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[It should really go without saying that if you're in my game, stop reading, ya cheatin' sons of guns!]
At certain points in the Shattered Star AP, the PCs are warned that other groups may be onto the return of the Shards and may be seeking them out. Of course, as written, the AP contains no such dedicated group of antagonists.
For my Shattered Star campaign, I think I'd like to create such a group of antagonists who would show up at a few points in the story (two or three times, anyway) and attack the PCs or appear to be ahead of them in the search for the next shard. I'm thinking of Monte Cook's excellent adventure "The Banewarrens" in which the enemy monsters of the "Grail Quest teams" became a constant threat the GM could throw at the PCs when it seemed thematically interesting.
Anyone care to work out some ideas? I'd like to avoid the obvious enemy groups, such as the Aspsis Consortium. I was thinking instead that the enemy group might be devotees of Cadrilkasta. This would have the effect of real recognition when the PC's finally meet her.
So, I'm thinking there should be two teams (mid-CR and high-CR), because the PC's should probably destroy most of the first one. I'm also thinking that both should be led by children of Cadrilkasta, the first a half-dragon and the second a full dragon. The high-CR team should contain a scryer.
Any ideas on how you might flesh these two teams out to make them interesting antagonists, and not just in combat?
COOOOOOOOOOOOL....Dotting.
I'd also like to see more rivals other than the Children of Cadrikasta.
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Season 4 of the Pathfinder Society includes several modules that link up to form a metaplot where several cults of Lissala work together to try to bring back Krune, the last Runelord of Sloth (and High Priest of Lissala). You could have them searching for the Shards as well, so that when (if) Krune returns he can wield the power of the Sihedron to really make his mark on the world again. Lissala's symbol is the Sihedron rune after all...
A brief update. I went with the devotees of Cadrilkasta idea. I threw the first such group at the PCs at the start of The Asylum Stone, replacing the encounter on the river. This encounter still occurred on and above the deck of the Lucky Jenny, however.
Through scrying, Cadrilkasta had determined which PCs bore shards and what the likely tactics of the group were, and so for the first time in this campaign, I had enemies behave in an informed and coordinated fashion.
My PC party consists of five 8th-level PCs. Up against them I sent one young blue dragon, one mind-flayer (with a wand of magic missiles) and three redcaps. My players hadn't seen a mind-flayer for years and I took pains at first to obscure what it was. The reveal was terrific.
Team Cadrilkasta appeared out of thin air high above the Lucky Jenny when the PCs were sleeping and only the paladin and the boat captain were awake. The dragon breathed on the party's unarmored fighter while the mind-flayer (draped in black and riding the dragon, but already having consumed a potion of fly) unleashed a psionic blast.
Mayhem ensued.
The party (geared up for will saves after the seugathi encounter in the last adventure) mostly shrugged off the mind-flayer's psionic attacks, though the party fighter was stunned for the rest of the fight. The PC oracle of Time managed to remove the dragon from the time stream when it dropped into melee range. That brief respite allowed the PCS (except the fighter) to rally and defeat the redcaps (who openly talked about how they were there to seize the shards).
The oracle of Time used his short-range teleport to appear just above the flying mind-flayer and grapple it. That's when I had its mask tear away, revealing the truth of what the oracle had just grappled. The mind-flayer managed to grasp the oracle with three tentacles and the oracle was forced to burn a hero point to escape from its fatal grasp.
With the party's wrath now fully turned on the mind-flayer, it used Plane Shift to escape. A moment later and the blue dragon returned to the time stream. Finding itself alone amidst now-ready hostiles, it fled at top speed and escaped.
All in all, very satisfying. Next time: Cadrilkasta sends the real heavy guns.
Favorite the last post and "dotting" this for future updates. My guys have just finished chapter one and ready to head to the Mushfens. I like this idea, thanks!
-- david
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I've done much the same thing in my game, adding devotees of Cadrilstraka to the game as minibosses and to provide a through arc. The leader of the initiative is Diata leSath, a half-dragon doppelganger created by Cadrilstraka to serve her as a spy in the Aspis Consortium. The PCs have met her in half-elven form at a Pathfinder Society function, and know that there's bad blood between her and Sheila Heidmarch. Diata's spy in the organization is Prince Mandali, the awakened ape friend of the Heidmarchs, who has a lot of gambling debts to pay off.
Round 1: The PCs are attacked by Tassiera, a modified version of the island defender druid from the NPC Codex. Diata hired her to attack the PCs upon leaving the Crow. Control water to trap their boat, wild shape to turn into a giant octopus and pull them into the sea. Scared the players quite a bit.
Round 2: Upon interrogating the Grey Maidens, the PCs will find out that their goal at the Lady's Light is indeed to find the Shard of Lust and deliver it to a mysterious blue-haired patron in Kaer Maga (Cadrilstraka under a polymorph spell) in exchange for an army of giants to take back Korvosa.
Round 3: Upon leaving the Lady's Light, the PCs will be set upon by Diata leSath and her gang of thugs. Diata will try to bluff the PCs by appearing as Sheila Heidmarch, insisting that they be reassigned and turn over all shards to her. She's got a scroll of teleport, allowing her to escape if she gets the opportunity.
Once the PCs get to Kaer Maga, their curiosity about the Grey Maidens' contact will likely bring them into contact with the various information brokers of the Asylum Stone, whereupon they'll learn that Cadrilstraka is rumored to be out in the desert looking for Thassilonian relics... and is way out of their league.
If people are interested, I can provide Diata leSath's statistics. She's pretty brutal.
Nice, I like that.
How was the final showdown between Diata leSath and her crew versus the PC's?
Hasn't happened yet. The PCs are still mid-way through Curse of the Lady's Light.
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I couldn't resist mucking around with the Sorshen clone trap in ss2. None of the PCs were caught by it, so when Asha was killed, I had her transferred into the clone. She woke up, freaked out, and killed Gnaeus ( who the party had befriended and released). When the party turned up, they saw the dead body, and the Sorshen clone screaming and babbling insanely. They assumed that Gnaeus had tripped the trap, and was now in the clone.
I haven't felt the need to correct them yet... And they've let Gnaeus tag along.
The party are now attacking the hanging Manse in Bis, and "Gnaeus" is loose in Kaer Maga having fun..
Man, I love both those ideas, Demiurge and Apocryphile. Wish I'd thought of them before I ran Curse of the Lady's Light!
Man, I love both those ideas, Demiurge and Apocryphile. Wish I'd thought of them before I ran Curse of the Lady's Light!
Thanks, and I'm definitely going to work in a rival bunch of adventurers after the shards.
I haven't decided yet who'll be behind them.. Maybe I'll have a few groups all scrambling after the shards. A bit like a fantasy operation paperclip..
So the rival groups could be...
Cult of lissala
The dragon
Demon cultists from SS4
Ashaminatullu (or whatever her name is) and minions.
I suppose Aspis consortium or Zon-Kuthon as well..
Hmm, what about a bunch of Hellknights after it for the glory of Asmodeus?
Heh heh heh....