Polevoi's page

One idea would be to run the encounters calling for several large creatures at 1/4 scale and use the dragon wyrmling miniatures that are cheaper and easier to obtain.

AWESOME--thanks for the update...you cant rush perfection i guess ;)

Any updates on when this book is going to be available? I've been eagerly anticipating my preorder since august.

In the overload it said that Eligos is killed by a supernatural assassin with ties to Dragotha...I'm curious to know what was initially planned for this.

I think it would be cool to collect it in two volumes. one containing the backdrop articles, the wormfood articles, and the AoW overload; and the other containing the adventures. Those not interested in the adventure path could still buy the volume with the backdrops and use them as game aids for their own campaigns.

Exactly. Although the idea for the Ebon Triad predates Vecna's ascencion to deityhood. The conspiracy-minded might even postulate that the cult of Kyuss had something to do with getting Vecna into the God-Seat just so they could pull off the Ebon Triad...

****SPOILERS****

So essentially Lashonna and Mahuudril just took a pre-existing idea (the idea of uniting three evil deities of different alignment into one god) and made up there own cult based off of those ideas so that they could then manipulate it.

That makes me wonder--what if the writers of the "Way of the Ebon Triad" were actually talking about a demon prince, a duke of Hell, and a yugoloth lord uniting to form an evil god.

Maybe they just have one of the Mimics turn into a ladder for them.

In Three Faces of Evil the adventure background says: “The Nethertome quoted an even older source, the fabled Way of the Ebon Triad, a blasphemous collection of apocalyptic essays, epic poems, and cryptographs that discuss the advent of an era of darkness called the Age of Worms…”

This gives me the impression that the Ebon Triad has been around for quite some time, at least a century I’d say, but I’m curious to know just how old the organization really is.

Anybody know?

I started my campaign with Mad God's Key too.
I am going to have the pages detail a ritual capable of summoning/creating a physical manifestation of the unity of Vecna, Hextor, and Erythnul (the Ebon Aspect).

I'm going to use the mind clones as magic items that allow any creature who 'detects thoughts' on it access to all of the memories of the person whose mind it is a clone of. This grants a +10 modifier to Bluff checks to impersonate that character.

What is the correct pronunciation of the name Kyuss?

After the hard k say "eye-us" and you should have it.

I was curious about Velias Childramun because 2 of the 3 PCs in the group I'm DMing worship Pelor (LG rogue--he is playing the character like a detective, and a Paladin).
I will probably just change Velias into a cleric of Pelor and use that angle to develop some kind of interaction between he and the PCs.
I am starting AOW tomorrow and I am going to try to stretch the PCs stay in Diamond Lake out as much as I can. The backdrop article + AOW Overload was just too much good stuff to not use for all its worth. I am going to run the party through an adventure as a prelude to WC to help setup some foreshadowing for TFOE.

I was looking through the NPCs in AOW overload and spotted (DC 20) that Velias Childramun is listed as NG priest of Pelor, but in Diamond Lake backdrop he's listed as LG priest of Herioneous.
Sooooo, I was just wondering which it is. Heironeous seems more likely, but I'm just curious to know if this was an error or if Eric had plans on making Velias priest of Pelor instead of Heironeous.
Anyone else curious or do I just have too much time on my hands?

I think it would be really cool if the pics for the classes in the class acts section were different every issue. That way readers could store up several different images for the core classes and use them as either pc portraits or the dm could use as npc portraits (I think Wayne Reynolds would be perfect for this).

Woah. Laws in alot of your campaign settings are really advanced.

I don't see the question of Smenk or Dourstone's involvement in the cult activities as important at all. It seems like most of you take the matter as like a modern court case. I figure it would be more like a salem witch trial.

Basically, everyone in town blames Smenk and Dourstone, so they get punished. Simple.

I could maybe see it going that way if the Cuthbertines were in control but with Diamond Lake being associated with the Free City I tend to think their laws would be more advanced than the Salem Witch trials were. After all Greyhawk is a free city with laws that were probably inspired by those found in the former Great Kingdom (think Rome), so their legal system would likely be fairly complex.

I'm using Greyhawk, which should make my life easier by not having to convert stuff.
Oh, and Greyhawk sweeeeeeet too.

I am going to begin my Age of Worms campaign by using a hook that I came up with to bridge Mad God’s Key (which I already ran the party through) to the Whispering Cairn utilizing the abandoned mine office detailed in Dragon 333.

The hook goes like this (Warning its long):

SPOILER ALERT
[The following adventure hook contains plot details and spoilers from Mad God’s Key; since I am using this as a prequel to The Whispering Cairn]

Mad God’s Key Summary:
(So that you can make sense of my Whispering Cairn hook)

In Mad God’s Key an evil cleric of Vecna named Veltargo instigated the theft of a magical key that he would use to open a mysterious tomb that was stolen from the Great Library of Greyhawk. The tomb was locked with a magical lock that had defied all other attempts to open it. Veltargo had the magical key stolen so that he could use it to open the book.
Veltargo’s cult was based out of a cairn called the Tomb of Blood Everflowing (TOBE). Access to the depths of this tomb was gained via a small trinket called a CAIRN CHARM that was specific to this cairn.
The PCs are hired by the merchant the key was stolen from to find it. This leads them eventually to the TOBE where they face Veltargo and recover the key & the book.

My Hook:

Veltargo is a member of the Ebon Triad and was contacted by The Faceless One, his superior, to locate an ancient book called the Grimoire of Maskeleon, which was mentioned in the Nethertome of Trask as containing a ritual designed to awaken a physical manifestation of the combined might of the unholy trinity (Vecna, Hextor, Erythnul).
When Veltargo opened the book he removed the pages detailing the ritual, used his scroll of whispering wind to notify the Faceless One of his success, and setup a rendezvous with the Faceless One to deliver the ritual.
The rendezvous was to be an abandoned mine office located outside of Diamond Lake. The Faceless One would have one of his agents (a kenku) meet Veltargo’s agent to retrieve the pages in four days.
The day after Veltargo’s agent (a wizard named Reskwren) left the TOBE to deliver the pages the PCs raid the TOBE capturing Veltargo, the Key, and the Book.
They return to Greyhawk, hand Veltargo—who has been threatening the PCs with vengeance at the hands of his mysterious master, The Faceless One—over to the authorities. They also return the Key, and return the Book to the Library where they learn that several pages have been removed from the book. Since the book was not returned in one piece they do not receive a monetary reward; the library does want to show its appreciation however and the PCs are given a map to an ancient cairn several days east of the city in the hills as a modest payment, “This cairn likely contains much more wealth than we could have provided if the book was returned in one piece anyway.”
Being adventurous types they head out to explore the cairn stopping in Diamond Lake along the way to setup lodging etc. On the way to the WC they come across the abandoned mine office.

The Abandoned Mine Office:

Unknown to the Faceless One the mine office was not abandoned. Several years ago the owner was seeded by a yellow musk creeper summoned by a druid he had crossed. Shortly thereafter he turned into a yellow musk creeper.
When the Faceless One’s kenku agent arrived at the office he was attacked by stirges roosting in the attic. After bypassing these, the kenku entered the office where it was attacked by the yellow musk creeper and transformed into a yellow musk zombie.
When Reskwren (Veltargo’s agent) reaches the office he is captured and turned into a yellow musk zombie as well.
After the kenku fails to return within the next two days the Faceless One sends a party of three kenku to investigate. These kenku are more wary and discover that the office is not abandoned. They manage to defeat the yellow musk Reskwren (with one casualty becoming a yellow musk zombie) and they quickly locate and make off with the pages he was delivering.

So, when the PCs reach the abandoned mine office they will be attacked by the stirges as they approach. Then when they investigate the interior they will need to defeat the kenku yellow musk zombies and the yellow musk creeper (I am using a reduced starving yellow musk creeper). After defeating the creatures if the PCs search the office they will discover on the corpse of Veltargo’s agent a cairn charm to the TOBE linking events in the office to Veltargo and the theft of the book.

Hopefully this will keep the Party interested in investigating Diamond Lake in an attempt to find links with Veltargo. What they will discover instead (in Three Faces of Evil) are a murder of kenku—tying events at the office to Three Faces of Evil—and the pages that were removed from the Grimoire of Maskleon (stored in the Faceless Ones laboratory).

Anyway, that’s how I will begin my Age of Worms.