Apok
First Post
Okay, before I go into this I think I should deliver some background information.
Every Sunday night one of my groups meets to play in a Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign. Myself and one of the players have already run through some of that module (under the same DM who is running it this time) but we suffered a TPK before getting even halfway done. So, the DM decided to pick the campaign back up again on Sundays. It's been a real blast thus far and our party started out as your typical, good aligned (except for the Rogue) adventuring band. My character was a Cleric of Lathander sent from Silverymoon (the module was transplanted to FR) to investigate strange rumours in the small, sleepy town of Hommlet.
We were doing fairly well for ourselves, got through the moathouse, Nulb and some of the Crater Ridge Mines. We had just finished taking out the Fire Temple (we went left at the main gate of the CRM complex rather than right into the Air temple, so we unknowingly took on the most powerful of the elemental temples first) and were heading back to town for some healing and to spend some gold, when I had a radical idea. What would happen if a party of non good aligned adventurers had to deal with this problem? Now, keep in mind that although we had beaten the forces of the Fire Temple we had come damn close to getting our butts handed to us in the process. I was trying to think of a better way to deal w/ the CRM issue other than "kill everything" when that idea struck. After discussing it with the DM, he agreed that he would allow me to switch out my character with another one of equal level & equipment value but with a different alignment. Of course, the fact that the party Rogue had already established a drug trade between Tal Chammish in Rastor and a guild contact in Verbebonc (transported into the Silver Marches area) sort of influenced my decision. Two of the four party members were Neutral and wanted to make some extra cash, so the Tanbrosh trade seemed to be a profitable venture. I sent my LG Cleric of Lathander packing back to Silverymoon and brought in a LN Cleric of Kossuth from Thay.
Now, what I'm trying to get at in an extremely long-winded fashion is that once the group's general alignment changed, our tactics changed as well. Instead of approaching the Temple of All-Consumption as conqurers, we approached it as "friends." To make a long story short (too late
) my Kossuthian Cleric had persuaded Hedrak to give him a shot at running the Fire Temple since the death of Tessimon put a serious cramp in it's power base. He agreed, gave me two weeks to shape things up and Whammo! My character is now the new High Priest of the Fire Temple! I used my contacts & my leadership feat to help stock the temple with loyal troops. The party Rogue enlisted the aid of some wandering Orc tribes and the party fighter with ranks in the Weapon & Armorsmithing skills is making sure my forces are well equipped. Naturally, I intend to use my newfound position to instigate strife amidst the other Temples and bring them down. After all, I was sent here to eliminate the threat that the Cult of Tharizdun poses. Now, I have a whole new arsenal at my disposal. All of the PC's (except for one, our 1/2-Orc Barb/Wizard who is a good-aligned character) feel thrilled about this new change. Instead of pulling hit-and-run tactics, we now have an established base of operations inside the Crater Ridge Mines! How cool is that?
My current plans are to ally with the Air Temple against the Earth Temple, taking them out of the picture completely. Then, I can either betray them or use them as allies against the Water Temple. Hmmm... so much possibility for intrigue and deception! Any input anyone has to help me would be much appreciated.
I wonder if Monte ever expected anything like this when he wrote the RttToEE.
Every Sunday night one of my groups meets to play in a Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign. Myself and one of the players have already run through some of that module (under the same DM who is running it this time) but we suffered a TPK before getting even halfway done. So, the DM decided to pick the campaign back up again on Sundays. It's been a real blast thus far and our party started out as your typical, good aligned (except for the Rogue) adventuring band. My character was a Cleric of Lathander sent from Silverymoon (the module was transplanted to FR) to investigate strange rumours in the small, sleepy town of Hommlet.
We were doing fairly well for ourselves, got through the moathouse, Nulb and some of the Crater Ridge Mines. We had just finished taking out the Fire Temple (we went left at the main gate of the CRM complex rather than right into the Air temple, so we unknowingly took on the most powerful of the elemental temples first) and were heading back to town for some healing and to spend some gold, when I had a radical idea. What would happen if a party of non good aligned adventurers had to deal with this problem? Now, keep in mind that although we had beaten the forces of the Fire Temple we had come damn close to getting our butts handed to us in the process. I was trying to think of a better way to deal w/ the CRM issue other than "kill everything" when that idea struck. After discussing it with the DM, he agreed that he would allow me to switch out my character with another one of equal level & equipment value but with a different alignment. Of course, the fact that the party Rogue had already established a drug trade between Tal Chammish in Rastor and a guild contact in Verbebonc (transported into the Silver Marches area) sort of influenced my decision. Two of the four party members were Neutral and wanted to make some extra cash, so the Tanbrosh trade seemed to be a profitable venture. I sent my LG Cleric of Lathander packing back to Silverymoon and brought in a LN Cleric of Kossuth from Thay.
Now, what I'm trying to get at in an extremely long-winded fashion is that once the group's general alignment changed, our tactics changed as well. Instead of approaching the Temple of All-Consumption as conqurers, we approached it as "friends." To make a long story short (too late
) my Kossuthian Cleric had persuaded Hedrak to give him a shot at running the Fire Temple since the death of Tessimon put a serious cramp in it's power base. He agreed, gave me two weeks to shape things up and Whammo! My character is now the new High Priest of the Fire Temple! I used my contacts & my leadership feat to help stock the temple with loyal troops. The party Rogue enlisted the aid of some wandering Orc tribes and the party fighter with ranks in the Weapon & Armorsmithing skills is making sure my forces are well equipped. Naturally, I intend to use my newfound position to instigate strife amidst the other Temples and bring them down. After all, I was sent here to eliminate the threat that the Cult of Tharizdun poses. Now, I have a whole new arsenal at my disposal. All of the PC's (except for one, our 1/2-Orc Barb/Wizard who is a good-aligned character) feel thrilled about this new change. Instead of pulling hit-and-run tactics, we now have an established base of operations inside the Crater Ridge Mines! How cool is that?My current plans are to ally with the Air Temple against the Earth Temple, taking them out of the picture completely. Then, I can either betray them or use them as allies against the Water Temple. Hmmm... so much possibility for intrigue and deception! Any input anyone has to help me would be much appreciated.
I wonder if Monte ever expected anything like this when he wrote the RttToEE.
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