What is the Best Encounter in Pyramid of Shadows?

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Well, i'm going to start this in the next month or so once we wrap up Thunderspire. I hadn't planned on running PoS since i thought it looked TOO weird at first glance, but the more i delve into it, i'm actually intrigued now by that weirdness, and the tactical coolness of many encounters.

But i'm scrapping all the plot hooks and intro encounters and adding something else.

*SPOILERS for THUNDERSPIRE LABYRINTH*



Paldemar, the Mage of Saruun is of course the baddie in TL, and the party is getting ready to enter the Tower of Mystery. They've met him in person and he's tried to kill them once or twice, so they already hate him. Orontar, the other mage, is actually going WITH the party to help them pop a cap in his ass. Figuratively speaking, of course.

I'm going to make the Tower pretty hard, probably throw in some extra Brass Minotaurs, but Paldemars ultimate goal all along has been to open an extraplanar gateway to the Pyramid of Shadows and obtain an artifact of Vecna hidden there. So, if all goes well (and i'll probably have to massage this scene) Paldemar will haughtily escape the PCs, shout to them that his plan is complete and dare them to follow into this black pyramid that has suddenly formed behind a crumbling wall inside the Tower, a pyramid with a black sky full of rumbling clouds and streak lightning.

Paldemar's "Infernal Machine" to control the Brass Wardens is not as important as his opening a temporary portal to the Pyramid of Shadows. At some point, i will either kill Orontar or have him retreat back to the Hall of Seven Pillars.

Essentially, Paldemar will become a new faction inside the Pyramid, which will warp to his evil personality. I can probably fit him into an existing encounter with some modification and have the final battle with him ensue there. OR...maybe i can have him pop up occasionally, having allied with Karavakos or been killed by Karavakos. I don't know yet.

Interesting.

When I ran Thunderspire Labrynth, Paldemar managed to escape, too. I still haven't found an idea on how to use him, but I want.

 

[MerricB]

Interesting.

When I ran Thunderspire Labrynth, Paldemar managed to escape, too. I still haven't found an idea on how to use him, but I want.

Interesting. When I ran TL, Paldemar won, and took the PCs as his new servants (to replace the ones he'd lost). Then he sent them into the Pyramid.

When they got out, they killed him because he irritated them, and they were now more powerful than he (because they'd gone into the Pyramid!)

Cheers!

 

[Nebulous]

I also mean to have Kalarel, Scion of Orcus pop back one day as undead, but i don't know how to use him yet. He might be best used as a side-adventure with the paladin who killed him though.

 

[Obryn]

I also mean to have Kalarel, Scion of Orcus pop back one day as undead, but i don't know how to use him yet. He might be best used as a side-adventure with the paladin who killed him though.

Hah!

You know, I was planning something like this, and then I realized that no PCs in the game right now were present when Kalarel was killed. Everyone either joined afterwards, or is on their second or third character (either through character death or a desire to try something new). So the question becomes, "What would Kalarel have against these guys?"

-O

 

[Nebulous]

Hah!

You know, I was planning something like this, and then I realized that no PCs in the game right now were present when Kalarel was killed. Everyone either joined afterwards, or is on their second or third character (either through character death or a desire to try something new). So the question becomes, "What would Kalarel have against these guys?"

-O

Well...very little! But sometimes that nod and wink is enough to give players a thrill, and that's enough. I reused Balgron the Fat (Boss Fatty) in my 4e Tallow's Deep conversion (he escaped several times from the players during Shadowfell Keep) and a completely new group of PCs met him in the dungeons of the goblin mine. The players themselves were very amused to find him there, even though the characters had no clue who he was, and they did not act on metagame knowledge.

Ultimately, the barbarian in the Thunderspire campaign killed Balgron in a one-on-one duel in the streets of Winterhaven.

 

[Daern]

Reoccurring characters like Balgron and Kalarel, whether the particular characters know them or not, that's the best way to really make a campaign come to life. It gives the suggestion of a story behind the story of the heroes themselves. Great stuff.
As for the Pyramid of Shadows, I ran the Headless Corpse encounter, and it was pretty fun (tough for 4 heroes with no healer!), and then I pulled them back to the real world. I was thinking that it might be neat to make the Head of Vyrellis a device for getting in an out of the Pryamid. Perhaps one of her powers is the ability to escape the Pyramid (teleport close burst 5?). Perhaps that power can only be charged up by acquiring a sliver of her life force... This takes away the "trapped in the Pyramid" vibe, but if you have strong enough story reasons to keep them coming back, it can also provide the needed respite from the PoS. Maybe it transports them back to the Minotaur statue in the Many Pillared Hall...
Anyways, I may use this idea to push the party back in if I feel like it, or if they're keen.

 

[Nebulous]

As for the Pyramid of Shadows, I ran the Headless Corpse encounter, and it was pretty fun (tough for 4 heroes with no healer!), and then I pulled them back to the real world. I was thinking that it might be neat to make the Head of Vyrellis a device for getting in an out of the Pryamid. Perhaps one of her powers is the ability to escape the Pyramid (teleport close burst 5?). Perhaps that power can only be charged up by acquiring a sliver of her life force... This takes away the "trapped in the Pyramid" vibe, but if you have strong enough story reasons to keep them coming back, it can also provide the needed respite from the PoS. Maybe it transports them back to the Minotaur statue in the Many Pillared Hall...
Anyways, I may use this idea to push the party back in if I feel like it, or if they're keen.

Good idea. There's no reason NOT to make the pyramid escapable by some means other than killing the boss guy. But players might not want to go in again, so they would need some pretty strong incentive. The DM can also use it as a gimmick for them to leave if he's tired of the pyramid, and maybe does not expect them to return at all. Tying it back to Thunderspire would also be a good thing to do.

I would loved to have seen H1-H3 released as a fat super module with a unifying theme tying them all together.

 

[Daern]

The DM can also use it as a gimmick for them to leave if he's tired of the pyramid, and maybe does not expect them to return at all.

That's basically what I did, and now I'm trying to justify it after the fact but maybe leave the door open. Haphazard DMing I know, but as long as the players don't know I just made it up, its ok!

To get them to return would require some strong motivation, but it sounds like you have that already in your campaign with Paldemar.