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I'm getting ready to start running CC, and as I look at the progression of the modules and other notes that DMs have made about running them, I've decided I want to incorporate Carrion Hill into the path. For me, this is mainly to adjust for having an extra PC playing but also to expand on the history and flavor of Ustalav, which I feel the town captures nicely.
I've noticed that a few people have had a couple issues with Wake of the Watcher and how it connects to the rest of the path as a whole. Afterall, the Whispering Way seems to be the primary motivation for the PCs actions in every module, with the exception of this one (apart from chasing one of their agents). I began wondering what motivations the PCs might have not only for this module but also for 'Carrion Hill' . Afterall, if they're in hot pursuit of the rider, they'e not going to want to stop in Carrion Hill and investigate some Old Gods cultists. I then began wondering what aims the Whispering Way might have in Carrion Hill and Illmarsh as a whole, and as I looked at the Carrion Crown poster map, I noticed something neat: Feldgrau, Carrion Hill, and Illmarsh all connect in a straight geographic line. I then began wondering about the lines that could connect these places.. like ley lines. Since Ustalav is a sight of ancient structures, I hypothesized that the WW might have reason to disrupt these ley lines.. like by releasing a manifestation of a Great Old One at one of these sights. Why would they want to do this? A couple of reasons are below, in an info dump I plan on giving to my players sometime before the end of Broken Moon. Below is my attempt at giving my players an extra reason for wanting to investigate Carrion Hill and Illmarsh:
Professor Chalest,
I believe that your theories may be correct with regards to the spiritual energies present within the sights you mentioned. All three form a geographic line that links straight to the natural borders of the water, suggesting that the ancient Kellids chose these sights more for their spiritual energies rather than any geographic significance. Of the three, Feldgrau is probably the most famous within Ustalav since every soldier's widow knows the tales of that cursed place. Whether the bloodshed that transpired there is a result of these spiritual energies or something else is a mystery that would require a dangerous investigation. Nonetheless, the reputed small size of the Kellid ruins mark it as possibly the least significant of the three. Clearly, the opposite is true with Carrion Hill, as our studies have detailed extensive Kellid burial mounds, monoliths, and even catacombs beneath the city itself. The ley energies are very strong here, possibly a focal point for whatever is diverting their energy to the west. As for Illmarsh, a preliminary investigation from one of our men has resulted in a lack of correspondance. That place has always been insular and little is known of it; as soon as contact is re-established, our findings will be made clear.
As you have stated, the geocentric ley energies connecting those places definitely form a spiritual border, and based on your earlier records of the Shining Crusade, it is possible that the Knights of Ozrem chose Gallowspire because of its geocentric location with regards to these ley lines, not because of its strategic location. Afterall, why imprison the Tyrant so close to so many of his uncontested strongholds and allies? It is possible that whatever magics were used in imprisoning The Whispering Tyrant are augmented by these ley energies to increase the strength of the prison, giving it enough power to keep him and his thoughts contained. If this is the case, it would clearly be in the best interest of The Whispering Way to disrupt or redirect the spiritual energies of these places, though the semi-permenant nature of the structures at these sights would make acheiving this difficult. To disrupt the spiritual energy enough that a ley line would be redirected or disrupted, the Way would have to achieve one of the following:
-Catastrophic-scale destruction of landscape itself, an act that would be noticed for miles around.
-Repeated use of reality altering magic.
-Long term presence of reality altering outsider. (See Manifestations of the Divine, Volume 1)
-Short term presence (no less than 4 days and 4 hours) of a manifestation of an Outer God or Great Old One (See Catalogue of the Void, Volume 3).
The consequences of such actions performed at these three places sight would be unpredictable at best, but it is possible to hypothesize a couple of results, as they would pertain to the goals of The Whispering Way:
-Disruption of Ley lines resulting in weakening of wards at Gallowspire. This would be the worst case scenario, but if this is all it took, the Whispering Way probably would have already tried it.
-Weakening or rerouting of ley lines, allowing the mind of the Tyrant to wander further from his sight. Its been reported by our few men that have crossed Virlych that manifestations of the Tyrant's mind appear in their dreams as horrific nightmares and in the waking hours as phantoms. As stated, it's entirely possible that Gallowspire contains The Tyrant not just bodily but also mentally, with these ley lines augmenting his spiritual prison.
-Warping or expanding the field of the "Witchgates" that guard The Hungry Mountains. Since these wards utilize miles-wide magical energies, it can only be assumed that some of the ley lines present within the region are connected to them. Disrupting the regional ley energies could theoretically allow them to expand the range of these wards, or perhaps allow them to construct new ones.
In any case, any of these events could potentially cause unknown peril. I recommend the further consultation of a professional Geomancer with regards to the energies of these sights as my limited insight and second-hand observation could use the full knowledge available to the Order. Khu Ba Heteph,
Professor Petros Lorrimor
Still unsure as to when to give this info dump, or if Petros should be the writer of the letter (possibly Alpon Carmorac instead). Thoughts?
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I added Carrion Hill right after Haunting of Harrowstone. The players accidentally burned down Kendra's home (long story) so once they completed the book, she asked them to take her to Carrion Hill where she can take up residence in her mother's old home just outside the city. They took her there but unfortunately nobody had been paying the taxes on the property so the city took possession of it a few years back. As fate would have it, the town was in need of some helpful adventurer's and offered the home in exchange for their help. They helped, finished the adventure and Kendra got her mother's home back. Then they headed to Lepidstadt to finish the mission. Motivator to go to Carrion Hill = Guilt for burning her home down. It worked well.
I like the idea as it's suggested of adding Carrion Hill after Broken Moon since as Wake of the Watcher suggests, Carrion Hill is geographically on the way between Feldgrau and Thrushmoor. Also, I'm sold on the idea of upping the level since I like the pacing of experience and levels of the first three modules. I feel like I'll have to add a few encounters to compensate for a fifth player (which is not the same as four players, no matter what the Core says), but my issue is player motivation:
How to keep players wanting to investigate a sour spot of Golarion when they're supposed to be chasing the rider from Feldrau to Illmarsh?
I've been following the conversion thread and am grateful for the work being done there; I plan on using some of it once that part of the adventure rolls around but am worried about how DMs portrayed this as more than a sidequest and as a more intergral part to the overall Carrion Crown plot (Stopping the Whispering Way and The Whispering Tyrant).
A couple of notes from my campaign:
1. 2 of the PC's were slain during the battle with Vrood. One left instructions that he wanted to be resurrected, so Carrion Hill was the logical place for that to occur. The second player made up an alchemist with a focus on poisons, who was in the city helping the Crows with their investigation of the black market poison trade. (More tie-ins...)
2. Besides resurrecting the elf, some of the PS's wanted to spend their gold on equipment and supplies. However, due to the issues in the city, many of the shops were closed until the "frightful occurrences" are ended.
3. My group has a paladin. He wanted to answer the Mayor's call. The others wanted to lend a hand to restore order and get the shops open again.
4. During the initial investigation the group found a simple note in Marshan's ruined house: "Thank you for your valuable insight. Enclosed is the item I promised. A.A." Well, that got them completely hooked as they had been seeing letters from A.A. throughout my campaign.
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Has anyone included Carrion Hill, but just moved it to a city more on the way to Lepidstadt, like Courtaud, Tamrivena, or Bladswell?
Since the PCs were already on the hook for book delivery, and Kendra has chosen to leave Ravengro for Lepidstadt (didn't think that one through) I don't have an easy way to make them go all the way to Carrion Hill, but I thought if while packing up Kendra's house they found more notes in the library about "a tome lent to a friend of dire import" give the name of the Phanatonic Manuscript, and let them knowledge arcana it's direness they may side trip a shorter distance then hauling arse to the other side of Ustlav.
I'm also open to other hooks to get them over to Carrion Hill between books 1 and 2.
I'm getting ready to start running CC...
I like it and I will probably be stealing this idea.
I plan on having the WW use the Beast to steal the Pnakotic Manuscripts instead of the Seasage Effigy, and then deliver the tome to the cult in Carrion Hill in exchange for the Seasage Effigy (which the cult will be in possession of). The WW will then use the Seasage Effigy to barter with the cult in Illmarsh for the Raven's Head.
Your idea on disrupting ley lines to weaken the holds on Tar-Baphon would fit nicely into a larger meta-plan of the Whispering Way.
Kudos!
I'm getting ready to start running CC...I like it and I will probably be stealing this idea.
I plan on having the WW use the Beast to steal the Pnakotic Manuscripts instead of the Seasage Effigy, and then deliver the tome to the cult in Carrion Hill in exchange for the Seasage Effigy (which the cult will be in possession of). The WW will then use the Seasage Effigy to barter with the cult in Illmarsh for the Raven's Head.
Your idea on disrupting ley lines to weaken the holds on Tar-Baphon would fit nicely into a larger meta-plan of the Whispering Way.
Kudos!
My PC's are heading to Feldgrau now, so I can't use this idea... however, I may just reverse what you said. The WW stole the Seasage Effigy, and are delivering that to the Cult in CH for the Books, which the WW needs to get the Raven's Head from the Illmarsh cult...
Not sure if it will work, as I have to read CH now, but I think it should.
Did you use the Ley Line rules out of Deep Magic? Did the introduction of ley lines in chapter four have any implications for the way that the ley lines are described as disrupted in Virlych?
No, as much as I wanted to, I didn't have access to that book at the time I wrote it. A lot of the above was just magical theory-crafting transposed to a massive scale. I have played Rifts and World of Darkness (second edition) quite extensively, so just incorporated some of that knowledge into this. If you think about it though, it is strange that the Whispering Tyrant is imprisoned where he is considering that:
A) Gallowspire was the seat of his power before his imprisonment, and as evidenced by the last module, is still quite hostile towards those unsympathetic to his cause.
B) There are at least four places (Renchurch, Casnoriva, Garden of Lead, and Ghasterhall) within close proximity to this site that contain his most powerful servants.
C) Geographically it is extremely close to the Hold of Belkzen, which for a period supplied him with legions of troops that served in life and death alike. Besides that, its an easy march to the Cenotaph, another seat of power.
So why Gallowspire? With the considerable (what would have to be Mythic) magic used to imprison him, why not use that magic to proceed into the dungeon and destroy his phylactery? Perhaps the magic was only barely strong enough to accomplish the former based on the location itself of Gallowspire. Again, i'm theory-crafting with magic, but couldn't think of any other theories that held up; someone mythic would have to be doing the imprisoning to keep a being of The Whispering Tyrant's power contained.
As far as repercussions, I am planning on having The Tyrant's Wishes duplicated on a minor scale (i.e limited wish) a little beyond geographically is given in the module. It starts as a creeping warp that extends about an 1/8 of the way into each neighboring county, which grows to a 1/4 by the time my PCs begin the next module. However, I plan on containing it there to signify the PC's victory over the Dark Young in module 4. My PCs are about one-two sessions away from ending Ashes at Dawn (though scheduling playing has been hard down here because of Carnival/Mardi Gras), so I will keep updating as it goes.