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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8775162" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/dyq7S0M.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Caverns of Salt and Silver is the hideout of Legion, Archdemon of Envy. The presence of the Dead Sea and receding underground tides means that there are tunnels made entirely of salt stretching for miles beneath Judea. Centuries ago, Legion used enchantment magic to manipulate the political leaders of Canaan to better search for the prophesied Messiah, although the personal nature and limitations of concentration spells meant that this was a very slow process. Further magical studies allowed Legion a more efficient means: by fracturing his consciousness among multiple possessed bodies, he can maintain even more concentration-duration spells at once. By creating cursed silver pieces acting as a spell focus for his enchantments, he could control hundreds if not thousands of people at once this way.But celestials and demons are beings not of flesh and blood but of intellect and spirit. Legion was forced to divide himself more and more over the ages, eroding his mental stability. Now, what remains of his true form is a herd of possessed swine and all but a few of his mortal followers abandoned him for more reliable, popular archdemons. Which of course fueled his Envy further.The Caverns are a 5-room dungeon that is rather light on treasure and monsters. Besides Legion, there are sentry golems and water elementals bound to his service. Throughout the caverns there are herds of demonic swine, evident by their glowing red eyes. They all have signs in Hebrew hanging from them reading names like Caipahas, Judas, and the like indicating which cursed silver piece of which that particular pig is concentrating. The pigs are harmless, but killing them reduces the HP maximum of Legion’s true form.The PCs can encounter Legion in his simulacrum form in a laboratory. He will try to bargain with the party first, offering them a legendary magic item from Israel’s past known as the Circlet of Solomon’s Wisdom (raises Wisdom to 27 and lets you concentrate on two spells, he’s actually wearing it and is attuned). He recently discovered the identity of Jesus of Nazareth, and will give the party the Circlet if they help find the Messiah.If combat is entered, Legion’s simulacrum is first and foremost a magic-user. His spells are rather wizardly, including options such as Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Dominate Person, and Telekinesis, and he can also switch places with a creature as a reaction. His true form is a swarm of dozens of pigs, who can make up to 5 individual bite attacks depending on his remaining hit points and his legendary actions include an AoE stampede, uttering blasphemous curses against God that deal Psychic damage, and can possess a creature via Dominate Person. Beyond the Circlet, the PCs can find his spellbook as a treasure along with a lot of silver pieces and letter correspondences with Lilith as well as the true identity of the Messiah (this last letter he has yet to send to Lilith). From these letters the PCs can find out that Legion is engaging in a conspiracy to have Jesus arrested and executed on false charges.Way of the Cross is the penultimate adventure in this campaign, triggered ideally when the PCs are 8th or 9th level, likely after they discovered Legion’s plot, or likely any time after the PCs met Jesus depending on how the DM feels. The book notes that this adventure is important to proceed a certain way for “historical, narrative, and mechanical reasons.” In other words, it’s heavily rail-roaded: Jesus must die by human hands in order to atone for humanity’s sins, and this will occur when Judas betrays him to the Romans.The adventure opens up with the PCs invited to Jesus’ Passover supper in Jerusalem. While there, observant characters may notice Judas sneaking away from the festivities. Everyone else will head to Bethany for a pleasant stroll, and Jesus will ask the PCs and three of his apostles to follow him to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is here a monumental skill challenge will take place, where Satan will seek to instill fear and doubt in Jesus via a variety of methods. Challenges include things like resisting Satan casting the Sleep spell, recognizing that biting snakes he’s sending out are illusions, reciting prayers with Jesus to comfort him, realizing that Satan’s stalling for time when he starts listing out the party’s worst sins, and so on. Failing the skill challenge causes Jesus to collapse, completely exhausted and unable to interact or say anything when Roman soldiers come to arrest him. Succeeding allows Jesus to give some final words of advice about how pride will be Lillith’s downfall and that the Word of God is sharper than any sword.This isn’t just a metaphor; one of the PCs will find the Sword of the Spirit in their inventory for succeeding on this challenge. It is a weapon of otherworldly construction with scriptural verses written in Hebrew along the blade’s length. It can take the form of any weapon, has a +3 enhancement, the wielder treats any roll on Persuasion or Religion lower than a 15 as a 15, and can cast the Spirit Guardians spell once per short or long rest without the need to concentrate to sustain it.Judas, Caiaphas, and 16 Roman guards will come to arrest Jesus, and just as combat begins when the apostles move to defend him, Jesus will diffuse the tension with Mass Suggestion and a healing spell on one of the struck guards. He will let himself be arrested and share some encouraging parting words, telling the PCs that he will send them help if they wait on the Mount of Olives.Jesus’ imprisonment and crucifixion more or less goes as planned. This also includes Pontius Pilate letting an angry crowd choose to have either Barabbas or Jesus pardoned, and the crowd chooses Barabbas. The module doesn’t say what happens in the event that the PCs killed Barabbas earlier in the module.Once Jesus dies, the True Atonement spell is cast, and a teleportation spell will activate next to the PCs. Caspar the Magi plus one or two other allies determined by the DM from earlier in the campaign will have arrived, with information about Lilith’s location.This adventure is very obviously railroaded. The book does talk about actions the PCs may take to defy destiny and ways the DM can adapt to this. However, just as Jesus has the uncanny ability to prevent outbreaks of death and violence in his presence, so too can he ensure that his death comes about for PCs who are insistent on finding ways to protect him at all costs.While a huge portion of the world knows the narrative of Jesus, PCs who may be insistent on avoiding metagaming may try to save Jesus when he’s crucified. Think about it: even if he tells the party that this is his destiny, PCs may be motivated to rescue him. It’s one thing to gracefully let someone walk to death’s door to spare further bloodshed; it’s another thing to see a defenseless man being tortured for hours and showing human vulnerability by crying out and pleading why God has forsaken him. Those who heeded his message may very well take it as a test of faith or act of conscience: saving Jesus, after all, would be the Christian thing to do. Why should an innocent man have to suffer for the sake of other people’s sins?But beyond that, canny PCs who catch on to Legion’s schemes may decide to undo the curse much earlier. What happens when the Remove Curse spell is cast upon Judas and/or Caiaphas? What if the party presents evidence of the demon’s wrongdoings to Pontius Pilate, who from how the module is written is skeptical of Caiaphas’ conspiratorial ramblings about Jesus?<img src="https://i.imgur.com/EwzzXyS.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Catacombs of Kadesh is the final adventure of the Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible, taking place immediately after the Way of the Cross. Realizing that her plans are all for naught, Lilith is incensed beyond words and intends to take out as many people as possible out of spite. Caspar is saddened by Jesus’ death, but knows that he found a way to weaken Lilith’s defenses. Via researching star charts he narrowed her and Abaddon’s location to some Egyptian ruins in the middle of the Wilderness of Zin. He can help teleport the party there via a stone taken from the dungeon. This is a two-level dungeon with 22 rooms, and the major enemies here are Abaddon and Lilith plus many of their minions.The PCs are likely to fight Abaddon first. While he has no simulacrum, he still adheres to the two-form boss battle, with his first form a dark cloaked figure. Abaddon is primarily a spellcaster, having offensive cleric spells such as Insect Plague, Blight, and Finger of Death, and his claw melee attacks can reduce a target’s maximum hit points. Once defeated he will disperse into a swarm of demonic locusts and retreat further into the dungeon. The swarm has no magical abilities but can do up to 6 sting attacks depending on their remaining hit points. During the battle he can animate nearby statues to attack the party, including a giant sculpture of Ramses. Also, Abaddon’s swarm form repeatedly chants his name during combat, which I find to be a cool touch: “ABADDON! ABADDON! ABADDON!”As for Lilith, she will fight the PCs in the middle of a large mine, with a hostage of an NPC who the PCs care about held in a cage suspended over a pit of Saraph Serpents. Lilith in her archangel form is a gish, having a few spells to directly aid her in combat such as Dispel Magic and Inflict Wounds, and she has a Sword of the Guardian which she can multiattack with. These swords were made for specific angels, and the ones who sided with Satan can deal extra damage against their bonded wielder for their energies cry out for justice against those who chose evil. Lilith is also aided in combat by Corrupted Simulacrums of the other archdemons, which are decaying and little more than strong shambling zombies due to Jesus’ True Atonement.Once Lilith falls, Satan’s voice will echo through the chamber, saying that he’s disappointed in her and to show them “what the fury of a woman scorned looks like!” At this point she’ll transform into a Hellspawn, a huge serpent-like monster that has a poisonous bite and spit attack along with two multi-target spells. She can also Charm opponents with a Hypnotic Gaze via one of her legendary actions.Defeating Lilith ensures that the Fellowship of the Beast will fall apart, and due to Jesus’ death she will never be able to return to the material plane again. While this marks the end of the adventure, the book notes that the DM can continue the plotline if they want, particularly if the party has any unfulfilled quests or other archdemons still alive and kicking.Thoughts So Far: The second half of Events and Encounters has a nice mixture of adventures. The pyramid dungeon crawl is a high point and one I can see being adapted the most easily for other RPGs. It also has a non-linear layout so PCs won’t end up stalled if they are unable to solve certain puzzles, which I appreciate. The Hanging Gardens dungeon is a bit lackluster in comparison, and Moloch’s murder mystery is an interesting change of pace. The two-part boss fights for the archdemons is a cool touch. I like how Galilee and Jerusalem are full of interesting locations and plot hooks, although sadly there are some places which could serve to be more fleshed out. The Sicarii headquarters comes to my most immediate mind, which many gaming groups are likely to run afoul of and want to bring the fight to their doorstep.The low points of this section, and I am sad to say, involve the more railroady aspects of Jesus’ story. At first the PCs have some agency, as evidenced in potential encounters in Galilee, but the Way of the Cross is a tonal whiplash from the freeform open world nature the campaign has previously emphasized. The plot holes regarding the dispelling of Legion’s cursed coins or the possible death of Barabbas being unaddressed just hurt this section even more.Finally, I have noticed that the bulk of the archdemon lairs and quests are huddled in the western edge of the map. Only Beelzebub is in the east, which may very well mean that the PCs have little incentive to travel to the Parthian-held territories otherwise. One idea I had would be to change Naamah from an Archdemon of (Sexual) Lust to instead focus on its broader aspect of desire in general. Prince Gotarzes in Ecbatana is a great candidate for her machinations, and I can see her whipping up him and Parthian military leaders into sweeping into Judea as “liberators” and “recruit the Messiah to our cause against Rome!” Additionally Parthia is one of the cultural successors to ancient Persia, who had a king known as Cyrus the Great who is beloved by many Jews by ending their captivity in Babylon and thus helping their return to their ancestral homelands. So using this tale can result in a form of “colonizing savior” among the Parthian elite in rationalizing themselves as a merciful alternative to Rome.Whilst desire can easily fall into other sin categories (coveting neighbor’s possessions as Greed, coveting respect being Envy when contrasted with another), I feel that a form of nationalism in making one’s country a rising superpower to be a kind of nonsexual Lust.Join us next time as we wrap up this review with new spells, magic items, monsters, and NPCs in the Appendix!</blockquote>

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