The adventure path assumes that Jenya Urikas takes over the position of High Priest of ts. Cuthbert after Sarcem Delasharn is killed in Flood Season. But what's to stop the church of St. Cuthbert, or the PC's for that matter, from raising Sarcem? In fact, why would the church not raise a well respected member of their clergy?
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There is only one priest in the town of Cauldron who can raise people from the dead, Embryl Aloustinai Wiz 5/Clr9. She can speak Raise Dead on the body of Sarcem. If there is a major piece missing (for example the heart, were baboons like to eat a heart, mjam mjam), this will not be possible. Otherwise they have to contact a town where a Resurrection spell can be cast (13th level cleric)...
Creative Director
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Well, for one thing, when Sarcem is killed, no one in Cauldron can cast resurrection; raise dead won't work since his body is too mangled. Even if they did have the capability to cast resurrection, it still costs 10,000 gp, which is a lot of money. Sarcem wasn't a particularly important priest in the grand scheme of the church, so the chances that someone from a nearby city decides to spend the gp to raise him over just promoting Jenya are fairly slim.
On top of that, Sarcem did fail in his duties to the church. He allowed the wands to fall into the enemy's hands. Perhaps, even if someone does try to raise him, he refuses to be raised out of guilt or shame?
All that said, there's not really an in-campaign reason to prevent his resurrection apart from giving the character of Jenya a chance to grow and develop as a key NPC. Replacing Jenya's role in the campaign with a resurrected Sarcem won't really have much of an impact on how the campaign as a whole plays out.
Well, for one thing, when Sarcem is killed, no one in Cauldron can cast resurrection; raise dead won't work since his body is too mangled. Even if they did have the capability to cast resurrection, it still costs 10,000 gp, which is a lot of money. Sarcem wasn't a particularly important priest in the grand scheme of the church, so the chances that someone from a nearby city decides to spend the gp to raise him over just promoting Jenya are fairly slim.
Even if no-one in Cauldron can cast the spell, Sasserine The church of St. Cuthbert in Sasserine should have a priest who can cast resurrection. And the church could surely put up the money needed to cast the spell. After all, a single wand of control water costs twice as much.
It could be fun to have the PC's and Jenya, of course, try to get Sacrem resurrecten, only to be stonewalled by the Church officials in Sasserine. Perhaps because Sacrem was up for promotion to a more prestigious post in the capital. His untimely demise means someone else now stands a much better chance of getting the coveted position.
Or maybe it is something more sinister. With Sacrem out of the way the inexperienced Jenya will have to focus all her attention on running the church in Cauldron and away from the cagewrights' activities.
All that said, there's not really an in-campaign reason to prevent his resurrection apart from giving the character of Jenya a chance to grow and develop as a key NPC. Replacing Jenya's role in the campaign with a resurrected Sarcem won't really have much of an impact on how the campaign as a whole plays out.
Good point. So I'm covered either way. One less problem I have to worry about. yay!
Well, if not Sacrem, what about Alek Tercival? Eventually Jenya gets high enough in level to cast resurrection or true resurrection... shouldn't she at least try and resurrect her good friend? And, for that matter, who exactly was that voice that spoke to the PCs at the end of Demonskar Legacy? My group has completely forgotten about that voice, but I would like to know, out of curiousity if nothing else.
Squid
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Well, if not Sacrem, what about Alek Tercival? Eventually Jenya gets high enough in level to cast resurrection or true resurrection... shouldn't she at least try and resurrect her good friend? And, for that matter, who exactly was that voice that spoke to the PCs at the end of Demonskar Legacy? My group has completely forgotten about that voice, but I would like to know, out of curiousity if nothing else.
Squid
i am going out on a limb here and say it Nidrema the deva who spoke thru alek.
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Sarcem is missing his head and his tongue has been eaten. That's no raise or speak with dead for him. Embril will not raise him, if you are a player and don't know why then go away and stop spoiling it for yourself ;)
Sasserine is over 200 miles away, it's the flood season in tropical mountains, Jenya won't leave her flock, no sending, hideously smelly rotten corpse. Enough said on that one.
Also read Sarcems bio from the web enhancement. He is a lot more two dimensional than Jenya and is likely to annoy any non-Saint Cuthbertine PCs. In fact he'd probably annoy them too. Read the following, he's a bit of an ineffectual wanker really (he couldn't look after himself for a start).
"Sarcem Delasharn is a barrel-chested man with flinty gray eyes, well-groomed black hair, and impressive sideburns. He
takes his position as high priest of the Church of St. Cuthbert
in Cauldron seriously . . . almost too seriously. He runs a tight ship and expects nothing less than perfection from those
under his charge. Tradition bound and loyal, he has become
nothing less than enraged of late at the lackadaisical attitude
that most of Cauldron’s other churches have adopted over the
last several years toward the Flood Festival ceremonies, and
he secretly hoped that the Church of St. Cuthbert had a
chance this season to single-handedly turn back the flood
waters with the wands of control water. In particular, nothing
would please Sarcem more than to see the public image of the
church of Wee Jas become tarnished; he has long had a running
feud with that church’s high priestess."
The sin of pride and lust for glory have gotten him killed. Worse than that he has endangered Cauldron with his ego. Any true Saint Cuthbertine would say that at least The Cudgel allowed him the mercy of an honourable death, on his own two feet, fighting evil as opposed to a trial by an inquisitor asking why his pride was writing cheques that Cauldron couldn't afford to cash. Jenya is a far more complex, involved, matron NPC and losing Delasharn is just good riddance to bad rubbish really. A bit harsh I know but I'm a bit bored with bombastic Saint Cuthbert clerics and Jenya is a refreshing change :)
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Saying that his ressurrection, trial by Church Inquisitors and execution might be an interesting story (such as why did these adventurers have to deal with these heretics within Cauldron and why didn't you spot them, with all the power that Saint Cuthbert granted you, such as truesight etc). Cuthbertines are bloody minded enough to ressurrect someone merely so they can dispense justice upon them. Then again I do tend to play them possibly harsher than most :)
You could always allow the PCs to resurrect Sarcem. Sarcem's brush with death those has shaken his faith and he retires from the church thus leaving the Jenya story in place. That would make for some fun role-playing: Sarcem is in charge of the church but is too gun-shy to make any decisions. Anytime the PCs come to him he doesn't know what to do. PCs have to go to Jenya and get her to convince Sarcem. Sarcem eventually quits and let's Jenya take over, a broken shell of the man he used to be.
something else just occured to me: In Flood Season, Sacrem casts a sending to Jenya, asking for help. He even says he's mortally wounded. A Sending is a 4th level spell! Why doesn't he cast a cure critical wounds on himself and be done with it? I think that would be the wiser course of action for Sacrem.
I think that instead of useing a spell, I'll have Sacrem use a magic item to deliver the message. Perhaps in the form of some sort of a quill that can be used once a day or week.
I would drop the mortally wounded clause from the text sent to Jenya (to add something like... I am trapped in a room, I can hear them coming...).
The item should be a scroll...
I agree on the mortally wounded bit. I considered a scroll. The reason I prefer a quill is that you can keep the message after it´s been written. If you use a scroll, the old message will have to be erased every time a new one is sent.
I had Jenya try to raise Sarcem as soon as she reached 13th level, but his spirit elected not to return. Remember the dead always have that option...
Yup. One of the best ways to handle such issues is with the old "his spirit elects not to return."
BTW, Resurrection is cheese.
- rob