I've been thinking that the final battle with The Faceless One would be much more dramatic if, after he's beaten and the mask removed, the PCs discover that it's actually someone they know. Maybe one of the other mine managers, or the crazy cleric of St. Cuthbert... anyone else do anything like this? If so, how did it turn out?
Jinkies!
I say, let them unmask the Faceless One and find... one of themselves! He's a changeling, a bastard child of Telakin abandoned at an early age. Foreshadowing is a friend to all.
Making him the Cuthbertine cleric's actually a very good idea. If I'd have put more of an emphasis on Wieran's cult of personality back in the Diamond Lake days, I'd probably have done something similar.
I say keep him the mutilated horror that he is. But, somewhere in his lair is a locked chest, and inside this chest is the perfectly preserved, skinned face of (insert NPC that the PCs have dealt with on more than one occasion) and a mirror. The Faceless One has used this in order to perfect the disguise he uses on the surface (possibly some magic is involved, but maybe not - he wouldn't his face to pop up on the Detect Magic radar).
So now the PCs have to figure out when they last actually spoke to their now dead friend (or if they ever have) and what secrets they may have inadverdantly told to the *very* wrong person.
Also, since the Faceless One has basically been prepared to die this whole time, what plans will go into motion based on the mysterious disappearance of a long-upstanding citizen?
You know, I always was dissapoimted that the crazed Cuthbertian cleric in Diamond Lake got a few lines of description (enough to run a chilling scene with the guy, I'm sure), and nothing else.
If I ever run AoW or use the backdrops, I will HAVE to remedy this...
I'm gonna go with the Faceless One being a simulacrum of the *real* Facless One (wiz 13). At least it would explain the 21 Int score :)