Zhyth's page

Does anyone know how long Jorgenfist has been under the effects of the time stop? My players just fixed it last session and I know the first question any sane person would ask the researchers there is "what day is it?"

Have they been frozen in time for days? weeks? months? I can't find the information anywhere.

I had initially thought that the time fracture was basically in response to the PC's presence, and so it only started when they got there, but reading through that chapter of the adventure, it seems like I was wrong.

The time fracture was created in response to Alaznist's method of obtaining the Book of Serpents, Ash, and Acorns. Alaznist used the Book to find the Scepter of Ages, and then used the Scepter of Ages to reach and kill Xanderghul, an event which corresponds to right before the first book of the AP. From the "The Runelord Legacy" section of the AP's first book, Alaznist took "only a few months" to complete Xanderghul's work in locating the Sceptre of Ages, after which she "killed" him.

With this in mind, while I don't think it's possible to work out an exact timeline, it seems as though Jorgenfist has been in temporal stasis since at least a few weeks before the entire adventure path began, meaning that it's probably been at least 1-2 months - which is a lot longer than I had expected!

Zhyth wrote:

So I've been setting up the first book to run on Roll20, and as I was doing the lighting for Peacock Manor, I noticed something: room G15, the Headmaster's Room, has no entrance. Or, at least, there's nothing marked as such on the map. Should the bottom-right of the room open into area G14a, or does the Headmaster get his kicks by climbing in through the window?

That's odd. On my original map sketch, I had the door to G15 be on the west wall in that 5-foot section of wall just south of that extension of the room.

I had the exact same question a few months back, and Adam Daigle answered me in the GM Reference thread for Book 1. His response (and my question) was as above.

1. Page 13 states that the first Peacock Shrine is in the Cloister of Cerulean Languor. According to the map on page 16, the Cloister of Cerulean Languor is in areas B1-B3. However, the entries for areas B1, B2, and B3 contain no reference to a shrine (unless I missed it). Also, since each shrine is trapped if the incorrect rod is removed, I need to know what the trap is for the shrine in the Cloister of Cerulean Languor.

It seems as if the shrine list has a typo for the first shrine; the list (as you mentioned) says that the first shrine is the the Cloister of Cerulean Languor, but the shrine actually appears in the Glorious Approach, in area C5. It doesn't seem to be trapped, other than the effect listed in the shrine master list.

I would imagine that it's referring to:

Having a real hard time trying to understand 'The Jeweled Ascent' in The Degradation of Thybidos. Can anyone shed some light on it?

Like what is at the 'bottom'? It mentions there's a flight of stairs leading down, so why would any party ever consider trying to monkey-climb up some weird colored cones in a hallway instead of just going down the stairs in front of them?

I would assume that any party that's exploring the dungeon would just follow the hallway instead of trying to parkour up somewhere weird.

From how I read it, the flight of stairs leading down is the hallway that leads from E7 to E8. The only way to get from the bottom of those stairs up into the hallway that connects to E9 to explore further is to take the Jeweled Ascent and clamber up those cones.

Also Boag-Hok. Is he 'tethered' to that egg some how? If so, how far can he go? If not, why is he hanging out down there instead of leaving?

The text says that he's "bound to this altar," and that the egg is "also the lair of a sinisier entity..." so it seems like he is bound to the area. I'd probably say that he can go anywhere within the chamber (B8), but not leave it, as that seems a reasonable compromise to me.

That is a bit peculiar. I guess that the artist must've missed it, then. No matter, I'll just photoshop a door where it belongs. Thanks for the quick response!

So I've been setting up the first book to run on Roll20, and as I was doing the lighting for Peacock Manor, I noticed something: room G15, the Headmaster's Room, has no entrance. Or, at least, there's nothing marked as such on the map. Should the bottom-right of the room open into area G14a, or does the Headmaster get his kicks by climbing in through the window?

While I do agree that the motivation for "helping" Thybidos after the fact is rather nebulous, one thing worth noting is that some sort of consequence is mentioned in the Concluding the Adventure section. In particular, this passage (I hope it's alright to post this):

Emphasis mine. My interpretation of this is that by going through the gauntlet, the PCs have gained some sort of protection against any attempts by Alaznist to scry on them or learn more about them. I think that if you play this up after the PCs deal with Thybidos (or, at the very least, let Sorshen inform them of this later on), then it could alleviate some of the motivation issues.

Just a clarification: during combat, Xanderghul spends a couple of rounds casting prismatic spray. Since the entirety of the Grand Temple of the Peacock Spirit is under the effect of a dimensional lock spell, if someone was hit by the violet part of prismatic spray, would that simply have no effect?

Also, Xanderghul's resurrection is a bit confusing for me, since it's not really Xanderghul's body (what with it being a shadow version and whatnot). If he dies and comes back and is resurrected by the Peacock Shrine, does he come back with the same spells expended as before he died, or would be come back with all spells re-prepared?

So the Brothers of the Seal's namesake is (was) one of the lesser seals to Gallowspire? Interesting.

Also, from looking at the adventure's leveling track, it looks like the PCs are supposed to hit level 11 after the fourth part (dealing with Erigantus and the Whispering Way beneath Kaer Maga), and then hit level 12 after the fifth part. However, the fifth part is literally only the fight with Zutha's fragment. Do they really gain an entire level after one fight?

In Corstela's write up it has her attack bonus with Baraket as +4/+4 but I was under the assumption that its speed quality was suppressed because of Xanderghul's current state. Is this a typo or does she retain a connection that allows her to wield it like that?

Each of the Swords of Sin has the clause that, when their respective runelord is dormant, they revert to "a +2 weapon with the noted weapon special abilities (those detailed on page 469 of the Core Rulebook) but no other properties." Page 469 of the Core Rulebook is the page that contains the magic weapon enchantments, so I believe that it's implying that Baraket would be a +2 spell storing speed rapier whilst dormant.

Fair enough! I enjoyed reading them, but it's hardly a deal breaker if they're not included. I thought that length might have been the reason, but you had mentioned before (in this post) that they might be present, so I was just curious. Thanks for the quick response, Mr. Jacobs!

First of all, I'd like to start by saying that I'm a huge fan of what I've seen - the campaign outline has some absolutely fantastic ideas and a whole bunch of things that I absolutely didn't expect - so bravo to everyone involved!

But what has me curious is the apparent lack of a foreword in the first volume of the AP. Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't every installment in every other AP had a foreword to set the tone for the rest of the book? I know that I've always loved reading them, not only to set the stage but also to give some insight into the mind of the people behind the adventure, and learn a bit about why the adventure was chosen to go in the direction that it does. Is the lack of a foreword here a part of the space-saving exercises to push this AP all the way to level 20, or is it an unfortunate oversight?

Unfortunately, you do need to be wearing heavy armour to benefit from the bulette charge style feats. It's a requirement hidden in the description of armour style feats in the Armour Master's Handbook:

Armor style feats can be used only while wearing armor whose type matches the feat’s armor proficiency prerequisite, disregarding any changes resulting from the armor’s material.

Hello again, everyone! Sorry for the delay; I've been a bit caught up in my studies, and haven't been in the state of mind to update this. That being said, the maps are done, my studies are over, and my party is one session away from finishing the campaign, so there's no time like now to spread the love!

So: here are my maps for The Dead Heart of Xin! As always, all maps are made to fit Roll20's default grid resolution of 70 x 70 pixels per 5-foot square.

The Ritual of Reforging, 20x20
Heralds of Xin, 30x30
Enraged Denizen, 30x50
Crystal Palace Ground Floor, 100x70
+Xin Legionnaire 1, 1x1
+Xin Legionnaire 2, 1x1
Crystal Palace Lower Hold, 100x70
Crystal Palace Workshops, 100x70
Skymetal Vaults & Apex Part 1, 110x60
+Runelord Statues, 12x12
+Siccatite Fog, 16x14
Apex Part 2, 50x50

A couple of notes: As before, items marked with a '+' are .pngs with transparencies, and are designed to be placed and removed during play. The Xin Legionnaire 1 and Xin Legionnaire 2 are designed to act as stand-ins for the functioning Xin Legionnaires in area A3, while they're inert (you'll notice the missing Legionnaires in the line-up before the throne!). The Runelord Statues belong in area D2, and the Siccatite Fog belongs in area D6.

Additionally, I've made a few personal changes to the maps. I wasn't really happy with the idle constructs being so large, so I made most of them medium sized. I personally think that it turned out really well; not only does it look better, it also makes Xin's crafting ability more impressive! I've also combined all of the Skymetal Vaults - as well as the first two parts of the Apex - into a single map. This was done primarily to make it easier to run, since you don't have to flip between a bunch of maps to do so. Thanks for the idea, wordelo!

And there you have it! I hope these maps serve anyone who uses them as well as they've served me. All that's left for me is to run my players through their final encounter with Xin... And maybe a little bit extra after that ;)

Enjoy!

Just recently started running this book for my group, and I must say I'm really enjoying the amount of detail that was not only put into the story of Xin, but also that I'm able to share with my group. Props to the author!

I have a question about the final battle with the Clockwork Reliquary. The Reliquary's tactics state that it uses its Telekinesis to try and pull the Sihedron away from the party. What happens if it succeeds? Does it act as a normal disarm maneuver, and the Sihedron just falls to the ground, or does the Sihedron fly over to the Reliquary, either due to its nature or due to the telekinesis? If it goes to the Reliquary (or it gets it through some other manner), what does it do with the Sihedron? I know that Xin would eventually integrate the shards into the Reliquary and "complete" it, but I don't imagine that that's something that it could do in combat.

My party just reached the entrance to the Embassy of Leng at the end of last session, and I've been re-reading through the last parts of the book the make sure I don't miss anything. Reading through Cadrilkasta's statblock and tactics, I've got a question:

How long is the tunnel from F9 (The Great Temple to the Crawling Chaos) to F10 (The Cursed Dragon) supposed to be?

Since Cadrilkasta sends her Lillends up the tunnel to the PCs after they're done healing her up, I don't imagine it can be more than a couple of hundred feet long, since the Lillends are only around for 15 rounds. The only thing I could find relating to the length is in the description of the temple itself, where it states that "A long tunnel connects the temple's far side to a higher ledge on the other side of the mountain," which doesn't really help to clarify anything.

Not a problem! Glad that they've been of use to someone.

Since GM Bigrin seems to have taken a break from mapmaking with only one of the maps from Into the Nightmare Rift complete, I felt that I'd share the maps that I've made before I finish running the book this time, rather than waiting until after. This way, anyone who's also running it shortly has maps, and doesn't have to go through the process of making them on their own.

Without further ado, here are my maps for the fifth book of Shattered Star. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but all of these maps have been created at Roll20's default grid resolution of 70 x 70 pixels per 5-foot square.

Guiltspur Environs, 90x100
Jubbek's Steading, 44x25
Jubbek's Halls, 90x60
+Boulder for the Door, 3x3
The Silent Halls, 50x33
The Core Left, 90x165
The Core Centre, 90x165
The Core Right, 90x165
+Drow Instant Fortress, 6x6
Embassy of Leng, 52x36
+Abyssium Core Electricity, 8x8
+Guiltspur Grand Hall Curtain, 2x10
Temple of the Crawling Chaos, 100x70

A couple of notes: firstly, the items denoted with a '+' are .pngs, and are things that I felt would be better off being mobile. All four of them are items that can be moved or removed from the game world, so you can place them down above your map, and if your players interact with them, change them in whatever way fits.

Secondly, The Core is huge! The map itself is 270x165 tiles (18,900 x 11,500 pixels!), and when I tried uploading it to imgur, got downsized. As a result, I split the image up into three. Luckily, that means that all of these images should be under 10.0 MB, so they can all be uploaded to Roll20 without an issue (assuming, again, a Pro account).

It'll probably be a while before I start working on maps for the last adventure, but until then, I hope these ones serve you all well!

Hello again everyone!

I recently finished running the fourth book of this AP, Beyond the Doomsday Door, for my group, and I figured I may as well share the maps that I had made for that book as well. It's been a while since I made these ones, but I don't believe I had made any major modifications to the descriptions given within the AP itself.

So, once again, I present to you my maps for the fourth book of Shattered Star. As last time, all of them have been created at the Roll20 default resolution of 70 x 70 pixels for every 5-foot square.

Windsong Abbey Area, 50x50
Windsong Abbey, 95x101
Windsong Abbey Above, 70x47
Gatehouse Guardpost Floor, 4x4
Windsong Dungeon Level 1, 66x50
Windsong Dungeon Level 2, 64x48
Windsong Dungeon Level 3, 78x58
Windsong Dungeon Level 4, 77x51

The Gatehouse Guardpost Floor isn't an actual map, it's a cover in the event that your group managed to sneak in to the abbey, and not have the gatehouse collapse on them. Just throw it on top of the hole in Windsong Abbey Above! I should also note that the map for Windsong Abbey, the 95x101 tile image, is larger than 10.0 MB that a Roll20 Pro account can upload in a single image, so you'll need to crop it into a few pieces in order to use it. For the non-pro users, a couple of the other ones are larger than the 5.0 MB limit for you, so a bit more cropping will be in order.

I hope that these maps can come in handy for anyone who needs them!

There WILL be sidebars here and there that will provide aid and suggestions on how to adjust things like this if things played out differently in your game. I wouldn't be surprised to see this information end up in each volume's Foreword... so make sure not to ignore them!

I do love sidebars! I'll be sure to keep my eyes peeled for anything of the sort once these come out. Looking forward to it!

Zhyth wrote:

...

Return of the Runelords assumes Karzoug is dead at the start. In fact, him being dead is a pretty important plot point.

Hmm, that's a little unfortunate, but not at all surprising. I'm already having to change a couple of things in Shattered Star to account for it. If all goes as planned, though, they'll get their chance at revenge on Karzoug at the end of the campaign, so here's to hoping that it goes well for them this time!

As for which runelords get stats...

** spoiler omitted **

Now that's what I want to hear!

Oh man. I'm currently running Shattered Star after having run Rise of the Runelords, and I was planning on making a homebrew (quite literally titled "Return of the Rise of the Runelords") in about a year's time, but then you guys go and drop this! I can't tell if I'm ecstatic or a little disappointed.

My wonder is which of the Runelords are finally going to find themselves given stats in this adventure. With Mr. Jacobs aboard, I can't help but feel that we'll finally find out how much of a threat Sorshen really is.

Also, any chance that this will be runnable in a world where Karzoug didn't die at the end of Rise?

Not sure of the other questions, but I think I can answer this one.

Zhyth wrote:

...

Did you count the heroes' feast into his stats? That spell provides a +1 morale bonus to attacks.

One thing I'll add (not sure if you noticed this yet) is that Ardathanatus could not have demon subdomain as it's not included in the Yamasoth's portfolio. I decided to go with it as a GM since it fit with the character.

I had completely forgotten what it was Heroes' Feast did, so that accounts for the mystery of the missing +1. Thanks!

And I remember thinking that it was odd that Yamasoth would have the Demon subdomain (seeing as how qlippoth hate demons so much), but I didn't look too much in to it. I'll probably keep it as-is as well. Looking at it now, Yamasoth's domains and subdomains are kind of strange. He has the Torture subdomain, but doesn't have the Destruction domain that it's associated with, and has two subdomains (Construct and Toil) for the Artifice domain while having no subdomains for his Chaos or Evil domains.

So I'm going to be running this for my group very soon, and reading through the book, I've got a couple of questions.

Firstly, with the Doomsday Locks and the Labyrinth Without Walls traps, I'm a little bit confused about how the trap functions, and in particular, what causes it to go off. Does the Labyrinth Without Walls trap go off after any attempt to open to door without a Doomsday Key and the proper combination (ie. fail your disable device check and the trap activates), or does it only go off after a they door is successfully opened without using the Doomsday Key and the correct combination (ie. if you manage to succeed on all 6 disable device checks)? The text seems to indicate that it's the first case, but the reset mechanism for the trap seems to indicate that it's the second.

Secondly, Ricle Peakes. He's a bogeyman, but bogeymen are CR 10, whereas Mr. Peakes is stated to be CR 11. Are there any modifications to him that would warrant such an increase, or is this simply a misprint?

Thirdly, the Groetan Candles. Basic Will-o'-Wisps have 40 HP and 9 Hit Dice, so these, as advanced Will-o'-Wisps, should have 58 HP. Instead, they have 76. Were they affected by the Desecrate effect in room E8, or is this also a mistake?

Fourthly, Kandamereus. His Despair ability has a DC of 18, but which makes sense given his 8 racial Hit Dice as a mummy, and his charisma of 18. However, he also has Ability Focus (Despair). Shouldn't the DC thus be 20?

Fifthly, Ardathanatus himself. His melee attack line has an attack bonus of +20/+15/+10. With his strength of 18, BAB of +11, his Weapon Focus (Halberd) and his Greater Magic Weapon at CL 15th (+3 enhancement), I'm finding a +19/+14/+9 for his attack bonus. Where is the additional +1 coming from? I could understand it if the Greater Magic Weapon stacked with his already +1 Flaying Halberd (to make it a +4), but then his damage would be wrong (he has 1d10+9, but a +4 weapon would necessitate a 1d10+10).

Finally, Yamasoth. His tactics say that, on the first round, he makes all of his attacks and exposes the PCs to his Horrific Appearance, and on the second round, he retracts his tentacles and opens his central maw, exposing everyone to his Gaze ability. However, for Qlippoth, their Horrific Appearance is a standard action (to "present" themselves), and for Yamasoth, opening his central maw is a free action. Should these two actions be reversed (opens his maw on the first turn, uses his Horrific Appearance on the second)?

Hey everybody!

I've been GMing Shattered Star for my online group for the better part of a year, and I've been using the maps made by GM Bigrin up until now. I still love his maps (saved me so much work and time for the first two books of the campaign), but for The Asylum Stone, I decided to try my hand at making some maps.

I made a few changes to some of the maps (for example, changing the wyvern nest in the Black Keep down to the first floor instead of in the rafters), but for the most part, I tried to be as accurate as I could, taking the original maps and the descriptions into account.

And so, I present to you my attempts at recreating the maps for that book. All of them have been created at the default resolution for Roll20, 70 pixels by 70 pixels for every 5-foot square. I hope that they might prove useful to some of you!

Clash of the Sorebacks, 20x12
Screams in the Dark, 15x20
The Hanging Manse, 30x30
The Therassic Workshop, 54x34
The Black Keep, 58x38

To my knowledge, there are no feats that provide such a benefit. In the unlikely chance that you're playing in a campaign where you can commonly find Technological Items, the Railgun does precisely that. Otherwise, the only way I know of to shoot through someone without using magic is to be a 19th level Fighter with the Crossbowman archetype, but even that requires getting a critical hit first.

To fix the "send to another plane" issue, perhaps give it something akin to the Oliphaunt of Jandelay's Guardian of Jandelay ability? Maybe...

Call of The Destroyer (Su): Birthed from the Pit of Gormuz, the Tarrasque does not stray long from its home plane. Whenever the Tarrasque is brought to a plane other than the prime material, it attempts a Will saving throw each day to return. The DC is equal to the DC of the spell that transported it, or the DC that spell would have if it allowed a saving throw. If it succeeds, it is instantly transported into the depths of the Pit of Gormuz.

I'm glad you guys like the idea, and feel free to steal it! The more Runelord fun there is, the better.

Cole Deschain, what you said about Mythic Tiers is pretty much what I've been hearing. I'd still like to try it, though, since the encounter with Karzoug will have two or three fewer bodies for the party to deal with. What I'm sort of thinking of doing, though, it making it so that Karzoug only gets the Mythic Tiers if the party decides to give the Sihedron back to Sheila. If they do, "Sheila" absorbs its power, it falls to the ground dead, and then he transforms back into his Karzoug self. If they don't, then it'd just be regular Karzoug and whatever minions he has.

In regards to dropping clues as to the real identity of Shiela, I'm planning on giving the party Sihedron Medallions some time around the start of Book 2. Have "Sheila" say that they adapted the design from Thassilonian artifacts, and not key them in to the fact that it can be easily scryed upon.

Tonyz, that's a pretty good idea. I don't know how I could hint at it, but I may end up trying to find a way to use that.

My idea right now is, once the PCs have defeated Xin and returned to Magnimar, "Sheila" asks that they give back the Sihedron. Regardless of whether or not they do so, she then tells them that they should report to the Decemvirate, and takes them to a teleport circle in Heidmarch Manor. They go through the circle, and end up in the Eye of Avarice, on the arrival platform.

"Sheila" follows, ends up beside the throne, reveals herself as Karzoug, blah blah blah evil speech. Then, Karzoug summons a new dragon from his Runewell (there wouldn't be any giants this time, since they all died in the last campaign), and revives one (or more!) of the characters from the last campaign to fight for him.

To compensate for the lower action economy, I'm thinking about making the dragon an Adult Red (instead of the Adult Blue that was there in RotRL, maybe to represent his growing power?), and maybe giving Karzoug 4 or so Mythic Tiers. I have absolutely no idea how much that would skew the balance of power, though, since I'm not at all experienced with Mythic.

I definitely plan on giving some clues as to "Sheila's" real identity; the idea about playing up Karzoug's greed is a really good one, I think. When I ran Rise of the Runelords, I gave Karzoug a very unique voice, so I might even do some minor slips where Karzoug accidentally starts speaking in his "normal" voice, such as when the party gets their hands on a new Shard.

I'm not so sure about having Karzoug deal the final blow to Xin, though. At that point, the party is bound to be low on resources, and if the last Karzoug fight was any indicator, that'll result in another TPK. It would certainly make sense for Karzoug to want to kill Xin himself, I just can't think of a way for it to happen without stealing some of the party's glory or making the final fight unnecessarily difficult for them.

I suppose I'll know more about their capabilities as we get to that part, though. They're only level 2 right now, so there's a long way to go before they could even fight Karzoug's left nostril.

Thanks for the suggestions though guys, and keep them coming!

There are some Rise of the Runelords spoilers ahead, as well as the obvious Shattered Star spoilers, so be warned.

I recently finished GMing Rise of the Runelords for my group, and have since moved on to GMing Shattered Star. I've been trying to spice up Shattered Star by really playing up the Pathfinder Society portion; I've been making plans to add in a bunch of Pathfinder Society scenarios as optional side-missions to be played between (and sometimes during) the main books of Shattered Star.

However, in my attempt to personalize this playthrough of Shattered Star, I had an idea: see, when my players fought Karzoug on the last session of Rise of the Runelords, they lost. I've issued forth the statement that, despite this, their characters in Shattered Star are in the same continuity as the ones in Rise of the Runelords, but what I haven't done is tell them how Karzoug was defeated so that the world could go on as normal. In fact, I believe that the only time it was brought up, I had Sheila Heidmarch state that it was "a long story."

That brings me to my idea: I'm thinking that Karzoug wasn't defeated, by either their old group of adventurers, another group, or any other means. Instead, he decided to bide his time, and to ensure that when the other Runelords decided to rouse from their slumber, he would be the most powerful one, and be able to dispatch them. How did he decide to do this? Why, by assembling the fragments of the Shattered Star, and rebuilding the Sihedron, of course.

Now, this is where the plot gets loopy. Instead of using his sheer arcane power to find the Shards, what if he decided that it wasn't worth his time to do so directly? What if, instead of searching for the Shards himself, he managed to convince a group of lowly adventurers to find them for him?

What I'm sort of planning is thus: Karzoug, undefeated by Varisia's greatest heroes, wants to ensure that his rise - and that of his empire - goes completely unchallenged. To do this, he plans on re-assembling the Sihedron, which has the added benefit of bringing back the Dead King Xin, who Karzoug would certainly love to put down once and for all. To this end, he decides to masquerade as someone who could, within reason, be able to bring on small groups of adventurers to do his bidding without any questioning. And who better than the lovely Sheila Heidmarch?

Thus, Karzoug kills / captures / whathaveyous the real Sheila Heidmarch, disguising himself as her (I know he can't use Illusion spells, but he's rich. He can afford something). He spends a couple of years establishing himself as the "real" Sheila, and searching for the location of the first Shard to kick off his little game, whereupon he brings in the PCs and the campaign starts.

What I'm asking, then, is does this sound like a good idea? If so, how should I go about alluding to it during the campaign (and should I even bother doing so)? How should I have it play out in the end? I was thinking about having "Sheila" congratulate the PCs after they put down Xin, asking for the Sihedron, and then revealing herself as Karzoug (maybe teleporting the group to the Eye of Avarice), whereupon the PCs would have to fight him, but I don't know whether or not that's a good idea.

So, comments, critiques, suggestions? Anything's appreciated!

I've been running Rise of the Runelords for the last while now, and my players are just about to get to Xin-Shalast. This community has been such a massive boon to me, what with all of the beautiful maps and handouts created by you wonderful people, that it really surprised me when I realized that nobody had taken it upon themselves to create any new maps for the Xin-Shalast areas (excluding the ones that were already given maps in the books, of course!)

Because of this, I decided to take it upon myself to use my terribly mediocre image editing skills to create maps for a variety of the named locations in Xin-Shalast. Taking some inspiration from ideas presented in the Spires of Xin-Shalast thread, I came up with some reasonable maps for the areas I decided to include in my game.

So, without further ado, I present my humble collection of shitty maps (all using 70 pixel squares, as is standard for Roll20):

- Krak Naratha, 40x60
- Giant Encampment, 40x40
- Abominable Dome, 50x50
- Spolarium, 30x40
- Temple of the Sihedron, 30x30
- Shahlaria, 50x40

As I said, they're not pretty, but I whipped them up in around an hour each, and I'm decently satisfied with the results. Hopefully they'll prove even a little bit as useful to the people here as your works have for me :)

In the game of RotRL that I'm running, my players are very close to reaching Xin-Shalast, and certainly will reach it in the next session. What I'd like to do is give them something of free-roam through the city, making it a bit of a sandbox where they can explore whichever buildings they want (within reason, of course). However, the AP doesn't seem to really give much in terms of what can be found in the city, especially in most of the "named" buildings.

Some of the areas (such as the Lair of the Hidden Beast or Ghlorofaex's Lair) are both mapped and given encounters; some (such as Krak Naratha) are given encounters, but no maps; and some (such as The Temple of the Sihedron) are given neither maps nor encounters. What I'm looking for, then, is ideas about what kind of encounters I can throw into the city at the marked buildings, and ideas for what each of them might look like / contain, so that I can (poorly) map them.

Any help is greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance!

Possible Rise of the Runelords spoilers ahead.

For some perspective: I'm GMing a game of Rise of the Runelords for a group of four friends, who are playing a CN Bloodrager, a LN Unchained Monk, a CG Skald, and a NG Armiger (a third-party class). They're currently in Runeforge, have just cleared out the Halls of Wrath and defeated Highlady Athroxis, and hit level 15.

During the fight with the Highlady, three party members were hit by a Prismatic Spray. Two of them got out fine, but one of them failed their save against the Insanity-causing colour, and nobody in the party had any way of directly curing the effect. The Skald decides to delve into the mind of the now-insane Armiger by using Share Memories (OOC, he had already decided what he wanted to try, but wanted to justify it in-character) to see if she knew any way of fixing this.

Now for a little bit of backstory: about two months back in-game, the Armiger was part of the group who saved Turtleback Ferry by opening the floodgates in the Skull's Crossing dam. They did so by promising the Pit Fiend that they found there freedom in exchange for information on how to operate the dam. They held to their word, and he to his, so the Pit Fiend went free and the town was saved.

Fast forward to today, and the Armiger is the only surviving member of the group that saved Turtleback Ferry. And, sure enough, the Armiger knows one creature who might be able to fix her problem: the Pit Fiend. So, desperate to save his friend, the Skald manages to use Contact Other Plane to ask the Pit Fiend if he'd help (I allowed the spell to work because I thought it'd be fun). Pit Fiend agrees, appears before of the party, and asks what they want. The Skald informs the devil of the Armiger's situation, and asks that the Pit Fiend cure her. The Pit Fiend agrees to do so, on the condition that the Skald sign a contract.

The Skald decides to challenge the Pit Fiend to a fiddle battle instead. If the Skald wins, the devil has to cure the Armiger and leave. If the Devil wins, he'll cure the Armiger, but only once the contract has been signed. Sure enough, the Pit Fiend wins the battle, and the Skald begrudgingly signs the contract. The Pit Fiend, satisfied, leaves.

And that brings us to now. I've got a player who signed a contract with a Pit Fiend, but absolutely no idea what that contract should actually say. So, I turn to this wonderful community: what would a Pit Fiend's contract look like, and what would it contain? How should I go about making this whole thing fun, but without going too far out of the scope of the Adventure Path?

Thanks in advance <3