Thanks Tem! I used a lot of your ideas in my game.
I added a hound of Tindalos in the Paranoia room, which turned out amazingly well.** spoiler omitted **
Another nice idea. The longer it takes my players to visit the tower, the creepier it's going to get.
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Thanks Tem! I used a lot of your ideas in my game.
I added a hound of Tindalos in the Paranoia room, which turned out amazingly well.** spoiler omitted **
I also added a souped up will-o-wisp that clings to a black crystal at the top of the tower that is the source of the fear aura. The PC's communed with Desna before going to Candlemere (the bard has a lyrakien, so commune-spam is standard fare) to ask about whether or not it was suicidal to go there. I gave them a cryptic "Unlikely, unless you summon 'them' " that had the PCs terrified about summoning eldritch horrors at every turn, afraid of the writings on the walls of every room, afraid to touch magic items with anything other than mage hand...
I changed the Lovecraftian horror to...
sounded like a very memorable encounter. Great job Marie!
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I ran this for my players this week - we're up to the pit, and they're hating it. "Awful, in the best possible way" was what one player said. It's also been a time for the Cleric to really shine.
I started out by explaining the haunt rules ("Yes, this is meta, but the island is haunted and here's how they work, since we've never used these rules before"), then I started describing the island's creepiness. The quiet, the brambles covering it all, the way in which despite it being early afternoon, the light was more like sunset-level brightness, and so on, the tower with stones occasionally falling off...
They forged forward into the brambles. Some got scratched and sickened by the poison, but the cleric (who has the Restoration Subdomain) just touched them to ease their pain.
Then they started feeling the aura, and the cleric again touched those who were shaken and reassured them.
Then they got attacked by a single will-o-wisp, while in the brambles (and so difficult terrain). My players are only 4th level, so they had a really hard time hitting the thing, while it merrily shocked them, but a combination of magic missiles and a full attack from the barbarian that mostly hit (with rage and flanking and bless, he hit with the greataxe and the gore, and missed with the bite...), it popped. So they move on.
The door to the tower worked great - the inquisior and the cleric both heard it coming, but the cleric's initiative was low enough that the haunt went first - and it successfully frightened him so he couldn't channel against it. So the barbarian, the cleric, and one of the other characters start running away. I really should have had will-o-wisps attack them (or at least appear and circle them) while they were scared, but I didn't think of that until later.
Once they recovered and regrouped, and clumped up in the paladins's aura, they approached again, but nothing happened this time. The wizard examines the walls, determines that the language is Aklo, and starts to read it aloud so that the people who could make knowledge (religion) checks could try to figure out what it was. The Inquisitor makes her check, and immediately tackles him to the ground to interrupt him, then explains just what it was he was reading aloud. He didn't manage to find the name inscribed there, but he took rubbings for later research...
After regrouping once more, they approached the altar - when it wasn't evil, they detected the rest of the room, where they found the dagger. Since the dagger was evil, the paladin picked it up... and he failed his save. I gave him his card, and while he didn't follow it exactly, it certainly worked out well. He looked at the dagger, said "Yeah, that's evil, I'm going to hang on to it", put it on his belt, then refused to let the Inquisitor (who collects daggers) look at it. That raised flags for everyone else, and they tried to talk him into giving it up. To move things along, I gave him a nudge and he started moving towards the altar (although he put it as examining it again, not related to the dagger). That really set off alerts, so the barbarian tried to take the dagger from him. The paladin went to fend him off unarmed, but instead crit with the dagger that was suddenly in his hand and glowing. The inquisitor then tripped him, and the cleric ran up shouting "The power of Sarenrae compels you!" and did protection from evil again. Given that (as mentioned before) I was treating the haunts as both evil and chaotic, this freed the paladin, who immediately dropped the dagger.
The session ended there. I think they were talking about going back to the boat to rest, since they spend a lot of spells. Given they're six 4th levels who have fought a CR 6 and a CR 7, and have another CR 6 waiting, I'm probably going to let them... with suitable scary stuff happening, of course.
Next time: The tower and the pit.
I've been meaning to reply to this thread for quite a while to give an update as to how I handled the party's inevitable return to island in an effort to remove it's taint. I spurred my PCs into action by having a pair of Spawn of Yog-Sothoth attack their capital. Even when modelled as an army of 1, their resistances make them quite formidable against "standard" troops and therefore the PCs must come to their rescue. Since there are two of them, if they focus on one, the other will cause a great deal of damage before the problem is dealt with. In the aftermath, they're able to determine what these creatures are and hopefully make the connection to Candlemere and give them a reason to return.
In order to remove the island's curse, they need to cast dispel chaos and pass a DC30 caster level check. So, that means they'll be in the neighbourhood of 11th level before they can reasonably try. Sufficient research on the part of the PCs can indicate the potency of the magic they are trying to remove.
Since the haunts reset, they still have to be careful when approaching the tower, but these shouldn't prove to be difficult to overcome. The real issue is that it is unlikely for PCs to remove the curse without resting on the island for at least one night (thus triggering the nightmares as above) as well as potential attacks from will-o-wisps (which in my game are smart enough to retreat and wait for spells like resist energy to wear off while they regenerate). Although not life-threatening, they will be *very* annoying to the PCs.
Once the PCs manage to cast the spell inside the tower and pass the check, it triggers a cataclysmic event. They manage to tear the ancient magic from its anchor in the tower itself which has two consequences:
First - the ancient tower is partly held together by the magic therein. By disrupting it, the tower collapses in on itself (as per the core rules for being buried in rubble).
Second - the released energy forms into an intelligent (and quite angry) creature from the void. In this case, I modelled it as Yog-Sothoth is described - a ball of flickering lights. In game terms, I made something similar to a swarm of will-o-wisps:
Will-o-Wisp Swarm (CR 14)
CE Gargantuan Aberation Swarm
Init +13; Senses Darkvision 60'
AC 28, touch 28, flat-footed 18 (+12 deflection, +9 Dex, +1 dodge, -4 size)
hp 110 (20d8 + 20)
Fort +11, Ref +19, Will +17
Defensive Abilities: Flickering Lights, Swarm Traits; Immune Magic
Speed: fly 50' (perfect)
Melee:
Shock +24 touch (2d8 electricity)
Swarm (2d8 + 2d8 electricity + madness + distraction)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
STR 1, DEX 29, CON 12, INT 15, WIS 16, CHA 14
BAB +15; CMB +14, CMD 33
Feats: Ability Focus (Distraction), Alertness, Blind Fight, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Improved Vital Strike, Mobility, Vital Strike, Weapon Finesse
Special:
Aura of Fear: DC 22 will save or be shaken within 30 feet.
Distraction: DC 23 fort save or nauseated for 1 round.
Feed on Fear: While within 20 feet of a dying creature or a creature suffering from a fear effect, this creature gains fast healing 5.
Flickering Lights: Gains 20% concealment against all creatures that cannot see invisible.
Immunity to Magic: Immune to all spells which allow spell resistance.
Madness: 1d4 wisdom damage, DC 22 will negates. A creature reduced to 0 wisdom from this effect suffer permanent insanity in the form of paranoid schizophrenia (counts as a fear effect).
Preferred Form: Can fit through any space which a small creature could move through but always forms a 10 foot radius sphere when not obstructed.
Swarm Traits: (Including half damage from slashing and piercing weapons as well as immunity to spells that target individual creatures)
By itself, a reasonably well-prepared party should have no trouble, but when you also figure that some might be suffering from nightmares, some might be shaken by the tower's aura and some may be buried under rubble, this guy can be a very nasty surprise.
Needless to say, it was a particularly memorable moment for my party and they did manage to survive the event without casualties (though one very clutch roll was required by the paladin).
Once again, I love it. I might not use the swarm as written, but there will definitely be something for when they return.
Why would the PCs need to rest on the island for the night, though?
Why would the PCs need to rest on the island for the night, though?
To pass the DC 30 caster level check, when the PC is 11th level, that means rolling a 19+ or the spell fails. Even if they make scrolls and memorize nothing but Dispel Chaos, you're probably only going to get a few castings per day. That means at least a couple days of trying unless you get a lucky roll.
Once PCs figure out they need to memorize it a bunch of times, when they succeed and the swarm comes they have no other high-level spells to cast (you know, like breath of life, which could certainly be useful).
It took my PCs almost a week before they cast it successfully. By that point, the sorcerer was pretty much beside himself with terror :)
I ended up making the tower an ancient advanced civilization skyscraper that is missing the top floors and had a few basement floors. went over pretty well with the group.
My group will be making their way to this encounter during our next session on Saturday. I intend to make use of this section. I get the impression my player who's playing a support cleric (and our first time player) is feeling a bit bored, so this will be the perfect opportunity to get him involved, especially during combat.
Good thing I have tomorrow off...I intend to add some flavor text to the rooms and really present it as a haunted tower that has to be cleansed.
Dotting for reference; I've got PCs that just arrived at Candlemere island. This could really spice things up for them. Great job! :)
My PCs have only returned to the island once, briefly, to settle the hill giant they recruited there....
This will not end well.
Hill Giant Spawn of Yog-Sothoth sound about right? ^__^
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I have different plans for Candlemere Tower as I am not a fan of Cthulhu mythos. At first I didnt know what exactly I was going to do with the ruins, but knew I had some time prior to my players making their way to the island. I left the wisps in place and that was enough to deter them, as well as the lake.
Over the course of the adventure (Rivers Run Red) the players actually gave me the idea of what (or whom) should be there.
The tower itself was going to be fully functional, with an illusion in place to make the tower look like ruins. There was also to be a elven paladin that was polymorphed through trickery into a troll. The wisps were not allowed to kill him, but could torture him into him thinking that he actually is a troll. At the point the PC's meet him he would be driven mad, but understand enough to try to ask for help (in giant of course). His action however while asking for help would be menacing. The idea behind it was to see if the pcs stop long enough to realize something is amiss instead of blindly rushing in an killing an innocent.
Sadly the campaign collapsed prior to the resolution of the trolls due to personal matters I was undergoing.
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My players have never run across "haunts," so I'm eager to put this to the test. However, perhaps based on my admonishment that I don't guarantee every encounter is level-appropriate, they skirted Candlemere on the first go. Have a feeling they'll be back...
I'm still not sold on the AP's brief allusion to "Yog-Sothoth." Seems so randomly out of place (and we play the board game from time to time Arkham Horror, so I don't want to confuse this world with Cthulu). Anyhow, work in progress here, but great ideas from this thread.
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...I'm still not sold on the AP's brief allusion to "Yog-Sothoth." Seems so randomly out of place (and we play the board game from time to time Arkham Horror, so I don't want to confuse this world with Cthulu). Anyhow, work in progress here, but great ideas from this thread.
There is a confirmed Old Ones/Cthulu mythology presence in Golarion. Check out this thread for lots of old ones sightings.
I put it as a gate to other worlds. The PCs gave it to the Hellknights they invited in -- long story. So the Hellknight signifiers are now observing Akiton, and a dreamship from Leng is occasionally stopping by with rare items for sale...
Fun background element, might be a seed for later campaign events or a later campaign altogether.
Without going overboard planning ahead, I'm adding this detail:
Kn. Engineering DC 20 or Perception DC 35, to notice that the tower is only the upper portion of a buried structure.
If they don't surmise it themselves, I would inform the players that uncovering the structure would be a massive undertaking (especially given the water table of the island; the lake would first need to be drained, although they might not realize that until the excavation site fills with seepage beginning 10-15 ft. down).
The enormity of the task, if they chose to attempt it, would give me plenty of time to determine first the required BP and potentially negative events affecting Kingdom Building (the AP will advance without the PCs if they allow it). Secondly, I would go about devising the exact nature and layout of the buried structure. It would likely involve an ancient battle site, whereupon great magic was used to upheave the very ground beneath and surrounding the structure.
Oh, but it would be fun watching the players wade through the logistics of such an project, like hiring skilled archaeologists, lest the laborers succumb to inadequate digging methods. >:D
Oh, I'm also making it a seasonal foray. The player of the kingdom's ruler determined they might have to postpone the island encounter into the next chapter because they want to have a proper ship for traversing the lakes.
Later, discussion about the region's climate led us to the realization that the lakes might likely freeze over in the coldest months. Potential boating mishaps averted! But, since we've been setting each book's events and encounters during the warmer months, those adventures have yet to incur the chillier environmental hazards. Winter is coming, to Kingmaker.
Just ran this last night for the party last night. It went... interesting. In a good way. Party of fighter, druid, monk, and bard were sixth level when approaching the island. All but the fighter failed their will saves, so were shaken. The encounter with the will'o'wisp was probably the most difficult part of the adventure for them. Flying, invisible, touch-attack monsters with fast healing are now firmly on the list of things they despise.
Probably the best part was the fate of the bard. After the mists of insanity and the effect of the writings in the priest's room, he had a wisdom of 2. All he did was stand there chanting 'ia ia Shub-niggurath. Shub-Niggurath! Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. Yog-sothoth!' (Ya it's not perfect Mythos, but it worked.) This lead to the fighter pinning him while the monk pummeled him into oblivion.
Thanks for posting this and for the suggestions you all have posted. It made for a fun night.
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If they don't surmise it themselves, I would inform the players that uncovering the structure would be a massive undertaking (especially given the water table of the island; the lake would first need to be drained, although they might not realize that until the excavation site fills with seepage beginning 10-15 ft. down).
The enormity of the task, if they chose to attempt it, would give me plenty of time to determine first the required BP and potentially negative events affecting Kingdom Building (the AP will advance without the PCs if they allow it). Secondly, I would go about devising the exact nature and layout of the buried structure. It would likely involve an ancient battle site, whereupon great magic was used to upheave the very ground beneath and surrounding the structure.
Oh, but it would be fun watching the players wade through the logistics of such an project, like hiring skilled archaeologists, lest the laborers succumb to inadequate digging methods. >:D
It does look like it would be a major project, but remember that you're dealing with a party that has access to a lot of magic. I wouldn't be surprised if they cast water breathing and started to explore right away. Stone shape and other magic could bypass the rubble and you might need the layout of the dungeon earlier than anticipated...
And I think most parties would come to the conclusion that they need to use such resources before they thought about draining a lake or bringing hundreds of level 1 commoners near that tower.
Seriously my peeps always tries to get around stuff first logically and if that doesn't work throw magic at your problem!
I'm, using the structure below the tower to foreshadow Vordekai; an ancient cyclopean temple/laboratory with a strong focus on interdimensional studies. There will be rooms dedicated to various planes - starting with the elemental and progressing to the more complex and dangerous planes the deeper you go (with appropriate security). At the bottom will be the Void room. Once it is discovered, the real fun starts... like that point in the ghost story when everyone finally decides ghosts are real and the ghosts finally decide to just start killing everyone. But instead of ghosts, I have Yog-sothoth and the cast of creatures from beyond the void.
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*Casts Raise Thread*
I'm planning on running this version of Candlemere Tower when (if?) my players go there. I made some maps of the place, which I thought I'd share in case they're useful for anyone else running this variant.
The maps are here. I have a separate maps of the ground floor, the High Priest's Cell upstairs and bottom of the pit, and also a single combined map with all three places on the same map.
I used Dungeon Painter to make the initial maps, then did a pass over it using The Gimp to do some extra niceness.
Enjoy!