Kelmarane’s untimely death two decades ago came not from the gnolls who use the ruined village today, nor from the warring clans of genies who used the region as a battleground long ago. Rather, it was the folly of the village’s elder priest, a man named Halruun, who was misled by what he thought was a traveling seer named Xulthos. At the time Kelmarane was in the grip of a terrible plague, and Xulthos’s arrival coincided with the contagion’s end. In fact, this was mere coincidence, but Xulthos used this coincidence to become Halruun’s trusted advisor. Unfortunately for Halruun and Kelmarane, Xulthos was in fact a vile insectoid fiend called a glomeray and an agent of the Horseman of War. Xulthos had long traveled the deserts of Northeastern Garund, seeking out old battlegrounds to bask in. The daemon believed that battlegrounds were not chosen randomly—that these sites were “right” for war and with the correct manipulations, could be used to ignite new bloodshed. At Kelmarane, the daemon felt the echoes of Jhavhul’s battles in the ancient past, and hoping to “reignite” this battleground, his treacherous and sinister advice and increasing magical control over Halruun planted seeds of violence in Kelmarane’s citizens. In but a few months, where sickness once threatened the village, now murder and cruelty seemed the new plague. Yet just as Kelmarane’s citizens seemed finally about to band together to turn their murderous ways on nearby settlements, the Pactmasters’ soldiers rode in and defeated the town. Xulthos assumed his true form in an attempt to fight back, but the Pactmasters responded by sealing the daemon in the crypt under the town church.
Finally aware of how he had been used, Halruun drank poison to end his life (only to rise as a huecuva some time later), and the Pactmasters left the village to ruin. Until Kardswann’s intrusion into the crypt, Xulthos had waited patiently, but now the daemon feels that his wait is nearing its end—with the gnoll tribes of the Carrion King, it hopes finally to have its new war.
Almah knows only a few hints of what occured in Kelmarane, but she does know that a foulness is imprisoned in the crypts below the old church, and that exorcising this taint should be the final step in cleansing the village. She fears correctly that what waits below the church represents the greatest danger, and although the Pactmasters have given her the key to open the crypt, she would prefer to wait until the rest of Kelmarane is tamed before taking the PCs aside and telling them the following.
“About twenty years ago, Kelmarane’s priests of Sarenrae fell under the sway of something… foul from the Great Beyond. The creature took control of the high priest and eventually turned the people of Kelmarane to madness. Soldiers of the Pactmasters pacified the town and left it in ruin, but they were never able to root out the evil, and instead locked it in the crypt of the village church. Now, after all these years, that evil must have waned, and you should be able to defeat it once and for all. I’ve been provided with an interdict key that will get you through the seal. With the final defeat of the fiend within, Kelmarane will truly be free.”
Almah will not grant the PCs the interdict key (a metal plate with a handle on one side and a series of grooves and prongs on the other that interlocks with the interdict seal on the portal in the church ruins) until the PCs have defeated Kardswann and liberated the battle market. Under no circumstances will she grant them the key if they are lower than 3 levels of advancement, instead suggesting that they take out dangerous creatures in the wilderness (see the regional encounter chart in the Bestiary) to hone their skills before taking on the creature. She knows nothing else about the monster haunting Kelmarane and can provide no more information on the topic.
The upper ruins of Kelmarane’s ruined church of Sarenrae are detailed in areas B12 and B13 in Part Three.
Matching the ridges of Almah’s interdict key with the glowing series of irregular etched lines on the interdict seal at the barred door to the church’s crypt causes the red glow to fade, as the key and the seal fuse together. Thereafter the door can be opened easily, revealing more stairs leading down area D1 below—the start of a small crypt carved into the stone under the village. The crypt itself is unlit, and the air stale and cold.
The stairs lead to a rounded stone-walled chamber with a featureless door in the north wall. A ten-foot-diameter circle of mortared stones at the center of the room marks a well that descends even deeper into the earth. Next to the well, on a small pedestal, is a large gong. A short stick capped with a round pad of moldering leather dangles from a cord attached to the gong platform.
The door in the north wall cannot be opened by any physical means (though knock, a chime of opening, or similar magic is sufficient to force it to slide into the ceiling). The well drops 30 feet before ending at a thick stone plug that appears to be the bottom unless a Level 5 (15) Knowledge (architecture and engineering) or Search check is made to detect a thin gap between the bottom of the shaft and the “floor,” as if the bottom may have slid out from the side of the shaft. Liquid that is poured here swiftly vanishes through this gap. The same magical means used to bypass the door will work here as well, but no physical means will get the shaft to clear. Hitting the gong causes the door to slide into the ceiling and the “floor” of the well to slide into the side of the shaft at the same time. Faint rumbling can be heard from both locations.
With the false bottom withdrawn, the well descends a total of 60 feet before opening into area D4.
Creature: The route into the deeper crypts is still protected by a guardian bound into service decades ago by the priesthood of Sarenrae. Seconds after the gong is rung, a gout of pinkish, swirling vapor rushes out of the well, coalescing into three man-sized shapes—roiling fiery forms of beautiful winged angels with fire for wings and hair. Although these creatures may look like agents of Sarenrae, they are in fact simply fire elementals that have been bound into forms pleasing to the eye by the long-dead founders of the church. The elementals immediately attack any creatures in the room, but if someone strongly presents a holy symbol of Sarenrae to them, the elementals immediately cease their attacks and remain motionless until the symbol is no longer in sight. Banging the gong again while the elementals are unleashed causes the door to the north and the plug in the well to grind back into place—doing so forces the elementals back into stasis in the well, but also heals them of any damage and lingering effects.
This creature looks like a living, roiling fiery forms of beautiful winged angels with fire for wings and hair.
Health: 24
Armor: 0 (immune to non-magical physical attacks)
Damage Inflicted: 4 to 7 points; see Combat
Movement: Short
Modifications: See Combat for escalating attack level modification.
Combat: A fire elemental attacks with a flaming limb. The more the elemental burns foes, the more powerful it grows. Its power increases according to the number of successful attacks (that dealt fire damage) it made on another creature during the previous minute.
• 0 successful attacks: deals 4 points of damage; attacks as level 4
• 1 successful attack: deals 5 points of damage; attacks as level 5
• 3 successful attacks: deals 6 points of damage; attacks as level 6
• 4+ successful attacks: deals 7 points of damage; attacks as level 7
If a fire elemental hasn’t burned a foe within the last minute, its combat stats drop back to its level 4 baseline.
A fire elemental is immune to fire attacks but vulnerable to cold; every time it takes 1 point of cold damage, it takes 1 additional point of damage.
Interaction: Fire elementals are quick, cruel creatures of living flame. They enjoy frightening beings weaker than themselves, and terrorizing any creature they can set on fire.
A fire elemental cannot enter water or any other nonflammable liquid. A body of water is an impassible barrier unless the fire elemental can step or jump over it or the water is covered with a flammable material (such as a layer of oil).
The walls of this large, rough-hewn chamber contain several niches for burials. Shrouded corpses, most reduced to skeletons decades if not centuries ago, pack the niches from floor to ceiling. A raised dais in the center of the room bears a ceramic cask with a elaborate topper capped by a figurine of Sarenrae.
A secret door in the southwest niche (Search Level 4) leads to a worked stone tunnel leading to area D3.
Treasure: The ceramic cask contains the ashes of the first cleric of Kelmarane’s church of Sarenrae. It also contains an elemental gem (fire) buried within the ashes. There is no way to open the cask without shattering it, an act that spills age-old dust all over the room. The corpses here occasionally were buried with minor valuables. Looting the entire chamber takes 3 hours, but any good character automatically recognizes this as an evil act of desecration in a holy place dedicated to a goddess of redemption and healing. If any characters who received Sarenrae’s Wisdom blessing in area B13 participate in looting the corpses here, they immediately lose the inherent bonus and take an immediate –1 inherent penalty to Wisdom (no save). Looters can harvest 629 gp worth of funerary trinkets.
On the other hand, if the remains of the huecuva Halruun are brought down here and placed in one of the niches, a relieved, thankful sigh echoes through the chamber. All characters in the room gain the benefits of an aid spell for 1 hour (Temp Might 4 pool points and an asset to attack). In addition, the elemental gem in the cask suddenly appears in one of the pockets of the character most responsible for seeing that Halruun’s remains were so honored.
This plain stone-worked chamber once stored the church’s valuable religious artifacts. It’s been ransacked somewhat, but some lesser treasure still litters the floor.
Treasure: These items include a phylactery of faithfulness, a periapt of Wisdom +2 (+2 to Intellect pool), a necklace of fireballs (type III), and a lesser strand of prayer beads. Looting the treasures here has the same repercussions as doing so to the treasures in area D2, although at the end of the adventure, these treasures may become rewards for PCs who manage to resist the urge to take them.
The chute leading from area D1 emerges into this roughhewn chamber. To the north, an old rusty portcullis blocks the route further; the mechanisim to raise and lower it has long since broken, so the portcullis must be wrenched open or lifted with a Level 5 Might check, or battered down by force (Level 6 Object). Knock or similar magic also causes the portal to grind open.
Niches along this rough-hewn hallway contain burials of ancient church dignitaries.
The western crypt passage ends in an elaborate stone door bearing a life-sized symbol of Sarenrae, except that where the symbol’s head should be is nothing but a blackened scorch mark. The door stands very slightly ajar.
Creatures: The corruption brought to this place by Xulthos has animated three interred priests into undead monstrosities known as coffer corpses. With their brittle skin and ragged clothing, the creatures look a bit like zombies, but they possess none of the dull-witted sloth of their less powerful cousins. When the PCs reach the corner where the crypt passage turns to the west, the coffer corpses animate and attack from the niches marked with a C on the map.
This creature appears as a desiccated humanoid shrouded in rotting, tattered funerary clothes. Its hands end in sharpened claws with slightly elongated fingernails.
Health: 8
Armor: 6/4 magic or bludgeoning
Damage: 4 damage + grab
Movement: Short
Modifications: Level 4 to grapple checks, Level 5 to bluff (deceiving death)
Language: Osiriani
Combat: The coffer corpses are fast and not completely mindless, but neither are they creative in their tactics. Their voices grate like stone as they attack the nearest targets, whispering in Osiriani, “Stay with us… stay forever with Xulthos…”
Death Grip: A coffer corpse deals 4 damage per round with a successful grapple check. Because the coffer corpse grasps the victim’s throat, a creature in its death grip cannot speak or cast spells with verbal components.
Deceiving Death: In any round in which a coffer corpse is struck for 3 or more points of damage (whether the damage bypasses the creature’s damage reduction or not), the creature slumps to the ground, seemingly destroyed. If it has fastened its death grip on a victim, it releases its hold when it falls. A Level 5 Sense Motive check sees through the ruse (Level 4 for necromancers). On its next turn, the coffer corpse rises again as if reanimated, triggering its fear ability.
Fear: A creature viewing a coffer corpse rise after it uses its deceiving death ability must make a Level 4 intellect check or become panicked for 4 rounds.
Morale: The coffer corpses fight until destroyed.
Equipment: Chainmail
This chamber is the den and prison of the daemon Xulthos, and as such, the creature has wrapped several illusions around the chamber to create a lair more to his liking rather than spend the decades trapped in a funerary chamber devoted to Sarenrae. When the PCs first enter the room, read them the following description.
This chamber stands in stark contrast to the craftsmanship of worked stone of the rest of the crypt—instead, here looms a vast cavern. The air is damp and cold, and moist, writhing roots hang down from the ceiling twenty feet above. Puddles of reeking fluid dot the floor, and at the far end a jagged upthrust lance of stone rises from the ground to form a steeply-sloped platform.
The illusion is in fact hallucinatory terrain—any character who directly interacts with the illusion more than just standing within it receives a Level 4 (12) Intellect Defense save to see through the trickery to the room’s actual contents, described below.
This is a large worked chamber perhaps forty feet square. Two rows of three marble columns flank the main walkway leading from east to west. A series of low, curved stairs at the opposite side of the room leads to a large concave recess in the western wall, with an elaborate throne perched at the top of the stairs.
Creature: Standing upon the upthrust stone shelf (or seated on the throne if any PC sees through the illusion) is a towering muscular man wielding an immense axe—to all appearances, Kardswann. Of course, in truth this is the daemon Xulthos wearing an illusory disguise of his dominated quarry. As the PCs enter the room, “Kardswann” chuckles with a dry, inhuman laughter and speaks with a croaking rasp that sounds nothing like the genie’s actual voice.
“Many years have I languished in this foul place, trapped here by the wards placed by your Pactmasters. Endless decades have I endured the whispering spirits of the wholesome dead, cursing my captors, hating the world I could no longer corrupt. When the Templar came eight weeks past he walked through the walls. The red-men’s seal remained intact. But you, you have broken the seal, and my long captivity is finally at an end. But before I go, I will kill you one by one until the last of you willingly allows himself to be my slave.” The genie rises from his throne. “Which one of you, I wonder, shall that be?”
Xulthos leaves little option but combat. After 20-some years, it has finally come to this, and he cannot resist an opening act of violence against his accidental liberators.
If the PCs left the true Kardswann bound in the battle market, he escapes from his bonds to make a climactic appearance when Xulthos is reduced to half of his hit points. No matter his wounds, the corrupted and now fully dominated Templar of the Five Winds launches an all out attack to defend his puppet master and slay the enemies of the daemon. A Level 5 (15) Sense Motive check is sufficient to detect anguished contortions on the genie’s face, as if he is struggling not to follow Xulthos’s commands, but is powerless to do so.
In his true form, Xulthos appears as an immense insect-like fiend, with huge claws, a multi-eyed face with slavering mandibles, and a long serpentine tail tipped with chitinous blades. His wings are nearly transparent, and he moves with an almost hypnotic grace, his wings droning and light reflecting off his carapace in a dazzling display. Xulthos is a more powerful variant of the standard glomeray daemon—larger and with more potent spelllike abilities than normal. He is a unique servitor of the archdaemon Szuriel, the Angel of Desolation and Horseman of War. If he survives this encounter with the PCs, Xulthos fully intends to start up his warmongering where he left off—it’s up to the PCs to prevent this from occurring.
Xulthos appears as an immense insect-like fiend, with huge claws, a multi-eyed face with slavering mandibles, and a long serpentine tail tipped with chitinous blades. His wings are nearly transparent, and he moves with an almost hypnotic grace, his wings droning and light reflecting off his carapace in a dazzling display.
Health: 25
Armor: 4
Level 6 (18) Speed Defense
immune to acid, poison
Armor 4 to cold, electricity, fire
Damage: Bite 6 damage, 2 claw attacks 4 damage, tail 6 damage
Movement: Short, Long (flying)
Languages: Abyssal, Draconic, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.
Combat: Xulthos opens combat with hypnotic pattern spells, hoping to distract some of the PCs. He continues to use this tactic until the PCs manage to engage him in melee, at which point he sheds his illusory disguise and attacks. His spell-like abilities are subtle, and generally not that wellsuited toward combat—Xulthos knows that characters who were able to defeat Kardswann are unlikely to be affected by hypnotism or color spray, and he’s already used his charm monster for the week to renew his control over Kardswann (although if the PCs take more than a few days to reach this encounter after they defeat Kardswann, feel free to give Xulthos back his once-a-week charm monster). Instead, he relies on his drone, dazzling colors, and formidable melee attacks to win the battle.
Dazzling Colors: A glomeray’s exoskeleton reflects light in a dazzling display, making it hard to watch for long. Opponents suffer a 10% miss chance to all attacks made against it and take a –1 penalty on attack rolls while looking at the daemon.
Drone: The beating of a glomeray’s wings creates an irritating distraction. All foes within 50 feet of a glomeray must make an Intellect Defense check or be confused for as long as they remain in the area of effect. Those who save take a –1 penalty on all attack rolls, skill checks, and saving throws while in the area. Plugging one’s ears allows a target to attempt an additional saving throw with an asset to save against the effect.
Confusion: inflicts 1 point of damage that ignores Armor. In addition, until the end of the next round, the difficulty of all tasks, attacks, and defenses the target attempts is modified by one step to its detriment
Spells:
Hypnotic Pattern: A twisting pattern of subtle, shifting colors weaves through the air, fascinating creatures within short range. The other creature takes no actions other than to defend itself for as long as Xulthos concentrates on the spell + 2 rounds. If the creature is attacked, the effect ends. Action.
Charm Person: Target sees caster as an ally. Attempt Intellect defense check each round.
Charm Monster
Equipment: amulet of mighty fists +1, ring of protection +2
Morale: When reduced to 20 hit points, Xulthos attempts to flee into area D5 and thence to the shaft leading to the outside world. Unless the PCs can prevent this flight, the daemon survives and even thrives in the deserts and cities of Katapesh. All along he plots his revenge on the PCs, which you should play out at a surprising and opportune time later in the campaign. Because Xulthos is capable of dominating and impersonating anyone, he could be any NPC at any time.
With the Kulldis tribe defeated, the battle market liberated, and the daemon Xulthos destroyed or fled into the desert, Kelmarane is once again ready for habitation. Almah grants the PCs their agreed upon award, and names each of them “Knight Protector of Kelmarane,” welcoming them to remain in the town as its rightful heroes.
The PCs may need to negotiate with Almah regarding the fate of certain disreputable survivors such as the gnoll bartender Kurellak, the smugglers, and especially Undrella, who takes a disturbing liking to the PCs and demands that she be allowed to continue her alchemical work in the village tannery. The merchant princess is willing to trust the PCs’ judgment in these matters, granting them the Wharfmaster’s Manor in part so they can keep an eye on Undrella’s workshop.
Surviving members of the Lions of Senara decide to remain in Kelmarane and may make excellent future companions or even cohorts for characters who elect to take the Leadership feat. Felliped in particular is happy to indoctrinate any members of the party in the ways of the Pathfinder Society, should you decide you’d like to involve that group in your campaign.
If the PCs managed to leave Kardswann hovering between life or death before they descended into the ruined church crypt or if they slew Xulthos before killing Kardswann in the final battle, the genie regains his senses and is horrified by what he has been forced to do. He stoically asks forgiveness for his actions, and says that he must take leave of Kelmarane to notify his mistress, the djinni princess Nefeshti, of events here. He must also tell her about the moldspeaker and the fate of their fallen comrade Vardishal. Ramifications of Kardswann’s survival and redemption are explored in later adventures in this Adventure Path.
Over the following weeks and months, scores of merchants and settlers arrive and the work of rebuilding the village begins in earnest. Some of these merchants bring magical gear with them that the PCs may be interested in buying with the loot gained in their recent exploits. By the end of a year, Kelmarane is a thriving village with a population of nearly 500 souls (and a 200 gp limit for purchasing goods).
Yet despite the turn of events for the better, rare are the nights that pass for Kelmarane’s new keepers that are not punctuated by distant howls. The Carrion King still lives, and soon, his attention shall fall upon Kelmarane!
A Year in Kelmarane “Howl of the Carrion King” ends with the PCs as heroes of the community they helped to save from oblivion. Their best reward comes in the form of a full year of downtime, during which each PC may chose to concentrate his efforts on one focus in or around Kelmarane or on other adventures, which will grant him a benefit in the future.
Some likely choices are:
Administration: The PC befriends Garavel and gains Almah’s absolute trust. This gains the PC the personal notice of the Pactmasters of Katapesh, a boon that will come into play in a later adventure.
Business: The PC opens a business in Kelmarane. This is easiest if the business is located in the battle market, which soon draws traffic from the northern trade routes, but the PC can choose to set it up wherever he wishes. Over the year, a battle market business returns 3,000 gp worth of profit. A business situated elsewhere in Kelmarane brings in 1,500 gp.
Church of Sarenrae: The PC receives the rank of Abbot-Protector of Kelmarane’s Sarenraen community, and is treated as an authority second only to the high priest, who soon arrives from the coast (and who plays an important role in the next adventure). This NPC begins play with a friendly attitude toward the character. Furthermore, the PC is given one of the relics from area D3 as a reward for his devotion.
Crime: The PC befriends the surviving smugglers, Undrella, or crooked merchants who arrive with the first wave of settlers, gaining information on the criminal network of Katapesh that will come in handy in a future adventure. In addition, this character treats Kelmarane’s gp limit as 400 gp rather than 200 gp.
Explore Personal Mystery: The PC spends the off-year focusing on a personal mystery. Answer any one question the player has about the character’s past or fate, or tailor a special campaign segment featuring this mystery. You don’t need to handle this at the table in front of the other players. Perhaps an email or special one-on-one session is called for. In the latter case, keep it short and tightly focused on the mystery at hand, and avoid setting up a parallel campaign in which one player gets significantly more attention than the others.
Windspeaker: The PC who has become infused with the Windspeaker can chose to explore her windspeaker powers. Doing so they can learn the following ability:
Diverting Wind (4 Speed points): For one minute, you summon a protective wind around you that automatically deflect or dodge any ranged projectile attacks. However, on your next turn after you’re attacked with ranged projectiles, all your other actions are hindered. Action to initiate.
Patrol Kelmarane Hinterlands: Although the Kulldis tribe has been soundly defeated, they were but one of the numerous gnoll tribes in the Pale Mountain region. As the months pass after the reclamation of Kelmarane, it becomes obvious that many of the other tribes in the region aren’t too happy with having humans as new neighbors. News and rumors of periodic attacks on caravans by gnolls (and even some bold minor attacks on Kelmarane itself ) can serve to keep things on their edge over the year. A PC who decides to spend his time patroling Kelmarane and the environs (perhaps with Dashki as a guide) gets into regular skirmishes with small groups of gnolls. There’s no need to play out these combats—you can assume that the PC in question survives each with little more than a few bumps and cuts. The PC is rewarded for his efforts by Almah, in any event, with regular monthly payments of 250 gp.
Personal Romance: The PC chooses an NPC on which to focus his or her romantic attention. This is a difficult affair if the selected PC is Almah. Garavel is too devoted to his mistress, and seems annoyed by the attention. The smugglers or Lions of Senara make ideal candidates, as they are tabulas rasa on which to build a desirable character. Don’t forget that opposites attract, so a good/evil relationship is not out of the question. As more settlers move into Kelmarane, the PC’s options for romance increase significantly. The character’s romantic interest can be treated as a cohort for the PC, although should remain under GM control.
Rebuild: The PC spends a year rebuilding the ruined structures of Kelmarane. In the effort, he comes across a forgotten magic item of his choice, worth up to 2,500 gp.
Research: Characters who spend the year investigating the frescoes in the monastery and ruined church, learning the history of Kelmarane, and interviewing its inhabitants learn a great deal about the recent events. Feel free to fill the player in on any aspect of the backstory of “Howl of the Carrion King” he may have missed while playing the adventure. He is trained whenever he makes a skill check to uncover additional bits of lore concerning the Legacy of Fire.
Travel: While traveling the lands away from Kelmarane, the PC comes is exposed to all manner of customs and sights. He can pick a single skill in which he already possesses at least one rank; he gains an asset bonus to that skill check from now on.