First off, I haven't read the whole AP yet. I started with "Thirteen Cages" and "Strike on Shatterhorn" and then went back to the beginning and read "Life's Bazaar", "Floor Season", and "Zenith Trajectory", and have just started on "The Demonskar Legacy."
As the thread title indicates, my question relates to the end of "Zenith Trajectory". Spolers below...
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Okay, so Celeste and the dwarfleganger hire the party to rescue Zenith Splintershield, but he isn't really captured, he's gone bad. That's fine. The encounter with Zenith seems to assume that the PCs end up fighting him (which they most likely would do). Yet the wrap-up talks of rewards for the rescue and does not mention the possibility that Zenith might be dead.
So what do you think? Does it matter if he's killed? How would that effect the reward?
Is whether or not he dies relevant at all further into the campaign? I'm guessing not because I think I might have read something in one of the later modules that implied that as long as the Cagewrights had the Shackleborn, it didn't matter if they were dead or alive? Is that right?
Either way, it seems odd that Celeste would reward the PCs for a rescue when in fact they've killed the person that they were supposed to rescue and just dragged back his corpse. For that matter, even assuming that they haul his body back seems like a stretch. I bet my players would just kill him and then return and explain what happened, possibly relying on Zone of Truth or other spells to verify their story if necessary.
To me this seems like the first major point where things could break down in this campaign. Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences to share?
With the prevalence of clerics in Cauldron, it would not be too difficult a matter for the Cagewrights to use "raise dead" to bring Zenith back. Embril Aloustinai or another priest of Wee Jas would be more than willing to restore the dwarf to life in order to further the plans of her allies.
And if Zenith does die, there are more Shackleborn than are needed for the final ceremony. So while the PCs may have failed, the Cagewrights can probably find somebody else to replace them. It will only take them a little longer.
Creative Director
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Remember that Embril's working with the Cagewrights. If Zenith ends up being killed, she can raise him from the dead. In fact, the best case scenario for the Cagewrights at this point is for Zenith to be killed and for the PCs to not be able (or not decide to) return with his body. In this case, they can use true resurrection (probably off a scroll purchased in the big city unless one of the Cagewright clerics is high enough level already), since you don't need the body of the dead guy to cast that spell. They just have to be dead.
Fair enough, but what about the reward? I'd probably have her not give them the full amount, but I'm curious as to what other people who are more concerned with adhering to recommend treasure levels might think.
As for the reward, if there not given it by celeste there is always the possibilty they may of taken the items that Zenith had on him. My party managed to get Zenith down to minus figures,bind him and then heal him up too positive. But as he was alive they didnt take any of his equipment which if i remember is a few good items due to feeling it wasnt theres to take.But if your party kills zenith then the lily hood is they may take them, that may balance things out a bit. Just a thought.
Both of the groups that I ran through Zenith Trajectory remembered that they were supposed to bring him back to Cauldron, and half of the fighters did subdual damage only. The other half didn't think they could do sufficient subdual damage to even try (the archers and casters), but the melee fighters didn't have a problem.
The best part of the encounter came from the second group, which had a paladin. As the paladin was hitting for subdual damage, Zenith cried out things like:
"Don't hold back! Release your anger and strike me down!"
"Strike me down, paladin, and take my place in your wrath!"
"Make your next swing true! Our master awaits your service!"
It really unnerved him.
However, the first group took Zenith by Crazy Jared's and someone asked him to cast Legend Lore on him. That took me back a little, so be prepared.
I discovered that having Crazy Jared answer any question is a great way to give out the truth, because it's generally difficult for Jared to differentiate between the truth and his imagination.
I think I had Jared say stuff like:
"Ah, Zenith, my most loyal subject... How you have fallen! Yet your life is not yet spent, and your mark shall be seen."
As long as you throw in some rambling and cryptic answers, you can throw in anything you dare.
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Thankfully, my main fighter player is actually a monk who does some massive damage because the boy who plays him is a number cruncher and is always trying to get the max numbers.
But anyways, my players didn't have any problems with taking Zenith alive.
The only problem was that when they were going to get Zenith, they went through the room with the statue of Blidilpoop (sp?) and ended calling back the erinyes Aushanna and Zenith made his get away to fight in front of the statue and of course my players then had to battle him and Aushanna which was very difficult for them because at that point, they had to just run around until her summoning time counted down and she disappeared again.