Maps for Areas around the Spire of Long Shadows

[Michael Badger 99]

I am getting ready for the Spire of Long Shadows module and am really happy with Paizo for publishing a module with 3+ major encounters outside the obsidian ring outlined but neither mapped nor statted out.

Anyone have suggestions for existing ruins maps I can place the Spire in?

Anyone statted out the monsters surrounding the ruins and willing to share?

There are some nice role playing opportunities outside the obsidian ring. Anyone want to share their experiences on how they handled this area?

[Michael Badger 99]

All set. Looking forward to playing it this weekend.

[Eltanin]

Well, would you like to share what you came up with? Sorry I didn't respond to your first post but, I a)missed it and b)don't have anything to offer on this subject. I'd love to hear what you came up with though!

[Belfur]

Just do chime in, I am toying with the thought of using my Frostburn book finally, placing the Spire in the Frostfell, only putting jungle inside the obsidian ring...but I am still not sure.

[Michael Badger 99]

Eltanin wrote:

Well, would you like to share what you came up with? Sorry I didn't respond to your first post but, I a)missed it and b)don't have anything to offer on this subject. I'd love to hear what you came up with though!

Well, the long and the short of is we did not get there.

Spoiler:

We were starting in Gathering of Winds after they had defeated Ilthane so I thought things would run pretty quick. They followed Allustan's trail without interruption or distraction right to Flycatcher, then Allustan then Moretto. I thought they would bypass the whole dungeon and find the tomb instantly. They then meta-gamed themselves into a hole by figuring a branching cave off the waterfall could not possibly lead any place interesting. The then went on a room by room dungeon CRAWL and triggered every trap and blundered into every monster encounter.

As for the spire outskirts, I never did a map but decided I would just play it as low ruins, occasional cover. As for the creatures and role-playing,

Spoiler:

I simplified the outskirts to thirds instead of quadrants (so I didn't have to to stat out non-human spellcasters and warriors--and four quadrants seemed like a lot of critters in a small area) and statted out the Beholder and Trolls; the outsider; and a 12-headed hydra (which I am considering doubling to 2 hydras). I decided if they explore I would have the first area be with the outsider because I like the exiled evil bureaucrat character suggested by the manual decribition (and it will appeal to my player group of non-exiled bureacrats). My characters describe themselves as "good" and I describe them as "good at going after whatever treasure is dangled in front of them." I think I can get the fiend to talk them into taking out the beholder and maybe the hydra for a price. A beholder will make them wet their pants and they will immediately go into attack mode.

I suspect though, that given their crawl in AGoW, they will again try to rush into the big adventure as quick as they can. We'll see.

Let me know what you did.

[Crust]

I'll share... (haven't posted in months)

FR campaign. Chult! Never played or DMed there before. Anyway...

I combined "The Spire of Long Shadows" with issue #145's Taboo Island from the Savage Tide module "City of Broken Idols." I dropped the obsidian ring, dropped the rather lack-luster encounters in Kuluth-Mar's ruins, and made the Harbinger the "avatar" of Jergal. I placed Taboo Island in the middle of Chult's Lake Luo. PCs will have to make their way from Mezro to Lake Luo, then traverse the lake out to Taboo Island, fight through Taboo Temple into the interior jungle, and from there locate Kuluth-Mar.

I thought it was lame for Malchor (Manzorian) to just teleport the PCs to Kuluth-Mar, so I added another module. ;-)

The skinwalkers from #145 (and their many slaves) worship the Harbinger from issue #130 as the actual deity Jergal, as he is able to use fell magic to "enlighten" certain chosen, merging their bodies with the bodies of fierce jungle creatures. I have skinwalkers that have been bonded with dire boars, insectoids, winged creatures, tauric creatures (making heavy use of Savage Species). Those who are unworthy are either fed to the flesh ooze in Taboo Temple or are made into spawn of Kyuss in the bowels of Kuluth-Mar. Either way, the "primitive" humans of Chult are nothing more than pawns for the ancient Harbinger.

How is the Harbinger able to transform worthy humans into various types of skinwalkers? Well... Over two thousand years ago, before Kyuss was even born, the Harbinger arrived in Chult, and one of his first actions was to overpower a dormant Sarrukh (Serpent Kingdoms) ultra-lich found in some crumbling ruin. The dormant Sarrukh was not prepared to have his phylactery dominated by this alien spellweaver, and for over two thousand years, the Harbinger used the magic of the Sarrukh to enslave and subjugate an entire tribe of Chultan humans (the Eshowe people, specifically). This Sarrukh's immense magical knowledge and power also helped fuel the rise of Kyuss and the inevitable Age of Worms, worms that were in truth first created by epic Sarrukh necromancers.

When (or if) the PCs destroy the Harbinger, the imprisoned Sarrukh will burst from its magical bonds and confront the party, offering the party lizardfolk druid a reward, using its ancient magic to augment the PC in a pure way, the way the Sarrukh did tens of thousands of years before to their scalykind slaves. I'm thinking of offering the draconic template, suggesting that the lizardfolk PC's genetic lineage is touched with green dragon blood, though diluted over the centuries. It'll make for an interesting twist, as the PCs just dealt with an entire tribe of black draconic lizardfolk having been bred and subjugated by Ilthane the Black. Connections connections... ;-)

Once the group passes out of Taboo Temple (which is only the one level... I dropped the lower levels leading to the kopru and Khala), PCs will find fanatical slaves and skinwalkers desperately protecting the ruins of Kuluth-Mar, leaping madly to the attack and corralling a couple huge triceratops to attack the group. Only when the PCs enter Kuluth-Mar itself will the Kyuss Knights attack. I dropped the corrupted eladrin and archons (thought they were silly), and replaced those areas with more pens and torture chambers meant to test tribesmen in order to learn who is worthy and who dies. Reptilian skinwalkers tend to the slaves in Kuluth-Mar, as their higher natural armor renders them immune to the ubiquitous Kyuss worms found within.

I'm still fine-tuning everything, but this is what I'm planning so far. They teleport from Waterdeep to Mezro this Sunday. :-) We're all very excited.

[Belfur]

Crust, that's just awesome. I am mourning that I will not be able to play SoLS even as written as I am moving away and until them am very busy with writing my thesis...
Have fun!