JollyDoc's Shackled City-NPC's Only

[JollyDoc]

Greetings loyal readers and long time fans of the Bright Axes and their adventures in Cauldron. This thread is being started at the suggestion of several readers. What I intend to do with it is discuss behind-the-scenes details of the game for those who are interested. Be warned, there are sure to be spoilers detailed here, so if you are not one who likes skipping to the end of the book, you should probably go no further. BTW, this includes my players. You are not welcome here! So, I encourage commentary, feedback, suggestions, praise, criticism, whatever! Hopefully this will clear up some space on the actual SH as well, but ongoing commentary is of course encouraged there as well, especially since my players won't be posting regularly on this thread. Enjoy!

 

[Nightingale 7]

Ok,I'm first.Pretty fitting that I should take the first post,since I was the one to propose this thread's creation.The thing that has be nagging me is about the Soul Pillars adventure.While Wee Jas is a cold,uncaring deity who might encourage undead,I don't believe that even the most misguided Kelemvorite would condone with the things happening in the church "behind the scenes".I was thinking that maybe they are Velsharoonians,or more appropriately for your campaign JD,Kiaransaleens masquerading as Kelemvorites.Some links with the Cult of the Dragons might be appropriate,what with the dracolich et all.
So?Spill the beans JD,we're in a non-PC infected thread.

 

[JollyDoc]

You bring up a good point, and at this moment, I'm considering having the Kelemvorites of Cauldron be a disaffected group of Velsharoonians who have only been paying lip service to Kelemvor up to this point. I may have some of the Cagewrights be affiliated with the Cult of the Dragon, and certainly some are going to be allies of Entropy and/or followers of Kiaransalee. I'd be interested to hear other's opinions on this

 

[Mortepierre]

While Wee Jas is a cold,uncaring deity who might encourage undead,I don't believe that even the most misguided Kelemvorite would condone with the things happening in the church "behind the scenes".

As a GH long-time DM, I can tell you that Wee Jas would probably not condone (nor encourage) undead creation. While she has Death in her portfolio, and her LE clerics can command undeads, she (usually) doesn't authorize them to create any and even to command them they need her authorization. This was made crystal clear in the 2nd edition.

Needless to say, I am speaking of the Wee Jas appearing in the GH setting here. Not the cheap clone they included in the core rules of the 3rd edition <grumbles>

JollyDoc, one thing I have found very useful when something like this happens is the Heretic feat (described in the Book of the Righteous, p.254-255). Basically, it allows you to generate NPC priests of G- or N-aligned deities that "deviate" from the norm and still get their spells.

 

[Nightingale 7]

Well,I'm not a Greyhawk follower,so I'm going from Wee-Jas's description in the PHB,and the actions of her followers in the adventure.I get the vibes that she's kind of middle-ground aligned on the undead-thing.Like,she doesn't want many of them,because they disrupt the life-to-death flow,but if some are needed,ok,they're just tools.
Now that I'm thinking,she kinda resembles Jergal in her attitude,so maybe they are some heavy-handed Jergalites.
This fits well,since Jergal is the servant/mentor of Kelemvor,so their churches should have a close relationship.
Maybe the Jergalites came to the originally Kelemvorite clergy,to help them,and in time they corrupted Kelemvor's teachings.

On the other hand you may have to rework the High Priestess.Since Wee Jas is the goddess of death AND magic,it fits having her as a
Mystic Theurge ,but Kelemvor's only connection to magic is his affair with Mystra .In that context Velsharoon fits better as he's a necromancer,and he could easily have MyThs in his clergy.

 

[LordVyreth]

I didn't get a chance to read Zenith Trajectory until very recently, so I just recently learned the whole thing with the dwarf father was a set-up. Did the party ever catch on to this? And what do you think they'll end up doing with Celeste? It must be rough being the DM and worrying what to do if the PCs seriously investigate or attack her.

And I'm still upset you killed the drow babe off!

 

[JollyDoc]

JollyDoc, one thing I have found very useful when something like this happens is the Heretic feat (described in the Book of the Righteous, p.254-255). Basically, it allows you to generate NPC priests of G- or N-aligned deities that "deviate" from the norm and still get their spells.

Do you mean the BoED? If not, I haven't heard of this book, and I need to look into it. Sounds like an interesting idea.

 

[JollyDoc]

I didn't get a chance to read Zenith Trajectory until very recently, so I just recently learned the whole thing with the dwarf father was a set-up. Did the party ever catch on to this? And what do you think they'll end up doing with Celeste? It must be rough being the DM and worrying what to do if the PCs seriously investigate or attack her.

And I'm still upset you killed the drow babe off!

When they rescued Zenith, Ajax was using See Invis. at the time, so he noted the Carceri sign on the dwarf, and correctly identified it, but the party did not detect the ruse with his "father." Therefore, they don't know about Celeste's part in this. In fact, they worked with her again during the Demonskar Legacy.

Do not fear, Shensen still lives. Her home was just destroyed. She'll be back.

 

[Mortepierre]

Do you mean the BoED? If not, I haven't heard of this book, and I need to look into it. Sounds like an interesting idea.

Nope, the Book of the Righteous from Green Ronin. It was published for D&D v3.0 but adapting it to v3.5 is a breeze. In short, it gives you full details of a pantheon ready to be "plugged in" the world/setting of your choice.

5 stars out of 5 in the ENWorld review, no matter who did the review.

The very fact that you haven't heard of it astounds me. Then again, you have spent many months in the Underdark and the Astral Plane

 

[JollyDoc]

Nope, the Book of the Righteous from Green Ronin. It was published for D&D v3.0 but adapting it to v3.5 is a breeze. In short, it gives you full details of a pantheon ready to be "plugged in" the world/setting of your choice.

5 stars out of 5 in the ENWorld review, no matter who did the review.

The very fact that you haven't heard of it astounds me. Then again, you have spent many months in the Underdark and the Astral Plane

I do actually like alot of Green Ronin's material, and now that you mention the source, I may in fact know of what you speak, but I think Gfunk actually has the book (big surprise), so I'll check with him. Thanks for the info.