philarete's page

I'm unclear on why the sinspawn would have left blood on the rim of the pool in area B4. Any guidance? It doesn't seem like they've been preying on anything, and they don't seem to ooze blood.

I got the impression from B6 that the sinspawn are constantly fighting with each other, and only their fast healing keeps them from killing one another. The blood would be from their own wounds.

For another, it invalidates a lot of the Fiendish Codex I and the Demonomicon and a lot of other stuff I've worked on. It's hard for me not to feel insulted a little by this decision.

You should feel proud of the work you did on Fiendish Codex I, James. It's the best fluff book WotC published in the 3.0/3.5 era.

Personally? I really hate this. It's disrespectful of the past 30 years of D&D devil/demon tradition, for one thing.

I agree completely. There may be room to improve the mechanics of the game, but they shouldn't be changing flavor like this.

Has WotC stated whether they will be releasing the core ruleset for 4th edition for the OGL?

And will the D20 trademark still be freely available for 3rd party vendors to use?

In my opinion, opening up the market for 3rd party vendors was the best thing that ever happened to the game. I'd hate to go back to the days when there were no 3rd party supplemental materials. Because let's face it, WotC's published adventures uniformly suck.

I'm very disappointed that you chose to include a spoiler for Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk in the article "Unsolved Mysteries of D&D" in issue 359.

It was prefaced with a warning, but I tend to skim articles before reading them, and I accidentally read the spoiler before I saw the warning.

Obviously I can't cancel my subscription, but I have canceled a magazine subscription over this sort of thing in the past (viz. TV Guide for spoiling an X-Files season finale).

Issue 73, with the Duelist NPC class, and (IIRC) a very cool drow-themed adventure. The drow had carved themselves a dungeon inside a large tree.

What source are the Varrangoin from?

I found two minor errors in Issue 140's STAP installment.

On page 38, the first column says that Huntress Lorb-Lorb Tub will rage and fight to the death if one of her hunters falls, or if she herself is attacked. The second column says that she is not stupid enough to fight to the death and will attempt to flee if reduced to fewer than 10 hp.

And then on page 44, Bua Gorg's alignment is listed as CN. I'm pretty sure that should be CE.

Then, the Suloise (or Suel) invoked a cataclysm on the Baklunish nation, that was devastated in a large part.

The Baklunish invoked also a huge cataclysm on the Suloise nation, that was totally destroyed.

The twin cataclysm is like the "year zero" of the common calendar.

But some of the suel had anticipated, and had crossed the mountains to the east through a long tunnel, and entered the Flannaess.

Small quibble: the twin cataclysms took place in -421 CY.

Year 1 of the common calendar dates from the declaration of universal peace by Nasran I of the Great Kingdom of Aerdy, when he assumed the title of Overking.

The library-temple in Magepoint is described as being "dedicated to several neutral-minded deities."

For those of you playing in Greyhawk, what deities did you use?

It seems pretty obvious that Agath is a cleric of Celestian.

I was thinking of making the temple dedicated to the trio of Celestian, Cyndor, and Boccob.

I believe there's an error in the stat block for the Mavawhan demons in the Kostchtchie article.

The AC line claims says that there's a 50% miss chance to hit it, but there's no justification in the description for this.

I should have been a little more clear with my question: Basically, I wanted to know if people would like to see 8 or so affiliations for their PCs to join and be a part of for the duration of an Adventure Path. Accomplishing goals for an affiliation can make for excellent side-plots to run alongside of the campaign's main plot, and they also are a great way to add to the mythos of the Adventure Path since it's something that the PCs can take part in and nurture.

That's exactly the sort of thing I was thinking of when I started this thread.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

One of the most interesting chapters in the Player's Handbook II was the chapter on affiliations.

Could we perhaps see some affiliations included in STAP, either in the magazine or in supplemental on-line material?

The same way every other description defaults on "she" rather than the previous universal default of "he" when describing classes. There is a river thick vein of PC running through D&D already.

Actually, there is some rhyme and reason behind the alternating pronouns in character class descriptions in the WoTC books. The pronoun that corresponds to the gender of the iconic class member is used. Since Lidda is the iconic rogue, she/her is used when talking about rogues. Since Tordek is the iconic fighter, he/him/his is used when talking about fighters.

On page 37 of Dungeon 127, the description of area 12 reads in part "A wide hallway leads west over a low dirt embankment with three wooden chests on it and beyond to another watery area."

The chests appear on the map as well, between area 12 and area 13.

However, there does not appear to be any mention of the chests in the description of area 12. Am I missing something?

On page 47 of issue 128, a group of guards stage a conversation pretending Madtooth is a frost salamander, in order to trick the PCs into preparing inappropriate spells. Madtooth is then described as "remarkably fire resistant."

But nowhere in the stat blocks for Madtooth is it stated that it is fire resistant.

Is there a mistake in the stat block? Or is Madtooth supposed to have a fire resistance spell of some sort cast on it before combat?

Are there any other ideas for feats or other race possibilities?

The PC could take Air Elemental or Djinn bloodline levels (from Unearthed Arcana, OGL licensed):

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/bloodlines.htm
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/bloodlines.htm#elementalAir
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/bloodlines.htm#genieDjinni

It appears that the compasses on the big insert map and the map on page 23 are not aligned with each other correctly.

The stairs on the first floor (big map) line up with the stairs on the 2nd floor and basement if you rotate one of the maps 180 degrees, exchanging north and south.

In the AoW Overload, Erik suggests that in Greyhawk, the archmage Manzorian should become Tenser.

But Tenser (along with Otiluke) was killed in 584 by Rary the Traitor. (Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, p. 156.)

Maybe Bigby instead?

It's over.

I've finally finished the remaining bits of Age of Worms Overload. It still must be laid out (with John Gallagher's awesome concept art) and the whole shebang still needs to be approved by Wizards of the Coast.

Out of curiousity, what exactly is WotC looking for in its approval process?

Is everything Paizo publishes vetted by WotC, or only stuff that's nominally set in one of the WotC worlds (Greyhawk, Realms, Eberron)?

Lessee... the Age of Worm's first dragon is mentioned, but does not show up. Overview is pretty cool, and I'm thinking there are possibilities here...

The 2nd-to-last generation of lizardfolk eggs (in the Mistmarsh) were eaten by masses of green worms. Oops. This is actually what is responsible for the lack of lizardmen attacks recently. The lizardmen were visited by a black dragon who said she wanted to help the lizards and blamed the Free City for the worms; in fact, she's to blame and the Free City just happened to be there. The dragon is now incubating (right... suuuuure) the latest batch of lizardmen eggs.

Wow, that will dovetail nicely with one of the character backgrounds in my Olive Branch campaign.

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dnd/campaignJournals/ageOfWormsInOlive BranchMS

He's a poison dusk lizardman sorceror whose Mistmarsh tribe is ruled by a black dragon. The dragon would kill any lizardmen who showed sorcerous talent (no competition!). Sotek escaped, and ended up in the Emporium sideshow.

And now the hated dragon Kazadrikal is messing around with spawn worms!

Thanks much Phil, where's the Bronzewood Lodge stuff?

Ask and ye shall receive:

The Bronzewood Lodge

The ring of crumbling menhirs on the bluff overlooking Diamond Lake is a remnant of an ancient human druidic culture that once inhabited the region. They too came to the hills for the even more ancient cairns, seeing them as monuments to great ancestors of the invisible past.

Although Suel and Oeridian immigrants displaced the native Flan druids during great migrations over a thousand years ago, pockets of indigenous architecture and culture remain. Foremost among these near-forgotten practices is veneration of Obad-Hai, the Shalm, the brooding patron of wilderness and natural order.

Druids and rangers who honor the Shalm and a host of minor nature deities and fey spirits routinely congregate in great moots three hours northeast of Diamond Lake, at an ancient megalithic structure called the Bronzewood Lodge. Devotees of Ehlonna or the elven pantheon are welcome at these meetings, if a bit gruffly, but all other attendees must be invited personally by someone already within the circle of trust. At these great moots, the woodsfolk observe rituals from long ago, celebrate with great contests of strength and wit, and debate policy regarding the natural affairs of the region.

A small permanent community inhabits the Lodge itself and the wooded copse surrounding it. Perhaps 30 assorted druids and rangers protect the sacred site and keep watch on the nearby roads and valleys. Occasionally, they step in to rescue a traveler from some natural menace, but just as often they warn explorers to stay on the roads and let the wilderness take care of itself. Their leader is Nogwier, an aged cleric of Obad-Hai who strives to keep the focus of his community on preservation of a near-extinct way off life and away from anger at Greyhawk and its operatives in Diamond Lake, whose avariciousness continually rapes the land.

The Lodge itself is a twelve-chambered structure composed of piled megaliths covered by earth. The cairn's central gallery contains a huge uprooted petrified oak tree planted upside down so that its roots are exposed. Nogwier and his three servitors use the tree as a massive altar. Other chambers contain the sorted, commingled bones of generations of druids as well as priceless natural treasures accumulated over the course of centuries.

I'm starting Age of Worms next week. One of my PCs is an elven monk, and we can't give him a decent character background because the Twilight Monastery hasn't been covered yet. So yes, I'm a bit frustrated.

Erik leaked the Twilight Monastery info to the boards a few weeks ago. Here's a repost:

The Twilight Monastery

About two hours north of Diamond Lake, a towering crag called the Griffon's Roost casts a dark shadow over the muddy road to Elmshire. From a perch hundreds of feet above looms the cat-infested Twilight Monastery, a three-towered monument to an obscure philosophy of the Distant West. Two score monks dwell within the monastery, dedicating themselves to a litany of exercises meant to perfect the body and spirit. The secretive monks hold dusk as the holiest of hours, and sonorous chants emit from the Twilight Monastery's central courtyard when the night sky appears in the heavens.

Foremost among the monks is Izenfen the Occluded, a peerless masked combatant thought to be one of the wisest figures in the hills. Travelers frequently seek her council, but most leave Diamond Lake without ever having gained access to the Twilight Monastery, for Izenfen deigns to speak with only a handful of pilgrims foretold to her via the agency of the night sky and an immense mirrored lens called the Censer of Symmetry. The Censer, which dominates the monastery's central courtyard, grants any who gaze upon it a +10 bonus on Profession (astrologer) checks made during a clear night. Junior monks polish its smooth surface throughout the day, and the whole of the order is prepared to defend it with their lives.

When word of the Censer's predictive prowess spread to the miners of Diamond Lake 20 years ago, a desperate contingent petitioned Izenfen to predict the location of the richest unclaimed local ore deposits, appealing to her compassion with tales of starving children and dangerously unpaid debts. The masked mistress of the Twilight Monastery rebuffed their pleas, triggering the miners' contingency plan—an ill-fated invasion of the monks' compound that left seven miners dead. Only a single member of the order perished—Imonoth, Izenfen's beloved daughter.

Immediately thereafter, Izenfen gathered a cadre of stealth assassins from the ranks of her best warriors, and silently set them upon the surviving invaders who still milked wounds in the petty shacks along Diamond Lake's waterfront. At an annual celebration called Darkstar's Kiss, the monks of the Twilight Monastery recite from memory the names of all fifteen miners murdered on that night, reminding themselves to always remain vigilant to the encroachment of outsiders. Rumors suggest that Izenfen's masked silent killers remain active to this day, citing the disappearance or mysterious deaths of nearly a dozen political enemies within the town.

Although the monks of the Twilight Monastery keep mostly to themselves and desire only to lead lives of undisturbed contemplation, they frequently appear on the streets of Diamond Lake to reprovision or to engage in the trade of kalamanthis, a rare psychotropic plant grown regionally only on the slopes of the Griffon's Roost. Proceeds from this trade account for all of the monastery's activities, but initiates of the order are forbidden from taking it in all but the most controlled ritual circumstances. Kalamanthis is popular among all classes of Diamond Lake, but the real business is centered in the nearby Free City. Potential buyers frequently meet with elder monks in a secluded corner of Lazare's House along the Vein's central square to arrange payment and distribution to the neighboring metropolis. Both the wagons loaded with kalamanthis and the returning coaches loaded with city coin go unmolested in Diamond Lake, for all fear Izenfen's relentless invisible killers.

Just for reference, I've inserted Devil Box (issue 109) into the Adventure Path following Whispering Cairn. The last paragraph of Sotek's Journal entry 4 is the beginning of Devil Box.

Sotek's journal, entry 4 (player written)

Journal Entry Day 6

Phoebe is treating Festus, hoping he will recover from the disease he picked up in Filge’s tower.
She thinks he will recover, but he looks very bad.

Journal Entry Day 7

Phoebe announces that Festus is cured of the disease, but he still needs to rest for a few days to recover his strength. In the meantime, some of the other party members journeyed to the City of Greyhawk to sell off some of our surplus treasure and pick up some Masterwork Weapons for the fighters & Festus.

Journal Entry Day 12

Festus is back to normal, the fighters have new weapons, and I have four more vials of Dragon’s Breath, so we have decided to return to the Cairn. Sotek has studied the symbols he has been seeing and has learned some of the language spoke here. The so-called whispers are saying “Get out!” and “Intruders!” But Sotek does not listen to them and we pass through to the lantern room. First we go to the Brown Mold that barred our way earlier. Sotek easily dispatches the mold with magical frost and we are free to search the room it was guarding. In an alcove, we found a basin full of more of the strange orange substance. Sotek was hungry, so I ate some. It was not bad, so Sotek climbged into the basin and began to eat more.

Meanwhile, in the room, the party discovered several half-finished carvings of the same type of manling that was on the stone box ion the lantern room. Also there is a large dark egg-shaped object on a pedestal at one side of the room marked with a symbol that Festus says is “Ogremach” an evil elemental prince. Sotek does not know what that means, and decides to stay in the basin eating the orange stuff. It is kind of like gravy. Cole decides that he want the egg and touches it. Sotek knows better than to touch the eggs of others, but apparently manlings do not. The egg hatches into a large rock-manling, that seems very unhappy. Cole says something to it, that makes it even madder, then runs to the other side of the room. This leaves only hatchling Xandril next to the rock-manling, so Sotek drains the rock-manling’s strength. This weakens the rock-manling enough for Festus to move to a flanking position with Xandril and deliver a serious blow with his dire pick. Alandria moves up to help but misses with her spiked chain as does Xandril with his greatsword. Sotek injures the rock-manling futher with his magic knife spell. Festus’ weapons seemed designed for tie type of monster and he connects with both swings and the creature staggers from the blow. Festus seems the only one capable of truly injuring the creature and with his next blow he reduces it to rubble. There is nothing else of interest here, save the quality tools of the stonemasons, which Festus takes, so we head back to the lantern room.

Back in the lantern room, we climb the chain leading to the room of the ghost-child, only to find that he is gone, and the door that barred our way before, is now unlocked. Sotek does not miss the ghost-child. The room beyond is large and round with narrow woalkways, some of which have fallen, spanning a deep well and leading to a central platform that surrounds a column of rushing air. There are four alcoves around the outside of the pit and each is intricately carved with scenes of tall manlings, some in battle, some in peace. As the party spreads out to investigate the panels, Festus steps out onto one of the bridges and instantly two armored manlings emerge from the column of air. They wear armor that appears long out of style with the armor Sotek has seen other manlings wear. They carry two swords each and rush to attack Festus. Alandria and Xandral hurried to reach Festus, but Sotek easily overtook them both. Cole approaching from the other direction moved up to the column of air, while Phoebe circled the outside of the pit toward the fight. Festus saw that we arrive too late to be of assistance, so he ran past both the fighters and Sotek, which caused the two air warrior manlings to turn on Cole. Festus, Xandril, Alandria and Sotek reahed the bridge at that time and Cole circled the air column to reach us, the two air warrior manlings in pursuit. Sotek drained the strength of one of the manlings as Xandril and Festus blocked them from crossing the bridge. Alandria’s chain is able to cross the gap and strike the weakened one, but Festus is unable to defend himself from the one he faces and is knocked unconscious. While Sotek casts his remaining spells at the warriors, Pheobe casts a spell on Festus to heal him, but it takes a while to have effect. Meanwhile, both air warrior manlings turn on Xandril and he is critically injured and the party fears his death. The weakened one approaches Alandria and the other turns to attack Sotek. Sotek decides this has gone on long enough and uses his wand to shatter on of the warrior’s swords. The creature still advances and Sotek destroys the other sword. While this is occurring, Festus has regained his feetand he and Alandria are able to destroy the weakened manling warrior and it collapses into dust. Cole says something to the remaining warrior about chastising and the warrior reacts as if struck by a weapon. Unfortunately, it seems to blame Sotek for this, and despite having no weapons, it pummels Sotek with its’ fists. Sotek calls on the party to surround the creature and destroy it before anyone else can be injured, and it too soon falls too dust.

Out of spells, and with several of the party wounded, we use what healing remains and decide to rest for the day, before we press on.

Journal Entry Day 13

Rested, we return to the column of air room and Phoebe decides that she will be the first to enter it. She is instantly whisked out of sight, and the remainder of the party tries to decide of they will follow. Cole and Sotek decide at the same time and we jump into the column together. Sotek needs to make sure that if something has happened to Phoebe, then Cole will not be left alone up there to touch things. The upper room contains another stone box, and another carved scene depicting a black sphere being guided by a demonic figure holding a strange talisman, while another tall maniling wearing a silver headband opposes him. The figure with the headband turns and says, “Speak my name.”
As none of know his name we leave.

Phoebe says that she has a spell that will allow her to read some of the glyphs we have found while searching the cairn, but she will have to rest until tomorrow to have it available. So the party decides to rest today instead.

Journal Entry Day 14

We returned again to the air column room and Phoebe cast her spell. She learned that this cairn was the tomb of Zosiel and that the strange broken object near the entrance lead to someone named Izosial are something like that and that Izosial and six others ahd constructed a rod of seven pieces to defeat the Wolf-Spider Queen. Sotek remembered that the name of the Wolf-Spider Queen was Miska, but when he told the party, they all laughed at Sotek for some strange reason. Stupid manlilngs! Apparently this rod is very, very powerful, so of course Sotek wants it.

Phoebe approached the mural and spoke Zosiel’s name. The stone box below the mural cracked and we were able to open it to find two blood soaked horns, a silver circlet and a strange box engraved with chaotic runes that held a talisman like the one in the mural. Later divination magic was able determine that the circlet made you wiser, and it being pretty Phoebe snatched it up and wore it. The horns Cole took, and the gave Sotek the talisman as it was discovered that only one who wields arcane magic such as Sotek could use the talisman. It supposedly allows the wielder to guide a sphere of annihilation. Sotek does not want to be anywhere near such a sphere, with or without a talisman. There being no other treasure to be found, we return to the lantern room and take all the lanterns and depart the cairn.

We are on our way back to town when we come across an overturned and partially burned wagon, the driver and horse dead from puncture wounds and poison, their skin turned red. Pawing through the remains are two small cloaked figures, behind them is an opened chest filled with silver.
Knowing no fear Sotek approaches the figures, who upon closer examination are actually kobolds. They ask Sotek who he is in the True Tongue, and Sotek decides to reveal that he is actually a Great Wyrm. The kobolds recognize true power, and quickly pledge to obey. Sotek waves the rest of the party closer, and one of the kobolds, hands Sotek a note from their clan chief about a Devil Box and the dire need to close it. The kobolds say they are seeking one of their number who would be capable of closing the box and trapping the Devil inside, but that he is being held at Zalamandra’s Emporium. THE EMPORIUM!!! Sotek is instantly outraged by the mention of that place, but it does bring back a memory of kobold captive called Reptile Boy that may be the one they speak of. The party also wants to free Reptile Boy, so we will return to the scene of my imprisonment, BUT THIS TIME SOTEK WILL SEE ZALAMANDRA CRAWL ON HER KNEES BEGGING FOR THE VERY FREEDOM THAT SHE DENIED SOTEK!!!

I seem to remember mostly liking Mike Mearls previous materials, but can't justify it with memory, so it may just be the nature of the magazine beast. :)

As far as I know, Three Faces is Mearls's second adventure published in Dungeon. The first, I believe, was Salvage Operation from issue 123.

I liked it.

Sotek's Journal, entry 3 (player written)

Journal Entry Day 5

The group has decided to rest until morning before we go to the observatory. This way we are
fully rested, and none of the manlings want to risk fighting a necromancer at night. As we approach the observatory, Sotek thinks this manling pick bad place for a lair. It is up on a hill and visible from all sides. If Sotek was trying to do something he did not want manlings to know about he would have picked a better place. Sotek thinks the group should set whole building on fire, then bury all bones inside in hole at the Land farm. This way would be quickest and noone have to fight anything. The group does not agree. Ssssss!! Sotek thinks the rest of the party wants trouble instead of treasure, but Sotek will go along with party…for now. The only door is up a set of stairs older than Festus. Festus agrees and spends time checking them for anything odd. Sotek thinks old man staring at stairs for 10 minutes is already odd enough. Festus does not find anything wrong with the stairs, but decides the locked room under the stairs looks more interesting. Somehow he is able to unlock the door, but Sotek does not think he has a key… HA! All that is inside is old rusty tools, which of course Festus wants to take. He is unable to do so however, as he is attacked by a little dirty creature. It looks to Sotek like it is made of dirt and bone and scraps of cloth. It is apparent to Sotek that it does not want to share. So we kill it, but not before it bites Festus several times. It collapses into dust after it is dead, so Festus takes the rusty tools. Phoebe thinks the wounds made by the scrap gremlin look funny, and heals his wounds. With everyone ok, we go to the door on the stairs, which Festus stairs at for 10 minutes. Festus then tells Xandril to open the door, but the hatchling elf finds it locked. So Festus uses his invisible key. Sotek wants one! Xandril opens the now unlocked door. Big Mistake!! Three crossbow bolts hit Xandril in the space of a second staggering the hatchling. Alandria steadies Xandril and they rush in the room. Inside three skeltons with crossbows hide behind a makeshift barricade. At least until the fighters charge the barricade. Then they stand and draw scimitars and attack. Well at least two of them do, the third grabs another loaded crossbow and fires at Cole. With the second crossbow empty it draws it’s sword, but by Sotek’s magic knives and undead disruption magic finish off one, as the others are reduced to bone piles by the party. Sotek takes the remaining loaded crossbows as he notices they are covered with poison. Only Sotek is trained to use poisons and stupid manlings would only hurt themselves. I show poison to Phoebe and she heals Xandril hoping to prevent the poison from spreading. Phoebe thinks these might have been three of the bodies we were looking for. Good, only one more and we can make stupid ghost-child go away.

We go through the nearby door to find a short hallway that leads to several cramped bedrooms, which we of course, search anyway. Behind a drawer Festus finds a bag of old coins. Good more treasure. Another door opens into a large dining room, with the bodies of several well- dressed dead manlings arranged in chairs around a long table. The chair at the head of the table is empty and the table is covered with food. FOOD! Sotek has not eaten in a day, except for the few bugs he could catch, and none of the manlings want to share any of their food with Sotek. Sotek is no dummy, he pokes the nearest body, and it does not move. So Sotek pokes the next body and it does not move. Good! Sotek goes to the empty chair and grabs some food, while the party watches from the door. Suddenly, the dead manlings all start talking. Sotek drops the food and jumps out of the chair. The dead manlings all stop talking and slump over. Sotek gets back in the chair and the dead manlings all start talking again. They say “Filge is great!” and “Filge is handsome!” and more about how powerful Filge is, but Sotek does not listen, Sotek think that Filge is crazy. Sotek continues to eat the food, which Pheobe verifies is safe to eat, but noone wants to join Sotek. Sotek even pushes one of the dead manlings out of it’s chair to make room, but it keeps talking while on the floor and noone wants it’s chair anyway.

The party searches the room and grabs the candlesticks, and the silver utensils at the table, but Sotek does not mind, because he is not using them. They also search the kitchen and pantry and we take all of the food available. Good idea! Finally the party tells Sotek it is time to go upstairs, so Sotek grabs a few things and says goodbye to the dead manlings.

A big set of stairs takes us up to the next floor, where we find the necromancer, Filge’s bedroom. At top of stairs is a statue of an ugly little man with wings like a bird and a sword, inscribed “FILGE”. But it only sits there. There is a large bed in one corner, next to which a small bandaged figure stands on a pedestal holding a silver tray with a woman’s head on it. The woman’s tongue is out-stretched with a silver coin at it’s end. Sotek wants is, but the party says no. Festus finds odd-colored glass tubes on desk labeled “Necroturgents”, Sotek does not like them, there is something odd about the tubes and it makes Sotek uneasy. Phoebe finds a book near the bed, and Sotek can almost smell the power coming from it. Sotek wants that book!!! Festus puts the book in his pack and will not let Sotek have it. Ssssss!!! Sotek takes the coin instead and the manling head starts yelling “Intruder! Intruder!”. Sotek cannot make the head shut up. Dead manlings talk more than living ones. Stupid manlings, when dead you are not supposed to talk! Now whatever upstairs, will know we are here. With no other choice we climb the next set of stairs… Sotek is tired of having to say the word mistake.

There is Filge standing in a sunken area in the center of the room with a blue body cut open on a table in the middle of the space. Four large foul looking tanks stand at each corner of the platform with stairs between the northern and southern set of tanks leading to the table. We of course attack. Again that mistake word. The tanks rupture and three of them release undead troglodytes. Sotek cannot stand for this, it is one thing for manlings to desecrate their own dead, but to do the same to one of the reptilian races is too much. Unfortunately the fourth tank contains a larger undead thing, this one resembles a cross between a manling and a bear. They all grab pieces of pipe and start toward us. Our fighters and Festus move toward the undead while Cole fires arrows and Sotek fires the crowwbows he took from the skeletons at Filge. Sotek is unable to hit Filge and instead uses his power of strength ebbing. Sotek is able to drain some of Filge’s strength which causes him to stumble but he recovers and casts a spell at Sotek. Sotek feels like he is in a fog, everything seems a little odd to Sotek and he can feel his powers dim. Cole is able to fire off more arrows, but unable to do any real damage to Filge. Meanwhile the hatchling Xandril is unable to deal the undead any serious damage, while they are punishing him with the pipes they carry. Sotek strikes Filge with my magic knives but he is able to return the favor with a spell that leaves Sotek paralyzed. No Sotek is only able to watch as the hatchling is struck a serious blow that leaves him unconscious. Festus, who has been looking pale and weak since he was bitten earlier is also struck a powerful blow and staggers back behind Phoebe who is keeping the undead from attacking Cole and Sotek. Cole moves out from the protection of the stairs and is able to cast a spell on Xandril, but there is no immediate effect. Perhaps he is too far gone…

Alandria also is having trouble dealing the undead more than superficial damage, but they are having as much trouble injuring her. Xandril regains consciousness as Alandria moves to cover his prone body. The hatchling is able to gain his feet and rushes in to delver a killing blow to one of the reptilian zombies, but is soon struck another powerful blow and reduced again to unconsciousness. Festus, moving to his rescue is also struck down. Sotek, recovering from the paralysis is able to finish off one of the other zombies, freeing Alandria to advance on Filge.

Alandria is able to pass between the remaining zombies without being hit. The zombies turn to follow her allowing Xandril , who has regained conciousness to get to his feet and again draw his weapon. The hatchling is able to strike the remaining trog zombie, but is in return struck by the bugbear zombie and again knocked unconscious. Sotek climbed over the edge of the stairs and moved to cut off the stupid manling Filge. Alandria advanced on Filge as well cutting off his escape. Filge attempted to cast a spell, but apparently was unaware of the reach of Alandria’s chain and he was struck down. The last zombie bashed Cole to the floor and then moved in to strike Alandria, but Sotek was there to distract it with his punching dagger. Sotek and Alandria flanked the beast, while Phoebe moved in to assist. The zombie was able to strike Alandria a mighty blow, and Sotek feared it would finish her off, and then turn on Sotek, but she was able to kill it shortly thereafter. Sotek used this opportunity to ease Festus’ burden of the Filge’s spellbook, but was unable to understand any of the writings within. Phoebe was able to revive the fallen party members and we took what little loot was left to be found in this chamber. We took our hard won treasures into town, Sotek was disguised, and traded the spellbook to the town mage Allustran in return for identifying the items we had. The mage offered us a few magical trinkets for sale, but we refused for now. He also mentioned undead in the Mistmarsh, but Sotek does not remember any. We sold off the supplies we no longer needed, and were preparing to return to the Cairn, when Festus’ health took a turn for the worst. It seems he had not fully recovered from the bite he had received and now looked as though his flesh was rotting off. We have decided to rest in town until he recovers, if he does…

Sotek's journal, part 2 (player written)

Journal Entry Day 3

After resting at the abandoned building we returned to the water-filled room with the intent of searching the second side chamber. Again, Sotek was chosen to scout out the chamber based on his swimming ability (if the manlings wore less metal they would not need Sotek to swim for them). As I approached the dark chamber, a creature swims out of the passageway and attacks Sotek. It misses Sotek due to the protection of his mighty scales. I swim back to the stairs as quickly as possible so that I can warn the other less buoyant party members…and because I cannot use my powers underwater, but Sotek does not tell them that. The creature follows soon after, but by then the elf manlings (elflings?) are ready for it. Its’ claws dig furrows in Xandril’s arms and Xandril looks shaky for a second but quickly recovers. The creature seems a little surprised at Xandril shrugging off his attack, but does not have long to ponder this as the party crushes the creature in the following seconds. Now that Sotek can get agood look at the creature, it seems to have been already dead, though it moved through the water as fast as Sotek. It has a long raspy tongue, again much like Soteks’. Phoebe says it is a lacedon, but I am beginning to think the other party members make up things to tell Sotek. Among the treasure the creature has required are a short sword and… the red lamp! Why is it underwater? What a strange place…

We return again to the chamber of the stone box, this time to try the orange lamp. Another tube appears, but Festus does not like the look of it. Having seen Festus up close over the last few days, perhaps the tube does not like how he looks either. Nevertheless, Festus is right for the finds that the tube is trapped and would have crushed any who used it. Stupid cairn… The idea to light all of the lamps is brought up and agreed upon. Other than sparkling flashes of colors across the room, it seems there is no harmful effect. Sotek mentions to the group that we should open the stone box. Even Sotek has bad ideas… Xandril heaves against the side of the lid and shoves it aside to find a trap of fire. Flames shoot out from the opening scorching Xandril, luckily it is not fatal, and Phoebe is able to heal the elfling with her powers.

Festus discovers that the chain holding the blue lamp goes up into the shadows and ends in yet another passageway. Why would someone build a place like this? He discovers a stone face at the end of the passageway, and tells us he is very wary of it. He asks us to wait here for the day while he returns to town. I ask him to leave his mule here so that we can at least eat if we get hungry. He does not agree… I think he is saving it all for himself and says s, which causes the other party members give me that strange look again. Maybe they always look like that. We wait.

Journal Entry Day 4

And wait. Festus returns and ascends into the tunnel. He discovers that the passageway just before the face is indeed trapped. How does he do that, and what did he get in town? We all bypass the area he warns us of and crawl through the mouth. Is this what it feels like to be eaten? Once past the face, we find a huge room with a narrow plank crossing a pit filled with lead balls that cover the floor about 10 feet below the plank. The walls are honeycombed with holes, hundreds of them. BEES!!! Sotek hates bees!! Festus tells me there are no bees, but Sotek is not sure if he believes that. Once again Sotek is chosen to go first. One day, when I am a full grown dragon, they will pay for ordering Sotek around… But for now, Sotek must do, what Sotek must do. Cole offers Sotek a spider as a bribe, and tells Sotek that it will enable him to climb like the spider does. Sotek does not know if this is true, but the spider is tasty. I crawl on the bottom side of the plank, as the group believes this will allow me to avoid the traps they are sure are there. Halfway across the plank, I sense a sudden movement from the side, and then Sotek blacks out.

When Sotek comes to, Sotek is lying on the lead balls next a strange beaked tentacle faced slug. I don’t know what happened, so I ask… The lead balls shot out of the walls and struck Sotek while crossing the plank, and Sotek fell off and landed on the lead balls. I was knocked unconscious, and my fall attracted the “grick”, which is what they are calling the slug-thing. They had scarcely told me this before a childish voice began congratulating us on our victory. Cole seemed excited about this, as he claims he is a “spirit shaman” as if I did not know what a shaman was… Anyway, he continues to speak to this voice and convinces it to show itself. Stupid manlings! An apparition of a young male manling hatchling with a broken neck rose out of the lead balls and floated slightly above them. It started in again with it’s praise for our victory… even dead manlings talk too much!!! Suddenly it’s face changed becoming a horrific ghoul in appearance. Sotek is not saying he was scared, but if Sotek had been wearing manling clothes instead of a loincloth, it would have been very messy in those clothes. Stupid dead manlings!! The child-ghost-thing returned to it’s normal (?) appearance and Cole managed to get it to tell us who it was and how it came to be there. It’s name is Alastar Land or something like that, and it wandered in here several decades ago. It found this room and was struck by the lead balls and fell to it’s death...heeheehee… It says it will open the door at the end of the plank if we bury it. Sotek thinks this is a good thing if it will go away. The group agrees to help the annoying ghost-child, although Sotek tried to intimidate it into helping us now. Stupid dead manling too stupid to be properly frightened by a dragon. Bah! So again we leave the cave, with little treasure and head to farm belonging to Land family. All we find are empty graves… Why do manlings not stay dead? Cole is able to find that the graves have been dug up by five other manlings, who then went on to the old farmhouse nearby. Apparently only four left, according to the tracks. We of course are going to the farmhouse, which prompts Sotek to ask, what is a farmhouse?

As we get near the farmhouse, Sotek smells something strange. Sotek hides like the chameleon, so Sotek sneaks up and sees a weird furry bird creature. Festus says it is a “chicken-bear” and that they are very mean. If Sotek was half-chicken, half-bear he would be very upset as well. The group comes up with a plan. The fighters will wait beside the gate and when the chicken-bear comes out they will attack it. Now how to lure it out? Festus says we need bait… NO! NO! NO! Sotek says he will not be the bait anymore. So the party picks Cole. Cole steps up and shoots his bow at the chicken-bear but misses. How? This thing is BIG! It seems to get the creatures attention though and it rushes out of the gate after Cole. Right into the waiting attacks of Alandria and Xandril. I shoot it with a few of my magic-knives and it goes down fairly easy. It does NOT taste like chicken. Festus searches the farmhouse and finds a dead chicken bear, and lots and lots of blood. Someone suggest we cut open the dead chicken bear, while the others search the farmhouse further. We get a few coins and an arm. It does not taste like chicken either, and is very gamey. The group does not approve of Sotek eating the arm. They are very greedy… They take the remaining part of the arm, which has a strange mark on it. We decide to go back to the town to find out more. Well, they decide, Sotek will not go anywhere near the Emporium, unless we are going to destroy it.

Sotek sits outside of town in the woods feeding T’Zal insects. Actually T’Zal and myself insects, Sotek is very hungry. The story relayed to me of the trip to town is as follows:

The party finds that the coins from the bodies we have found are very old, and would stand out if sold in town, so we keep those secret, also the eight pointed star is the mark of a group of manlings called the seekers, who may still be around. We keep that hidden too. The group then goes to the Feral Dog… mmmm, dog is good to eat… anyway they go to the Feral Dog to find out about the mark on the arm. Xandril is challenged to a game of knife-throwing by a female elfling and wins. I do not know what he won though… Festus is gambiling on the dog fights and meets a pale white half-orc. This half-orc has the same mark as the arm, only on his forehead. Sotek has heard that manlings will sometimes put their mark on their livestock so that someone cannot steal it. Perhaps these manlings belong to someone who does not wish someone else to eat them. Sotek is in trouble if this is the case. Festus learns that the men who wear that mark went to the farmhouse to get the bodies, unfortunately they got greedy and one was eaten by the chicken-bear. They took the bodies to a creepy manling that lives in the old observatory near town. Since only the bodies of his family will do for the ghost-child we decide to head off to the observatory to get them back. Now if someone will tell Sotek what an observatory is…

Here's an idea for all those people who think Mike's adventure sucked. Come up with an alternative storyline that is both exciting and advances the plot. Then when they do the hardcover or web enhancement, the editors can look at your ideas and fix all the mistakes they made with this adventure.

Now that would be both constructive, entertaining, and illuminating.

That's what I'm doing. As I've said in this thread and another, I'm substituting Devil Box (issue 109) and Cry Wolf (issue 102) in its place. When I have the full plot outline, I'll be able to work plot points in, and I'll post what I'm doing.

On the other hand, the message boards are an appropriate place for those who find an adventure doesn't meet their DMing needs to let Erik know. (And, conversely, for those who like the material to let Erik know.)

Here's a similar thread, started by me:

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dungeon/ageOfWorms/comparingWhispering CairnAndThreeFaces

Suffice it to say I'm just as disappointed in Three Faces.

I'll be substituting some other material in its place, in both the AoW campaigns that I'm running. I'm planning to run Devil Box (issue 109), which is a perfect fit for Diamond Lake, and Cry Wolf (issue 102).

In my campaigns, the note from Smenk to Filge is in code, so the PCs can't read it, yet. I'll decide what it says once I see Encounter at Blackwall Keep, and use it as a hook for that adventure.

Here's hoping that Sean Reynolds' adventure design is more my style.

Having free online support is really cool....I had, and still have alot of questions, especially regarding the NPC party. Questions such as, are they going to play an important role later.

If one of the gracious, kind, wonderful editors of my favorite gaming magazine wanted to post another AoW Overload teaser to the messageboards, Patman and I would be most interested in seeing the campaign overview....

In area 17 of the Whispering Cairn, the statue animates only if a PC "falls asleep on one of the stone slabs."

Has anyone had a party actually activate it? It seems to me like this is one trap very unlikely to be sprung.

Someone in this thread made a comparison between Three Faces and Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. That's a very apt comparison - if you didn't like RttToEE, you probably aren't going to like Three Faces.

My dissatisfaction with Three Faces is ultimately a question of gaming style, and the comparison with RttToEE is apt. (Although the problem with total Grimlock overload would exist even if I did care for the style.)

This is just my voice as a subsciber, but this is exactly the kind of adventure I'm NOT looking for as part of AoW. I need storyline advancement, and interestingly NPCs with motives and goals to role-play, not cardboard-cutout bad guys hanging out in evil temples waiting to be slaughtered.

I can draw dungeons and populate them with bad guys myself, but I can't write a story. That's where I need help from Dungeon magazine. I want a series of adventures more along the lines of Terror/Death/Madness in Freeport, instead of RttToEE.

I'll be skipping Three Faces entirely in the two AoW campaigns I'm running, and using Devil Box (issue 109) and Cry Wolf (issume 122) as filler material before Encounter at Blackwall Keep. It won't advance the storyline any, but as far as I can tell, Three Faces doesn't either. But both are much more the story/character based sort of campaigns I'm trying to run.

Hopefully the "Age of Worms Overload" will give me enough info about the upcoming storyline that I can plant some clues. And hopefully Encounter at Blackwall Keep will be more my style.

Small mistake in room 2 of the observatory:

The text says the crossbow bolts are coated with medium centipede venom, but says the poison does 1d4 str, DC 15 save.

Medium centipede venom is 1d3 dex, DC 13 save. The closest poison for the listed damage would be medium spider venom, 1d4 str, DC 13 save.

It's even obliquely suggested that it might be used that way, particularly by the potion of ghoul touch which would act as a paralytic agent.

The way I understand it, the Ghoul Touch necroturgeon would act on its recipient as if the recipient had cast Ghoul Touch, i.e. giving the recipient a paralyzing touch attack.

How do you deal with some of your PC races having level adjustments? Did you start them all off at 1st level or did you allow the characters with standard PC races to begin play at 2nd level?

I just started them all off at 1st level. The characters with an LA just won't level until they reach 3000 xp.

I did make "no LA greater than +1" a requirement during character creation. I didn't want too big a power gap among the PCs.

Other adventures that could be easily used as filler material, without having the PCs travel too far out of Diamond Lake:

"Cry Wolf" from issue 102. Tamris Quickthorn would be from the Bronzewood Lodge, giving the PCs a contact there. It's a short adventure, probably playable in one 4-5 hour session.

"Fiend's Embrace" from issue 121 is set in the Cold Marshes, but could be easily adapted to take place in the Mistmarsh. If you didn't want to run this in its entirety, the encounters from Chapter 1 could probably be worked into Encounter at Blackwall Keep (the AoW adventure in Dungeon 126).

Excuse my ignorance, but where can I find the resource that contains the poison dusk lizardman race? Thanks.

MM III. It's "Search Inside" enabled at Amazon, so you can look it up even if you don't own it.

Sotek's Journal

Journal Entry, Day 1

Sotek is free. Shingle and the quaggoth came up
with a plan for me to escape the emporium. i am still
unsure what they hope to gain from my freedom, but i could
not pass up the chance. Sotek is still exhausted from my
ordeal, and have decided to rest in an abandoned structure
for the night.

Journal Entry, Day 2

I awoke to the noise of manlings outside the building i
hide in. they are waiting for something, i hope they leave
soon, i will die before i allow myself to be captured.
More manlings have joined the other two. Although there
are five of them, two are apparently females and one of the
males is old, perhaps they are here as breeding pairs and
are going to eat the old one for strength.

The manlings tried to enter the building so i hid and
observed them after warning them not to enter, which they
did anyway. One of the females seized T'Zal, the small
lizard with which i have a strange bond. i attempted to
free T'Zal, but decided it would be better to flee the
building rather than be trapped inside. Outside I
confronted the female that holds T'Zal, and although it
resisted my strength ebb, my magic knives struck it and it
released T'Zal. Once they saw my power, they decided to
negotiate. they saw the benefit in having me as an ally
rather than an enemy and we are apparently off to gain
treasure from a manling burial mound or mine depending on
rather you ask the boy or what must be his elder. They are
a motley group, the female that seized T'Zal is called
Phoebe, and is a priest of one of the human gods, although
I am not familiar with which. She is repulsive with soft
pink flesh and strange lumps on her chest, although judging
by the looks from the males in the group, she is appealing
by their standards.

There is a female fighter, Alandria, with a bizarre weapon
that can reach out to strike you without being thrown.
Xandril, a fighter although by looks barely out of his egg,
he carries an immense sword. Festus, the older male, Sotek
thought him to be the elder of Xandril, but they tell Sotek
they are human & elf, although Sotek doesn't fully
understand what they mean, Sotek will accept it. Last is
Cole, a strange manling with powers similar to mine, though
he looks different from the others, keeping himself hidden.
Sotek have caught glimpses beneath that cowl, that caused
me to think he was a Half-Dragon come to take me back to
the Mistmarsh. Sotek does not like that.

At the urging of Festus, we agreed to be partners on this
quest, signing our names to a document. He says this will
assure us all of an equal share of treasure. This sharing
concept is odd to Sotek, but if it means more treasure for
my hoard, then I will agree. We were lead to the burial
mound by Festus, why manlings bury their dead and do not
eat them is strange. It is a waste of meat and dishonor to
the dead not to eat them. manlings? The mound is old. Far
older than anything I have seen save the Wyrm. It has
scents of things long dead and animals. Strange whispers
fill this place, although none of us know what they are
saying.

Further in, we found a strange object. Whatever it purpose
once was, it is broken now, and the glyphs that cover it
are as unknown as it's purpose, but apparently Festus knows
something about it, for he studied it for some time and
decided it was treasure. It was too heavy to take though,
so we left it there. At last we come to something
interesting. A strange green curtain blocks further
passage ahead of us, and to the left the alcove is painted
with a strange scene, but before we can investigate, three
large wolves crawl out of a hole in the collapsed right
passageway. They stink. The wolves attack immediately,
but the hatchling elf Xandril and the elf female Alandria
dispatch them quickly. They taste better than they
smelled, but none of the others want any. More for Sotek.
I crawl in to the wolf den, as all of the manlings are too
fat to get through the narrow tunnel, but I only find a
blue glass lamp, a armband, and a broken marble finger.
Junk. However, the group thinks the lamp is a good find,
and I find out why after I see the passageway opposite the
cave-in. It is a painting of several passageways leading
off from a central room, and all of the passageways end at
a glowing colored glass lamps, of which the lamp I found is
an exact match for. Only manlings would paint pictures of
a lamp.

We passed through the curtain, harmless of course, to find
a room that matches the painting, only this room has a
large stone box with a stone man on top of it.
The stone man is missing a finger, so Cole gives him the
one we found. Damn manlings already giving away treasure.
We hung the blue lamp, but found that the red lamp is
missing. The stone box sits on a big arrow, so we pointed
the arrow at different lanterns to see what we would
happen. Dumb, very dumb. The yellow lantern opens a weird
tube that takes people down to a passageway lined with
statues, but sealed by a large stone slab, we of course
destroyed the slab. There are more glyphs here like the one
on that strange artifact near the entrance, and Festus says
they are very old form of the language of air creatures. I
have no idea what he is talking about. There is a strange
bed here made of stone but with whirling air above it.
Festus was apparently very tired and laid down on it. He
did not think much of it as a bed, as he got up rather
quickly. We also found some strange tools of very nice
workmanship, and some chain armor. How odd for manlings to
coat themselves in metal that way, how do they swim? One
section of the tomb was blocked by a strange brown mold,
that resisted even my acid.

It is very cold her and is making me sleepy, perhaps that
bed would be useful after all. Unable to bypass the mold
we returned to the lantern room.

We then turned the box to the green lamp passageway. This
was a bad idea, the ground rumbled an then fell away
revealing a dark pit. Soon we could hear the sounds of a
large number of scuttling insects. At first I was hungry,
thinking of a snack for myself and T'Zal, but what came out
from the hole was no snack. It was a swarm of beetles, all
carrying the acrid scent of acid and leaving a trail of
caustic slime behind them. With them walked a strange
insect creature, with one eye and razor sharp legs. I
climbed on top of the box as the fighters in our group
readied for the approach of the swarm & beast. The swarm
was dealt with quickly by the use of dragon's breath and
alchemical fire. The slasher beast was harder to kill but
it was dealt a might blow by the hatchling elf and soon
succumbed to our power.

With the ropes in our possession, Festus was able to
construct a remarkable system to ferry us down in the pit.
Perhaps his knowledge of such things is due to the strange
brew upon which he is so dependent.

Within the hole we encountered another passageway, which
led to a short series of rooms. The first of these was a
chapel with strange dark markings and an aura that sapped
our strength. From behind one of the stone pews, which
were sized for giants, came a large beetle, too big for
even Sotek to eat. Thinking a beetle to be of little
trouble, I did not involve myself in the fight until I
noticed it had the ability to spew acid. This drew my
interest, but the creature was slain before I could draw
near to study it further.

Once out of the chapel , we felt
our strength returning and checked out the room directly
across from the chapel. It contained a strange orange
powder that covered most of the room, and of course another
swarm of acidic beetles. Do all insects in this tomb have
this strange acidic ability or does it come from this
powder. Perhaps just a taste? no the party looks at Sotek
oddly enough as it is. We recovered more treasure from the
body of another fallen adventurer, we also have found
another odd ring, marked with an eight pointed star. The
dead manlings armor also bears the star.

We continued only
a little further down the passageway before we came to a
short set of stairs descending into dark water well over
the head of even the tallest of us. Being the best swimmer
of the group and not weighed down as the others were, I
swam off into the darkness to search for treasure. I hid
so that I would not be detected, but an invisible creature
lurking in one of the alcoves saw Sotek and struck before I
could react.

I awoke to find that Phoebe & Cole had rescued and healed
Sotek. It seems the invisible creature was actually a
elemental of water and had been lurking in the dark pool.
The creature was attacking the party with a fury but after
I was restored to consciousness, our group gained enough
courage from my presence to defeat the beast, which
dissipated into the pool leaving no trace behind. A search
of it's lair yielded more treasure, which led us to decide
to return to the abandoned building to rest and divide the
treasure we had already accumulated.

There are also some Living Greyhawk scenarios that revolve around the cairns and their secrets; these are available for free download.

COR4-19, That Which Was Not Meant To Be Known, starts out in Diamond Lake, before moving to the nearby village of Rowanfen.

And if you thought Diamond Lake was seedy, wait till you get to Rowanfen....

If anyone is looking for low-level filler material for Age of Worms, I suggest using "Devil Box" from issue 109. It's a perfect fit for Diamond Lake: just replace "Quigley's Festal Freakshow" with "Zalamandra's Emporium." You'll probably need to scale it up a bit, since it was written for 2nd-level characters.

It's a short adventure, but it has lots of potential for good role-playing, which is missing from Three Faces of Evil.

Well, it sounds like you've already got one idea cooking that will improve the roleplaying aspect of this part of the AP (which I agree is lacking). With that sort of tweaking, and groups of sophisticated role-players making more interesting choices than simply *killin' stuff*, I'm sure you'll be able to keep this particular adventure lively.

After perusing through some back-issues of Dungeon this afternoon, my plan is to use "Devil Box" from issue 109 as filler until issue 125 comes out. Devil Box is a perfect fit for the Diamond Lake setting. And it has lots of juicy role-playing goodness!

For right now, I'm not going to reveal the contents of the note from Smenk to Filge. (It's written in a cryptic code, DC 30 decipher script.)

When issue 125 comes out, I'll see where things stand, plot-wise. (Although I may be able to figure that out from Age of Worms Overload.) I'll somehow reveal the contents of the coded note to lead them to the next adventure.

If necessary, I'll run a stripped down version of Three Faces. If not, I'll have the note take them directly to Encounter at Blackwall Keep.

Now to give credit where it's due, here's what I like about Three Faces: two interesting combat settings, the bridge in the Erythnul area, and the labyrinth in the Vecna area.

And much praise for using Kenku, one of my favorite creatures, even though the set-up doesn't allow for much use of their voice-mimicry abilities.

But in the end, as DeVermisMysteriis writes:

While 'Cairn was a fully fleshed out adventure, Three Faces is really just a constant fight with diverse battle grounds and opponents.

Three Faces reminds me of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil: just one long combat. That's not what I'm looking for in material for the two campaigns I'm running. I've got two groups of sophisticated role-players, who've been playing for years, and who have well-thought-out PCs with interesting backgrounds and motivations. I need something more than hack-and-slash, kick-down-the-door-and-kill-the-bad-guys adventures, no matter how cool the combat settings are.

In which case, they may have to find some roleplaying and/or non-combat solutions to the "problem" they pose. Personally, I agree with most of your earlier comments comparing the two adventures thusfar, but in the case of the Temple of Hextor, I thought there was an interesting quandry set-up: what do you do when the "bad guys" haven't killed anyone and aren't breaking any laws? This part of TFoE, in my opinion at least, does offer a little bit of that roleplaying intrigue that some of us feel is missing from this segment.

It is an interesting quandary -- or it could have been, if Mearls had written in some role-playing way to solve it, such as Theldrick paying the PCs to double-cross Smenk. But he didn't. All that's there is one small nod to the ethical dilemma that lawful PCs will face in the Hextor area.

Fourth contrast between Whispering Cairn and Three Faces: PC motivations and goals.

By "motivations" I mean whatever makes the PCs do this adventure at all, and by "goals" I mean the concrete plot points that drive the PCs forward.

Whispering Cairn has a built-in motivation: the PCs are first level and poor, and exploring an unlooted cairn can be a good way to get rich (and get enough money to leave Diamond Lake for a better life elsewhere).

Then Whispering Cairn drops in a few goals on the way: return Alastor's remains to his grave; find out who stole the Land remains; get the Land remains back. It keeps the plot going forward.

In Three Faces, I can't figure out how to even motivate the PCs to go down into Dourstone Mine. As written, they're supposed to go in at the behest of Alastor and/or Smenk. But while looting a cairn is a good way to get rich, infiltrating a well-guarded cultists' lair is a good way to get killed. I can't see why they would agree to do this for Smenk, even if he does kidnap a familiar.

And even if I figure out the motivation, the PCs have no goals. What exactly does Smenk hire them to do? Kill the Faceless One, along with Theldrick and Grallak Kur perhaps? Sorry, I don't think my PCs are willing to become hired assassins, even if the victims are evil cultists.

Comparison three: making the bad guys truly evil.

Whispering Cairn has one truly evil bad guy, Filge. But Erik did a great job of making him really really evil. Not only is he arranging for grave robberies for corpses to animate, he's clearly a multiple murderer, judging from the dinner party room.

If lawful characters kill him (though he probably will be taken alive), it's not a big deal. He's almost certainly wanted dead or alive in Greyhawk.

In Three Faces, on the other hand, the only evil the cultists are up to is worshipping Hextor/Vecna/Erythnul. They aren't doing anything illegal at all, as far as the characters know. (And as Theldrick points out to them ... though probably after they've slaughtered several tiefling guards, the cultists in area 3, and the priests Garras and Kendra.)

The only way for the PCs to get through the Hextor section is to become cold-blooded murderers. That may fit some groups, but not either of mine!

Is Tyralandi Scrimm's journal (and/or Demon Boy's journal) going to continue beyond the Whispering Cairn, into Three Faces of Evil?

I ask because I'm having a great deal of trouble figuring out PC motivations and goals in Three Faces. In-character journals from playtesters would be very helpful.

Second comparison between Whispering Cairn and Three Faces: interaction with NPCs.

One of the problems with the Shackled City Adventure Path, which Erik Mona acknowledged in a thread on these boards, was that the NPCs exists for no reason other than to get slaughtered by the PCs. The PCs never get to know any of the Cagewrights as villians.

Whispering Cairn doesn't have this problem. The PCs get to know Filge and who he is before they face him, through what Kullen and his thugs can tell them, and from the grisly dinner party room. He'll surrender when things get bad for him, and the PCs will have a chance to interrogate him, and turn him over to the garrison.

Of the three NPC leaders of the Ebon Triad, the only one who the PCs might get to know is Theldrick. Grallak Kur and the Faceless One fight to the death. The PCs won't even get a chance to learn Grallak Kur's name.

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Now that two adventures of AoW have been published, I'd like to make a few comments about what I like and don't like so far, with hope of getting more of what I like in future AoW adventures.

Unfortunately, most of "what I like" will be from Whispering Cairn, and "what I don't like" will be from Three Faces.

It's probably unfair to make the comparison like this: Whispering Cairn is a masterpiece, and Three Faces is bound to pale in comparison. But the contrast between the two helps explain what I want to see more of in the future.

To begin with: encounter variety.

Whispering Cairn has about 40 encounters, and out of all those, only two combatants (acid beetle swarm and bombardier beetles) are repeated.

Contrast with Three Faces of Evil, which of its 30 encounters, nine of them are with grimlocks. If I run this as written, my players are going to get really sick of grimlocks. It's like toward the end of Shackled City: "Oh great, more demodands."

More commentary to come in future posts on this thread.

I decided that the abandoned building wasn't so abandoned, rather it was occupied by a goblin or sumsuch. This is were my question finally comes in, what would be a good monster to put here? I like the idea of a goblin, but I'm not sure it fits with the rest of the setting. This probably depends on what I populate the hills with, so suggestions are again welcome.

In my second group, there was a goblin squatting in the abandoned building ... but it was one of the PCs!

3)...and lastly, I was wondering what swarm, in your experience, proved the easiest for the PC's to defeat. I want to populate the 2nd story of the PC's hq with a small weak swarm so they would have some experience before facing it off with the beetles. I was originally thinking spiders, but I'm not sure if this is the best way to go.

The easiest swarm would be a rat swarm, because they are not immuned to weapon damage, being a swarm of tiny creatures. But that won't teach the important lesson about swarms, viz. that swarms of diminutive or fine creatures are immune to weapon damage.

Honestly, the beetle swarm is easier than a spider swarm would be, because the strength damage done by the spiders will be difficult for 1st-level characters to shake off afterwards.

If you're characters don't have alchemical weapons (or a sorceror with burning hands), I suggest nerfing the swarm a bit, by giving it only 5 hp. They can learn what works on that swarm, and then face the full 9 hp swarm later.

Another swarm-nerfing possibility would be to make the acid damage just 1 hp instead of 1d4.