A free Town Hall.... but what about the zombies?


Kingmaker Second Edition

Lantern Lodge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I've just added a little vignette for my players to undo Gyronna's curse around the Stag Lord's old fort. They've dealt with the big guy, no problem (they mostly pointed Beaky at him, it was great), but it didn't make sense to me that they could just move in after that without doing something permanent to get rid of the zombies. After all, even if they set it off (which they did because Beaky ran away; they just closed the gates and the druid and kineticist blasted away at them from the watchtower for a few minutes), it must have some way to replenish itself, or how do the bandits know to avoid it?

So I decided to write them a little ritual scene to get rid of it for good. My cast of PCs, all 4th level:
Dubh: untamed/animal druid (also playing Valerie for this scene)
Sophia: 1H/wrestler fighter
Telric: earth/water kineticist
Wilkezag: maestro/polymath bard (also playing Regongar for this scene)

Here's the intro.

Quote:

Tristian walks you over toward the Stag Lord's old hill fort, to point out the huge diagram laid out around it, almost two hundred yards from the walls in all directions. "Octavia and I have been working on this since you left last week. Personally, I don't think the precisely-drawn circles and mystic runes and whatnot are really necessary, but they made her happy, and they certainly won't do any harm. My Lady sees us no matter what conceits or illusions we may cloak ourselves in." He points out the closest of the major nodes in Octavia's diagram. "My plan is to have four primary ritualists, one on each side of the structure. I'll be in the east, to greet my Lady as she rises and channel Her light to cleanse Gyronna's darkness and spite, renewing this land and granting it a new beginning. Dubh, your place is here in the south, representing daytime and the relentless growth of nature, to rebuke the undead with the vigor of the living world. Octavia will take the western node herself. Her arcane magic stems directly from the laws of the multiverse, as the boundless potential of day solidifies into the unforgiving certainty of evening: in particular, the law that the dead should remain dead, and a goddess that abuses Her followers should fade into obscurity."

He turns to Wilkezag, uncharacteristically uncertain. "Wilkezag, your part will be perhaps the trickiest, symbolically. Your place in the north represents the mystery of midnight and the unknown; and as you know, your power channels the stories we tell ourselves to believe that the bumps and howls we hear in the night have no power over us. Ordinarily this would be the curse's domain of strength, especially as Gyronna, goddess of hags, is closely associated with stories and the occult Herself. But that's why we waited for the full moon to try this. (ed. note: 29th Desnus, 4710 AR; I've already established that the zombies from the curse regenerate at the new moon.) It should still be barely visible in the western sky tomorrow morning, which will help suppress the influence of true darkness. Your duty will be to hold open the door of spirits, to invite the undead to rest and pass on into the River of Souls and the embrace of the Lady of Graves. But take care not to let any power come the other way! I would have taken this role myself if I could, but my Lady Sarenrae is hardly a goddess of mystery or the night! Personally I would recommend calling on Her Lover, Desna of the stars, to aid you, but it's up to you."

"Now, I don't expect the curse to just lie down and let us get on with this! Its spite has incarnated itself as the walking dead before, and that's what I expect to see tomorrow as well. We've avoided discharging it, because it's dangerous and I don't think it would help; the struggle against our cleansing ritual would have granted the curse the strength of desperation no matter what. At least this way we know what to expect! However, what to expect is zombies, and the four primary ritualists will be too busy to fight for themselves. While having additional people inside the ritual bounds is a slight risk, I think it's one we have to take. We've left space for one guard defending each of the performers. Telric, your elemental magic is primal in nature, as you know, and it will be best if you support Dubh. Regongar will of course protect Octavia; it's the best choice anyway, and I wouldn't have looked forward to trying to convince him not to! Valerie admitted, with some reluctance she didn't explain, that she has experience supporting divine rituals, so she has agreed to stand at my side. Which leaves you, Sophia, to guard Wilkezag with cold steel and skill at arms. As long as the ritual stays mostly balanced, the curse's defenses should split equally as well; I wouldn't expect more than three or four shamblers on each side, which should not be too much trouble for any of you. Just keep your head, and cut them down as they rise."

Tristian turns to look at each of you in turn, and seems satisfied with what he sees. "Any questions? Get a good night's sleep; I don't want to miss the dawn tomorrow. I'll be spending the day in prayer and meditation, to prepare. Any of you are of course welcome to join me, or to prepare in whatever other way you find appropriate. Sarenrae teaches that the paths to enlightenment and wisdom are many and varied, just as the paths to corruption are. I'll admit I was skeptical when I heard about a curse that's lasted without weakening for over a century, but Octavia pointed out that it's lasted because it's relatively weak to begin with, and designed mostly to renew itself. A stronger curse would probably burn out faster. So we should have a solid chance at this." The morning sun flashes in his eyes as he nods to the group.

30th Desnus: Two hours before dawn, Tristian wakes everyone up, carrying a bundle of six-foot ritual torches. He guides you in a circuit around the ruined monastery, starting in the east, planting a lit torch in the ground in front of each main node in the diagram. When he returns to his own position, he gathers the other three casters together and touches the back of your hands, leaving a golden sunburst sigil which flares slightly before fading. "The sigil will flare again exactly an hour before sunrise. That will be the signal to begin channeling your magic into the torch, and from there into the ritual. It's designed to build for an hour, and fully release just as Her sun crests the horizon. Remember, we need to keep the ritual balanced: any side which is too strong will either attract more attention to itself, or force too much of the curse toward the others, I'm really not sure which. It depends on how the curse is structured, and obviously there was only so much we could to do investigate that. When the sun rises, that's when to apply the final push."

He thinks for a moment, then shrugs. "I don't think there's anything more to say. Go with the Gods. Together we will forge a new dawn for this land." Valerie follows him to his position, standing in front of the torch as he kneels before it, meditating or praying one last time for guidance.

They're about to roll initiative at the climax of the ritual, at which point they'll get three zombies spawned on each side, similar to the way the trap worked originally. At the end of each round, the casters will have to make an appropriate skill check (Arcana, Nature, Occultism, or Religion respectively). I haven't decided the exact DC but it will start out fairly difficult, gradually getting easier as more sides succeed.

Critical Success: As success, and other casters' failures or critical failures do not spawn additional zombies this round.
Success: The DC for all casters (including you) decreases by 2 in future rounds. This can happen only once per caster.
Failure: Spawn an additional zombie on your side of the ritual.
Critical Failure: Spawn two additional zombies on your side of the ritual. If you have previously succeeded, increase the DC for all casters (including you) by 1 in future rounds; you must succeed again to remove this increase.

The ritual continues until all four casters succeed on the same round (which will be quite easy once most of them have the credit for succeeding at least once), at which point the casters can join in on the fun mopping up any remaining zombies, if they want to.

What do you think?


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I did something similar with my group where Jhod and Tristian came to the group when they came back from Jamandi's after killing the Stag Lord saying that they couldn't start construction because of the Zombies. So the party had to fight off the zombies in waves while Tristian and Jhod preformed a sanctify ritual.

I put a low-grade cold-iron Dagger on one of the zombies I played off as the leader that couldn't die while there were other zombies alive and she could spawn 1d4 new zombies for three actions.

Was a fun fight the party liked it.

Lantern Lodge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Yeah, if I hadn't conveniently had casters of each tradition right here ready to hand, I would have set it up differently. But the fact that they've also named Tristian and Octavia as Secretaries of the Republic (of Magic and the Vault, respectively) made it too tempting to build the ritual this way.

I'm still trying to get my bard player, Wilkezag, to understand that his magic isn't just purely about music: music is merely a convenient direct conduit to the emotional and spiritual connections underlying the stories, legends, and beliefs that power occult magic. We'll get there eventually.

Quote:

As the ritual builds, you can feel the curse building up against it. Moss starts creeping forward behind Dubh, while above Wilkezag the starlight seems to lance down like silver arrows. Tristian's torch burns higher and higher, far above his head now, while the diagrams and runes near Octavia start to glow with an otherworldly yellowish light. But the area within the circle grows progressively darker, in defiance of the torchlight, and the air grows heavier.

Finally, as the first rays of true sunlight peek over the horizon, Tristian calls out. Most of you are far enough away that you shouldn't be able to hear him clearly or at all, but his words vibrate through the ritual structure. "The long Night of this land is ended! The Sun rises on a new day of peace! Glory to Sarenrae, Who lights the flame! Glory to Cayden Cailean, Who breaks the chains! Glory to Pharasma, Who calls the fallen to rest! O Dawnflower, cleanse this land, that we may build anew! In Your name, let this stain be healed!"

Octavia replies from the far side of the site, less strident but even more unstoppable. "WHEREAS the misrule of Gyronna is ended, and Her cultists banished from this place; WHEREAS the bodies that now guard this place are centuries dead; WHEREAS the Laws of mortals, and gods, and the universe demand the end of the previous rule to make room for the new; THEREFORE let the dead now quit their claims, and let the Hag Queen release her grip and turn away Her sight, and let this land be released from all previous liens or restrictions, that Caydenlund might grow as its new rulers and take its place among the nations of the world. By my Will and my Skill, so mote it be!"

Wilkezag has been playing and singing steadily, a variation of a drinking song about Cayden Cailean, and possibly created by Him. The song counts His beers, and is designed to get louder and stronger on each round, each with a different heroic action. As he reaches 40, Will is bellowing at the limits of his voice, "Cayden strikes down the Hag Queen, never again will She be seen. Hi Ho! Dippity Doo! Cayden downs forty-two!"

As Dubh chants quietly, you hear behind his words the fluttering wings of bats, the happy buzz of bees, the chitter of the squirrel finding the nuts it stored for the long winter. These sounds get louder and louder, until with a shout, the druid somehow produces the battle cries of every animal in the forest all at once: the howl of the wolf, the bugling call of the elk, the roar of the forest lion, the eagle's screech, and more.

Lantern Lodge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

If anyone else wants to try this, spawn zombies faster, or use zombies tougher than standard shamblers, at least for 4th-level characters. Most of my fighters ran out of zombies to fight long before the ritualists managed to finish the ritual as described, because they could mince through them two or three at a time; plus the shamblers couldn't really hit the fighters at all (except for poor Regongar, who got hit a whole bunch just because of unlucky rolls). Maybe a failure should spawn one tougher zombie (a husk zombie or a weakened zombie brute?) on that side, and one wimpy shambler on each other side? In any case, I ended up cheating a tiny bit in the PCs' favor, because the encounter was getting boring.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I personally started with 6 plus the leader as kind of one of those video game moments where you walk into a graveyard and zombies pop out of the ground all over.

It wasn't hard and I don't think the party got hurt but it still took enough rounds to be fun.

Envoy's Alliance

This is Beautiful! I might have to adapt this for my own Campaign. Thank You!

I had exactly the same thought when we established the Party's Capital at the Stag Lord's fort, and RNGesus apparently did too as for their very first Kingdom Turn they rolled the event: Undead Uprising. XD

They are Level 4, so I am building something around a Zombie Lord, and planning to connect this to the "Lonely Barrow" as an additional hook.

Envoy's Alliance

Nicolas Paradise wrote:

I personally started with 6 plus the leader as kind of one of those video game moments where you walk into a graveyard and zombies pop out of the ground all over.

It wasn't hard and I don't think the party got hurt but it still took enough rounds to be fun.

I really feel like using a variety of Zombie types is the key to prevent this from getting dull. I have a Zombie Lord as the leader with a Scorned Hound for a pet (Stench Aura is Nasty), and am planning to use a Zombie Brute (full Strength) & a Dirge Piper (To give them AoE & Buffing, as his bodyguards, as well as some Zombie Shamblers for mooks.

I have a party of Six, so they should be OK balance wise. This should provide for some interesting variety in foes, though the Zombies are lacking in ranged attacks. (Which I Hope that my Team will realize and use to their advantage).

Thoughts?


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Sounds cool. There are also some alternative rules for Zombies I forget in which book but it lets them do things like have a fallen off limb independently crawl and attack or the top half of a zombie fall off and drag itself around and bite at feet.

As for ranged attacks depending on the terrain you set up you could have some Zombies that are stuck in roots or partially buried who throw rocks and dirt clouds.

Also look further in the chapter there is an event with Cultists of Garona(The Stag lords fort was originally a temple to her and the zombies are passed cultists) maybe you could foreshadow this by having a cultist onlookers who the party doesn't spot until the end of the battle who runs away but drops a holy symbol or some other cult item like a torture tool or hag nails/claws.

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