Has anyone done much with the the Green Lady, her cult, or Amariss in Diamond Lake?
I'm doing some exposition with one my players where I want to have Amariss go into a little bit of history of the Green Lady. We know from AoW Overload & the Doomgrinder that she was a Suel priestess of Wee Jas who led her followers safely to the Cairn Hills during the Great Migrations.
Of course, a lot of Sueloise leaders did the same, so I decided to have the Green Lady's crowning achievement be that she was able to safely lead her charges through the Empire of Vecna, which was a major obstacle at the time of the Migrations.
Thoughts?
One of my players is playing a priest of Wee Jas, who is an initiate, or was rather as he is now 10th level, of Lady Amariss.
I have not made up a history of the Green Lady, although that sounds like an excellent plan. I had however made up a map of the Cairn, if you would like me to email it to you, just send me a note at andrewibhunt@yahoo.com. I used a couple of maps from Dungeon and photoshop-bashed them together, making it a cairn style complex, set on the southern lake shore.
Lady Amariss, I actually moved upwards in level a little bit and gave her a second in command who dealt with the character most of the time. Lady Amariss made predictions about the characters and also served as another source of key information in addition to Allustan. She was aloof, yet beautiful, and prefers initiates who are interested in a contemplative life (not the class, just kinda monkish) as opposed to the life of an adventurer. Thus once my characters really started going on the killing and hacking and slashing and stealing and all that jazz of the Age of Worms adventures, she gave my player's cleric a choice, either stay as an initiate and see to your duties, leaving adventuring behind. Or renounce his vows as a member of the Cairn of the Green lady, and becoming a wandering priest of Wee Jas. When the latter choice was obviously picked, she agreed that she thought that was for the best, as Wee Jas had given her premonitions that the cleric was destined for greatness. She also gave 3 parting gifts.
Anyhow hope this helps.
Has anyone done much with the the Green Lady, her cult, or Amariss in Diamond Lake?
I'm doing some exposition with one my players where I want to have Amariss go into a little bit of history of the Green Lady. We know from AoW Overload & the Doomgrinder that she was a Suel priestess of Wee Jas who led her followers safely to the Cairn Hills during the Great Migrations.
Of course, a lot of Sueloise leaders did the same, so I decided to have the Green Lady's crowning achievement be that she was able to safely lead her charges through the Empire of Vecna, which was a major obstacle at the time of the Migrations.
Thoughts?
In my game, Amariss is known mostly by rumor. She has not yet met the characters, prefering to speak through an intermediary.
One of the players, a cleric of Wee Jas, encountered Amariss years ago -- as part of his backstory. Amariss appeared before her church superiors in Greyhawk to answer for her cult's activities. She apparently made quite an impression -- she was passionate in her assertion that a writhing age was imminent, and that the world must prepare to fight this enemy of a respectful, restful death.
The cultists' loyalty to Amariss is complete. The players have not yet investigated their stronghold across the lake, although I've adapted a recent Map of Mystery for that eventuality.
As for the Green Lady, I described her as one of those who warned the Suel mages not to invoke their great powers against their enemies -- but whose warnings went unheeded.
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In the game Erik Mona's running for us, my cleric character's become a member of the cult and now has a binder level and can bind the Green Lady's vestige. She's planning on taking a prestige class soon (an altered Tenebrous Apostle prestige class) that's tied into the Green Lady lore. Erik's doubtless got more info for me to discover as the campaign goes on, but so far it's pretty cool; the Green Lady's some sort of ancient hero who helped lead the Suloise refugees through Slerotin's Passage and into the new world, and then ended up dying in the Cairn Hills. And Tyralandi (my character) also got some sort of crazy violin from a creepy skeleton that might be tied to the Green Lady too, but I haven't figured out exactly if there's a connection there or not...
Anyway, if there's an interest, I can post the vestige rules for the Green Lady here tomorrow.
This would be great! Please share it with us. One of my players is a cleric of Wee Jas in the STAP and is Rhenee. I don't know that much about the World of Greyhawk, but I've heard that Rhenees don't worship gods but river spirits or such things and that the barge folk is common near the Nyr Dyv. We have worked on a background story for the pc being logical in regards to the presence that far south and decided for slavery. Perhaps the ancestors of the cleric have something to do with the Green Lady, a reason why Wee Jas spared the life of the pc when the slave galley shipwrecked.
In the game Erik Mona's running for us, my cleric character's become a member of the cult and now has a binder level and can bind the Green Lady's vestige. She's planning on taking a prestige class soon (an altered Tenebrous Apostle prestige class) that's tied into the Green Lady lore. Erik's doubtless got more info for me to discover as the campaign goes on, but so far it's pretty cool; the Green Lady's some sort of ancient hero who helped lead the Suloise refugees through Slerotin's Passage and into the new world, and then ended up dying in the Cairn Hills. And Tyralandi (my character) also got some sort of crazy violin from a creepy skeleton that might be tied to the Green Lady too, but I haven't figured out exactly if there's a connection there or not...
Anyway, if there's an interest, I can post the vestige rules for the Green Lady here tomorrow.
There is interest. I think vestiges are a cool idea and I'd like to more. I'd also like to hear more about how the Green Lady became a vestige. Thanks!
Anyway, if there's an interest, I can post the vestige rules for the Green Lady here tomorrow.
That would be cool, I might like to incorporate this into my game...
Does your cleric character not get into trouble with her deity for taking a level of binder? According to Tome of Magic, deities usually don't like binders, and there are even rules to penalize clerics who take binder levels. How are you handling this in your campaign?
the Green Lady's some sort of ancient hero who helped lead the Suloise refugees through Slerotin's Passage and into the new world, and then ended up dying in the Cairn Hills.
Cool. I was wondering if she fled the Suel Imperium before or after the Twin Cataclysms. Any idea how she died? The Cairn Hills never struck me as being exceptionally dangerous. If it comes up IMC, I'm probably gonna have her die from wounds suffered while passing through Vecna's Empire, perhaps dealt by Kas himself, or even Acererak.
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Does your cleric character not get into trouble with her deity for taking a level of binder? According to Tome of Magic, deities usually don't like binders, and there are even rules to penalize clerics who take binder levels. How are you handling this in your campaign?
Tyralandi's actaully been a little secretive about binding the Green Lady around other Wee Jas clerics to this point, but now that she's about to visit the cathedral in Greyhawk she'll probably have to fess up. It might end up making her an outcast or heretic, which is a kind of cool roleplaying direction to take things. It might end up being not a big deal. In any case, the prestige class I'm aimed at is one that specifically speaks to the conjunction of cleric & binder powers.
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Cool. I was wondering if she fled the Suel Imperium before or after the Twin Cataclysms. Any idea how she died? The Cairn Hills never struck me as being exceptionally dangerous. If it comes up IMC, I'm probably gonna have her die from wounds suffered while passing through Vecna's Empire, perhaps dealt by Kas himself, or even Acererak.
I'm sure Erik's got that all worked out in his head or his Super Secret Campaign Journal. In the campaign, there were a lot of hieroglyphs and carvings and runes in the Green Lady's Cairn that Tyralandi had a chance to examine, but she done rolled crappy on her skill checks and couldn't figure them out and was told by the boss-lady to effectively, "Leave now and come back when you're higher level with more skill ranks and maybe then you won't be such a blockhead!"
I'm itching to play a binder, myself. Their aesthetic is wholly unique.
As for the Cult of the Green Lady, we never really addressed the "Green Lady" in our game so much, as the "cult" aspect, which--I've found--if you throw the word "cult" around, players get suspicious of the members' true motives. Indeed, after the PCs returned to Diamond Lake, I set up a side mission for them involving the Cult of the Green Lady.
A little background...the Cult volunteered to handle funerary rights for the massacred victims of Ilthane--and other events following it of my design. One of our NPCs, a reformed acolyte of Vecna turned cleric of Wee Jas--who was consistently creepy (like shaved eyebrows and paper clothes creepy)--sought out the PCs intervention. He was convinced something fishy was going on, even though Valkus Dun was trying to help supervise.
My PCs got distrustful of our reformed acolyte--as I counted on--and guardedly accompanied him to the boneyard. Long story short, a fight with a "boneyard" and bleakborns ensued, and the Cult was banished by Tolliver Trask from Diamond Lake.
This sidetrek in the campaign was one of my faves, because it dealt with distrust so meaningfully.
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As promised, here's the vestige for the Green Lady. I've got to get moving on writing up the Green Lady variant on the Tenebrous apostate soon too and get it approved by Boss Mona, since that's probably going to be Tyralandi's next level. I'll post that here too once it's done.
THE GREEN LADY
The Green Lady is a relatively obscure vestige. She gives her summoners the ability to turn or rebuke undead, an enhancement to their Charisma, grants the use of many arcane magic items, allows you to utilize a first-level arcane spell of your choice as a spell-like ability, and the ability to recognize magic items for what they are.
Legend: Once a high priestess of Wee Jas, the Green Lady was instrumental in carrying the faith of the Witch Goddess from the old Suel Imperium into the new world after the Rain of Colorless Fire. She died in the Cairn Hills, and a small cult dedicated to her memory remains there today.
Special Requirement: You must either draw the Green Lady’s within sight of a graveyard or of any site sacred to Wee Jas.
Manifestation: The Green Lady appears as a beautiful Suel woman dressed in resplendent robes of the faith of Wee Jas.
Sign: Your eyes turn emerald green and glow faintly, and faint shimmers of green energy periodically ripple over your body.
Influence: While under the Green Lady’s influence, you become haughty and elitist, and expect your allies to defer to your opinions and wishes. The Green Lady requires that you make at least one attempt to turn or rebuke any undead you encounter before you can attack it physically or with magic (unless you have already used all your attempts for the day). Filth and decay disgust you, and given a choice you must always avoid placing yourself in a situation that would soil your clothing or your skin.
Granted Abilities: The Green Lady infuses you with mastery over magic and death, and enhances your natural ability to influence and control your subjects.
Turn/Rebuke Undead: You can turn or rebuke undead as a cleric your effective binder level. As with a cleric, you turn if you are good and rebuke if you are evil. If you are neutral, you choose whether to turn or rebuke upon binding with the Green Lady and cannot later change your mind. If you have the ability to turn or rebuke undead from other classes, your levels in those classes stack with your effective binder level for the purpose of determining your turning ability. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
Green Lady’s Beauty: You gain a +2 bonus to Charisma.
Arcane Knack: You can use spell trigger items, such as wands and staves, as if you were a wizard of your effective binder level.
Gift of Magic: The Green Lady grants you the use of one 1st level wizard spell as a spell-like ability. You may use this spell-like ability at will, but once you have used it, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds. You must pick your spell-like ability when you bind the Green Lady, after which you cannot later change your mind. Your caster level with this spell-like ability is equal to your equivalent binder level.
Lore of Magic: You can use Spellcraft to identify magic items. You must examine the item to be identified for one minute, after which you make a Spellcraft check (DC 20 + the magic item’s Caster Level). If you exceed the target DC by 10 or more, you also note any curses the magic item may bear. You cannot retry an attempt to identify a magic item.
Vestige Level: 2nd
Binding DC: 17
Special Requirement: Yes
My group had no cleric - so I introduced an NPC cleric of Wee Jas. They originally met her helping guard the boneyard in Diamond Lake. I needed her to be LN rather than LE, to better fit in with the rest of the party. I explained this difference by saying she was a member of the "Green Lady sect". So, I basically threw out everything written about the Green Lady, and created something on my own that better served my purposes. I've used this cleric to provide the PCs with healing, turn undead capability, and lore about undead and necromancy. After 'Encounter at BlackWall Keep', she remained in Diamond Lake while the PCs went to Greyhawk.
James, thanks for the write-up!
One question though, how does your character bind a 2nd level vestige when she has only one level of binder? Wouldn't she need at least three levels?
Amariss & the CotGL have played a minor role in my campaign so far. One of my players has a Suel mage who she's intent upon converting, while another has a paladin of Heironeous who she kind of has a thing for.
For those who may be interested, here's the description of Amariss I gave my players during an email-rp session after the funeral service for those slain in Ilthane's rampage:
"Though only perhaps in her mid-twenties, Amariss evokes an aura of gravitas of someone much older. Standing about 5', 6", the priestess is dressed in a lovely evening dress of black and grey that accentuates her curves, with long black gloves. A jeweled dagger hangs from her hip. She wears a fine hooded cloak of green, with a clasp studded with red gems depicting the holy symbol of Wee Jas, goddess of death and magic. Her lips are a rich scarlet, and her eyes are a deep emerald green. A cascade of raven hair falls in thick ringlets about her shoulders, and her pale skin glows softly in the light of the two half-moons in the sky. The smell of rich perfume and grave flowers lingers in the air about her."
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James, thanks for the write-up!
One question though, how does your character bind a 2nd level vestige when she has only one level of binder? Wouldn't she need at least three levels?
Via the power of the Improved Binding feat, which increases my effective binder level by 2 for the purpose of determining the level of vestige I can bind.
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Regarding the Cult of the Green Lady, I was wondering whatever happened to Nohrtan, William, Olan, and Lehja (members of the cult in Doomgrinder)? Assuming that the Doomgrinder adventure took place in 591 CY, Nohrtan would have founded the cult in 586 CY. Where did Amariss come from and how did she come to power? Someone at Paizo must've decided to replace Nohrtan with Amariss. I'm going to assume that the events from Doomgrinder never happened once I run Age of Worms as that might lead to a few unnecessary questions. Still, I would like to incorporate Nohrtan and the others into the history of the cult. It's not every day that a Frost Barbarian makes his way to the Cairn Hills to found a cult dedicated to Wee Jas.
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For the Green Lady, I used James' take on her. I also made her an ancestor of Ena Norbe, founder of Hardby and herself an ancestor of Zagig Yragerne. One of my PC's is playing a pure-blooded Suloise wizard/warmage/ultimate magus, so I might use that for some interesting role-playing opportunities.
As for Nohrtan, I decided to make him one of the first casualties of the Ebon Triad, who's been secretly operating in Diamond Lake for over two years. Basically he went missing while investigating those rumours of Kyuss spawn in the Cairn Hills.
The Green Lady & her cult now have a page on the Greyhawk wiki: http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Green_Lady