Way of the Wicked—Book #2: Call Forth Darkness (PFRPG) PDF

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A DUNGEON OF YOUR OWN!

The Horn of Abaddon was once a place of primal darkness. And then the forces of good moved in and ruined everything. It’s been eighty years and the kingdom of Talingarde sleeps soundly knowing that darkness has been vanquished. Now, it’s your turn to prove them wrong.

You will find the lost temple and do what no one else has ever dared. You will call forth the banished daemon prince. And from his unholy hand, you will recover a plague so virulent that it shall shake Talingarde to its foundations.

And then the fools will sleep no longer.

Welcome to the second chapter of the “Way of the Wicked” adventure path! Inside you’ll find:

  • “Call Forth Darkness,” an adventure compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game for 6th-level villains by Gary McBride
  • Full color art and maps by Michael Clarke
  • A gazetteer of the frontier town of Farholde
  • Optional rules for building your own evil organization and managing your minions.
  • Advice for crafting unique variants of this adventure path
  • And more!

You’ve raided countless dungeons. Isn’t it time you had a horrid little dungeon of your own?

A 106-page full color Pathfinder Roleplaying Game-compatible PDF perfect to either stand alone or continue the "Way of the Wicked" adventure path. Includes a printer friendly version and seperate player handout PDF.

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Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

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3.80/5 (based on 13 ratings)

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Good idea, flawed execution.

1/5

I've written this review 3 times now and the site keeps crapping out, so pardon the brevity.

+ Interesting idea that's not done in Good campaigns
- Falls into the Kingmaker Problem of 1 encounter/day but worse: 1/week until the last 5 days
- Doesn't accommodate for that at all: encounters are frequently only APL+1 or APL+2, and that's before factoring in dungeon minions, traps, etc.
- Too early to be fun; bear traps (CR 1 per 12) weren't yet guaranteed to be spotted or disabled by rogues, and they couldn't be bypassed by spellcasters without them expending their high-level slots (this got worse over time, since my mesmerist slowly augmented them with nodes of blasting)
- Obvious NPC errors, like a sorceress who is missing 2 on her fire evocation DCs and sometimes includes herself/the fire-resistant barbarian in the blasts (only possible since her as-written incarnation is impotent as a blaster)
- Has the gall to ask if a APL+4 encounter is too much. If it were just a 4v4, that's a mathematically even fight. Factor in the fact it's a 1v4, they have minions, etc. and it's audacious.

-1 Star from my actual rating because of the whole 'fraud' thing.


Fraud

1/5

I would love to give this product a higher rating but it has been written by a fraudster, Gary McBride, who tricked 315 people into giving him $40,000 through Kickstarter and refused to communicate with them for 4 years now. Despite multiple appeals from backers he has backed over 520 other kickstarters since then, logging in every week though seemingly unable to respond to his backers products. Shame on Paizo for selling the products of a con man and allowing him to continue profiting from rpg fans.

For details of the swindle and Gary McBride’s backing record see https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/730004812/throne-of-night-a-pathfinder -rpg-adventure-path/comments


Written by a fraudster

1/5

I would love to give this product a higher rating but it has been written by a fraudster, Gary McBride, who tricked 315 people into giving him $40,000 through Kickstarter and refused to communicate with them for 4 years now. Despite multiple appeals from backers he has backed over 520 other kickstarters since then, logging in every week though seemingly unable to respond to his backers products. Shame on Paizo for selling the products of a con man and allowing him to continue profiting from rpg fans.

For details of the swindle and Gary McBride’s backing record see https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/730004812/throne-of-night-a-pathfinder -rpg-adventure-path/comments


I loved it - others may not

5/5

Taking over and then defending your own multi-level Dungeon of Doom? Heck yeah!

As with the entire Way of the Wicked campaign there are significant sandbox elements, so long as the players are willing to take the risks if they gallivant about overlong.

I would rate this at 9/10 for the minion subsystem. It wasn't my cup of tea. Others may get a great deal more gratification from it than I did. Since fractional ratings on the 1-5 scale are not possible, I round up to 5/5 since this remains an excellent defend-your-sandbox plus extra.

The upside is that the campaign encourages taking Vile Leadership. You'll likely need the fireball fodder ...


Call Forth Darkness Review

4/5

Warning: Potential Spoilers. Written from a GM's perspective. I ran this for 6 PCs.

Pros:
The concept of Call Forth Darkness is really great. Getting to own your own dungeon and having to defend it against invaders is not something that players usually get to do.

Both the ally and enemy NPCs continue to be fun and memorable. Grumblejack is still a party favorite. Tenuous alliances with Ezra Thrice-Damned and Zikomo had the players sleeping with one eye open. Opponents were fleshed out well enough to make for memorable encounters. The minion system also opened up a lot of possibilities for roleplaying as the party threatened those not making quotas and began to pick favorites.

Finally, while the pacing of this book starts out rather slow, it really hits its stride in the final act. The presence of the Abbey and the watchtower in the town, as well as the impending threat of the dragon created a great feeling on tension as the players waited for their enemies next moves. The Sons of Balentyne were a good surprise for the party and proved to be worthy adversaries. Finally, the summoning of Vetra Kali felt like an appropriately epic finale.

Cons:
The only real criticism I have is that the book felt like it dragged in some sections. It took my group about five months of weekly play to make it to the end of the book. By comparison, the first book only took about eight sessions to complete. Between the unchanging location and the long stretches without level ups, there were definitely some moments where the game felt a little stagnant. I found a good way to deal with this was to cut a few encounters that didn't add much to the overall story, like the Wytch Lights and the Gorgimera. However, the most important thing, I found, was to encourage players to be proactive and add flavor based on their actions. Otherwise, the game risks falling into a monotonous pattern of "Does anyone want to do anything this week? No. Okay. So it's new week, does anyone want to do anything now?"

General Advice:
The Horn of Abaddon has nearly a hundred rooms and your players are heavily encouraged to modify its already complex layout. Pretty much every encounter has to be reviewed and carefully adjusted, so that players are challenged, while still feeling like their defense choices are meaningful. I would highly recommend printing out the player's map of the Horn and letting your players mark it up. Make sure that you have organized notes on the changes they make.

There are also a lot of potential allied NPCs to manage, which can easily throw off the encounter balance or overshadow PCs if not utilized carefully. The book recommends that the GM print out stat blocks for allied NPCs and have players run. I strongly recommend following this suggestion. Not only did it make running combats far more manageable for me, it also helped the players feel more connected to the NPCs. However, most importantly, it made it easy for me to keep all the players at the table involved, even though sometimes their PC was in the wrong place and was stuck spending their rounds running to the fight.

Finally, Call Forth Darkness is not an easy book for a GM to run. The book offers players a lot of freedom, which is great, but makes it extremely likely that the GM will have to create extra content for plans that the book didn't anticipate. An inexperienced GM might want to approach this one cautiously and any GM just looking for something quick and easy to run, should probably avoid this book entirely. However, when managed correctly, all these challenges can lead to an incredibly fun and unique gaming experience.


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kevin_video wrote:
gustavo iglesias wrote:

Gary, I have a question.

At the end of this adventure, the players
** spoiler omitted **

I believe that's somewhere in the book, or Gary's mentioned it before.

** spoiler omitted **

Given what happens with Vetra-Kali at the end of that adventure, now I'm wondering if when it comes time for the showdown with Thorn the PCs will

Spoiler:
find that Thorn has conjured Vetra-Kali up to help fight them. Given how much trouble I imagine he's in with Asmodeus by that point, it'd make sense for him to conjure a daemon rather than a potentially disloyal devil. And I'd love to take another shot at V-K when the characters are actually strong enough to face him.

EDIT: And I just saw Gary's response. That option could lead to considerable amusement as well. The Hells versus Abaddon!


Fire Mountain Games wrote:

In Book V...

** spoiler omitted **

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

This sound incredibly interesting :).

Let's see what my players decide to do.


Game play update

Spoilers:
It was a brief session, PC's still had a bit of leveling to do on their characters (and we discovered that the witch had been neglecting updating his imp familiar). We did, however, squeeze in the battle with Argosserian. His arrival at shift change was excellent, as it took a few rounds for the PC's to scramble to defend the position. High points of the evening included the opening shot (lightning bolt)from the witch, who was watching room 3-11, before he had even identified the target. It was only after that that the imp stated "Hey boss, you know that silver dragon you were worried about months ago? I think he's here." At which point the witch dimension doored to the Sanctum for help. The other highlight of the evening was watching the PC's pack room 3-10 with themselves (as they were arriving after running up or down several hundred feet of spiral staircase), and with Hexor and Vexor (currently fleeing the dragon). One blast of breath weapon later, Hexor and Vexor were dispersed (again), most of the PC's took the full effect of the blast and were suddenly rethinking their strategy. Of course, the very next action the oracle of fire took the dragon out with yet another fireball. souvenirs were collected (in particular some dragonhide). It was also a great night because the PC's realized there was no way for them to take all the wealth from the Horn with them in a bag of holding, because theirs was already full. Looking forward to next week and the day of betrayals!


Pressing F5 every 5 minutes to see the V book is out. Want to see if LE Antipaladin is similar to the one we are using in the campaign


@Gary: A question about the rituals to call the hell hounds and nightmare. What does once per year mean. Per person? So could each pc use the Ritual? I dont think this was the Intention. If not... what is the limiting factor? my players would not be themselves If they didnt try it at least. I know them too well. So why cant each one do the ritual to have a Nightmare? I am asking for an ingame reason. I know it would be too much!

how do other gm rule in this case ?


@Patrick,
I limited the hell hounds and nightmare rituals to being only used once by the group, not per individual person. If they wish to know why, tell them they only have the true names of those four particular creatures, hence only one summoning (similar to Hexor and Vexor). In my game, they summoned the hell hounds and ingnored the nightmare "because nobody in the group rides a horse".


Alaryth wrote:
Pressing F5 every 5 minutes to see the V book is out. Want to see if LE Antipaladin is similar to the one we are using in the campaign

I feel your pain


Patrick Kropp wrote:

@Gary: A question about the rituals to call the hell hounds and nightmare. What does once per year mean. Per person? So could each pc use the Ritual? I dont think this was the Intention. If not... what is the limiting factor? my players would not be themselves If they didnt try it at least. I know them too well. So why cant each one do the ritual to have a Nightmare? I am asking for an ingame reason. I know it would be too much!

how do other gm rule in this case ?

I understand the ritual as only being possible in the Horn. So I limit it to once per year in the Horn. It's possible to use it again in different "horns", or other daemon-demon-devil worshipping sanctuaries of unholiness created by high level archdeacons-demon princes-dukes of hell.


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Patrick Kropp wrote:

@Gary: A question about the rituals to call the hell hounds and nightmare. What does once per year mean. Per person? So could each pc use the Ritual? I dont think this was the Intention. If not... what is the limiting factor? my players would not be themselves If they didnt try it at least. I know them too well. So why cant each one do the ritual to have a Nightmare? I am asking for an ingame reason. I know it would be too much!

how do other gm rule in this case ?

Patrick,

Spoiler:

Once per year means that Horn of Abaddon can allow this channeling of infernal energy but once per year. So, per group. Or rather, per ANYONE.

There is an in-game reason and the limitation is not who does the ritual. Effectively the Horn is a gigantic, very powerful but very specialized magic item. It only has one charge per year for each of these powerful bindings.

It pleased the Sons long ago to bind these minor agents of the outer planes to their will so that their members could hunt down their enemies.

And thanks to everyone for their enthusiasm and interest in "Way of the Wicked". No one wants Book V out the door more than me. But as soon as I'm happy with it, we'll release it. And not before.

But that is coming real soon.

Hope that helps,
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Thanks for the clarification :-)


Fire Mountain Games wrote:

And thanks to everyone for their enthusiasm and interest in "Way of the Wicked". No one wants Book V out the door more than me. But as soon as I'm happy with it, we'll release it. And not before.

But that is coming real soon.

Hope that helps,
Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games

Seeing that Throne of Nights was taking some atention, I thought Book V was already finished and in route to publish :(

Scarab Sages

I'm curious. For those who have run Book II, what did you use to represent the dungeon?

As I look at how much time the PCs will be in the dungeon, I'm trying to figure out how best to build it.

Previous games I've either used a battle mat, or a printed version of the map scaled to fit. However, looking at the sheer size of the dungeon, it is bigger than my largest battle mat and it would take a lot of paper (that would have to be resized as it is 10' squares rather than 5' squares).

I'm thinking towards building something a little more permanent using something like dwarven forge, or if I have time to build using Hirst Arts tiles. The kicker of course being that those will both cost a fair bit of money (and for the Hirst Arts stuff quite a bit of time making tiles). Plus wanting it to be somewhat permanent, but still 'moldable' towards what the PCs decide to do when the make 'improvements' to the dungeon.

Grand Lodge

W. John Hare wrote:

I'm curious. For those who have run Book II, what did you use to represent the dungeon?

As I look at how much time the PCs will be in the dungeon, I'm trying to figure out how best to build it.

Previous games I've either used a battle mat, or a printed version of the map scaled to fit. However, looking at the sheer size of the dungeon, it is bigger than my largest battle mat and it would take a lot of paper (that would have to be resized as it is 10' squares rather than 5' squares).

I'm thinking towards building something a little more permanent using something like dwarven forge, or if I have time to build using Hirst Arts tiles. The kicker of course being that those will both cost a fair bit of money (and for the Hirst Arts stuff quite a bit of time making tiles). Plus wanting it to be somewhat permanent, but still 'moldable' towards what the PCs decide to do when the make 'improvements' to the dungeon.

I'm going to be using a combination of three things: a battlemap, sheets of large graph paper (3 ft size) that you can get at any school supply store, and a regular printed map straight from the book. I'll draw out each room on the battlemap when they first enter, then have the players map out the interior themselves, and draw the changes they themselves want to do on the small printed map. Lastly, when everything's done, I'm going to redraw each room on the large graph paper.


Game update:

Spoiler:
Day 221 of the Ritual, a night of betrayals. At dusk, Zikomo Hears-the-Father rallies the remnants of the boggards, who had initially fled during the recent eruption of the Horn. Stirring them to a frenzy, they assault both the Horn entrances, Zikomo directing the assault of the Left Eye personally. At the same time, high above in the Sanctuary, Ezra Thrice-Damned leads his wraiths in an assault on the ritual.

Down in entrances, the charge of the boggards and magic of Zikomo are stymied by the brutal efficiency of the minions of the Ninth, fighting with high quality gear acquired by their masters, unleashing hellish sweeps of flame from Asmodian acolytes. After slaughtering 3/4 of the boggards without passing the entryway, the boggards broke upon the Eyes and fled. During the route, Zikomo was knocked over the side of the stairwell, falling to his death on the rocks below.

Meanwhile, above, the wraiths silently began their assault, striking out at the sleeping forms of the 1/2 orc fighter and the elven magus, while Ezra himself attacks Trik, currently performing the ritual. This, however, is a fight our villians have been expecting. Leaping to their feet, the villians defend their ritual, so close to its end. Each makes an accounting for themselves. Things looked grim when they learned that Ezra could command Artephius as well, pitting a battle of commands between Ezra and the witch. The tide turned, however, when Trik unleashed his sunbeam spell, blasting Ezra from this plane with one shot (crit'd with the ray attack. It was very cool). Swiftly, the other wraiths were dispatched.

Weary from battle, the PC's returned to resting, only to be roused again at about midnight when the Baron appeared far below, bellowing commands up at them, demanding they leave the Horn and the are of Farholde, cursing them for the loss of his home and influence within the town. Some wished to simply wipe the Baron out, others (notably the magus, who is the Baron's cousin) wished to find an alternative. Instead, the Baron was given an appeasement: some starting-over funds and the agreement that once the villians had completed their task, they would allow the Baron to remain in Farholde and help him secure a new position of power within town. The Baron found this agreement to his liking.

And now on to day 222 and the Sons of Balyntyne. I think I may have Brother Donnagin cast Silence on Mad Meinhard and have him lead the charge up the stairs into the Sanctum. That should catch the villians offguard. :)


Looks pretty cool John !


John,

Another great update. Thanks for continuing your journal!

I've already used a few ideas in my own Way of the Wicked campaign.

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


Gary, we would be really happy to know something about the date to book V. Just to have an idea.


Alaryth: on Firemountaingames facebook page, it's stated that it's done, and sent. It should be on sale today or tomorrow.

So press f5 repeatedly :)


If it makes you guys feel better, Book V is awesome. So press F5 faster :-)


gustavo iglesias wrote:

Alaryth: on Firemountaingames facebook page, it's stated that it's done, and sent. It should be on sale today or tomorrow.

So press f5 repeatedly :)

Cool ¡¡¡ :)

(That happens for my lack in Facebook, Tweeter and similars)


Book V is done. It's making its way through the system. More real REAL soon and thanks for your enthusiasm for "Way of the Wicked".

Gary


Who is herbo and why he has Book V? Now I'm jelous :/


Herbo is Jesse Emerson who has a well-deserved editing credit on Book V of "Way of the Wicked".

Jesse did a superlative job editing our book.

Thanks, Jesse!

Gary McBride
Fire Mountain Games


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Quick question to everyone here

Spoiler:
So my players are really interested in Wrecker Island. I've decided to have it haunted by the ghost of the druid (7th level druid ghost basically) and guarded by a Shark-Eater Crab. The crab will probably be a straight up fight, but I'm trying to come up with a good way to get rid of the ghost.

The druid is going to of course make a request of the PCs, something like disrupting the fishing going on in the area, but I want to have another option for the PCs to be, well, dicks to him. I need to think of a way for them to get rid of the ghosts without helping him at all.

So, I ask you, oh great community, any ideas how they might be rid of this ghost?


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@DSMRT

Ghostbusters:
Once the players are ensconced in the Horn, you could allow them to uncover some relic or place that is/was important to the druid. Maybe located in the Caer Bryr, or in the vicinity of Wrecker Island, etc. Then perhaps they could incorporate it into "the ritual" in such a manner that they bind his spectral essence to the dimension tearing seal breaking process. If they repair/rescue the cultist NPC perhaps he has the straight dope on how the ghost can be bound. Thus the spirit is evicted from Wrecker Island forcibly, and the players can occaisionally hear him wailing and pleading for release throughout the months-long ritual as his very spiritual essence is unraveled to feed the soul destroying energies of Abaddon itself.

Exit grumpy ghost, hello evil party of horrible bastards :-)

Grand Lodge

@ DSRMT -- What race were you thinking of taking, given the name?


Herbo:

Spoiler:
hmm, interesting, I never thought of binding the spirit. I like the idea of finding a way to do so from the trapped cultist. I'll think on that, thanks!

Kevin: I just assumed Human, what race do you think appropriate?

Grand Lodge

DSRMT wrote:
Kevin: I just assumed Human, what race do you think appropriate?

With that kind of name I was thinking maybe half-elf or half-elf (drow descended), or even goblin. I think mainly the first option because check out the Google result of "Selvetarm" and notice the nickname.


Huh, interesting, maybe I'll make him a half-elf or something then. Thanks for the heads up!

Grand Lodge

DSRMT wrote:
Huh, interesting, maybe I'll make him a half-elf or something then. Thanks for the heads up!

What'll really be fun is if your players, like mine, catch the Forgotten Realms reference and start crying or pouting because "I don't wanna face a demigod at this level."


Only one of my players might get that, the rest of us didn't get into d20 until Pathfinder.

Grand Lodge

DSRMT wrote:
Only one of my players might get that, the rest of us didn't get into d20 until Pathfinder.

I know three of mine will get it, maybe four. All but one started in 2nd Ed.

I think I'm also going to give him the domain ability instead of a companion. Not sure if Earth or Water domain. You mentioned the crab, so maybe water. However, earth has better abilities.


Has someone spelled out the three prayers the pc must recitate each day? I would love to have the pc at least twice (beginning of the ritual and the last time) say "something" other than just: "we perform the ritual and prayer".

I mean the Supplication to Darkness, the Cursing of the Light and the Call across the Void.


Patrick Kropp wrote:

Has someone spelled out the three prayers the pc must recitate each day? I would love to have the pc at least twice (beginning of the ritual and the last time) say "something" other than just: "we perform the ritual and prayer".

I mean the Supplication to Darkness, the Cursing of the Light and the Call across the Void.

That would be sooooo cool ! May be not 222 times though ^^


Major Longhorn wrote:
Patrick Kropp wrote:

Has someone spelled out the three prayers the pc must recitate each day? I would love to have the pc at least twice (beginning of the ritual and the last time) say "something" other than just: "we perform the ritual and prayer".

I mean the Supplication to Darkness, the Cursing of the Light and the Call across the Void.

That would be sooooo cool ! May be not 222 times though ^^

I would absolutely love to see this too! It'd really get the players interested in the whole ritual


5 people marked this as a favorite.

I'll bite. Here's a pulled-out-the-bum rendition of a

Supplication to Darkness:
Oh darkest Abaddon, we cry out to you for annihilation. May the horsemen bring us war, consume us with famine, weaken us with pestilence and grant us the terror of oblivious death. Blot out our sight, so that none may look upon you. Empower our mortal leaders, that they will not capitulate and beg for the lie that is mercy. Unmake our chains of light, only that we may be destroyed by the umbral embrace of true freedom. Forgive us for tolerating the pride of the living, the fallacy of innocence, and our weakness that sundered your most sacred cause. By the power and authority given to us oh mighty realm of darkness, we bind our wills to the purpose of annihilation and we ask that the power of this accursed seal of the pretender god be unmade. May your will be done, and all light be consumed now and forevermore.


It is done.

Spoiler:
With a silenced roar of rage, Mad Meinard charged into the Sanctum, nearly felling the flame oracle in one blow. The oracle, for his part, fell off the balcony where he had been standing, then activated his flame wings to keep from impacting the ground. Meanwhile Sir Richard emerged from the stairwell, Donnagin following just behind, and immediately attacked the dwarf monk, who attempted to return the favor with a punishing kick that left the monk himself sprawled on the ground instead. Erik, for his part, took calmer stock of the situation and loosed a cone of cold upon Artephius and his witch master, as well as the 1/2 orc fighter, all of whom had been sleeping. With combat joined, the other remaining villians (still sleeping) roused themselves. The flame oracle released a fireball at Donnagin, Richard and Eric, Trik used the power of Asmodeus to rip open wounds on Richard with a touch (Inflict Critical Wounds), wounds Donnagin swiftly healed with the power of Mitra. On the other end of the room, Mad charged Artephius, inflicting heavy damage upon the golem. Richard showed Trik that swords blessed by Mitra and wielded by virtuous men inflict far greater wounds than the corruption of Asmodeus. Lighting bolts shot out from witch and the newly roused magus, inflicting minimal damage to Donnagin and Richard as the dodged most of the blast, but taking a heavy toll on Eric. Taking stock of the situation and realizing that they were outnumbered by villians 2 to 1, villians who were of comparable power, Eric called upon heroic reserves, pushed through his pain and teleported himself, Donnagin and Richard away before expiring. Sadly, Mad was left behind. Inevitably, he was defeated, but not before nearly destroying Artephius.

Time for the final ritual. It passed rather well, given everything else that had happened. In the end, they chose disease immunity for themselves, to guard against the Tears, rather than betray Vetra-Kali. Then they were told to get out. Thorn's reward is just enough to cover all the wealth they left behind (they held on the bulk of their money from the treasure room, plus some of it was quite large, it stayed behind).

Now it will be a bit before we start book III. Looking forward to it, though.


One question: How did your players found the treasure room? My players have done level 1-3 and I think they have no chance of ever finding it. the combination with pressing and command word to find the real chamber is really hard.

So at all: How did your players found the real treasure chamber?


Patrick Kropp wrote:

One question: How did your players found the treasure room? My players have done level 1-3 and I think they have no chance of ever finding it. the combination with pressing and command word to find the real chamber is really hard.

So at all: How did your players found the real treasure chamber?

Ezra knows about it. The book states he can give the players it, as long aas they work together. Ezra the Thrice Damned can't care less about the treasure.


Ok... I imagined the meet Ezra the first time in the treasure chamber.

How has the Third Eye (the one in the treasure chamber) found its way to the treasure chamber? Ezra - as incorporeal - can´t touch it.


Ok, let put it clear: The dirges say the three eyes have been stolen from Vetra Kali. Why is one in the treasure chamber? How did it get there?


@Patrick,

Spoiler:
They (The Sons) were counting on no one finding the treasure room, hence an excellent place to hide it. As for my players finding and figuring out how to access it, it was actually all an accident. The rogue was inspecting the secret door he had found with the witch (with detect magic up) while the oracle was inspecting the thane and saying "Hail Vetra-Kali". And then they were miserly with it and in the end most of it wasn't used. I was disappointed in them.


Has anyone given Ezra Thrice Damned Class Levels?

I have a very specialized necromancer in my group and I think if he presses hard enough he will easily controll Ezra (and through him ANY SPAWN). I hope my players don´t run amok and just sacrifice everything they can spare to the wraiths and create a wraith army.

If Ezra is even controlled by the pc then they could do so possibly with no repercussions.


John Malueg wrote:

@Patrick,

** spoiler omitted **

Yes, but the THREE eyes were stolen - this is clearly spelled out. I imagine the eyes fell to the floor when the Victor banished / killed Vetra Kali on this plane. 1 was taken by a priest (who was later trapped in the cave), the other have been rescued by Halthus the flayer.

So when did the cultist find time to bring one in the treasure chamber?

Grand Lodge

Patrick Kropp wrote:

Has anyone given Ezra Thrice Damned Class Levels?

I have a very specialized necromancer in my group and I think if he presses hard enough he will easily controll Ezra (and through him ANY SPAWN). I hope my players don´t run amok and just sacrifice everything they can spare to the wraiths and create a wraith army.

If Ezra is even controlled by the pc then they could do so possibly with no repercussions.

No, not at all. He's already a CR 6, which makes her a pretty tough cookie to deal with at this level. Almost staggeringly so. I suppose you could just as easily make him a regular dread wraith, lose the two templates, and give him a couple of classes of cleric or necromancer. He's already got an incredible Will save given what she is. Could also always use the Spell-Stitched template from 3.5 to give a +2 bonus against channels and saves. Gain a few sorcerer spells as well, based on Wisdom. Which is a fair bit so it could get really nasty overall.


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@Patrick
Actually, I believe the Sons were unable to finish the ritual to bring forth Vetra-Kali (Gary might be able to clarify this), and perhaps the Victor arrived at a Dramaticaly Appropriate Moment (DAM for short, or at least that's what I say in my games :) ), disrupting the ritual and the Sons had to respond quickly to prevent the Eyes from being uncovered. Halthus accidently recovered one Eye without fully realizing it's significance, but clearly the original plan was to disperse the Eyes to be retrieved later on, and to later reclaim the Horn, as it seems to be the focal point for the ritual itself.

Spoiler:
Hiding a large, very expensivie gem in a pile of loot stored in extradimensional space with a clever lock isn't the worst way to protect one of them, and may even keep it close at hand. Also, somewhat spatially convenient (it's on the way out).
At least, those are my thoughts.


kevin_video wrote:
Patrick Kropp wrote:

Has anyone given Ezra Thrice Damned Class Levels?

I have a very specialized necromancer in my group and I think if he presses hard enough he will easily controll Ezra (and through him ANY SPAWN). I hope my players don´t run amok and just sacrifice everything they can spare to the wraiths and create a wraith army.

If Ezra is even controlled by the pc then they could do so possibly with no repercussions.

No, not at all. He's already a CR 6, which makes her a pretty tough cookie to deal with at this level. Almost staggeringly so. I suppose you could just as easily make him a regular dread wraith, lose the two templates, and give him a couple of classes of cleric or necromancer. He's already got an incredible Will save given what she is. Could also always use the Spell-Stitched template from 3.5 to give a +2 bonus against channels and saves. Gain a few sorcerer spells as well, based on Wisdom. Which is a fair bit so it could get really nasty overall.

Did you even understand my concern? Either my english skills suck or you don't have any clue about the necromancer or a standard evil clerics abilities. At least in my book Ezra will easily fail such a will save.

I think I make him a real dread wraith. So they have to deal with him on equal terms. And if Hey really plan to use a wraith army (Or even a squad) Ezra must be dealt with because he is the true master. he created the other spawns. so te players must always be careful.


kevin_video wrote:
Patrick Kropp wrote:

Has anyone given Ezra Thrice Damned Class Levels?

I have a very specialized necromancer in my group and I think if he presses hard enough he will easily controll Ezra (and through him ANY SPAWN). I hope my players don´t run amok and just sacrifice everything they can spare to the wraiths and create a wraith army.

If Ezra is even controlled by the pc then they could do so possibly with no repercussions.

No, not at all. He's already a CR 6, which makes her a pretty tough cookie to deal with at this level. Almost staggeringly so. I suppose you could just as easily make him a regular dread wraith, lose the two templates, and give him a couple of classes of cleric or necromancer. He's already got an incredible Will save given what she is. Could also always use the Spell-Stitched template from 3.5 to give a +2 bonus against channels and saves. Gain a few sorcerer spells as well, based on Wisdom. Which is a fair bit so it could get really nasty overall.

Grand Lodge

Patrick Kropp wrote:

Did you even understand my concern? Either my english skills suck or you don't have any clue about the necromancer or a standard evil clerics abilities. At least in my book Ezra will easily fail such a will save.

I think I make him a real dread wraith. So they have to deal with him on equal terms. And if Hey really plan to use a wraith army (Or even a squad) Ezra must be dealt with because he is the true master. he created the other spawns. so te players must always be careful.

Yes I understood your concern, and yes I am fully understand what a necromancer and evil cleric can do. I've played undead before. I know how much it can suck to be controlled and essentially not play your character anymore. I'd rather be dominated. If Ezra would easily fail her save with a +8, then your necromancer must have a stupid high Charisma. The cleric I could see, but not the necromancer. It's 10+1/2 class level+CHA. On average we're talking Will DC 16. Even then he can only control them for a few minutes each time X/day and maybe the three regular wraiths.

I wouldn't use a real dread wraith as that's a CR 13. That's way too high for these guys. They'd get slaughtered quite quickly.

If you want, custom make an item for all of the wraiths that'll give them a +4 resistance bonus against being turned, commanded, or channeled against. That'll help somewhat. There's a cloak for 11,000 gold, but I don't know if you want to make the undead that rich. Maybe a rod for Ezra to counteract the commanding should they be successful.

Grand Lodge

So the suggestion I've been given regarding the wraith problem vs the necromancer and evil cleric is as such:

Iron Kingdoms book Monsternomicon I - Take Crafty template which gives you any three feats, as well as other stuff. CR +1.
WotC book Libris Mortis and Savage Species - Take three feats from Libris Mortis that'll give +8 turn resistance while they're in a group, as well as the cloak for +12 total, and one level of the Emancipated Spawn PrC from SS for the dread wraith, giving him +14. CR +1. If you took all three levels that'd give you +18 resistance on top of your will save. CR +3.

In total, Ezra has CR +2, and the other wraiths are CR +1, but they all have a minimum of +12 resistance. Short of rolling a 1, the cleric and necromancer would have a very hard time controlling them.

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