My group had some very interesting approaches to this adventure. You might remember that these were the players who were saying the AOWAP was too hard, and they wanted to quit D&D. With some work and the use of a blog, things have turned around. I have listed some interesting turn of events that happened in our most recent gaming session. Also, I have at least one question having to do with the pool that the Overgod comes out of. Please check it out.
1. The players wanted to know if the guards who wandered the Dourstone mine ever hung out at a paticular place. I said decided to go with the flow to see what happened and said that many of the rough-n-tumble guards hung out at the Feral Dog. This resulted in the PCs researching how the ale is brought into the tavern. The PCs role-played through an entertaining scene where they "poisoned" the supply of beer in the bar with substances whipped up by the PC monk which would give the guards a case of food poisoning. Thus, many of the guards did not show up for work the next day, or were very ill during their shift. This plan came from the same group who has almost no interest in anything but combat. I was impressed. I lowered the amount of guards to be encountered within the mine.
2. The PCs posed as miners and got into the mine in this fashion. Since many of the guards were sick or ill, they didn't have a lot of trouble bledning into the crowd funneling into the mine. They had to do some bluffing and sneaking, but managed to get inside.
3. We only play 2 times a month for about 6 hours a session. Thus, I cut the TFoE down in content a lot. I combined the three temples into one with three sections. At the center was the dark cathedral. Anyway, the PCs used their imagination to come up with some good tactics that didn't rely on combat only during the adventure, and again I was impressed. For once it wasn't just hack-n-slash but a mix of subterfuge, tactics, role-playing, and guile. It was quite fun.
4. In the Dark Cathedral, the PCs rushed the main floor, attempting to disrupt the ritual at the pool. One of the PCs used a homebrew wand styled after the Ram Ring which can "shoot" beams of force. Each charge allows for a 1d6 of damage. This is where the question comes in: The PC decided to fire the ram wand at the block surrounding the pool, trying to collapse the brick into the pool. As I imagine it, this wouldn't do too much to affect the Overgod crawling out of the pool in the end. (They know something bad will be coming out of there.) What opinion do you all have on it?
I am happy to report that my gaming group is doing better, and it's widely due to using the suggestions other DMs gave on this board. Thanks for your help! You helped "save my game."
GUTH
Maybe the falling brick injures the overgod a bit?
"A ten foot tall, powerfully built monster with six arms appears out of the pool with a nasty bump on its head. 'what was that for?' it says as it lunges at you." :-)