This adventure begins when the PCs decide to activate the Scroll of Kakishon. The Foreword to this volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path provides advice on how to build up to this event if your PCs seem hesitant to take matters into their own hands, but in most cases, you should be able to rely on player curiosity to get them to activate the scroll. And if that’s not enough, you might want to have Rayhan (the sage the PCs consulted in the previous adventure) remind them of the strong possibility of powerful treasure hidden within—Kakishon was, after all, inhabited by one of Golarion’s most powerful wizards!
The process of opening the portal is relatively simple. First, the actual map must be laid bare by one of the methods detailed on page 9 of “The Jackal’s Price” (if the PCs leave this step to their friend Rayhan, he does so by casting comprehend languages on the artifact). Next, one need only touch the seven major island regions on the map in the proper order, naming each in turn: “Serpent Isles, Khosravi, Khandelwal, Ismaizade, Aliskiren, Isles of Night, Kakishon.” This done, the Scroll of Kakishon would normally begin to glimmer and glow, and the map itself would resolve into something more akin to a window looking out over Kakishon at a great height, and by pointing to one of the many Wayports, a person would be whisked away into the world within.
Yet the Scroll of Kakishon is damaged. Andrathi’s violent use of the scroll to create a vortex to capture Jhavhul and his army undid some of the wards on the world within, allowing the banished proteans to begin working at the underlying supports of reality like acid on the key joints of a massive building. Even before the PCs finish the activation, something seems wrong. Smoke starts to curl up from the map, and the smell of sulfur and burning leather fills the air. A few moments later, an incredible blast of fire and smoke explodes from the map—read or paraphrase the following to the PCs as the portal explodes.
With a sudden explosion of light and sound, the world becomes engulfed in fire. The ground itself seems to give way, and suddenly you are falling, falling through a vortex of fire, plummeting into the throat of a volcano. The pain tears through your flesh, yet still is strangely less overwhelming than what one might expect of a cataclysm this all-encompassing. A sense of vertigo overwhelms even the fire and noise, and the sensation of falling grows into a tempest of burning wind.
And then, in the flaming clouds and firestorm around you, shapes begin to emerge. Men and women made of fire and smoke—adorned with glittering jewelry and wielding scimitars made of fire, their faces twisted masks of glory and cruelty—rise up through the firestorm just as you are falling. Some of them seem to notice and mock you as you fall before they surge upward and out of sight.
And then comes the last of them, a towering, burning warrior with great horns and a cruel, curved sword. This immense figure notices you as well, and even takes the time to smile sardonically as he bows in mockery, as if thanking you for a service you provided. And then, with a flash, he is gone as well, trailing behind him a noxious plume of burning ash and searing cinders.
The PCs have witnessed the genie army’s release—the last and largest of these figures being the efreeti warlord Jhavhul himself. A Level 4 Knowledge (the planes) check identifies the burning men as efreet, while a Level 8 Knowledge (history) check identifies the largest as an obscure but legendary efreeti warlord named Jhavhul who, according to legend, was imprisoned centuries ago in a world beyond the world. After they pass, the PCs’ horrific descent continues. While locked in the vortex, the PCs are helpless to take action, but as they fall, things that are familiar to them form out of the fire as well, as if phantoms and memories from the real world are trying to take form. Characters pulled into the vortex without their gear find themselves suddenly outfitted for adventure. Animal companions and cohorts and familiars who may have been elsewhere are suddenly at their side. Even PCs who decided to avoid the triggering of the Scroll of Kakishon find themselves suddenly plummeting into the vortex. Kakishon is not without pity, it would seem, and while the PCs are being pulled into a prison, that same prison is providing them with everything they need to survive. Give the PCs a moment to let you know what objects and companions they wish to bring with them, limiting such options to objects the PCs already own or companions they’ve already befriended. Finally, when they’re satisfied with their selection, their harrowing journey comes to an end. Read or paraphrase the following, adjusting as appropriate for your particular PCs.
As suddenly as it began, the vortex of fire is no more. For a moment, you can see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing. But then, sensation slowly returns. The sound of waves crashing on a shore; the feel of a warm breeze and the grit of a bed of sand; the smell of salt air and strange exotic flowers—all these and more slowly fill the world. As your vision clears, you behold an idyllic tropical bay. Behind you rises a hilly junglescape rife with birdlife and snakes and strange flowers. Across a shallow inlet, more of the island rises, its slopes covered with jungle as well. Above, the sky is cloudless and blue while some distance down the beach stand a pier and a small stone hut—the only signs of civilization. Of the vortex of fire itself, there is no sign.
Once, travelers to Kakishon could select their destinations, but now that the world is starting to come apart, the PCs have no control over where they land—they arrive a few hundred feet away from the Waypoint, on the isle of Sarygamysh in the Serpent Isles.
Creature: Give the PCs a few moments to compose themselves, look around, and realize what has happened. Before they have a chance to start exploring their new world, though, a rude and hungry introduction is due. The coastal waters off the Serpent Isles are the hunting grounds for hydras, and one such beast is quite near and attracted to the sudden flash of light that signals the PCs’ arrival. The hydra is hardly a subtle foe, and the PCs should not be surprised as the immense six-headed monster surges up out of the surf to attack.
Health: 24
Damage Inflicted: 7 points
Armor: 1
Movement: Short when walking or swimming
Modifications: Perception as level 8 due to its many heads; Speed defense as level 5 due to size
Combat: Even approaching a hydra is dangerous; the air around it is poisoned by its venomous breath. Each round a creature is within immediate range of a hydra, they must succeed on a Might defense task or take 1 point of Speed damage (ignores Armor).
All five of a hydra’s heads can simultaneously bite foes in immediate range. If three or more heads coordinate their attack, the heads make one attack as a single level 9 creature dealing 9 points of damage. A target bitten by the venomous hydra must also succeed on a Might defense task or take an additional 2 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor).
Whenever the hydra takes 4 or more points of damage from a single attack, a healing pulse surges through the creature a round later. The pulse returns the health just subtracted due to the attack and triggers the immediate growth of two additional heads that sprout from the creature. (The same thing happens if one of the creature’s snakelike heads is decapitated.)
The new heads are just as effective as the original ones in a fight. Fire, electrical, and other extreme energy attacks do not trigger the healing pulse and head genesis.
Treasure: The hydra’s nest is, in fact, in a small cave under the nearby pier at the Waypoint. An investigation of this cave reveals a low mound of sand, vegetation, and partially eaten meals (including a pair of half-eaten gnolls). Between them, the gnolls possess 10 pieces of coral worth 10 gp each—their armor and weapons are ruined or missing.
For the duration of this adventure and the next, the PCs are destined to be trapped in strange lands far from home. Yet while they will not be returning to Katapesh until the final adventure in Legacy of Fire, events proceed apace there while the PCs work their way through Kakishon and, later, Jhavhul’s palace in the City of Brass.
During this time, Jhavhul and his army of genies burst into the city of Katapesh, immediately alerting the city defenses. The Pactmasters move swiftly, and using the greatest weapon in their arsenal—their wealth—they swiftly reach an accord with Jhavhul and pay him a healthy bribe to leave the city unharmed. Jhavhul takes the Scroll of Kakishon, left behind when the PCs were pulled inside, with him. Over the next several weeks, Jhavhul retreats to the Brazen Peaks, sending out disguised janni spies to learn about what has passed while he was imprisoned. He sends several of his agents back to the City of Brass, both to secure the Scroll of Kakishon in a vault in his palace and to find out if it’s safe for him to return—it’s not, and the scroll and Jhavhul’s agents are caught in the palace by a magical trap placed there by the Sultan of the City of Brass, who has seized Jhavhul’s holdings (see the next adventure, “The Impossible Eye,” for more details). Warned of this by a brief message from one of his agents, Jhavhul decides to return to Pale Mountain and finish his plan to waken and absorb the power that is Xotani the Firebleeder—and when he arrives, he conquers the town of Kelmarane to serve as a base of operations for his army.
Not long after the PCs defeat the hydra, but before they take it upon themselves to explore their surroundings, another visitor lumbers up from the gently rolling surf. Yet this is no foe to be fought—rather, it is one of the factions fighting for control of Kakishon. While the shaitan genies are not “tuned in” to the rhythms of reality and thus don’t immediately “feel” the PCs’ arrival in the demiplane, the same is not the case for the proteans. When the PCs arrive in Kakishon, the dwellers beyond the edge of the world take note, and they are curious. Unwilling to meet with strangers, they instead wish to put the PCs through a test, watching and evaluating their actions to determine if they would make good allies in the war with the genies.
The current leader of the exiled proteans is an imentesh named Lahapraset—while the PCs are fighting the hydra, Lahapraset uses the entropy pool in area A4 to travel to the Sarygamysh Waypoint, after assuming the form of a large sea turtle as a disguise. As she flops up onto the shore to greet the PCs, trusting her innocuous shape to keep them from attacking, she watches and waits to see what the PCs do. Lahapraset’s initial goal is to determine if the PCs’ curiosity and temper are such that they would be capable of reasonable discussion, or if they are merely mindless slayers and killers. If the PCs attack, the “turtle” simply regards them with an expression of mixed disappointment and anger before resuming its true form as a free action, and then vanishes as she’s recalled back to area A4.
If the PCs do not attack, the “turtle” looks at each of them in turn, and then coughs a tiny scroll tube up onto the sand before it turns and begins waddling back into the sea. If the PCs attempt to prevent the turtle from leaving, it simply allows the entropy pool to recall her, returning her to area A4.
Inside the scroll tube, the PCs find two objects. The first is a message written on strange parchment that feels weirdly cool to the touch. This message is reproduced as Handout 1. The second object is a small blue egg with brown spots on one end—this “egg” is in fact a magical key the PCs can use to travel beyond the Edge of Eternity, as detailed in Part Four.
As this serpentine creature slithers forward, its body combining elements of snake, bird, and human, a visible shiver shudders through the fabric of reality. Its unblinking eyes reveal a patient and powerful intelligence, while from nowhere and everywhere at once resonates a susurrus of infectiously spreading whispers.
Health: 30 (heal 3 health per round)
Armor: 3
Damage: 6 damage; 2 claw attack and tail + grab
Size: Large
Movement: Long (fly or swim and slithering)
Language: Any
Modification: Arcana and planer knowledge, electricity, magic, and sonic defense at Level 8; Immune to polymorph and acid
Combat: Imentesh usually do not engage in melee if they can help it. They emit a warpwave to deal with their foes. If they must fight, they usually pummel their targets with their long tail and grapple them. If caught, they can constrict their foes with their tail while they strike other foes with their claws and bite.
Imentesh are masters in chaos and transforming magic. They have spells that can change their or other people shape and the objects around them. They can also spells that create or destroy objects.
Change Shape: Imentesh Proteans can change their shape to any creature of their size to small.
Warpwave: An imentesh can cause the material substance of a creature to transform. As a standard action, the imentesh summons a wave of chaotic energy that hits all creatures within long ranges—the target can resist with a Might Defense check. A creature that fails the save is affected by a randomly determined effect from the table below. The non-ability-damage component of the effect lasts for 1 minute, and can be negated before that duration expires by a dispel magic spell.
Warpwave Effects
1d20 - Warpwave effect
Target takes 5 Might damage.
Target takes 5 Speed damage.
Target takes 7 Might damage.
Target takes 5 Intellect damage.
Target takes 7 Speed damage.
Target takes 7 Intellect damage.
Target actions are at a disadvantage.
Target is confused for 1d4 rounds.
1d6 - 1-2 Normal, 3-4 attack nearest creature, 5-6 do nothing.
Target is entangled by filaments of energy for 1d4 rounds.
Target goes down in their damage track.
Target becomes nauseated for 1d4 rounds.
Target is stunned for 1d4 rounds.
Target is sickened for 1d4 rounds.
Target is staggered for 1d4 rounds.
Target gains 5 temporary Might points.
Target is healed by 10 points.
Target is turned to stone.
Target is polymorphed into a harmless creature.
Portions of target’s body burst with energy of a random type (choose between acid, cold, electricity, or fire), dealing 6 points of ambient damage of the appropriate type to the target.
Loot: Most have 2 or 3 cyphers or possibly an artifact.
The party will need to explore all of the Serpent Isles in the search for the Golden Ram, as it wanders throughout the islands, ignored by the other inhabitants. Water walk gives it the ability to move among all three of the isles, but it does not wander to other islands in Kakishon. It has no set pattern to its travels and may be found anywhere, though it is somewhat more likely to be found in the Mistvales than the other areas of the islands.
The Serpent Isles exhibit four predominant terrains: the jungle-covered hills of the Mistvales, the swampy expanses of the Cranemarshes, the rolling plains of the Tall Grass, and white sand beaches. The hunting of the Golden Ram is accomplished via Survival checks made once per hour, with only the PC with the highest score in Survival making the check (other PCs can aid that PC with their own Survival checks if they wish). The DC of the check varies, depending on the terrain the PCs are hunting in—some areas are safer to hunt in but have higher DC scores to find traces of the Golden Ram, while other areas are more commonly traveled by the beast but are more dangerous.
There are four possible results for Survival Checks, the exact DCs of which are set by the various islands.
Nothing: A check of this DC or lower indicates that no sign of the Golden Ram is apparent in the area. All further checks in this region suffer a cumulative –2 penalty for each result of “nothing,” as it becomes increasingly unlikely that the Golden Ram is in the area.
Spoor: Faint traces of the Golden Ram are found, such as its droppings or faint traces of tracks. These aren’t enough to actually track the Ram, but do indicate the creature has been in the area recently.
Tracks: The PCs discover the Golden Ram’s trail! All further checks in this region gain an asset bonus on the Survival checks—if anyone in the party has the Track feat, treat any further result of “Tracks” from a Survival check as a “Sighting” instead.
Sighting: All PCs may attempt a perception check opposed by the Golden Ram’s stealth check—the perception checks are penalized by a level due to the long distance between the PCs and the Ram. If none of the PCs catches sight of the Golden Ram, treat this as a result of Tracks. Otherwise, the PCs can attempt to engage the beast (see “The Golden Ram” on page 18).
All of the Serpent Islands are ringed by beautiful beaches of brilliant white sand, backed by rows of palm and cypress and occasional tangled thickets of undergrowth and bamboo. There’s a 10% chance per hour of a wandering monster encounter on the beaches (or per night spent camping here). Fully 50% of encounters on the beach are with a hydra, a giant constrictor snake, or 2d6 Bloodhunter gnolls—all others should be rolled using the table on page 77.
The Bloodhunter gnoll tribes dwell in crude huts on several beaches; these gnolls are the feral remnant of Jhavhul’s gnoll armies, scourged by the proteans and abandoned by their former master. Their fur and armor are dyed in hideous patterns and decorated with shells, feathers, and tiny fetishes, and they eke out a marginal existence on the Serpent Isles, with a permanent encampment on the eastern island of Azzabes, hunting in the Tall Grass and venturing forth in their outriggers to hunt larger game. They have little interest in allying with the PCs, but they generally include a tracker among their groups—if the PCs can make peaceful contact with the hostile tribes, they could hire one such tracker to aid in their hunt. The gnolls know of the Golden Ram, and many have tried to catch the beast to harvest its treasures, but to date no gnoll has survived an encounter with the monster.
Hunting on the Beaches
Difficulty Level - Result
5 Nothing
6 Spoor
7 Tracks
8 Sighting
The eastern sections of the islands, including the whole of the small island of Azzabes, are broadly covered in lush grasses, in places only waist-high savannah grasses, but elsewhere topping the height of a full-grown human. These snake-infested fields are broken by small copses and thickets and tumbled rock formations sheltering pools of clear water. There’s a 15% chance per hour of a wandering monster encounter in the Tall Grass (or per night spent camping here). Fully 50% of encounters here are with a hydra, a giant constrictor snake, or 1d4 Huge vipers—all others should be rolled using the table on page 77.
Hunting in the Tall Grass
Difficulty Level - Result
4 Nothing
5 Spoor
6 Tracks
7 Sighting
The central portions of Sarygamysh and Sorror are broad wetlands fed by streams descending from the Mistvales and melding into coastal saltmarsh. The marshes teem with life, from tiny fish and amphibians to snails, insects, and the omnipresent waterfowl and wading birds that feed on them—most spectacularly the pink-plumed cranes and flamingos feasting upon tiny shrimp in the coastal saltmarshes. There’s a 20% chance per hour of a wandering monster encounter in the Cranemarshes (or per night spent camping here). Fully 50% of encounters here are with a hydra, 1d3 giant constrictor snakes, or 1d6 Huge vipers—all others should be rolled using the table on page 77.
Hunting in the Cranemarshes
Difficulty Level - Result
3 Nothing
4 Spoor
5 Tracks
6 Sighting
To the west, the land rises into a range of low hills split by many waterfalls and mist-shrouded vales, their streams criss-crossing the foot of the hills and feeding into the marshes below. The hills are crowned with thick, tangled forest and many caves and crevasses, but the girallons who dwell there venture only with great caution into the moss-slicked vales below where hydras dwell in numbers. The rocks of the Mistvales are perpetually damp and glistening, but when the sun strikes the hills at the proper angle, a cascade of rainbows is borne upon the clouds of mist thrown up by the unnumbered waterfalls. There’s a 25% chance per hour of a wandering monster encounter in the Mistvales (or per night spent camping here). Fully 50% of encounters here are with 1d3 girallons, 1d3 giant constrictor snakes, a hydra, or 1d6 Huge vipers—all others should be rolled using the table on page 77.
Hunting in the Mistvales
Difficulty Level - Result
2 Nothing
3 Spoor
4 Tracks
5 Sighting
The Golden Ram is an ageless, eternal magical beast created long ago by Nex to serve as a great challenge to those guests who wanted to try their skill at the hunt. The creature is a gorgon whose armor plates have been transmuted to gold and whose body has been infused with numerous magical effects and powers. At one point, Nex himself could resurrect the Golden Ram after it had been slain, but now, if the PCs kill the magical beast, it stays dead.
Creatures that succumb to the Golden Ram’s breath weapon turn not to stone but to gold, although this condition is only temporary and such victims revert to normal after 24 hours (unless break enchantment or stone to flesh is used to free the victim before then)—a rude surprise to ruthless PCs who cut up a golden companion to make for easier transport.
Health: 19
Armor: 4
Damage Inflicted: 7 points
Size: Large
Movement: Long
Languages Terran (cannot speak)
Modification: Might defense, intellect defense, spell attacks, and fire damage resistance is a Level 7 check; Cannot be bound, grappled, trapped or roped. It can walk on water or climb up walls. Vulnerable to Lightning (1 extra damage from these attacks).
GM intrusion: A character is covered in the gorgons breath weapon, and a sheen of stone covers their body for one minute, during which time they gain +1 to Armor but can’t move farther than an immediate distance in one round.
Combat: In close combat, a gorgon kicks and tramples and hits anyone within immediate range. When a character within short distance attacks the gorgon, they must make a Might defense roll. On a failure, they take 5 points of ambient damage as their flesh partly mineralizes. If the character is killed by this damage, they are turned to gold.
During Combat When PCs encounter the Golden Ram and it becomes aware of their presence, it has a 50% chance to attack or flee. If it is damaged by a PC before it takes its action, it always chooses to attack. The Golden Ram opens with a trample through the densest grouping of enemies, then turns to use its breath weapon against those it trampled in the previous round. After that, it gores with its horns, using its breath weapon as it is able.
Morale The Golden Ram attempts to flee when reduced to less than 5 hit points using spider climb and water walk to throw off pursuit.
Treasure: If the Golden Ram is slain, its body dissipates into a pile of golden dust, leaving behind seven golden armor plates and two curled ram’s horns. The seven armor plates each bear a magical spell etched on the surface—each plate is 1 foot square, weighs 3 pounds, and can be used as a scroll. These scrolls function as cyphers.
Both ram horns are hollow and gold-plated. The right horn is inscribed with Nex’s personal rune—this horn is a horn of the golden draught. The left horn is pierced at the tip, enabling it to be blown. This is a galley charm, and if sounded from the end of any Waypoint pier, it summons a Nexian galley.
Level: 1d6 + 4
Form: Gold-plated drinking horn
Effect: This gold-plated drinking horn can produce a golden draught. A creature that imbibes or is anointed with this liquid is freed from enchantments, transmutations, and curses up to its level. If the user suffers from no such conditions, her skin instead takes on a golden hue and becomes almost impervious to blows as they gain 5 Armor for 1 minute.
Depletion: 1d6