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msherman
Faen
(7/31/03 5:07 am)
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Getting back the Keys and the Sword?
IMC, the party has defeated the Earth Temple, and currently holds the Sword of Earth and both Lesser Keys of Earth.
The Earth Temple is going to rise again, soon; Uskathoth and the Swordmaster were Raised by Naquent, and given cash to go out and hire new thugs. Uskathoth created himself an undead entourage, and they will soon return to the temple with a hired army. I'm thinking of making the hired army Kobolds; they're normally lawful, but it's not unbeleiveable that there exists some chaotic Tharizdun-worshipping clerics among the kobolds, and such a tribe would be an interesting addition to the temple, setting all sorts of nasty traps at the main gate.
When they get back to the Temple, I'd think that their first priority, after getting settled back in and sacrificing a bunch of prisoners to summon Xorns (the party even left the drum intact!), would be finding the party and getting back the keys and sword. Any help from the hivemind on tactics and strategy there? Uskathoth (now level 5 due to the raising) has Locate Object, but that's pretty short range; is there anything else he can use to track them down, or should he just wait for the party to come to them?
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Andorax
Verrik
(7/31/03 6:27 am)
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Re: Getting back the Keys and the Sword?
The Earth Alter is no more a "slot machine" for Xorns than the Fire Alter is a "slot machine" for powerful magic items...I wouldn't even remotely suggest "sacrificing a bunch of prisoners to summon Xorns".
My take is that it's a minor variant on the summoning items of the other temples, and that you can only use it once a day, although the Xorn probably sticks around a lot longer than normal for the sacrifice...perhaps 8 hours or so.
Now, on to other matters. Uskathoth hasn't got access to the more powerful divinations, so he's out of luck there. As such, he's going to have to do one of two things:
1) Wait, hoping the PCs will come to him.
2) Go looking for them.
The latter, of course, will require some means of doing so. My suggestion? One of the Kobolds has a few levels of Ranger, and will help to track the PCs.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
 Infiniti2000
Verrik
(7/31/03 6:34 am)
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ezSupporter
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Re: Getting back the Keys and the Sword?
Kobolds are a great idea, especially given their reptilian nature. They would surely look up to trogs as "big brothers."
Put a scout or a couple of scouts in amongst the kobolds. I'm thinking like a kobold rogue or kobold rogue/sorcerer. Depending on level, you could even do a kobold arcane archer. The scout(s) would be given the task of finding the party. I see two options:
1. Prepare defensively for another attack. Uskathoth, unless he has a lot of undead and xorn would probably realise the futility of this. His previous force, including himself, were destroyed by the party, so unless the new force is significantly stronger, he should expect defeat.
2. Attempt to parley with the party and strike a truce, or a treaty to go against other temples. This is the option I'm gonna have Snearak primarily attempt IMC.
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Infiniti2000
Verrik
(7/31/03 6:38 am)
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ezSupporter
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Re: Getting back the Keys and the Sword?
"The Earth Alter is no more a "slot machine" for Xorns than the Fire Alter is a "slot machine" for powerful magic items..."
Don't equate the summoning of xorns to magical items. It should be equated with the fire temple altar's ability to summon salamanders. The module specifically states that the salamanders are permanent additions, so the xorn should be permanent as well. The gaiting factor in the fire temple is that the salamanders are "difficult to control" so it's reasonable to assume something similar in the earth temple. I think that frequent sacrificies (1/week or even 1/day) are a good idea.
Anyway, I like the kobold ranger idea, that's better than rogue.
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Offgall Fizziwigg
Faen
(7/31/03 7:04 am)
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Re: Getting back the Keys and the Sword?
I think once per day would be a little excessive for sacrafices. Sacrifices should be special to them since it is a ritual and exhillerating and particularly cruel and bloody. Given their chaotic nature, I would say they sacrifice sporadically once per week when they are done torturing their victim, twice at the most. Plus they have to send troops out to find the sacrifices, they don't just appear. They might double their efforts given their situation, but I wouldn't allow daily sacrifices.
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Andorax
Verrik
(7/31/03 7:15 am)
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Re: Getting back the Keys and the Sword?
I was speaking more in terms of how often it's POSSIBLE, not how often they'd actually do so.
Ultimately, it is best if they only summon up one Xorn per PC invasion of the Earth Temple area.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
msherman
Faen
(7/31/03 8:01 am)
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Re: Getting back the Keys and the Sword?
It says in the module that the Earth Temple altar can be used once per 24 hours.
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msherman
Faen
(8/2/03 6:19 am)
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Kobalds and Vranthis?
Hey, I just had a very interesting idea... with Kobolds taking over the Earth Temple/Main Gate, how would Vranthis react? I'd think he'd me much more likely to make friends with the Kobolds than he was any previous occupant of those areas.
How could they conspire to screw the party?
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