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Pathfinder Adventure Path #136: Temple of the Peacock Spirit (Return of the Runelords 4 of 6)

4.50/5 (based on 2 ratings)
Pathfinder Adventure Path #136: Temple of the Peacock Spirit (Return of the Runelords 4 of 6)
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Defy the Cult

The mysterious cult of the Peacock Spirit has risen in force, and the time is right to strike a decisive blow against the worshipers of this long-forgotten god. According to ancient texts, the cult of the Peacock Spirit was first brought to this world by none other than Runelord Xanderghul himself, and with his return, it only grows more dangerous. Nestled high in a remote valley in the daunting Kodar Mountains, the cult's stronghold is known as the Temple of the Peacock Spirit. The heroes must journey to this legendary site and confront one of Thassilon's most dangerous threats.

This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path continues the Return of the Runelords Adventure Path and includes:

  • "Temple of the Peacock Spirit," a Pathfinder adventure for 11th-level characters, by Jason Keeley.
  • An examination of the asuras, a race of vengeful fiends born from the mistakes of the gods themselves, by John Compton.
  • A presentation of several powerful occult rituals created by the runelords of Thassilon, by James Jacobs and Luis Loza.
  • A bestiary of monsters, including two new and powerful asuras, the lumbering guardians of nature known as basavans, the serpentine monstrosities known as bollas, and the enigmatic and deadly time dimensional, by Dan Cascone, John Compton, Nathan King, and Luis Loza.

ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-091-0

The Return of the Runelords Adventure Path is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (1.5 MB PDF).

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscription.

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The peacock's spirit

4/5 —

The main points were made in Oranil's previous commentary. The adventure is rather nice but linear with several possible choices in the approach between roleplay and combat.
I really liked the first part and the wink about the rise of the runelords.
If I had to change something, it would be to leave the surprise on the end boss and not reveal his presence right away, but it would require changing the objective of the start. It would be a big surprise for the players.

Spoiler:
Edit : The hardcore fans of the thassilon lore may be disappointed with what happens to Xanderghul. He is considered the most powerful magician of golarion and what is more, a minor god...


Humbling Pride

5/5 —

In my opinion, this is the best adventure written for this particular adventure path up to this point. When I was beginning to write this, I was trying to think back to the beginning of the book, as I had to read this over a long holiday, and I couldn’t remember what was presented; which is never good, having something be forgettable. All it took was a few flips back through, and a few images, and I remembered how strong, and engaging the opening section was for this adventure. Now, like in the last adventure, it was a place players had been too before, but it brought with it something new, and very different than what we had seen before, making the encounters far more interesting. When players finally move on to the new locations, each is presented in a way that feels organic; the Npcs have goals beyond xp for the heroes, and many of them can be approached, and dealt with without the need for combat. Sure, you’re typical group of adventures will try to roll through everything, but as with the previous adventures, the challenge is also present here, and, if this is even possible, more difficult than before. Not only in the combat, but in traps, hidden treasures, caster checks, and knowledges. What I find even more impressive is that, with little work on the GM’s part, this could easily be run as a stand-alone adventure; if you wanted. My only real complaint is that there is little to no mention of how the NPCs react to the players if certain events had happened (such as a PC carrying the sword of Pride, or one of them looking exactly like Sorshen.) These are very minor things, but still are somewhat noticeable. Overall, excellent adventure, and I cannot wait to see where we go from here.

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Scarab Sages Webstore Coordinator

Announced for November! Image and description are provisional and subject to change prior to release.
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Good luck thwarting Xanderghul's return, gentlecritters. Mwahhahahah!!
Silver Crusade

Oooo I wonder what this is on the cover, some type of Rakshasa or Oni?
Dark Archive
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Rysky wrote:
Oooo I wonder what this is on the cover, some type of Rakshasa or Oni?

It is Nikaramsa Asura from Book of the Damned hardcover bestiary

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

So looks like with this and moduel 2 this is going to be a mega dungeon filled ap
Silver Crusade
CorvusMask wrote:
Rysky wrote:
Oooo I wonder what this is on the cover, some type of Rakshasa or Oni?
It is Nikaramsa Asura from Book of the Damned hardcover bestiary

Cool, thankies.

Shadow Lodge

Yay, we might finally get to find out something about the Peacock Spirit. Because of all the tentative teasing over the years, I'm still unsure.

I think the whole point is NO ONE is sure, not even its worshippers.

Also I'm pretty sure it's not Xanderghul; It might be Zutha. But I could be wrong!
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Peacock spirit would be Xanderghul I think.

So, seems we might be preventing individual runelords from rising in this AP. I wonder with whom we'll fail. My guess is Sorshen.

Finally, an answer on who/what the Peacock Spirit actually is.

Mag,

That may be but I thought it was Zutha, that was closer...

Sorshen MIGHT be rising but I don't see why she'd want her other Runelord 'associates' to awaken too.

Dragon,

It's probably Jason Maoma in disguise... or else John Noble.
Shadow Lodge
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

Xanderghul, runelord of pride, worshipped the peacock spirit. Fitting for a prideful man i think.
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
magnuskn wrote:

Peacock spirit would be Xanderghul I think.

So, seems we might be preventing individual runelords from rising in this AP. I wonder with whom we'll fail. My guess is Sorshen.

Given that Xanderghul is the master of illusion and deception, I wouldn’t be surprised if the party only *thinks* they’ve stopped him, and he re-emerges in book 6...

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Porridge wrote:
magnuskn wrote:

Peacock spirit would be Xanderghul I think.

So, seems we might be preventing individual runelords from rising in this AP. I wonder with whom we'll fail. My guess is Sorshen.

Given that Xanderghul is the master of illusion and deception, I wouldn’t be surprised if the party only *thinks* they’ve stopped him, and he re-emerges in book 6...

Yeah, that would be a nice touch. I'm sure he has chemistry level ten. :p

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Thomas Seitz wrote:

Mag,

That may be but I thought it was Zutha, that was closer...

Sorshen MIGHT be rising but I don't see why she'd want her other Runelord 'associates' to awaken too.

Dragon,

It's probably Jason Maoma in disguise... or else John Noble.

If Sorshen was rising, she could dominate all the others. Especially with the vampires of Curse of the Crimson Throne :)

Dark Archive

From the description texts of the AP volumes it sounds like Alaznist will definetly rise and be the boss encounter in book 6.
The other Runelords "rising" may be prevented or not.

"An examination of the asuras" article? Alaznist had Yamasoth and the qlippoths in her dungeons, Karzoug was allied with the Denizens of Leng and Sorshen had a fondness for demons, now we finally get to know about Xanderghul's best pals, apparently.

Are Basavans a new type of fey or maybe of outsiders?
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I thought they were plants myself, Gold.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

New asuras and asura information, most excellent!

The time dimensional sounds interesting.
Thomas Seitz wrote:
I thought they were plants myself, Gold.

That would be just as interesting. Hope they are a group of creatures. If not, hope they are at least intelligent... ^-^'

The Bolla is from Albanian mythology. In the myth it's the juvenile form of the much more powerful Kulshedra. Wikipedia actually has a fair amount of info about it: Bolla
Silver Crusade
Wannabe Demon Lord wrote:
The Bolla is from Albanian mythology. In the myth it's the juvenile form of the much more powerful Kulshedra. Wikipedia actually has a fair amount of info about it: Bolla

Fixed link :3

Is the link not working for you?
Silver Crusade
Wannabe Demon Lord wrote:
Is the link not working for you?

Click your's and it redirects to this page because there's a second [url= at the beginning.

This should fix it: Bolla
Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Ah, ye. Sorry for being confusing, I fixed the link in the quote in my original post, which is why I posted "Fixed link".
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Oh, okay. No problem.
Dark Archive
5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

So I got this book and from skimming it seems awesome :D Bestiary section and bonus articles specifically.

So the part I find the funniest is:
You can actually spare Xanderghul increasing amount of possibly surviving runelords to 3. If you deactivate Peacock Shrine and stop him resurrecting, he does actually start begging for his life when he is about to die :D There is something awesome about making the Runelord of Pride swallow his Pride

Does anyone have the name, type, subtypes and CR of the new monsters?
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
HTD wrote:
Does anyone have the name, type, subtypes and CR of the new monsters?

All of the monsters(pretty much all of their types are obvious, besides basavan I guess, its monstrous humanoid) are mentioned in shop blurb, CRs are 15, 12 15 14 14

That is part of why I find bestiary awesome, lots of high level content

Well, then what are the names of the two new asuras?
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Oh, hishandura and japalisura
Sovereign Court

Will we be getting the 1 file per chapter pdf download soon?

Aye! 1 file per chapter is missing.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Does Xanderghul's polearm have it's stats shown here?
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Well:
Unlike Zutha, despite Xanderghul also having Shadow Gear, his equipment is actually listed. Which makes me sad Zutha's gear wasn't listed. That said, his polearm's stats besides it being +3 axiomatic spell storing lucerne hammer isn't in the book, which is sad since cover mentions it being made out of unknown star metal that makes it so it never causes glancing blows(which sounds like to me as if it did always max damage)

In general I get feeling that main reason Zutha's and Xanderghul's unique magic items aren't statted is because players can't loot them anyway <_<

Would anyone be willing to give descriptions of all the monsters, with abilities, physical appearances, etc?
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Does anyone know if they plan on listing stats for Sorshen, Zutha, and Xanderghul at their full power? Maybe in the continuing the campaign section in the last adventure path.
Paizo Employee Creative Director
5 people marked this as a favorite.
samuraixsithlord wrote:
Does anyone know if they plan on listing stats for Sorshen, Zutha, and Xanderghul at their full power? Maybe in the continuing the campaign section in the last adventure path.

Answers:

Spoiler:
Sorshen yes. Xanderghul and Zutha, no. I do have stats for Xanderghul at full power; I needed them to build the simulacrum, but there wasn't room in print to present them and since he never showed up at that power on-screen, no point in presenting them. BUT between the stats for Karzoug (from Rise of the Runelords), Krune (Waking Rune), Belimarius and Alaznist and Sorshen (parts 5 and 6 of Return of the Runelords) an enterprising GM should be able to build up stats for the other two we "skipped".
Dark Archive
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Beasties:

Hishandura (asura): has mirrored faces, and four arms with daggers. Has a thing with using 'punishment', can sense the wounded.

Japalisura (asura): also with a lot of arms, humanoid with lengthy tusks. Can use said arms to wield bows to great (and supernatural) effect.

Basavan: sasquatch-like giant that has abilities that deal with the wilds.

Bolla: a (very awesome looking) serpent with vestigal limbs. Bite carries a curse.

Time Dimensional: sort of a crystaline humanoid. Quite a bit of immunities and resistances and has, well, time abilities.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Also, the opener for the asura article is simply wonderful ...
Silver Crusade
DeciusNero wrote:
Also, the opener for the asura article is simply wonderful ...

Yus.

Decius,

Any chance for a CR and type/subtype for the ones that aren't Asura?
Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Thomas Seitz wrote:

Decius,

Any chance for a CR and type/subtype for the ones that aren't Asura?

CR:

Time Dimensional: CR 14 outsider (no subtype).
Bolla: CR 14 monstrous humanoid.
Basavan: CR 14 magical beast.

And just in case..

Asura:

Hishandura: CR 15
Japalisura: CR 12

I should have also asked for alignments for the non-asura....But thanks Decius!
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Thomas Seitz wrote:
I should have also asked for alignments for the non-asura....But thanks Decius!

You're welcome! :D

Spoiler:
Time dimensional N
Bolla NE
Basavan NG
Paizo Employee Organized Play Lead Developer
1 person marked this as a favorite.
DeciusNero wrote:
Also, the opener for the asura article is simply wonderful ...

I'm glad that you enjoyed it. This article was a tough one to research, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I'd be interested in hearing your and others' impressions of and questions about the article.

5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:
samuraixsithlord wrote:
Does anyone know if they plan on listing stats for Sorshen, Zutha, and Xanderghul at their full power? Maybe in the continuing the campaign section in the last adventure path.

Answers:

** spoiler omitted **

Wouldn't his full stat block not make for a nice blog post, if you already have it lying around? :)

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