Statue of Limitations

Each statue of limitations appears to be a humanoid statue between eight and twelve inches, with one feature diminished in size. These features correspond with which stat attribute they limit to a highest value of 14. Greater statues of limitations limit these values to 10, lesser to 18.

When the figurine is worn around one’s neck, its effects radiate 5′ in all directions, affecting others.

If a statue of limitations is broken or destroyed, its effects are nullified, its power departed.

Each feature on the statue that appears diminished on the statue is so limited. Figurines with all six attributes limited appear with all six features diminished.

Price: 8,000gp, lesser 4,000gp, greater 16,000gp.


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Healing Call

You call out to your companion, inspiring her to fight through her wounds.

Level 1 Utility • Conjuration, Divine
Encounter, Minor Action • Close Burst 5

Effect: You allow a companion within the burst to spend a healing surge and heal an additional 5 hit points.

Note: This power is similar to Healing Word, except the effect’s range scales instead of the d6 with each tier, reaching 10 at paragon and 15 at epic.


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Map Pins

This campaign flavor is also a nice trap, or in the modern parlance, a hazard. Have a map available on a desk or pinned to a wall in a mage’s tower, with a map pin corresponding to the current location. As the characters remove the pins and place them in new locations, the tower teleports them to the new location.

See how this can be used in various forms and in various environments, for instance representing the location of a large floating disk in a catacomb riddled with pit traps. The party will have to play with the pins on their confusing map (where are they, for instance?) until they find which one will bring them the disk. Meanwhile, other pins correspond to beholders and other nasty creatures, which the party inadvertently teleports in in their search for the disk.


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The Ruins of Soguer – River Journey to the Ruins

Presented below is the first leg of the adventure The Ruins of Soguer. Previously the players had been tasked with traveling to the nation’s fallen capital to find the old king’s sword so that their liege can be coronated.

Previous sections of the adventure can be found here:
The Ruins of Soguer – Introduction
The Ruins of Soguer – Start of the Adventure in Aguies Town & Castle

Running the adventure – This section of the adventure details the player character’s travel from Aguies town to the ruins of Soguer. There is an important encounter along the way, where they meet a ship crewed by Aurochs who are searching for a kidnapped member of their royal family. There are also a few encounters with dangerous creatures and terrain as they travel the wild marsh near Soguer.

Read or paraphrase the following as the players begin their travel to the ruins:
You step aboard the riverboat. Like many of the boats that ply these waters, this 30 foot long boat features a single mast on a broad, flat deck, a small cabin behind the mast, and a low-ceilinged hold below the deck for cargo. The boat’s crew – four weathered men – push off from the docks in Aguies town, pushing off from the pier with long poles and then drawing in the mooring ropes once clear of the docks. Soon the sail is hoisted and the boat begins speeding downriver, pulled by the current and pushed by the wind. One of the crew sits in the rear with his hand on the rudder, and the other three watch the sails, occasionally tightening or loosening a rope before retying the crossbeam in a new position. And so goes the journey. For several days your boat travels downriver through farmland and woods, among low hills, and past the towns and keeps of humanity. After a week or so of travel the farmhouses and towns along the river grow fewer. Occasionally you pass the remains of a town or house ruined or burned. The riverboat crew grumbles that this part of the river is subject to pirates and raiders sailing up from the south. As the days pass the land lies lower, and small trees and marshy plants line the riverbanks. Occasionally you pass a small hut, but you see no inhabitants.

Encounter – A boat full of lizards – During the last stretch of the journey before the ruins, they PC’s encounter a mercenary ship of auroch warriors on the way.
Sailing down the river among the marshes another boat comes around the bend – a long boat with red crossed swords painted on the high forecastle and a monstrous figurehead. A roaring cry goes up from the other vessel and you see many reptilian men on the decks wearing mail and bearing spears and bows. As the other boat nears you can see that at the base of the mast is a shrine surmounted by two gilded dragons. The sails are furled slightly and oars put out. The boat turns and glides swiftly towards you, and at the very prow is a large armored dragonborn, wearing a helm crested with a dorsal line of many horns. He roars as they near.
Any characters who speak draconic will understand Captain Gamora’s hail – which is a demand that the player’s identify themselves. If the players try to communicate it is a simple social skill challenge.

Skill Challenge – Treat with the Aurochs (level 10, DC 16 diplomacy, 3 successes before 4 failures, XP 500)

Success: If they succeed in convincing Gamora that they are friendly, they give them some information and a quest. Read the following:
Having introduced yourselves, Captain Gamora takes off his helmet and scratches his scaly head for a moment. “I’m Captain Gamora of the Clashing Red Swords. Sorry about the scare – my men are in a strong rage. One of the holy family is missing – she was kidnapped from the royal shrine!” He narrows his eyes, staring at you for a moment and continues, “Have you heard anything of a young dragonborn lady with fine, pale scales in your travels? Where are you going on this river?”
Seeming to accept your answer, he nods and says, “I would consider it a personal favor, and indeed all our people would be grateful if you hear any word to send it to us. And if you should by chance come upon her, I would expect you to lend her aid in any way you can.” After asking for your help thusly, his anger returns, “and if I hear tell you met her and did not – by Chronopsis I will hunt you down and have my vengeance upon you.”
After a moment, Captain Gamora begins climbing aboard his ship. As he goes he says “Also, I would not go further down river. There are ruins there of a city of your men that lies there. Demons haunt those ruins, and the spirits of the dead. The gods curse that place.”

Minor Quest – level 12, XP 700
Goal – rescue the Auroch princess – Iejir’svern.

Failure: If the players fail the skill challenge, the Auroch mercenaries will demand to board their ship and inspect it. Resistance is met with violence – and the Aurochs swarm the player’s smaller riverboat – jumping across, swinging over on ropes and swimming to the attack. All told there are 4 Dragonborn Raiders, 6 Dragonborn Gladiators, and 20 Dragonborn Soldiers who attack. If the players manage to defeat the Aurochs, any captured or left alive will reveal that they are searching for their princess, Ijer’svern. If the players allow the dragonborn to search the ship, they do so and then Gamora imparts the above information.

Encounter – Crocodiles!
level 10, XP 2000 or 3000

This is an encounter with crocodiles in what were once the surrounding farmlands – now swallowed by the marsh. As the journey continues, read or paraphrase the following:

For the next few days you ravel further downriver through thick swamps. The river is wide and slow here, and the boat’s crew work the sails and their poles to keep the boat moving east towards the sea and the ruins of the city. Occasionally you spot a few peasants in wooden huts on the low, marshy hills the river winds through. As you push your boat through a fen of high grasses one of the fallen logs in the water leaps to life and reveals itself as a huge scaly monster!

Creatures – 2 or 3 x feymire crocodile – hiding in the river (stealth +13) – These crocodiles attack the boat as they pass it.

Reaching the Ruins
After the crocodile encounter the player characters come to the ruins of the city of Soguer. As they approach they may encounter a patch of quicksand. Read or paraphrase the following:
You sail downriver for another day and the faint smell of salt water begins to tinge the air. Rounding a bend in the river you catch a glimpse of tall walls through the drooping cypress and willow trees. The cracked and vine-strewn walls must stand at least 50 feet high, but you can see no one upon the battlements. As you float closer you can see that the walls end at the river with a fallen tower that makes a hill of stone on the banks. From there the wall stretches inland. Through the foliage you think you can see another set of towers – perhaps an entrance? The riverboat crew poles over to the shore and moors the boat to a large tree on the river bank. The remains of a road lead through the trees, roughly along the wall towards the gates to the north. As you proceed you see the remains of farmhouses and fences – now fallen down and overgrown with the swamp’s fecundity.
As the players walk this path towards the ruins they will pass over a patch of quicksand. Unless one of them makes their perception checks, it is likely the first player or two will fall into the hazard.

Hazard – Quicksand – level 11 elite hazard – XP 1200.
Leaves and dirt cover this stretch of flat ground.
Hazard: This hazard consists of a roughly 5 square by 5 square area of quicksand, which is difficult terrain. When characters enter these squares, or try to move in these squares, the hazard attacks. Attempts to escape can also hasten a character’s demise in this deadly hazard.
Perception or Nature
– DC 29: The character can discern if any adjacent squares are quicksand.
Additional Skill: Nature
– DC 25: The character’s knowledge provides a +2 bonus to Athletics or Acrobatics checks to escape or help another escape.
Trigger
When a creature enters, begins its turn in, or makes a map move in a quicksand square, the trap attacks that creature.
Attack
Free Action Melee 0
Target: Creature in a trapped square
Attack: +14 vs. Reflex
Hit: The creature falls into the quicksand, is restrained until they escape and begins sinking (see Effect – Sinking below).
Miss: The character is slowed in the quicksand square but is not yet sinking.
Effect – Sinking: After one hit, a character sinks up to their waist. A second hit or a failed Athletics check means they sink to their neck. A third hit or failed athletics check indicates they sink completely and begin suffering the effects of suffocation (DMG p. 159).
Countermeasures
– An character can extract themselves or an adjacent sinking comrade with a DC 29 Athletics or Acrobatics check. A rope or similar tool can give a +2 to this check. Failing this check by 10 means that the helping character falls into the quicksand or that the sinking character sinks further.
-A character wearing light or no armor can make a DC 24 Nature check to know that if they hold still they will float, and can then do so. While floating in this way the character is not subject to any more attacks from the quicksand. Any move or standard action will end the float and cause the character to be subject to further attacks by the quicksand.

If you wish to add a greater threat to this encounter, feel free to add a few hungry stirge swarms to up the threat.
Creatures – stirge swarms – XP 700 each.


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Cut-up Construct

Cut-ups are magically created automatons of varying power. Constructing one involves a decoupaged collage of scroll parchment and the employment of summoning magic, which pulls together the components for the Cut-up out of the ether. The tasks to be performed by the Cut-up must be written along the edge of the collage in a magical runic script. This is usually done in chalk so the collage may be reused.

The animating force for a Cut-up is a spirit from the Ethereal Plane. The process of creating the Cut-up assembles the component corporeal matter and breathes a temporary life into them, subjecting the ethereal spirit to the Cut-up’s creator, at least until their servitude is complete, as dictated by the tasks set forth in runes.

Combat

Since they are collections of multiple life forces all bent on competing their tasks and thus being set free, Cut-ups are strong-willed and tenacious in combat. They make any and all decisions based on this drive for freedom. They follow instructions explicitly and are incapable of any strategy or tactics outside this fundamental urge. For this reason, some may even attack their creators, if their creators are not careful to make their tasks clear.

Fatal Flaw

Cut-ups are destroyed if the collage used to summon them is destroyed, whether by fire, evisceration, or even a simple tear down the center of the parchment. Creators of Cut-ups must thus stow their collages with care, especially if they intend to reuse them.

Construction

The cost to create each Cut-up includes the cost of the scroll parchment used to breathe life into the collages and a bag of holding to provide the link the Ethereal Plane. Completing the Cut-up’s creation drains 50 XP from the creator. The bag of holding is not consumed in the creation, and once the Cut-up returns to the Ethereal Plane, the bag is left on the ground.

The resulting Cut-up can be up to 1’x1’ per level of the spellcaster. For instance, Mialee, a 14th-level spellcaster, creates a collage, and summons the ethereal energy to manifest a Cut-up up to 14’x14’. This creature is included in the stat block below.

The physical characteristics of a Cut-up come from its design on parchment, so there is infinite variation in their final forms.

Mialee’s Cut-up
Size/Type: Large Construct
Hit Dice: 14d10+30 (105 hp)
Initiative: 0
Speed: 30 ft.
Armor Class: 23 (-1 size, 0 Dex, +14 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+19
Attack: Slam +14 melee (2d8+8 plus deep cut)
Full Attack: 2 slams +14 melee (2d8+8 plus deep cut)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Deep cut
Special Qualities: Construct traits, fatal flaw, flip sides, fold space, damage reduction 10/bludgeoning and piercing, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to magic, low-light vision
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +5
Abilities: Str 27, Dex 11, Con Ø, Int Ø, Wis 11, Cha 1
Skills: —
Feats: —
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or gang (2-4), up to ¼ the level of the caster
Challenge Rating: 11
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 15-21 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: —

Cut-ups take the forms depicted on their collages.

A Cut-up cannot speak or make any vocal noise. It moves with a wide gait like the folding of paper. It appears weightless, yet is strangely corporeal.

Combat

Flip Sides (Ex): Every round a Cut-up is in combat, there is a 5% chance each round that it will determine that the easiest path to setting its ethereal energy free is to flip sides, turning on its creator. While fighting against its creator, there is a 5% chance that the Cut-up will return to its creator’s side.

Deep Cut (Ex): Since Cut-ups are made of pure ethereal energy, damage dealt by a Cut-up doesn’t heal naturally and resists healing spells. A character attempting to cast a healing spell on a creature damaged by a Cut-up must succeed on a DC 10+ the constructor’s caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the injured character.

Vulnerable to Blades (Ex): Cut-ups are especially susceptible to damage from slashing weapons, which deal double damage.

Immunity to Magic (Ex): A Cut-up is immune to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance. In addition, certain spells and effects function differently against the creature, as noted below.

A blade barrier spell or other non-magical blade slows the Cut-up (as the slow spell) for 1d6 rounds and deals 2d6 points of damage.

Fold Space (Su): At will, Cut-ups can take shortcuts through the Prime Material Plane by folding themselves through the ether as per the spell ethereal jaunt.

CL 11th; Craft Construct, animate objects, resurrection, caster must be at least 11th level; Price 5,000gp in fine scroll parchment, a bag of holding; Cost 21,500gp, 1,540xp.


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