My ROTRL campaign will soon end and we are starting the last adventure this saturday. The group made their runeforge weapons and battled the golemlike statue of Karzoug. Now the are readying for bringing the battle finally to the runelord himself!
My wizard player has used simulacrum to make 4 simulacra of gold dragon wyrms (14 HD). And now make a lots of items and make heavy use of his craft contigency spell feat (complete arcane). He will be probably at least 2 months crafting.
With Karzoug knowing that they made the runeforged weapons - how would he use this time? In my campaign I let him play a more active role. For example I used Ordikon (I have cut him from runeforge an made the wing deserted too) as a tax collector of Xin-Shalast with an entourage of stone giants. He did make sandpoint an offer but the pc´s refused. Magnimar bowed to the will of the runelord and send gold and slaves to xin-shalast.
Maybe more cities given in to the runelord? A few destroyed for not paying taxes?
Would Karzoug send a Killercommando to kill the SC? He knows every step of them thorug the sihedron amuletts they are wearing!
Who would you use for such an commando?
Not having Complete Arcane handy, I'm not sure about the details of the spell. My idea would be one of his more exotic agents (a ninja? Oni? Quickling?) to sneak into the players lab at night and sabotage his work. It'd still work fine, but any rune giant could automatically take command of the simulacra. I'd give the players a fair chance at deducing what happened in advance - have their food poisoned with a very nasty poison or disease (ability drain, negative levels, or something equally nasty). If they don't take extraordinary measures to ensure that the simulacrums were untouched, feel free to use them against the party as you see fit.
Contingencies and items are harder to answer, because I don't know what kind of items. I'd certainly consider sneaking a few curses in, that Karzoug can activate remotely. And don't forget he has Wish at his disposal - he may simply wish a few of those items to come to him at night, when the player isn't wearing them. I'd allow them to summon the items back one at a time with limited wish, but Karzoug should have included some interesting enchantments of his own (contingency meteor storm against the wielder if they attempt to harm a Rune Giant could be a nasty surprise and confuse the players a lot; of course the contingency may simply be to teleport back to Karzoug at a critical moment in time, when the characters really want/need to use it).
Karzoug's other activity should be based on how he acted so far. Cities 'joining' him and others being razed is certainly possible. Maybe the town the players are resting in suddenly suffers food shortage because all the outlying communities joined Karzoug and he forbid them from selling food to the players base of operation - a great way to alienate the players from the community they live in.
Karzoug has craft feats as well, so give him a daily income of a few thousand gold that he can turn into new items to use. rod of greater maximize metamagic could be interesting. Perhaps some kind of casting focus that increases the DC of his spells? Add regeneration to his ring of protection? Boost the Robes of Xin-Shalast to grant higher SR and more armor? Craft a customize golem that specifically targets a weakpoint of the party? Distribute information about the detailed strength of the party to all inhabitants of Xin-Shalast along with minor magical items designed to blunt the parties strength.
Oh, and magical traps, especially if they aren't too skilled at finding them; otherwise traps that he can trigger remotely long before the rouge can try to disable them. Maybe set up more points where he can project his image - and don't have him hesitate using high level spells. A blast of a maximized and a quickened meteor swarm will cost him two spells, but the party is unlikely to try and press on the same day, so he can recover his spells as well. But I'd certainly give him a way to change the energy type of damage his spells inflict - of course he will only use that in the final confrontation when the party has wasted much resources to protect themselves from fire. :)
And there's certainly a good chance that more reinforcements from Leng arrive. Depending on how far you're willing to go in destroying the world, perhaps Karzoug's minions open a portal of a kind and leave Korvosa, the cornerstone of defense against the giant raids, a ruin inhabited only by strange monsters. Merchants that barely escaped with their ships could bring the tale, and maybe some stowaway monsters eager to spread their form of chaos.
Depending on your party, a paladin or cleric could well have a visitation from their god and a warning that the forces in Xin-Shalast are growing quickly along with other defenses and that if they do not hurry, infiltrating the city will become much harder. If they don't immediately rush to the city, you should at least rearrange encounters to provide maximum efficiency vs. the party.
Well, if Karzoug knows what the PCs are doing, and what preparations they're making, then he can cook up some countermeasures to avail himself of any opportunities presented. Possibilities include descriptions of the PCs being circulated to all Xin-Shalast residents loyal to the runelord (heading off possible PC infiltration attempts if they're not prepared to use illusion/alteration magic as part of disguises), rangers with Favoured Enemy: majority PC race being hired on as additional security guards in Xin-Shalast, and some sort of weird unique Thassilonian magic being brewed up so that at some point the PCs run into a minion armed with a glowing orb which he throws (cackling) at those simulcra, causing Control of them to switch to Karzoug's minion. (It might be an idea to let the PCs use their simulacra in a couple of fights first, so that they get some use out of them and get to feel good about making that preparation before they have to fight off and put down their creations.)
I'm not sure that I'd go the contract assassin route in Karzoug's position in this case (yet). If the PCs look likely to be coming calling in Xin-Shalast, it would look more cost effective (this is the Runelord of Greed after all) to beef up home security (which needs doing anyway after several thousand years of neglect) faster than was otherwise scheduled than to pay someone to go and fight the PCs on their home turf where once the initial surprise is over they have all the advantages.
Charles, Timitius is trying to get in touch with you, re sending you your copy of Wayfinder.
Can you give him an email?
Five more ideas that you can mix and mash into the campaign:
1. Karzoug builds some fixed defenses. Say a tower on top of the spire, capable of focusing spells over nearly any distance. So once the players enter the city, as long as they are in LOS of that tower, he could cast spells on them. I'd think about requiring some kind of check or touch attack to hit with any spell, giving them strange experiences like fireballs exploding too early and magic missiles missing occasionally. But it could provide a probably unique challenge.
Of course spell fire like that would attract the other creature of the city - especially the dragon and it's friends. After all it knows how powerful the party is and that each has hundred thousand or more gp of equipment, so inviting a few other dragon for a share of loot would be a interesting idea, especially if they lead the attack and when they die their hords would also be split as well.
Further modification in the city would include that all giants are marked and that any potentially friendly force in the city has been weakened over the months; and when they find the party they readily share that the last few months defenses have become incredibly more powerful and organized and many new protective spells have been raised.
2. I've always considered golems to be a product of transmutation above everything else, and Karzoug as the ultimate master of transmutation. I've mentioned custom golems above already, but there are some more ideas I thought I'd share:
-Mastery of construction has allowed Karzoug to give the golems a CON score - meaning higher fort save and lots more HP. The high HP could be a nasty surprise for parties that expect them to fall over after a few hits.
-A huge iron golem (at least two size categories larger than normal) with molten lava flowing through him, supplied directly from the plane of fire. That should be worth at least 30d6 of damage - or fast healing 35 for the golem. Of course damaging the golem above a certain threshold would result in a hot shower. To make it unique and show the players that it was their delay that created this enemy, make the golem look like the party melee fighter, right down to the correct items (that may or may not be functional).
-A draconic golem looking like the simulacra, but powerwise capable of challenging the party. Has anyone ever designed a dragon golem before? That might be a memorable foe even without looking like their 'allies'.
-an energy golem - or more precisely a negative energy golem. Even it's mere presence causes damage (and heals undead, so if you want to include some meaningful undead, this would be a good place) and that eagerly spreads negative levels to everyone around. The mere attempt to channel positive energy near this thing should be exhausting and carry the risk of a considerable amount of negative levels and some ability drain.
3. There is a time limit, even if the books don't give a fixed date. If the players delay too long, Karzoug may break free - and trigger the Leng trap - and unleash untold destruction. Karzoug and many of his minions would disappear, but something even worse would be left for the player characters to deal with. It won't be the normal conclusion to the AP, but it'd be an interesting demonstration to the players that they don't have unlimited time.
4. Karzoug hasn't lived so long by being an idiot. He knows or suspects treachery from Leng, and corrects the sabotage before coming back. And now the players have to deal not just with Karzoug, but all the troops he commands directly when he goes out hunting them.
And he can visit his other laboratories (and those of the other Runelords) and get a lot of interesting items and allies - you can now justify just about everything. I'd certainly create a few unique pets/mounts for his use.
This will be a very different campaign, but may fit your world best. Since he already was very active, now he cane simply do so in person.
5. Karzoug's growing power is noticed in the Hold of Belkzen and the hordes there are afraid of it - and start a large scale migration away from Xin-Shalast. Lastwall being overrun and other nations in the area being increasingly besieged by the migration could drive home just how much destruction and death is happening because of their delay, even beyond Karzoug's direct grasp.
Of course this might attract Karzoug's interest to the region and if he starts meddling in the Worldwound (gaining powerful devil allies and unleashing hell on at least the Inner Sea region) or Ustalav (Carrion Crown AP) the potential for damage (and very powerful allies against the party) becomes astronomical. The atmosphere of the whole region, if not the whole world could shift so much that even victory does start to appear depressing.
Thank you Old Drake and Charles. This is exactly the kind of input I´ve searched for.
My player plans to use the Golddragon-Simulacra as flying mounts to reach Xin-Shalast. Because I never liked the Dwarven-Brothers part in the adventure its ok. But I want to give them some alternative encounters to catch up (they are still level 14) on the expected party level for Spires of Xin-Shalast. I will skip the Dwarven brothers entirely - so have you any other idea how I can let them find Xin-Shalast? Maybe on their own research?
How about a working crew of stone giants under the supervision of a rune giant and maybe Ordikon (upped to level 13 meanwhile or Khalib) working on the Storval Plateau and installing a new Hellfire Flume? In this level the stone giants a merely a nuisance. The players would get to use their fantastic mounts - befor I probably take them away with the controll power of the rune giant.
@Old Drake: I like you Spelltower idea. Reminds me of the eye of sauron. Maybe I will let the hellfire flumes look like this. Only with a giant burning greed rune on the top.
How about any retribution for sandpoint? The heros met Ordikon there and refused (and convinced the city major) any tribute paying to Karzoug!
My idea behind this is his underlings want Xin-Shalast to be as great as possible for the return of the runelord. they already live in fear for not haven awoken him when time was due. So they do everything to make him as pleased as possible on his eventually return!
As far as I recall, in canon Alaznist was the runelord with a penchant for hellfire plumes, whilst Karzoug was the one who went for massive towers shaped like statues of himself (such as Thistletop is perched on top of the head of); but a construction crew on the Storval Plateau could just as easily be building one of the latter...
As to locating Xin-Shalast, as written, Mokmurian is said to have destroyed all directions which could be found in the library under Jorgenfist, but there were some clues left, such as a reference to Xin-Shalast being at the headwaters of a river, known (in Thassilonian times - the name has since been corrupted or forgotten) as the River Avah. If the PCs have contact with an organization such as the Pathfinder Society, perhaps they could pursue this lead. Somewhere in one of the big libraries in Absalom there could be an incredibly old journal recounting the travels of an Azlanti angler in Thassilon, fishing its rivers. A journal complete with sketch maps naming and showing the courses of many major rivers. It made no mention of cities (hence the fact that nobody's used it to trace Xin-Shalast before now), but put it together with the information from the library under Jorgenfist, and bingo!...
(Trying to follow the course of rivers through mountains, a flying approach by PCs on dragons probably makes sense.)
As to retribution from Magnimar, I'd suggest a trade embargo. Suddenly Magnimar starts taxing everything coming through its gates or docks heading in the direction of Sandpoint. Sure Sanpoint has a harbour, but what if that's not big enough to take anything other than fishing vessels and small coastal sloops (as opposed to big sea-going cargo ships)? Suddenly the price of everything goes up, and essential supplies of materials such as cloth, iron, and maybe lamp-oil start to run low (especially if everyone in Sandpoint and outlying farms starts panic-buying). Then word gets to Sandpoint that emissaries are at work in Riddleport and Korvosa, threatening to tighten the noose....
Finding hints on the city should be easy enough. The library under Jorgenfist should have some maps, if they can persuade the inevitable to get out the hidden copies that ensure no knowledge placed in the library will ever be lost. It might take bribing him with some new books and empty books so that it can create new copies of the books Mokmurian destroyed. That's how I played the librarian at least. Spare parts and other ineviatbles to help maintain the library would probably also work as 'bribes'.
Of course the Scribbler's hideout may still have hidden places that the residents of Sandpoint uncovered while the heroes explored the Runeforge - there may simply be more information, or more danger.
Then there's the Runeforge itself. Either the players are encouraged to return there to find the hidden clues, or some artifact from there points them into the right direction (perhaps the weapons?).
There's of course the question if a limited wish would produce useful directions; I'd say probably not, but it might result in direction to a location that holds a map or other directions to Xin-Shalast.
Tailing a giant work crew back after they complete a project is certainly possible, but they would run the risk that they would be led to a supply base instead. Xin-Shalast produces neither raw material nor food, so the work crews would rarely return there. A treasure caravan with tributes would be a much better bet, but letting the players waste time on work crews is certainly permissible. Of course following a caravan in secret with dragons would not be easy, and I'd require a number of creative solutions from the players.
Rebuilding the glory of Xin-Shalast above all else requires a large population - workers, soldiers, farmers, and so on. So... a breeding program? Cloning? Growing vats? If they really want Xin-Shalast to be a jewel quickly, they need the people fast, so some kind of 'crazy' but working solution would be a great flavor element and it's success could explain how they got the resources to start building fortifications and observation bases everywhere, create new towns, and generally rebuild the infrastructure.
Sandpoint is very vulnerable, all things considered. Cutting off their food supply will be hard; farms and fishing boats supply most of the need. The farmers could theoretically be threatened to not sell to Sandpoint, but protecting them (short of besieging Sandpoint) and moving the food elsewhere would be expensive and a logistic nightmare.
What happened to the Misgiving? Did they remove the spores or whatever it was that centered the curse? Did they permanently solve the issue? If not Karzoug knows what happened there, and could use it as a new base for some undead factory to flood the area with undead and stop farming that way. Or some other nefarious purpose.
If the problem is really solved, then what about the sin pool below the city? Is it guarded? Patrolled? Karzoug may remotely activate it (earthquake?) and charge it and then send agents to unleash scores of sin spawn, hundreds even. Maybe reinforced by a few summoned monsters (leaving the players to scratch their heads where the summoner is hiding). That should leave a good portion of the people dead and the town burned to the ground.
Obviously poisoned wells, or simply spoiling them with a lot of salt or oil would also create great trouble, though clerics would be able to correct that quite effectively - though it may take them a day to switch their spells and a day without water isn't easy.
Moving a few goblin tribes in the region from elsewhere could also make farming very dangerous, and while goblins are easy prey at this level, the players can't be everywhere, and the farms need be burned down just once.
Charles has already mentioned some economic warfare ideas. How about some magical mines that blow up ships approaching Sandpoint? That could be quite effective. Or merely a sea monster that eats them. Could stop fishing, too. By the time the party hunts it down, few fishing boats would remain in Sandpoint.
Another way would be a large number of minor incidents. A spoiled well here, a broken fisherboat there, burning field on the other side, and so on. Slowly life in Sandpoint would become unbearable for the citizens, and every few days an emissary would arrive and ask if they were ready to finally join the new and great realm of XXX. And even if the players keep the leadership firmly on their side, will they keep the other citizens? The 'underworld'? The politics could be interesting but certainly not suited for all groups.
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