Heresy of Man Pt. 1 - The Guardian [Spoilers]

[Sean H]

I've been looking over the Heresy of Man series, and I plan on running Pt. 1 later tonight. However, I'm a little uncertain on how the battle with the Dark Guardian of Norgorber is supposed to go.

When I first read over the scenario I thought he went to cast Darkness and attack as soon as the PCs invaded his holy shrine, but upon re-reading his tactics it looks like he sits back and waits while they desecrate everything, and only attacks once they try to leave. This... doesn't seem right. In addition to not making much sense, it means the whole battle would take place along a 5 ft. wide stairway, which means the PCs would always know where this guy is(right in front of them!) despite the darkness.

How have other GMs run this?

[Purple Fluffy CatBunnyGnome]

have him hidden ... he can be on the landing to the door out ... deeper darkness fills the room ... i usually waited until at least 3/4 of the group was in the room to see the layout ... black tentacles are fun

[jjaamm]

when I ran it, the party started backing out fast when everthing went dark. Hit the party with deeper darkness when they are half way up stairs. than climb about them and create chaos. That had been my plan, but didnt work. Also this can be a drawn out fight so not good if time crunched.

[Myron Pauls]

I've run this three times. Two of those times, the party could produce daylight, either by casting it, or with an oil. Both times, this fight was fairly easy for the party, especially the time when the monk jumped behind the guardian and got flanking with the rogue.

The last time, no one was prepared for deeper darkness, and it was a very challenging encounter. Everyone could either fly, levitate, or spider climb. This turned the fight into something very special. I created the stairs in 3-D, so everyone could see their relative positions. Of course, in the darkness no one really knew where they were, but we all had a lot of fun anyway.

[Alexander_Damocles]

When I played through it, the fight was on the staircase. Fortunately, we had several people able to cast daylight, so the fight took just a few rounds. If the party doesn't have darkness....goodness, they'd get screwed. Sure they know where he is, but he can unload a crazy amount of damage, and they would have to try and tumble through his square to make it work.

[Myron Pauls]

I realize this is probably too late for you tonight, but I've uploaded my custom maps for this scenario on the shared GM prep drive. Some assembly required.

[Sean H]

I ended up having him hide in one of the cubbyholes, and when one of the party members disturbed the shrine he jumped out and started attacking. It was a very interesting encounter, because the party had only one member who could cast Daylight, but he was the one who disturbed the shrine(and thus was the first one submerged in the Silence+Deeper Darkness).

I was expecting a few deaths based on the way the fight got triggered, but everyone actually made it out alive due to impressive co-ordination among the party members, which was great to see.

That prep drive is near Myron, I'll have to prepare that stuff if I ever run this again(I really hope to, actually).

[Myron Pauls]

Sean H wrote:

I ended up having him hide in one of the cubbyholes, and when one of the party members disturbed the shrine he jumped out and started attacking. It was a very interesting encounter, because the party had only one member who could cast Daylight, but he was the one who disturbed the shrine(and thus was the first one submerged in the Silence+Deeper Darkness).

I was expecting a few deaths based on the way the fight got triggered, but everyone actually made it out alive due to impressive co-ordination among the party members, which was great to see.

That prep drive is near Myron, I'll have to prepare that stuff if I ever run this again(I really hope to, actually).

Sounds like you had a good game. If you liked this one, the next two in the series are also very good. I ran all three in one day for the same group of players and we all had a great time.

[jjaamm]

death rate goes up aswell.

[Alexander_Damocles]

Jeff Morse wrote:

death rate goes up aswell.

Death rate? Alexander Damocles and his companion, Sarai, laugh at such a notion!

In all seriousness, however....Part 3. By all the planes of the Afterlife, that was nasty.

[Justin Riddler]

Myron Pauls wrote:

Sean H wrote:

I ended up having him hide in one of the cubbyholes, and when one of the party members disturbed the shrine he jumped out and started attacking. It was a very interesting encounter, because the party had only one member who could cast Daylight, but he was the one who disturbed the shrine(and thus was the first one submerged in the Silence+Deeper Darkness).

I was expecting a few deaths based on the way the fight got triggered, but everyone actually made it out alive due to impressive co-ordination among the party members, which was great to see.

That prep drive is near Myron, I'll have to prepare that stuff if I ever run this again(I really hope to, actually).

Sounds like you had a good game. If you liked this one, the next two in the series are also very good. I ran all three in one day for the same group of players and we all had a great time.

Luckily he has the same group scheduled to play the next two over the next two Fridays ^_^