currently me and my players are playing through legacy of fire. we are right at the end of book 2 "house of the beast".
the party so far has been doing really well, they used the salamander tunnels in the set piece to sneak into the lower levels,got to the carrion king without setting of an alarm and the took him out. however one character died, which just happened to be the mold speaker. after the king died zayifid in his gnoll form offered the deal to get the scroll in the lower levels. it would have worked too but the druid was using detect magic at the time scoping out the magic gear everywhere and noticed the illusion aura on zayifid they fought him and defeated him but zayifid escaped. the PCs then decided to grab the dead comrade and beet feet back to kelmerain. they then decided to travel all the way to Katapesh to get there fallen compatriot raised and buy and sell stuff. tried to get them to go to soulku which was closer but one of the PCs has the campain trait tha gives him the 10% discount in the night stalls so they were dead set on going.
my first question is how does dying affect the mold speaker. is she still the mold speaker or did she loose that from dying
my 2nd problem is what to do with zayifid. according to "the king is dead" side bar on page 36 he takes control of the clan and uses them to find the hidden passage and the scroll which they do in a day or 2. the PCs are gone for 3 weeks... 2 weeks travel there and back and then a week in the city buying, selling, and getting things made. not sure what happens when zayifid gets the scroll. does he open it right away? does he know how to open it? should i still let the PCs think that he doesn't have it, have them explore the tombs underneath and find nothing, or a fake scroll with a magicmouthed quipy message from zayifid. or just have him be skulking about waiting for the PCs to explore the lower reaches knowing they will come back and do the work for him (essentially ignoring the sidebar)
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As far as the moldspeaker goes, you could rule that the moldspeaker "spores" go dormant while the character is dead and are "revived" when that character is raised. Or, possibly, when the character was close to death, the moldpseaker migrated to a close character making that character the new moldspeaker.
With the 3 week delay, you could let the chips fall where they may. Just follow the sidebar, the party is SOL. He opens the scroll eventually, after a few days (he takes some time to figure out how to open it). Or, Zayifid uses those weeks to consolidate his hold over the clan and the story doesn't advance until the party returns. I've used this second option during "Howl of the Carrion King" when the characters needed a side quest to gain a level or two before tackling the Battle Market and weren't ready for the Refuge of Nethys. There were only 3 days into the campaign to reclaim Kelmarane and a few character deaths kept the party at 1st-level. I just paused the advancement of the storyline until they returned.
Drone's suggestion about the dormant spores is good. That's one reason I skipped the whole "Mold Speaker" thing.
As for Zayifid and the scroll, let him find it. There's no way for him to activate it. He doesn't even have any ranks in Use Magic Device. Players are either forced to return and take on forewarned Carrion Tribe gnolls again or if you want to move things on, have Zayifid head to Katapesh to ally with the Jackal King and kidnap a well known scholar.
You'll have to put in a bunch of filler to get players up to level (House was kinda low on xp anyway), but there's plenty of fun to be had in Katapesh anyway. You'll have to find a reason for the players to know Rayhan as well. maybe whoever raises the dead character is an associate and they end up friendly or indebted to him.
btw this should go under the LoF discussion thread.
Great idea with the mold speaker Drone I line that a lot. An voodoo thanks for the Idead with zayifid. I think I have some ideas. I think I'll stick to most of the story in book 3 but just alter the events and when they happen slightly. But thanks for the input
Really you just need to find a source of info that can let the players know That Zayifid is looking for an artifact somewhere in the House. Any chance they made nice with the trogs or the goblin? They would be the best choice for this. If not did they leave Madfang alive? Maybe he flees the House and seeks asylum in Kelmerane in exchange for what he knows.
Here is something else you can do to help your plot: Zayifid can't enter the hidden chambers. Jhavul placed a forbiddence on them so that he is the only Genie that can enter without his permission. So the only way Zayifed can get his hands on the Scroll is if someone else retrieves it for him. The gnolls aren't up to this task but it takes him several weeks to realize this. He then ends up deciding to dupe some adventures into doing it. He is too smart to try that same trick on the players again so he seeks out a new npc adventurer group. They use Kelmerane as a way-point for their expedition. They blow their advance in the Battle market and get drunk and let loose lips fly bragging about what they have been hired to do. This is how the players find out about it.
Now you have a race between the players and a rival adventurer group to get the artifact first.
I think there are some good options mentioned upthread. Some variation on them, and some new ideas:
Consider your timetable, and consider what the players know. One thing I hated about HotB was that the thing the players must absolutely obtain to progress in the AP they don't even know about until well into the module, and even then, only if they put the pieces together.
The timetable: Three weeks is a long time. Zayifid could seize control of the HotB, send several forays to try to enter the pit until he realized he needed earth magic. As I recall, there's a mid-level caster leading one of the tribes described in the back matter of either book 1 or 2. He could make a deal to grant her more power over the tribes, if she'll go get the scroll. All that really has to happen is that the door has to be opened. Then he can continue sending in more and more groups of gnolls until he gets the scroll. Figure all that would take at least two weeks. Three is a good estimate, or even 4, which would allow the players to have some down time. They could be blissfully resting and crafting new items before you initiate the next part of the story.
Zayifid now has the scroll he wanted and no way of knowing how to open it. Fortuantely, he's very old and very well-traveled, and he knows of a sage in Katapesh who has studied the scroll for decades. Rayhan. So, as Voodoo suggests, have Zayifid kidnap Rayhan.
When word reaches her that an old family friend has been kidnapped, Almah can send the party to Katapesh to find him. The motivation could be enforced by an ominous feeling from the Moldspeaker. You know your group, so you know what it will take to make it an option they'll want to take.
There are lots of resources to build a whole series of encounters in the city of Katapesh, but it will take some work for you as a GM, but I'd leave it open-ended and let them take whatever means they want to investigate, and leave the trail for them to follow in whatever course they take. But they could very easily arrive at the result that the party has to make a midnight raid on the One Source warehouse as detailed in the 3rd volume of the AP, with relatively minor changes. You have to come up with a reason that Father Jackal is working with Zayifid, since Zayifid wants to open the scroll and Father Jackal wants to give it to the Captain of the Sunset Ship.
Alternately, you could cut out the One Source warehouse completely, and have Zayifid bring Rayhan back to the House of the Beast. Rayhan might not even care about the danger he's in if he gets a look at Zayifid's notes. Those two should have a lot to talk about. In any case, the party should be able to stop Zayifid from opening the scroll. One word of warning, though. Zayifid is probably a bit weak to challenge a party that is ready to go into Kakishon. You might have to beef him up a bit for this second battle.
With Rayhan rescued, and the scroll back in the hands of the party and the Moldspeaker, your AP is back on course to go into the 4th volume with minimal modification from you.
But they could very easily arrive at the result that the party has to make a midnight raid on the One Source warehouse as detailed in the 3rd volume of the AP, with relatively minor changes. You have to come up with a reason that Father Jackal is working with Zayifid, since Zayifid wants to open the scroll and Father Jackal wants to give it to the Captain of the Sunset Ship.
Alternativly, you could say that Zayifid learned that Father Jackal was also seeking the scroll so he decided to find out why and learned of the Captain of the Sunset Ship. He then bypasses Father Jackel completely and makes a deal with the Captain. "Help me open the scroll and free Jahvhul and you get to keep the scroll afterwards." They still need Rayhan to learn how to open it. So when the players arrive to rescue Rayhan they discover Zayifid about to open the scroll and all get sucked in (Except for the Captain)
Also, just for laughs neither of them bother to tell Father Jackel that they already have the scroll.
But they could very easily arrive at the result that the party has to make a midnight raid on the One Source warehouse as detailed in the 3rd volume of the AP, with relatively minor changes. You have to come up with a reason that Father Jackal is working with Zayifid, since Zayifid wants to open the scroll and Father Jackal wants to give it to the Captain of the Sunset Ship.Alternativly, you could say that Zayifid learned that Father Jackal was also seeking the scroll so he decided to find out why and learned of the Captain of the Sunset Ship. He then bypasses Father Jackel completely and makes a deal with the Captain. "Help me open the scroll and free Jahvhul and you get to keep the scroll afterwards." They still need Rayhan to learn how to open it. So when the players arrive to rescue Rayhan they discover Zayifid about to open the scroll and all get sucked in (Except for the Captain)
Also, just for laughs neither of them bother to tell Father Jackel that they already have the scroll.
That's a great idea, too, but when they get out of Kakishon, they come out where the scroll is. I don't even know how I'd run that game if the Captain got the scroll.
That's a great idea, too, but when they get out of Kakishon, they come out where the scroll is. I don't even know how I'd run that game if the Captain got the scroll.But they could very easily arrive at the result that the party has to make a midnight raid on the One Source warehouse as detailed in the 3rd volume of the AP, with relatively minor changes. You have to come up with a reason that Father Jackal is working with Zayifid, since Zayifid wants to open the scroll and Father Jackal wants to give it to the Captain of the Sunset Ship.Alternativly, you could say that Zayifid learned that Father Jackal was also seeking the scroll so he decided to find out why and learned of the Captain of the Sunset Ship. He then bypasses Father Jackel completely and makes a deal with the Captain. "Help me open the scroll and free Jahvhul and you get to keep the scroll afterwards." They still need Rayhan to learn how to open it. So when the players arrive to rescue Rayhan they discover Zayifid about to open the scroll and all get sucked in (Except for the Captain)
Also, just for laughs neither of them bother to tell Father Jackel that they already have the scroll.
It is exactly what I am doing. I didn't like the segue from Kakishon to Bayt al-Bazan, so this is the transition I will be using. The Captain knows that Jhavhul is destined to fail and is setting himself up to acquire the heart of Xotani when that happens. So my players get to parlay with the devil and then a shopping trip in Katapesh and then onto the plane of fire.