Given the open nature of the campaign and that many DMs will expand on the published materials, it is inevitable that some players will get a hold of shadow pearls. Mine run a high risk now when I'm running a modified Porphyry House of Horror - guess what's the key catalyst in the creation of Devil's Breath?
Assuming they are basically Good, how should they dispose of them?
The easiest way is to go to a desolate area, trigger the pearl, then get the abyss out of there. However, doing so is a major Chaotic and Evil act.
When Vanthus triggered the pearl in Farshore, the solution was to have a summoned archon teleport to the Endless Waste with it. But any summoned Lawful or Good outsider will refuse to trigger the pearl. Asking a Slaad is asking for trouble, assuming they could even summon one.
Any other ideas out there? Any DMs faced this?
My party currently has 5 shadow pearls in storage. That they plan to dispose of. They have couple ideas about how to best do this.
!. The wizard has the force chest spell, and they were thinking of cracking the pearl and then putting it in a froce chest to contain the detonation.
2. They recovered the portable hole from Ulioth, so they had thought of detonating them inside the portable hole.
3. Using plane shift to take them somewhere isolated like the astral plane and detonate them on a different plane.
I'm sure there are plenty of other possibilities as well.
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well, they are only "primed" if they are annointed with blood, as far as i recall.
if they are broken or otherwise destroyed before that, they wouldn't trigger the savage tide.
at least, thats how i read it.
the one the party got at Farshore was ALMOST detonated with blood on it, but the monk stopped him just in time.
they carried it around for a while, then had an Archon disintegrate it. (not that they couldn't have had one of the party do it, but they wanted it off plane for that.)
-the hamster
well, they are only "primed" if they are annointed with blood, as far as i recall.
My call here is that they are indestructible until anointed with blood.
Creative Director
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A simple way of handling a shadow pearl is to trigger it and then put it into a container that can withstand the acid damage of its detonation. There's not really any actual force or physical shockwave involved in a shadow pearl's activation, so it won't explode a container it's put in. As long as that container can withstand the acid damage created by its sizzling and all that, once the pearl explodes into a savage tide, it's pretty much done. Jut make sure that you don't open that container for a few rounds, just to be sure!
A simple way of handling a shadow pearl is to trigger it and then put it into a container that can withstand the acid damage of its detonation. There's not really any actual force or physical shockwave involved in a shadow pearl's activation, so it won't explode a container it's put in. As long as that container can withstand the acid damage created by its sizzling and all that, once the pearl explodes into a savage tide, it's pretty much done. Jut make sure that you don't open that container for a few rounds, just to be sure!
that is almost too easy..... The one pearl my group got their hands on got deposited in an active volcanoe on the chult peninsula, dropped into the lava of the spewing caldera from above. The wizard (flying) then teleported away from the area - watching the fireworks. By their reckoning, anything within the assumed burst radius of the pearls was in the deadly balst from the volcano anway, hence.... toasted ?
I was rather happy to have it out of their hands, before they started to think of a nonsensical use for it - they are currently regretting have gotten rid of it.... setting it off in Scuttlecove, or even better, the Crimson Fleet headquarters has a note of "poetic justice" to them. Not quite "good" but handing the Cromson Fleet a pint of their own brew....
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Creative Director
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that is almost too easy..... The one pearl my group got their hands on got deposited in an active volcanoe on the chult peninsula, dropped into the lava of the spewing caldera from above. The wizard (flying) then teleported away from the area - watching the fireworks. By their reckoning, anything within the assumed burst radius of the pearls was in the deadly balst from the volcano anway, hence.... toasted ?
It's easy... but it's not really obvious a solution. If it were much more difficult to stop a shadow pearl, though, then the Crimson Fleet and Demogorgon wouldn't have to be so secretive and methodical about keeping the master plan so well hidden, though.
Dropping a pearl into a volcano is not a bad idea anyway.
Hiya.
My paladin just took the pearl, put it in a padded belt pouch, put that on his Celestial Warhorse and told his horse to take this to Hieroneous for disposal. :) At least the "good" powers that be could do *something* other than sit on their collective butts as the potential for all Abyss breaking loose on a prime plane looms in the near future... ;)
Hiya.
My paladin just took the pearl, put it in a padded belt pouch, put that on his Celestial Warhorse and told his horse to take this to Hieroneous for disposal. :) At least the "good" powers that be could do *something* other than sit on their collective butts as the potential for all Abyss breaking loose on a prime plane looms in the near future... ;)
While "cheap" from a story perspective, this is not a bad option. A power like Hieroneous could possibly redeem a shadow pearl and use its power for good. Then again, he might give it to a servant for disposal, the servant could start investigating its powers, get corrupted, and open up a whole new front in the Blood War...
Perhaps this is the TRUE purpose of the Shadow Pearls, devised by some Iggliw and unknown even to Demogorgon. Wheels within wheels, and a possible seed for the next campaign.
Dropping a pearl into a volcano is not a bad idea anyway.
but definitely clichée ... personally, I was waiting for someone doing his best 'gollum' impersonation