Okay, so as mentioned in another thread in this area, I'm currently running Serpent Skull. My party managed to breech the Forbiddance and Antipathy spells (not without some pain) and get to the door. I put a Super High Level Arcane Lock Spell (TM) on the door to keep them out, but I went ahead and had some general Savith history info on the outside for rubbings and so forth. I also looked up some quick info on Savith to flesh that out.
All well and good. However, the party leader is a female fighter who uses a greatsword and the parallels between her and Savith are just too good not to play with. So I have her a haunt/dream about Savith, and have mildly implied that she might be the reincarnation of Savith (and yes, I know someone else here did that - saw the thread, read it, very cool).
Anyway, my party is VERY interested in this tomb, and I will only be able to hold them away from it for so long with "GM Bu!!$h!t Lock Spell" - particularly since my one PC thinks she might learn some great secret about herself within.
So - my first question: has anyone actually run Savith's Tomb as a dungeon. If so, what did you do with it? Huge dungeon? Just a couple of rooms? Traps? Monsters? Golem Guardians?
Cause I'm drawing a massive blank. I need ideas. Good ideas, bad ideas, conflicting ideas - anything to give me some inspiration. I liked the idea (mentioned in another thread) about golems based on Savith's companions, so I think I'll keep that, but I need more.
Also - and here's a big one - has anyone actually stated up Savith's sword? There was a discussion about it being not a greatsword (as shown in that one picture) but since my PC uses a greatsword, I want to stick with that. I figure that might have been her "back up" weapon for penetrating a particular kind of DR or something (and as a Fighter, she may well have had both heavy blades and light blades as Weapon Training categories).
Anyway, aside from Monsterous Humanoid Bane, any ideas? Is there a name for it (I assume that Eroeme was the copy's name, not the original's)? What about Savith's other equipment? Did anyone actually stat up Savith?
If you can answer any of these questions - or you just have musings, or interesting experiences from your game that kind of relate, or anything, please post. Just talking about it will help get my brain working.
Edit: Note: Yes, I realize the adventure states that her sword was destroyed. Balls to that - I want to give my PCs her actual sword. I probably should have mentioned that previously, but it slipped my mind that it would be an issue.
No one? Come on everyone, I could really use some ideas. Even if you just want to muse about how you ran Savith's Tomb, it would really help me.
Or about how your GM ran it, if you were a player and not the GM.
Oh, another question for anyone who has any idea...
In the Sanctum of the Serpent God, on page 10, it says to "overcome his legendary regenerative powers, Savith wielded a legendary, intelligent magic sword."
Later, on page 54, it says "Regeneration (Ex): No form of attack can suppress Ydersius's regeneration"
So did the item on page 10 just mean that she was doing more than 30 damage per round? Or did Ydersius's regeneration get better? Or did someone screw up and forget to include a suppression condition?
Thoughts?
On the tomb: what level are your players? There is the ever famous Mud Sorcerer's Tomb by Mike Shel in Dungeon #37/#138 for APL ~13 (but D&D3.x).
Another idea would be to adapt
Ruyan.
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Well first you have to remember that (if I remember correctly) Savith's Tomb is called out in Dungeons of Golarion as a potential megadungeon. That means the thing is probably HUGE... 6 or 7 levels wouldn't be unreasonable. And this kinda makes sense. The Azlanti and Serpentfolk were in a war for the surface world and Savith killed their enemy's god. Pretty darn big deal and thus she'd have a large tomb/memorial for someone of her caliber.
Now for my own campaign, I went with the "you can't get in" approach and metagame told my players that they wouldn't be able to get in any time soon. They grumbled but were cool with it. They're good about understanding there are things in the world just too tough for them to crack after all.
BUT! when I'm usually faced with coming up with a dungeon all on my own, I immediately jump back to my 20+ years of D&D stuff and think "What can I re-skin as Savith's tomb?" Now my own personal favorite in the "megadungeon" category has been Ruins of Greyhawk, a 2nd ed product. It's 3 separate towers each 6-9 levels and built by an archmage, but it might give you a good start.
Looking at Ruins of Greyhawk again, the Tower of War might make for some decent dungeon levels to throw under the upper buildings of Savith's Tomb. Have the upper complex basically a huge cathedral. You could even download blueprints of any of our modern day cathedrals to give you a basic floorplan... but I'd imagine the upper levels would be fairly empty in modern day Golarion. Not too many guardians or traps since the ground floor would be for the layperson coming to pay respects and hold services for the fallen hero. Maybe a few valuable babbles or artifacts, but build up the awe and creep factor.
Then if they penetrate down into the crypt levels, that's when you start using the dungeon levels. I picked the Tower of War because in levels 5/6 of that publication there's an area where Duegar have broken into the tower and started setting up operations. This just strikes me as a great area for serpentfolk coming up from the Darklands below to have broken into Savith's Tomb. It would be pretty cool to have a few levels with serpentfolk battling against the guardians left behind.
I believe there's even a few levels with big arenas and training areas which you could roll over to under the tomb as well. Maybe some of the crypt areas under the tombs were used to train other warriors after Savith's fall?
Now of course all the 2nd ed monsters would have to be changed to their PFRPG equivalents (if you're using the mod as published), but it might be a start for you. Shrug. And again, if you go with the serpentfolk have broken in approach, you can change many of the intelligent adversaries to serpentfolk. Or -if you think your players will get tired of fighting the snakemen- you can stick with the Duegar. Maybe they're being paid off by the serpentfolk below in Ilmurea to break in and desecrate Savith's tomb?
Oh, as for Savith's sword and Ydersius's regeneration, I see that more as a mythic property of her intelligent sword. Cancels ALL regeneration. You could easily say that overcomes Ydersius's resistance to anything overcoming his regen.
Hope that might have given you a few ideas!
Well first you have to remember that (if I remember correctly) Savith's Tomb is called out in Dungeons of Golarion as a potential megadungeon.
It is? **runs and grabs Dungeons of Golarion** Oh, you're right! And speaking of ideas **flips through Dungeons of Golarion again**
Now my own personal favorite in the "megadungeon" category has been Ruins of Greyhawk, a 2nd ed product. It's 3 separate towers each 6-9 levels and built by an archmage, but it might give you a good start.
Unfortunately, already been there, done that. I ran it AS the Ruins of Greyhawk for this same group not all that long ago.
Also, as it happens (and as Dungeons of Golarion reminds me) back when I had the Whispering Tyrant reawaken, and before Dungeons of Golarions was published, I used Castle Ravenloft (the whole 8 story mega dungeon) as Gallowspire. Later, when I got DoG, I was rather amused with some of the similarities - particularly in the Tyrant's Rest area.
Anyway, even if it is supposed to be a mega dungeon, I don't think we really have time for something that extensive in the middle of the game. Besides, Saventh-Yhi and the Vaults AND Ilumeria beneath are already kind of a mega-dungeon.
However, I do want to thank you - you gave me some good ideas about places to look for inspiration. I completely forgot about Dungeons of Golarion, and that has some great stuff in it.
Also... (curse the inability to quote more than once person at once)...
On the tomb: what level are your players? There is the ever famous Mud Sorcerer's Tomb by Mike Shel in Dungeon #37/#138 for APL ~13 (but D&D3.x).
Another idea would be to adapt ** spoiler omitted **Ruyan.
I don't have Dungeon #138 sadly. I might have a friend who does - I'll have to check.
However, the Tomb mentioned in your spoiler actually looks pretty good - at least mapwise. I'd have to alter a lot (that's already a little low on the CR for my party, and I was planning to wait until after the Vaults - and possibly party way through part 5 or even part 6 to bring it in) but there are some good ideas there. With some of the inspiration I got above, and possibly some from Mud Sorcerer if I can find it, I might be able to work something out.
Thank you as well.
Oh, and one other thought - aside from guardian golems, any thoughts on thematic monsters? What did the Azlanti like to use for tomb guardians?
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I'm doing something very similar in my game. One of the PCs is a Magus wielding a Blackblade. My idea is that Savith's sword was smuggled out of Saventh-Yhi before (or during) its collapse by some religious order who worshiped Savith. It was then handed down through the generations before finally ending up in the hands of the Magus, who now has no idea what he is wielding. As the PCs explore the city and the vaults underneath, the sword will grow in power (following the rules of Blackblades). They might discover Savith's tomb, but won't be able to enter yet. Eventually (probably towards the end of Thousand Fangs), they will learn that the Blackblade is indeed Savith's sword and is the key to defeating Ydersius once again. They'll then have to enter Savith's tomb to unlock the final powers of the sword (I like Jenner2057's regen cancelling idea) before proceeding to the final confrontation.
Anyway, that's my story. Similar enough to your own that I'll be keeping an eye on this thread! :D
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Unfortunately, already been there, done that. I ran it AS the Ruins of Greyhawk for this same group not all that long ago.
Also, as it happens (and as Dungeons of Golarion reminds me) back when I had the Whispering Tyrant reawaken, and before Dungeons of Golarions was published, I used Castle Ravenloft (the whole 8 story mega dungeon) as Gallowspire. Later, when I got DoG, I was rather amused with some of the similarities - particularly in the Tyrant's Rest area.
Cool! You nailed probably two of my favorite huge dungeons of all time: Ruins of Greyhawk and Castle Ravenloft. Ah... years of group after group of TPK after TPK... lol. Good times. But I digress...
Anyway, even if it is supposed to be a mega dungeon, I don't think we really have time for something that extensive in the middle of the game. Besides, Saventh-Yhi and the Vaults AND Ilumeria beneath are already kind of a mega-dungeon.
Totally get it and agree with you completely. But I did have another crazy idea if you want to hold off on Savith's Tomb until Book 6.
What if you just move the Hunter's Maze and make it Savith's Tomb?
To me the Hunter's Maze feels tacked on anyway and you just need a to answer a few questions...
1) Why all the crazy twisting tunnels? Well you change the twisting tunnels to worked stone passages. And they're twisting because obviously this sect of Azlanti priests that intured Savith believed that the twisting passages prevented evil ghosts from reaching and corrupting their beloved hero's body. (You can find this bit of lore as a Mystery/Discovery Point in Saventh-Yhi if you want).
2) Why the heck is the place filled with urdephan? Ah... a tougher one to answer. Well, you see when the Azlanti left a garrison in Ilmurea to watch over the defeated serpentfolk (the garrison that eventually becaume the morlocks) they also left a scrying/teleport device. This device (or portal even) led from Savith's tomb down to Ilmurea so her soul could always keep watch over her hated enemy. This device was lost when the garrison was cut off during Earthfall.
Flash forward to when the serpentfolk awake and cut off half of Izon's urdephan forces as they retake the city. The isolated half of the army, under Valglaunt, finds the device and uses it to escape the serpentfolk. Unfortunately they now find themselves trapped inside Savith's tomb. They've been corrupting the place in their worship of the Horseman of Famine, but still can't get into Savith's resting place because...
3) What about General Aveshai? Well in this case he is just left in stasis guarding Savith's body. You can also change Eroeme to Savith's sword instead of Aveshai's copy (may want to up the power a bit).
Just some random thoughts I came up with. Wouldn't change the XP/level curve of the adventure this way by adding an extra dungeon (you're just moving the location of one) and solves the problem of the Hunter's Maze having a "tacked on" feel from the get go.
Shrug. Just a thought.
However, the Tomb mentioned in your spoiler actually looks pretty good - at least mapwise. I'd have to alter a lot (that's already a little low on the CR for my party.
You could also grab the 6 player conversion in the KM forum to up the CR.
(Still) no idea for thematic guardians, sorry.
Ruyan.
Cool! You nailed probably two of my favorite huge dungeons of all time: Ruins of Greyhawk and Castle Ravenloft. Ah... years of group after group of TPK after TPK... lol. Good times. But I digress...
Castle Ravenloft is such a good dungeon. I had a ton of fun running that as Gallowspire. I used the 3.5 update of Castle Ravenloft as the basis, but I needed to up the Challenge Rating to CR 20ish to challenge my very high level party. I think I had the Whispering Tyrant CR 30 - 25 level necromancer and 5 levels of various Lich upgrades. Breath of Life and True Resurrection got some use that dungeon.
Oh - and Arazni was there too as an additional boss fight. She got summoned up by Tar Baphon after the WT was reborn. I went for a very twisted romantic thing between her and Tar Baphon. Good times.
What if you just move the Hunter's Maze and make it Savith's Tomb?
Huh. That's... huh. I was thinking of having it chain that they went to the Hunter's Maze, and then General Aveshai tells them about the sword being necessary for the Regen, but he doesn't know where it is, but since the party knows about the tomb, they will hopefully think to go there on his own.
1) Why all the crazy twisting tunnels? Well you change the twisting tunnels to worked stone passages. And they're twisting because obviously this sect of Azlanti priests that intured Savith believed that the twisting passages prevented evil ghosts from reaching and corrupting their beloved hero's body.
Or I could straighten some of them out and turn some of the hallways into stairs, and make it spiral downward. Her tomb is a 300 foot tall tower - it would make sense if it is on several floors.
2) Why the heck is the place filled with urdephan? Flash forward to when the serpentfolk awake and cut off half of Izon's urdephan forces as they retake the city. The isolated half of the army, under Valglaunt, finds the device and uses it to escape the serpentfolk. Unfortunately they now find themselves trapped inside Savith's tomb. They've been corrupting the place in their worship of the Horseman of Famine, but still can't get into Savith's resting place because...
That would do well to provide a consistent flavor to the area. Also it would remove the need to come up with Azlanti themed monsters since they'd have been replaced with urdephans and daemons. Hmmm...
3) What about General Aveshai? Well in this case he is just left in stasis guarding Savith's body. You can also change Eroeme to Savith's sword instead of Aveshai's copy (may want to up the power a bit).
Actually, due to a minor lore error on my part, I've already revealed that Savith's sword is called Eroeme. So there's that. I was planning to replace Eroeme with just a normal +2 mithril greatsword, and then have 'Eroeme' in the tomb.
Just some random thoughts I came up with. Wouldn't change the XP/level curve of the adventure this way by adding an extra dungeon (you're just moving the location of one) and solves the problem of the Hunter's Maze having a "tacked on" feel from the get go.
Shrug. Just a thought.
Good thought. Very good thought.
I'm not overly worried about the XP level issue - I've already made some alterations that have caused some XP wobbling. Mostly due to the fact that some of the enemies in part 3 were too weak to threaten the party, so they needed an upgrade. Also due to the fact that the Paranoia thing wasn't fun, so after the first bout I just dropped that issue entirely.
Still... another option (particularly if I want to keep both dungeons) would be to significantly shorten the Hunter's Maze, cutting it back to just it's most interesting encounters, and then "spending" that XP on Savith's tomb.
Hmm.
On the... first hand (?), it might actually make more sense if the "legendary weapon" was in Savith's tomb rather than some random-ass place. And maybe the general isn't there to guard Savith, but was there to stop the Serpentfolk infiltrator from raising Savith as undead (and thus the story of him killing the traitor but being Stasised would still hold up)
I'm torn. I like this idea. A lot. But I've also taken a liking to Armag's Tomb as a map.
... although there's nothing saying I could use the map from Armag's Tomb and the encounters from the Hunter's Maze....
**grins**
This is exactly what I needed! Good ideas that leave me with too many good options rather than too few.
Thank you once again - you've helped me a lot!
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I ran it as a Dungeon. It wasn't huge, but it was decent sized.
I had a silver dragon in stasis guarding Savinth's main treasure horde. I had several traps. I had several Azlanti warriors also in stasis as guardians, and a summoned angel from an altar. The PCs ended up having to make some tough morale decisions- fighting primarily good aligned creatures, but in the end they were pretty mercenary. I think the dwarf wizard ended up cooking up the silver dragon afterwards.
Here's my notes. However, I was running the game using a homebrewed version of the Dragon Age system, but you might still find a few ideas to mine. I might be able to scan the maps I made for you if you like what you see. It's a bit hard to get a sense of the layout without them, and the notes were intended for my own use not an audience.
Savinth’s Crypt
The crypt is built on top of a massive rocky bluff that has no stairs or means of scaling it without flight or climbing. The exterior portion of the tomb is a large rectangular building that protrudes from the top of the great boulder. A large wide staircase leads up to the entrance.
A separate tower with no stairs and a single entrance at the top contains a gong. If the gong is sounded the ramp in the main tomb is lowered, the water drained out of the fountain.
Area #1 (Savinth’s Memorial): Beautiful marble room features a large rectangular pool of water, colums, alcoves with statues of Savinth’s honour guard, and a false sarcophagi of Saint Savinth herself. Peaceful, mournful musical plays in the chamber, but there is no sign of its source (it is a magical effect). If the gong is sounded a ramp opens and the pool of water drains out into a trap door at the bottom of the ramp. The corpses of two long dead Charau-ka can be found here (They were killed by the elemental when they touched the sarcophagi and actvitated)
Encounter: The false sarcophagi has no corpse inside, but touching the sarcophagus triggers a magical ward that causes the crypt itself to melt into mud and reform as a clay golem, which proceeds to attack the individual who touched the sarcophagi. It ignores all other foes, as much as possible and tries to hunt down the offender. It will not pursue the offender out of the room. If it kills the offender it returns to its original form in its original location. If it drives the offender out of the temple, it will also return to its original form after 1 hour of standing guard, waiting for the offender to return. If it is destroyed by magic it is in fact banished from the material plane, leaving no trace of it behind.
The wall behind Savinth’s crypt has the following script written on it:
Here lies Saint Savinth the Serpent Slayer, the most noble of all Azlanti. May she ever rest in peace. May she forever be remembered for her sacrifice and her heroic deeds. She has broken the Serpent Empire and slain their tyrant god, and for that she deserves out eternal gratitude and respect.
Area #2 (Gong Tower): The top of this tower holds a room with an ancient gong preserved by magic inside. Hitting the gong with its mallet is the secret to lowering the ramp in the pool in area #1, which in turn allows access to the true crypt. Getting up to the top of the tower is challenge because the wall are sheer and smooth and the tower is 100’ high. There is however a set of hand/foot holds carved into one side of the tower that leads all the way to the top. Unfortunately, the top of this tower has become the home of trio of gargoyles. The creatures stay in their stone form during the day, surveying the area, and at night they go out to hunt and kill. However, if they notice anyone climbing the tower they will awaken and attack.
The gong can immediately be used because the mallet is hidden in a small recess in the floor that can be accessed by lifting the flagstone underneath the gong. The mallet is stored in a beautifully carved stone box warded with preservative magic that has prevented the mallet from deteriorating.
Encounter: 3 gargoyles. The gargoyles wait until their victim(s) is halfway up the tower before attacking. They try to dislodge any climbers.
Treasure: The gargoyles have discovered the secret cubby beneath the gong and have lifted up the flagstone that hides it. Inside the cubby they have stashed the loot they have accumulated. In addition the mallet for the gong still sits in its stone box. The treasure they have accumulated consists of an old leather sack holding 215 gp and 900 sp, 5 gems (100, 50, 50, 50, 50= 300 gp total), a hand mirror trimmed with gold (150 gp), a platinum starburst pendant (200 gp), and a whetstone with arcane runes etched in it.
Magical Whetstone: If a blade is sharpened for 30 minutes with this stone it gains a +1 to its PR for until the next sunset. This effect can be applied to multiple blades as long as each blade is sharpened for 30 minutes, but it can only be applied a single time to one blade (multiple sharpenings do not stack).
Falling Damage: 10’- 2d6 (P) stamina + 1 wound. Each additional 10’- +3d6 (P) stamina +1d6 wounds. Example a 50’ fall = 14d6 (P) stamina + 4d6+1 wounds.
Savinth’s Tomb:
Area #1, The hall of frescos: Contains a long hallway with a mural depicting Savinth’s early life.
Mural Scene #1: Savinth left in a basket as a baby in front of a monastery.
Mural Scene #2: The abbot of the monastery with her before the altar praying for guidance, and an angel appearing and telling him that the paladins must keep her and raise her as their own.
Mural Scene #3: The abbot holding Savinth and telling his fellow paladins that she must stay and be raised among them.
Mural Scene #4: Savinth as a young girl besting a man in a wrestling match and earning respect of the monastery’s paladins.
Mural Scene #5: Savinth training in weapons and horsemanship
Mural Scene #6: Savinth at the monestary’s altar finding her own faith and the angel speaking to her.
Scene #7: Savinth riding into her first battle beside her fellow knights. She is slaying serpent folk raiders form horseback. The raiders are pouring out from a cave.
Scene #8: Savinth being knighted by the abbot. Angel is watching.
Area #2, The pit of Mist:
Area #3, The dragon trophy room:
Area #4, The Balcony of the Serpent War: The frescoes that surround this balcony depict scenes of Savinth leading Azlanti armies against the Serpentfolk.
Scene #1: shows her helping to defend a siege against a human city.
Scene #2: Serpentfolk fleeing back into caverns.
Scene #3: A fleet of ships sailing across the ocean
Scene #4: Azlanti armies fighting serpent folk in the jungles and Serpentfolk jungle cities.
Scene #5: Savinth leading an Azlanti army into a big valley and fighting their way into a Serpentfolk fortress
Scene #6: Serpentfolk being pursued into caves and tunnels beneath the earth.
Scene #7: Azlanti army fighting Serpentfolk in an underground Serpentfolk city.
Scene #8: A magically enlarged Savinth fighting Ydersius over top a pit of magma.
Area #5, The Chapel to the Bahamut and Crypt of Heroes:
Encounter: The crypt is defended by an angel of retribution and 8 Azlanti warriors. When they enter the chamber the angel arises from the altar and calls out to the PCs in a cold unearthly voice.
“Halt, you have violated the sanctity of the resting place of Saint Savinth the Serpentslayer. Turn back now or face destruction.”
At this point the angel clangs its twin swords together and the Azlanti warriors wake up from their eternal slumber and rise up from their stone plinths and attack with their enchanted greatswords. They attempt to disarm heroes and knock them off the balcony. The Angel flies about the chamber attacking from a distance with its fear and wing shards. It will allow the Azlanti warriors to do most of the melee fighting, but it will join in the battle if the heroes start to gain the upper hand.
Area Features: The plinths in the room are enchanted with powerful creation magic that causes anyone who lays on one to enter a stasis.
There is a statue of Savinth at the bottom portion of the room. The statue shows her standing with her sword pointed towards the staircase. It can be rotated to point towards different sets of bronze double doors in the room, which allows the doors to be opened when her sword is pointed to the door. The Azlanti magic that protects them prevents them from being opened if the statue is not pointed towards them. Each set of doors is made of bronze and has intricate floral designs sculpted into it.
Treasure: Azlanti armour and swords.
Area #6, The Dragon’s Den and Treasury:
Area Features: The treasury has two large, cylindrical stone platforms. The treasure platform is 20’ high and the dragon’s platform is 30’ high. A stairs makes it way up to the treasure platform. On top of the treasure platform is 10’ diameter circle carved into the floor. It is 2’ deep. Sitting inside the circle is Savinth’s treasure horde.
Treasure:
• 9 Bronze coffers holding at total of: 300 pp, 9000 gp, 15000 sp, and gems and jewelry worth 18000 gp.
• Bracers of Divine Health
• Serpent Slayer Sword
Area #7, The Second false Tomb: This chamber holds an elaborate Sarcophagus with a mummified corpse in it. That claims to be the resting place of Savinth. Serene and mournful music magically plays in this tomb. The walls have a series of well preserved frescoes on them.
Fresco #1: Shows Savinth in final battle with Ydersius. Ydersius appears as a giant serpent with arms. She is clearly magically enlarged, several dead Azlanti warriors and serpentfolk are arrayed on the ground near the fight. The fight itself seems to be taking place in a cavern and Savinth in striking a killing blow with a greatsword that is severing the head of the serpent god.
Fresco #2: Shows Savinth kicking the massive serpent god’s head into a lake of magma. Behind her the serpent god’s body continues to writhe around with blood spewing out of its neck.
Fresco #3: Savinth succumbs to her own wounds and falls to the ground, dropping her sword. Angels sound trumpets and cry in the background.
Fresco #4: Savinth’s is body is carried away by a wizard riding a silver dragon. Her body looks like it has returned to normal size.
Fresco #5: Savinth is laid out on an altar. The silver dragon watches over her and dozens of Azlanti knights are solemly bowing down on one knee to show their respects.
Area #8, The Crypt of the Magus: This chamber contains crypt of one of Savinth’s most loyal allies and the architect of her tomb. A short hallway warded by magical traps leads to the crypt.
Lightning Trapped Hall: The floor of the hallway is covered with a magical sheet of ice that makes it very slippery TN #11 Coordination (Balance) to move half speed across, #TN 13 Coordination (Balance) to move normal move rate across, and #TN 17 to run across. A character who fails falls prone.
Metal rods stick out of the walls. Lightning Bolts regularly jump seemingly randomly from rod to rod through the hall. Each round a character is in the hall, he must make a #TN 15 Coordination (Dodge) or be hit by a lightning bolt. Anyone hit by a lightning bolt must then make a #TN 15 Fortitude (Fortitude Defence) test. On a success the character takes 2d6+5 (P) damage +1 wound. On a failure the character takes 5d6+5 (P) damage +1d3 wounds. Any character hit by a lightning bolt must make a #TN 15 Coordination (Balance) test or fall prone due to the slippery floor. Characters who wish to proceed will need to make it across the slippery floor as quickly as possible, so as to avoid being slaughtered by lightning bolts.
Sarcophagus Trap: The elaborate stone sarcophagus in the middle of the chamber holds the magically preserved body of the Talias the Magus. Anyone who touches are tampers with this sarcophagus bursts into flame.
Treasures of Magus: Talias the Magus has been buried with several of his magic items. They include: Azlanti Ring of the Magi, and Staff of the Archmage.
Frescos:
Area #9, Hall of Purple Death: This hallway leads to the true tomb. The doors to the hall are hidden by a secret door that can be accessed by pushing a secret button concealed in the relief sculpture of the altar in area #5, at which point a the back wall of the chapel alcove splits open and reveals a landing and a set of stairs leading down.
The hallway is sunken and 20’ deep. The bottom of the pit is filled with about 2’ of purple powder, which is a rare and dangerous mineral. If the powder is disturbed it billows up into a deadly cloud of purple dust that takes many hours to settle. The dust cloud blocks sight and is toxic to inhale. Characters caught in the dust must make a #TN 16 Fortitude (Poison Resistance) test each round they are in the dust or take 1d6+5 (P) stamina damage. Any character who falls unconscious in the dust begins making death saves at #TN 15.
A series of pillars rise up out the powder. The tops of the pillars are flat and characters can leap from pillar to pillar to navigate the hall. The primary challenge is that some pillars are trapped. The trapped pillars are designed to collapse when a character jumps onto them, which also results in the toxic powder to billow up in a deadly dust cloud everywhere in a 15’ (3 square) radius from the fallen pillar. A character that lands on a pillar that is rigged to collapse, can attempt to leap from it to another pillar as it crumbles. Two checks are required to succeed at this. The first is a #TN 13 Coordination (Initiative) test to react fast enough, and the second is a Athletics (Jumping) test. The #TN for the jumping test varies depending on how far away the pillar is that the characters is trying to leap to. Once the powder has been disturbed it takes 20 minutes for the dust to settle enough that a character can keep attempting to leap across the pillars without disturbing it.
Area #10, The true Tomb: This area contains Savinth’s true tomb. The frescoes on these walls show Savinth standing beside Bahamut the silver dragon up in heaven with a host of angels, looking down on the glory of the Azlanti Empire.
The elaborate sarcophagus contains Savinth’s corpse attired in her battered plate armour holding her greatsword, which is pitted with acid (from the blood of the Serpent God).
Serene and mournful music plays magically through the crypt.
Sarcophagus Wards: The sarcophagus is protected by a magical ward that is triggered when anyone tampers with the sarcophagus. When the ward is triggered there is a roar of divine fury as a Close burst 5 blast of radiant fire explodes from the sarcophagus causing 6d6+10 (P) radiant stamina damage and 3d6 wounds. Anyone who is killed by this divine fire has their body incinerated.
If the ward on the crypt is survived, then the mortar the holds the lid on the sarcophagus can be chipped away and the lip can be removed
Curse: Anyone who removes the lid of the sarcophagus or is involved in its removal, as well as anyone who disturbs Savinth’s rest is placed under a curse by Bahamut. Upon the character’s death his soul will be sent to the languish in the Lower Planes and the character finds himself branded on the forehead with a marking that the character cannot remove. This marking indicates to followers of Bahamut that the PC has committed a terrible offence against the god, and should be killed on sight. Fortunately, for the PCs there are no longer many followers of Bahamut, but the ones that do still exist will recognize the symbol and attempt to kill the heroes. Since many of his followers are dragon born and metallic dragons, this could still pose a danger to the heroes.
Mural Scene #1: Savinth left in a basket as a baby in front of a monastery.
Mural Scene #2: The abbot of the monastery with her before the altar praying for guidance, and an angel appearing and telling him that the paladins must keep her and raise her as their own.
Mural Scene #3: The abbot holding Savinth and telling his fellow paladins that she must stay and be raised among them.
Mural Scene #4: Savinth as a young girl besting a man in a wrestling match and earning respect of the monastery’s paladins.
Mural Scene #5: Savinth training in weapons and horsemanship
Mural Scene #6: Savinth at the monestary’s altar finding her own faith and the angel speaking to her.
Scene #7: Savinth riding into her first battle beside her fellow knights. She is slaying serpent folk raiders form horseback. The raiders are pouring out from a cave.
Scene #8: Savinth being knighted by the abbot. Angel is watching.
Damn! That was a detailed adventure - particularly the murals (quoted above). Very awesome!
I do have a question for you though - it seems like the Savith in your story is a Paladin.
Is that canon, or is that something you made up?
Either way, what god was she a Paladin of? If there was a monestary, then the paladins must have been of a specific religious order, but I didn't see any mention of it (I might have missed it though, since I read quickly, at work).
I will be stealing some of this. Depending on your answers I may yoink more or less.
And thanks for sharing this. Again, very awesome!
I had her as paladin or maybe a fighter/cleric. Either way I decided that she was sort of hero saint in the eyes of the Azlanti people. I was basing it in my homebrew world, so she was a paladin of Bahamut in that. The point I wanted to make was that heroes were essentially raiding the tomb of a truly renowned hero. The silver dragon in the tomb was a servant of Bahamut who agreed to guard the treasure donated to Savinth in her honor out of respect for her. The dragon was preserved under a dome of stasis energy, so when the heroes walked into the room with the treasure horde and touched the treasure it was unleashed on them to defend it- accusing them of being heathen tomb raiders,which was essentially the truth.
There was an altar room to Bahamut that had several Azlanti knights, former members of her honor guard (also in stasis) ready to defend her tomb along with the angel.
I really played up the idea of her being a renowned hero of the Azlanti people and making the heroes have to decide whether they were willing to plunder the tomb.
I really played up the idea of her being a renowned hero of the Azlanti people and making the heroes have to decide whether they were willing to plunder the tomb.
I see. Whereas I'm going in the "this sword is yours - it has been waiting for you to claim it for 11,000 years" direction instead.
So they never give a canon class for her then? Or deity?
Someone else (in another thread) had her associated with Desna, since she was one of the major Azlanti gods.
I was wondering if anyone else connected her with any of the other Azlanti gods.
Bahamut isn't a bad match, by any means, although I'm guessing you were running in Greyhawk or somewhere similar.
There was a discussion about it being not a greatsword (as shown in that one picture) but since my PC uses a greatsword, I want to stick with that.
Excuse me... what is this picture you are referring? I ask because I was wondering if there is any picture of Savith anywhere, and this caught my eye...
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Excuse me... what is this picture you are referring? I ask because I was wondering if there is any picture of Savith anywhere, and this caught my eye...
Serpent Skull book 6, pg 60. Under continuing the adventure.
Picture of an Azlanti woman labeled "Savith." And she's holding a more shortish sword one handed... most likely not a greatsword.
Excuse me... what is this picture you are referring? I ask because I was wondering if there is any picture of Savith anywhere, and this caught my eye...Serpent Skull book 6, pg 60. Under continuing the adventure.
Picture of an Azlanti woman labeled "Savith." And she's holding a more shortish sword one handed... most likely not a greatsword.
That's odd now that I think about it, because I'm pretty sure another book labeled it specifically as a greatsword.
Personally, I'm going to save Savith's crypt for when/if my players decide to continue on after the campaign has been beaten. The clues to 'tie up loose ends' (and get the sword to help them do so) will be inside the crypt. As for the sword's size, I'll make it a shapeshifting sword so that it will be whatever type fits the players the best.
In my campaign Savith is a hell knight. The order of the coil is tasked with preserving the tombs sanctity.
Isn't she way before Cheliax's time? How did you square that?
So they never give a canon class for her then? Or deity?
I'm not sure if it's 100% canon or not (and certainly the good folks at Paizo can change such things to match their needs) but I've always found she's come across as a Mythic Fighter. And I'm pretty sure one of the developers or directors has said as much (though don't quote me on that).
I am having her be the first, the before Hellknight that is Hellknight. I have this theory that Savith (and Azlant) are Lawful Neutral. I see her as this warrior brought up on the foundation of order above all and as she rises through the ranks begins forming a following. Soon a knight hood springs up around Enforcing order on the rest of the world and the war with the Serpents begins.
As they fight the serpents the Coils of Ydersius show up and she established the first sub order in the Order of the Coil. The order of the Coil focus on Great Axe(Used to take heads), Fire (The lava) and Poison (That which killed Savith)
As time went on the Orders continued, even through the fall, and so eventually the principles ended up forming the Hellknights. Remember the Hellknights formed before Asmodeus's rise in Cheliax.
I feel the Hellknights have been corrupted from the original purpose a bit, but the idea of "I'm the law" knight fits Savith excellently.
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I also have a magus with a black blade in my campaign. It's a battle-axe that was forged during the Azlanti vs. serpentfolk war, before Earthfall, specifically to fight serpentfolk. So, my suggestion is to have Savith's blade made of Elysian Bronze, which provides attack and damage against magical beasts and monstrous humanoids. It's just an added bit of flavor.
Don't forget that the weapon will be chock full of information about ancient history that will be very helpful for the players. Mete it out carefully.
I have only one suggestion on the tomb. You might want to use bits of the tomb from "Curse of the Lady's Light" from Shattered Star. There's a devious trap that I won't spoil, though you might have already played it.
My players are also flustered they can't explore the tomb. My plan is to use it as a follow on to the campaign. If they succeed with the goal of the AP then it will be used as part of a follow on to destroy the big baddy once and for all. If they fail, it will be part of the lets try again follow on lol.
In either case I'm going to ask some of my GM buddies who don't play in our campaign to each design or submit a level.