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I had a lot of fun with this encounter. The party's barbarian kicked in the doors to Zyrxog's lair with a very successful strength check. He saw the barin statue sitting in the middle of the room and decided that he didn't like it and was going to smash it with his morningstar.
He charged into the room and immediately failed his Will Save. He raged and turned on the party. The Psionic Wilder in the group decided to use Concussion Blast on the BRAIN and then promptly failed her Will save next.
The party was in trouble, they now had to defend themselves against two very lethal members of their group who were trying their best to kill all of them. By the way, Concussion Blast is a very nasty power. The Wilder actually caused herlf to pass out by expending all of her psionic points trying to blow the party to smithereens.
The barbarian could have caused a lot more damage had the Favored Soul not cast Bestow Curse on him and chosen the 50% No Action option.
The rest of the party concentrated on smashing the statue and thus brought the barbarian to his senses, but they are now on Zyrxog's front steps and in dire need of rest. It's gonna get messy from here on...
It's a wonderfully crunchy, yet still content-rich adventure, as is always the case from Jason Bulmahn. (Check out Hollow's Last Hope, too.) This adventure is one of the more difficult ones, but also more rewarding. It will make your players enjoy the different pace of the next adventure.
As for resting, I'd go with one of two options. My own players rested in the prison with the other prisoners, keeping watch in shifts. This is pretty customary, and worse comes to worse, the captured prisoners could very well keep watch for them (though after all the dopplegangers, I'd bet they wouldn't trust any strangers as far as they can throw them for a while).
The obvious problem with this is, how does Zyrxog justify just sitting around while the PCs, obviously in his lair, let them get away with this. At the time, I didn't think of it, but had I thought to do so, I'd have had another 2-3 octopins attack them in mid-rest. Also, if you have the MMIV, have him send a couple of drow thralls (namely some Lolth's Stings) to assault them from an advantageous position of invisibility. (Lolth's Stings are drow with levels of ninja, BTW.) Don't let them just get away with smashing his brain trap like paper machier. (spelling?) Maybe even two attacks at night will goad them into making a rash move, and give the PCs a memorable, and highly challenging, encounter to come.
The second option is, of course, that they leave the sewers, to return tomorrow. While Zyrxog may, or may not, have exhausted his supply of doppelgangers, again, drow could sneak in and play assassin on the weary PCs in mid-rest. Either way, keep them interested and challenged in their pursuit after Zyrxog.
My PCs had a similiar experience with the brain, suffering two deaths when half the party fled deeper into the complex and got surprised by the huge Octopin. They fled the dungeon completely, so I had Xyrxog go scouting. Awaiting them where the destroyed brain once stood was an Umberhulk Zombie (with removed brain of course), a Dominated Gauth Beholder, and 3 Dominated rust monsters (which was awesome since no one had Knowledge: Dungeoneering). I had him procure a scroll of Animate Dead for this purpose, figuring that anyone with Xyrxog's mobility and resources could come up with something similiar. Even though kind of an easy encounter, it still reinforced the believability in Xyrxog's level of intelligence.
My PCs had a similiar experience with the brain, suffering two deaths when half the party fled deeper into the complex and got surprised by the huge Octopin. They fled the dungeon completely, so I had Xyrxog go scouting. Awaiting them where the destroyed brain once stood was an Umberhulk Zombie (with removed brain of course), a Dominated Gauth Beholder, and 3 Dominated rust monsters (which was awesome since no one had Knowledge: Dungeoneering). I had him procure a scroll of Animate Dead for this purpose, figuring that anyone with Xyrxog's mobility and resources could come up with something similiar. Even though kind of an easy encounter, it still reinforced the believability in Xyrxog's level of intelligence.
Nice selection of variants on classic monsters. Very "dungeon-ey".
BTW, how's it goin', Rakshasa? Running STAP now?
No, I'm playing in STAP. We just beat Scuttlecove, and I have the dubious honor of having the only PC who hasn't died yet (Wizard 13/Archmage 1/Demonwrecker 4). Who says you can't play a Wizard or Paladin in STAP...I'm playing both! (leadership).
Anyway, I'm running Age of Worms a second time with a different group of players. The campaign is evil in nature this time, with the PCs being hardcore Hextor followers. I've had to make a few changes here and there with the plot, but essentially, the PCs were able to use the events in Diamond Lake to engineer a takeover of the Garrison, ousting Heironious. They have gone on to corrupt the town's NPC paladin Melinde into a Blackguard cohort (she murdered Smenk after being influenced heavily by the PCs) that has survived through the Champions's Belt. We're gonna start 'A Gathering of Winds' tonight, and I can't wait to show them Ilthane's wrath on their perfectly re-ordered hometown...
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Well, I wanted to update everyone on how it ended.
First, I need to let it be known that I ran Zyrxog as a psion rather than a sorcerer, but I kept his relative level the same, so that he was not a higher CR encounter.
The party (inexblicably) decided that they were going to set up camp and rest a full eight hours in the brain-room.
They almost immediately recieved a mass missive from Zyrxog telling them to get out of his home. He then sent his two octopin down to "escort them out."
The party, even though they were wounded and out of firepower, attacked the octopin. Five of the seven were affected by the slow gaze, but they managed to kill the octopins.
As they were deciding what to do next, they were hit with a Mind Blast and everyone failed except for Cora, the halfling rogue/cleric. Zyrxog, having manifested schism before coming downstairs then hit her with recall agony and told her that she could surrender now or die.
Cora surrendered.
Zyrxog told her that he wanted payment for letting them live, and that she would accept his terms or she and her friends would be dinner for the next week.
These were the terms of surrender:
She would become his agent, and serve him unquestioningly. She would also agree to not interfere with any other agent of his, regardless of their actions. She was then branded with a psionic tattoo.
She was responsible for the other members of the group. Their actions were considered to be her actions. Their interference would be her interference.
Zyrxog laid claim to all of their accumulated treasure (though he did not claim any of their worn equipment). This included the magic mirror they had been lugging through the sewers from the Sodden Hold.
He also took the body of Imani, the party wizard who was killed by the Spirit Naga, as well as all her equipment. The rest of the party was not exactly pleased with Cora when they woke up.
Zyrxog charged them with the job of assassinating Loris Rakanian, on the pretense that he cannot let word get out that he betrays his clients. They are charged to get rid of Rakanian in a subtle manner, as he is a prominent public figure. It CANNOT look like an assassination, and they are not to tip him off.
So, now the party moves on to the Champions Games, as the agents of Zyrxog, with the mission to eliminate Rakanian. I made Ekiam Smallcask another of Zyrxog's agents who is charged with "assisting" in their mission.
Interesting twist! Congrats on taking Zyrxog from two-bit psionic shill, and making him the true secret mastermind beneath the sewers of the Free City. Hope it all plays out successfully, and good luck with the Champion's Belt.