My player group is just about to start the final book of CoT and for once our campaign hasn't imploded. They're interested in continuing with existing characters and situations.
The characters:
Eezo - aasimar paladin of Sarenrae. He's an AC monster, falcata-wielding evil-smiting good guy. Not a stick-in-the-mud paladin by any means.
Sibyl - tiefling cleric of Malani. She's a generic cleric but is heavy of bluffing and messing with opponents' minds. She's also got Leadership, followers, and a cohort (listed below).
Wick Tinder - gnome witch. Ultimately is played as a coward who somehow sticks around long enough to slumber hex every BBEG encounter into a non-issue.
Fingers - half-elf rogue. Flank, sneak-attack, rinse, repeat. He's also the guy who coup-de-graces everything the gnome puts to sleep.
The hooks:
Eezo has family in Westcrown. His sister is Bluehood, one of his brothers is a hellknight of middling rank, and his family is minor nobility.
Sibyl has her cohort Pasha (half-giant psychic-warrior ex-slave). She has liberated and used attonement on the half-dozen tieflings from the Nessian Spiral and has them operating a re-opened Vizio's Tavern (which is now The Infernal Duke and has a fiendish theme including items liberated from the Spiral). She has Calseinica Nimmis as a when-the-DM-remembers girlfriend, and has befriended a few dottari. She is easily the most liked of the group. Also, she has been volunteering at a hospice in town all this time, which has been a recurring element.
Wick was raised within the Church of Asmodeus but "escaped" some time ago. He has just been approached by the Church who have expressed that they wish to endorse the Children of Westcrown over the Council of Thieves - at the behest of Aspexia Whatsername (leader of the Chellish Church of Asmodeus). Basically, some clerics have turned traitor and are siding with the Council. Wick is titled "inquisitor" and is mandated to smite down heretical clerics whenever and wherever he encounters them. In return, the loyalist clerics manage a friendly working relationship with the group they feel will likely come out victorious.
Fingers... is a half-elf. Who hits things.
The request:
The only thing I've got for a direction is that Sibyl would likely want to pry Westcrown out of Chelliax entirely. I'm thinking of taking the group physically to Egorian to pursue this. Any ideas, nuggets of inspiration, or outright plot suggestions are what I'm asking for. I don't need details but rather simply directions and options I might otherwise not see. So what I'm looking for is along the lines of "assassinate the empress" or "there's a dragon underneath Egorian and it's going to eat the whole city unless the party stops it". Neither of which I think I'll be using. <Grin>
Thanks in advance.
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meh, you're not making this easy :)
I'm planning on dropping hints on a friend's wedding in part 5 of this AP, and after part 6 is done I intend to lead them through one random-but high level-encounter before arriving at their next destination, Blood on the DragonScar
if they want more there's only one way to go and that's Witchwar Legacy.
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Well, in my version of Golarion (in which all of the APs that I've run are in canon), the Big Bad of Curse of the Crimson Throne,
won, destroying the city and escaping as an ambitious immortal. Seeing as how this loss of an allied city-state is a blow to Cheliax, and the villain might prove to be a personal rival to Her Infernal Majestrix, had my CoT game continued, I'd have had the Majestrix send off the PCs to assassinate her in order to prove their worth to the Chelish throne enough that she could let one middling town go.
Alternatively, since that is a rather unusual confluence of circumstances, a more canon-friendly opponent for the PCs might be the cult of Mammon. Mammon failed to add Westcrown to his trophy room, after all, and might take out his rage against Cheliax for failing to fall under his heel. There could be some potential for interdevil warfare as Asmodeus' more subtle forces want to tow the party line, whereas Mammon will try to spitefully raze the country to the ground. Bring in some of the high-level devils in CoT, Bestiary II or the Book of the Damned for some fun. And you'll get to use the cover illustration for The Twice-Damned Prince!
Alternately, Nidal and the service of Zon-Kuthon might be an interesting foil. Sivanshin was an adopted Nidalese, after all, and in your game he might have some sway with the church. In my version of events, the Dusk Market was run by dark creepers from Nidal, the same stock of whom Sivanshin drew minions for the events of Mother of Flies. So all of that Dusk Market cash flowing into Pangolias' coffers might go missed, and a group of heroes destroying artifacts of sacred darkness probably wouldn't fly too well. Of course, Nidal wants to expand into Cheliax anyway, and the PCs activities might prove a great excuse for some espionage and/or terrorism.
I'm thinking much the same thing. I started a thread "After AP Liberating Westcrown" I'm thinking first order of business is to send Vorne and his Naval security force away (through diplomacy or force) or hold the city against them. But they really need to get full control of the city first. Then make it ready for when Cheliax gets serious. Hellknights, Inquisitors, the church of Asmodeus, the full navy, the army of Cheliax.
Without distractions and aid it looks grim for Westcrown and the heroes. But if they can find some powerful friends, and convince neighboring countries to make moves to keep Cheliax busy, well they might just have a chance.
I took out all the extra planer and powerful entities and am thinking of making it just strong NPC's and monsters and battles of diplomacy and armies. Of course summoning and cleric powers are still there .. just no planer travel or direct intervention of higher powers. I figure they can just cancel each other out or be too busy to bother.
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Ask your players what they would like to do and then let them research in the Pathfinder Lodge to see what they can find to help them.
I.e. If they want to take Westcrown out of Cheliax they could start by chasing down an artefact which gives a 50 mile permanent Protection From Evil when placed in the temple of a dead god.
Follow that with a potential alliance with some exile sea-elves and your building toward the combined magic and diplomacy needed to secure the city.
Given my players, I'm going to have them secure Westcrown for themselves by bringing Aroden back to life. (Yes, I'm planning WAY ahead)
Then, the remade Aroden's first priority will be to regain what was his. I'm moving into the 12th level Pathfinder Society adventures; step one is to retake Galt.
Dealing with the remaining infernal loyalists will be fun too, so we'll have some stuff going on simultaneously.
Details here:
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/24455
I have one PC in the Pathfinder Society already, and I'm anticipating having the entire group as members before long. (The group is currently finishing up part 3 and exploring Delvehaven).
The recent blog post inspired me quite a bit. I think that after part 6, the PFS will send the group to Egorian to retrieve more artifacts stolen/hidden by the House of Thrune, specifically looking for some well-kept secret that the party themselves will not be privy to and will only learn about through play. I imagine a HUGE megadungeon complex underneath the House of Thrune, and I plan to sprinkle in some extra-planar travel to Hell and the Astral Sea.
I really liked the previous poster's idea about bringing Aroden back, so I'll have to include that, and that potentially gives me the link to the Astral Sea I need. And when he comes back, he's gonna be pissed, and there will be war. Even if the party doesn't care much for the good vs. evil aspect of this conflict, the PFS would much rather see Thrune out of power, so I think I'll have good hooks.
In short, I think it's gonna be awesome!