like to give the PC's a gladiator type encounter. I suppose I could make something up just in Magnimar.. what I have in mind is something along the lines of the fights you can do in Ust Natha in Baldur's Gate II. I'm thinking my PCs would really enjoy being showcased in individual fights against suitable foes. Any advice on how to do it, or where?

The PCs are a half orc fighter and a half elf rogue/ranger, and then there's a GMPC life oracle and GMPC universalist wizard. They are all level 11, and they have just gained the Storval Stairs.

Thanks for any advice, and thanks again to all who make these boards so rich.

My group's party did pretty well. Four cardinal characters (fighter, rogue/ranger, wizard, life oracle) and two of them had cold iron weapons (thanks, also, to that nasty fight with Erylium way back when).

Since they were 9th level, when they heard that the waters were rising, they used a teleport spell to arrive up to their waists in water. Two of them headed for the church, two went after the boa on the boat.

The boa ended up baleful poly'd into a bunny and given to the school kid. :)

The party fought Black Magga from the top of the church, and of course everyone failed the save against her breath. No one managed to kill anyone else with their attacks, and Black Magga didn't manage to kill the half-orc fighter with her bite.

She took some damage, but not enough of itself to make her flee. She did grab everyone before the waters ran down... then she dropped them and fled. :)

They found it to be a surprising, nasty but entertaining encounter, and the fighter (who is played by my 8 year old son, I will add) asked, as they were recovering, "can a spell banish her back where she came from?" Which, I'll admit, is not a bad line of thought. I wonder what Lamashtu's reaction would be?

My PCs approached Thistletop by sea (they hired a fisherman to drop them off at the edge), and the rogue scaled the cliffs with pitons. This was after they had hit the brambles/hedge and slain all there except Gogmurt.

The PCs used a grapnel to scale the stockade walls, stood on Shadowmist's room and let the goblin dogs have it with the ranged weapons (and the tower guards). Ultimately it became a sizable battle in the courtyard, and after prevailing they withdrew (leaving the remaining foes from level 1 in the throne room).

I thought it worked okay. My PCs are young and inexperienced, so I was glad to see them even think of something that was not a full frontal assault across a rope bridge. :)