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I changed several things with EaBK, and one of the first things was that Allustan did NOT go with the PCs to the Keep. I think the only reason he goes, in the adventure as written, is that it gives the PCs an opportunity to get to know him and (hopefully) bond with him, since he's an important NPC in later adventures.

I'm planning to do the same thing. Allustan will not be joining the PCs on their way to Blackwall Keep. There is no reason he should. The party has already got a relatively good bond with the wizard anyway, since the party's mage is using Allustan as a source for his spells and Allustan has helped the party with research and information.

Don't use XP, but I tell my PCs when they can level and it can be done in mid adventure.

That said, all effects form levelling take place immediately. New spell slots become available, allowing the casters to fill them immediately if the take a couple of minutes to study or meditate.

In my campaign, wizards do not gain 'free' spells in their spellbook. They have to take the required time to write them. Rulewise there is even nothing against writing a spell of a higher level in your spellbook already, so you could anticipate levelling by adding the spell beforehand. If the wizard does not have any spells of the level he has now acquired, he can still fill it with lower level spells, so he would still gain from that.

First, as you said, the cults did not do anything against the law, so it may be rather the PCs facing prosecution for abducting people (even clergymen).

I wholeheartedly agree. It is even suggested in the adventure itself, under Theldrick's tactics, that the cultists have done nothing against the law. So there is no official reason why the authorities should support the PCs when they arrive with their captives. Indeed, on the contrary, the PCs have aggressively infiltrated the cult's hideout and killed and/or abducted people.

Also, if the PCs leave with the rest of the cultists alarmed, the survivors would either get out of there, and reappear later on in the campaign, or they might try to take some kind of action against the PCs. In my campaign I had the bad guys set up a plot against the party druid, who can assume wolf form. They started spreading accusations that he was a werewolf. Luckily the PCs managed to convinc ethe authorities they were innocent, but this is exactly the way in which the bad guys might operate. Remember that Diamond Lake is a corrupt town, so if you're willing to abuse the system, you might very easily get away with a lot. The cultists would be the first to abuse the system, while it might be against the PCs' principles to do so.

If you have a three man party, don't add one NPC who accompanies the PCs all the time, but use different NPCs for different adventures. They can usely provide a good hook that serves the adventure and thus join the PCs for a while. It will give you a lot more flexibility.

The only concern I would like to add on this note, is the fact that you guys probably have quite a number of non-native speakers who read the magazine as well. I wonder if your choice of words might put some of them off.

I'm a non-native speaker myself, but as I have a university degree in English, I should be okay, though I doubt all your foreign readers do ...

I have to agree, speed has definitely improved. Keep it coming, guys.

Padan is right, though the nexus gives +4 caster levels and the ability to cast unholy blight once a day, it also deals 4d8 points of negative damage, which helas undead but damages Kaurophon. However, if he risks the nexus for one round, he would get the caster level bonus for one hour. It would be suicide for him to stay inside the black-flamed fire.

The way we play (and this is because we think it is meant to be played like this) is that the same disease does not stack, but you still roll your saves and damage, because the worst of effects actually counts.

Simply put, suppose there is a disease that does 1d6 con dmg. You fail your save the first time, and get 3 con damage. A second contact with the infected source calls for another save which you fail, and the result is 4 con damage. This one is higher, so you now have 4 con damage.

Your comment certainly makes sense. I'll have to consider your suggestion, since I'm starting that adventure myself soon.

I think your players need to understand D&D is a game you play in group. The aim of the game is to cooperate to achieve certain goals. The challenges in the game have been written with that cooperation in mind.

Some people like making PCs with difficult characters. It's perfect to put all the blame of annoying roleplaying on that 'character'. But they should keep in mind that their PCs' character can only go so far. It still has to allow the PC to function in the group. Players can choose what their PC is like, of course, but they still have to choose a PC that has the right character to function in a group - because that is what the game is about. So everyone should at least have the right attitude, in and out of character, to form a good group. Selfishness has no place here.

As a DM I have had the experience of players who mess things up in game, or who cause trouble in the group - all because of "that's what my character is like". It spoils the fun for everyone and ultimately leads to the end of the group. In order to have fun, everyone should be on the same wavelength and everyone should be considerate towards other people, in and out of game.

Talk to your players about this, and try to convince them to adopt an attitude of cooperation. It serves everyone at the table and makes the entire game more fun.

So, it's been a while since we've heard anything on this thread. I have to admit, I haven't been working on my own end-game dream sequence anymore. The main reason is that it is still so far away in game time. We've only just finished Test of the Smoking Eye, and since I'm inserting some other adventures as well, we're still about 10 adventures away from the end.

Still I was wondering whether anyone has had any new ideas. If so, I'd certainly like to read them ...

Actually, my party had an easy time with the glabrezu. The combination of Alek's holy sword (which was picked up by NPC Fario after the paladin's death), an align weapon spell on the fighter's weapon and Alakast (which I ruled as being able to bypass .../good DR) made minced meat of the demon. Since he is focusing his initial attacks on Alek anyway, the PCs will not be taking too much damage, so they should be albe to survive the fight (easily).

We just had ours last night. Here's the set up:

We're playing Test of the Smoking Eye, with a two man party. There's the cleric and a melee build. They're travelling with Kaurophon.

So last week the PCs confronted the rakshasa and his fire giant servant. The cleric grapples the rakshasa, but is within reach of the fire giant's full attack sequence. About 100 hp damage in one round. So now the cleric is standing there with single digit hp and decides to make a desperate run for it, which he cannot achieve without taking an AoO form the giant, who hits him again - exit cleric. The melee type finishes the job, takes down the fire giant, but the rakshasa gets away.

Now, instead of having the cleric 'reappear' in the Fugue plane, from where he can get to the paradise of his god, I decided that Occipitus would not allow that. This abyssal plane just sucks up anyone's essence after they die. So the cleric reappears in ghost form, feeling an incredible pull from the ground. Now, since this is a cleric of a good god, he can resist this inevitalbe pull for a short while. Actually, the divine energy he still has left, is the buffer that allows him to withstand. He feels he can still use his spells to influence the outside world, but everytime he does so, he will be closer to being sucked up by Occipitus forgood.

Anyway, the melee type and Kaurophon make it to the final room, where the half-fiend suddenly shows his true face and betrays the party. He only has one opponent to deal with, so he might stand a good chance, at least that's what I had thought before. He stood much more than a good chance, though. He was absolutely toying with the melee type. After a simple glitterrdust the melee type was left blinded and Kaurophon was free to wear him down. Unfortunately he wasn't really able to bring the PC to low hp, because the PC had some healing up his sleeve to even out the odds and the ghost cleric started aiding him as well. Then Kaurophon started using his telekinesis spell to throw the PC into the central fire. The PC barely survived his first fall in the flames, stumbled out and managed just enough healing (aided by the ghost cleric) to survive a second run in with the flames. Again he got out and managed to buy himself enough time to get some extra hp (healing, rage, bear's endurance potion) to survive a third fall in the central fire. Admittedly, I never expected him to survive the second and third massive damage blow, but he did, barely (once even at 0 hp). Meanwhile, the ghost cleric had done so many spells that Occipitus was about to absorb his essence forever.

Finally, after a long and very, very hard (and frustrating - at least for the melee type) fight, the ghost cleric decided to sacrifice himself, not sure whether this was going to work and hoping that his sacrifice (which the player at that time thought would be a final sacrifice of his character) would have a chance of rewarding his failing companion. Of course this was the solution I had been hoping for all along, but I hadn't given any clues whatsoever to indicate to the player that this was what I wanted. So he made a true sacrifice (very fitting for a cleric of the god of suffering), only to be rewarded with a new life and some extra powers. Kaurophon, seeing how his chances were lost, dimension doored out of there.

It was a very climactic fight, much more exciting than I had ever imagined it; and a very fitting end to conclude this adventure.

I put my players through the Dungeon adventure "Mad God's Key" to start off the campaign. It starts off in the Free City and ends in the Cairn Hills not too far from Diamond Lake. And since my PCs aren't from Diamond Lake, it was a great way to get them there.

Ultradan

Dito, whispering cairn has a very Age of Wormy kinda feel to it. Given some minor tweaking, it fits in great with the campaign. Moreover, it is an excellent adventure as such, top shelve!

Another thing I've toyed with is having Jenya be the real villian (taking Emril's place). The Wee Jas followers are trying to stop Jenya, but she keeps framing them and making the Wee Jas followers look like the bad guys.

Jenya the bad guy (or girl)? Sacrilege! Blasphemy! Vade retro Satan! Lol.

No, in my campaign the PCs are devout followers of Ilmater, Jenya's deity, and the priestess is a trustworthy ally of them. The religious background serves as the main motivator in our game, so no bad guy Jenya for me. Not even a bad girl ...

Hi everybody

I wish you all a merry Christmas!

MrVergee

Hey y'all:

In January, we will be doubling the bandwidth by adding another T1, and we will also be adding firepower to our server array. Both together should help our speed quite a bit. I am at my parent's house accessing the site from AOL and it is indeed SLOW. Of course, most of that is my access through AOL through my modem. But needless to say, we should have the site slowness fixed in January.

Thanks for the feedback!

-Lisa

Since I visit this site daily, it is very nice to hear that.

Hey Delvesdeep

Impressive work you wrote. Do you have any idea on how to have the PCs stop each of these pivotal moments in the nightmare realm? That's what I find hard to do, because you have to keep it original.

And another thing, could you clarify your first dream please? Not quite sure who this refers to.

Original symbols from 2ed:

http://davidcwood.com/adnd/campaign/images/bhaal.gif

http://davidcwood.com/adnd/campaign/images/myrkul.gif

10 Adimarchus is walking alone in a misty swamp. He approaches a huge dark rock rising out of the murk, topped by a strange white tower. Horrifying howls fill the air and dozens of iron cages hang from the outside of the structure.

Adimarchus walks up to the front doors, which open when he is standing in front of them. The prince of Occipitus steps into the central chamber and looks up. High above him hangs a cage from a thick iron chain. On the floor of the cage lies Layah. She stirs as her lover walks into the room and turns her head to answer his gaze.

Suddenly Adimarchus hears a crackling voice to his left: “Welcome to Skullrot, Lord of the Smoking Eye.” Out of the darkness steps a terrifying menace with skeletal features covered by patches of leathery skin (Dark Myrakul). His eyes gleam with a deadly red glare. The bones springing from his back may once have supported wings. The creature wields a great scythe.

Dark Myrakul: “I was told you were coming. It took you long enough to get here, but then again, this place is hard to find.”

Adimarchus: “I demand you set her free, or I shall slay you where you stand!”

Dark Myrakul grins widely. “Then you will never release her from her prison. For only I can let her go. And don’t worry, I will, for the right price.”

Adimarchus looks up at Layah, who now appears to him as the Celestial angel she once was. He sees a tear drip from her eyes and fall down, right into his outstretched hand hand. “Then name your price, wretch!”

”What can you give me?”

”I have left everything behind, I no longer have a place to call home, and so I have nothing to offer you … except for my own existence.”

”Then that shall be the price. If you are willing to take her place, I will let her go.”

”I agree.”

”Then so be it”, Dark Myrakul replies. With a wave of his scythe Adimarchus and Layah trade places.

Layah, still in her angelic form, crawls to her feet, looks up at Adimarchus in the cage and whispers: “Thank you … thank you, you fool. Now you have failed at being a prince in hell as well as in heaven. My father will be so pleased.” She laughs coldly. “It has been too long since I’ve been my own gorgeous self”, she sighs. Then she transforms into an ebony-skinned fiend, quite similar to a succubus. She has six fingers on each hand. Above her Adimarchus screams with madness.

Then she points at Dark Myrakul: “Did I mention that the warden of this place is an excellent torturer? Anyway, you will have eternity to find out. The lichfiend next to her simply grins …

8 In the desolate landscape of the Abyss two large armies face each other. On one side the ranks are made up of warped and malformed angels. At the center is Adimarchus in his chariot, which is now pulled by a demonic lion and dragon. The right flank is gathered behind Layah, who is dressed in an elegant black plate. Despite the armor she still moves with grace.

On the other side are hordes of demons. They scream in anticipation. Their eyes gleam with bloodlust. At the head of the army is a surprisingly handsome man with a shiny black skin and green, glowing eyes (Graz’zt). His ears are pointed and two slim yellow fangs stick out from under his upper lip. The hands that holds his terrible greatsword have six fingers.

As the two armies clash into one another, a howl of terror fills the sky. With insatiable rage the demons and fallen angels fall on each other, apparently with no fear for their own lives. Soon the battlefield is soaked with blood, but none of the armies wants to give way.

All of a sudden of flight of winged demons shoots down on Layah and sweep her away before she can jump aside. The beauty struggles to get free, but the demons' claws hold her too tightly.

Adimarchus does not notice the abduction and continues laying waste to the demons around him.

9 The army of fallen angels is resting in its camp. Demonic angels are seated around small campfires, tending their wounds or sharpening their weapons. Suddenly a great cry of anger throws them off. The sound originates from a royal tent adorned with several banners of the smoking eye.

One of the guard steps inside hesitantly. A few moments later he comes out again, despair staring from his eyes: “The lord Adimarchus”, he stumbles, “our lord, he’s gone!”

As the fallen angels start to panic, an arrow suddenly flies through the air, catching the startled guard in the throat. Next a host of demons falls upon the surprised angels …

7 Adimarchus is standing in the middle of Occipitus. The demon prince seems to burn with power. He raises his hands and the ground trembles. Demonic angels behind him step back in fear. Only one of them holds her ground: Layah.

Adimarchus notices how he instills his subjects with fear and throws back his head in demonic laughter. Then he focuses his gaze on the ground in front of him. Amid the Celestial rubble are numerous rotting corpses of dead angels. With a wave of his hand Adimarchus sets one of the rotting heads aflame, burning away the rest of the body and flesh until nothing but a burning skull remains.

Then the demon prince spreads his arms and blows a storming wind from his mouth. Suddenly the skull starts growing in size, getting bigger and bigger until it is as huge as a mountain. Adimarchus closes his eyes and lifts up into the air, levitating over the giant skull. Then he opens his right eye. The smoking flame flashes and shoots forth a ray of fire that penetrates the eye socket of the skull.

The eye starts burning and small blobs of fire leak into the air, slowly filling the sky above Occipitus with a blanket of smoking fire. The entire landscape now bathes in a flickering red light.

5 Scene of battle. Two great armies of angels clash into each other. As arrows fly and swords cleave, angels fall on both side. At the heart of his army, Adimarchus is fighting like an unstoppable hurricane. His chariot charges forward, being pulled by a lion and a dragon. None of his adversaries can resist his fury. His flaming blade drips with blood.

The air above the battlefield is thick with the smell of death. Both armies seem to be taking heavy losses. And Adimarchus’ troops are gaining ground.

Suddenly the heavens shake violently and the fighting pauses. Everyone looks up in surprise. For a few seconds nothing happens. Then fire rains from the skies and the ground under the false angels’ feet gives way. The traitors plummet down in despair, leaving their adversaries balancing on the verge of what was once a beautiful pasture in Celestia. Once they have found their balance, the good angels turn away to avoid the horror of the fall.

6 Occipitus in the Abyss. The sky breaks open and big chunks of stone and ground fall down. The ground shakes and hisses violently wherever the debris falls, like skin hit by acid.

Though debris is not the only thing plummeting from the sky. Broken bodies of angels hit the ground, creating cancerous ulcers wherever the touch the surface. Other angels are still alive. They’re trying to fly through the rain of debris. Most cannot avoid getting hit and some do not survive these collisions. Others are knocked around and cannot maintain their flight. They crash into the ground and do not get up again.

Still, some of the angels make it to the ground alive. They scream in pain and horror as their flesh tears and their bodies transform into a demonic travesty of what they once were.

One of the survivors is Adimarchus. He has turned into an ebony-skinned version of his former self. Four shadowy tentacles now protrude from his back, each one ending in a hungry, screaming maw. His right eye burns with a smoking flame.

Next to Adimarchus another survivor appears. It is a dark skinned version of Layah. Despite her demonic transformation, she still looks very attractive. She has an evil grin on her face.

4 Adimarchus is walking on a stairs in the clouds. Suddenly he is faced by Nidrama. The angel bids him to stop.

Nidrama: ”What fate has befallen you that you should change your loyalty? Celestia burns with turmoil and treason. And you, the most magnificent star of all, fuel this fire.”

Adimarchus: ”Many are those who think like me. I must speak to our lords and make them change their minds.”

Nidrama: ”Their minds are made up already. You have heard their command and their will be done. You shall not go further. But they want to give you this one chance to redeem yourself. Go back to your followers and convince them to do as their lords bid.”

Adimarchus: “I will go back, but it will not be to make my companions beg for forgiveness. Our lords, wise and good as they may be, have started this. I only wish to speak with them and now they even refuse to see me. How can they expect me not to see this through to the end?”

Nidrama: “I beg of you, please reconsider. If you once loved me, please reconsider.”

Adimarchus: “You claim to know what love is? Yet you do not stand by me when things get rough? You desert me at the first sign of trouble? I never loved you. Not truly. Not as I love the one who supports me in these hard times. For it is then that true love shows its face.”

Adimarchus turns around proudly, leaving behind a heart-broken Nidrama.

3 In front of a great, beautiful marble temple. A host of angels has gathered on the square in front of the temple. Adimarchus is on the steps; looking at the crowd. Layah is among the angels in the first row.

Layah appeals to Adimarchus, loud enough so all can hear her:

”Lucky we thought ourselves, in this paradise of heaven, second only to the gods themselves. No one compared to us and our state of happiness. Until word came from the golden gates, word that the highness that was bestowed to us, was to be taken away.

My desperate companions, great was my surprise, as must have been yours. That we should be slaves to mere mortals! That we should shake and shiver before their rule!

Help me. Help me mourn our fate. Because mourning is all we have left. That at least cannot be taken from us. For we all have to lay down our happiness. We all have to bow our heads to one who is lesser. No longer will our lights shine. We will draw back into the shadows and forever mourn our fate.

For my brethren, my sisters, I cannot help but wonder what we did wrong to be set aside like this? What did we do wrong to be wronged like this? Why should we worship those ants crawling in the mud and dust when all we want to do is worship our true fathers? Our gods. Can … indeed … should such a wrong be suffered? We only want what is rightfully ours.

Shall we then ask the best of us, to speak on our behalf and right this wrong? (Crowd: YES!) Shall we ask Adimarchus to plea to our fathers and make them see the error of their ways? (Crowd: YES!)

My lord Adimarchus, we beseech you to help us, to simply help us get what we deserve. Will you fight for us?”

The host of angels cheers in anticipation.

Adimarchus replies, a solemn look in his eyes:

My brethren, my sisters. All the gods want from us is right. I know no other right than what they demand. If it pleases them to place men above you and me, then that is right. And we should do as they please. We have never forsaken our duty, and we shall not do so now.

Oh my friends, how I wish that they will forgive you your arrogance! For we should never fight the will of the gods.”

Layah: “No, my lord. Not fight! But can we not plead to them? Can you not be the voice that speaks for all of us? Can you not be the voice that speaks our malcontent? Can you not ask our Lords of Order to restore order as it was and should be?

Adimarchus: Then you would have me be the one to right a wrong with another wrong? To go against the will of our fathers, even if it is only in words?”

Layah: “There is no other way.”

Adimarchus: “Then, as you, my brothers and sisters, are all my witnesses, I take this burden upon my shoulders because there is no other way.”

2 Within a great temple. Adimarchus is pacing to and fro. Another beautiful female angel walks in (Layah). She speaks:

”So it is decided! And so it shall be done! And the glory of the angels shall fade away under the dirt of the earth that man walks upon. So too the glory of heaven shall pass as man becomes lord of all, including our fathers.”

Adimarchus: ”So it is decided indeed.”

Layah: “So shall we cut off our own wings and offer them to our new masters? Shall we lay down our immortality to please those who command us now? So we might not outlive them, unless we do so to grovel at their feet and obey their every whim!”

Adimarchus: “This is not what our fathers command.”

Layah: “Is it not? Who is to say how our new masters will treat us? They are not known for their gentle ways.”

Adimarchus: “Your words ring true, hard as they may be.”

Layah: “And truer they will feel when our new masters put their foot on our necks and push us in the dust of their sins.”

Adimarchus: “Then we shall plead to our heavenly fathers and make them see the error of their ways.”

I've been working on the dreams the PCs start having once they passed the test of the smoking eye. As a courtesy to you guys I wrote them in English, so you can share the fruit of my labour and use what you can. The dreams tell the story of Adimarchus and how he came to fall, based on my background story which I posted earlier in thsi thread. To avoid a long post, I'll cut it up in pieces.

Once the PC receives the sign of the smoking eye, he will be imbued with a part of Adimarchus. If the PC is good in alignment, he will ‘inherit’ Adimarchus’ good side, if he’s evil, he’ll be filled with the dark side. Only someone who is imbued with a part of Adimarchus, can release the fallen angel from his prison, for better or worse …

A character who has received the sign of the smoking eye, will start having dreams of Adimarchus. These dreams are flashbacks of key moments in Adimarchus’ life. Staying true to my background story of the angel who fell because he was too proud to serve men, the dream sequences will be the following:

1 Idyllic garden scene, in a marble temple-like structure is a beautiful and impressive-looking angel (Adimarchus). He walks with grace and has a look of wisdom in his eyes. At his side is a gorgeous female angel (whom the PCs might recognize as Nidrama). The two angels are clearly a couple. A trumpet archon arrives form the sky, blowing his horn and shouting out a divine message.

“As the creatures that walk the earth worship the gods, so too do they give those gods the power to be! While they rule the earth, they look up to our fathers in heaven with true faith. In our fathers they recognize their creators, and as such they are the true children of the gods above. And as true fathers our gods give their children everything they need. Chauntea gives them food, Lathander gives them light and warmth. Selûne watches over them in the night and Tymora makes them smile. Our own three fathers, Torm, Tyr and Ilmater keep them safe from harm and ease their pain. As such they serve mankind as much as mankind serves them. Let it be known that our fathers require the same servitude of us, to guard over the lives and souls of their true followers and children!”

The graceful angel has a look of puzzlement on his face that changes to determination:

”So mankind has finally grown over our heads. Is the realm of men to be lifted from the mud to be placed above the delight of heaven? While they sweat and slave away in a shell that crumbles down around the soul, they shall sit in a holy throne and look down on us, the true defenders of our fathers’ faiths. So are we to worship them then instead of our fathers above? I think not.”

Nidrama replies:

”If such is the will of our fathers, so be it. True faith lies in doing as they bid us to do.”

Adimarchus:

”True faith lies in worshipping our fathers, and not some wretch in a mortal coil. I will mend this if I can.”

What's up with the site of late? It's been terribly slow. Am I the only one experienceing this? Yesterday it took me over two hours to download the Dungeon supplements and just loading any page takes a lot longer than it used to, to a speed that is annoyingly low.

Have you guys given any thought to how you're actually going to play out the 'Dreamplane' (maybe 'Dreadplane' would be a more appropriate name) episodes?

Though I like the idea of different challenges behind different doors, I wonder how many doors would keep things interesting. I'm afraid nine might be too much. Unless you can come up with nine awesome challenges.

If anyone has any suggestions, please post them. I've been working on my own ideas, but they're not concrete enough yet to post. I'll let you know when I get there ...

Devil Box is a really nice adventure, and the kobold NPCs can be played with lots of flavor (I know I did), certainly appealing to youngsters. So I'd pick that one.

Anyway, whatever you choose, let us know how it went.

It is a great adventure. I have yet to run it, but I have included the PCs in it in my campaign already, tying it to one of the characters.

A plus side is that it is easily adaptable to any setting and that it is a great city adventure that does not use dungeons, something we see very little of.

Hi everybody. First of all let me say how pleasantly surprised I was to find all these brilliant ideas on the conclusion of the SCAP. I must admit that the original end of the story arc never pleased me, but I put off rectifying it to a later date - which would be right about now.

The suggestions in this thread greatly inspired me to work on my own conclusion of the campaign, and since I found your ideas so helpful, I just had to share my findings with you as well. I have to warn, you, it is a long post, but I hope you'll read it and give me your feedback.

I definitely like a lot of the suggestions made in this thread. I’ve never liked the way the SCAP ended. In that respect I fully agree with what someone said earlier, it feels like the last two adventures in the AP are just two more almost plotless crawls leading up to yet another boss. It’s not the fact that they lead up to another boss that is the problem, it is that they add little to the plot.

If the PCs wanted to stop the Cagewrights’ plans, they did so in “Thirteen Cages”. “Strike on Shatterhorn” never struck me as an interesting adventure because it seems weak on added plot. Asylum was slightly better, but still provided little motivation for the PCs to undertake this adventure other than the vague indication that Adimarchus’ madness might become a new threat in the future. I believe that my PCs would not risk releasing an encaged insane demon prince in the feeble hopes of defeating him, when this is all the motivation they get. Moreover, this 'weakish' conclusion to the campaign does not provide the necessary satisfaction I look for.

I also prefer the idea of the possibility that Adimarchus and Occipitus can be saved, especially if the PCs can play a central part in this plot.

So here’s what I’ve come up with. As suggested above, Adimarchus’ good and evil side have manifested as two separate creatures. The evil side is obviously the leader of the Cagewrigths, Dyr’ryd. The thirteen have but one goal, to set their ‘father’ free from his eternal prison.

The good side, which was obviously much weaker, manifested in one of the PCs, thus drawing the PCs much more into the final plot.

Once the PCs have finished the test of the Smoking Eye, this PC starts getting ‘flash backs’ in his dreams of Adimarchus’ past. This is also the perfect way to ‘foreshadow’ Adimarchus himself, as well as his dark side Dyr’ryd (who I’m seriously considering giving a more appealing appearance – I was thinking of a dark Adimarchus-like angel with a cancerous growth on his right shoulder which actually is the warped head of Adimarchus).

The ritual performed in “Thirteen Cages” indeed opens a gate to the Abyss, not only summoning a host of demons, but also Adimarchus’ prison itself. After the PCs have destroyed the remaining Cagewrights (in Cauldron itself, not in Shatterhorn – in my campaign the PCs will already have destroyed about half of these thirteen before the adventure begins anyway), they will have to confront Adimarchus himself. They will have to do this by entering his mind and destroying his inner demons (the whole dreamplane idea simply rocks). During this adventure the PCs will probably be accompanied by Nidrama. (Note to self: when the PCs start in this metaphysical realm, they will be at full health and spells.)

In the dreamplane the PCs come across different key moments of Adimarchus past – see Adimarchus’ background story for more information on this. First they meet the angel Adimarchus who has just learnt the disturbing news that the species of ‘men’ has been put above the ‘angels’. Through roleplaying they will have to try and convince the doubting angel that his pride should fold to the will of the gods. Alternatively, you could have his pride personify as a creature that the PCs have to defeat. After the PCs have successfully completed this task, the PC who is Adimarchus’ good side incorporates this first manifestation of Adimarchus, thus gaining certain angelic powers.

After this the PCs will encounter other aspects of Adimarchus’ downfall and insanity (always in the scenes as Adimarchus lived them himself), such as the treacherous angel Layah trying to poison Adimarchus’ mind, Adimarchus right after his break-up with Nidrama (again a roleplaying encounter), some of the fallen newly transformed angels, dark Myrakul the torturer and the demonic insane Adimarchus himself. Every successfully completed encounter turns the Adimarchus PC more into an angel.

When the PCs have completed their ordeal through Adimarchus’ mind, they return to the real world, where they can now open Adimarchus’ cage easily. This release also summons the true villain of the story, Layah, in her current form (which is much older and therefore more powerful than the one the PCs encountered in Adimarchus’ mind). The weakened Adimarchus joins the PCs in this fight, finally sacrificing his own life to defeat Layah, making the PCs who is his good side into a full reincarnation of the original good angel Adimarchus. The PC now has the power to tear Occipitus loose from the Abyss and return it to Celestia, taking his place among the host of angels there and concluding the AP in a much more satisfying way.

To be able to play the plot like this, I needed a more complete picture of Adimarchus’ past, so I rewrote it to the following story, which is inspired by the original Adimarchus story in SCAP, ideas on this board and the story of the fall of Lucifer.

Adimarchus’ background story
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven
(Milton – Paradise Lost)

Adimarchus was the first and foremost among the angels. He was respected and even revered by his peers and obviously very powerful. He was also lucky in love, because he had the lovely and beautiful angel Nidrama at his side as his ‘eternal’ companion.

One day an order arrived from the Triad, the union of the three gods Tyr, Torm and Ilmater (I am using the Forgotten Realms setting in my campaign) that men was to be served above all else, even above the angels themselves. Naturally, Adimarchus and some of the other angels were surprised by this news, even shocked and offended. A new angel, Layah, caught Adimarchus’ ear and fed his indignation. What the archangel did not realize, was that Layah was actually a demon sent by Shar, the Dark Goddess, to poison his mind. Adimarchus ended up being the voice of discontent among his peers. During this process he also broke with Nidrama, who did not share his sentiment on the ‘offensive’ orders from above.

Adimarchus assembled a host of like-minded angels around him, intending to appeal to the gods themselves to make them see the error of their way. Several of the ‘good’ angels tried to reason with the rebels, including Nidrama, but their efforts failed. The conflict inevitably turned into a full scale war, which shook the very foundations of Celestia and could only end in tearing apart the fabric of heaven and casting the rebels into the Abyss along with a part of the heavenly realm.

The fallen angels turned into wretched demons and most of them perished because they were unable to sustain the terrible changes they had undergone. But Adimarchus who was proud and strong, survived and became the demon prince of the newly created domain Occipitus, gaining even more power.

Layah stayed at Adimarchus’ side, as his new princess. Somehow she managed to keep her angelic appearance and she became a permanent reminder of what he once had been. Meanwhile she kept poisoning his mind and feeding his madness. When Adimarchus fell into a heavy conflict with the demon lord Graz’zt (a conflict that Layah had helped create), she played her final part in the demon prince’s downfall. During an epic battle between the forces of Adimarchus and Graz’zt, Layah fell into enemy hands and was imprisoned on Carceri. Adimarchus could not bear the loss of the one thing that still bound him to his former glory and abandoned his armies to be slaughtered by Graz’zt’s forces.

He found Layah in Skullrot, the prisoner of Dark Myrakul, a powerful lichfiend. He traded his own freedom for Layah’s release, only to see his treacherous love turn into her true form, a black-skinned fiend who was in fact Graz’zt’s devoted daughter. As a result Adimarchus’ madness became complete insanity. So great was this insanity that Adimarchus’ cage could not contain it and his deranged will infected other creatures. Some of those formed the demonic alliance of the Cagewright (or simply the thirteen, as I call them in my campaign), whose ultimate goal was the rescue of their imprisoned ‘father’.

To think that none of your players are ever going to be able to enjoy any of the complete adventure paths, since you'll have given away all the main plots ... the horror ... the horror ...

I would say that almost anything goes. I've been mastering a two man party for a long time now. In one campaign, we had a wiz/rog/arcane trickster and a rogue as the two PCs.

I worked perfectly. Healing in combat was not really an option, but I provided the guys with enough possibilities for downtime healing. On the other hand, this 'sneaky' party offered a whole different set of options that a normal party would never have.

The two same players are in a new campaign now. Now they play a more classic cleric and melee type (dervish). Very powerful combination, works very well in combat.

In both cases the party worked without a problem. The upside is that you can easily provide an NPC to accompany them, which often works out great storywise as well.

Of course, you are not obliged to use all the traps in the adventure. You're the DM and you have to make sure all have fun. If there is no rogue, leave out some of the traps or tune them down a bit if the PCs have to set all of them off to be able to bypass them.

Save the world from impending doom and fight the most powerful demons and dragons and sort. It is a nice storyline, but I'd hate to see it get repeated time and time again.

Seeing how a lot of stories, movies, tv shows, poems, songs, paintings ... are about love, it might be a good idea to use that quintessential emotion as the main motivator for a campaign.

I actually did it in a campaign I DM'ed a couple of years ago and it worked out great. It took five years to get from level 1 to level 12, and while the PCs did still save the world and fought some isolated demons and dragons along the way, it was really nice to have a real human emotion (and also mainly human NPCs) feature as the main focus of the campaign.

How about this for a provocative idea?

Instead of undead, dragons or outsiders, instead of mind flayers, yuan-ti or drow, instead of tarrasques (or do you really want your big bad end monster to be an intelligence 3 creature?), why not let the main enemy be ... human?

By the way, there was a similar thread on EN World about the next adventure path. Quite a few people suggested to have an adventure path up to level 12 instead of level 20. It would definitely be a solution to the "I don't know which high level monsters to choose as adversaries because the monster manual only has so many - and yes, they are always the same ones" problem.

It would also cater to the taste of many gamers - players and DMs alike - who generally prefer low and mid level play to high level gaming.

Since I hadn't really seen that in this thread, I thought I'd mention the idea. I, for one, am in favor of it.

Actually, I'm playing the module right now and it provided a lot more roleplaying opportunities than I imagined. It was great fun. I used Maavu's written out speech and described most of the commotion around the PCs without rolling it out. I didn't use the mob rules for this encounter since the PCs weren't fighting the mob. I just had them help against the breathdrinker and try to stop the fight between the guards and the mob. One of the guards did not make it ...

I found Maavu's speech somewhere on the net. Translated it to my language and adapted it to my campaign. It really added to the realsim of the whole scene.