Dawn of the Scarlet Sun GM Resources
As written, Dawn of the Scarlet Sun is a straightforward urban adventure set in
Magnimar, featuring a basic murder mystery premise that leads to a fairly tough
big boss fight. It also provides plenty of fodder for making something larger out
of it as part of a Magnimar based urban campaign.
The module is necessary to run the adventure (but it is available for free
from Paizo ). The following write ups are provided for the various opponents
and challenges faced within the adventure, but using Pathfinder Fate Accelerated.
Additionally, a couple more fully stated antagonists are provided to spice up the
action a bit, and to build up the Cult of Shax angle set forth in the adventure's
central premise a bit more. However, a GM is free to use or ignore them as they
like.
- Zadendi: once a priestess of Sarenrae, she was turned
by Avalexi and now serves Shax. She is the heart-stealing murderer.
- The Scarlet Son: a fiendish gargoyle who serves
Avalexi (and is also her son, as written).
- Undead: the adventure calls for some Wights.
- Avalexi: a powerful succubus and the mastermind behind
it all.
- Hallway Trap: an Abyssal Fire Trap
- Street Criminals: petty thugs that might be encountered
in seedier parts of town.
- D'laxia: bonus NPC, a powerful demonologist and cultist
of Shax.
- Iraxis: bonus NPC, a sadistic magus and cultist of
Shax.
Being an urban adventure, with an initial 'whodunit' nuance, there are lots of opportunities
to go "off script" and explore more of the city of Magnimar; the Magnimar City of
Monuments supplement is excellent for facilitating this. Also a collection of Magnimar
based side quests are offered in the Asylum Stone (part 3 of the Shattered Star
Adventure Path), and finally a fair number of Pathfinder Society Adventures have
been set in Magnimar.
Thus it is quite possible to string together a series of urban adventures into a
full campaign, if desired, with Dawn of the Scarlet Sun being part of that. For
a more fleshed out usage, the mystery of the killing spree could be drawn out over
a longer stretch of time and cause much fear and speculation amongst the populace,
Jack-the-Ripper style. Further, Avalexi could be using her ability to infiltrate
high society and seduce those in positions of power and be a much more insidious
threat from within rather than a throw away boss fight.
Undead
If you want to add in more Undead, or swap out the Wights for a less deadly threat,
here is a selection of
Undead mooks
such as skeletons, ghouls, and ghasts.
a many-millenia old succubus who has risen in power and thus also in the esteem of her Demon Lord, the dread Shax. Not content, Avalexi is determined to rise further and has hatched a complex plot. Over 10,000 years ago Avalexi was bound to the service of Sorshen, the Runelord of Lust,
commanded to guard the monument that is now known as The Lady's Light. Trapped for ten millenia by the Runelord's powerful magics, Avalexi finally broke free of her mystic bonds last year. She has set herself out upon a scheme to acquire the Sihedron shards
and reassemble it. In pursuit of that long term plan, she has endeavored to create a powerbase in the slums of Magnimar and to bind various minions into a Cult of Shax to serve as her tools. Finally, after a series of events, she has acquired the
Shard of Greed! As she considers the Shard of Lust hidden within the Lady's Light to also be hers she now has two of the seven, and is close to making a move for the Shard of Pride hidden near Magnimar.
Enter the heroes...
In our campaign, Avalexi was elevated to more of a mastermind status. In the interests
of character conservation, I exised the succubus Ayandamalah from Curse of
the Lady's Light (part 2 of the Adventure Path) and inserted Avalexi in her place.
I also re-wrote the nature of her binding, and dropped the metaplot of having tricked
Ashamintallu to take her place (instead, Ashamintallu is a willing subordinate
of Avalexi).
It is assumed that Avalexi survives the PC's in Dawn of the Scarlet Sun and retreats
with any of her followers who also survive to the Lady's Light, to be encountered
again in part 2 of the Adventure Path.
Avalexi is quite powerful, and could TPK a group of green adventurers singlehandedly,
but there are some mitigating factors.
- Avalexi avoids physical combat if possible; she prefers to enthrall would be threats
and make them minions instead, or baring that have her existing minions deal with
the threat. If forced into direct conflict, her first preference is to extricate
herself from harm.
- The real threat of Avalexi in the context of this adventure is not her personal
capacity to wreak harm, but rather her schemes.
- Creating a shrine to Shax and founding a murder cult in Magnimar is the immediate
scheme, and the PC's don't have to defeat Avalexi to ruin it; merely bringing unwanted
attention from the city's defenders renders the entire plot unviable, at which point
Avelexi abandons it.
- Her other bigger and more durable scheme is acquiring the two pieces of the Sihedron
she knows to be located in or near Magnimar. In my version, she considers the Shard
of Lust kept safe at Lady's Light to be hers, starts with the Shard of Greed in
her possession, and is planning to go after the Shard of Pride soon. If the Shard
of Pride is taken or stolen from her, she will make some attempt to reclaim it,
but if that is impractical she retreats to the Lady's Light, secure in the knowledge
that those who have claimed the item will likely follow the trail and end up at
the Lady's Light seeking the next shard.
Abyssal Trap
Use this write up for the trap in the catacombs (marked on the map as a red zone).
The GM should feel free to increase or decrease the bonus on the explosion effect
to make it more or less deadly.
Abyssal Trap
Magical (Divine, Abyssal, Evil)
Detection: Requires special senses to detect as a Fantastic (+6) challenge
Easier Detection: Difficulty to detect while being Carefully Divine is only Great (+4)
Magical (Divine, Abyssal, Evil)
Disarm: Requires awareness of the trap, narrative justification, and a relevant Archetype of +3 or higher to disarm as a Epic (+7) challenge.
Easier Disarm: Difficulty to dispel while being Carefully Divine is only Superb (+5)
Magical (Divine, Abyssal, Evil), Zone
Effect: Blowing up my zone with abyssal flame (+6; Attacks Everything In Zone Without Splitting Shifts)
Lessened Effect: Reduce shifts of damage inflicted against demons or those with abyssal heritage by two (2).
Triggered By Not Carrying A Holy Symbol Of Shax. The Trap Does Not Automatically Reset
Street Criminals
While there are many dangerous criminal interests in Magnimar, such as the Night
Scales and the Gallowed, common
Sczarni thugs
and gang members are often encountered in the Underbridge area.
Oily Street Punks, Wise Guys
Good At: Shakedowns And Protection Rackets (+3), Street Savvy (+2)
Bad At: One On One (-2), Being On The Other Side Of The Tracks (-2), Long-Term Planning (-2)
Hits: [1][1]
Up to five (5) will fight as a mob, adding two (2) hit boxes per thug. +1 when attacking and defending for every three (3) thugs remaining in the mob.
The Creepers in particular are such despicable goons even other Sczarni dislike
them; many of the scum encountered in the Underbridge area are affiliated with this
gang.
Dirty Impoverished Scumbag, Ignorant And Bent On Survival
Good At: Dirty Fighting (+3), Underbridge (+2)
Bad At: Where To Start? Almost Everything Else (-2)
Hits: [1][1]
Up to five (5) will fight as a mob, adding two (2) hit boxes per Scum. +1 when attacking and defending for every three (3) Scum remaining in the mob.
Scum will generally break and run (concede), but only after at least one or two of them have been killed.
Additional Antagonists
Following are a couple of dangerous additional antagonists, wiling minions of Avalexi
and members of the fledgling Cult of Shax she has started. Adding one or
both to the mix can help to flesh this adventure out. Also, even if the adventurers
stop the immediate scheme to desecrate the Shrine of Sarenrae it could be only the
beginning of an ongoing problem with the Cult of Shax, with multiple cells operating
semi-independently.
Maps
