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The runewell in the Catacombs of Wrath presents a significant threat to Sandpoint and the surrounding region if not dealt with. By the end of the fight with Erylium, the runewell contains 32 wrath points, enough to create 5 more sinspawn. In order to disable the runewell, the PCs have to drain it of wrath completely. This is an opportunity to include another skill challenge - allowing the PCs a chance to shut the runewell down without having to put up with the threat another five sinspawn pose.
Skill Challenge: The Lesser Runewell of Wrath
Setup: The runewell must be shut down by draining it of wrath points. This can be accomplished by causing it to disgorge sinspawn, but with some finesse and patient examination, the wrath can be diffused without creating more of the tainted monsters.
Complexity: 5 (12 successes before 3 failures)
Level: 2 (625 xp)
Primary Skills: Arcana, Religion, Thievery
Arcana (DC 6): Your knowledge of summoning rituals provides you with a few incantations to disperse the influence of wrath in the catacombs.
Religion (DC 11): You counter the unholy presence in the cathedral with a number of furtive prayers to your own deity, who responds by diluting the taint of wrath covering the runewell.
Thievery (DC 16): While this particular device is quite different from what you're used to, you find yourself able to identify a handful of the runes inscribed along the well's edges and effectively counter them.
Success: The runewell's glow dims and disappears, and the cold and unease the party felt upon entering the cathedral gradually fades over the next few hours. Sandpoint is safe from the runewell's influence - for now.
Failure: A careless mistake in defusing the runewell causes it to expel a host of sinspawn, all eager to prevent the intruders from meddling in the affairs of greater beings! Immediately begin a combat encounter involving 3 Sinspawn Rippers and 2 Sinspawn Wrathlords. Award the PCs with 625 xp if they defeat the sinspawn.
Whether the PCs succeed or fail, the runewell is no longer a threat.
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5 comments:
Man, I just found your site and it is such a lifesaver. I was trying to run the current WotC Dungeon adventure path, and it was just dissapointing. Your update of Pathfinder is just what I was looking for. Hope to see more soon!
- Jamie.
Glad you're finding it helpful! Nothing's gone up recently because I've taken the week off to attend the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle (and play a lot of D&D there), but the project will resume when I get back this coming Tuesday.
Whew! I thought you might have given up.
As I said on the Paizo board, I'm just about to take my party into the Glassworks, and I'd hate for your project to stop now!
The battle at the festival went reasonably OK but could have been more challenging for the party--that was a mistake of my tactics, however. I had the group with the hexer too bunched up and they got nailed with some daily burst powers. The hexer escaped in the "fog" (I've decided that this is the same hexer who escaped a prequel encounter with the party.) In the third encounter, a bloodied skullcleaver did take down the party's dragonborn paladin, but the handwriting was on the wall for them. The sharpshooters escaped, having mostly missed everyone (I was rolling horridly all night, too.) The glassworks looks like it's going to give them a proper challenge, though! (If I don't mess up the tactics, that is.)
Cool, I'll try to keep ahead of your party's progress. Did you run the Shopkeep's Daughter/Boar Hunt skill challenges by any chance? I'm curious as to how other groups fared.
My group is going to be running those encounters this Friday. I can let you know the results afterwards.
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