Designing in Public: The Rituals of Choice Part I, A Witch's Choice (PFRPG conversion) post #2

You can find Post #1 HERE!

Illustration by Ryan Barger

Act I: And So It Begins

Our story begins with the characters sleeping: Ask each player what his character is likely to be dreaming about, then guide each with a giant harpy eagle to the common dream location of Zewthra‘s balcony. 

Example

As you move toward the object of your desire, it morphs into an enigmatic giant harpy eagle and flies down a hole that suddenly appears in the ground.

If the character does not follow:

Abruptly the aperture becomes a gigantic sinkhole and you fall landing next to your companions in a strange wondrous location.

Cartography by Jonathan Roberts

Full Map HERE! 

Location # 1: The Glass Balcony (EL 3)

With a feeling of instant vertigo, you are unexpectedly in the center of an open-air sheer glass balcony entirely lacking protective railing. It is half-shrouded in mist created by two waterfalls spilling into the basin far below. A brilliant rainbow arches through the balcony. The glass pane appears to connect to the brown stone door of a lovely multilevel red house with a number of similar glass balconies. Floating point down just out of reach over the basin is a brilliant crystal-woven golden longsword.

The albino harpy eagle flies up and observes all the PCs but does not speak to them or answer questions they may have. (The balcony is 30’ wide at the base, narrowing to 5’, and extends 20’ out over the falls at its farthest point.)

Let the players look about, talk to each other, discuss why they are all having the same dream. At an appropriate point, perhaps when they go to open the door or make an attempt at the floating longsword, Zewthra will open the door.

You see a dwarfish woman with red-wine colored skin, her eyes purple within black. Her long hair stands straight out like long black pine needles, her face contorted in a painfully blank expression. Her garb is a patchwork of different colored fabrics, a different pattern on each piece (polka-dots, stripes, swirls, splotches, and silhouettes) and makes her look like some macabre doll.

Let the PCs react to her appearance. She is completely unresponsive to the PCs, until at an appropriately dramatic moment.

A whisper issues forth from the strange woman: “Help me.” Then the crystal-woven golden blade disappears over the falls and appears in her hand, and she raises it as if preparing to attack. In total contrast to her actions, her face remains void of expression.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS:

TERRAIN: If a character moves their full speed, they take the chance of falling and sliding, possibly off the edge (Acrobatics DC 10, failure results in falling prone and sliding to the limit of the character’s speed in a random direction. If they collide with an object, they bounce off and move half their remaining speed).

Characters can make a Climb check to grab hold of the edge if they slide over (DC 20). A failed check results in the character taking 2d6 points of nonlethal damage (see below).

DAMAGE: All attacks in the dream appear to deal lethal damage, but in reality are only dealing nonlethal damage. A character reduced to zero or fewer hit points leaves the dream world and wakes for a moment in the real world before falling unconscious again, but gets a glimpse of Vethkar’s house along with a crazed looking Zewthra. 

1^st Round: The giant harpy eagle takes the hardest blow from her phantasmal killer spell and it disappears. Throughout the fight Zewthra will attack, though her demeanor is very strange,

·       “I am sorry” she will say,

·       a tear drop will appear on her face,

·       she will scream in terror,

·       she will even make the hand sign for a ritual of greeting;

2^nd Round: Zewthra attacks with her luckblade this round and each round afterwards.

3^rd Round:  A 5’ section of the balcony cracks like a spider web.

4^th Round:  The cracked section falls away and the cracks spread to the next 10’ section. 

5^th Round: This pattern will repeat until there is nothing of the balcony left.

The best way to win this fight is to push Zewthra over the edge. She is substantially more powerful than the PCs but her Acrobatics check is poor. If they do this, the giant harpy eagle reappears and each character hears a voice in their mind.

 The choirs of heaven sings to me of a profound wrong endangering all. This wrong has caught Zewthra in its snare, help her.

The giant harpy eagle then disappears and the PCs awaken in Plunging Steam Manor.

Zewthra         CR 3 (9, cured)

XP 6,400

Female verrik witch (circle warden, see The Secrets of Adventuring) 10

CG Medium humanoid (verrik)

Init +2; Senses Perception +9

Defense

AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge)

hp 37 (10d6)

Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +8
Special Defenses Aegis of protection.

Offense

Speed 30 ft.

Melee +1 longsword +4 (1d8+1/19-20)

Witch Spells Prepared (CL 9th; concentration +13)

5th—break enchantment

4th—blessing of fervor^APG, cure serious wounds, phantasmal killer (DC 18), 

3rd—accept affliction, blood biography^APG, heroism, rain of frogs^UM

2nd—aid, cure moderate wounds, hold person (DC 17), soothing word, vomit spiders^APG

1st—beguiling gift (DC 15), shield of faith, command (DC 15), cure light wounds, ill-omen^APG

0 (at will)—detect magic, message, read magic, stabilize

Patron portents

Statistics

Str 8, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 14
Base Atk +5; CMB +4; CMD 15

Feats  Combat Casting, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Magical Aptitude, Mobility
Skills Diplomacy +6, Fly +11, Intimidate +13, Knowledge (arcana) +15, Knowledge (nature) +15, Perception +9, Sense Motive +9, Spellcraft +21, Swim +3, Use Magic Device +19
Languages Common, Verrik, Giant, Draconic, Dwarven.

SQ astral union, hexes (channel, fortune, good luck talisman), token of fellowship (luckblade), white hexes

Special Abilities

Token of Fellowship: A circle warden witch does not form a bond with a familiar; instead, she creates a special link with a fellowship. Symbolizing this fellowship is an object of great personal value, a fetish made with components bearing great significance to the fellowship, or the representation of an association (her luck blade).

The circle warden witch must commune with her token to prepare her spells. During the communion, the circle witch may link her fetish's spiritual energies to any number of willing, sentient creatures that she wishes to take upon her protection, including herself. A witch may attune additional creatures during the day by taking one hour to meditate, and draw talismans on the creatures she wishes to ward. A token of fellowship otherwise works as a familiar.

Aegis of Protection (Su): Zewthra may protect allies within the area of her wreath of community. As a move action, she may draw eldritch patterns that provide to all attuned allies within her wreath of community the properties of a protection from evil (alignment chosen during the move action) spell. The circle warden may instead provide them with a resist energy 10 (energy chosen during the move action).

By spending a full-round action instead, Zewthra creates a powerful sanctuary for any living being she wishes to protect inside her wreath of community; this ability works as normal, except that instead of protection from evil it reproduces the effects of a magic circle against evil (alignment chosen during the full-round action), and a creature needs not to be attuned to her fellowship to benefit from her protection. These effects last until the beginning of her next turn. This ability can only provide each creature with one attempt per day to suppress effects that are controlling them.

Astral Union (Su): Zewthra can leave her body as a standard action to bind her soul to one of her allies within the area of her wreath of community. This works as per the magic jar spell, except that the circle warden does not need a gem and her soul does not trap the ally's soul, nor overtakes his body. While mindless, her body is not lifeless, and it can do a move action each round. The physical and the astral body still share their actions on each round.

While bound to an ally, Zewthra may cast spells on him that are normally restricted to a range of touch or personal and use hexes that normally affect her to affect him instead. Thanks to the insight the circle warden can provide to him, the bound ally also gains the benefits of the shield of faith spell (caster level equal to the witch's level), plus the effects of a continuous Fortune hex.

If her body is slain or the ally leaves her wreath of community, her soul stays with her bound ally for 10 days after which she dies; or until the ally returns into the area of her wreath of community or her body is brought back to life, at which point she goes back into her body. During this time, her ally still gains the benefits of the astral union but her senses are limited to what her bound ally can perceive; she may also not cast spells onto any other creature than the bonded ally, nor use her wreath of community without a body.

Channel (Su): Zewthra can use a hex to channel positive energy like a 10^th level cleric. Whether or not the creature makes a successful save, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day.

Good Luck Talisman (Su): By spending one hour to write a mystic charm on a creature, Zewthra can ward a creature, as per the Ward hex. She can have 4 active good luck talismans at the same time equal to her Intelligence modifier.

Gyre of the Eldritch (Su): Zewthra may use a hex on two attuned creatures as a standard action, as per the Split Hex feat. This hex lasts one less round than usual (minimum 1) and may target two creatures anywhere on the circle warden's wreath of community.

4/day, Zewthra may also cast any spell with a range of touch on any attuned creature within the aura of her wreath of community, as if the spell was prepared with the Reach Spell metamagic feat.

White Hexes: Zewthra’s hexes are made to protect and ward. She cannot target unwilling targets with her hexes.

Wreath of Community (Su): Zewthra emits a 10-foot aura of abjuration. Once per round whenever an ally attuned to the Zewthra's fellowship is standing within the wreath of community's area, he may create a shield other effect in relation to any other attuned ally within the wreath of communitiy's area as a free action spell-like ability. The spell's caster level 10 (though the person activating the ability is consider the caster for all other purposes).

Description

Zewthra is autistic. Her actions are always extreme, and her facial expressions, mannerisms, and speech are usually in direct opposition to those actions. She was a gifted gambler and prankster in her youth before the autism imprisoned her. Now she can perform only the most basic tasks, and when in an extremely agitated state her powers lash out at random. Around her father, witches, faen, humans, and other verrik, she is normally very compliant. She has manic attacks if confronted by non-witch litorians and generally ignores almost all other creatures, unless they cause her harm. Zewthra values her father and the feeling of safety he has created around her. She fears her own power and within her mind she longs to be normal again. Though unable to express it, Zewthra understands her father’s finances even better than he does. She also still has friends at court. If cured she could become a powerful ally of the PCs.

History: (Diplomacy (gather information), or Knowledge (local) DC 15) All of Zewthra’s needs have been cared for by her father, ever since the accident. Fearing his government would put her in the Damned Depository, her father fled with her to Far-Rough.

Secret: (Diplomacy (gather information), or Knowledge (noblity) DC 25) Zewthra killed a young minotaur in a prank gone wrong; he was the only son of a clan leader, and a runechild (A being favored by Our Sovereigns in Heaven). Racked with guilt she chose to suppress her power rather than risk harming someone again. This has caused unusual random changes in her thought patterns, however, ultimately resulting in her autism.

Designing in Public: The Rituals of Choice Part I, A Witch's Choice (PFRPG conversion)

The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path

Part I: A Witch’s Choice

By Steven D. Russell

Introduction

A woman arrives in the protectorate of Questhaven from another plane, stepping barefoot through a portal of pure eldritch might. She is Morwen Khyar, a self-proclaimed demigoddess, Their Savior, and her power is such that no one disputes her claim not even the servants of heaven. Se seeks the true name of the Worldsmith who created the universe, and by speaking it aloud she will destroy this universe gain the power she needs to saver her own. The truename of the Worldsmith is hidden within the very fabric of this universe, and demigoddess or not, she lacks the power to dismantle the world without ruining the information she seeks. The path to her goal now lays open: Mortals under their own free will must rediscover and chose to carry out twenty forgotten rituals which will allow her to learn the Worldsmith’s truename. Morwen’s plan is to stay in the shadows and use mortal minions subtly and secretly, so that no other deity can move to stop her.  Moreover, even if all else fails, she has a contingency plan: the creation of heroes. So begins The Rituals of Choice.

“A Witch’s Choice” is an Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure designed for four 1^st-level characters. Characters will advance to 2^nd level by the end of the adventure. This is the first installment in the Rituals of Choice Adventure Path, a complete campaign saga consisting of 20 adventures.

The campaign path will take characters from a simple escort mission at 1^st level to an apocalyptic battle for the multiverse at 20^th level. The campaign is episodic with individual adventures able to stand alone despite a plot arc that runs through the entire series. This full arc will become clearer with each episode, together with “The Rituals of Choice Player’s Guide” free pdf that you can find at our website, www.ritepublishing.com.

Campaign Setting

The Rituals of Choice Adventure Path takes place in the Protectorate of the Questhaven campaign setting but is modular enough to work equally well in any other standard high fantasy Pathfinder Roleplaying Game campaign setting.  Morwen can easily arrive on some other plane of existence, with the presence of the truename of existence being a new and exciting discovery.

Preparation

 To play the Rituals of Choice Adventure Path, you will need a copy of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook and the Pathfinder Bestiary. This book may draw a number of monsters from the various other Pathfinder Bestiaries and Third Party Products, but the book will provided full stat-blocks in these cases. 

Adventure Background

Characters with ranks in Diplomacy (Gather Information) can learn more about the adventure background. When a character makes a successful check, the following lore is revealed; including the information from lower DCs. Knowledge (local) can provide Lore DC 20 or lower. Knowledge (arcana) can provide the Lore DC 25 but not the information from the lower DCs. Knowledge (planer) can provide the Lore DC 40 but not the information from the lower DCs.

  When running “A Witch’s Choice” as part of the Rituals of Choice Adventure Path, characters that put a rank into the appropriate skill or preform research in a library can reroll to learn more about the adventure background.

DC 10: The frontier town of Far-Rough lies just over the western edge of Korvack’s Cauldron (caldera of a dormant supervolcano) along the north of The Drifting Glade at very limit of the Protectorate of Questhaven. Several years ago, a well-to-do nobleman from the Kingdom of the Last Warlord named Vethkar came to Far-Rough by braving the Shattered Labyrinth. With him, he brought his unpredictable and autistic daughter named Zewthra.

DC 15: Zewthra’s condition is now killing her and by the judicious use of his resources, Vethkar has discovered that he must take his daughter to a mystical site where she must perform a special ceremony. The journey is hazardous, however, and his struggle to keep his daughter alive has already depleted his assets. Recently, he has been having a strange recurring dream about the PCs and a giant harpy eagle. He believes this dream has a mystical component, a sign from beyond, and he plans to follow the directions given in his dream. He truly believes that having the PCs escort himself and his daughter is the best chance for her survival.

DC 20: What only a few people in the town know is that Vethkar is brother-in-law to the Last Warlord. When his daughter began showing signs of the Verrik’s racial malady, the Phrenic Curse, he did not wish her to be put away in the Damned Depository (an asylum for those truly victimized by the curse), so he fled here.

DC 25: Zewthra’s malady is the result of the verrick raical curse and her own personal choices. When she was very young, and her witchery powers first manifested, she killed a rare guest of the Last Warlord, a young taurian boy (Minotaur). Zewthra chose to suppress her new powers rather than risk killing anyone else, but the effort cost her dearly. She now seems to be nothing more than a deranged child in a woman’s body.

DC 40: In truth, Vethkar’s dreams are the work of the wretch (half-orc half-hag) Dreamspun Sorecerer Bakhuth, who is also known as “The Wretched Harpy” to the Blood of Steelcrag, and “the Dreamspinner” by the verrik.

Adventure Synopsis

The adventure begins with the characters asleep, having strange dreams, and awakening to find themselves in Plunging Stream Manor, the home of Vethkar. He should be able to convince them, by the offer of a reward and the plight of his daughter Zewthra, to take an oath to escort his daughter to a mystical site known as . There are obstacles along the way as well as strange and wondrous encounters. When Vethkar dies halfway to the site (heart attack, if not by violence), the PCs must make a choice: continue or abandon the quest. If they continue, they must then convince the deranged Zewthra to choose to perform the ceremony of her own free will. If done properly Morwen will link all similar mystical sites (Avatar’s Landing) on the world to the place she first set foot upon in this world (). This will enable Morwen at some future point, drain all the might of every mystical site that has any of the qualities  possess into herself.

Adventure Hooks

The adventure hook will plunge the characters into the action from the very beginning. However, let the PCs choose the reasons they joined together before placing them in the initial encounter. Below is a list of suggestions that both the GM and the players can agree on. This list is by no means all-inclusive, and GMs are encouraged to tailor these to their unique group of PCs.

·        Agents of Authority: The PCs are young and newly appointed Questors, the adventurer’s guild that rules Questhaven (Vethkar’s various inquires for assistance from the PCs through his political connections have been answered). The PCs gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Knowledge (nobility) checks.

·        In Rebellion: The PCs have sworn to serve in the fellowship of the Phoenix who seek to overthrow the oligarchic rule of the Questors, and set up a true democracy. (Vethkar, having abandoned The Last Warlord to save his daughter, asks for the PCs through an old friend, who became The Nameless Revolutionary who is the Phoenix-child that leads the Fellowship). The PCs gain a +2 bonus on Perception and Sense Motive checks.

·        Wards of the State: The PCs are/were all wards of a noble in the Kingdom of the Last Warlord (Vethkar is that noble, and he finally believes that the characters are ready to help him. They are fully aware of the adventure background except the DC 40). The PCs gain a +2 bonus on Sense Motive and Bluff checks.

·        Orphans, aren’t we all: The PCs are all part of the same orphanage (Vethkar discovers them and adopts them). The PCs gain a +2 bonus to any two of the following skills: Alchemy, Appraise, Decipher Script, Craft, Handle Animal, Heal, Knowledge (any one), Perform, Profession, and Sleight of Hand.

·        Let My People Go: A benevolent patron buys the PCs as slaves and then frees them (Vethkar is the benevolent patron, who offers to reward them for their assistance). The PCs gain Toughness as a bonus feat.

·        A Mother’s Love: The PCs all share the same adoptive mother (A woman in Vethkar’s village, which is why he settled here. He offers rewards and the plight of his daughter‘s malady). The PCs gain a +1 bonus to Fort, Ref, and Will.

·        The Cost of Education: The PCs actually all attended the same school, and they are subject to indentured servitude for their education via the merchants’ guild that was their patron (Vethkar buys the PCs’ contract from the merchants’ guild, and offers them payment as well).  The PCs all gain Skill Focus as a bonus feat (they may chose the skill to focus on).

·        Heroic Legacy: The PCs are all the children (or adopted children) of a retired heroic company, who ask their heirs apparent to stand in for them.  The PCs can once per day roll two d20s instead of one and take the higher result. A PC must declare the use of this ability before the roll is made.   

·        The Dragonsworn: Ardon-nue “The Breaking Fire” a pyroclastic great wyrm read dragon who is seeking ot destroy the Questor’s society is recruiting a group of independent agents (his last group disappeared) (The dragon is intrigued by Vethkar’s dreams about the PCs and sends the players to assist him). The PCs gain a +4 bonus to saves against charm and compulsion effects.

·        The Fellowship: The PCs recruited each other; every PC member must recommend and have a connection to the next party member (not the same one) until you come to the last who has to give a connection to the first party member (Vethkar asks the first member, who started recruiting the party, to recruit the other members for the quest). The PC who starts the chain chooses a skill, and gains a +2 bonus to this skill. The next PC connection chooses a skill and both the first and second PC gain a +2 bonus to this skill. The third PC in the connection chooses a skill and the second PC and the third PC gain a +2 bonus to this skill and so on, until there are no more PCs left to join. The last PC gains a +2 bonus to the skill the first PC chose.  In the end each PC will have a +2 bonus to two skills as a benefit from choosing this background.