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I've been reading through the adventure and I came across this, and was wondering if it was a misprint or what.
The marid entry in the ruins says she will grant wishes as long as one of those is used for her release.
However in the bestiary the marid only receives one wish, once per year. I was just wondering if this was a misprint in the adventure or is she trying to fool the party?
or how about that dreamstone/lens. Redeeming it or something. Awffully much left in the air.
Similar, plunder granting +1 on approval/plunder, yet 5 plunder of rum is just +2?
Building more on the isle? Guess we can dig up kingmaker...
I've been reading through the adventure and I came across this, and was wondering if it was a misprint or what...
An answer for you...
The marid entry in the ruins says she will grant wishes as long as one of those is used for her release....However in the bestiary the marid only receives one wish, once per year. I was just wondering if this was a misprint in the adventure or is she trying to fool the party?
She's not trying to fool the party. Vailea will live up to her part of the bargain. As long as one of them agrees to use their wish to set her free, she can stay near the island (either in the well or at sea) to grant the rest of the PCs a wish over the next few years. In other words, this isn't a living, breathing ring of wishes for the PCs to use all at once. There's still the implied "wait time" of a year in between all those wishes...and that's intentional, because you don't want to be handing out powerful mojo like that to PCs at this level. Instead, it's a boon that's meant to play out over the rest of the campaign...and a potential "ace in the hole" in their upcoming conflicts as Pirate Lords.
My two cents,
--Neil
...or how about...
More answers/suggestions...
...that dreamstone/lens. Redeeming it or something. Awfully much left in the air.
I really didn't want to make it so the dreamstone/lens could be redeemed...i.e., once a powerful hag like Haetanga and her sister got ahold of it, they pretty much corrupted the gemstone into a heartstone. Now, it can't possibly retain its functionality in the Eye of Serenity. Instead, the heartstone has some really adverse effects on the Ghol-Gan artifact as described in the adventure. Basically, there's nothing "serene" about a heartstone's purpose. And it doesn't play well with the cyclopean technology of the Eye.
Now, that said, if you or your GM ultimately wants to give the PCs a chance to study and repair the Eye of Serenity using a new gemstone, that'd be perfectly within bounds. But it'll take a rare stone of tremendous value and a steady devotion to unraveling the secrets of the Ghol-Gan seers to pull that off. In other words, it should be something they research and work out over the course of the entire campaign...and, it could even make for a decent "Continuing the Campaign" goal after Chapter 6 is finished.
Similar, plunder granting +1 on approval/plunder, yet 5 plunder of rum is just +2?
The rum is really there to serve a different purpose than generalized plunder. It's expected that other types of plunder would be spent in a monetized fashion to provide other luxuries and gifts to impress the visiting Pirate Lords. The rum can certainly help in that endeavor, too, but strong drink (especially rum) is kind of expected for such a gathering.
In the meantime, if the PCs choose not to spend the rum on the Pirate Lords and keep it for themselves, it still has the inherent value of 5 plunder on the open market.
Building more on the isle? Guess we can dig up Kingmaker...
I think that's certainly fair game. There's only so much room to include stuff like that in an adventure. And, I suspect if we'd included something like that in this one, there'd be just as much of an outcry regarding duplicating that type of support material out of Kingmaker and wasting space with it that could have been devoted to something else. So, it's a two-edged sword.
For the purposes of what the "Island of Empty Eyes" is meant to accomplish in a storytelling sense and the overall campaign, it still has what you need. If you want to expand it to include hexploration and kingdom building straight out of Kingmaker, that's perfectly within your realm as a GM or player to pursue. Crossing the streams in this case isn't a bad thing. I just felt like it was more important to round out the other aspects of the island and its connection to Ghol-Gan.
My additional two cents,
--Neil
hmm, so the group is...... supposed to trust the word of CN Genie ("known for being the most unpredictable and capricious of the genies"), that she will stick around, and granting a wish each years hence ?
That explanation might have been clarified some more and.... given her opposites are probably not the most honourable of men.... the whole thing not really sounding very reasonable? Nevermind some unlucky guy in a four or five man party who will have to wait for years for his "reward".... *sigh*
As for the rum : the factor of it having been spiked by the Eel does not really come into it, right..... Nopes. Not really staged. Same as the Eel being able to enter and leave the castle unseen (he has the means to possibly do so - and so might the PCs in countering him ) With only part of the final event actually not happening. Same for the Nereid... Feels like a reasonable chemin-de-fer.
but thanks for the reply
...but thanks for the reply...
You're welcome? :-]
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Thanks for the reply everyone. I just wasn't sure if she was trying to fool them or what.
Thinking about it further, it does seem like she would be so grateful to be free from the ruins that she would uphold her promise to grant the wishes.
It does say in her description that she has almost lost hope of ever being freed.
The island is obviously but a single hex, but would start with a pier, castle and brothel (maybe).
And with allies and such, there should be a pretty heft start in gained BP.
BP and Plunder do appear to concern roughly the same value, and considering plunder is stolen.. perhaps plunder is 1d2 or even 1d3 BP each regarding its utilitarian value.
As for population, both retired crew and some.. err.. aquisitions (low hanging fruit) along the coast of fishermen and the like would be workable. Shanghaiing citizens :D
Noble villas = free captains home, and by that getting a crew of associated ships that continue to bring in products to the island.
And with 3 months to prepare, thats 1 month of exploration, pacification etc preparing the grounds... and after that 2 months * 4 weeks = 8 kingdom phases of growing the island.
And especially if employing certain allies and such as queen, councillor etc.. the players can thus unload the NPC rooster a bit, while getting a growing homebase and free themselves up for sailing the seas and hauling in ever more plunder (goods, inhabitants, coin..).
That ought to grant one rather hefty bonus to credibility when the pirate kings come to see mills, breweries, a wizards tower, inns, taverns, multiple ships, docks, a dozen houses etc etc (by really putting their 40+ points of plunder to work & competent officers)
If you wanted to use kingdom building rules on the island I would think anything that is not readily avaliable on the island would be much more expensive and hence add to the cost of many buildings. I heaven't read this yet but I would think it would be highly unlikely there would be a stone quarry on the island so shipping stone to the island which would be off a major trading route would be much more expensive then acquiring stone in kingmaker, hence any building requiring stone I would think would be at least x1.5 the cost if not x2 cost.
No shortage of lumber there (tiny forest by the fort -> approx 20.000 cubic meters) and close by islands have endlessly more. If anything accessing building materials should be easier via ship than hauling across endless plains.
The cut out dwellings of the cyclopses should show the rock there is usable and reasonably durable.
And if nothing else, there are always other alternatives aswell.
Magic allows for endless options, like lyres of building or wondorous item of stone walls at will, summoned creatures, beach- concrete etc etc etc..
The bigger problem is getting the population there. But i guess fame and if all else fails, shanghai-ing a population could work. Worked for tamerlane and samarkand atleast in history.
The other question is, what does a population eat on such a small island. Here i guess frequent inflow of looted food, some smallfarming in the backlands and a fishing fleet could be critical. Besides, fishermen make the historical basis for both crew on bigger ships aswell as a econic and technological foundation for a shipbuilding industry allowing for economy of scale. Case in point, alaska. Wasnt the gold or the oil that made alaska prosperous and a worthwile purchase at 5 million dollars, but the fishing.