So we've just arrived in Savanthi and we're in the first quarter of the city the war quarter or whatever it's called (where you fight the ghost of the guy who hates pathfinders). Anywho we get to this temple-y sort of place where there is a weird sort of charuka priest worshiping at the foot of a gigantic gorilla statue, along with 4 mooks. We get there and poop hits the fan, standard stuff fine. But the preist goes up to the statue with her first move and rubs a stone to flesh type salve thingy on it and boom it turns into a big angry gorilla. Fair enough, bring it on. It opens with blasphemy. Blasphemy. a 7th level spell and we're level 7.
Anyways there's a 5 level difference between us so when two of us and my cohort fail our saves we're all paralyzed for 7 minutes. Luckily our GM went super lenient on us and we still had that shrunken monkey head from way back when and one of the people who did save got the head and dispelled me, so I could cure the other guy who failed, but still.
We lived but the gorilla got away. Two things what were the designers thinking putting that thing there (I realize there was a low chance of the charuka with the oil being there and there was a low chance of the oil working, but really our GM should have killed us, he was just nice)? One; that thing is way too hard for our level, it has +16 to hit and opens with blasphemy. I mean come on the PC's are going to be level 7 when they face that thing.
Two; what are we supposed to do about it when it returns? We don't have a second monkey head, and my character is the only one with restorative magic, and the only one capable of using any as I'm the only one with any umd too. So if I fail my save again were all just screwed? It would take all of us to kill this thing and as a life oracle I can keep the party going a very long time if I'm not paralized. So what should we do?
Party composition is a Bloodrager, life oracle(dual cursed), knife master rouge, and an admixture wizard. Also I have an archivist bard as a cohort.
Yeah. Sticking half fiend template on an animal is brutal due to vast hit dice. Killed 3 of our pc's permanently that fight
I remember this as a hard fight, but definitely doable - though my party was 2 8th level/ 2 7th level characters when we did it (Cleric/Wizard MT, Rogue/Ranger,Cleric and Druid). In our cases the Blasphemy wasn't cast, but (not to make too many spoilers) there was another enemy, in different district who casts it, and it led to a near - TPK too.
couple of suggestions:
- there is a legitimate option to turn this beast to stone again. not easy, but doable.
-you are not alone. Grab some allies, talk to a different district and launch major offensive. This is a sandbox, not a linear story
- there are some really nasty opponents out there. Exploration of Saventh - Yhi can take many sessions, and you can get into part 4 of the AP while not having explored all of the city
- Explore a lot! there are some good magic items hidden in the city, with very high power level (including artifacts). They may help you with the combat ;)
I just realized something, my character is deaf, would that make me immune to blasphemy? It doesn't say so, nor does it say that it is negated by silence, but it seems that both should work as you are hearing a word so blasphemous that you experience the effects.
Thanks.
I am not totally sure, but it does not have the language-dependent descriptor.
The PRD only lists language-dependent with the following:
A language-dependent spell uses intelligible language as a medium for communication. If the target cannot understand or cannot hear what the caster of a language-dependent spell says, the spell fails.
Yeah, the entire adventure is a sandbox, so theoretically, you could have waited until you were a higher level. Still, the military district is one of two district closest to the entrance.
My party was pummeled too, but I was being lenient. Some escaped, while others were taken prisoners by the charau-ka. The half-fiend flew away with the paralyzed elven witch (I was going for a King Kong type story). Witches being witches though, as soon as she woke up, she used Slumber on him and escaped.
They faced him a little later (probably a level higher or something) when they were better prepared and hadn't fought a district of charau-ka before. It became a lot easier then.