What prevents Xanderghul being resurrected via True Resurrection or other powerful magic like Krune was supposed to be in the last book? If Clegg Zincher can get his hands on some scrolls surely the relatively well-off cult of the Peacock Spirit would be more than eager to resurrect their god.
Now of course the meta answer is because that would lessen the player's agency, but is there anything more explicit than that?
a non meta answer is that the cultists don't know Xanderghul is the Peacock Spirit in the first place.
So... did anyone else's group fail the viridian transcendance? I'm going to have some fun with The Jailor. Will have to see what happens.
Oh yes, and they brought Viralane by accident. [I figure if you fail the ritual, you don't get to exclude secondary casters from coming along].
I seek a needed clarification on the appearance of the peacock shrines. My party has done their research in the Therassic Library and knows from that what each color of shrine essentially does, but from the description of each in the module, it isn't apparent that they actually look any different from one another when you walk up to one. I was thinking that they would need to put together some clues on their own to figure out which is which.
However, on the provided maps each shrine is color-coded for easy identification. Is that meant as a GM convenience that the players aren't supposed to see? Or it is really apparent on sight what color each shrine actually is?
I'd hate to have a metagame spoiler right there on the map I show them at the tabletop, so if they're not supposed to see that I'll have to go alter the maps myself to try to remove the coloring or something.
Thanks in advance.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Based on the trap on the shrine in area E, it seems clear that the shrines are identical, and there is no way to tell from appearance which shrine it is. However, the detect magic + know(arcana) DC 30 does tell what it does - so they could know which feather to pluck based on that.
I totally hadn't noticed the color on the map - thanks for pointing that out. Using Roll20, so I put a token of the actual shrine image on top of that.
Side note on Area E: I gotta say - Hobgoblin Forerunners was a .. very odd choice for this encounter. Mounted experts in a building, and no mounts even if they weren't?
Based on the trap on the shrine in area E, it seems clear that the shrines are identical, and there is no way to tell from appearance which shrine it is. However, the detect magic + know(arcana) DC 30 does tell what it does - so they could know which feather to pluck based on that.
Exactly. I'd rather they stop, perform their skill checks to determine what the shrine does, and link that back to what they learned in the library, as opposed to looking at the map and saying, "Oh, this one is blue, so obviously..."
Side note on Area E: I gotta say - Hobgoblin Forerunners was a .. very odd choice for this encounter. Mounted experts in a building, and no mounts even if they weren't?
Yeah, I took that as an in-universe consequence of the cultists rounding up what support they could find to bring back here to guard the temple, even if perhaps their particular expertise was better suited elsewhere.
I actually like that for the sake of telling an interesting story more than stocking a dungeon with optimally-configured denizens in every room. Of course, there are still plenty of ways to make the encounters challenging enough...
I'm running my pf1 group through Rise, and we've just gotten into book 4 (starting it today as a matter of fact). I went to print out the first two maps on my plotter, and having a problem...
Normally, just screen-shot the map, expand it so it prints out at 1" squares, and print... but the maps in book 4 are such low res that they just pixilate til the details are impossible to read... I've never had this problem before, books 1-3 all worked fine.
Anyone have any ideas on how to avoid this problem - doesn't seem to matter whether the maps come from the map book or the main book (just can't turn off the map details in the main book, but that isn't an issue - the map pixilates so badly that even from the main book, the map details become unreadable when the squares are 1".)
TIA if you can suggest a way to avoid this issue...
|
I didn't encounter this. I'm assuming you're having problems with the map of areas B-K, where they are all combined on a single page. Even with those, when I increased the size they were fuzzy but not illegible.
Having you extracted the actual map, or are you working with screenshots? I find it easiest to open the AP book (I really find the interactive maps useless for my purposes) in Adobe Reader. You'll be able to select and copy the image in the PDF. There are also a number of tools that will break the PDF down into all the component images if you're having trouble copying. But at least on my Mac, I can CMD-C on the image in the PDF, and CMD-N in Preview to create a new image from the clipboard.
Just a clarification: during combat, Xanderghul spends a couple of rounds casting prismatic spray. Since the entirety of the Grand Temple of the Peacock Spirit is under the effect of a dimensional lock spell, if someone was hit by the violet part of prismatic spray, would that simply have no effect?
I didn't see anyone answer this, so here's what I'm planning:
The Peacock Shrine that has the 'violet' ray effect explicitly exempts itself from the dimensional anchor on the valley. So I'm saying Xanderghul's prismatic spray violet part works the same as the corresponding Shrine.
Also, if the PCs have disabled that shrine, then the dimensional lock is disabled and that means there isn't even a question.
Also: I'm grateful my players haven't watched Better Off Ted. Because... Viridian Dynamics, amiright?
|
I didn't see anyone answer this, so here's what I'm planning:
The Peacock Shrine that has the 'violet' ray effect explicitly exempts itself from the dimensional anchor on the valley. So I'm saying Xanderghul's prismatic spray violet part works the same as the corresponding Shrine.
Also, if the PCs have disabled that shrine, then the dimensional lock is disabled and that means there isn't even a question.
Also: I'm grateful my players haven't watched Better Off Ted. Because... Viridian Dynamics, amiright?
Just one point of clarification - the Blue peacock shrine exempts the inhabitants of the valley from the dimensional lock for the purposes of summoning and calling effects. Disabling the blue peacock shrine does not disable the dimensional lock. The PCs have no ability to interface with the dimensional lock which cloaks the entire region. This is detailed on pg. 14, in the sidebar "Temple Wards", and the summoning exception rule is detailed under the blue peacock shrine on pg. 13.
Yes, but that same sidebar says that if all seven Peacock Shrines are deactivated, the dimensional lock effect ends. I could've been clearer, I guess, I just assumed that once they deactivate 'violet', it being the last shrine, they've probably already deactivated the others.
The blue shrine doesn't have anything to do with it, except being one of the seven that must all be deactivated to end the effect.
I read through this a couple times and didn't see anything, but I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything:
Is there anyone in this temple complex who has Disable Device or knock?
My players were able to subdue the japalisura, but they couldn't stop his regeneration, so they dragged him into the cell and locked him there. After they deactivated the blue Peacock Shrine and left with the keys, I imagine the cultists went to investigate. They'd find the locked up jailer and maybe want to free him, but I can't find anyone who has the ability to. The one slayer has Knowledge (engineering) +11, but no ranks in Disable Device. Did I miss anyone?
|
|
Yes, but that same sidebar says that if all seven Peacock Shrines are deactivated, the dimensional lock effect ends. I could've been clearer, I guess, I just assumed that once they deactivate 'violet', it being the last shrine, they've probably already deactivated the others.
The blue shrine doesn't have anything to do with it, except being one of the seven that must all be deactivated to end the effect.
Yeah, my bad, I was reading what you said too narrowly and thought there was a mix-up that just wasn't happening.
No worries--it was confusing at the table. I had to take about 10 minutes and several tries to explain how deactivating the blue shrine worked to my players.
ME: "The shrine created a loophole for the BAD GUYS to work around the dimensional lock, so they could use their own summons, but deactivating it just closed the loophole, it didn't remove the lock."
PLAYERS: So... we can teleport out now?
*loop repeats with variations for 10 minutes*
ME: GAH!
:)
I'm glad you pointed out the confusion in my original post. I had been assuming that the PCs would deactivate all the shrines, but now, I'm not so sure. As a group, they sometimes avoid areas that aren't directly related to their goals, so there's a chance they might not get all 7 of them. It'll be a long flight home once they're done...
One of my players is also obsessed with figuring out HOW the shrines know who is and is not a 'resident' of the valley for the benefit purposes. He literally stripped everything off the jailor, including his loin cloth, in an effort to find some badge or trinket that would enable the PCs to count as cultists. I just smiled and said, in my most unctuous tone: "No, you just have to accept the Peacock Spirit into your heart..."
Heh.