What if Kazavon Returns? (Adventure Path Spoilers)

[GM SuperTumbler]

My players screwed up the endgame of a certain adventure path, and Kazavon, favored servant of Zon-Kuthon, returned to Golarion. I'm hoping to get some thoughts from the loremasters of Golarion on what this means.

My plan is to run a heavily modified version of Giantslayer, swapping out Kazavon as the driving force behind the whole thing and the big bad in chapter 6. The players will start in Trunau and tromp around dealing with giants and orcs, eventually fighting storm giants and Special K himself.

So what happens when Kazavon returns? What happens to the various artifacts that are his body parts? Do they lose power? Are they still parts of his power that he wants to regain? Are they horcruxes that allow the characters to weaken him?

I know that ultimately the answer to these questions are up to me, but I'm interested in your ideas, too.

[Coidzor]

Well, the conventional answer is that the artifacts no longer exist as they have been repatriated to him and are once more part of his body.

Thematically if you wanted them to continue existing independent of his body, then representing part of his power he wants back but also being something that can be used against him, either in a ritual or just in direct combat, would probably be the way to do it going by most forms of theming for fantasy table top RPGs.

[W E Ray]

My long running Korvosa game will be dealing with some incarnation of Kazavon as well -- eventually. They actually have a meeting with ShadowCount Sial this Saturday at the Crested Falcon in Korvosa where they will be set on the path to Scarwall Keep and eventually the Grand Mastaba holding up Castle Korvosa.

When our campaign gets closer to Kazavon's return I'll definitely come back here and put up my own homebrew ideas. Right now it's just too far off in my homegame to have done a whole lot of development.

I will say this, though,....
Todd Stewart has a homegame Blue Dragon who serves Tegresin, The Laughing Fiend. And in his homebrew, moreover, Tegresin is the one who corrupted Dou-Bral into becoming The Midnight Lord, Zon Kuthon.

So I had the idea that this Blue Dragon is a descendant of Kazavon who went searching for information about his ancestor (read: searching for grandfather Kazavon's Treasure Hoard), and came afoul of Tegresin who forced the Blue Dragon into servitude.

I'm absolutely using That Blue Dragon in my game, in addition to his granddad, Kazavon.

.

P.S.: Todd Stewart makes it absolutely clear that his Homebrew material and head-canon is not official Paizo canon (until he writes it for publication). I'm sure he would want me to Twice mention that it's only in his Homebrew that Tegresin (who he created for Paizo when he wrote The Great Beyond) is the one who corrupted Dou-Bral into becoming Zon Kuthon.

[GM SuperTumbler]

Conventionally, it would be bringing all of his parts back together that would restore him, but in this case he was restored through another artifact that created a new body for him. Since that is the case, I think I will say that the other body part artifacts are still empowered, and that he is weaker than he might otherwise be until he can reacquire them. This will give the party some opportunities to beat him to some of them.

[W E Ray]

You could also, if you're a Grognard, go back and take a look at some of the FR products (setting & novels & adventures) that detail The Cult of The Dragon. In FR they're all about bringing back famous, dead dragons. There are a number of adventures, campaign setting articles and even a novel or forty dealing with The Cult of the Dragon. And since bringing back Dragons is their shtick, there will be a plethora of ideas.

[Reduxist]

I just thought of something; what if all of the relics brought Special K back to life... but as seven distinct entities? They’re all Kavazon in some manner, but, tying in with some different golarion lore, sin magic separated him into seven “wholes”. The sin could be based on which personality came from what artifact: the throne could sloth, the crown could get pride, etc. They’re all LE monsters, but they’re all unique monsters. Heck, they’re so different from each other that they might come to blows if they ever actually met?

[GM SuperTumbler]

I'm hoping to bolt this thing onto Giantslayer swapping out the final boss with Special K, so I don't really need that many "wholes," but I did consider that. Probably worth having that happen with at least one of the artifacts coming back enough to be a threat, one empowering some other enemy, and maybe the party gets one. Giantslayer is chock a block with artifacts, so that fits well enough.

[GM SuperTumbler]

I'm not trying to cause a conflict, but this thread really doesn't belong in the

Spoiler:

Crimson Throne

section of the boards. ]This thread is intended to be about events after that Adventure Path, and relates to other Paths and the setting more generally. This is one of the major big bads of the setting, not a character just limited to the Adventure Path in question. I'm seeking advice about the overall setting, which is why I put it in the more general section of the forums.

[Mangenorn]

I would be inclined with having him be included in the fighting around the Worldwound in some way. He would be fighting against the demons, at least initially.

[Lakesidefantasy]

I'm not sure if I'm remembering this correctly, or if I'm just making it up, but I thought somewhere in the adventure path it says that if Kazavon is brought back through the Everdawn Pool then he is essentially immortal and cannot die. It requires bringing the seven relics of Kazavon together to kill him.

[Uqbarian]

Lakesidefantasy wrote:

I'm not sure if I'm remembering this correctly, or if I'm just making it up, but I thought somewhere in the adventure path it says that if Kazavon is brought back through the Everdawn Pool then he is essentially immortal and cannot die. It requires bringing the seven relics of Kazavon together to kill him.

Yep, according to his statblock in the Crimson Throne hardcover, he cannot be permanently killed as long his relics remain, and the only way to destroy his relics is to kill him. So if he's been brought back by the Everdawn Pool, a party would have to kill him, gather all of the relics together, use the relics to resurrect him, and then kill him again.

I can't see anything in the Crimson Throne hardcover or in Artifacts and Legends that says the other artifacts lose their power if Kazavon manifests. If he's been brought back by the Everdawn Pool, he doesn't technically need them, but it's definitely in his interest to make sure they're safe and under his control. The printed material doesn't indicate that they'd make him more powerful, but I don't think it's an unreasonable stretch to make them work that way. Some of them might also be in the hands of powerful owners who think they can combine them to increase their own power (or that the artifacts can be used to control Kazavon, though you'd have to be pretty crazy to think that'd work).

[Aaron Goddard]

I reckon my players would wreck him.