Lokithwe's page

Here's my Age of Worms party. We run in Eberron, and I've made extensive changes to the history and storyline of Kyuss and the Age of Worms to give it a uniquely Eberron feel.

The party has had some high profile exploits of late, and after the chaos and near-destruction of Sharn in the Champion's Belt, is looking to lay low and get to the bottom of things as they return to Diamond Lake...

Kale Dorindar, 11th level Human Crusader of Dol Arrah and Dol Dorn, Lawful Good
Rumors claim that Kale is a massive man, over ten feet tall with hands that can crush a man's skull. Legend has it that his body is seemingly indestructible. Well, Kale is over 6 feet tall, and he has survived some extreme punishment - and his sword, Twilight, bears a legacy of salvation and destruction. He's determined, if somewhat shortsighted and trusting to a fault.

Amonthorn Kadan, 11th level Elf Ranger, Lawful Neutral
Hearsay is that Amonthorn is so fast he can't be seen, that no trail is beyond his quarry, that he can leap to the clouds and walk up the towers of Sharn, and dodge a hailstorm of arrows only to answer with his own. A soldier first, his arrows are deadly and precise, his perceptions true, and he possesses a cynical insight proven right time and time again.

Arothir Angalnar, 7th level Aerenal Elf Warlock/ 4th level Enlightened Spirit, Chaotic Good
Supposedly, the esoteric Arothir is able to bend reality around himself, appear wherever he wishes - divide his being into multiple forms. He commands terrifying eldrich energies that sear flesh and wrack the mind. Truly, Arothir's power is a meld of fey and celestial influence, borne aloft upon wings of arcane power and able to see all things as they truly are.

I did something similar, but different, for my Eberron AoW game.

The black box found in Zosiel's tomb contained a powerful Siberys dragonshard, which would imbue all those nearby with least aberrant dragonmarks, that would be specific to the character and grow in power at key points in the campaign. Unfortunately, my party became so terrified of opening "the box" - which I described as having writing on it that resembled a bizarre hybrid of ancient Draconic and Infernal, which they were unable to read. Later, the party would find the Faceless One's copy of the Nethertome of Trask (called the Nethertome of the Qabal in my game, and was expanded to be like a nonmagical Book of Vile Darkness) which bore similar styled writing. During their investigations in Sharn, they also learned that the Apostolic Scrolls were of similar writing too. It wasn't until Eligos explained to them that most of these items are tools, nothing more - tools that tend more often than not to be used for evil. So, a few days before the Champion's Games, they took the box far outside of Sharn, and opened it - fearing the worst. The power of the dragonshard inside rendered them unconsious, and they awoke with strange, golden lesser dragonmarks.

The crusader gained the ability to cast shield 2/ day and haste 1/ day, on himself only.

The ranger gained the ability to cast expedious retreat 2/ day and invisibility 2/day, again, only on himself.

The warlock/enlightened spirit gained the power to cast ray of enfeeblement 2/day, or cast displacement on himself 1/ day.

The party will find another "box" in Icosiol's tomb, which will awaken their greater powers and allow them to use the other powers an extra time. I haven't decided on what the other powers will be yet.

Once they complete the Library of Last Resort, they'll gain the Siberys level powers - which will have effects similar to the 4e epic destiny "you don't die" powers. Again, I'm not sure how this plays out, but in my mind I see their physical bodies completely broken and drained by the power of Kyuss, with this power being the only thing that actually allows them to continue fighting.

I heavily modified this adventure for my Eberron AoW campaign. I mostly redesigned the entire dungeon, making in slightly more linear, but larger, and updating it for my 5th level party. The cave complex of the grimlocks (now dolgaunts) was the first section from the mines, which then led to an underground gatehouse into the Hextorite halls (now a detachment of Emerald Claw soldiers)

The Faceless One was a disciple of Erandis d'Vol, so the kenkus were replaced with a pack of Hooded Pupil rogues and adepts (from Libris Mortis). I remapped the dungeon to include a network of drains and grooves that included a powerful necromantic effect I called exsanguination - essentially, any living creature bleeding out in the Dark Cathedral would do so twice as fast, and afterwards the blood would be magically pulled from their body, through the drainage system, and collect into the pool, which was now the Faceless One's chamber - essentially the Vecna wing was reversed. My party was quite alarmed as all the blood of Emerald Claw soldiers began to sink away though...

When they encountered the Faceless One, his ritual at the blood pool had been completed (they still don't know this) The only remaining component is to place a recently dead body in the pool, and allow it time to absorb the blood's ebon energy. Of course... this was the Faceless One. Instead of having the Ebon Aspect arise, the Faceless One was boosted up to more of a climatic encounter. He was made into an 8th level Master Specialist Conjurer - with that stupid Abrupt Jaunt alternate ability.

Shortly after the Diamond Lake garrison used explosives to seal the Dark Cathedral forever, the Faceless One is reborn and emerges from the pool as a short of shade/ half-fiend - achieving the "divinity within" goals of the Cult of Vol. With his followers dead, his only recourse is to take the passages left by the dolgaunt into the Underdark of Khyber. When the PCs explore the Tomb of Isociol, they'll find the new, more powerful Faceless One instead of Moreto - along with a few nasty new allies of his.

If I decide to give him one more appearance, he'll become a lichfiend and replace Darl later.

Are Dizzyk's notes still going around? I'd love to get a copy of them if possible - mangan_ra@hotmail.com

Actually, I'm pretty sure that the fiendish codex states that demons and devils cannot produce other immortal offspring with each other unless they have sufficient power and ability to do so - the same magical nature that allows certain fiends to produce fiendish offspring with mortal creatures prevents them from doing so with each other. Also, going by the illustrations in the monster manuals... many lack the proper equipment. There are exceptions to this - it appears that archfiends are capable of sexual reproduction with other fiends (as both Asmodeus and Belial have wholly fiendish daughters)

Although you could always change this to meet the needs of your game.

I'm running the Age of Worms in Eberron.

My Redhand is none other than Karrnath. The 'prince' is going to be King Kaius himself, with Lashona being replaced with Lady Vol.

Hey, it fits... the PC's probably won't be taking over the kingdom (given that they consist of two Brelanders, a Thrane, and two Aerenal elves) but will probably root out the blood of Vol in Karrnath and undo Kaius' vampirism.

I'm running the AoW in Eberron:

Ezekiel Rayens, LG male human cleric of the Silver Flame: originally from Thrane, Ezekiel's father was a paladin of the Silver Flame who died defending his family's village from a Karrn raid during the closing days of the war. The young Ezekiel went on a pilgrimage to Flamekeep where he swore himself to the Flame. Years later, Ezekiel found himself in Diamond Lake unable to make ends meet, and has taken up doing the work of the Flame in the city.

Diurge Silvercloud, NG male Aerenal Elf ranger: Came to Khorvaire with the Valenar elves, but when they turned on the Cyrans he deserted them and after a few unsucessful adventures, wound up in the mines of Balabar Smenk, hundreds of gold in debt. He's had a had fall, but Ezekiel has helped to guide him out of the gutter.

Arista Silvercloud, NG female Aerenal Elf evoker: Came in search of her brother, Diurge, but when she finally found him a few weeks ago, she had exhaused her all her finacial resources and the pair no longer has any means to return home. Arista, however, is extremely interested on the magic of elementals and has become distracted from returning home to explore the cairns around Diamond Lake.

Myr, N male personality warforged artificer: Found inert in the Whispering Cairn. He bears markings that designate that he came from Merrix d'Cannith's forges in Sharn, but has little memory of who exactly he is.

Lashwen Dehray, CG female human warlock: The niece of one of the girls at the Emporium, Lashwen came to live in Diamond Lake with her aunt when her overbearing, sinister father finally passed away. Tainted by fiendish blood, her personal redemption has become the 'project' of Ezekiel.

I allowed the party to start at 3rd level and adjusted the encounters to suit, they just made 4th level last session. They've almost finished exploring the Whispering Cairn and should be meeting the Land boy soon. They've already had several brushes with Kullen and his gang, Smenk, and even came accross Filge as his wagons moved into town, and have done some negotiations with Luzane Perrin and Lazare to bring down Smenk.

So, when I dropped the notion that I'd be running a D&D game after a long break, several of my players got to talking and decided it would be interesting to have an entire party of exalted characters with high ideals and generally lawful.

Now, this seems a powerful choice for the Age of Worms path considering all the evil and undead about. I like that. It will be a heroic game, which we haven't had in awhile, and stopping the Age of Worms is assuredly an exalted quest. I'll be making the villians abit more vile, and I've got a set of changes to make to accomodate the path for Eberron, but I'm stuck as to how I can get this eager band interested in the Whispering Cairn.

My players will not have characters motivated by money or items, ad one would expect for the exalted, so I need some other ideas. I've had a few thoughts, but they usually run into conflict with other events, and so I could really use some suggestions.