For any GMs out there that have run this recently, I want to make sure I'm reading the labyrinth right.
** spoiler omitted **
Yep, that is sadly true (eventhough I'm wondering if those globes in some room could teleport you to prison room). That's how my players went through this dungeon. I changed adventure on the fly to have shapechanger as prisoner with sphinx so I could pull off "the shapechanged-Orsino doesn't recognise Neolandus"-scene. If I ever get to run this again I would change layout a bit so that isn't possible.
For any GMs out there that have run this recently, I want to make sure I'm reading the labyrinth right.
** spoiler omitted **
I think that's the only way to get there if the group stays together.
If the group decides to split up after having pulled lever E3 once and lever E8 once, which would put them in rotation 2, part of the group could wait in room E12 while the rest of the group pulls one of the levers. This would give the people waiting in E12 access to the levers and spheres in E16 in rotation 3 and potentially allow part of the group to teleport to E20.
It's probably very unlikely that a group would ever willingly choose to split up though. I guess it could happen on the very first rotation if they don't know what the levers are for when they first encounter the E3 lever.
Just in case you missed this post earlier on in this thread, you can see the other rotations of the vivified labyrinth here.
Thanks for the responses everyone. I just wanted to make sure I had read it correctly before I had my players go through it.
Has anyone made any modifications to it to make it more challenging by chance?
Well, the simple answer is to play on the flavor of the Monk class itself. The Monk is a highly disciplined warrior. A monk is under some pretty tight regulations on what he can, and cannot, do. His method of fighting is restricted, his methods of diplomacy is restricted, is whole life, is restricted.
It might be interesting for someone who is so in control of themself, to suddenly desire to be controlled by someone else, namely, Laori.
Something else you might do is the Dwarf may find a sudden fondness for Salvatore Screams artwork. You may even give him a bonus skill checks pertaining to dark and gloomy art more-so art that may be influenced by Zon-Kuthon/Kazavon.
Another thing you may do, is that the Dwarf may suddenly find himself enjoying being clothed in dark colors for awhile. Say he dye's his hair and bear black, wears black robes and uses black weapons. Maybe he gets a piercing or two, and carries chains on his person. If you do this, I would advise the sensation lasts only a short while as the player might get unhappy that you are forcing a change in his characters personality without his consent.
You could also do something different, like giving the Dwarf a weightless, black, spiked chain that he must carry on his person at all times as a symbol of his debt. The chain is a reminder from Zon-Kuthon the he is in debt to one of his servants, and should the chain leave his person, he will begin feeling pain. First, a dull ache, then a sharp jolt, then a searing burn, then agony. The pain won't interfere with his movements of competency, but he will be unable to experience any positive emotions until the pain is gone. The pain can only be removed by ending the debt, or recovering the chain. Maybe something like a Godly-durationed Geas/Quest?
However you handle it, I would advise you set limitations on just how the debt could be repaid. For instance, helping Laori in combat would repay it, but risking his life to save hers, probably should. Also, Laori could end the debt at any time by invokin gthe deebt and asking for a service.
If the Debt is still active come the Friend/Enemy showdown in Scarwall, I imagine it could get very interesting.
So, what are the three paintings in the Emperor's room referencing?
The first depicts a full portrait of a thin humanoid wearing shadows as he stands framed by a dolmen of great size. The figure’s brilliant blue eyes are the only true points of color in the piece, and they seem to almost glow with anger.
The second picture depicts a rugged mountain range above a desert under a brilliant blue sky. In the foreground, a quartet of Vudran tusked camels ridden by N’darr tribesmen race across dunes that, upon closer examination, consist of tiny skulls.
The final portrait is perhaps the most disturbing, for it depicts a handsome man in the process of peeling away the flesh of his arms as if he were taking off a pair of gloves - underneath, his arms are muscular and covered with glittering blue scales. The man’s expression is one of delight, yet his eyes are empty pits of blackness. Half seen in the shadows beyond him are what can only be thousands of humans impaled on towering wooden poles erected in the shadow of an indistinct shape looming on the horizon - perhaps a castle, maybe a mountain, but likely something more.
The third one is obviously Kazavon, and the indistinct shape is Scarwall, I assume.
But if the third one is Kazavon, is that him in the first one also? Why is it of importance that he is thin? And what's with the dolmen?
I'm assuming the second one doesn't have anything to do with CotCT, but am I wrong?
Good question TKD. I would like to know as well.
If you don't get an answer, you might want to consider asking JJ directly on his "Ask James Jacobs all your questions here" thread.
Thanks for the idea Laric, here's James's response:
The first two don't really have anything to do with the plot. The point here is that there are 3 paintings, but the most disturbing of them is the only one that serves as a subtle bit of foreshadowing as to what's going on. The images are little more than mysterious story hooks you can expand upon later, but not everything that the painter paints needs to be a vision on canvas.
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Well the guards would reveal themselves if there is an intruder. If the party isn't trying to infiltrate the estate they shouldn't reveal themselves. Vimanda should only reveal herself if the party clearly caught on on her trick(found Vencarlo or attacked her) she may warn the party that Bahor is like her in that case. Bahor himself would only reveal himself if Vimanda revealed the truth to the party. After all, he may employ the rakshasa as guards due to his family ties to Vudra. Doesn't mean hes one of them. You should push the secret to the limit and inly reveal himself in a fight with the party if he is clearly winning, doing so to glatter is Pride.
My PCs are set to return to the Arkona Manor to deal with the Arkonas once and for all. Do you have any soundtrack recommendations as they navigate the manor and the labyrinth? I'd greatly appreciate any and all ideas!
Just had a quick scroll through and didn't see anything that jumped out at me.
Did anyone figure out a good way to run the Labryth map via VTT without just making multiple maps? I'm using Fantasy Grounds to run this and whilst it's months off them entering this dungeon the logistics of running a map with moving parts on a VTT is a nightmare.
Additionally after reading the hardcover I wasn't able to figure out if Vimanda was meant to be fighting in her human guise or her true form. Considering the PCs don't know who she is if she's in her true form wouldn't it make sense for her to fight in that?
Is it only Bahor those above in the palace who try to hide their true identities?
(1) I used Roll20, loaded the base map, and then put four circular cut-outs on top of the map to represent the four rotating areas. Other than having to rotate each area individually every time the PCs pulled a lever (and they pulled a LOT of levers!), it worked well.
(2) In the original AP, Vimanda is disguised as Vencarlo. Once they see through the disguise, there's no reason for her not to shift to her natural form. It gives her an element of surprise, and the shock of the PC's reaction to her bestial nature would appease her raksasha nature. So I think she doesn't want them knowing she's an Arkona, but shifting from Vencarlo to vixen tells them nothing other than, "Uh oh, we're in trouble!"
In short, if they had ANY way to figure out her true identity, she'd continue to try to hide it. Since they're not going to look at the foxy lady and say, "Wait a minute! That's one of the Arkonas!", there's no reason for her to hide her true nature.
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Thanks. I am using Fantasy Grounds which by default only has the one map layer. I'll have to try the multi-layer extension and see if how you did yours will work.
Ah yes! Damn I only read that part two weeks ago and I already forgot that's part of her actions to disguise as Vencarlo. Otherwise yes I was kind of wondering where any logic would be in her not being her true form if the PCs have not seen her in her Arkona form at any time.
Thanks again, given me some stuff to think about and test to get past these.
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Quick question for my fellow DMs although my game is in about 6 hours so I might be a trifle late.
Would you have 'Glorio' give the party the ring of evasion as a reward if they didn't visit them first to make the deal to finish off the Emperor?
Clearly it's in his best interest given it's special qualities I was just wondering what other DMs had done if events played out in this order?
I'm worried that giving them such an obviously expensive item as a reward might make them suspicious.
I'm also, with Glorio's ridiculous bluff skill, contemplating using the 'Feign Harmlessness' and 'Suggest Course of Action' rules for Bluff from the Giant Hunter's Handbook. I really want to make sure they are completely surprised by the revelation though. How would you guys handle all that bluffing without tipping the hand with constant requests for Sense Motive checks?
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So the group made mistakes and I wanted to bridge a question to you guys, my former question now unimportant.
So the group dishes with Glorio and they genuinely liked him so much that when he said, "Wander through this maze I built for my amusement," they were like, "Hell yeah, you're the man Glorio!"
Anyway, the fungal Janni really tore into them and I was starting to get concerned but they finished them off.
They get down to the level with Avidexu and are literally two steps from entering the labyrinth and getting an immediate increase to 10th level.
The lore warden sees the double doors down below and decides, alone to go and listen at the door.
He hears the snakes eating the molted skin and Avidexu say, "Yes, my children. Feast!"
He immediately yells out to the group who are well away from him, "Hey, someone in here is eating children!"
Combat begins, with the party spread everywhere. The wizard rolls her knowledge during the fight and doesn't ask about DR.
At one point the entire rest of the party offers to feed the lore warden to him as a sacrifice to his god who he keeps going on about.
Then the wizard says, "We know you are a Rakshasa." *sigh*
I don't think they can win this fight. He is going to chase them and they are headed into the labyrinth.
What should I do?
My tendency is that unless the players are actually asking to roll Sense Motive, you assume they're taking 10 the whole time. If you've surreptitiously obtained all of their Sense Motive bonuses in advance, you roleplay things out. And if one of the players wants to roll, by all means let them.
So something of interest I noted.
Bahor is given two sets of stats within the rewrite. His human form stats remove his DR/SR and states he doesn't want to fight in this form due to losing those.
Vimanda only has one set of stats, and her block says she doesn't use her real form. Doesn't this then mean she also gives up her DR/SR in a fight if one happens?
I know both want to keep their forms secret because of their place within Korvosa and would rather flee than give that secret away, but it seems the Vimanda fight (if it happens) is much weaker than expected if she's dropped all of her defences.
I'm a little confused on how the PCs get to the Emperor. The way the module is written you're basically supposed to hit them with the random encounters with the Emperor's Thugs as soon as they hit Old Korvosa. So either they fight the Thugs, or they're taken to the Emperor. If the kill the Thugs, there's another Thug encounter, where either the go to the Emperor or the kill the Thugs. If they win that one, a third group of Thugs politely asks them to visit the Emperor. However, they don't know they want to visit the Emperor until after they're met Laori, which shouldn't have happened yet.
Did this confuse anyone else? How did you deal with it?
You don't have to run the thug encounters all at the beginning of the module.
I ran the first little group shorty after they arrived in Old Korvosa, before they got to the fencing academy. This one was mostly to give a bit of the flavor of the area, showing the chaos in the streets and roaming gangs of thugs. they were no challenge at all for the party.
I didn't run the second attack until after the group had met Laori. I figured with the fighting between arkonas and the emperor, the areas near the arkona grounds were likely not as full of thugs.
After fighting off the second group, the party was moving towards the palace on their own, so i didn't end up running the 3rd encounter.
I'm very sad. My PCs refused to play blood pig. Despite a huge crowd chanting "Blood pig! Blood pig!" and a very persuasive deal offered by the emperor, they said "My character wouldn't do that" and they left when the emperor got bored of them.
It's obviously not going to derail the AP, but I was very excited about that game. Stupid good-aligned PCs. I have no choice now but to make sure they all go to the tall knife.
How would Detect Scrying interact with the bloodstones Bahor has placed around the Arkona palace? I have a PC that has become very paranoid after the Queen survived Marcus Endrin's assassination attempt, and has begun casting Detect Scrying every day.
Based upon the description of the Third Eye magic item, it doesn't appear that the bloodstones themselves are magical (for example, they are never italicized).
The owner of a third eye can use it to see through the donor creature’s remaining eye. The third eye can also be attuned to specially prepared bloodstones, allowing the user to observe things in that stone’s vicinity as if it were an eye as well.
... as if it were an eye as well.
Certainly the surviving creature's remaining eye doesn't detect as magical; if the bloodstone is treated "as if it were an eye" then it shouldn't detect as magical, either, correct?
Obviously, the party mage's Detect Scrying will detect the presence of the Third Eye in "Glorio's" palm, which may present issues, but so far as I can tell, the bloodstones themselves should not, yes?
But then again, they would be considered the magical sensors of the Third Eye...
You immediately become aware of any attempt to observe you by means of a divination (scrying) spell or effect. The spell’s area radiates from you and moves as you move. You know the location of every magical sensor within the spell’s area.
...
@KSB Snow Owl
This bloodstone’s faint divination aura, like all of the third eye bloodstones, is hidden by a magic aura (CL 10th).
That said, I don't believe the magic aura conceals an active sensor (such as when Bahor is actively looking through one) from detect scrying and therefore, while in use, the sensor would be picked up as per the normal rules for the spell.
----
On a similar note, I found it odd that the Vivified Labyrinth is under the effects of a permanent mage's private sanctum in the Pathfinder edition... but the effects aren't actually applied to the NPCs (Sivit still uses clairvoyance, and Bahor still has a few bloodstones installed in the place.)
They also have a strange disregard for cast times... but I guess you can do that when you're a powerful outsider.
@KSB Snow Owl
This bloodstone’s faint divination aura, like all of the third eye bloodstones, is hidden by a magic aura (CL 10th).That said, I don't believe the magic aura conceals an active sensor (such as when Bahor is actively looking through one) from detect scrying and therefore, while in use, the sensor would be picked up as per the normal rules for the spell.
Thank you very much for that! The quote gave me some key words to use to search the PDF, and the exact same description is in the original adventure (which is what I'm running), but LIFE has kept me from performing a second read-through of the adventure just before beginning it.
On first blush, I agree that Detect Scrying would still pick up the active sensor, but... On reading Magic Aura, I'm not so sure that it wouldn't prevent the PC's Detect Scrying spell from ever "pinging" on the sensor.
You alter an item’s aura so that it registers to detect spells (and spells with similar capabilities) as though it were nonmagical, or a magic item of a kind you specify, or the subject of a spell you specify.
If the object bearing magic aura has identify cast on it or is similarly examined, the examiner recognizes that the aura is false and detects the object’s actual qualities if he succeeds on a Will save. Otherwise, he believes the aura and no amount of testing reveals what the true magic is.
I think that's pretty ironclad; the only chance to ... Well, now I'm talking myself back into agreeing with you.
Detect Scrying absolutely falls into the category of a "detect spell" or spell with similar capabilities, so it absolutely wouldn't detect as magic (assuming that was the option chosen by the caster)...
You immediately become aware of any attempt to observe you by means of a divination (scrying) spell or effect. The spell’s area radiates from you and moves as you move. You know the location of every magical sensor within the spell’s area.
...
"You know the location of every magical sensor within the spell's area."
As of right now, I think the correct way to rule this (and the method I'm leaning toward at this point in time) is to say that the Detect Scrying does make the caster aware of an active attempt to observe through the bloodstones, however, he does NOT know the location of "every magical sensor" within the area, at least not with respect to the bloodstone, since as far as the Detect Scrying spell is concerned, the bloodstone isn't magical.
Yeah, I like that. It makes my PC's cautious spell selection useful, and feeds into his paranoia, but doesn't completely give away or negate the use of the bloodstones.
The PC will still get the opposed caster level check to look back and see who is scrying him. The party is still carrying around Verik Vancaskerkin's silver dagger... Hopefully Vimanda tells Bahor that one of the PC's has up Detect Scrying once she realizes they are coming to the Arkona estate... (though I don't know that she would do that...) Otherwise... Maybe Bahor is smart enough to never look through the bloodstones unless he first hides away from watchful eyes, and changes form into some other visage, on the off chance someone had Detect Scrying up? He wouldn't want someone to look back via that and see that Glorio is magically spying on people, I don't think.
As I said previously, I'm actually running the original modules in D&D 3.5, so I'll skip the updated anniversary edition's problematic addition of Mage's Private Sanctum to the Vivified Labyrinth. I certainly supplement my D&D 3.5 campaign with ideas from the anniversary edition, but in this case I'll stick with the original.
The stat block of the Beatific One has this ability:
Monk Qualities: A beatific one emulates many of the strengths of the monk character class. On top of its own racial abilities, the beatific one receives the AC bonus, unarmed damage, bonus feats, speed bonus, and weapon proficiencies of a monk with a level equal to its Hit Dice, along with the diamond body, flurry of blows, improved evasion, and still mind abilities. All of these benefits are included in the statistics above.However, its Armor Class line only includes "+2 monk AC bonus" and doesn't give the Beatific One its hefty +7 Wisdom bonus to AC, despite the Monk's "AC Bonus" entry covering both the addition of Wisdom bonus to AC, and the scaling level-dependent bonus.
AC Bonus (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the monk adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. In addition, a monk gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five monk levels thereafter (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, and +4 at 20th level).
Shouldn't the Beatific One's AC be 32, not 25?
The attack bonus on her Kukri attack was left off. I'm assuming it should be +17, just like the Spear? It appears she takes no penalties for fighting with multiple weapons? Should Multiweapon Fighting penalties be applied?
Also, her Flurry of Blows attack line is completely wrong. As far as I can tell they forgot to add in her Strength bonus. It should be:
Flurry of Blows +17/+17/+17/+12/+7 (1d10+6)
The writer also forgot to add in the +16 bonus to Jump that is provided by her 70 foot move speed.
Shouldn't the DR for Rakshasas be Good and Piercing and Wood?...Wood is not an "official" material as far as damage reduction goes. We introduced it in the nosferatu in Pathfinder 8, but that's the only time it's shown up, as far as I know. ...
In any event... rakshasas and the blessed crossbow bolts thing hasn't really been a part of the game since 2nd edition. ...
I know it's many years after the fact, but I thought I'd point out that both of these statements are actually incorrect.
The 3.0 WotC module The Standing Stone has some Tiny extraplanar lemur/squirrel creatures called Hobyahs that have DR 10/Wood.
Rakshasas suffered instant death from blessed crossbow bolts all the way through 3.0; it wasn't until 3.5 that they changed its Damage Reduction when trying to unify the DR rules. In 3.0 they had DR 20/+3, and this:
Vulnerable to Blessed Crossbow Bolts (Ex): Any hit scored with a blessed crossbow bolt instantly slays a rakshasa.
Note that in 3.0, Rakshasas were CR 9, and a 9th level Good-aligned cleric casting Greater Magic Weapon produced both a +3 weapon (or 50 pieces of +3 ammunition) and caused that weapon (or ammo) to be considered blessed.
Tomorrow night my PC's will descend below Arkona Palace, and should make it to the Vivified Labyrinth. I didn't like that Glorio is listed as telling the party the labyrinth is a set of gears*... What's the fun in that? So my Glorio did not tell them that, and they are going in "blind" relative to that feature.
*[Glorio will] even tell the PCs that the labyrinth can be adjusted by pulling key levers to rotate the four sections...
Since they are going in blind, I made each contiguous cluster of rooms on its own piece of cardboard, so I can lay out only the sections my PC's are in at the moment. If my party separates, I can lay the separate room clusters out, and mess with their minds a little bit by not laying them in their "appropriate" ordinal direction orientations, to add to the confusing labyrinthine nature of the place.
I bought tiny magnets that I could insert into the corrugations of the cardboard floors, and then attached magnets to actual levers I cut from a small dowel rod, and painted gray. I did a similar thing for the floating teleportation orbs, attaching a small bit of hard clear plastic tubing (I think it was from a small mylar balloon we got with a gift basket for my son's birth last year) with a magnet super-glued into the bottom end, and a painted pearl bead of the appropriate color super-glued to the top.
When I was drawing out room E14, I specifically made it one row too deep, then cut that extra row off after I had added the boarder. This gave me one row of squares that weren't square, but rather only ~3/4" wide. I drew a boarder around the one from the secret lever room location, and cut the rest off. Since this piece had been cut directly from the too-large E14 section, the corrugations matched up perfectly. This allowed me to glue toothpicks into the secret room single square, that mate up perfectly to the E14 room, to hold it secure once it is discovered, but not belying the secret room's presence before the PC's find it.
I look forward to reporting how this series of encounters goes. Just my luck, they'll probably get sidetracked by the Arkona Temple, and we won't actually get to the Vivified Labyrinth tomorrow...
What are the light conditions within the Vivified Labyrinth? They are never clearly stated.
My PC's had a mildly tough fight with the Garden Guardians, so didn't get to the Vivified Labyrinth until near the end of the evening. Several of the PC's were cautious and hanging back, while the invisible Wizard and half-orc Barbarian investigated area E2. The Wizard pulled the lever, scissoring the half-orc for about 25 damage, and separating the two of them from the rest of the party.
When the Wizard pulled the lever in area E8, he and the Barbarian went insane, and brought Area E5 around to the rest of the party. One of them inspected the room with the well, and set off the Symbol of Fear; they all failed, and spent the next 14 rounds fleeing. Those players then left, and I did another half hour or so with the confused duo. But I completely forgot to deal with any lighting issues within the Labyrinth. I'm sure the wizard would have had a Light spell, but it slipped my mind at the time. It should be noted that "Vencarlo" is not noted as having a light source, nor can Vimanda cast light (obviously, Vimanda has Darkvision, but "Vencarlo" would need an external light source; failing to have one might mess up the rouse).
The confused duo met up with "Vencarlo" who told them "Glorio" sent them down here to die, but with only two of them, and both in confused states, they were in no position to further Vimanda's goals (it should be noted that one of the frightened & fleeing PC's has the Raktivarna dagger).
In his confused state, the wizard ended up casting Dimension Door to flee the Labyrinth, so now the half-orc barbarian is in the Labyrinth alone, confused, with Vimanda opting to provide him minor advice ("there is a magical healing well deeper in the labyrinth") and pulling a lever to avoid him "because he is too dangerous, right now." (Thanks to the Raktivarna, she knows the frightened party members have overcome that and are returning.)
Thoughts on if the Vivified Labyrinth should have its own light sources (everburning torches in each room)? On page 33 of the original module, it states "All rooms are lit at night by everburning torches," but this is seemingly about the above-ground palace (though there are torches noted in the grotto cavern, possibly also everburning).
I made it dark, and required the PCs to provide their own light sources. It's a trivial problem for the PCs at this level, but makes everything a bit more spooky.
I had Vimanda pretend to be Vencarlo (which worked for about 10 seconds) - they found "him" stuck in the tiger-head-trap room without light, pretending he'd been feeling his way through. Real Vencarlo is chained up in the throne room, so of course he didn't need a light source.
My party has now found Vencarlo and Neolandus, and captured Vimanda (she could probably escape any time, but is enjoying herself), so are working their way back out. I'll have Glorio waiting for them in the cavern outside, which will trigger a battle between him and Vimanda, and he'll try to kill the PCs too to keep the Arkona secret. Should be fun, especially when the giant reefclaw joins the fight!
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I made it dark, and required the PCs to provide their own light sources.
This ends up being the right call. I thought to check the anniversary edition, and they addressed it there.
Ceiling height in the Vivified Labyrinth remains at 10 feet high, unless otherwise specified. The rooms themselves are unlit.
They also addressed ceiling height, which they hadn't done in the original. Presumably area E10 is more than 10 feet high, as the statue of Diomazul "rises ten feet above the surface of the water." That means that room is likely at least 15 feet high to the ceiling.
No other rooms have any height descriptors at all.
So my party's experience with the Vivified Labyrinth has been rough thus far. We ended two sessions ago with the Wizard and Half-Orc Barbarian cut off from the rest of the party, made insane, and the rest of the party fleeing in a panic.
After the panicked PC's left, I continued on for a short bit with the two confused PC's in the Labyrinth. The Wizard ended up fleeing via a Dimension Door, and the next session the no-longer-panicked PC's actually caught him and eventually rectified his insanity. But the half-orc... well, I'll just say that he didn't make it out, and the player is making a new character for next week.
However, the confused Wizard did encounter "Vencarlo" in the labyrinth before his fleeing via teleportation, and Vimanda-in-disguise told him that "Glorio had sent them down to the Labyrinth to die." This of course got the Wizard and half-orc players to squirm all week with this knowledge that they couldn't yet share with the other players.
Well, tonight the Wizard was able to relay this info to the other party members, and after the initial reactions, calmer heads started to prevail. The Bard noted he never once picked up any lie from "Glorio" or the majordomo. And the Wizard pointed out that "Vencarlo" might have only been expressing his opinion, based upon limited information (Glorio claims to have placed Vencarlo and Neolandus in the Vivified Labyrinth to protect them from any attempt by the Crown to obtain them).
It should be noted that the initial revelation to the rest of the party of Vencarlo's claim of Glorio sending the party down to the Labyrinth to die was made during a telephone-operator conversation through the Majenko telepathic switchboard, while the party was locking the still-insane Wizard down via grappling, rope bindings, and a Silence spell... in the Arkona's visitor's lounge... with Carnochan waiting right outside...
Yep, Carnochan successfully used Detect Thoughts on Majenko and two of the PC's. So Carnochan and Glorio know that "Vencarlo" spoke with the wizard in the Labyrinth, and claimed "Glorio" sent them there to die. Obviously, "Glorio" is going to suspect Vimanda, and if he goes down to speak with Sivit, he will learn that Sivit 100% knows someone was running around the Labyrinth disguised as Vencarlo, while she had eyes on Vencarlo, chained up in her throne room. It will confirm to "Glorio" that Vimanda is trying to turn the party against him.
The party has retired for the day. They will get a new party member next week to replace the half-orc, and rest the night and reprep spells aimed at overcoming the Vivified Labyrinth (it should be noted that they've gotten this far in the module in less than two days of in-game time; "yesterday" morning is when Marcus Endrin attempted to assassinate the Queen).
Bahor sent Vimanda down to the Labyrinth hoping the PC's would kill her. Now he knows she is going to try and backstab him by turning the party against him. Thus, he won't want her back in the Labyrinth the next day when the PC's return. He obviously won't outright attack her to prevent it, but he won't send her down the next day, either.
But Vimanda has an advantage... the party is still carrying the Raktavarna. So she will know when the party is heading back to Palace Arkona, and she can head down to the Labyrinth ahead of them, just like the normal set-up. Bahor may not know about the Raktavarna (but he & Carnochan have noted there was an "extra" mind in the room with the party... but it saved both times, so no surface thoughts revealed).
The party is debating returning to the Vivified Labyrinth via Dimension Door, or by just politely walking back up to Palace Arkona and asking to go back down. "Glorio" has no sway in which they decide, obviously, and if they go in secretly via Dimension Door, Vimanda will have the advantage (due to the Detect Scrying, Bahor can't watch the party constantly, especially when they are out of the palace; right now the party suspects the scrying is targeted at the Arkonas, and I don't want them to change their mind because I was pinging the Detect Scrying too much).
But, if the party returns politely through the palace proper, I was thinking of having "Glorio" leave this sealed letter with Carnochan, to be given to the party when they return, in the hopes it bends the situation back to his advantage, and allays any suspicions that Vimanda may have succeeded in planting in the party's minds.
Jayson, Magnus, Gree, Jorj, and Blayze,
Carnochan told me of your panicked flight from our home yesterday. It is unfortunate news that it appears the half-orc did not make it out with the rest of you. I am sincerely and unexpectedly sorry for the magical impediments that have caused you so much trouble.
I have investigated the scrying that you warned me about yesterday. I learned that a magic-wielding servant of our house may be trying to betray me. I fear that the timing of your arrival here may tempt her into ensnaring you in her schemes. Be wary of subterfuge when below the palace.
You have already done so much in service to Old Korvosa, and my house; I cannot thank you enough. I wish you speed and good luck in rescuing the men you seek.Sincerely,
Glorio Arkona
Thoughts?
Does this letter seem like it would further Bahor's goals of undermining Vimanda's backstabbing, keeping PC suspicions of Glorio low, and ensuring the party escapes with Neolandus? Or do I have some unintentional "tell" that gives too much away?
I'm hoping it is vague enough to plant the seed in their minds that "Vencarlo" might have just been this traitor using magic to try and sway the party against Glorio, while also being vague enough the party could suspect the message of referring to either Sivit or Vimanda after the fact (depending upon what they encounter next week).
I'm also hoping the letter harkens back to the Harrow Reading Zellara gave the party for Escape from Old Korvosa, and sparks my players to revisit it, and analyze its meanings more, now that they are 3/4 of the way through the module. (They are terrible about almost never revisiting a Harrow Reading after the session it happens...)
For the Past/Law reading:
An abusive father strikes his child when he talks back.
A Despotic Warlord brooks no dissension in his ranks, meeting it with flaying and crucifixtion.
A Tyrannical Monarch crushes resistance with steel & fire.For the Present/Neutral reading:
Through law or anarchy, tyrants rule with a mailed fist.
They seek out those who have wounded them, or seek to wound them again.
They send their puppets to snip the strings of resistance.For the Future/Chaos reading:
The Hero strides across the stage, avoiding the embrace of a faceless beauty,
unaware of the fiendish predators lurking in the wings.
He reacts to the slashing claws and gleaming teeth
without seeing the shadowed forms that pull his strings,
laughing.
Hi there, anyone had Vimanda survive, while Bahor died? In my game, Vimanda successfully tricked the PCs into killing her brother, and now Meliya Arkona leads a (slightly troubled) house Arkona.
I feel like the AP's designers didn't think of that option, because any choices (during the last harrow thing in book 6, and the resolution of book 3) mainly hinge on bahor.
How did/would you handle that?
I've mainly been playing her as Bahor 2.0, only a bit more cautious towards the PCs.
My Party just finished fighting Avidexu in his true form down in the temple, I figured if he is lounging around enjoying himself he would not be hiding it. Well my party took a long time to kill him and used a lot of resources, the DR really threw a wrench into the normal fighter domination that I have seen throughout. The poor Sorcerer never rolled higher than a 7 on any of his spell resistance checks either.
Afterwards they went into the labyrinth and immediately split the party by pulling the lever with only one person (Slayer) on the tile (the rest were hiding for fear of traps). The group then pretty much refused to pull the levers again and dimension doored straight ahead into E19 looking for their party member. After realizing he was not there they came up with a cunning plan to hook back up again that required the cleric taking 15 minutes to memorize stone shape. However this was thwarted by the slayer on his own who wandered off to “investigate” more of the maze.
After making a tunnel with stone shape from E19/E4 to E3 they realize he has left and try to track him down. Hitting the symbol of pain full on which gets the swashbuckler and sorcerer. Into the room with the chests they get more angry that the slayer looted the place. Then down the hallway hitting the symbol of sleep which once again gets the swashbuckler and Sorcerer for almost max time. The rooms turn again from some outside force...panic ensues! The cleric grabs the group and drags them back to the chest room.
40 minutes goes by and they don’t wake up so the cleric grabs them again and starts investigations on his own going to E12 and firing off the trap which does minor damage. He decided this is a good place to rest? The trap fires off again doing a little more damage, to which he says bugger this and heads back to the chest room.
Meanwhile the slayer previously had triggered the rune of sleep in his investigation and dropped. Laying there for several minutes I had Sivit come and grab him.
The game left off with only the cleric awake, the sorcerer and swashbuckler sleeping and the slayer gone. The Cleric once again decided to camp and wait it out when he heard a door opening near by and I left it off there.
All in all, I and the group really enjoyed this part of the adventure. I even heard one person say this has been the most interesting adventure they have played so far!
Now, off to my schemes for the next time.
Sounds really fun! My party sadly never really explored the whole labyrinth; they quickly found out how to reset the lever, turned the first tile twice (into the symbols), fought and defeated Sivit, and found "Vencarlo".
the cleric taking 15 minutes to memorize stone shape.
I learned just this week that clerics can only prepare spells once per day, in contrast to the arcane casters. No leaving slots open to fill them later. Turns out I'd been doing that wrong all the time.
Sounds really fun! My party sadly never really explored the whole labyrinth; they quickly found out how to reset the lever, turned the first tile twice (into the symbols), fought and defeated Sivit, and found "Vencarlo".
the cleric taking 15 minutes to memorize stone shape.I learned just this week that clerics can only prepare spells once per day, in contrast to the arcane casters. No leaving slots open to fill them later. Turns out I'd been doing that wrong all the time.
They can,
Spell Selection and Preparation: A divine spellcaster selects and prepares spells ahead of time through prayer and meditation at a particular time of day. The time required to prepare spells is the same as it is for a wizard (1 hour), as is the requirement for a relatively peaceful environment. When preparing spells for the day, a divine spellcaster can leave some of her spell slots open. Later during that day, she can repeat the preparation process as often as she likes. During these extra sessions of preparation, she can fill these unused spell slots. She cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared spell to replace it with another one or f ill a slot that is empty because she has cast a spell in the meantime. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if she prepares more than one-quarter of her spells.
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2pypl?Can-prepared-divine-casters-leave -spell-slots
Not that this is the rules forum, but divine, prepared casters must pray at a certain time everyday to refresh their spell slots regardless of if they have rested, but they can prepare as many spells as they want, when they want of their available slots. Important to note is even if you pray, if a spell slot has been expended within 8 hours ago, it isn't a valid slot until after the 8 hours from it's casting, but you also wont have to wait another day to pray again to get it back as long as you have prayed since its casting.
Not that this is the rules forum, but divine, prepared casters must pray at a certain time everyday to refresh their spell slots regardless of if they have rested, but they can prepare as many spells as they want, when they want of their available slots. Important to note is even if you pray, if a spell slot has been expended within 8 hours ago, it isn't a valid slot until after the 8 hours from it's casting, but you also wont have to wait another day to pray again to get it back as long as you have prayed since its casting.
That piece I posted is from the rulebook, it seems pretty clear to me that they can save spots for later on.
Not that this is the rules forum, but divine, prepared casters must pray at a certain time everyday to refresh their spell slots regardless of if they have rested, but they can prepare as many spells as they want, when they want of their available slots. Important to note is even if you pray, if a spell slot has been expended within 8 hours ago, it isn't a valid slot until after the 8 hours from it's casting, but you also wont have to wait another day to pray again to get it back as long as you have prayed since its casting.That piece I posted is from the rulebook, it seems pretty clear to me that they can save spots for later on.
I didn't say they couldn't. Their slots refresh and open up at a specific time every day, and they can fill them with prepared spells as their want thereafter.
I'm trying to figure out Laori Vaus' stat block (p. 450 in the RE version of this AP). She is listed as wearing chain mail armour with armour spikes which is enchanted with a +2 enhancement bonus (on the armour, not the spikes).
However, she is also listed as casting Magic Vestment every morning so that her armour gains a +2 enhancement bonus.
There is no line in her stat block indicating that her AC is different without her pre-combat buffs.
If her armour is already +2, then what's the point of her casting Magic Vestment on it every morning?
Is her armour is normally non-magical or is she wasting a L3 spell every morning?
This is likely a result of lazy editing between editions, as she used Magic Vestments in the original but they gave her more wealth in the remaster as an NPC and/or they forgot the +2 was from her magic vestments and wrote her gear as +2 armor. Worst case, just give her another 3rd level spell, unless they kill her (in which case they're at a bigger disadvantage in the Blood Pig game) it makes no difference.