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Hi all - first, let me thank pretty much everyone here for great inspiration thus far for changes to my kingmaker campaign, especially DM_Dudemeister for his excellent additions to RRR.
My players have just finished up the main plotline of RRR, and I'd like to get some feedback from other GMs before continuing on with the next plot point I'd like to drop into the game: a truncated version of Realm of the Fellnight Queen. Currently, I've only dropped hints about Nyrissa, and as you'll see below, if I implement what I'm thinking, it's actually Rhoswen who's been manipulating the Stolen Lands so far. Basically, I'm looking for feedback on whether you guys think what I have plotted is feasible, and if you see any plot holes before I go on with it, because I can still revert to the traditional storyline at this point.
Relevant History:
In my history of the Stolen Lands, Nyrissa was once the consort of Count Ranalc, and she gave birth to a daughter (Rhoswen) long ago before even Starfall. A little while before Starfall occurred, Rhoswen noticed the elves of Kyonin begin searching for a new home (what would eventually become Sovyrian on Castrovel). Rhoswen brought the elves' activity to the attention of her parents, and they looked on as elves in what are the present-day Stolen Lands sought out a new home. They were intrigued by the idea of other worlds; in their corner of the First World, none had thought to look for realms beyond the readily apparent diversity in the First World around them.
From their observatory atop Talon Peak the elves scouted for possible locations of their new home, discovering not only Sovyrian, but also locations on Golarion’s Moon and on other worlds in Golarion's solar system. Now with several locations noted, the elves continued with phase two of their plans: to build a gateway to these worlds, and explore them for one hospitable to the elven people. It was on Candlemere Lake where the elves headed up this effort; a powerful confluence of ley lines on the lake proved to be essential for their world-spanning magic.
All the while, Nyrissa, Rhoswen, and Count Ranalc watched on. They even subtly guided the elves to pursue stranger and stranger vistas, fascinated with the surprising amount of variation the Material Plane could show. Candlemere thus became a testing ground for the elves’ interplanetary portal magic, and it is from here the elves explored the vistas spotted through their observatory, and also different planes - including the Shadow Plane and the First World. Eventually the elves explored Aucturn, the Stranger. When the connection with Aucturn was made, however, it drew the attention of the Lurker in the Threshold, Yog-Sothoth. (This is all inspired by DM_Dudemeister: link). The elves who were present at Candlemere when this occurred were enslaved by Elder Things sent through the portal, and retreated to the Talon Peak observatory to pursue unknowable goals. Elves not at Candlemere sensed the evil that had occurred there when they returned, and abandoned their survey of worlds—settling on Sovyrian as the destination of choice, and taking all of their research with them to Iadara to begin building the elf gate that would take them to their new home.
This left an opening for the fey. Each of them were interested in a different aspect of the elf gate: Rhoswen in the Dark Tapestry, Count Ranalc in the powers of the Shadow Plane, and Nyrissa in using the gate to peer through the mists of time itself. The fey faced a problem, however. Starfall had occurred on Golarion, and the night sky was obscured with dust. With the help of her parents, Rhoswen was able to bring a copy of the gate room on Candlemere Island whole cloth into the Fellnight Realm (essentially the prototype of Nyrissa's plan to bottle the Stolen Lands). From the dark of the Fellnight, the trio was able to gaze at the stars without interruption. For years they studied the darkness of the skies together, peering through ancient eons and using the portal to explore strange vistas.
It was Nyrissa's peering through time that condemned them, however. She saw, far in the future, her own death at the hands of heroes. Not wanting such an event to occur, she began building her own realm in the First World, the stonghold of Thousandbreaths. Magdh, Eldest of prophecy and fate, did not enjoy her demesne being trespassed upon, and particularly did not enjoy Nyrissa's attempt to change her own fate. Convening a council of the Eldest - save Count Ranalc - Magdh sent the Jabberwock to attack Nyrissa's stronghold before it was complete. Its mission was not to kill her, but instead to rend a piece of her away, and to then guard her in her realm. Using ancient magic, the Eldest council severed the Thousandbreaths into its own demiplane off of the First World, and forbade Nyrissa ever from leaving it. They cast the piece of her that the Jabberwock had rent off (Briar) into the Material Plane, beyond Nyrissa's reach. Thus, Magdh cleverly turned Nyrissa's stronghold into a prison, where she could await her death at the hands of heroes far in the future.
Taken as collaborators, Rhoswen and Count Ranalc were not spared sentencing. Rhoswen's Fellnight Realm too was severed from the main portion of the First World, and the elf gate's connections were severed with it - all save the connection between Rhoswen's copy of the elf gate and its twin on Candlemere Island. This they sealed with a warding keystone of adamantine in the version of the gate in the Fellnight Realm, cursed so that no native to the realm could ever touch it. None could get in or out while the wardstone existed, save for Rhoswen's otherworldly will-o'-wisps, who were ineffectual against the wardstone itself. Cruelly, the Eldest also made it so that the Fellnight was in eternal twilit sunset - just bright enough that Rhoswen could not gaze into her beloved Dark Tapestry.
Count Ranalc was banished similarly to the Shadow Plane, where he met his fate at the hands of the Arclord Nex many years ago.
Ok, so that's the historical background information. Now, to the present day:
In the thousands of years she has been in the Thousandbreaths, Nyrissa has used her knowledge of portal magic gleaned from the elf gate to create the Fable, a device possibly even more powerful than an operating elf gate, at least within her realm. From it, and a copy of the visionary lens found in the Fellnight Realm, she has been quietly watching the Material Plane, looking for signs of Briar and of the heroes from her vision. Now that the Age of Lost Omens is here, Nyrissa feels that she may have an opportunity to finally escape her fate.
Though she cannot leave her realm fully, Nyrissa has devised a clever method of projecting her image through mirrors (see here for the inspiration of this). Basically, she cannot leave line of sight from the mirror while projecting herself through it. Using this, she has been subtly affecting events in the stolen lands and beyond for some time now, preparing them for her bottling ritual. She has collected the souls if Rogarvian nobles to power her spell (she is the reason behind the vanishing of said nobles; Choral struck a bargain with her for his powers that had unintended consequences), and now she concerns herself largely with Irovetti and Pitax, and allows Rhoswen to deal with threats nearer to the elf gate, only occasionally aiding her with items such as the cursed ring of animal enmity from RRR. They communicate through sending (replace one of Rhoswen’s 4th level spells with it) and through this method of mirror transport, as neither can leave their respective realms. Nyrissa does this not out of love for her daughter (as that part of her was rent away ages ago) but out of a mutual desire for revenge on the Eldest.
And now what to do currently:
This means that basically throughout books one and two of the AP, Rhoswen stands in for Nyrissa. She influenced the Stag Lord, as well as prodded Hargulka into attacking the PC kingdom. My PCs are at an interlude now after defeating Hargulka, and I want to make sure I execute the next part right.
The kingdom is on good terms with the lizardfolk tribe on the Candlemere, so I think I'd like to run the wedding scene from Fellnight Queen instead as a celebration of the start of spring (or summer, depending on when I want to spring this on the PCs) on the lizardfolk island. Instead of Tenzekil the gnome, a lizard folk shaman (let's call her Isserya) has been communing with the ancestors on Candlemere Island, in an effort to restore balance after it is revealed "the trolls" tricked them into worshipping a will-o'-wisp (actually Rhoswen, who was helping the trolls). Isserya stumbles through the gate on Candlemere island into the Fellnight Realm while attempting to commune with her ancestors, the first creature to do so since Rhoswen's imprisonment (the gate is only active, appropriately, at twilight.) Isserya enters the realm through the copy of the elf gate in the Fellnight Realm, where Rhoswen has built her fortress around her copy of the gate. Seizing on the opportunity to finally escape, she sends a geased (using the visionary lens) Isserya back through the portal, carrying the wardstone with her. Isserya returns to the Material Plane with no memory of the encounter, rousing from her enchantment with her claws dirty with earth - she'd buried the wardstone in her private sanctuary.
She returns to the lizard folk tribe believing to have gone on a spirit quest, and holds the spring ritual to honor the ancestors she believes inspired it. In actuality, Rhoswen left one final directive on the enchantment - to invite the PC rulers that have been a thorn in her side for so long to the ritual, and use it kill them once and for all. Instead of bees, substitute in dragonflies, as these are more appropriate for lizard folk. After Isserya summons the dragonflies to attack, she faints cold, her geas expended. The fellnight spriggans attack en masse led from the rear by Agai (from Varnhold Vanishing - he should escape if at all possible), and mist rolls in to the lizardfolk village.
Assuming the PCs drive off the attack, it’s likely they will have some questions for Isserya. She will explain all that she remembers, which is “communing with the spirits” on Candlemere, and then waking up in her home with dirt-covered claws. She offers to take them through the mist to her home, a modified version of Dead Man’s Drop from Fellnight Queen. Basically, it’s a small spring-fed pool carved into the southern cliffs of lake Candlemere with a druid’s hut on the bank of the pool. En route, the fog thickens. The wardstone is buried in the mud here, and she can point out to the PCs where she remembers waking, and further - touching the wardstone a second time restores her memories. When they arrive at her hut, however, the entire area is shrouded in fog generated by the water elementals and the wardstone. After the PCs slay the water elementals, the fog clears... and the PCs realize they are cut off from the exit to the lake by Agai’s forces. He waxes poetic about Duchess Rhoswen’s armies arriving, and orders them to surrender.
Fortunately, Isserya can get the PCs to safety. She calls to them to gather around her, and she casts communal ride the waves on the party. They dive into the pool, following her lead through a hidden tunnel under the water that emerges somewhere to the west of her den. The PCs should encounter nixies along the way that warn them of the multitudes of spriggans coming from Candlemere Island. Once they are on land, Isserya then explains what she remembers in full, going into detail about how Rhoswen got her to dislodge the wardstone and carry it through the portal, which Rhoswen activated with her staff. (This should key the PCs into thinking that the staff is linked to the portal’s activation.) She urges the PCs to go back to Candlemere Island and go through the portal - which will be active any moment now. She will return to her people to help King Vesket defend them from any of Rhoswen’s armies, though she is normally a pacifist.
The PCs must brave Candlemere Island, which now has several Spriggan camps on it, and reach the gate room at the top of the tower. At this point, I plan on running Fellnight Queen normally, with the gate in Candlemere opening up to the gate room in Rhoswen’s Palace (it is replacing the Dungeon and cavern system for me, and Jaxir and his spriggans make up the guards of the gate room rather than jailers. If PCs try simply replacing the wardstone, they find it doesn’t work; it needs to be sealed into place with magic (the crook). As the PCs ascend through the palace, have them spot through the windows massive armies of spriggans gathering under different banners - the ones they’ve seen so far are just the forward guard. Since they could never hope to deal with such a threat militarily, this should impress on the PCs that they must try to seal them in the Fellnight Realm instead. When the meet Rhoswen directly, reflavor her shadows to instead be inky blackness from the Dark Tapestry; simply reskinning them should be enough to impress upon the party that she is incredibly knowledgeable about the darkness between the stars - at least those from 10,000 years ago. Before she dies, or if any PC approaches her throne, she should call out “For you, mother!” and cast spark (or a shadow evoked fire spell if PCs are nearby) on an open book casually lain across her throne - this is her personal journal of the most important events since her imprisonment, and by destroying it is concealing vital information about Nyrissa that the PCs might otherwise find. This is one last act of familial fealty before she dies. Consider leaving some choice passages near the beginning and end unburnt, as teasers to the party. Definitely don’t reveal any information about Nyrissa herself yet at this point.
Finally, a little resolution:
Once Rhoswen is defeated, Spellcraft and Knowledge: Arcana checks with the crook of Cildhureen should allow players to glean enough information to realize it is essential in resealing the gate to Candlemere, and will allow them to return to the Material Plane. Though they don’t have much time in the palace (due to the massive armies outside), the PCs should at least find a copy of Zuddiger’s Picnic (gifted to Rhoswen from her mother via mirror transportation magic - sort of her little joke), and the scraps of Rhoswen’s personal journal, as mentioned above. Additionally, plant little items in her bedroom reminiscent of the Stag Lord (perhaps a replica of his helm made of thorny branches) and Hargulka (perhaps a map matching that found in his den, but beautifully made, and in Sylvan), clearly implicating her in their actions.
From here, the PCs should return to the Material Plane with some mysteries solved, but other questions, as well. Now they know who was behind the Stag Lord and Hargulka, yet who is Rhoswen’s mother? Nyrissa does not take the death of Rhoswen particularly hard; she did not love her any more after all. Yet still, she now recognizes the PCs as a much bigger threat than before, and decides to begin dealing with them herself. She starts by waking an ancient lich...
Thoughts? Plotholes? Concerns? Do I reveal too much by having Rhoswen here, or is it a decent “mid-boss” that reveals just enough to keep PCs guessing? Please let me know what you think, and feel free to borrow liberally if you like it!
You version is neat and effective and well thought out. That said its incompatable with some of the elements I introed in my game so I won't be using it. But I like where your head is at and seem like it'd eb fun to play.
I'm also using fellnight queen, Carnival of tears, tales of the old margreve, citidel of pain, and book 4& 5 dungeons form shattered star so my KM is weird...
Thanks! I also used Carnival of Tears, immediately after book 1. Essentially, Rhoswen rose the Stag Lord using a ritual with her crook of Cildhureen as the Cold Rider. I also put the fey from the abandoned keep into the carnival; Prig = Rigg, the nymph = dancing lady, grimstalkers are the same as well. They escaped easily enough and reappeared at the keep.
Any advice on what kinds of hints or tidbits I should leave the party to keep them guessing? I'm considering adding in some Gyronna pieces as a red herring for the final boss.
From Citidel of pain (running in conjunction with Varnhold Vanishing as I have 2 groups kicking around) I get a certified bad a$$ Necromancer/Alchemist/Inventor bad guy to throw in the mix. I'm also ramping up Carnival of tears to make that whole plot allot tougher (PCs entering as 7th level.)
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I think you should reveal more details about Nyrissa. It doesn't do any harm and will make the players more aware of the over arching fey plot. I replaced Count Ranalc with Dou-Bral (who later became Zon-Kuthon) entirely so I could insert Skeletons of Scarwall later and insert a werewolf subplot. This looks like good stuff let us know how it goes :-)
In my game Rhoswyn didn't die, her plane is something akin to a phylactery, she wanted to try escaping so she reshaped the plane into a shadow of the Elven City that once stood on Candlemere. (Second Darkness: Armageddon Echo).
Thanks for the feedback, Dudemeister, it's really appreciated. I really like your co-opting of Armageddon Echo to have Rhoswen recreate the elven city on Candlemere. I may have to take that idea and run with it a bit. Did you make it so that taking her crook of Cildhureen makes it so that she cannot influence the material plane any longer? I think this would make sense, as it's essentially the portal key (for me anyway... and I think naming the elven city "Cildhureen" would be a nice touch too).
I also like your replacement of Count Ranalc with Dou-Bral, but I think it's a little too much for me at the moment. I think I'd rather play up the influence of Magdh as the imprisoner rather than Zon-Kuthon as another player.
I'll reconsider having Rhoswen destroy her journal, or at least give out a few choice pieces of information about Nyrissa in the scraps that are left behind. I definitely don't want her name given out this soon, but I think some references to "mother" would not be out of order.
Any other comments are always welcome too!
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Her second staff (the key rod featured in Armagedon Echo) needed the meteor crash to charge so she could escape. She ended up hitching a ride in the Councillor's brain, she occasionally pushes his behaviour this way and that (making subtle suggestions). My player is having a blast.
Dervish, I really like what you've done with this modification. It sounds like it will work out very nicely, looking forward to hearing how it pans out. For what it's worth, I may yoink the lizardmen angle for felnight queen for my own group, I'm planning on running it but not sure how I want to tie in the wedding. Your angle provides a great option, thank you much!
@Dudemeister - I think I'm going to place the Shadow Key gem into the crook itself. The gem will host Rhoswen's spirit, and the PCs will (like PCs do) unwittingly carry it out of the Fellnight. Without the shadow stuff of her realm, she cannot recorporate, however. I don't think I'm going to include the meteor from Armageddon Echo, instead just taking its flavor. I think I will use the observatory from the Echo for Rhoswen's palace, however. It's too cool not to.
@Jabber - Thanks! I'm glad you like it. Please let me know how it works out for you if you do use it! IMC the lizardfolk are more of a distributed group, living largely on the river banks and the southern shore of the Candlemere. Where the king lives is just his "palace," if that helps you plan at all.
We played last night:
Last session the party had "liberated" the remainder of the Greenscale kobold tribe present in the hex east of Hargulka's fort. (Once he stopped oppressing and conscripting them into his army, the forest drake "Great Greenscale" resumed doing so under the pretense she had slain Hargulka. These are also the same kobolds mentioned from the Narthropple expedition.) The party took the remainder of the tribe to Hargulka's fort, where a former dwarf PC has set up an outpost, and set the Greenscale tribe to work there for him (as paid workers). Following that, though snow slowed them down, they finished up some exploring in the southern Greenbelt, and made friends with Mungunk. They relocated him to the now-empty owlbear den. He gave them his "pretty stick" as a reward (his wand of hideous laughter).
The party then returned to Stag's End (their city on the Tuskwater) on 27 Calistril. A shrine to Pharasma was dedicated on 1 Pharast, and the party began to hear rumors that some kind of cult of witches was springing up in town. At this point I ran the Cult of Gyronna encounter, tailored to be a response of disgruntled widows from the troll war. Malgorzata Niska was a priestess of Pharasma in town, and after she lost her lover in the war began to hear the whisperings of Gyronna. She formed the cult in the months to follow to raise money for her plan. Her plan was to spite the rulers by placing glyphs of warding strategically throughout the castle and in their bedrooms as a terrorist plot. The party was able to take her down (after a while, bumping her up to CLR 8 really makes her more of a threat with her auras), but her channeling killed three of her six acolytes in the process. On Niska they found blueprints of the castle and 2,000 gp in diamond dust (enough for 10 castings of glyph of warding). The PCs will likely discover the details of the plan when they interrogate the surviving cultists.
Next session we will have her interrogation and trial. Following that, I am hoping the party explores Candlemere island, to give them a taste of what's there. I'm running the series of haunts found elsewhere on these boards for the Material Plane version of the island, flavoring them to be more ancient elven like in the history above. The gate is of course inactive, but will provide clues as to where it goes so they are not completely surprised when the Fellnight Realm events occur. I might even have a will-o'-wisp come through it in a flash to drive home the point that something is up, if they're there at twilight. Similar to RFQ, I am going to have three obelisks surrounding the gate, obviously of fey construction. They will each have Magdh's symbol (a stylized runic eye) and a word written in Sylvan each ("shade", "cage", and "faerie", for each of the three planes; "cage" is dual purpose - it refers to both Golarion and metaphorically for Rhoswen's cage). This will hopefully drive home the point that this is some kind of prison as well.
Will let you know how the next session goes!
neat sounds like you used some of my mods to the kobold plot... whoot!
Haha, I don't think I've read those mods honestly, Solspiral. It just seemed to me like the forest drake and a group of green kobolds would naturally be linked. Do you happen to have a link to the thread with your kobold changes you could PM me? Could be useful for later plots involving them. :)
lol its in my politic from RR on thread...