My group is just winding up the Whispering Cairn
and I have a couple of questions
- The group killed Kullen & his gang, how important do you think they were to Balabar? ie: would he hire some more goons from Daggerford (Diamond Lake) / Waterford.
- What did they do for Balabar? (other than act as errand boy for Filge)
- Zoziels (sp) name used to get the sarcophagus open (in the true tomb). How does the party get that name? Unless I missed something, the only thing I can think of is to consult Allustan or some other sage for research ect...
- I'm guessing that they are going to kill Filge, but if they don't. How have other DM handled what he knows about the Age of Worms / Ebon Triad / especially Kyuss.
My feeling is that if he regurigitates the info as stated in the module it diminishes plot revels later (the flow seems to me to be better if Kyuss's plot isn't revealed until around Manzarion (sp?) gets involved.
Especially in Forgotten Realms the plot seems to be deluding the Ebon Triad (bane, bhaal, and mykrul) into creating the overgod (which actually is a plot by Jergal & Kyuss)
I think Filge would know about Ebon Triad and who they are, and what their larger goal is, but not know of the 'Age of Worms' as a specfic name and is curious about the worm segment but has no idea what it's signifigence is ect...
.nb
1. Kullen & friends were just Smenk's lackey's, used for errands. Loosing them shouldn't worry him too much right away.
2. My interpretation of Kullen and Smenk's relationship was that Smenk own's a large portion of the properties in town, most likely The Feral Dog as well. I would surmise that Kullen owe's certain favor's to Smenk for letting him "own" the place, other than that he's just a thug that knows how to keep his mouth shut.
3. My PC's used decipher script alot along the walls of the cairn and found that a specific pattern was being repeated alot. They got a rubbing of it and confered with Allustan. He researched it and discovered what lanquage it was and gave the party the name Zosiel.
4. The PC's for me took him prisoner and dropped him off at the garrison realizing the local law was pretty useless. He didn't talk much after being caught in the act. What they didn't realized at first was the the rustling outside his room window they ignored was his familiar. Who came back and set fire to the observatory with a hidden vial of alchemist fire. That destroyed all the evidence and the garrison was forced to turn him loose 24 hours later while they were still in the cairn. They haven't seen or heard from Filge since. I would say that not every evil wizard knows about every cult our there. Smenk had him researching the worm and the adventure states he's very interesting in searching for clues about it in the Dourstone mines in the second adventure.
My group is just winding up the Whispering Cairn
and I have a couple of questions
- The group killed Kullen & his gang, how important do you think they were to Balabar? ie: would he hire some more goons from Daggerford (Diamond Lake) / Waterford.
- What did they do for Balabar? (other than act as errand boy for Filge)
- Zoziels (sp) name used to get the sarcophagus open (in the true tomb). How does the party get that name? Unless I missed something, the only thing I can think of is to consult Allustan or some other sage for research ect...
- I'm guessing that they are going to kill Filge, but if they don't. How have other DM handled what he knows about the Age of Worms / Ebon Triad / especially Kyuss.
My feeling is that if he regurigitates the info as stated in the module it diminishes plot revels later (the flow seems to me to be better if Kyuss's plot isn't revealed until around Manzarion (sp?) gets involved.
Especially in Forgotten Realms the plot seems to be deluding the Ebon Triad (bane, bhaal, and mykrul) into creating the overgod (which actually is a plot by Jergal & Kyuss)I think Filge would know about Ebon Triad and who they are, and what their larger goal is, but not know of the 'Age of Worms' as a specfic name and is curious about the worm segment but has no idea what it's signifigence is ect...
.nb
[QUOTE=]- The group killed Kullen & his gang, how important do you think they were to Balabar? ie: would he hire some more goons from Daggerford (Diamond Lake) / Waterford.
First, the cliched D&D caveat -- It's your campaign, so they're as important to Balabar as you want them to be. That said, I considered them fairly important. I use the seemingly unpopular 3e "standard" of non-hero class NPCs in my campaigns. As a result, NPCs with hero class levels are rare and, obviously, more capable than just about everyone else in any given community. Replacing Kullen and his gang would pose a challenge for Balabar -- at least, in my campaign world.
What didn't they do? Given Smenk's power and pull among the corrupt deputies and growing influence with the lord-mayor, he controls the operations of a proto-mafia organization, with Kullen and friends serving as enforcers and wise guys of sorts.
IMO, the answer to this question depends a lot on how much the DM highlights/emphasizes the descriptions of the whispering cairn and subtly encourages players to spend time in Indiana Jones mode. I emphasized these quite a bit, and my players saw me referring to the text several times as they started asking questions about the symbols everywhere. Experienced gamers or not, basic psychology says players are going to feel rewarded by actions that get the DM going back to the text. It's a kind of gamer operant conditioning that says, "Aha! We got something," much like a pigeon getting seeds for accidentally pressing the correct lever. Of course, I'm kidding (somewhat), but there are a lot of clues and opportunities spread throughout the cairn for the PCs to put together the big picture of the Wind Dukes for themselves if they're astute enough to care about such mundane things as archaeological scholarship.
[QUOTE=]- I'm guessing that they are going to kill Filge, but if they don't. How have other DM handled what he knows about the Age of Worms / Ebon Triad / especially Kyuss.
My feeling is that if he regurigitates the info as stated in the module it diminishes plot revels later (the flow seems to me to be better if Kyuss's plot isn't revealed until around Manzarion (sp?) gets involved.Filge surrendered to the PCs in my campaign, throwing himself on the mercy of their "goodness". Given his delvings into all things strangely necromantic and his residence in the Free City, where an important cell of the Ebon Triad also operates, it's not unreasonable to conclude that Filge might possess some knowledge of their operations and of the Age of Worms itself. The info he presents in TWC is pretty general and is pretty similar to any number of garden variety apocolypse prophecies.
About the name, one of our characters did roll well in the knowledge check and while she didn't speak Auran DM decided to let her decipher some of the symbols "you guess they are names...that one is probably a Zasil or Zosel or something like that".
The elemental in the Lair of the Architect also knows the name, if the characters manage to discuss with it.
- The group killed Kullen & his gang, how important do you think they were to Balabar? ie: would he hire some more goons from Daggerford (Diamond Lake) / Waterford.
He would definately hire another group of goons for his work in Diamond Lake as they are pretty useful to him. He wouldn't likely me emotionally distraught over their loss though unless it was that someone would be so audacious as to attack people who for him. HIM!!! (LOL)
Basically this is an opportunity for you. If the PCs don't get enough information from Filge (see below) or don't follow that hook to get them into Three Faces of Evil, then this is a perfect reason for Smenk to act in the ways described in the beginning of that adventure. He is not happy at all with the PCs, but also understands that they were powerful enough to take out his gang of thugs and can therefor be useful.
- What did they do for Balabar? (other than act as errand boy for Filge)
Balabar is a respected business who sees a great import on leveraging the less respectable business practices that a gang of strong arms gives him. Kullen and his gang are his hidden arm or fist if you will. They are the tools he uses when he can't dirty his own hands and therefor he is able to remain aloof with plausible deniability, or at least the thin venear of it that is necessary for business in Diamond Lake.
He has no love for Kullen or his thugs in particular but definately needs people with their... skills... to continue his operations in Diamond Lake. Their elimination means he needs new resources for this work and more importantly that there is someone who is willing and able to stand up to him or his gang. That is bad for business and something needs to be done about it (see Three Faces of Evil).
- Zoziels (sp) name used to get the sarcophagus open (in the true tomb). How does the party get that name? Unless I missed something, the only thing I can think of is to consult Allustan or some other sage for research ect...
There are a couple of ways they can get the name. They have pretty much been described, but I will try and consolidate those here.
- Investigation of the right things in the tomb in conjunction with some good knowledge rolls. This is probably the best way as it rewards the PCs who took those knowledge skills for doing so.
- Interrogation of the Air Elemental. This is the least likely way of getting the name, I think, but any player who does so should definately be rewarding for doing so.
- Research provided by Allustan. The trick here is that the players need to ask him. If they don't, but they are interacting with him, have him get very excited and ask (or perhaps even pay) them to bring him back as many rubbings as possible. Set him up in their minds as an excellent resource on the tomb and it's history so when they are stuck they come to him. He can then give them as much or as little of the history of the tomb as you would like, including the name.
- The worst way to give it to them is to become so frusterated with their ignorance on how to investigate things that you simply yell at them, "ZOSIEL! The name is Zosiel! Don't you guys ever ask questions!?! What is wrong with you!?!" Players tend to look down on that kind of behavior from a DM. (little joke there)
- I'm guessing that they are going to kill Filge, but if they don't. How have other DM handled what he knows about the Age of Worms / Ebon Triad / especially Kyuss.
Well, remember that the point of the info he gives would be to move the players on to investigate in the next adventure. If you can give them just enough info from Filge (info he got from Balabar) that you can skip the Balabar portions of the next adventure then you may want to consider doing so as they will feel more sense of accomplishment if not railroading into the investigation by Smenk and instead take it on themselves.
Specifically I would let Filge know what it says in this adventure was communicated to him by Balabar (I believe there is a note the PCs can find from Balabar summoning him to the area), as well as the info that Balabar gives them at the beginning of Three Faces of Evil. Finally, I would also have him questioning the green worm extensively. If you are ambitious have him name off some possibilities for where the worm originated and have Kyuss be in there, but one of several theories.
The basic thing to keep in mind is how much information the PCs need to move them forward in the next adventure. That is the goal. They will feel rewarded by it if they get it from someone they captured and it will be a good deal for all as they won't know they would have received this anyway from Balabar should they not have been proactive enough to get it themselves.
Sean Mahoney