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Back by popular demand! Or not...
My party just killed Mokmurian and used the library below Jorgenfist very well (they got all the info available). Now, they're trying to decide what to do next, and they've got LOTS of leads they want to follow and questions to ask, and nothing immediate to do that would prevent them from just casting Divination over and over, since the oracle has it as a known spell. They'll make their way back to Sandpoint eventually - they already teleported back there to pick up Brodert Quink and bring him to the library to help with research, so they'll need to return him in a week or two, tops. I dropped a hint about the earthquake, but didn't go into detail yet. But once they go back there, that will be the plot hook to get them into Sins of the Savior.
But in the mean time, they're emailing back and forth about the many, MANY questions they're thinking of researching in our next session. Things like the locations of Runeforge and Xin-Shalast, details about Karzoug, etc. They even thought about the very proactive question of where else large number of people may have been marked with the Sihedron star, so their deaths will fuel Karzoug's rise.
And unfortunately, we're playing this weekend, so I don't have a ton of time to prep for all this. I'll come back here later with more specifics, but if anyone has thoughts on dealing with the most obvious questions, let me know.
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Here's the first thing I thought of, in answer to the question of why Karzoug suddenly woke up after 10,000 years.
Giant banned for lying past,
found his way to Xin-Shalast.
Aroused the sleeping lord of greed,
and volunteered to serve his need.
This is something of a twofer, since it also answers their question of whether Mokmurian was a willing servant or dominated by Karzoug. Neither question is key information, so I'm fine with giving them a relatively straightforward answer, unlike some Divinations.
I think the toughest part of this will be giving them a poetic answer about the fact that magic blocks Divination from giving them Runeforge's location.
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Would all information about Runeforge be magically blocked, or just its location and how to get in?
As for the other questions they're considering, here's the list of questions I pulled out of their emails of things they're considering for Divination questions, though some might just be library research at Jorgenfist:
who else is out there marking people with the Sihedron and killing them?
Where is the largest group of people who have been marked so that their deaths would fuel Karzoug’s return?
Why is Karzoug only now taking action to fuel his reawakening?
What mechanism did Runeforge devise for Karzoug to survive the fall of Thassilon?
Has Karzoug fully awakened?
Why has Karzoug awakened now?
Is there a way to retrace Mokmurian's steps from the time he was banished by his tribe?
Where is Xin-Shalast?
What did Karzoug mean when he mentioned the "armies of Xin-Shalast"?
Did the army of Xin-Shalast survive the fall of Thassilon?
Does the army of Xin-Shalast need to be activated somehow?
Where is Runeforge?
Where is the key to Runeforge?
Where could we find a dominant weapon suitable for defeating Karzoug?
What's this "nightmare dimension of Leng"?
How can we best prepare to face whatever things from Leng we're likely to encounter?
They're also thinking of researching the other runelords in the library, so I'll provide them with basic names and which sin they're associated with, and maybe a little bit more about that.
Even if you don't want to help me come up with rhyming answers, recommendations about how much information they should be able to get would be useful.
My english isn't good for rhymes, so I'll go with recommendations-answers:
1. Monstrous humans disguised as women.
2. Where commerce and money make the rules.
3. No answer, because Karzoug is on other plane/behind Occlusion Field.
4. Again, no answer or that they'll find it in Runeforge.
5. No answer.
6. No answer or something that points on Mokmurian.
7. A wish or a miracle could do the trick, but only to the Fens where Svevenka is.
8. Kodar Mountains/Mharr Massif. AP points that divinations will go vague on this because of Leng influences.
9. A military force under his control (and again, Leng influences will partially make this kind of questions vague).
10. No.
11. If you're thinking to use Leng Devise for this question - no answer because of Occlusion Field.
12. Not in this land (a way to say that it is a demiplane now).
13. Between the lake and Kodar mountains near (hint them to use geography skill or show them the map of Varisia so they can find it themselves).
14. In the Runeforge.
15. Just describe them a vision of Leng.
16. However you can (seriously, divination isn't that descriptive).
In short, take account of the Leng influences in the region of Mhar Massive, Occlusion Field over Spires, position of Karzoug demiplane close to Leng and that it is demiplane as Runeforge is when creating answers. Players must understand, that abusing divination is not a solution. It doesn't give pages of detailed explanations. In addition, by the rules it only works for specific goal, activity or event that will occur within one week.
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Yeah, much of it is stuff that Divination can't answer. I think I want to come up with a good rhyming way of saying "I can't answer that".
And they're really not just trying to use this as a crutch. They just really don't know what other leads to follow, since they haven't found out about Scribbler yet, and they're brainstorming possible questions. They probably won't ask most of these once we actually get together and the first couple fail.
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So I've realized that if they ask directly "Where is Runeforge?" or "Where is Xin-Shalast?", I should give them an answer to let them know that's hidden.
The role of divination,
To guide, inform, and teach,
But some well hidden knowledge
Is simply out of reach.
And obviously, there are a few other questions above that will give the same non-answer.
But if they think about it, they might realize that asking "How can we find out where these things are?" might have a different answer than simply "Where are they?".
Since they have Brodert Quink with them at the library of Jorgenfist, and the key to finding Runeforge lies in returning to Sandpoint and finding Scribbler's clues, here's what I came up with as an answer to "How can we find out where Runeforge is?"
Take the wayward scholar home,
Stay a while, do not roam.
I'm still coming up with exactly how I'll answer some of the others.
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Ok, so here's a lot of what I've got.
They have the map/note from Mokmurian, indicating that Xaliasa might know about Runeforge, so here's what I've got if they ask about him
Who is he?
A man who served three masters,
Soldier, worshipper, and spy,
Only loyal to Lamashtu,
Until the day he died.
This next one borrowed from a suggestion in the earlier thread:
Will we find info about Runeforge by finding him?
Three masters strings, his brain unraveled
Down the stairs 'til late untraveled
His bones have knit, he has awoke
His secrets now are writ or spoke
Where is he?
Recent quake opened the door,
From a place explored before,
Below the ancient Hellstorm Flume,
No longer resting in his tomb.
Since Runeforge is protected by magic to prevent its location or method of entry from being known, even to the Runelords themselves, I'm going with this slight variation of the above if they ask the direct questions.
The role of divination,
To guide, inform, and teach,
But some protected knowledge
Is simply out of reach.
That's also good for direct questions about Karzoug, his current forces, the location of Xin-Shalast, etc. But if they ask how to find Runeforge or Xin-Shalast, the answers are in Sandpoint, so this works:
Take the wayward scholar home,
Stay a day, do not roam.
That will lead them to Scribbler for info on Runeforge, and to Brodert Quink's notes that he didn't bring with him to Jorgenfist for info on the dwarves who found Xin-Shalast.
Who else has been marked with the Sihedron star?
Ogres, giants marked for greed,
Followed wizard’s evil deeds,
Heroes came, sent them away,
Still fuel the Runelord if they’re slayed.
What did Karzoug mean when he mentioned the "armies of Xin-Shalast"? Did the army of Xin-Shalast survive the fall of Thassilon?
Runelord’s armies, long since gone,
Died with ancient Thassilon.
Where could we find a dominant weapon suitable for defeating Karzoug?
(Still need a good rhyme to tell them that no such weapon currently exists.)If they ask about Leng, we'll start with a knowledge: planes check. Not sure how much I'll give them from divination. I might just say it's too mysterious for conventional divinations to penetrate.