If I were a player in this module, I'd totally be investigating House Azrinae. I know the PCs are only supposed to hear about them on page 44. But I have to think that players would be able to find out at least the name of the House that was behind the surface battles before that point. After all, the PCs start at a level where Commune and Divination are available. (And, if they think of it in Pathfinder 15, Speak with Dead and "What is your name?" will give that information. And I'd hope that I'd think to find out WHICH drown group I should try to infiltrate before going through the portal.) Heck, a Gather Info check at 26 should be fairly doable for a skill monkey by level nine.
In short, I'd love to see a later feature on this house, its defenses and what can be learned there, either in print or in the blog.
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If I were a player in this module, I'd totally be investigating House Azrinae. I know the PCs are only supposed to hear about them on page 44. But I have to think that players would be able to find out at least the name of the House that was behind the surface battles before that point. After all, the PCs start at a level where Commune and Divination are available. (And, if they think of it in Pathfinder 15, Speak with Dead and "What is your name?" will give that information. And I'd hope that I'd think to find out WHICH drown group I should try to infiltrate before going through the portal.) Heck, a Gather Info check at 26 should be fairly doable for a skill monkey by level nine.
In short, I'd love to see a later feature on this house, its defenses and what can be learned there, either in print or in the blog.
While it's good if PCs learn that the true enemy are the Azrinaes sooner than later, the nature of their situation in Zirnakaynin should prevent them from being able to do much in the way of actual investigation into the Azrinae house. And while we've given out a little bit of info about the Azrinaes in the Zirnakaynin article... the truth is that there's really not many Azrinaes actually LEFT in the city. The majority of them were either at Celwynvian and the nearby surface regions, or are already down in the Land of Black Blood; in Pathfinder #18, the PCs will get all the chances they want to tangle with the Azrinaes.
So for now, the best bet is if the PCs want to go explore House Azrinae (and assuming they can pull this off without breaking their cover), they should find the house strangely deserted, perhaps with a few clues that they can use to learn where the Azrinaes have gone.
If I were a player in this module, I'd totally be investigating House Azrinae. I know the PCs are only supposed to hear about them on page 44. But I have to think that players would be able to find out at least the name of the House that was behind the surface battles before that point. After all, the PCs start at a level where Commune and Divination are available. (And, if they think of it in Pathfinder 15, Speak with Dead and "What is your name?" will give that information. And I'd hope that I'd think to find out WHICH drown group I should try to infiltrate before going through the portal.) Heck, a Gather Info check at 26 should be fairly doable for a skill monkey by level nine.
In short, I'd love to see a later feature on this house, its defenses and what can be learned there, either in print or in the blog.
It's not so much a matter of which drow house they want to investigate, its which drow house they can. It's possible that particularly canny PCs might have learned a bit about Zirnakaynin and the various houses before the end of the "Armageddon Echo," but between that adventure and the party getting hustled off through the portal they're not given a ton of time to do much in the way of hardcore investigation or interrogation. Once they are through the gate, Gaddack exists both to give the PCs an "in" into a drow house and to steer the PCs toward house Vonnarc (in-game for his own reasons, in the meta-game so the GM has an adventure to run). If at any point (before or after joining House Vonnarc) the PCs decide that it would be a good idea to approach House Azrinae unannounced, they find the place locked down hard. Like James said (and is detailed a bit more in the Zirnakaynin article) the majority of the Azrinaes' resources are in the Land of Black Blood. Noble son Kardinnyr remains, but he knows that in their diminished state the family's holdings have a HUGE target painted on them for any other noble house that wanted to try and take them. He's paranoid even by drow standards and not only are the remaining guards holding the estate like it's under siege, there's also tons of magical wards protecting the fortress - many of which Kardinnyr himself doesn't fully understand or control. So between a paranoid leader, tons of guards and guard monsters, and any magic you can think of (and then some) GMs should have little problem presenting a host of reasons as to why the PCs' would have an easier and likely more successful (aka "less suicidal") time ingraining themselves among the Azrinaes' one time allies, now rivals House Vonnarc.
At the same time, though, both the adventure and the Zirnakaynin article give GMs a HUGE sand box to play with. Let the PCs try to get into House Azrine they want (this mgiht be a cool place to show off some of the new fleshwarped monsters), but they should ultimately fail. Then once the PCs retreat, you can bring along a familiar face like "helpful drow" Gaddak or one of Alicavniss's minions to get them back on track.
Actually, one of the things that I was thinking was that the PCs might use their connections to foment House war. Letting several different houses know that one house seems to have weakened itself pretty severely would be the drown way to solve the problem.
Actually, one of the things that I was thinking was that the PCs might use their connections to foment House war. Letting several different houses know that one house seems to have weakened itself pretty severely would be the drown way to solve the problem.
It should be a relatively well known secret that the majority of the Azrinaes and their servants have left the city. All the matrons and everyone on the Council of Widows likely knew months ago and by now its filtered throughout the city to every information broker and politico with the clout and interest to be involved in house dealings. Something like that doesn't stay secret for long. The questions are where they went and why, which are highly speculated about.
As for another house starting a war, its certainily possible if one were were to gain the ear of a house matron, present her with information she doesn't already possess, and offer her an infallible plan, but even that option brings with it obvious peril for questionable gains. Although House Azrinae's holdings in Zirnakaynin are obviously weakened they're still very, very well guarded - perhaps even better then when all of the house's members were around. And the outpouring of resources and brute force it would take to openly besiege House Azrinae would leave any aggressor open to opportunistic attacks, assassination attempts, and infiltration from their own rivals. Also, should the Azrinae holdings be claimed, the majority of their greatest treasures and most valuable lore has likely departed with the rest of the clan. And this still doesn't tell the PCs were the Azrinaes have gone, a secret that among the remaining house members likely only Kardinnyr knows the specifics of and he'd be very difficult to capture, defeat, or trick into giving that info up. Only a handful of the most powerful and best connected in the city also know the Azrinae's destination, and among them Alicavniss is most available, most interested in the PCs, and harbors the greatest spite against Allevrah.
Again, though, the adventure and city article give you a ton of details, so run with it! If its time for war in Zirnaykaynin, wish your PCs good luck and go for it!