Rodney Thompson's page

Greetings fellow Age of Worms DMs,

So, my party did something I didn't expect. While running through Three Faces of Evil my bloodthirsty, chaotic party actually decided to let Theldrick go. In part this was due to the fact that they hate Balabar more than these cultists, and also because Theldrick poses a good argument for his actions not being illegal. Rather than just having Theldrick ride off into the sunset, I'm seizing the opportunity to spin him into a long-running antagonist that the party encounters throughout the campaign. One of the things my playes loved about the Shackled City campaign was the fact that Vhalantru developed into a nemesis over the course of many adventures. Thus far the only long-running character looks to be Allustan, and he's no villain!

So what I'm planning to do is have Theldrick involved in some way for the rest of the campaign, inserting him (or references to him) in each adventure, slowly building him up as a stumbling block and nemesis over the course of many adventures. Theldrick, to be frank, is exactly what I like in my villains: organized, intelligent, and articulate while still vicious and evil. So I'm going to have him be the visible face of the Ebon Triad throughout all the adventures. Here's what I've got so far:

Encounter at Blackwall Keep: My players have just helped drive off the Lizardfolk and are settling in for a night's rest at the Keep. Here I'm going to have the current person in charge of the Keep's forces spin a yarn to the players about an orc invasion some 20 years ago that was thwarted by the brilliant tactics of the Keep's commanding officer, Captain Theldrick. The idea here is that Theldrick was once an honorable member of the Free City's military force who was driven to ruthlessness by this orc invasion. From there he turns to Hextor, and then by extension into the Ebon Triad.

Hall of Harsh Reflections: I got nothin here. Help!

The Champion's Belt: Theldrick is in the Free City and is a guest of honor at the Champion's Games, sitting in the observation box with Raknian. In truth it was Theldrick who put all the pieces in play in order to nudge Raknian towards his dark path, and now he remains present to oversee the completion of the plot in the arena.

A Gathering of Winds: Again, I've got nothing. The only thing I've thought of is that perhaps the dragon's fang Theldrick wears around his neck belongs to Ilthane, but that's the clue and not the hook. Again, help!

Sadly, the next adventure has not hit my mailbox yet. Anyone have any suggestions about those two adventures, or general ideas on making Theldrick a bigger part of the ongoing campaign? Where do I let the party kill him off? I've got some ideas, but I thought I'd open it up to the floor.

Hey all,

I ran my second session of the Age of Worms campaign last night, and have run into a bit of a storytelling dilemma. The first session of the campaign was a bit of a "get to know you" session, and involved the party getting down into the Lair of the Architect before we stopped. At that point the party's cleric said he wanted to rest and get spells and suggested that they just go back to Diamond Lake to sleep, since that's only 10 minutes away. Well, maybe it's just my style of play, but the idea of the party constantly leaving, then coming back, then leaving, then coming back doesn't seem particularly heroic to me. At that point, I suggested that they may want to stay in the dungeon for the night, since the "rival party" might show up at any minute and steal treasure for themselves.

Last night, they continued on a bit, got most of the way through the Lair of the Laborers before deciding to rest again. This time, with bunches o' loot in hand, they decided to go back into town to sell stuff and rest. Again, this kinda rubs me the wrong way as it makes the dungeon delve very disconnected. However, in order to encourage the party to "complete" the dungeon before leaving in the future, I'm going to throw in the following twists to the adventure next session:

1) The party arrives back in town late at night, visits Allustan to have magic items identified, then goes out to do some trading/selling of items. Use this time to introduce them to Diamond Lake a little bit, but also make sure and set up for...

2) The next day, when they return to the Whispering Cairn they find that Balabar Smenk has posted guards around the Cairn, forbidding anyone else to enter. Balabar's eyes and ears in Diamond Lake reported the party returning with several hundred gold worth of treasure and, being his greedy self, has claimed the Cairn as his own. Furthermore...

3) Balabar has been convinced to allow the three rival adventurers from the Free City to plunder the Cairn in exchange for at least half the treasure. These three adventurers are currently exploring the Cairn and having an easier time of it since my party's rogue already disabled the traps. As such, some of the non-magical treasure will have been removed from the Cairn already, though I do intend to leave all the "important stuff" behind. When the party runs into the rival adventurers later, they'll be bragging about all the loot they found.

4) My party and the rival adventurers will be in the Whispering Cairn at the same time, in sort of a race-to-the-finish trying to figure out the secret of the Cairn. However, once they reach the ghost of Alastor I'll pull the rivals out the adventure, sending them back to Diamond Lake with their plundered treasure. Since they refuse to do the bidding of a ghost (giving the party an edge here), the rival adventurers call it quits until they can figure out how to open the door. The adventure proceeds as normal from here.

I'm thinking about also throwing in some short encounters in Diamond Lake on the night they return. I was thinking of having the party get attacked by thieves (who heard they've got money now, and aren't afraid to steal), get a personal invitation to the Emporium from Zalamandra (where she plans to con them out of their newfound money), and maybe even have a short encounter with one of the rival adventurers (particularly since the party's rogue is now wearing the masterwork leather armor emblazoned with the symbol of the Seekers on it).

So what do you think? Am I being too harsh on them, or does this inject an appropriate sense of urgency?

Hey all,

Someone see if you can poke a hole in my logic here. During the final fight with Adimarchus at the top of Skullrot, he has the ability to use the blasphemy spell. Well, since he's caster level 30th, wouldn't this instantly kill every party member, even with all 20th level characters?

I ran this fight and ended the campaign a couple of nights ago, almost used this tactic before I realized it was an instant no-save TPK. What am I not seeing?