PhysicsWolf |
I am running the Three Faces of Evil and my group will enter the temple of vecna tomorrow (assuming they follow the left hand rule) and I want to know how the labyrinth went for everyone. My group approaches dungeons like a bull in a china shop, so I am assuming they are going to miss most of the secret doors. It seems very tight and without Precise Shot, it seems that the kenku's are at a severe disadvantage. I also don't have a lot of room, so keeping my own version of the labyrinth to keep track of groups of kenku's is not feasible.
Thanks!
Russell Jones |
Ho ho ho...disadvantage? I think not!
The party I ran through this had a great idea; put their hand on the left/right wall and just keep following it. That's a pretty common bit of maze-lore, so a DC 15(dungeoneering) check should allow them that. They breezed through the labyrinth in no time with that piece of info, making it into the temple of the Shadow (Eberron conversion) through the larder.
And don't worry about the kenkus; their bonuses to Hide and Move Silently even kept our keen-eared rogue in the dark. Three pounced him at a T-intersection, surrounding him and sneak attacking with clubs; they dropped him from full to -3 in the surprise round (one crit and two hits).
Plus, using their method of hand-to-wall, this was the only kenku group they hit on their way to the Faceless One; the others just showed up after they clobbered him (and boy DID they clobber him...).
The easiest way to DM the labyrinth, IMHO, is to buy a starter Mini's pack with the large, foldout grid in it, then just use a marker and draw the maze right on it. I just threw mine away after I was done with it; I had two or three just sitting around, and used my wet-erase grids for the Temple's rooms.
The biggest slow-down is if your groups decides they're going to insist on taking 20 every inch of the way. Discourage this when possible, and make sure to roll your searcher's checks for them, behind a screen if possible. Then you can "make sure" they find the doors you need them to find if they get completely lost; an opportune kenku leaping from a secret door for an ambush works wonders if this happens.
Good luck!
Big Jake |
I've posted a part my party's encounter on a thread called Kenku Tips and Tactics, and more of the encounter is also described in the Age of Worms Obituaries (the first post).
There aren't very many other posts about the Temple of Vecna, so maybe more people will add their comments here.
Chris P |
My group just finished the maze part. They got surrounded by the Kenku on two occasions, but came out of fairly well with a combination of intellegent spell usage and a few bad rolls on the Kenku's ranged sneak attacks. The thing that suprised me the most was when the Female Elven Monk got a dire weasel on her. It latched on and was about to start doing the Con drain. As a last ditch effort to get it off, she Stunning Fisted it. Failing it's save it released here and stood dumbfonded while the rest of the party pummeled it.