Great Old One, Xhamen-Dor

Turso's page

4 posts. No reviews. No lists. No wishlists.


RSS


1 person marked this as a favorite.

My group cleared Whisper out of Time last week, so I figured I'd make a post about how my changes were received, and what I changed in the end.
Warning, long post ahead.
TL;DR for just the changes at the bottom.

As I said in an earlier post, my goal was to place the Mysterium after Okeno (because the Mysterium theme and difficulty works better as a chapter end), and to have the PCs actually meet up with Lowls instead of just missing him every single time.

The first change was to get them to Mun's laboratory. I took some advice from a poster in the other topic and have Al-Hazred not tell them about the Mysterium. Instead he told them that Lowls knew the Necronomicon's location and went to pick up Mun before he left; the group would have to look there for clues.

The Infirmary itself was relatively unchanged, including all the clues pointing to the Mysterium. But I also added a note from Lowls that he was going to see Biting Lash to have everything ready the moment he found Neruzavin's location.
In the basement with the operating table, I added an inactive Teleportation Circle leading to Okeno's Sweatways. The in-game justification was that this was Mun's method of getting to Okeno and back to buy and transport slaves for experimenting. The circle could be activated with a "silver key", which Kaklatath outright told them ("Find the Silver Key, and me at the end"). The key was located in the attic together with the deed for the Infirmary.

With an easy method of getting to Okeno and the promise of finding the source of the voice in their head, the group quickly plowed through all of Okeno. No structural changes here, except Biting Lash did not have a map to Neruzavin; her map only showed a general area Lowls had determined. This showed he was getting closer, but was not quite there yet. The Gnolls and all other enemies in Okeno were absolutely no match for my group; I left their stats unaltered.
After taking care of Biting Lash, the group freed the slaves and herded them through the Sweatways to Mun's Teleportation Circle, getting them to Cassomir. They (rightfully) figured that setting a bunch of slaves loose on an island full of slavers would just have them get captured again.

Having freed Kaklatath and knowing Lowls went to the Mysterium, the group went there next. Upon arrival, they learned that trespassers went into the Mysterium a week ago, and they hadn't come out yet.
There were no huge structural changes here, other than the continuous reminder that Lowls could not have gotten out yet. Some party members wanted to get to Neruzavin so they could ambush Lowls there, but the idea was overruled. Most people figured they'd better stop Lowls before he could get to Neruzavin in the first place.
Kaklatath already being with the group was not a huge change. She was unwilling to go into the Mysterium, because of her fear of death, and she told the PCs from the start she wouldn't be able to contact them in there. She also stressed she was able to sense Lowls' location, and having lost his signal in the Mysterium, without it popping up elsewhere, was another indication that yes, Lowls was still here.

The Mysterium itself worked without any changes, except all enemies had received the Advanced Template (since the group was a level higher than the module anticipated).

Upon solving the puzzle to enter the Soul, the group was confronted with Lowls studying the Necronomicon, the Keeper keeping close watch over him. Lowls was surprised to see them; he expected the Stewards or Mun when the portal opened, not his old teammates/enforcers. But he was also delighted. If they managed to get all the way here after having their memories sacrificed, they were indeed worthy to travel with him. The group had some very personal reasons to absolutely HATE Lowls though, so they entered combat immediately. Lowls had the stats of a level 13 NPC Bard, with the Plant Subtype from Xhamen-Dor's infestation, and the same Necronomicon abilities that the Mad Poet had (+5 AC bonus, can move Necronomicon back into his hand as a Move Action). He also had a boosted CHA score and a Ring of Freedom of Movement.
Lowls first action in combat: Mass Suggestion. "Listen to my side of the story first, before the Stewards get here. Ask your questions now, and we can get to a peaceful resolution."

Two players made the save, two did not. While the players that made the save started combat, the other two were allowed to interrogate Lowls about his motives and what he did. A few turns later, the group managed to get a Break Enchantment spell working, and all members could now participate in the fight.
Lowls mostly used non-damaging spells like Greater Invisibility, and kept trying to convert the group back to his side, "where they belonged".
This tactic actually worked on one member of the group. This member was the only one that Lowls didn't manipulate into working for him, but instead he was bought as a slave from Biting Lash. Lowls was proud of his adventuring party, so this was the first time this member was treated as a person, instead of an object. This member actually tried to break up the fight to get to a peaceful resolution even after the enchantment broke. Lowls cast Heroism on him to help him in his efforts.

After a couple of rounds and realizing most of the group could not be converted, Lowls started lamenting how his plan would fail, if only he had more time. Until he realized something. "If only" does not apply to someone with Xhamen-Dor's power, the Necronomicon's knowledge, and his own SUPERIOR intellect. If he needed more time, he only had to create it. He used the Necronomicon's power to tear open a portal in time, and flung himself into the past. He gave one last chance to the party member that was still trying to break up the fight, to join him now or never.
I told the player in no uncertain terms that his character would become an NPC if he accepted.
In the end, he decided to determine the outcome with a roll of the dice: if his D100 showed 20 or lower, he would accept Lowls offer.
It came up 97.
Lowls disappeared with visible disappointment, showing his last trick before he left; the Heroism he cast earlier was actually Hollow Heroism, and the debuff would now activate.
(If the party had managed to kill Lowls here, the Pallid Mask would have stepped in to timewarp and resurrect him.)

During Lowls escape, the Keeper finally sprung into action, telling Lowls to hold it, and tried to erase the Necronomicon. His attempt failed however.
After a bit of selfpity the Keeper then started talking about chasing Lowls after killing everyone here, to stop Xhamen-Dor's influence (I used the speech another poster in this thread had prepared).
The Keeper hit hard, but was ultimately taken down by the party without too much trouble.

When exiting the Mysterium, the group found out from Elder Thyrr that they captured Miacknian Mun when he tried to flee. In their memory, Mun was also the only one that bribed the previous Elder and broke in. Mun himself was unsure why he did it, but felt as if an unseen force was guiding him.
Kaklatath was one of the few entities whose memories were not altered by the time-warp, and she was able to tell the PCs Lowls suddenly appeared near Biting Lash a few weeks ago, and was making steady progress towards Neruzavin.

When they received their reward of one free week of study in the Mysterium, they initially wanted to decline the offer, feeling like they should go after Lowls immediately. This got them a scolding from Kaklatath; even if they caught up to Lowls, what would they do if he tried the same trick again? They'd better stock up on knowledge before setting of to be fully prepared.
I gave the group an extra bonus for this time spent; once per day, as a group, they are allowed to make one Knowledge check with the same bonuses as if they were using a library.
In addition, one groupmember suffered from Lycanthropy since chapter one, and the Mysterium held one of the few books containing the cure.

All in all, the reactions from my group have been very positive, and they told me they really appreciated the encounter with Lowls himself. So, mission accomplished.
I am currently planning to have Lowls return once again; the version the players encountered will become the Starseed as normal, while his past-version will replace Ariadnah during the final fight.

TL;DR:
Add a Teleportation Circle in Mun's lab, leading to Okeno.
Make the circle's activation dependent on defeating the Dark Young in the attic to avoid having the players skip most of the area/hints.
Alter Biting Lash's map to show a general area instead of Neruzavin's actual location.
Emphasize Lowls still being in the Mysterium.
Add a statblock for Lowls and have him try to convert the group to his side.
Have Lowls timewarp away when he sees this is useless, or have the Pallid Mask do it if Lowls is defeated.
Use Kaklatath to tell the group what happened if they did not figure it out/managed to make the correct skill checks.


There are 7 treasures the PCs can find. They need only 3 to get an audience with Al-Hazred, and 6 to get the extra reward. So the entire sidequest already allows for failures. So I'd propose to simply, let them fail.
I would, however, outright tell the party they don't need every treasure. Tell them they find some extra information in Lowls' notes that they missed before to tell them this. Something like a small note in the margins reading "The Poet was very pleased with so many gifts. He told me most people only ever brought 3 of them, which would be adequate. But with this many, he even gave me a special gift in return!".
This information should make it so your party doesn't just give up after failing one objective.

However, that obviously doesn't work for the Moon-Prison and the Oasis. In addition, you may not want to make escaping an auto-failure for some quests. There are solutions for this.

Time flows differently in the Dreamlands (something that plays a role during the Ghoul-Gug dream per example). So as long as you signal this to your players (again, Lowls notes are the easiest method), it shouldn't be strange that a lot has changed during their previous voyage.

- The viscount is simply holding another ball, and guests still go missing.

- The Ghouls have driven the Gugs out of the catacombs, but the party will have a tough time finding the place (they can not march with the Ghouls this time). The Gugs themselves have risen as undead/skeletal versions during the many years they were left here.

- Sarkath has been destroyed by Bokrug. No two ways about that, unless you want to homebrew an encounter in a rebuilt City of Ib.

- The Ghouls in the ceramic city have been starved and can no longer give any hints or rewards, but the statues are still there, and the Wamps have restored/increased their numbers.

- The Zoogs are still willing to trade, but Nestor has since been sacrificed by the Lurkers-in-Light.

- There is simply no escape from the Bloodwind encounter, it will simply follow the players to the waking world immediately.

- The Night Hag Quaveandra has since found her assassin, and is no longer interested in making a deal like last time. She would be willing to trade her (fake) Heartstone for a powerful soul, though. Either a PC (including familiars or animal companions) or an ally they lure into the dreamlands (Skywin, one of the scholars, etc). If I were feeling particularly mean, I'd have her include Abdul Alhazred to the list, if the players ever mentioned a Mad Poet in her presence. She'd lend the Heartstone in that case to get an audience. Failure to comply (she'd be scrying in on them) will have her appear near the Oasis and complicate the clone-fight.
Of course, this entire course will make simply fighting her the more desirable course of action (unless you have an Evil party). I'd allow the party to find the Assassin's trap and hidden door so they can use it themselves.

As for the Moon-Prison, remember there is no easy way of getting there if you do not have access to Starflight. Teleport doesn't actually work even without Dreamland-logic (you'd need Interplanetary Teleport). There is no ritual to get there, so the players would have to find a way of traveling there from the Caravanserai. Remind them of this fact the moment they start making plans that require them to wake up. In addition, with the volatile timeline, there is no guarantee that the Yellow King will still be alive when they get back.
If it does happen, there is a Moon-beast city not far from the prison, and the Moon-beasts are notorious slavers. It's not a stretch that both sides simply bolstered their numbers by buying combat-slaves. You can simply reset all non-unique encounters, or bring in some other monsters, or even mercenaries with Class-Levels. Maybe Kelvetta Brix or Deanni Khatiri have since been converted into aiding the revolt in exchange for their freedom.

If the PCs try and wake up during the Oasis, I'd let them. They should have gotten all the information they needed (including the optional stat-boost and their memories) before starting the clone-fight, and I'd have Kaklatath contact them as they woke up.
However, I would not give the increased trait-bonus to any PCs that skipped the fight.
If I felt really peeved at my players just skipping an interesting encounter like that (meaning they just run instead of even trying), I'd probably have them wake up with the Dissociated Identity Madness, representing the Oasis-clones trying to take over the PCs bodies. They can get rid of it the normal way, or by travelling to the Dreamlands again and engaging their past selves (this time in an arena of their choosing, since the clones will simply appear in the Dreamlands wherever the party chooses to go).
In either case, I'd tell the players what the clones represent and what they are actually trying to do (probably to the player with the highest Sense Motive, Knowledge Arcana or Heal skill). This should be enough hints that the players can't simply run from this encounter, and that resolving it will help them in the long run.


In my case, the group didn't spent too much time in the Asylum and Thrushmoor. About 10 days altogether, if I'm generous. The difference can be made up by travel time (Lowls traveled with more cargo or had less favorable winds), Lowls catching up with Mun before setting out, procuring the resources he paid for back in Thrushmoor (and a promise of slaves) before heading into the Mysterium, and spending several days inside studying the Necronomicon, locking himself up and everyone else out.
Securing the provisions and slaves beforehand would make sense from Lowls' point of view, since he doesn't know he'll be able to bend time yet, and he probably does not expect to spend so much time locked inside. This also takes care of Biting Lash knowledge of helping him out (she knows he has an order for slaves lying around, and if the PCs happen to talk to her after meeting Lowls, she can act as if Lowls had taken the slaves earlier, and she told the PCs so. Acting on two different timelines, if you will).

As for Biting Lash's help through the desert, I'll probably figure that out when the time comes. But likely she'll offer the PCs the same help as usual, or I'll replace that part of her role with another NPC.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm about to come up to this adventure, but I made some big changes to the overall layout. My goals were mainly to reduce the amount of times you "just so happen" to miss Count Lowls (three times in this chapter alone), and to place the Mysterium at the end of the chapter, since I feel it's a far more satisfying and thematic conclusion.
I was mainly wondering if someone could tell me if I made any big mistakes, or tell me things I could improve. And maybe this could help some other GMs who want to make the same changes.

First off, the players do not know the location of the Necronomicon. I could not think of any reason they'd want to visit Miacknian Mun, so I instead had the Mad Poet tell them Mun was going on the expedition with Lowls; therefore he was the only clue they had to the Necronomicon's location.
I gave Mun multiple buildings to his name; his home is in Cassomir, like the chapter describes. But it is a normal house, and doesn't have any encounters. Instead, his laboratory is located in Okeno, where he would frequently buy new slaves to experiment on. His house contains a hidden Teleportation Circle to Okeno to show how he travelled, and to make it easy for the PCs. It will teleport whoever steps in it to a hidden location near Okeno.
Once there, the PCs can find Mun's lab and clear it out, finding the location of the Necronomicon in the process. In the meantime, their close proximity to Kaklatath allows her to more clearly send messages to the PC's minds, hopefully prompting the start of the regular Okeno section of the adventure.
I was thinking of moving Kaklatath to the Mysterium or Mun's lab in Cassomir and skip Okeno entirely, but I have already connected Biting Lash to the backstory of one of the PCs.

Once Kaklatath is freed, the PCs should be ready to get to the Mysterium and find the Necronomicon, Mun, and Lowls. I will probably have Kaklatath retain some spellcasting ability so she can teleport the PCs there (none of them has access to Teleport, Wind Walk, or spells like that).
The Mysterium I will run as is, mostly. Except for the end, where it normally turns out Lowls was long gone already. Instead, I want to use this to foreshadow the time-bending in this adventure, and otherworldly nature of the Necronomicon.
When the PCs arrive in the final room, Lowls will still be there, studying the Necronomicon, halfway through losing his sanity. After a bit of back-and-forth with the PCs (be it combat or diplomacy), he will "teleport", except he makes it clear he is using the Necronomicon to teleport back to the past, and start his expedition with a few weeks headstart. If he happens to get killed, a portal will be opened and a giant fungal hand will appear drag Lowls through it, revitalizing and infecting him in the process.

In the end, I think these changes result in the following:
- The PCs do not keep missing Lowls. Normally they'd first hope to find him in Mun's lab, then at the Mysterium, then Kaklatath baits them to Okeno. Instead, they continue the chase like they did so far, and actually find him at the end.
- Okeno doesn't try and present itself as a chapter-ending finale.
- The relative nature of time gets better foreshadowing.

I do not think I am introducing big problems for the rest of the adventure path, but maybe GMs that have already ran this can see some big holes I'm about to walk into? Or opportunities I am missing?