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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DonEsteban" data-source="post: 6281207" data-attributes="member: 6676483">Hi all, I think this is my first real post here.Massive Spoilers for the Desert of Desolation module ahead. But then again, not really. But if you're currently playing this module, you should probably stop reading right now.So I'm currently DMing a 3.5 conversion of the I3-5 Desert of Desolation series and we are nearly finished. However, the ending is quite horrible IMHO. A very brief summary of the plot: The players have been on a loooong quest recovering five Star Gems that are said to have the power of accessing the "Sphere of Power" of the long dead wizard Martek. According to an ancient prophecy made by said Martek a thousand years ago, this is the only way to stop a noble efreeti who has been loosened a short while ago and is now threatening to destroy all the people in the Desert of Desolation. The heroes have alreaddy met (and temporarily defeated him) once. So far, so good. The heroes have finally found all the gems and entered the Lost Tomb of Martek.Now here is the ending as planned in the original module: The heroes find Martek's resting place, place the gems in conveniently located receptacles, which revives Martek himself. "Now watch me!", Martek says and immediately sets off into the desert. Now the PCs can watch him battling the efreeti on an epic fantasy version of a giant TV screen. After finishing the efreeti, Martek returns. "Well done, my little friends. Have a cookie", he says. The end.My problem is that this feels really anticlimactic to me. Martek had them jumping through hoops for weeks or months and now all they can do is watch him being awesome. What do you think? How would this feel to you as players? Can you think of alternative, better ending?I have a few ideas, but I'm not going to reveal them yet.Known facts about Martek:He was a powerful magic user and a major mover and shaker (though probably mostly behind the scenes) in a civilization that perished a thousand years ago. For some reason he imprisoned (but didn't destroy) the efreeti a thousand years ago and made a prophecy that he would be freed again and only the heroes could defeat him by finding first the Star Gems and then Martek's "Sphere of Power" (which is a symbol for the knowledge of Martek himself, but the PCs don't know this). Martek is allegedly human, but in fact he could be any race.Known facts about the efreeti:Almost none, except that he is too powerful to be normally defeated by the heroes in direct combat.</blockquote>

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