Hi all,
Just a quick Q. After almost finishing reading 3FoE, I left wondering how to prevent the PCs from going to the temple of Vecna first then the grimlock and finaly the Hextorites... There is really nothing preventing them from going in any of the temples when they get down in the Dark Cathedral.
I can certainly control the flow by adding keys or something else that is on the major villains that they need to vanquish in order to proceed but I was wondering how you guys plan or have managed to control the flow.
cheers,
ET
Hi all,
Just a quick Q. After almost finishing reading 3FoE, I left wondering how to prevent the PCs from going to the temple of Vecna first then the grimlock and finaly the Hextorites... There is really nothing preventing them from going in any of the temples when they get down in the Dark Cathedral.
I can certainly control the flow by adding keys or something else that is on the major villains that they need to vanquish in order to proceed but I was wondering how you guys plan or have managed to control the flow.
cheers,
ET
Originally the dungeon was intended to be completed sequentially--Hextor, Erythnul, Vecna, and locks were placed on the doors to the temples of Erythnul and Vecna. Hence the keys that are still written into the adventure (one on the table in area 10, and one on Grallak Kur. During editing, it was decided this made the plot too linear and the locks on the temple doors were written out (but the keys remained). If you prefer your PCs to combat the temples sequentially, simply put the locks back on the temple doors.
I think the theory is that the PCs still need to get both the notes and the code to be able to decode anything and need to finish off all three bosses in order to activate the Ebon Beastie(TM).
So with that in mind it doesn't really matter wich they do first.
If I were running it I would likely split them up into seperate dungeons and have a final dungeon that has the ritual going on to summon the Ebon Beastie(TM). I was a little disappointed there were no cultish things going on in this adventure ala Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom scenes in which the overlook an actual worship session.
Sean Mahoney
I was a little disappointed there were no cultish things going on in this adventure ala Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom scenes in which the overlook an actual worship session.
Ya I hear you. I do think I will add that.
As to the keys, I taught I remembered reading about the key unlocking the temple of the Grimlock. My concern is more about the the party strength entering any of those temple, not really which one they should do first. Thanks for you opinion guys, I will think of how to do that. I really will add a cultish scene tough.
Cheers,
ET
I thought I would post (without creating a new thread) that I plan on having the Ebon Aspect break a critical pillar while swinging on a PC in the Black Cathedral during the climactic fight, causing the ultimate collapse of the entire mine. The PCs would race to get out the mine before they got caught in the cave-in after killing the aspect, then deal with the accusatons by Ragnolin and other miners when they emerge wearing Hextor branded gear.
Yes....my PCs have taken a liking to the cool look of a gauntlet fist clutching barbed arrows......
I put a double lock on the Labyrinth door, which required both Grallak's and Theldrick's keys, and made it magically treated and arcane locked (all of which would be over-ridden by the use of both keys). That way, the FO comes last, but the order of exploration of the other two sections isn't set. My group ended up going in the order as-written, simply because of curiosity about what exactly the tiefling guard was looking to do by pounding on the Hextor-marked door.
I don't see a problem with the players going in any order, and I didn't have any locked doors in the complex. The doors in the Temple of Hextor were able to be barred shut, but I used no locks.
However, my players went in order as written as well. They went to the door that the guards knocked on, then found out what was in the other two areas and decided to tackle Vecna last.
You could always just make them do what ever temple you think they should. Say they open the door that should lead to Vecna first, when they step through they end up doing the Hextor temple. Who's going to know? It's your dungeon, the temples don't interconnect so there's no reason they need to be layed out as per the magazine :)
B
You could always just make them do what ever temple you think they should. Say they open the door that should lead to Vecna first, when they step through they end up doing the Hextor temple. Who's going to know? It's your dungeon, the temples don't interconnect so there's no reason they need to be layed out as per the magazine :)
except for the symbols on the doors--you'd wanna get rid of those. And the tiefling guards banging on the door to the Hextor temple. You'd probably have to leave that as the Hextor one.
except for the symbols on the doors--you'd wanna get rid of those. And the tiefling guards banging on the door to the Hextor temple. You'd probably have to leave that as the Hextor one.
Forgot about the symbols (mag at home, me at work). Yes definitely remove the symbols. The Tieflings banging on the door typically would lead to that one being done first I assume. (My party is currently in the Lair of the Architect so we're a ways off 3FoE).
In our campaign I left all the doors open. However, the party learned from Smenk that he went in the Hextor temple then the Grimlock cavern and finally into the Faceless One's chamber to confront the BBEG. Smenk was vague in describing the encounters; scarred monks (Mockery in Eberron), scythe weilding monsters with no eyes weilding and finally robed figures with oily black feathers. When they arrived in the Black Cathedral one of the tieflings banged on the Hextor/Mockery door to alert the skeleton guards. The party naturally did the Hextor/Erythnul/Vecna progression in the order written in the book despite the fact that all doors were open.
After the party killed the Ebon Aspect, the black pool started rising out of the area and flooded the chamber. The party hurried up the elevator, evacuated all of the miners and then collapsed the passageway to the chamber. They lost a little bit of loot (the rusted mail and a lot of mwk crossbows) because they assumed they would be able to double back and take after the adventure was over.