Guide to Running the Three Faces of Evil, Part 3

 Part 3: The Cave of Erythnul

There are no light sources in the caves, and the ground is difficult terrain everywhere.

1. Stone Forest
   • Summary: Entry area guarded by grimlocks who attack anyone who does not announce themselves.
   • Checks: DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) to see the hiding grimlocks.
   • Threats: 3 grimlocks
2. The Ledge
   • Summary. A semi-circular room that ends in a sheer drop-off that leads to the grimlock’s main lair. The grimlocks who hide here want the characters to descend the rock ladder over the ledge towards area 14 so they can ambush them.
   • Checks: None
   • Threats: 1 grimlock scalphunter from MME and 2 giant hyena with a frightening shriek ability (DC 12 WIS save or frightened until the end of the next turn)
   • Rewards: A search of the grimlock’s campsite turns up a 200 gp ruby.
3. Descent into the Dark
   • Summary: Spikes are carved into the cavern walls to allow characters to descend to the cave floor, and another leads to the ledge where the grimlock snipers hide.
   • Checks: DC 12 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) to descend or ascend the spikes.
   • Threats: 2 Archers with blindsight 90 ft.
   • Rewards: Ivory dice worth 30 gp.
4. The Tunnel
   • Summary: A tunnel occupied by a grimlock warrior.
   • Checks: none
   • Threats: A grimlock brute from MME.
   • Rewards: In a bag at the grimlock’s waist is the head of a female drow, a potion of cure light wounds, and 200 gp.
5. Choker Tunnels
   • Summary: Another way through that passes by refuse piles and lurking chokers.
   • Threats: 2 chokers
   • Notes: Extraneous encounter worth skipping.
6. The Bridge
   • Summary: A swinging rope bridge connects to a ledge.
   • Checks: DC 12 Dexterity Saving Throw to avoid falling off the bridge when someone takes a full round action to shake it.
   • Threats: 3 grimlocks, each also has a ranged javelin attack.
   • Rewards: Another encounter worth skipping.
7. Cliff Chamber
   • Summary: Entry cave with grimlock sentries
   • Checks: Characters have advantage on a group DC 13 Dexterity (stealth) check to surprise the grimlocks
   • Threats: 2 grimlocks
   • Rewards: None
   • Developments: Grimlocks in area 19 respond to the sounds of battle in round 2, while the chieftan in area 20 arrives on round 3.
8. Common Chamber
   • Summary: Grimlock's sleeping chambers
   • Checks: DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check to find a cache of treasure (see rewards)
   • Threats: 6 grimlocks
   • Rewards: 
   • Treasure cache:
     • Jade figurine of Erthynul worth 100 gp
     • 50 gp
     • 3 garnets worth 50 gp each
     • silver necklace set with 3 gems worth 300 gp
9. Chieftain’s Lodge
   • Summary: Chieftan sits in his room eating trippy mushrooms
   • Threats: 1 Grimlock Chieftain from MME
   • Rewards: 4 100 gp rubies, 150 gp in gold, and a Heward’s Handy Haversack.
10. Temple to Erythnul
    • Summary: Gralluck Kur, a priest of Erythnul, crouches here, throwing mushrooms into a fire.
    • Checks:
      • DC 13 Constitution save for anyone who comes within 10 feet of the fire. Failure inflicts the poisoned condition from the hallucinogenic mushrooms Gralluck is tossing in the fire.
      • DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) to find Gralluck’s Treasure.
      • DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check to decipher Gralluck’s notes.
    • Threats: 3 grimlock brutes defend Gralluck Kur, a grimlock shaman
    • Rewards: 500 gp, a 200 gp statue of Lolth, and a rope of climbing
    • Development: Read the passage from the end of the section when the characters decipher the cleric’s note presaging the Age of Worms.

Guide to Running the Three Faces of Evil, Part 2

 Part 2: The Dark Cathedral

1. Entry
   
   • Summary: A large, mostly empty room with a fountain filled with inky black liquid. Three passages lead to each of the temples of evil.
   • Checks:
     • DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) around the pool to find clues that folks have tried to dig fingernails into the stones about the pool to avoid being immersed.
   • Threats: Touching the pool causes 1 cold damage. Submersion in the pool causes 4d10 cold damage. Two warrior veterans stand guard in this room. One engages the party, while the other heads east to alert the cultists of Hextor.
   • Rewards: An offering in the basket near the fountain of 100 gp and a statue of Ethrynul worth 300 gp.
   • Development: The guard will attempt to warn reinforcements in the Temple of Hextor. At the end of the adventure, the Aspect of the Overgod will emerge (probably) from the pool.
2. Chamber of the Guardians
   • Summary: Eight suits of armor with skeletons inside line the room. If the party opens the door without the proper knock or the guard reaches the room before the party, all the skeletons attack. Each suit of armor is adorned with bells, alerting the cultists to intruders and visitors.
   • Threats: 8 skeletons with AC 18.
   • Development: See the table at the bottom of this post for how combat develops in the temple. In my play through, the cultists in room 3 escaped and freed the boar and alerted the clerics, while the party blocked the veterans in room 4 until they dealt with the boar and skeletons. 
3. Chamber of the Faithful
   • Summary: Cultists loyal to the temple squat in this chamber.
   • Checks: DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) to find the treasure.
   • Threats: 5 cultists
   • Rewards: Holy symbol of Hextor worth 100 gp and a ceremonial dagger worth 50 gp.
   • Developments: The cultists will leave at the sound of battle to first unleash the beast, and then alert the clerics of Hextor.
4. Guard Chamber
   • Summary: A chamber for guards who watch the door.
   • Checks: DC 13 Intelligence (investigation) to find treasure.
   • Threats: 2 warrior veterans
   • Rewards: Pouch with 20 pp and gold necklace worth 100 gp
   • Developments: The guards here move to delay attackers in area 2.
5. Chamber of the Beast
   • Summary: A pen containing a beast trained by the cult.
   • Checks: DC 13 Dexterity check with Thieves ’ Tools to open the padlock on the beast’s cage.
   • Threats: 1 giant boar
   • Developments: The boar moves to attack intruders, while the cultists head to area 6.
6. Inner Guard Chamber
   • Summary: Secondary guard chamber
   • Checks: If the door is barred, it requires a DC 20 Strength (Athletics) check to open.
   • Threats: 3 warrior veterans
   • Rewards: One guard has a silver ring inlaid with emeralds worth 200 gp.
   • Developments: Alerted guards here will bar and defend the door while the clerics in area 9 are notified and prepare for the intruders.
7. Barracks (empty save for some weapons)
8. Priests’ Chambers
   • Summary: Chamber of a pair of married priests of Hextor, Garrus and Kendra.
   • Checks: DC 13 Dexterity (thieves’ tools) check to open the chest in the room.
   • Threats Garrus (Priest) and Kendra (Howling Hatred Priest)
   • Rewards: 200 gp, a jeweled bracelet worth 500 gp, and a wand of entangle.
9. Chapel of Hextor
   • Summary: A desecrated altar of Hextor with two zombies guarding it.
   • Checks: DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check to identify a glyph of warding on the secret panel, and a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check to disarm
   • Threats: 2 troglodyte zombies who have advantage on checks against turn undead thanks to the desecrate effect.
   • Rewards: 250 gp golden chalice, 2 silver holy symbols of Hextor worth 50 gp each, and a silvered sacrificial dagger worth 150 gp.
10. Theldrick’s Chamber
    • Summary: The High Priest of Hextor’s chamber, containing scrolls detailing the cult’s plans (handout #1).
    • Checks: None
    • Threats: Theldric, a war priest.
    • Rewards: 70 gp and a bust of a dwarven king worth 2000 gp to the right buyer.
11. Battle Temple of Hextor
• Summary: A battleground for the followers of Hextor with a large statue of the god in the middle.
• Checks: A DC 13 Strength check will topple the statue to create a bridge to the ledge.
• Threats: None, though enemies converge and funnel the characters here.
• Rewards: 1000 gp ruby set into the forehead of the statue.
• Development: If the characters can't make it past the door in room 6, they will be forced to battle the cultists here on grounds of their choosing. Theldrick, Garrus, and Kendra will attack from the rim of the temple, while zombie and remaining cultists and veterans attack at ground level. Enterprising characters will notice they can topple the statue to reach the rim with the priests. 

Summary of Enemy Responses

Round after combat starts	Location	Action
1	3	cultists move to area 5
1	4	Guards engage PCs in delaying action in area 2
2	3	Cultists enter area 5 and unleash the Beast
3	3	Cultists move toward area 6
3	5	Beast moves to engage PCs
4	3	Cultists alert guards in area 6
5	3	cultists go to area 7 and alert the clerics
5	6	Guards bar the door to area 6.
6	3 & 7	cultists and clerics alert Theldric in area 9
7	3, 7, and 9	Cultists, clerics, zombies, and Theldric move to the ledge in area 11 to await intruders

Guide to Running the Three Faces of Evil, Part 1

Introduction

• See my review of the adventure here. 
• Find the web supplement here. 
• This guide will be in four parts. This section will cover the Call to Action and entering the mine, followed by posts for the three wings of the dungeon. 

Call to Action

This is how I changed the Call to Action. Telegraph to your characters that it's meant to be a strong start to introduce a recurring villain, and admit that you are railroading them for the sake of the story. If they really resist, have the other mine managers, Allustan, or some other ally of the party step in and get them released. That NPC can then relate the information below if needed.

At the end of The Whispering Cairn, as the characters exit the cave, they are arrested by Sheriff Cubbins and a dozen guardsmen for breaking into the observatory and stealing from Filge. Once in jail, Balabar Smenk comes visiting. After threatening the characters a bit, he tells them the following:

• Ragnolin Dourstone is in league with a religious cult operating out of a temple beneath his mine.
• He was introduced to the cult leaders by Ragnolin to procure supplies for the cultists, but he thinks the cultists are bad for business and are responsible for the undead appearing in town.
• Additionally, he says the cultists double-crossed him and killed one of his top men.
• He’ll see to the characters’ release if they go to the mine, get past the miners, and find an elevator on the lowest level that will take them to the temple.
• He thinks there are multiple evil gods involved. Hextor is the only one he is certain is involved.
• If the characters clear the temple, he will clear their names, and maybe even have more work for them later. If not…he swings a noose about.
• The characters have one week before Smenk believes the cultists are planning some foul ritual - they must stop them before then.

An Alternate Path

The adventure assumes you will sneak into or otherwise infiltrate the mine. However, its also reasonable for the characters to visit Ragnolin and determine he is under some sort of mind control. Clerics from the churches of Wee Jas or St. Cuthbert could help the characters break the mind control, offering another potential path into the mine.

The Mine

• The miners are some of the most down on their luck people in Diamond Lake, including criminals serving hard labor.
• Ragnolin pays his guards a high wage so they will strongly police his poorly paid miners
• Guards
  • There are a total of 24 guards, all of them thugs.
  • Daytime guards are humans, nighttime dwarves.
  • Two sets of four guards walk the mine perimeter.
  • A full loop takes one hour.
  • Two more guards at the gate, and two in the watchtower.
  • Four of the guards are cultists of Hextor who run to the mine in the event of trouble.
  • The guards are hard to bribe; each one requires a 50 gp bribe to get advantage on DC 18 Charisma (Persuasion) checks.
• The miners
  • 40 total
  • Miners work sunrise to sunset
  • Miners easy to bribe - 1 sp gives advantage on DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion) checks
  • Miners can easily be convinced to mess with the guards for the PCs if bribed with 1 gp or more.
  • Miners scatter at the first sign of trouble.
• The Foremen
  • 3 humans
    • Gerald runs the office and administration
    • Lordren has a limp and commands the camp
    • Carr is his assistant with a lazy eye
  • Ragnolin is usually at the mine for 2-4 hours in the middle of the day
• Elevator
  • Characters can hear about the location of the newly installed elevator from anyone friendly in the camp.
  • Someone must be outside the elevator cart to operate the elevator. Miners mill nearby, but no one is assigned to operate it.

Sample Guards

1. Jorek “Ironhand” Malven

• Race/Role: Dwarf thug (night shift perimeter guard)
• Appearance: Thick-set with a broken nose and scarred knuckles. Keeps his helmet polished like it’s the only pride he has.
• Personality: Gruff and humorless; loves reminding miners he makes three times their wage.
• Hook: Secretly one of the Hextor cultists; if trouble flares, he drops the guard act and fights with religious zeal.

---

2. Taren Hollis

• Race/Role: Human thug (daytime gate guard)
• Appearance: Sun-reddened skin, missing two front teeth, always chewing a reed.
• Personality: Lazy but loyal to coin. Won’t risk his steady pay for bribes unless it’s very lucrative (50 gp minimum).
• Hook: Likes to gamble after shifts—if the PCs learn his debts, they might use that leverage.

---

3. “Watchtower” Kurn

• Race/Role: Dwarf thug (nighttime watchtower guard)
• Appearance: Wears an eyepatch (lost the eye to shrapnel in a cave-in) and claims he can see better without it.
• Personality: Paranoid, constantly scanning the shadows. Obsessed with discipline and barking at the miners for fun.
• Hook: Not a cultist himself, but loyal to those who are. Will run for reinforcements quickly if the alarm is raised.

---

Sample Miners

1. Daven Rill

• Race/Role: Human miner (serving hard labor for theft)
• Appearance: Gaunt with hollow cheeks and a permanent cough. Shackled around one ankle during shifts.
• Personality: Bitter, defeated, but quick to take a coin.
• Hook: Could be convinced to sabotage equipment for the PCs—he’s already got nothing to lose.

---

2. “Weasel” Corbin

• Race/Role: Human miner (volunteer, desperate for work)
• Appearance: Lank hair, darting eyes, twitchy hands.
• Personality: Nervous, eager to please, but will run at the first sign of a fight.
• Hook: Knows the patrol patterns inside and out, and will share them for a single silver.

---

3. Maela Junn

• Race/Role: Half-elf miner (former petty thief)
• Appearance: Wiry, arms covered in soot, wears a torn green scarf as her last keepsake.
• Personality: Sarcastic, distrustful of authority, but sympathetic to outsiders.
• Hook: If bribed, she’ll create a distraction to draw the guards off—but she’ll expect the PCs to cover her escape if things go south.

Next time, we will sover The Dark Cathedral, Temple to Hextor. 

Running the Age of Worms Adventure Path

This post will collect links to the Age of Worms content I have written in one handy post. I'll update it as I add more posts. I'll also occasionally update where I am at in the conversion process. Today, I have posts scheduled through January (appearing every Sunday) covering the Three Faces of Evil. My conversion of the next adventure, Encounter at Blackwall Keep, is done, and I am running the adventure now. I expect the guides for it to post in February, and I am working on my conversion for the fourth adventure, The Hall of Harsh Reflections, now. 

Reviews

The Whispering Cairn

The Three Faces of Evil

Guides

The Whispering Cairn

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The Three Faces of Evil

Coming Soon!

Other Supplements

Player's Guide to Diamond Lake

 Guide to Running The Whispering Cairn, Part 3

This part of the guide covers the interlude to put Alaster Land to rest. 

Part Three: Tomb Stories

• The characters head back to the old Land farmstead with Alaster Land’s bones. Unfortunately, when they arrive, they find the graves have been robbed, and a wounded owlbear occupies the abandoned farmhouse
• There are 5 gravesites, all empty:
  • Anders Land (531 CY - 564 CY)
  • Bermissa Land ((534-576 CY)
  • Coldaran Land (550-576 CY)
  • Gertia Land (564-576 CY)
  • Alastor Land (552-? CY)
• A DC 9 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check reveals wheelbarrow tracks leaving the gravesites and heading towards Diamond Lake.
• Inside the farmhouse is a wounded owlbear with 50 hp that immediately attacks anyone who enters.
• A baby owlbear, only a few months old, hides in the back of the hut. It will latch onto the first character to show it kindness. Baby owlbears can be sold for as much as 3000 gp. If the characters choose to keep it, it will be a handful.
• A DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check discovers a dismembered arm with a tattoo. A DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check remembers it is the symbol of a mine manager who was driven out of business just over a year ago by Balabar Smenk. Another DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check recalls gang members often hang out at the Feral Cock.

Part Four: The Feral Cock

• The graverobbers (4 thugs) are holed up here, led by an albino half-orc berserker named Kullen. All have tattoos that match the severed arm.
• Balabar Smenk asked Kullen to go to Filge and give him whatever help he needed, and he wanted corpses. Kullen resented the ask, but is in debt to Balabar. He’s initially indifferent to the characters, but can be persuaded or intimidated into giving the characters information. Alternatively, the characters can just beat it out of him.
• Kullen has a potion of healing in his possession, along with 9 gp.
• If characters can’t get information about Filge and his observatory the first time, Kullen and his thugs will look to ambush them later.

Part 5: The Observatory

1. Landing
   • Summary: Small tool closet with a crawling claw, locked door into the observatory.
   • Checks: DC 12 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) to pick the lock. Failure by 5 or more alerts the skeletons in the next room, as does bashing the lock.
   • Threats: Crawling claw in the tool closet.
   • Developments: If the characters make too much noise, the skeletons in the next room will have an advantage on initiative.
2. Watchers In the Dark
   • Summary: Animated skeletons from the Land’s remains take cover behind a table and attack the characters in a debris-filled room.
   • Checks: DC 12 Wisdom (medicine) check to identify marks of the Red Death plague, meaning these remains match the cause of death of the Land family.
   • Threats: All squares are difficult terrain. Three skeletons attack the party.
3. Abandoned Office
4. Cenobitic Chambers
   • Checks: A DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check in one of the chambers finds a pouch hidden behind a drawer with 6 pp and 5 gp.
5. Feasting Hall
   • Summary: A zombified feast hall is set for a dinner party. If a character sits at the head of the table, the zombies act out a lavish dinner party.
   • Treasure: The full set of silverware is worth 200 gp.
6. Kitchen
7. Pantry
8. Storage Closet
9. Bedchamber
   • Summary: Filge’s bedchamber, filled with eccentricities. Accessible via stairs or windows from the roof of the attached observatory building. Filge is present here from 2 am until noon. each day. His owl keeps watch while he sleeps. The head also has a magic mouth cast on it to scream “Intruder!” if touched.
   • Treasure: Syringes that function as the following potions: Healing, Comprehension, and Water Breathing.
   • Developments: A handout with the note Smenk sent to Filge is also in the room.
10. Closet
11. Operating Theatre
    • Summary: Filge’s laboratory, where he is trying to create a powerful new zombie.
    • Checks:
    • Threats: For Filge, use a Necromancer Wizard without circle of death or summon undead. The creatures in the vats are three zombies and one Strahd zombie. The skeleton of Gertia Land also protects Filge. He has a syringe that acts as a potion of false life, and has already cast mage armor and mage hand when the PCs enter the room.
    • Treasure: Filge has operating instruments worth 500 gp. There is also a 20 gp emerald embedded in the corpse. Lastly, there is a worm of Kyuss embedded in embalming fluid.
    • Developments: Filge quickly spills his guts if intimidated or persuaded.
      • Balabar recruited him from the Free City for his undead expertise. Something is going on in the Dourstone mine involving cultists of the Ebon Triad and undead. Smenk is scared of the place, and that scares Filge.
      • He stole the skeletons because he needed helpers and had no idea who they were.
      • The Cult of the Ebon Triad follows Hextor, Erthynul, and Vecna all at once.
      • The worm likely once belonged to a spawn of Kyuss - a kind of zombie, and likely the “unkillable undead” Balabar was talking about.
      • No one knows much about Kyusss. It is said he appeared in a Rift Canyon far to the north and had an undead dragon general. Only his worms remain, along with his title: Harbinger of the Age of Worms.