Crown of Fangs (GM Reference)


Curse of the Crimson Throne

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Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Just Statted up a version of Kazavon (Spoiler below). I wanted to focus on his ability to hide as a humanoid and a lot of his spells reflect this. Check my math ad CR equivalencies as a CR 25 doesn't have a lot in the way of guidance for how powerful is too powerful. And yeah, players really screwed the pooch and will eventually have to take this guy on, if they can find him that is.

Kazavon Stats:

Kazavon Advanced Great wyrm Sorceror 3
STR Base 42 +16 46 +18
DEX Base 12 +1
CON Base 36 +13 40 +15
INT Base 34 +12 40 +15
WIS Base 34 +12 40 +15
CHA Base 34 +12 40 +15

CR Size Hit Points / Hit Dice Natural Armor Breath Weapon
25 Colossal 698 / 28d12+3d6+499 42 24d8

move 40' burrow 20' fly 250' (clumsy)

1 Bite 2 Claws 2 Wings 1 Tail Crush Tail Sweep Line
4d8+32 4d6+23 2d8+17 4d6+32 4d8+32 2d8+32 140 ft.
+44 +44 +42 +42 save save save

Vital Strike +44 16d8 + 32

CMB 55
CMD 66 (70 movement based)

Age Category: 12

BAB: +29
Saves 37/25/39
AC: 57 (-8 size, +1 dex, +42 Natural, +10 base, +4 armor, +4 shield +5 Deflection)

DC against a breath weapon is 10 + 1/2 dragon's HD + dragon's Con modifier (40)
Tail sweep 40 ft (DC equal to that of the dragon's breath weapon)
Crush pins (DC equal to that of the dragon's breath weapon) must maintain pins, escape is a CMD not reflex.

Dragon Senses (Ex): Kazavon has darkvision 150 ft. and blindsense 60 ft. He sees four times as well as a normal human in dim light and twice as well in normal light.

Frightful Presence (Ex): radius 360ft 5d6 rounds, DC 40, On a failed save, the opponent is shaken, or panicked if 4 HD or fewer.

Immunities (Ex): immune to sleep, paralysis, and electricity
SR: 36
DR: 20/magic
Electricity aura (Su) (2d6, 10')

Desert thirst (Su) Kazavon can cast create water at will (CL 28). Alternatively, he can destroy an equal amount of liquid in a 10-foot burst. Unattended liquids are instantly reduced to sand. Liquid-based magic items (such as potions) and items in a creature's possession must succeed on a Will save or be destroyed (18)

Sound imitation (Ex) Kazavon can mimic any voice or sound he has heard by making a successful Bluff check against a listener's Sense Motive check.

Mirage (Su) Kazavon can make himself appear to be in two places at once as a free action for a number of rounds per day equal to his HD (28). This ability functions as project image but Kazavon can use its breath weapon through the mirage.

Storm breath (Su) Kazavon can use his breath weapon to create a storm of lightning. This functions as call lightning storm, but the damage is 24d8. Kazavon can call down 1 bolt per round as a free action for 1d6 rounds. The save DC is equal to the Charle's breath weapon DC. Additional uses of this ability extend the duration by an additional
1d6 rounds.

Sandstorm (Su) As a standard action, Kazavon can create a sandstorm centered on himself with a radius of 1,200 feet. Creatures other than the dragon inside the storm take 2d6 points of damage per round in addition to the normal sandstorm penalties This sandstorm lasts for up to 1 hour, but can be dismissed by Kazavon as a free action.

(CL 35, concentration +45, DC 20 + spell level)
Spell like abilities (at will): Ghost sound, minor image, ventriloquism, hallucinatory terrain, veil, mirage arcana

Bloodline Powers: Your benighted heritage infuses your mastery of magic with the essence of shadowstuff.

Class Skills
Appraise, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Fly, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (all), Linguistics, Perception, Profession, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Stealth, Survival, Swim, and Use Magic Device.

Shadowstrike (Sp): At 1st level, you can make a melee touch attack as a standard action that inflicts 1d4 points of nonlethal damage + 1 for every two sorcerer levels you possess. In addition, the target is dazzled for 1 minute. Creatures with low-light vision or darkvision are not dazzled by this ability. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.

Nighteye (Ex): At 3rd level, you gain darkvision 30 feet. If you already possess darkvision, its range is increased by these amounts.

Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell with the [darkness] descriptor or the shadow sub-school, you gain a circumstance bonus on Stealth checks equal to the spell’s level for 1d4 rounds.

Sorcerer Caster Level: 20th, concentration +32

Spells per Day
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
6 + 4 6 + 4 6 + 4 6 +3 6 + 3 6 + 3 6 +3 6 + 2 6 + 2

Spells Known (+ ray of enfeeblement from bloodline)
0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 3

0-level:
Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Haunted Fey Aspect, Bleed, Touch of Fatigue, Mending, Arcane Mark, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation

1st level:
Ray of Enfeeblement, Shield, Mage Armor, Protection From Good, Unseen Servant, Interrogation

2nd level:
Alter Self, Command Undead, Detect Thoughts, Unnatural Lust, Invisibility

3rd level:
Dispel Magic, Nondetection, Excruciating Deformation, Howling Agony

4th level:
Scrying, , Calcific touch, Enervation, Greater Invisibility

5th level:
Polymorph, Teleport, Dominate Person, Magic Jar

6th level:
True Seeing, Unwilling shield, Greater Dispel Magic

7th level:
Limited Wish, Simulacrum, Magnificent Mansion

8th level:
Polymorph Any Object, Mind Blank, Mass Charm Monster

9th level:
Wish, Time Stop, Mass Icy Prison

Skills: 12/21/17

Appraise +49
Bluff +49
Climb + 31
Fly +18 (from headband)
Heal +49
Intimidate +49
Knowledge (arcana) +49
Knowledge (dungeoneering) +32
Knowledge (engineering) +32
Knowledge (geography) +32
Knowledge (history) +49
Knowledge (local) +32
Knowledge (nature) +49
Knowledge (nobility) +32
Knowledge (planes) +49
Knowledge (religion) +49
Linguistics +22
Perception +49
Profession(accountant) +49 (from headband)
Sense Motive +49
Spellcraft +49
Stealth + 19 (from headband)
Survival + 29
Swim + 31
Use Magic Device +49

Permanancied spells: Magic fang, greater CL 20; See invisibility; Detect magic; Tongues (All permanancies were done at a CL 20 permanancy scroll)

In Human form Kazavon's statistics are as follows
STR 32 +16
DEX 16 +3
CON 32 +16

CMB 45
CMD 48

AC 21 (10 base + 3 dex + 4 armor + 4 shield) [able to dismiss his polymorph easily, may wear armor in human form]

Attacks:
+3 greataxe 42/37/32/27 1d12 +27 +1d6 electric (+16 str +29 base -4 proficiency +3 axe)
with Vital Strike +42 4d12 + 27 +1d6 electric

Feats (16 + eschew materials)
Silent Spell, still spell, quicken spell, heighten spell, Power Attack -8 + 8/16/24, Multi Attack, Weapon Focus (Bite), Weapon Focus (Claw), Improved Crit (Bite), Improved Crit (Claw), Vital Strike (+ Improved & Greater), Toughness, Improved Init, Lightning reflexes

GEAR approx 600k worth for now; more depending on length of campaign / RP; Much of Kazavon' Gear was lost however his permanancied spells and inherent bonuses have carried over: Headband of Mental Superiority +6, ring of protection +5, Cloak of resistance +5, Belt of physical might (+4 STR and CON), +5 Full plate, +3 Keen Shocking Burst Adamantine Great Axe, Scarab of Protection, Ioun Stones (Dusty rose, Pearly white,
Dark blue, Clear), Iron Bands of Binding, Bead of Force, boots of teleportation, Wand of resist energy, wand of death ward (10 charges), scroll of heal * 2, scroll of greater restoration, 50k diamonds (for wish/limited wish as necessary), Belt of speed.

3690 spending cash 50 pp, 55 gp, 100 gp signet ring, 50 sp, 10 cp, 1500gp sapphire, 5 200gp rubies, 3 50gp pearls, 20 25 gp amethysts, 1 150gp emeralds.

Kazavon is very careful using spells such as simulacrum combined with magic jar and his massive spell base to Hide his presence. As a polymorph any object on a simulacrum of himself is very effective as a decoy and as a temporary "True" body to hide in.

Silver Crusade

Yeah, if someone can take a look at this and give an opinion, that would be great.
Our group is going to be up against this guy if we're lucky? Unlucky?

Silver Crusade

Please?


Hello again guys, we are about to complete the CoCT and i was thinking about continueing the story. Can anyone suggest of one or two scenarios up to level 20??? Really thank you for any help :)


Hey all. I am looking at the map of Castle Korvosa, and I don't see a way into the Dungeon level other than the secret door, A6, from the wood storage in A24. The introduction in Edge of Anarchy said that Ileosa stole the key to the dungeon level from Neolandus. Is there another way into the dungeon level I am not seeing?


Diafanus wrote:

Hey all. I am looking at the map of Castle Korvosa, and I don't see a way into the Dungeon level other than the secret door, A6, from the wood storage in A24. The introduction in Edge of Anarchy said that Ileosa stole the key to the dungeon level from Neolandus. Is there another way into the dungeon level I am not seeing?

It was the key to the treasury that she stole. since that is room A2 which does not have doors, it must mean the key to the only door leading to the treasury - A24. I would expect there to be a single door to a treasury. It doesn't seem a terribly sensible arrangement.


Just finished the path last Sunday.
The final fight came down to the queen vs the party. The party had not managed to hit her, even using the listed AC. and lacked enough flying ability to close with her. Many of the party where sheltering in an anti-magic shell to suppress various confusion, song of discord and mind fog effects. It was close to a stalemate.

Then the gish decided to use the scroll of gate they found in the castle to summon a solar. I didn't want the Solar to do all the fighting for them, so I had him use Miracle to allow him to tear the bound devil apart from Ileosa. The devil died quickly and Illeosa dimensioned door away. The Solar then said the true evil had been defeated and he would leave the mortal to the party, though he did cast a break enchantment before leaving on the charmed party member.

Scarab Sages

Is there still someone here in 2018 ?

After many years of play, my group is finally close to finish this campaign. They defeated Sermignatto last weekend, and I discribed the way surviving arbiters and nobles in Korvosa start to discuss about the future of their city.

Now I'm thinking about who will be the next King/Queen of Korvosa. I have a bit of time because now they have to go to the Sunken Queen, but not that much.

In my campaign, Glorio Arkona (Bahor) managed not only to survive, but also to convince the PCs that he was a poor victim of the Rakshasa who replaced his beloved sister.

The PCs think he is a decent human noble, maybe he is doing some illegal underground transaction but that's all they can suspect about him. On the other hand, they have seen him distributing food to the poor in Old Korvosa, so I Think they believe he would be a decent ruler.

Now I'm wondering about how the Noble families in Korvosa choose their ruler ?
Is there some sort of election ?
How do you see that ?

I think it would be very fun if the PCs were involved in helping Glorio Arkona gaining the Crimson Throne ! ;-)

What do you think about it ?

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

Just wanted to declare victory for my players in the hardcover version of the AP. We finished the game last Saturday after roughly a year of struggling to take down Ileosa and save Korvosa. The battle was suitably epic and only one character was killed during the final battle.

The boards were always a great help when I was stumped on how to go forward. Thanks Paizo for a great path and thanks to you guys for the help.

Time to change my avatar to the most significant NPC of my next path!


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rkotitan wrote:

Just wanted to declare victory for my players in the hardcover version of the AP. We finished the game last Saturday after roughly a year of struggling to take down Ileosa and save Korvosa. The battle was suitably epic and only one character was killed during the final battle.

The boards were always a great help when I was stumped on how to go forward. Thanks Paizo for a great path and thanks to you guys for the help.

Time to change my avatar to the most significant NPC of my next path!

Awesome! I wrapped mine up a few weeks ago, it took my group a little under a year to complete the AP, and the group had no permanent casualties, although a couple of folks did have to get resurrected during the later stages of the campaign.

They supported Cressida Croft as the new queen, and the citizens and nobility agreed, so in my Golarion I run, it's now Queen Cressida I of Korvosa!


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I will be starting my group through this final chapter starting this weekend! We finally made it through a long slog in Scarwall where my completionist players left no stone unturned.

After such a long dungeon crawl, I am going to try to streamline the castle as much as possible. My aim is to have 3 big memorable fights inside the castle then let them explore a bit to figure out where Illeosa went and make sure I nudge them towards the ghost. One of my players has been convinced since the beginning that the Tiefling killed the king, so bringing resolution to that will be sweet. and the throwback artifact is something I am really looking forward to watching them deal with.

It has been a fun ride, and I'm hoping that the final chapter will be a success.

We have definitely not made it through without casualties... every player has had a character die at least once, though 3 of them were revived.

for the final fight, I am going to redo Illeosa as a sorcerer instead of a bard.


JankInTheTank wrote:
for the final fight, I am going to redo Illeosa as a sorcerer instead of a bard.

Did anyone else change Illeosa's class? I feel like Bard is kinda lacking. Thinking of promoting her to Unchained Bard, or maybe Sorcerer or Mesmerist.

Grand Lodge

I was a player in a group that finished the original 3.5 version (converted to Pathfinder) a few years ago. We found that the final battle with Illeosa a disappointment. Very anti-climantic. I am currently running a group through it right now I have have restated Illrosa as a Sorcerer. I also bumped her up a level.

Stat Block:

—————
Queen Ileosa Arabasti CR 22
XP 614,400
Female human (Chelaxian) aristocrat 2/sorcerer 19
LE Medium humanoid (evil, human)
Init +15; Senses true seeing, true seeing ; Perception +28
—————
Defense
—————
AC 46, touch 27, flat-footed 36 (+8 armor, +5 deflection, +10 Dex, +2 insight, +11 natural; +2 deflection vs. good); never flat-footed

hp 439 (21 HD; 19d6+2d8+361); regeneration 20 (Serithtial)

Fort +24, Ref +24, Will +23; +2 resistance vs. good

Defensive Abilities freedom of movement , never surprised; DR 10/adamantine (70 points); Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10; SR 22

Weaknesses susceptible to serithtial
—————
Offense
—————
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)

Melee +4 human-bane dancing glamered icy burst speed rapier +21/+21/+16 (1d6+14/18-20 plus 2d6 vs. human and 1d6 cold)

Special Attacks breath weapon (19d6 electricity, 60 ft. line, DC 33, 2/day), claws (2, 1d6 plus 1d6 electricity, treated as magic weapons, 17 rounds/day)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 21st; concentration +35)

At will— minor image (DC 26)

3/day—charm monster (DC 29)

1/day—charm person (DC 25), greater teleport

Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 19th; concentration +33)

9th (6/day)— meteor swarm (DC 35), time stop , wish

8th (8/day)— form of the dragon III , mind blank , polar ray , storm bolts (DC 34)

7th (8/day)— form of the dragon II , mage's sword , reverse gravity , greater teleport

6th (9/day)— chain lightning(DC 32), contagious flame, greater dispel magic , form of the dragon I

5th (9/day)— baleful polymorph(DC 29), feeblemind(DC 29), fire snake(DC 31), spell resistance , wall of force

4th (9/day)— dimension door , greater false life, fear(DC 28), greater flaming sphere(DC 30), greater invisibility

3rd (9/day)— fireball(DC 29), fly, haste, lightning bolt(DC 29), vampiric touch

2nd (10/day)— blindness/deafness (DC 26), darkness, protection from arrows , resist energy , scorching ray, touch of idiocy

1st (10/day)— mage armor , magic missile , protection from good , ray of enfeeblement (DC 25), shield, shocking grasp

0 (at will)— acid splash , detect magic , jolt UM, light, mage hand , message, open/close (DC 24), prestidigitation, read magic

Bloodline Draconic

—————
Statistics
—————
Str 23, Dex 30, Con 30, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 38

Base Atk +10; CMB +17; CMD 43

Feats Arcane Strike, Craft Wondrous Item, Elemental Spell APG, Eschew Materials, Forge Ring, Great Fortitude, Greater Spell Focus (evocation), Improved Initiative, Intensified Spell APG, Maximize Spell, Reach
Spell, Selective Spell, Skill Focus (Fly), Spell Focus (evocation), Toppling Spell, Toughness

Skills Acrobatics +11, Appraise +4, Bluff +15, Climb +7, Diplomacy +15, Disguise +15, Escape Artist +11, Fly +18, Heal +4, Intimidate +34, Knowledge (arcana) +28, Knowledge (history) +17, Knowledge (local) +17, Knowledge (nobility) +17, Linguistics +12, Perception +28, Perform (dance) +15, Perform (oratory) +15, Perform (sing) +15, Perform (string instruments) +15, Perform (wind instruments) +15, Ride +11, Sense Motive +8, Spellcraft +28, Stealth +11, Survival +4, Swim +7, Use Magic Device +33

Languages Aklo, Common, Elven, Giant, Infernal, Shadowtongue, Thassilonian, Varisian

SQ bloodline arcana (energy spells that match bloodline energy deal +1 damage per die), contingency, contract bound, contract bount, everdawn infusion, exceptional stats, inherent bonuses, permanent spells, wings

Combat Gear boots of teleportation , crown of fangs , greater quicken metamagic rod , ring of spell storing (major), wand of magic missile (CL 9th, 34 charges) ; Other Gear +4 human-bane dancing glamered icy burst speed rapier , amulet of natural armor +5 , belt of physical might +6 (Str, Dex) , bracers of armor +8 , crimson gown , crystal ball with true seeing , eyes of charming , gloves of arcane striking, handy haversack, headband of mental prowess +4 (Int, Wis) , iridescent spindle ioun stone , pale green prism ioun stone, ring of splendid security , vibrant purple prism ioun stone , armband set with rubies (worth 3,500 gp), gold anklet set with rubies (worth 4,000 gp), gold-and-ruby earrings (worth 5,000 gp)


Olmac wrote:

I was a player in a group that finished the original 3.5 version (converted to Pathfinder) a few years ago. We found that the final battle with Illeosa a disappointment. Very anti-climantic. I am currently running a group through it right now I have have restated Illrosa as a Sorcerer. I also bumped her up a level.

** spoiler omitted **...

Thanks, that helps. Nice touch with the draconic sorcerer.

I don't know when your party will fight her, but I'd like to know how your version worked.

Grand Lodge

Thanks, I thought the blue draconic heritage made a lot of sense, though I guess infernal would have as well. I also restated the false Ileosa as well.

False Illeosa:
False Ileosa CR 9
XP 6,400
Female human simulacrum (Chelaxian) aristocrat 1/sorcerer 9
LE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +7; Senses Perception +9
—————
Defense
—————
AC 30, touch 23, flat-footed 27 (+5 armor, +10 deflection, +3 Dex, +2 natural)

hp 88 (10 HD; 9d6+1d8+49)

Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +6; +2 morale bonus vs. charm and fear

Defensive Abilities crimson throne, redirection; Immune illusions, mind-affecting effects; Resist electricity 10

—————
Offense
—————
Speed 30 ft.

Melee +1 returning dagger +7 (1d4+3/19-20)

Special Attacks breath weapon (9d6 electricity, 60 ft. line, DC 19, 1/day), claws (2, 1d6, treated as magic weapons, 8 rounds/day)

Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 9th; concentration +14)

4th (5/day)— dimension door , fear (DC 19), greater invisibility

3rd (7/day)— fireball (DC 19), fly, haste, lightning bolt (DC 19)

2nd (7/day)— blindness/deafness (DC 17), protection from arrows , resist energy , scorching ray , touch of idiocy

1st (8/day)— mage armor , magic missile , protection from good , ray of enfeeblement (DC 16), shield, shocking grasp

0 (at will)— acid splash , detect magic , jolt, light, mage hand , message, prestidigitation, read magic

Bloodline Draconic

—————
Statistics
—————
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 9, Wis 7, Cha 20

Base Atk +4; CMB +6; CMD 27

Feats Craft Wondrous Item, Elemental Spell, Eschew Materials, Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Fly), Spell Focus (evocation), Toppling Spell, Toughness

Skills Fly +5, Knowledge (history) +4, Knowledge (local) +4, Knowledge (nobility) +4, Perception +9, Use Magic Device +16

Languages Common

SQ bloodline arcana (energy spells that match bloodline energy deal +1 damage per die)

Other Gear +1 glamered chain shirt , +1 returning dagger , replica nonmagical crown of fangs (worth 5,000 gp)

The confrontation won't be for a while yet, but I am thinking before the new year. If you read the obits you will see they suffered a loss this weekend. I will probably be posting the end results of the adventure path.


Olmac wrote:
I was a player in a group that finished the original 3.5 version (converted to Pathfinder) a few years ago. We found that the final battle with Illeosa a disappointment. Very anti-climantic. I am currently running a group through it right now I have have restated Illrosa as a Sorcerer. I also bumped her up a level.

I'm not sure restatting and leveling up Ileosa will make much of a difference in the fight. This game is all about action economy and Ileosa is at a disadvantage, even as a sorcerer.

I followed some on-line advice on end-campaign fights, making sure it turned into a battle in stages: you cannot get to the end boss until you take out other challenges first.

So, here's how I did it in a nutshell:

- When the PCs first entered the final chamber, they were mentally accosted by a dream of something close to their hearts, but which ended in a scene that would somehow drain their vigor unless they made a save.
- Ileosa was not alone, but had a "minion" fighting at her side. (In my campaign this was an ex-PC whose mind was taken over by Sermignatto, turning him into an NPC. He even had some extra devils as back-up.)
- The blood pool around Ileosa turned into a "blood dragon", who protected Ileosa from harm. The PCs had to defeat the blood dragon first before they could get to Ileosa, while she could already cast spells at the PCs.

It sounds rather boring when I phrase it like that, but this tactic allowed me to keep Ileosa around for more rounds, making the fiight much more exciting. You can read in detail how the fight went in my journal on these boards.

Grand Lodge

MrVergee wrote:
Olmac wrote:
I was a player in a group that finished the original 3.5 version (converted to Pathfinder) a few years ago. We found that the final battle with Illeosa a disappointment. Very anti-climantic. I am currently running a group through it right now I have have restated Illrosa as a Sorcerer. I also bumped her up a level.

I'm not sure restatting and leveling up Ileosa will make much of a difference in the fight. This game is all about action economy and Ileosa is at a disadvantage, even as a sorcerer.

You're right about that. I added some bodyguards for Illeosa in the form of 4 specialized Greymaidens that were trained to fight mages (all the characters are now casters of some sort).

The dragon idea is interesting.


Soo... my PCs have finally arrived in Korvosa , but I have a problem. They never revealed themselves. The AP just seems to assume they do something heroic, so then the "Rebels" confront them, Trifaccia gets his wishes off, afterwards the dragon, etc.. My party just kept low, one of them disintegrated Illeosas Statues from hiding, but with all of them either invisible, hiding, or disguised, they searched for Trifaccia, and then tried to follow him (which didn't work).

They then just started searching the castle, completely skipping the two more "public" encounters.

I'm gonna try baiting them into confronting the false rebels by having them target the shop two of them own, but if that doesn't work, I have no Idea how to "trigger" the Encounter with Trifaccia.

On a different note, I'm not sure I understand the castle's defense correctly. Are the "welcoming party" (Mavrokeras and Togomor) supposed to just teleport on top if the PCs whenever they trigger an alarm somewhere? They would be seriously limited due to the close quarters if it's inside, but waiting until all the other encounters are cleared makes little sense.


My previous post was resolved, but does anyone have an idea, how Sermignatto is able to use Togomor's spells and such? Magic Jar explicitly states that abilities and spells are not usable.


It's story based magic, the point is that you have to fight both of them back to back, not that the exact nature of the normal rules of the spell, but also because a Belier's magic jar ability is a direct possession that doesn't have a jar to store the body in, Togomor's soul and therefore abilities are also still in the jar and subservient to Sermignatto's will.


My Party has nearly completed castle Korvosa (only the throne room encounter and Sermignatto remain), and I'm worried they'll breeze through the sunken queen and Illeosa.

The party is pretty powerful, with very little weaknesses. Two are immune to Illeosa's mind-affecting effects due to Harrow, among other stuff.

I'm a bit stuck on how to make the final fight challenging for them. I already gave Illeosa Mythic (Marshal) 1, and plan to make her untargetable until the Taniniver is dead, but I can't imagine anyone but Illeosa, Ithier and the Dragon to be a real danger.

How do I make the fight interesting?


Are they immune to all mindaffecting effects or just one effect at their discretion? I have a reworked version of Ileosa for my level 20 version of the AP, and in there she has Overwhelming Presence with a DC 34 will save to resist to literally just let her monologue her frustration at the PCs. She is also in general way stronger of a combatant and can buff the main combatants (Taniniver, Furies, and herself) way better (especially with the help of her simulacrums which can be buffing targets with inspire greatness and distracting/debuffing the party with fascinate/dirge of doom thanks to virtuoso performance).

Here's the version I made of her if you want to just take it and swap back out the mythic rank (or keep that too). Things to note is I swapped the aristocrat ranks because there's no reason she couldn't have retrained; we are running max HP for PCs and enemies; I didn't rewrite her tactics; and this includes all her buffs already applied and active thanks to Overwhelming Presence).

Queen Ileosa Arabatsi:
ILEOSA ARABASTI CR 24

XP 409,600

Female erinyes-bound human bard 22

(Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4 56)

LE Medium humanoid (human)

Init +13; Senses arcane sight, darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness, true seeing; Perception +30

DEFENSE

AC 58, touch 40, flat-footed 41 (+8 armor, +6 shield, +4 dodge, +5 deflection, +13 Dex, +2 insight, +9 natural, +1 haste)

hp 650 (22d8+2d10+454); regeneration 20 (Serithtial)

Fort +28, Ref +36, Will +26; +4 vs. poison, +4 vs. bardic performance, language-dependent, and sonic

Defensive Abilities freedom of movement; DR 10/adamantine (70 hp); Immune bleed; Resist fire 30; SR 25

Weaknesses contract bound, susceptible to Serithtial

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)

Melee +5 glamered human-bane agile icy burst unholy rapier +48/+48/+43/+38/+33 (1d6+25/15–20 plus 1d6 cold and 2d6 unholy); -5atk/+10dmg power attack

Special Attacks bardic performance 59 rounds/day (swift; countersong, dirge of doom, distraction, fascinate [DC 37], frightening tune [DC 37], inspire competence +6, inspire courage +5, inspire greatness, inspire heroics, mass suggestion [DC 37], soothing performance, suggestion [DC 37])

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 22th; concentration +38)

3/day—fear (single target) (DC 29), unholy blight (DC 27)

1/day—summon (level 9, 1 lemure, 1 bearded devil, 1 erinyes, 1 bone devil, 1 barbed devil, or 1 ice devil 100%)

Bard Spells Known (CL 22th; concentration +38)

6th (8/day)—geas/quest, getawayAPG, irresistible dance (DC 34), overwhelming presence (DC 34), project image (DC 32)

5th (8/day)—greater dispel magic, greater heroism, mind fog (DC 33), shadow walk (DC 31), song of discord (DC 33)

4th (9/day)—cure critical wounds, dimension door, dominate person (DC 32), freedom of movement, hold monster (DC 32), virtuoso performance

3rd (9/day)—charm monster (DC 31), confusion (DC 31), displacement, gaseous form, haste, slow (DC 29)

2nd (9/day)—cure moderate wounds, detect thoughts (DC 28), hold person (DC 30), mirror image, misdirection, suggestion (DC 30)

1st (9/day)—cure light wounds, feather fall, grease, hideous laughter (DC 29), saving finaleAPG (DC 27), silent image (DC 27)

0 (at will)—detect magic, light, mage hand, message, open/close, prestidigitation

TACTICS

Before Combat Ileosa casts stoneskin (from her ring of spell storing) and freedom of movement before combat, and activates the flight power of her crimson gown. She prepares herself, her four erinyes furies, and five of her six false Ileosas with a getaway spell, using area B19 of the Sunken Queen as the designated location.

During Combat When combat starts, Ileosa activates her inspire courage bardic performance and casts project image to create a duplicate of herself amid the PCs while she flies out of melee range. She uses her eyes of charming each round against foes she knows have poor Will saves (her knowledge of the PCs allows her to choose her targets appropriately). The Crown of Fangs casts mirror image on her on the first round, recasting it as necessary as the combat goes on or casting dominate person otherwise. On the second round, she uses her greater quicken metamagic rod to cast quickened mind fog and then summons an ice devil to join the fight. On the third round, she uses her projected image to target a PC with irresistible dance while she casts quickened displacement. She saves her last quickened spell from the rod to cast greater dispel magic to cancel any particularly vexing spell effect. If she manages to control a foe’s mind, she’s fond of issuing orders like “Lay down your arms and bow before me!” or (to the appropriate PC) “Return to the floor below to find and take the largest gem you discover.” Once confronted in melee, she fights back with her rapier and uses Arcane Strike when attacking (the bonus damage is included above).

Morale Ileosa triggers her getaway spell if reduced to 60 or fewer hit points (bringing along any furies or false Ileosas within 30 feet of her) to retreat to area B19 of the Sunken Queen, then uses the heal spell from her ring and other spells to recover quickly before returning to the fight. Once she rejoins the battle, she fights to the death, unwilling to abandon her plans this close to fruition.

STATISTICS

Str 20, Dex 36, Con 32, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 42

Base Atk +16; CMB +38; CMD 58 (65 vs disarm and sunder)

Feats Arcane Strike, Craft Wondrous Item, Forge Ring, Greater Spell Focus (enchantment), Greater Weapon Focus, Harmonic SpellISWG, Improved Critical (rapier), Spell Focus (enchantment), Toughness, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (rapier), Weapon Specialization

Skills Acrobatics +47, Appraise +8, Bluff +46, Climb +10, Diplomacy +46, Disable Device +16, Disguise +21, Escape Artist +15, Fly +47, Handle Animal +34, Heal +8, Intimidate +42, Knowledge (arcana) +45, Knowledge (history, local, nobility) +35, Linguistics +17, Perception +34, Perform (dance) +46, Perform (oratory, sing, string instruments, wind instruments) +36, Ride +18, Sense Motive +35, Sleight of Hand +15, Spellcraft +34, Stealth +18, Survival +8, Swim +10, Use Magic Device +41

Languages Aklo, Common, Elven, Giant, Infernal, Shadowtongue, Thassilonian, Varisian; tongues

SQ bardic knowledge +11, contingency, contract-bound, Everdawn infusion, exceptional stats, inherent bonuses, jack-of-all-trades, lore master 4/day, permanent spells, versatile performances (dance, oratory, sing, string, wind)

Combat Gear greater quicken metamagic rod, major ring of spell storing (contains heal, stoneskin), wand of magic missile (CL 9th, 34 charges); Other Gear +4 glameredUE human-bane icy burst speed rapier, amulet of natural armor +5, belt of physical might +6 (Str, Dex), boots of teleportation, bracers of armor +8, crimson gown (as wings of flying but takes up the body slot, not the shoulder slot), Crown of Fangs (see page 432), crystal ball with true seeing, eyes of charming, greater gloves of arcane strikingUE, handy haversack, headband of mental prowess +4 (Int, Wis; grants ranks in Knowledge [arcana] and Spellcraft), iridescent spindle ioun stoneUE, pale green prism ioun stoneUE, portable hole, ring of splendid security (see page 435), vibrant purple prism ioun stone (cure serious wounds), gold-and-ruby earrings worth 5,000 gp for the pair, gold anklet set with rubies worth 4,000 gp, gold armband set with rubies worth 3,500 gp

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Contingency Ileosa used a scroll of contingency to set up this effect: if she is ever brought to fewer than 30 hit points, heal (CL 20th) is cast on her.

Contract Bound (Ex) Queen Ileosa forged a contract with an erinyes devil, gaining the benefits of the devil-bound template. If Ileosa dies, she cannot be brought back to life without Sermignatto’s permission; if that devil is slain, the contract itself reverts to Sermignatto’s hidden master, the Duke of Hell known as Lorthact.

Everdawn Infusion (Ex) Ileosa can cast teleport in the Sunken Queen without restriction. She calculates her hit points using her Charisma modifier rather than her Constitution modifier, and is immune to bleed effects.

Exceptional Stats (Ex) Queen Ileosa was destined from birth to achieve greatness. Her ability scores were generated using 25 points, rather than the standard array. Additionally, she has a potent artifact and her gear was determined as if she were a PC rather than an NPC to account for her vast wealth. These advantages increase her total CR by 1.

Inherent Bonuses With the aid of genie-granted wishes and other expenditures of her wealth, Ileosa has the following inherent bonuses to her ability scores: Strength +3, Dexterity +4, Constitution +4, Intelligence +3, Wisdom +3, Charisma +5.

Permanent Spells Ileosa has arcane sight and tongues as permanent spells, both functioning at CL 16th.

Susceptible to Serithtial (Ex) The infusion of Kazavon into Ileosa’s soul allows Serithtial to suppress her regeneration. Each time she takes damage from Serithtial, she must succeed at a DC 32 Fortitude save or gain a negative level as the sacred blade carves away at the power granted to her by the dragon’s fangs.

True Seeing (Su) Queen Ileosa continuously benefits from true seeing, as a benefit from her infernal contract.

You can use her persistent image to throw off the party and help her hide among her simulacrums, use the furies as flying enemies to constantly harry and entangle the party, keep the Taniniver as a central combatant and constant threat. Even if your party can trounce this Ileosa as well, there should be enough moving parts for them to feel like they need to be trying to win and still expending whatever utility they have left at this point.

And when they win and think it's all over, that's when you hit them with Kazavon.


Thanks for the statblock and advice!

AwesomenessDog wrote:
Are they immune to all mindaffecting effects or just one effect at their discretion?

Two of them (the Ninja and Arcanist) drew the Tyrant card from the Harrow Deck of Many Things, becoming completely immune to mind-affecting spells cast by the wearer of an Artifact of Kazavon. As written, Illeoaa relies heavily on mind-affecting stuff; I'm probably gonna swap out some (but not all) of those spells.

AwesomenessDog wrote:


Here's the version I made of her if you want to just take it and swap back out the mythic rank (or keep that too). Things to note is I swapped the aristocrat ranks because there's no reason she couldn't have retrained; we are running max HP for PCs and enemies; I didn't rewrite her tactics; and this includes all her buffs already applied and active thanks to Overwhelming Presence).

Thanks, great statblock! I'll probably use some, if not all of it. The numerical bonuses ( AC and attack) feel like they might be a bit high. My party probably has around 40 AC and 30 to hit most of the time.


Ah ok, if you want to emphasize their card and their immunity, you could keep her initial tactic of Overwhelming Presence simply taking out half the party instead of the entire party, which means she can't get all of her buffs up before initiating the fight when she is ready. (The ninja could even be sneaking around in the room if he has hide in plain sight and can beat her +30 perception and true sight. The arcanist, well, hopefully he takes the hint that he should free the rest of the party before directly engaging.)

As well, if the party can G dispel/debuff (with silence as she's an oratory bard) against her and take out the simulacrums buffing her, you can take away an easy +12 of her attack (+4 Greater Heroism, +1 Haste, +5 inspire courage, +2 inspire greatness from a simulacrum); take away her 4 dodge bonus from her own inspire heroics (you could also just take away her buckler for another 6 AC loss) as well as her displacement, mirror images, DR, image projection, freedom of movement, and the ability to maintain two bardic performances even when she turns it back on; take away some of her fort save so its easier to drain her levels; and strip 2d10+32 HP from inspire greatness and another 22 from Greater Heroism.

When I was writing her stat block, I actually had to stop myself from using Dance of a Hundred/Thousand Cuts as it would push her stat block an additional +5 attack, damage, and AC and I am already slightly worried that she can trounce too well without that.


Thanks for the ideas! Do you have a stat block without the buffs and one for the simulacra lying around by any chance? ^^


I do have one for the simulacrum (without buffs) and I can piece together the without buffs Ileosa. (Obviously, previous notes still apply.)

Simulacra:
FALSE ILEOSA CR 12

XP 6,400

Female human simulacrum aristocrat 1/bard 12

LE Medium humanoid (human)

Init +4; Senses Perception +13

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+6 armor, +4 Dex)

hp 194 (13d8+90)

Fort +12, Ref +12, Will +6; +2 morale bonus vs. charm and fear, +4 vs. bardic performance, language-dependent, and sonic

Defensive Ability redirection; Immune illusions, mindaffecting effects

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.

Melee +1 returning dagger +15/+10 (1d4+5/19–20)

Special Attacks bardic performance 32 rounds/day (move action; countersong, dirge of doom, distraction, fascinate [DC 24], inspire competence +4, inspire courage +3, inspire greatness, suggestion [DC 24])

Bard Spells Known (CL 12th; concentration +18)

4th (4/day)—Dominate Person (DC 22), Hold Monster (DC 22), Virtuoso Performance

3rd (5/day)—charm monster (DC 21), confusion (DC 21), displacement, slow (DC 19)

2nd (7/day)—hold person (DC 20), mirror image, misdirection, suggestion (DC 20)

1st (7/day)—cure light wounds, feather fall, grease, hideous laughter (DC 19), saving finale (DC 17), silent image (DC 17)

0 (at will)—detect magic, light, mage hand, message, open/close (DC 15), prestidigitation

TACTICS

During Combat The false Ileosa starts combat by using inspire courage on all her allies, then maintains that performance as she casts spells using Harmonic Spell, starting with displacement on the first round. In each subsequent round, she casts suggestion on one PC, suggesting he abandon his weapons and leave Korvosa. She relies on her guardians to prevent anyone from engaging her in melee, but if this tactic fails, she draws her dagger and fights back as best she can.

Morale The false Ileosa fights until destroyed. Once reduced to 0 hit points, she suddenly becomes rigid and motionless. A moment later, her features run red as she melts swiftly into a pool of blood. A character who succeeds at a DC 27 Spellcraft check recognizes she was some form of variant simulacrum, although further details are not available until the PCs can study the Everdawn Pool in the Sunken Queen.

STATISTICS

Str 10, Dex 18, Con 22, Int 9, Wis 7, Cha 22

Base Atk +9; CMB +13; CMD 23 (33 on Throne)

Feats Arcane Strike, Fencing Grace, Greater Spell Focus, Harmonic Spell, Spell Focus (enchantment), Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (rapier)

Skills Intimidate +21, Knowledge (arcana) +3, Knowledge (history) +9, Knowledge (local) +9, Knowledge (nobility) +9, Perception +13, Perform (oratory) +21, Perform (sing) +21, Use Magic Device +21

Languages Common

SQ bardic knowledge +6, lore master 1/day, versatile performances (oratory, sing)

Gear +1 glamered chain shirt, +1 returning dagger, replica nonmagical Crown of Fangs worth 7,000 gp

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Redirection (Su) As long as this simulacrum lives, any divination spell that attempts to locate or otherwise target the real Queen Ileosa is instead redirected to target this simulacrum. The caster of the divination spell has a small chance to notice the redirection with a successful DC 40 Spellcraft check as the divination spell is cast, but even if the redirection is noted, it remains impossible to tell where the effect was redirected from. This effect also affects long-distance spells like demand, dream, nightmare, and sending, but not mental communication such as telepathy.

Buffless Ileosa:
ILEOSA ARABASTI CR 24
XP 409,600

Female erinyes-bound human bard 22

(Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4 56)

LE Medium humanoid (human)

Init +13; Senses arcane sight, darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness, true seeing; Perception +30

DEFENSE

AC 53, touch 35, flat-footed 40 (+8 armor, +6 shield, +5 deflection, +13 Dex, +2 insight, +9 natural)

hp 574 (22d8+398); regeneration 20 (Serithtial)

Fort +23, Ref +31, Will +22; +4 vs. poison, +4 vs. bardic performance, language-dependent, and sonic

Defensive Abilities freedom of movement; DR 10/adamantine (70 hp); Immune bleed; Resist fire 30; SR 25

Weaknesses contract bound, susceptible to Serithtial

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (average)

Melee +5 glamered human-bane agile icy burst unholy rapier +36/+36/+31/+26/+21 (1d6+20/15–20 plus 1d6 cold and 2d6 unholy); -5atk/+10dmg power attack

Special Attacks bardic performance 59 rounds/day (swift; countersong, dirge of doom, distraction, fascinate [DC 37], frightening tune [DC 37], inspire competence +6, inspire courage +5, inspire greatness, inspire heroics, mass suggestion [DC 37], soothing performance, suggestion [DC 37])

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 22th; concentration +38)

3/day—fear (single target) (DC 29), unholy blight (DC 27)

1/day—summon (level 9, 1 lemure, 1 bearded devil, 1 erinyes, 1 bone devil, 1 barbed devil, or 1 ice devil 100%)

Bard Spells Known (CL 22th; concentration +38)

6th (8/day)—geas/quest, getawayAPG, irresistible dance (DC 34), overwhelming presence (DC 34), project image (DC 32)

5th (8/day)—greater dispel magic, greater heroism, mind fog (DC 33), shadow walk (DC 31), song of discord (DC 33)

4th (9/day)—cure critical wounds, dimension door, dominate person (DC 32), freedom of movement, hold monster (DC 32), virtuoso performance

3rd (9/day)—charm monster (DC 31), confusion (DC 31), displacement, gaseous form, haste, slow (DC 29)

2nd (9/day)—cure moderate wounds, detect thoughts (DC 28), hold person (DC 30), mirror image, misdirection, suggestion (DC 30)

1st (9/day)—cure light wounds, feather fall, grease, hideous laughter (DC 29), saving finaleAPG (DC 27), silent image (DC 27)

0 (at will)—detect magic, light, mage hand, message, open/close, prestidigitation

TACTICS

Before Combat Ileosa casts stoneskin (from her ring of spell storing) and freedom of movement before combat, and activates the flight power of her crimson gown. She prepares herself, her four erinyes furies, and five of her six false Ileosas with a getaway spell, using area B19 of the Sunken Queen as the designated location.

During Combat When combat starts, Ileosa activates her inspire courage bardic performance and casts project image to create a duplicate of herself amid the PCs while she flies out of melee range. She uses her eyes of charming each round against foes she knows have poor Will saves (her knowledge of the PCs allows her to choose her targets appropriately). The Crown of Fangs casts mirror image on her on the first round, recasting it as necessary as the combat goes on or casting dominate person otherwise. On the second round, she uses her greater quicken metamagic rod to cast quickened mind fog and then summons an ice devil to join the fight. On the third round, she uses her projected image to target a PC with irresistible dance while she casts quickened displacement. She saves her last quickened spell from the rod to cast greater dispel magic to cancel any particularly vexing spell effect. If she manages to control a foe’s mind, she’s fond of issuing orders like “Lay down your arms and bow before me!” or (to the appropriate PC) “Return to the floor below to find and take the largest gem you discover.” Once confronted in melee, she fights back with her rapier and uses Arcane Strike when attacking (the bonus damage is included above).

Morale Ileosa triggers her getaway spell if reduced to 60 or fewer hit points (bringing along any furies or false Ileosas within 30 feet of her) to retreat to area B19 of the Sunken Queen, then uses the heal spell from her ring and other spells to recover quickly before returning to the fight. Once she rejoins the battle, she fights to the death, unwilling to abandon her plans this close to fruition.

STATISTICS

Str 20, Dex 36, Con 32, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 42

Base Atk +16; CMB +38; CMD 58 (65 vs disarm and sunder)

Feats Arcane Strike, Craft Wondrous Item, Forge Ring, Greater Spell Focus (enchantment), Greater Weapon Focus, Harmonic SpellISWG, Improved Critical (rapier), Spell Focus (enchantment), Toughness, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (rapier), Weapon Specialization

Skills Acrobatics +47, Appraise +8, Bluff +46, Climb +10, Diplomacy +46, Disable Device +16, Disguise +21, Escape Artist +15, Fly +47, Handle Animal +34, Heal +8, Intimidate +42, Knowledge (arcana) +45, Knowledge (history, local, nobility) +35, Linguistics +17, Perception +34, Perform (dance) +46, Perform (oratory, sing, string instruments, wind instruments) +36, Ride +18, Sense Motive +35, Sleight of Hand +15, Spellcraft +34, Stealth +18, Survival +8, Swim +10, Use Magic Device +41

Languages Aklo, Common, Elven, Giant, Infernal, Shadowtongue, Thassilonian, Varisian; tongues

SQ bardic knowledge +11, contingency, contract-bound, Everdawn infusion, exceptional stats, inherent bonuses, jack-of-all-trades, lore master 4/day, permanent spells, versatile performances (dance, oratory, sing, string, wind)

Combat Gear greater quicken metamagic rod, major ring of spell storing (contains heal, stoneskin), wand of magic missile (CL 9th, 34 charges); Other Gear +4 glameredUE human-bane icy burst speed rapier, amulet of natural armor +5, belt of physical might +6 (Str, Dex), boots of teleportation, bracers of armor +8, crimson gown (as wings of flying but takes up the body slot, not the shoulder slot), Crown of Fangs (see page 432), crystal ball with true seeing, eyes of charming, greater gloves of arcane strikingUE, handy haversack, headband of mental prowess +4 (Int, Wis; grants ranks in Knowledge [arcana] and Spellcraft), iridescent spindle ioun stoneUE, pale green prism ioun stoneUE, portable hole, ring of splendid security (see page 435), vibrant purple prism ioun stone (cure serious wounds), gold-and-ruby earrings worth 5,000 gp for the pair, gold anklet set with rubies worth 4,000 gp, gold armband set with rubies worth 3,500 gp

Cheers.


Should a PC with Arcane Sight be able to figure out the teleportation restriction in the Sunken Queen? It's a magical effect, so I'd probably say yes (as soon as they're inside), but what do you think?


You could see the dimensional anchor or whatever similar effect it is outside the walls and permeating inside the structure.


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After roughly 9 months my group finished Crimson Throne yesterday. They had worn Ileosa down but it looked like the fight was going to start to move into her favour... then the witch cast Feeblemind and the queen failed her save.
Her Charisma dropped to 1, the group commented that that takes care of her casting but that she was quite deadly with her rapier (as the rogue had learned a round earlier).
Then I mentioned that the Everdawn Pool changes it so that her hit points are based on her Charisma rather than Constitution, which means that her maximum hit points dropped by 360.
The witch, who was the group healer and debuffer... the witch who had dealt almost no damage the entire campaign, finished the campaign by lowering the BBEG's hit points by 360 with a single spell.

It was amazing.


I think her Con might have taken back over (I think the text also says it allows you to use your Cha instead of Con) but congrats.

Spoiler:
I had a group finish in January. The managed to keep Kazavon from coming back but I merged in the companion module where you find out Volshyenek Ornelos was secretly Lorthact and piss him off, and they got to fight him instead after one of the players decided to make a deal with another devil that was also secretly Lorthact for the right to rule Korvosa after the Queen was dead.


AwesomenessDog wrote:

I think her Con might have taken back over (I think the text also says it allows you to use your Cha instead of Con) but congrats.

** spoiler omitted **

Even then, she was close enough to dying that if her Con took over she still would've been very dead. (She only had 30-40 HP left.)

I added that in too! But earlier. Through many complicated hoops the group received a certain contract from book 6 when they were at the appropriate level for the module (at the same meeting where they learned about the dungeon at the end of book 4). At the end of the module they destroyed the original contracts, which made the majority of book 6 a lot easier for them.


Any recommendations on streamlining Chapter 6? Even scaled down, Scarwall became something of a slog that took far longer than any of our prior chapters, so I'm looking to inject some urgency and make the final chapter faster paced.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!


For my group book 6 took half the time that book 5 did.
If you want to cut it down, it's easy to remove Trifaccia. Also the group should have a few NPC allies that are aware of the full lay-out of the castle, and if they get Sabina on their side she can even include patrols and what types of enemies to expect where.
How long it takes will depend on how the group wants to handle it. If they go after the queen in the castle right away and have an effective plan, then a lot of the book will be over very quickly. Something to keep in mind is that a lot of book 6 is text describing an entire castle even though the group might only go into half of the rooms. If they want to go room by room and clear everything out, you could remove some of the devils if you wanted.
(I ran Academy of Secrets which allowed my group to destroy the infernal contract so I removed Togomor and all of the devils from the castle.)
For the Sunken Queen, same as the castle, it's easy to remove any of the fights you don't want to run.


Also, by the start of book 6, the party is/should be lvl 15+ meaning a lot of good magic to get around the defenses and structures exists like passwall (which is needed in some cases if they can't guess at some built in bypasses). I had a party just phasedoor into Togomor's room and catch him off guard so they could extract him for interrogation and killed Sermignato when he revealed himself.

I'm not sure I would agree that Togomor would be gone with the contract gone. The lesser devils maybe, probably but not sure about the 4 Erinyes specifically with Ileosa as she would likely rebargain to retain them as well as her bound ice devil. Sermignato cares more about the power of the runewells, and with Ileosa being so close to one, even if he doesn't have to help her, we would not likely leave to go on to better things, but the Yallops, the Cornugeon, and lesser erinyes guards likely have better things they could be doing.


So, how to kidnap a PC?

My group just finished Scarwall but we left off right after they defeated Mithrodar (they had already discovered Klestad and recovered Serithtial). As they leave the fortress, I would like to kidnap one of the PCs who is a former Red Mantis initiate. They want her back, either to break her will and return to the fold, or to eliminate their mistake and sacrifice her to Achaekek.

My motivation is twofold. First, I want the PCs to be able to whittle away at Ileosa's allies, instead of cramming them all into Castle Korvosa. The PC would be whisked away to a secondary base for the Red Mantis in the city, since they no longer feel secure in their base under the Longacre Building after it was raided by the PCs. Second, the kidnapping and subsequent escape/rescue would wrap up that particular PC's character arc with a final confrontation with the Red Mantis.

But, how best to kidnap the PC? One idea was an ambush on the party as they leave Scarwall, still weakened by that battle. One option is to have Ileosa allow the Red Mantis to use Zarmangarof, who can snatch her up during the ambush and fly off with her, as her help recovering the PC is part of Ileosa's payment to the Red Mantis.

Alternatively, I could ambush them with an overwhelming force of Red Mantis and Kazavon cultists (led by Sial, who did not accompany the party into Scarwall and has been planning to betray them as he wants to see Kazavon resurrected). If, and this is a big if, I can isolate the PC they could incapacitate her and spirit her away via Shadow Walk. But, to quote Firefly, I smell a whole lotta if with that plan.

Any ideas how to accomplish this? Thanks!


I would just recommend a combination of Kayltanya (plus a few minions to distract the rest of the party) and Togomor. Togomor is a high enough level wizard to spirit her away as soon as she is unconscious. Give Kayltanya the Careful Stab rogue talent, let her just keep the PC unconscious after the CDG, then Togomor+Kayltanya+PC(+any remaining mantis assassins) Greater Teleport back to Korvosa.

It makes sense that even after Cinnabar was killed the mantis would still follow but fall back from making anymore attacks, until of course Kayltanya arrives and orders them to wait for this ambush when they are leaving/just finished removing the evil (and thus no more dimensional anchor) in Scarwall. Of course, they still likely don't expect to beat the PCs after what just did what they did in Scarwall, but if they can capture and punish the traitor, they both directly weaken the party and can petition for Achaekek's blessing to finish the rest of the party off afterwards.

In between books, you can have whatever interrogation, character development, etc. rp you want and then proceed to the party tracking down their party member or returning to Korvosa.

What I would do in Crown of Fangs to account for this role reversal is to put Zarmangarov and Sebina in the balcony level and pull the Mantis+Kayltanya in the balcony into the attack right after beating Triffacia. While the regular assassins creep out of alleys, over rooftops, etc. toward the party that just killed the Efreeti, Kayltanya drags the captured PC into the open, ready to sacrifice them. The party *should* have plenty of magic or abilities to intervene immediately, but you can also make the sacrifice take several rounds (I wouldn't go with more than three for the prayer attack) to give them more time if need be.

With that done, The PCs are likely to push onto the castle (or you can have Cressida nudge them to) and Sabina is in the balcony suiting up for her flight after she learned the castle is under attack, not expecting the PCs to be leading the assault themselves. The balcony is large enough and open enough to the outside that she can still be on her mount and using her tactics to hinder Zarmangaroff.


Alternatively, instead of trying to force the confrontation and kidnap onto the player and risking either the dice causing the plan to go awry or pulling out DM Fiat which tends to make everybody unhappy, maybe offering a way for the player in question to buy into this scenario would be better.

Two options I can think of off the top of my head for offering a way into this situation for the player while leaving open the choice for them to reject it are as follows.

1) The Red Mantis show up with an important NPC (ideally important to the player in question), and bluntly state they have no interest in this NPC, but are here to offer an exchange - the NPC's life for the PC-in-question's surrender. If they refuse or resist, the NPC will be executed on the spot and it becomes a fight instead. This may not work because of the player/PC in question, or there may not be a suitable NPC that the Red Mantis could use as a bargaining chip. But it's a way to open with negotiation while keeping the threat of there being a fight in your back pocket to roll the dice on whether or not the PC gets kidnapped, and if your players manage to get out of it with the NPC safe and the PC not kidnapped, hey, more power to them, they did a good job and the Red Mantis will just have to try try again.

2) A traitor to the Red Mantis (Cinnabar, the mentor who helped the PC escape the Red Mantis initially, some other random Red Mantis NPC you make up on the spot) approaches the party with an offer. The Red Mantis have a new base of operations within Korvosa, which the traitor is aware exists but does not know where it is. Hence why the party is being approached - they know the Red Mantis really want this PC back to brainwash/execute, and they will undoubtedly take the PC to this new base of operations to do that. Therefore, if the traitor takes the PC in as a prisoner, they and the rest of the PCs will be able to follow back to the new base of operations and crush the Red Mantis in Korvosa for good. Throw in the option for the "captured" PC to break loose of fake manacles or whatever while inside the base to wreck havoc on the back lines while the party attacks from the front, and you can set the kidnapped PC up to feel like a mastermind who let themselves be caught rather than a victim.


I like the idea of bringing in someone who the PCs like and will protect. Possibly Trina or Blackjack. My group would also kill indiscriminately for the soldados. And have the Mantis ransom for them.

The other option is when they are fighting Trifaccia that some one makes a wish for that PC to go back to where they came from.


I like Inspecters, as it can be run like he said or folded into my example (instead of an ambush, a trade of prisoners or even the PC's ally being a double agent).

The Trifaccia idea is a good one if it wasn't for the fact that it requires a failed will save at a rather low DC by level 15. Granted, it's likely the ex-mantis PC is a rogue with a low will save, but even then they likely have +5class+5cloak+Wis meaning they still have about the flip of a coin chance for it to work.


Thanks for the suggestions - will have to mull this over. Trinia, Vencarlo, and the Seneschal are all hiding out in Harse after the events of Escape from Old Korvosa. If the Red Mantis were able to track them down, that would make for some high-stakes negotiations! The question is whether the Red Mantis would feel compelled to turn over the Seneschal to Ileosa, although since they view themselves strictly as assassins they might view involving themselves in political intrigue as beneath them. They want the PC back under their control, and if trading the Seneschal accomplishes that they might view it as an acceptable strategy.


They could also just catch Trinia alone. She's a spirit that is known to wander...


Haha DC22 will is a death sentence for my party. No matter how much I drop hints and hit them with will saves they don’t learn. That said, you could always fudge the roll a little...


For those that have finished the adventure, did the Party actually do as the module intends and launch multiple raids on the castle? I can't imagine my Party retreating. Once they're in, I doubt they'll want to leave until the encounter with the simulacrum. And, practically speaking, once the castle is raided the first time, wouldn't the defenders regroup, call in reinforcements, etc. once they realize they're vulnerable? The module just seems to assume that the defenders just kinda sit there waiting to be picked off.


I had a couple groups take several passes, and some that can/did clear it in one go. Even still, the module assumes that the castle is the last holdouts loyal to Ileosa (the most fanatical grey maidens, the specific devils bound by her contract, Ishani's sister, the mantis under contract, and some other denizens without a choice in the matter) and the remaining people who could reinforce would all be captured by/surrendered to those working under Kroft to reclaim Korvosa.

You can play up the fact that the castle seems understaffed, even with infernal support, and only those still loyal don't seem to be in their right mind to drive it home that things aren't quite right and spur them to investigate what is really going on and plant seeds that maybe the Ileosa on the throne isn't quite Ileosa because the real one is gone. It might also clue them into keeping track of the headcount of devils when they do get the contract so they can realize there are four still with the real Ileosa.

Generally, once the first raid happens, I would just let the castle have a general alert with the devils patrolling with Togomor, the remaining guards not out on fortification duty to fall back to the throne room (and those out in the fortifications are only 2 rooms away from the throne room anyway), and the mantis taking one last excursion out of the castle to hunt the party down (if possible) and interrupt their rest with an ambush.


Okay, I think I'm going to go dark with the "offer" from the Red Mantis, who found the Blackbird Ranch (but not before the Seneschal had departed for Janderhoff to meet with the survivors of Sable Company given sanctuary there). The Party will be confronted by a representative from the Red Mantis with an offer for their "sister" to return to the fold, and they're given a bag that contains the heads of Jasan and his wife and the ears of Trinia and Vencarlo. If the PC agrees to return to the Red Mantis, then Trinia, Vencarolo, and Jasan's children will be released. If not....

Even if they refuse to give up their comrade, the Party should be motivated to hunt down and rescue the survivors from Blackbird Ranch. In particular, the PC was kidnapped as a child and trained as a Red Mantis initiate until she discovered her true origins and fled, so I imagine she'll go full John Wick over the children being kidnapped.


That's definitely one way to get the players ire, assuming players in the party don't have any particular issue with the topic. Even if they get just a quick huddle, because they know it's Jaisan's ranch, that gives the remaining party an easy lead to follow. You could even turn it into an expectation on the Mantis' part and have them set an ambush for the rescue party, and while they are distracted with the ambush, your ex-Mantis party member can do said "John Wick-ing" from the inside.


This is the same group I ran TPK's Bleeding Hollow adventure with - now THAT'S a dark adventure! First time I've felt compelled to edit out some unpalatable content in an otherwise excellent adventure. I attribute it to the Game of Thrones effect and the rise of gritty, dark fantasy on both the screen and in literature.


Sounds perfect for them then!


Well that was a satisfying session! The Party left Scarwall only to be ambushed by Sial, his Kazavon cultists, and some summoned devils. (I made Sial a double-agent who belongs to a Zon Kuthonite faction that idolizes Kazavon). Sial managed to kill Laori but the Party's cleric used their only resurrection scroll to bring her back, "because she deserves it." Overwhelmed by Sial's betrayal and the loyalty and kindness of the Party, she tearfully renounced Zon Kuthon.

The Party meets up with the Shoanti who escorted them to Scarwall, where they find a captured messenger from the Red Mantis, offering to trade Vencarlo and Trinia and Jasan's children in exchange for the Party's former Red Mantis initiate returning to the fold. Using Share Memory on the messenger and Scrying, they're able to determine the prisoners' location and are currently debating whether to accept the offer and send in the Red Mantis party member as a decoy or to simply swoop in for the rescue. Either way, the Red Mantis party member will get to face down her former brethren, help eliminate Ileosa's Red Mantis allies, and complete her story arc.

Thank you all for the suggestions!


Glad it worked out, sounds like they enjoyed it too!

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