I am just about to begin running the Spire of Long Shadows, and am thinking of tweaking Tenser's presentation in it. I am changing Tenser from being the busy, yet likeable Lawful Good wizard-Patron, to being the Paranoid, they-are-all-out-to-get-me, defense obssessed, step-brother of Dispater. He will still be Lawful Good (Or at least Lawful Netural, as my players are both Lawful Netural, one a Paladin of Hextor the other a Cleric of Wee Jas) and still be Tenser, but he will be running a different show.
Partially this is based upon my exprience playing a 23rd level wizard in an Epic Campaign one time. I actually tried, using my spell list, to come up with a way to build a castle, with moats, outer walls, gates, and everything in one day. I manged to do it to, creatively using many spells to expand and shift/manipulate materials.
With that in mind, I figure Tenser, as a 21st or 22nd level wizard has fortified Magepoint, making it a varitable impregnable bastion of safety for him and his few close associates.
I am making Tenser so paranoid because of his colorful and intersting history. I mean he is a guy who has had attempts put on his life many times in the past, and has been killed by what he thought was one of his closest allies and friends (good old Rary), and has made enemies with some of the most powerful beings in existence (including the forementioned Rary, some demon princes, probably a duke or two of hell, and of course the DEMI-GOD Iuz!) I figure he is completely paranoid by this point. I figure he has proabably got a half-dozen 10th level wizard Simulacrum's running around doing his biding, pretending to be him (including one who is going to meet the PCs) as well as a sizable army of hireling soldiers and lesser wizards watching the gates of his castle, the causeway, it's gatehouse (something I added) and the 50ft high wall with 8 towers that sorounds the entire community (something else I added).
I figure building a huge stone wall would not be hard for Tenser, as he could just cast wall of stone, and then Polymorph any Object, to turn it into a larger, thicker wall, shaped to his satisfaction (an intersting construction idea, IMOHO). A few days worth of casting those two spells and voila! a huge wall with a couple of great gate houses surrounds Magepoint. I am currently thinking of additional protections to give his palace/tower, perhaps a few golems, some summoning stones, and maybe a few other items from the stronghold builders guide.
Any adivce or thoughts?
The basic ideas (Tenser being a bit paranoid and beefing up Magepoint fortifications) are sound. I assume you've seen the adventure "Return of the Eight", which details Tenser's stronghold as it was at the time of his murder by Rary. Tenser is supposed to be an intense, proactive foe of evil according to GH canon, not interested in Mordenkainen's subtle attempts to preserve a balance between the two. I can see a sort of "Cold War" type paranoia creeping into his thinking, where he sees the agents of evil under every rock (and inside his own castle), and where to some extent he is willing to go to great lengths to protect himself and advance his cause, even to the point of "ends justify the means" Macchiavellianism. This would make his rift with Allustan easier to explain (maybe he didn't trust Allustan), and would make his audiences with the PCs more interesting and memorable. Since there is already one Gandalf-figure in the AP, there's no need for another--and seeing Tenser's paranoia will give the PCs a bit of a feel for the pressures on an epic-level hero.
Edit--to add to the paranoia, you could give Agath of Thrunch levels in Church Inquisitor from Complete Divine, and have him subject the PCs to a rigorous battery of divinations to make sure they aren't agents of evil.
The basic ideas (Tenser being a bit paranoid and beefing up Magepoint fortifications) are sound. I assume you've seen the adventure "Return of the Eight", which details Tenser's stronghold as it was at the time of his murder by Rary. Tenser is supposed to be an intense, proactive foe of evil according to GH canon, not interested in Mordenkainen's subtle attempts to preserve a balance between the two. I can see a sort of "Cold War" type paranoia creeping into his thinking, where he sees the agents of evil under every rock (and inside his own castle), and where to some extent he is willing to go to great lengths to protect himself and advance his cause, even to the point of "ends justify the means" Macchiavellianism. This would make his rift with Allustan easier to explain (maybe he didn't trust Allustan), and would make his audiences with the PCs more interesting and memorable. Since there is already one Gandalf-figure in the AP, there's no need for another--and seeing Tenser's paranoia will give the PCs a bit of a feel for the pressures on an epic-level hero.
Edit--to add to the paranoia, you could give Agath of Thrunch levels in Church Inquisitor from Complete Divine, and have him subject the PCs to a rigorous battery of divinations to make sure they aren't agents of evil.
I must admit that I mostly played Forgotten Realms back in 2nd edition days and so have only a passing knowledge of the pre-3rd edition Greyhawk adventures. As such I have read up a bit on this adventure, but do not have a copy of it myself. So I am just making up descriptions for the town and the fortress.
I figure that Tenser would have come back from death with a renewed sence of mission and even more intensity and paranoia. As such Allustan, who is more the neutral Mordekainen type does not fit into his world-view. I also made Allustan a coward, who seeks Marzena's love, yet she has no repsect for him due to his lack of courage. This cowardness, combined with Tenser's crusader zeal, to create the falling out of the master and the student. The biggest factor though was that I have said that Allustan split his studies between apprenticing with Tenser and studying under Rary, prior to Rary's betrayal and killing of Tenser. Thus Tenser, as you said, does not trust Allustan, and sees in him, as with so many other associates and friends from his old life, a possible enemy and/or spy.
I thought the same thing about showing the pressures and dangers of being an epic level character who is actively involved in the world about them. Sure there are those Wizard in the Valley types of epic mages who go off and try and hide from the world, many of them liches (such as Thesselar) but when you want to stand by your beliefs and change the world aobut you actively, as an epic level character, you are going to have to start watching the shadows very carefully from enemies of all types. As the japanese say "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."
Sol--Return of the Eight is available as a $4 PDF on this site, and is well worth a read. There are some quite innovative and cool magical defenses protecting Tenser's castle, which sits atop a wellhead of Oerthblood--a substance detailed in a recent issue of the Dragon (last month's, IIRC, the article about Irongate). Rot8 also has a detailed map of the wizard Jallarzi Sallavarian's Greyhawk townhouse, which might also be useful if you ever need to pull together a mage's house on short notice.
I want to chime in with Peruhain -- Return of the Eight is worth the price, with good GH material and good ideas for use even outside of the setting. Personally, I think it was easily the best GH adventure released during 2/e.
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I also recommend the book, of course. I agree that it is a very strong second edition Greyhawk outing (if a bit "chatty" at times), but I have a difficult time saying it is better than "Vecna Lives," "Fate of Istus," or "City of Skulls." All of those are flawed ("City" perhaps least so), but they represent to me the top tier of second edition Greyhawk adventures.
There is a middling field that includes all of the Falcon adventures (set in the Free City and worth a PDF purchase for Age of Worms DMs), "Treasures of Greyhawk," "Greyhawk Ruins", "Slavers!", "The Star Cairns" and (maybe) "Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad," and then there is the bottom of the barrel.
"Childsplay," "Puppets," "Gargoyles," and "Doomgrinder" are all terrible. The latter's redeeming feature is that it includes a map of the Diamond Lake region far more useful than that provided in any other Greyhawk product, ironically making it one of the most valuable pick-ups for an Age of Worms DM. Sorry about that!
--Erik
Thanks for the advice on modules to pick up. I will have to look into buying those. What magical defences do you think Tenser (albiet, a very paranoid version of him) would have?
So far I have the following defenses:
Outer defenses of Magepoint:
"Gentle hills and full green trees give way to open grasslands and the shores of the Nyr Dyv. Two miles past the line of trees is the coastal village of Magepoint. Built where the Hardride river splits about a high bluff, the village is defended by more than just the reputation of it’s premier citizen. Surrounding the village, on the far bank of the split river, is a 50ft tall smooth, white stone wall, capped by black stone covered parapet. The wall itself juts out a few hundred feet into the lake, the waves crashing against it’s solid rock foundation. Spaced apart on the wall are eight great towers, each at least 100ft high in the heavens, capped with black parapets. Wide stone bridges lead over the river from both East and West, to one of the two strong gate houses that pierce the wall.
The walls themselves seem to be at least 50ft thick
After passing over the bridge, you walk between the two great doors of the gatehouse, each 10ft wide and over 25ft tall, built of solid iron, nearly a foot thick, and faced with chased Mithiral they are magnificent, not as grand as some you have seen of late, but amazing none the less. "
The Fortress of Unknown Depths - Outer Defenses:
"As you approach the tower’s causeway, you see that it is well guarded against approach. There is a large, squat gatehouse that guards the entrance to the causeway, it’s two towers standing only four stories tall, with arrow slits along their highest reaches. The Mithiral gates are closed and four guards, each dressed in full plate and armed with lightly glowing halberds stand before the great doors.
(6th level Fighters, as per DMG, with +1 Halberds & a 5th level Wizard as per DMG)
After being questioned as to your business, and a further guard coming confirming your appointment with the wizard, the gates are briefly opened to allow you to enter the well lit hallway interior of the gate house. The far gates are still shut, as you hear the doors close behind you, the intricate and powerful locks slamming into place. Above you heads, you can see murder holes in the ceiling, and in the high corners, arrow slits can be found, 20ft above the floor of the passage. Finally, you see the locks unbar themselves and the far gates open, allowing you onto the causeway.
The causeway leads half a mile out to the rocky crag upon which the wizard has built his home. As you walk out along the causeway, you see a group of six eyes float up from within the gatehouse. These eyes float and bob around you in the air, zooming in to inspect your arms and armor, and twitching all about, looking to and fro."
At the gate of the Fortress:
You stand now in the shadow of the fortress, before the mighty Adamantine Gates, shut and guarded by two great Iron Statues, each standing 15ft tall, their metallic bodies polished, great swords tightly gripped in their hands. In the center of the great doors, the seal of the Wizard flips away to reveal a large eye that swivels to inspect each one of you, carefully looking each of you up and down. As it does this, the floating eyes zoom back towards the gatehouse. After a moment of tense silence, the seal flips back to cover the eye and you hear a series of dozens of clicks and loud clangs as the locks on the gates open. Before you is a grand hallway, its ceiling 30f t above, and a second, great set of door, standing 40ft ahead. As you enter, the doors behind you shut, and begin their long process of locking themselves even as the doors before you begin to unlock and open revealing the true interior of the castle, on the Wizard’s home.
(20HD Flesh Golem in Full Plate with +1 Huge longsword & a 30HD Iron Golem with +1 Huge Longsword & a perm. Arcane Eye with Arcane Sight, See Invisibility, Clairaudience, Detect Evil, Detect Thoughts, and Detect Undead, will save DC 26)."
Inside the Fortress:
"As you walk in through the gate you see a figure step out from behind the fountain, a beautiful, extremely tall, humanlike creature with long, feathery wings and a very supple and lithe body that glows with an inner power, making it hard to look directly at him
“I am Calliel, a friend of the archmage. If you would please leave your weapons in the room you will find behind that door to your right, I will lead you to an audience with him.”
You find a small room whose walls are covered in weapons racks, some filled, some empty."
"You rejoin Calliel in the ward, and he leads you up the stairs and through the now open doors into the tower itself. The tower itself is much larger on the inside, possibly 50ft across with further rooms leaving from this central chamber and is furnished finely if a little Spartan. A beautiful large woven rug covers the center of the room, it’s strange mystic patterns seeming to shift as you look at it. From this room there are three bronze doors that exit. Upon the walls hang two tapestries, one depicting the battle of the Circle of Eight against Iuz, the other depicting some sort of battle within a dungeon. The figures seem to act out the battle within the tapestry, with eldritch spells cast between the warring parties in both wall hangings. There are also two large stone statues, each at least 9ft tall and armed with dark longswords that stand guard over this room.
Standing beside the far Bronze door, is a stern middle-aged man dressed in a white robe covered with gold symbols. Hanging from his belt is a beautiful mace and around his neck a golden symbol of Pelor draped around his neck. Beside him, directly in front of the door, is a ghostly image of a man, floating in the air."
" Agath casts – Zone of Truth (DC 24, will) – Discern Lies (DC 26) – True Seeing
“What is your full and true name?”
“What is your occupation and rank there of?”
“What is the full and true name of you Father? Of your mother?”
“Where is your home and from what land were you born?”
“Do you wish or bring harm into this household?”
“Do you wish or bring harm upon it’s master, Tenser the Archmage?”
“Do you wish or bring harm to those who would associate, befriend, or seek gainful employment of Tenser?”
“Who is your master? Who is it that you serve?”
“Why, in full truth, do you wish audience with the lord Tenser?”
“And finally, have you ever met or associated with the traitor Rary of Ket or the Demi-God Iuz the aged?” "
And in the end they only get to speak to a Simulcrum of Tenser, though without True Seeing, they would not know this.
I like the simulcrum idea, especially because I want to encourage my players to take the long route, by water, to the Spire of Long Shadows, and thus the simulcrum could not cast Teleport Circle as he is not high enough level.
Anyhow what other defences can you guys think of?
I am SO using this. My group has just gotten into Magepoint. (Granted, instead of the four halberdiers at the bridge, I placed two high-level Duskblades instead.)