Three Faces of Evil play notes

[MerricB]

I've just finished running the final session of Three Faces of Evil. It took my players 4 sessions to complete this adventure. We all enjoyed it. (Mike, thank you. )

A few observations:

Two of the sessions had 5 players, the other two had 6 players. For the most part, the encounters were balanced for those numbers. The PCs began at 3rd level, and by the end of it, two were 5th level, and the remainder were 4th level. Why the lower levels? Either they missed sessions, or died during the piece.

There were two PC deaths, both due to poor player decisions.

The first time, the PCs set up an ambush for the enemy, only for the druid to realise just when the first monster appeared that the area of entangle would trap the PCs as well as the enemy! As a result, the plan was suddenly a shambles and in the confusion a PC was caught out of position and killed.

The second time, the PCs alerted the enemy to their approach, and then stood in a nice line so that two lightning bolts could get to them, whilst they couldn't freely engage the enemy.

In the map of one of the areas

Spoiler

(Church of Hextor)

, there are two 10 feet sections of stairs that rise 20 feet each! Wow. Talk about steep...

During the final encounter, the PCs ran *everywhere*. I'd predrawn the map on the battlemat, so they had their tactical options laid out for them. And they chose to run. In the end, it proved effective.

Spoiler

They lured the Ebon Aspect (a large creature) into one of the 5' corridors of the Hextorian shrine. Whilst squeezing, they hit it with a tanglefoot bag, and it failed its save! Then, with it having a net -6 to attacks and AC, they were able to finish it off in melee. Very good tactics

Although there weren't a lot of role-playing opportunities, the framing sections of the adventure in Diamond Lake did allow for great theatre - especially as

Spoiler

Smenk

was led off to face his deserved fate.

Note: the adventure would have been improved with a couple of (empty) prison cells. I added two of them to account for replacement PCs.

Resting:

Spoiler

The PCs rested in the Grimlock tunnels to start with, and the two grimlocks that tried attacking them were killed. After the Grimlocks were all dead, those tunnels proved save from then onwards.

I think the group spent over a week underground!

It'll be a month before the next session, I wager. I'll have to content myself with my other games until then.

Cheers!

 

[howandwhy99]

That sounds like a great time! Worms has included some of the best adventures I've read in Dungeon for a while. I'm glad they are getting use.

The point about extra prison cells is nice. It's just the sort of stuff I look for in reviews of adventures. Please list anything else you can think of. So few reviews are playtest reviews.

Good luck to your players on the next one. I'm willing to bet there will be more character deaths.

 

[Menexenus]

I'm planning on running this adventure in the next couple weeks. Adding prison cells is an excellent idea in case a player needs to roll up a new character. (Thanks!) But I'm concerned about what will happen when the party attempts to rest. If the 3 separate temples are alerted to the presence of intruders, wouldn't they, at the very least, send forays against the PCs to keep them from recovering spells? What keeps the separate temples from bringing the fight to resting PCs?

 

[MerricB]

I'm planning on running this adventure in the next couple weeks. Adding prison cells is an excellent idea in case a player needs to roll up a new character. (Thanks!) But I'm concerned about what will happen when the party attempts to rest. If the 3 separate temples are alerted to the presence of intruders, wouldn't they, at the very least, send forays against the PCs to keep them from recovering spells? What keeps the separate temples from bringing the fight to resting PCs?

Two things:
* The temples don't really trust one another.
* As a result, they're not going to venture into each other's terrain uninvited.

In my campaign, the PCs befriended the miners and had a safe spot to rest above; however, they rested (most of the time) in the Grimlock lair after slaughtering its inhabitants.

Cheers!

 

[Menexenus]

Resting in the mine complex after the miners have gone home for the day is a good idea. After a couple bothersome encounters while they are trying to rest, the PCs will probably get the idea. (But now I have to think of what the bad guys might do to the elevator...)

I realize that it is a hallmark of evil groups that they have little trust for one another. But the whole *idea* of the Ebon Triad is that they are trying to merge three evil deities. It doesn't do much for that cause if one or two of the other temples get wiped out by adventurers. They might be reluctant to do so, but I think if any of the 3 main clerics (especially the Faceless One) got wind that one of the other temples was in danger of being eradicated, they would *have* to send forces to assist.

I'll have to think some more about it... If anyone else has any suggestions about the extent to which the three temples would/would not help each other out, please weigh in. I'm especially interested in the views of those who actually ran the module.

 

[demiurge1138]

The issue of "why don't the temples help each other" has gotten a lot of play on the Paizo boards, too. One of the more common solutions is to physically seperate the temples -

Spoiler

the dark cathedral and labyrinth of Vecna are actually down in the mine, and the battle temple of Hextor and the grimlock caves are elsewhere

. This would also have the benefit of adding some roleplaying and investigation into a very combat-heavy module.

If you want to keep the temples in the same place but justify the non-confrontational approach, you could always extrapolate some information from the Faceless One's notes.

Spoiler

The Faceless One knows that a drastic threat to his cult could trigger the creation of an Ebon Aspect. So he encourages the invasion of his temples, believing that his death and the deaths of his fellow Triad members will be the key to his apotheosis - he thinks that his conciousness will survive death and be the driving force of the Ebon Aspect.

Demiurge out.

 

[Jarrod]

Here's what I did:

Spoiler

The temples were in physically different areas. The grimlock caverns were outside of town; I had Ragnolin Dourstone be kidnapped and taken there. Actually, kidnapped by two surviving members of the Hextorite division. They (the assassins) ended up getting handed over to the party by a _very_ pissed Grimlock shaman - it was a nice way of adding in some role-playing. Anyway.

The labyrinth was also in a separate area. The PCs found out about it from Khellek (other adventuring party person) - the competing adventurers had stuck their noses in and gotten it bit off. Added a nice twist by giving the Faceless One a one-way mirror to the Dark Cathedral (showing up at the platform above the pool). So the PCs fought through the labyrinth only to see the FO ducking through the mirror. Follow him, and climactic battle above the frozen pool. (BTW, a levitating wizard with protection from arrows is naaaaasty. And bonefiddle is _fun_). They killed him, he dragged himself _into_ the pool, and the Aspect arose.

Then the PCs booked. Collapsing the mine shaft behind them and running for help. Right when the Sheriff decided they were crazy, fog drifted out of the mine... and coalesced. It was a _great_ fight.

 

[FunkBGR]

I ended up dividing the three into various areas. The Erythnulites were below, like normal. The Vecna-ites were in a catacomb below the cairn in the upper left of the DIamond Lake map. I placed the Hextor guys in the Twilight Monastery - the group had a monk and it made sense to come to their rescue. I also replaced some of their numbers with more "monk"-ish guys. Had a rope bridge before the entrance, and had an encounter with some halflings that had been staying in Diamond Lake being attacked by a giant boar.

I moved the Ebon Aspect to a ritual that the three churches had researched for Smenk, and was happening in Smenk's basement, so the party had a chance to raid Smenk's, and take him down a couple pegs.

***

 

[Menexenus]

Great ideas, guys! Thanks. Personally, though, I think I prefer Demiurge's solution since it makes the least work for me. And if I can give the Faceless One a creepy Obi-Wan Kenobi moment ("If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine"), that's pretty cool.