Sorry if this has been asked and answered and I also feel like this may have been mentioned in one of the books but I was unable to find it in my re-skimming of of the AP.
But what would happen if Barzillai’s heart was stolen from the soul anchor before he died? Would it prevent the transformation? Kill him?
The former would be my inclination while the latter seems unlikely but does anyone else have any thoughts?
What would happen if Barzillai’s heart was stolen from the soul anchor before he died? Would it prevent the transformation? Kill him?
The former would be my inclination while the latter seems unlikely but does anyone else have any thoughts?
That would probably shift the entire story.
The heart on the anchor is needed for starting the transformation, and it's continuing syphoning energy by the moment it as been put it in there.
While tecnically Barzillai's soul is somehow bound to other sites in Ravounel, and many other preparations were made, removing the heart before B's death would make everything crash down, and surely negate the transformation to a GL.
Probably, Barzillai would nevertheless become some kind of devil with class levels after his death, since he touched the Anchor. If he would be free do immediately attack the pcs, or would find himself stopped by infernal bureaucracy, that's another story.
If he were allowed to return, i would see him try to create a "mirror kintargo" in the ethereal plane, and try to rebuild there the cathedral of asmodeus "desecrated" by the pcs.
In such situation, the final villain of your story may well be the Empress herself, and Barzillai a surprising final agent of her.
I am not sure in the answer but would like to ask - who would steal it? Is there any way the PCs can really find out about the Soul Anchor and get there before Barzillai is found?
I might have missed who knows the information? Tiarise?
And even if they do the details are outlined later and should realistically easily kill any group who tried
I chose not to comment initially because there is no logical reason for the PCs to learn about the Soul Anchor prematurely. And removing the heart from the Soul Anchor after Barzillai's death doesn't stop his plans... so essentially the only thing the PCs might learn is the Kintargo Contract and maybe about Barzillai's long-term plans. Yet by killing him, Imprisoning him, or doing anything other than shipping him out of the region will just delay his plans.
After all, removing his heart and putting it in the Soul Anchor is part of his ritual. If you somehow had your 4th to 6th level group manage to successfully ambush Barzillai and kill him prior to his attacking the Soul Anchor? Then sure, they could prevail and stop his plans early. Otherwise, the campaign will eventually end with how things played out in Book 6.
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If you can wrestle the heart away from the ghost of a dragon, a ghost priestess with an axe to grind, a pissed off devil who is there specifically to keep the heart sequestered, and the guy whose heart it is, because I doubt he's going to just sit around waiting to see what shakes down (plus a gaggle of his most powerful friends), go nuts!
Of course, if was a betting man, I'm guessing everyone dies and the campaign ends in frustration (or at the least everyone has to make new characters and try something else).
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There's no way that I can think of, short of PCs capturing Tiarise or someone and managing to get the information out of her, that they would be able to find out about his heart or where it is.
(It's non-detectable due to the powerful magic around it, and if they somehow manage to get to where it is before the end of book 4 they're likely all going to get killed.)