My campaign is just starting HoHR and the PCs are doing research in the library of the Free City. They spoke with sages on the following subjects:
1) Ilthane the black dragon. They wanted to know anything and everything about her. Also, they want to know about dragons around the Rift Canyon.
2) Kyuss, the Age of Worms, and the Rift Canyon.
I want to give them useful information without giving too much info. So far I have revealed:
1) Ilthane's name is unheard of. They were given some general info about black dragons. I didn't know if now would be an appropriate time to name-drop Dragotha (or perhaps another dragon such as Brazzemal). I assume that the undead dragon is fairly well known among sages, but how much do they know about him? Do they know where he lives? (the white plume mountain map seems to indicate so.) I read that Brazzemal has something to do with Against the Giants. What's that about?
2) I used James Jacobs's post on Knowledge DCs for Kyuss. Would a sage know much about Kyuss's relation to the Age of Worms? How about the Wormcrawl fissure? I didn't mention anything about it, as I have no idea if they should know about it yet.
I own all the magazines up to Spire of Long Shadows and I am worried that I might be missing something important. What would you reveal if put in my shoes? All help is appreciated!
I own all the magazines up to Spire of Long Shadows and I am worried that I might be missing something important. What would you reveal if put in my shoes? All help is appreciated!
I think you should stick with the info Manzorian has. After all, Allustan sent the party to speak to him because he is an expert on the subject. So why would the sages know more. Just follow the guidelines and only give the information that was available in previous adventures.
Do you mean Eligos?
I guess the main point of my previous post is:
what info can I reveal about the wormcrawl fissure and dragotha at this point?
how much about kyuss and the Age of Worms can I reveal?
The short answer: reveal none!
The long answer: You should not give your players more info than the info given in the adventures. A lot of the info about Kyuss / Dragotha has been hidden magically by the Order of the Storms (Library of Last Resort).
I don't know why your players want to look up info on Dragotha/Rift Canyon at that moment, since they should have NO IDEA that Dragotha is involved or the Rift Canyon is a meaningful site in the grand scheme of things. The Rift Canyon is where Dragotha's phylactery was hidden, but no one knows that and there is no way for anyone to know...Dragotha has tried every possible divination to locate it and it couldn't...so don't put that kind of information in a library book in the Free City.
What you could do on the other hand is if you have a bard with perform[storytelling] or something similar(like I do in my campaing), he could naratte the epic tale of Dragotha the undead dragon, Destroyer of Worlds, or about another important enemy, or locale...that's very discrete foreshadowing.
Somethings should be kept very secret until the actual adventures: Kyuss assencion, Dragotha's involment, the rod of Seven part fragment, Balakarde discoveries, anything they learn in Last Resort and finally the actual Prophecies of the Age of Worms.
On the other hand, you could foreshadow things like the 20th anniversary of Prince Zeech's rule in Alhaster, the Champion's Game, the destruction of Cauldron (especially if you have a bard in the party).
A lot of that info is supposed to remain unkonwn and some nice punch could be ruined if you give too much, too soon.
Thanks for the info :)
They never asked about Dragotha, and in fact, aren't even aware of him yet. The reason they asked about the Rift is that Theldrick's journal handout mentions it. When they first received that handout they wanted to go to the rift instead of the mistmarsh!
I'll definitely NOT mention Dragotha's phylactery, but would it be bad to say that there's a really badass dragon living somewhere around the Rift? For some reason I'm under the impression that by HoHR the PCs are supposed to know who Dragotha is...
As to Kyuss and his ascension, all I've said is that he is somehow tied to the Age of Worms, and is called the Herald of the Age of Worms (which I think was revealed in a handout in TFoE). I hope I didn't give too much away.
I think the other thing I would keep in mind is how much research the sages would need to do to come up with the answers to the questions posed.
Imagine being a sage and having someone asking you as open ended questions like that. It would be like walking into a plastic surgeons office and asking for "the works." The price tag would be insane. I would have them narrow the focus of their queries significantly.
If they negotiated prices already I would just give them as much info as if they had asked a single question, as opposed to "anything and everything." If you would prefer the sages work on what they asked for then you could have the sage work for months on end digging up answers, coming back week after week asking for more money as the research drags of (perhaps doling out small bits of info that are appropriate to where they are in the campaign and makes them feel the sage is getting work done... wetting their appatite).
I would also consider things like "I consulted with the formost sage on this subject, Eligos, and here is what I found..." as a pre-amble to the discussion (and you have that info).
If you want short answers now though I would probably use the following.
Ilthane - "A black dragon, probably adult in age, who is said to reside somewhere in Redhand. She is believed to have mothered several dragons who have since spread around the region. It also appears that she developed amazing skills with alchemy very, very suddenly as there was no previous reason to believe she had the knowledge. Would you like more info on black dragons or her children? It will only cost you..."
Dragons around the rift canyon - "That area is known to have an inordinate number of dragons, primarily chromatic ones. It isn't known why, but speculation has ranged from the isolation caused in the area is a prime breeding ground to some sort of magical center being placed deep within the rift. No one knows for sure." (I might be mixing up Rift Canyon with the Claw one in the later adventures but am too lazy to go look it up)
Kyuss - "A minor godling subordinate to the god of Death. He was once mortal and was able to acheive godhood. Not much else is known about him other than his small cults are hunted down quickly and he has some association with worm infested undead."
Age of Worms - Refer to what they can get from Eligos and tell them that sage actually went to get the info from him (yep... could have had it free...)
Sean Mahoney
awesome.
I charged them 20 gp per day per sage. They paid for two sages, one day each.
I think it would take weeks to get that info about Ilthane. In fact, I doubt they could get it at all without divination spells (but i'm guessing that they will do just that so your info is still useful).