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The purpose of this thread is to discuss the possibility of incorporating the Horns of Naraga (Artifacts and Legends, pg 28) into the Carrion Crown AP as a central part of the plot, possibly in conjunction with other changes to the "core" storyline. As such, it is intended for DM use and will contain spoilers about the general plot of the Adventure Path and specific campaigns that may differ from the core storyline in important regards. Player reference to this thread is ill-advised.
So. Now that that's out of the way.
The Horns of Naraga are a powerful artifact created by Tar-Baphon before his battle with Aroden on the Isle of Terror and his subsequent ascent into Lichdom. Forged from the bone fragments of a powerful Ravener from the Isle of Terror, the Horns were worn as a headpiece throughout Tar-Baphon's reign and even into his imprisonment in Gallowspire, where they are still locked away with the Whispering Tyrant. When worn they allow the wearer to sap life force from any living creature they touch, resist damage from positive energy, prevent damage from acid, and see in mundane and magical darkness. In addition, the Horns of Naraga can take the form of an ancient black dragon under the control of the wearer for an hour at a time- a fine addition to the final battle for those who wanted Marrowgarth to participate but felt it was a little ham-handed.
Kind of a great thing to have, really. Honestly, just the write-up on the Horns' history is worth the price of Artifacts and Legends; buy it, read it, learn it, love it.
So how can we get this wonderful piece of necromantic power into our Carrion Crown campaigns? The main issue seems to be that access to the Horns implies that our BBEG was able to breach Gallowspire, retrieve the artifact, and- most impressively- make it out alive. I'm sure that some factions within the Whispering Way would not be too excited about this presumption of power and authority- though perhaps would bow to it anyway- and it may help explain how AA was able to position himself in the organization so quickly, without even having undergone a transformation into undeath.
I'll save my personal campaign alterations for another post, but I'd love to hear some suggestions- especially after the amazing work that came out of the Adivion Adrissant thread.
Well I have included the Horns of Naraga except I warped it a little. In my campaign one of the PCs got access to the Deck of Harrowed tales from the module "the Harrowing". But died before a card was pulled. Due to the Night Harrow's (Whispering Way rival party - see rival guide) pursuing, they collected the deck and completed the adventure, only they turned the entire Harrowing realm into undead realm. Being able to now warp the Harrowed realm the Night Harrows can now call upon Zassrion, the patchwork lord through the Deck of Harrowing tales for a short time. I have changed Zassrion into a CR 14 Night dragon (see Mythic Menagerie -Kingdom of the Grave)
In the Dungeons of Golarion it says;
1) The Great Seal prevents planar travel or teleportation as a means of exiting the prison (does not include entering). Such effects function normally when the departure and arrival points are both within areas of Gallowspires dungeon beyond the Great Seal itself, but do not allow travel beyond that.
2) Conjuration effects that call or summon creatures function normally within the dungeon, save that creatures called into the dungeon cannot then leave, a surprise that outsiders greet with rage once they are freed of their obligations to the spellcaster that called or summoned them.
3) The Great Seal protects Gallowspires dungeon from being altered by physical or mortal magic means. Which means the interior walls/gates cannot be manipulated.
Tar-Baphon tried to teleport, planar travel out, dig out magically/physically. All of which did not work. In his frustration he destroyed the interior of the lower levels of the dungeon (behind the great seal).
There are numerous ways the Horns of Narga could be set free;
1) Iliamaniss (NE elf vampire druid) whom had been scheming for 100 years, managed to trick Shadnusaptera (LN sphinx oracle 12 whom protects the warded great seal door/area) by entering the great seal with a fragment piece of the shield of Aroden. Either by stealing one from Vigil or locating Tar-Baphons coporeal body and retrieving the fragment imbeded in his hand which destroyed the tyrants body. The fragment was enough also to trick the Great Seal and the Sphinx to ignore the Vampires presence. How the vampire can hold the object without being consumed like Tar-Baphon is another story. Furthermore Tar-Baphon not taking the object an trying to leave himself is another (maybe he has a fear of the shield because it destroyed him).
2) Overtime the Great seal has waned. The lesser seals may have been destroyed ("Hungry are the dead" module - has an example of a lesser seal, "City of Golden death" module - possibly another seal location etc). The seals like supernatural the TV series (http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/index.php?title=The_66_Seals) could have also been based upon Arodens love for the human race. Maybe the Carrion Crown broke a few of these seals (the attrocities committed in the Carrion Crown poem - Vrood Handout), or the Whispering way are trying to pervert the seals by corrupting humanity. Alternatively they collect the ingredients in the dark cults rituals to weaken the seal foothold on the tyrant. Now that the seals have been weakened enough Tar-Baphon tried to teleport out once more. However the magics prevented him from leaving but sent his helmet spiralling through various realms, nations or dimensions, in which it finally ended up in Adivions hands.
First off, thank you for responding! Your campaign sounds fantastic, and I'm glad you have some information to help me out! Given that outsiders cannot leave Gallowspire, do calling spells from outside the dungeon work to call the imprisoned outsider? If so, a tiefling or other Native Outsider could be the one who gets in, grabs the horns, and then is called back out by having an ally cast Planar Binding on them. Perhaps this is only possible because of the weakening/destruction of the Seals over time, as you mentioned. So, the person trying to get the horns would have a Tiefling ally Teleport into the tower after having stolen a shard of the Shield of Aroden from Vigil (this could be why there are Knights of Ozem in Virlych in the first place, seeking out the person who stole their holy artifact) and was then Planar Binding'd back out of Gallowspire once they had the Horns of Naraga by the their ally (who researched the True Name of the Tielfling). Then, turning on their ally, the Caller (presumable Adivion) would keep them in the Circle (or Soul Gem if they're particularly cruel) until they relinquished the Horns to them.
Lorrimor, however, is not dead; it is Kendra who died, trying to see what was going on at the prison (she is currently possessing one of the characters, though mostly to keep an eye on what is happening; the character has not realized this yet). Realizing that Adivion was beginning his quest for the Carrion Crown, Lorrimor used Sculpt Corpse on Kendra's body to make it appear to be his, while Polymorphing himself into his own daughter (with whom he knew Adivion was smitten) in order to keep a close eye on the Caliphasian noble. This way, Petros could spur Adivion to begin his plans in earnest by appearing to be dead and simultaneously use the beneficiaries of his Will (which he modified to include the party, capable adventurers he had met in life) to thwart Adrissant's plans. The goal is to permanently cripple the Whispering Way by drawing out their leadership (Vrood, Lucimar, the Liches in Renchurch, and Adivion), killing them, and then letting the weakened power structure collapse on itself. In my game Adivion himself is the heir to the Tyrant (the discovery of which spurred him to begin his quest for the Carrion Crown), not Galdana, but Galdana is heir to the Ustav line which must be used in creating the Carrion Crown (a connection to the Shrieking Sovereign's demise that brought Tar-Baphon to power). The Carrion Crown formula should work on Adivion if made properly, but Lorrimer intentionally mistranslated part of it from Whispers of the Immortal so that Adivion would become a Forsaken Lich if he ever managed to make it (Necril is a notoriously complicated language so the treachery went unnoticed and besides, Petros had helped decode the proper steps for several adherent's Lichdom and was thus well-trusted).
After the events in Ashes at Dawn, my players will be meeting with Adivion and his new wife, Kendra, for a fine dinner (they befriended him at Lorrimor's funeral) which will culminate in him escaping on Marrowgarth and leaving "Kendra" behind. Once the party leaves "Kendra" in a safe place (or fails to have her teleport with them), "she" will revert back into Petros who, knowing that the seals are at their weakest now that so much of the Carrion Crown has been completed, contacts his Tiefling assistant to finalize their plot. Phew. So. Lorrimor will be the person they have to face after defeating Adivion (my characters would not be fans of his massive deceptions) and it is he who will have stolen the Horns of Naraga with the aid of a Tielfling member of the Order, whom he now has trapped in a soul gem (in order to wear the Horns without suffering negative levels, he had to commit a wholly Evil act on someone who trusts him). For added effect, I think I will make Judge Daramid the Tiefling (she keeps her hair the way she does to hide her horns).