I have a question about a particular location in Chult and I'm hoping someone that has DM'd the adventure can help me out.
It's probably a good idea to put a ******SPOILER ALERT****here.
Okay, here's my question. In Kir Sabal, Asharra is willing to perform the Dance of the Seven Winds if the party can retrieve a black orchid from Nangalore. This gives the characters the magical ability to fly for three days. As far as I can tell, the only reason this would be advantageous for a party is to get deeper into the jungle or to fly up to the Heart of Ubtao. Neither seem enticing enough to make a party want to risk their necks in Nangalore. Am I missing some other reason why having the ability to fly would be a huge boon?
The Dance of the Seven Winds gives the players the ability to find 4 miles per hour for three days, which means they can cover 32 miles in a day (three hexes a day). So, 9-10 hexes in total. Getting in Nangalore and back to Kir Sabal would take 10 hexes.
I agree that the most convenient use, from a player perspective, is to get to the Heart of Ubtao, the dance is barely enough to get there.
I really, I personally think the quest's reward is pretty weak sauce. It only lasts a few days and the increase is speed isn't that great. Especially given you have to travel to Nagalore and BACK to Kir Sabal, at best it helps make up some of the lost time. It gives them a fly speed of 4mph, since 1 hex = 10 miles with 8 hours of travel that's 3 hexs a day for 3 days so... 9 (10 if you're kind and round up) hexes of movement. That will get the party no where more useful they would have been had they just done something else. IF the party force marches for 2 hours they can get a 4th hex. That's 2 con saves a person or a level of exhaustion.
Now if the party has the quest from Lerek Dashlynd to have a map of Nagalore and Orolunga, THEN they have an extra incentive! The sailing ship reward is worth 10,000 gold and can greatly help them with completing the quest to destroy the pirates.
I really, I personally think the quest's reward is pretty weak sauce. It only lasts a few days and the increase is speed isn't that great. Especially given you have to travel to Nagalore and BACK to Kir Sabal, at best it helps make up some of the lost time. It gives them a fly speed of 4mph, since 1 hex = 10 miles with 8 hours of travel that's 3 hexs a day for 3 days so... 9 (10 if you're kind and round up) hexes of movement. That will get the party no where more useful they would have been had they just done something else. IF the party force marches for 2 hours they can get a 4th hex. That's 2 con saves a person or a level of exhaustion.
Now if the party has the quest from Lerek Dashlynd to have a map of Nagalore and Orolunga, THEN they have an extra incentive! The sailing ship reward is worth 10,000 gold and can greatly help them with completing the quest to destroy the pirates.
Yeah, it really does seem like a weak reward. I'll probably just come up with an alternative reason to visit Nangalore and stock it with some useful treasure. Thanks for your help!
The Dance of the Seven Winds gives the players the ability to find 4 miles per hour for three days, which means they can cover 32 miles in a day
... they can cover 32 miles in 8 hours, and there is no indication that this is fatiguing after 8 hours like normal walking movement. If I were given such a gift, I would makes sure to use it to the fullest extent (about 18+ hours per day, even if that required con rolls for missing sleep). At that pace, they could make it all the way to Omu (assuming Asharra told them where it was).
I have found a lot of people have skipped one of the most important paragraphs in the book, which is the Adventure Summary on page 6. The main reward for doing the black orchid quest is not the dance of the seven winds. It is the knowledge of the location of Omu. The book is very, very explicit about how valuable that knowledge is, and how hard it is to come by. It's just located in a really weird place.
If the players manage to acquire that knowledge another way, great! Skip Kir Sabal. Otherwise, it's necessary to connect the dots to make the plot work and get out of hex crawl.
Lastly, even if this weren't true, and the spell was simple a matter of a rate-of-speed increase, it would still be worthwhile, because it increases the value of each successful navigation roll. If I have a choice between rolling to risking being lost 3 times or 10 times, I would always choose 3 times.
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I have a question about a particular location in Chult and I'm hoping someone that has DM'd the adventure can help me out.
It's probably a good idea to put a ******SPOILER ALERT**** here.
Okay, here's my question. In Kir Sabal, Asharra is willing to perform the Dance of the Seven Winds if the party can retrieve a black orchid from Nangalore. This gives the characters the magical ability to fly for three days. As far as I can tell, the only reason this would be advantageous for a party is to get deeper into the jungle or to fly up to the Heart of Ubtao. Neither seem enticing enough to make a party want to risk their necks in Nangalore. Am I missing some other reason why having the ability to fly would be a huge boon?
Once inside the Tomb, there are several areas where being able to fly can be a major boon.
Truth be told, it is not that convenient.
The Dance of the Seven Winds gives the players the ability to find 4 miles per hour for three days, which means they can cover 32 miles in a day (three hexes a day). So, 9-10 hexes in total. Getting in Nangalore and back to Kir Sabal would take 10 hexes.
I agree that the most convenient use, from a player perspective, is to get to the Heart of Ubtao, the dance is barely enough to get there.
Good to know. Thanks!
Got it. Thanks so much for helping me out!
I really, I personally think the quest's reward is pretty weak sauce.
It only lasts a few days and the increase is speed isn't that great. Especially given you have to travel to Nagalore and BACK to Kir Sabal, at best it helps make up some of the lost time.
It gives them a fly speed of 4mph, since 1 hex = 10 miles with 8 hours of travel that's 3 hexs a day for 3 days so... 9 (10 if you're kind and round up) hexes of movement. That will get the party no where more useful they would have been had they just done something else. IF the party force marches for 2 hours they can get a 4th hex. That's 2 con saves a person or a level of exhaustion.
Now if the party has the quest from Lerek Dashlynd to have a map of Nagalore and Orolunga, THEN they have an extra incentive! The sailing ship reward is worth 10,000 gold and can greatly help them with completing the quest to destroy the pirates.
Thing is that it only last for 3 days
Right... which is enough to make it to Omu if you flew 18+ hours per day.
I have found a lot of people have skipped one of the most important paragraphs in the book, which is the Adventure Summary on page 6. The main reward for doing the black orchid quest is not the dance of the seven winds. It is the knowledge of the location of Omu. The book is very, very explicit about how valuable that knowledge is, and how hard it is to come by. It's just located in a really weird place.
If the players manage to acquire that knowledge another way, great! Skip Kir Sabal. Otherwise, it's necessary to connect the dots to make the plot work and get out of hex crawl.
Lastly, even if this weren't true, and the spell was simple a matter of a rate-of-speed increase, it would still be worthwhile, because it increases the value of each successful navigation roll. If I have a choice between rolling to risking being lost 3 times or 10 times, I would always choose 3 times.