The Bottom of the Bottom? Behind the Screen

The visages’ defence holds. Still no one suspected their illusion last session. I used the Madness of Orcus d100 table from Out of the Abyss/Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes for the church bell insanity effects.

Top Tip: Glyphimhor

Decide in advance what Glyphimhor will talk about, and what he wants from the players, otherwise things will get comically awkward. I decided Glyphimhor mostly wanted to watch PCs grovel and beg for mercy, remind 'em of the good old days. I didn’t bother to stat him in full, but if a fight breaks out, use the same mental stats as a balor, give him about 65HP, remove all his attacks, give him the 3 spells in the adventure, i.e. fear, suggestion, ray of enfeeblement.

Orcus or Tenebrous?

I am going to call a spade a spade, and the Demon Prince of Undeath the Demon Prince of Undeath. Why not Tenebrous? Reasoning as follows:

1. Orcus is an exciting villain

2. The party’s played this game for ages, there’s nothing wrong with throwing them a frickin bone after 16 months

3. Even if all your players recognise the name (some of mine won’t), it creates a mystery of its own. All knowledge of Orcus’s existence was erased from time by Kiaransalee. Therefore, no player can succeed on a skill check to remember anything about him, and no amount of research or asking around will turn up any knowledge. The gods themselves might have forgotten his existence (especially the gods your players contact with divination magic). This mystery is, to me, at least as interesting as the mystery identity of “Tenebrous”.

If there is any downside, it’s that they predict the grand McGuffin is the Wand of Orcus. And is that even a downside? I would say nah. You can tell your players the basics of how to work the skeleton warrior band if they identify it, and when they eventually find the Wand, it means they can put 2 and 2 together themselves and crack a means of destroying it. Without you telling them. Maybe.

If you see my encounter table for Tcian Sumere, you’ll read that I wouldn’t allow long rests inside the dungeon. But how does the dungeon change if the party is able to leave to Ranais, rest, and regain all their spells and abilities? I don’t know. I’ve increased the encounter chance up to 50%, its maximum, and put some more spectres in the prison. There’s now 4 visages, 4 spectres, and a bone golem. Could be too much. Maybe add a spellcaster to the dungeon? Spells do maximum damage here, after all.

 

I enjoyed this session. There was some frustration when the party realised they’d “explored” every room but hadn’t found the prisoner, and then again in learning so little from Glyphimhor. On the latter front, 12-Bar didn’t join the persuasion game until the other two had already failed, by which time the odds of success had greatly decreased. They’ve got some ideas for what to do next, but if they can’t find the prison I don’t intend to simply give them the answer.

I also liked the near-deadliness of the ghost fight. Outside of the inevitable boss battle, dungeons often lose some tension in the endgame phase. This fight made things genuinely scary for the players. Everyone loved the risk of cracking the Demonomicon safe too (see the stats in this post). I deliberately gave the lockpicking DC before the roll, which only added to the fun, Alex burning through every ability he could just to succeed. We’ll see what they’ve got left if they finally find the prison.

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