Strange Angel - Aeon...

In 1927, Lovecraft wrote a history of his famed Necronomicon, the evil grimoire that first appeared in his short story "The Nameless City." He described how it was written originally as "Al Azif" (meaning apparently "that nocturnal sound (made by insects) supposed to be the howling of demons") by Abdul Alhazred, the infamous "mad arab" from Damascus. Alhazred was later torn to bits by an invisible creature on a busy street, which is probably a reference to Ambrose Bierce's story "The Damned Thing." This famed couplet appears in both "The Nameless City" and "The Call of Cthulhu": "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."This shirt features the famous Necronomicon couplet, printed in vintage-style mottled dark gray ink, with a red eye opening in the center and H.P. Lovecraft's signature at the bottom. Printed on a quality black cotton shirt with discharge inks (a process that actually re-colors the fabric, instead of laying plastic-feeling ink on top), this large print is super soft to the touch and a pleasure to wear.

Also, while a module inevitably must have a certain number of NPCs and monsters that fight to the death, Biting Lash's behavior makes no sense. If the PCs have marched their way through her fortress, killing everything in their path? "These strangers are obviously incredibly powerful and dangerous, so I should... fly into a rage and attack them, fighting until I am killed!" This is especially silly given that all the PCs want is information. "Oh, is that what you want? Sure, here's this map I drew. That'll be 500 gold. If you're willing to pay for the guards and slaves you killed, I'll tell you everything I know about your friend Mr. Lowls." An evil NPC who is arrogant and has a hair-trigger temper is bog-standard. But an evil NPC who is suicidally aggressive for no reason when there may be an obvious win-win that lets her keep her life and her empire? Umm.

Yeah, that bit is kind of a stupidity test. There's no reason whatsoever to mess with the cages. The PCs should want only two things here -- Kaklatath and information about Lowls -- and poking around the strange cages is obviously not going to help gain either of those. So I guess I'm okay with this encounter; it's avoidable, and if the PCs insist on messing with it, they take their chances.That said, the point remains: the whole tower below the roof is very avoidable. And this is a subset of a larger problem: large chunks of this module either could be avoided, or ought to be.

2. The arrangement with Elder Thyrr to enter the library doesn't mention anything about looting or the books, and the adventure doesn't provide value for any of the library's textual content with the strange exception of the misfiled book in B23. (So don't steal from the library unless a book has been mis-shelved?) This seems especially problematic if the PCs break into the library without talking to Thyrr. Worse, what happens if the PCs decide to read or take some of the other books in the Soul?

It's the space from the guards and wards spell that has a suggestion tied to it, mention in the paragraph above B17. Sadly, its suggestion to leave is not very effective, as once the PCs descend to level 3 they can't go back up again, according to B14.Narsham wrote:7. The B10 Dread Wraith description suggests that the wraith "sticks to the two eastern sections of bedrock," which is the only explanation for why it hasn't attacked Mun or the guards, much less the Mythos creatures. Would it stick to that after the PCs arrive?There's nothing there to say it would leave its area. The impression I got was that the dead custodian is sticking near the area it spawned.Narsham wrote:8. The adventure implies without spelling out that the 6 guards in B15, when killed, will each produce a Proto-Shoggoth in 2d6 hours.Huh, good catch. The PCs better burn those bodies!Narsham wrote:9. B14 as-written is a mess. "Each round, randomly choose a target in the room (including the spawn of Yog-Sothoth) as a target for one of these falling stones." Shouldn't there be a sentence explaining that the rockfall stops once the Spawn (which is actively damaging the room) has been killed? Otherwise, not only is there evidently an infinite number of rocks that fall without the whole room actually caving in, but clearing the rubble from the gate (10 minutes of work) triggers 100 DC 15 Reflex saves!The text seems to indicate the chamber itself is falling apart because of already-caused damage, but it does seem like maybe the rocks should stop falling once the spawn is dealt with. Otherwise it gets a little crazy, as you note. And considering that stones large enough to cause 3d6 damage are falling every 6 seconds, and so many are falling that at least one person will have to dodge no matter where they are, the room should probably collapse, or be buried, in short order if that keeps up.Narsham wrote:12. If the PCs do get to B26--and in theory there's no reason for them to do so--the adventure doesn't explain how they can get out again! Is there a shaft they can climb out? Because the Dimensional Lock prevents other forms of exit.On page 24, Thyrr tells the PCs that there's an angel head with no eyes in the Soul that can be used to reset the wards. That is presumably the PCs' goal in getting into the Soul, although curiously it's not mentioned in B26's description. Once the wards are reset, they can presumably teleport out and collect their reward. AUC.register('auc_MessageboardPostRowDisplay'); AjaxBusy.register('masked', 'busy', 'auc_MessageboardPostRowDisplay', null, null) DM_DM Dec 16, 2016, 10:13 am Narsham wrote: OK, there are some really nice creepy touches in this adventure. But there's also a lot more errata and other problems than in the previous ones in the path.So it's not just me. Oh good.Quote:11. If the PCs manage to trick Mun into telling what he knows, they would seem to have no need to continue with part 3 as they can go straight to the Parchlands. (For that matter, what if they disable and capture Mun, or use Speak with Dead on him? I guess all that extra Hound XP may be necessary after all!) This goes to my biggest problem with this adventure. It's a "breadcrumb" type adventure: the PCs go through a sub-adventure, and at the end of each they get a breadcrumb that leads them to the next one. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that -- this is a perfectly valid way to structure a module. However: by the fourth module in an AP, the PCs are just getting too high level for this. There are just too many ways for them to short-circuit past large chunks of the story if they really put their minds to it. You mentioned Speak With Dead; that's just one of the many, many resources that 11th-12th level PCs can bring to bear on a problem.

Ah, helpful. If the suggestion is located right at the exit of the way down, it's still reasonable as anyone descending has 1 minute to get back out again. But it'd have to be positioned where it's basically unavoidable.Spatula wrote:On page 24, Thyrr tells the PCs that there's an angel head with no eyes in the Soul that can be used to reset the wards. That is presumably the PCs' goal in getting into the Soul, although curiously it's not mentioned in B26's description. Once the wards are reset, they can presumably teleport out and collect their reward.That's because the angel head in question isn't IN the Soul, but in B25 (see second paragraph after the box text on pg 35). AUC.register('auc_MessageboardPostRowDisplay'); AjaxBusy.register('masked', 'busy', 'auc_MessageboardPostRowDisplay', null, null) Narsham Dec 16, 2016, 07:53 pm Here's the Part 3 follow-up. (Part 1 seems pretty good and Grolick already caught the missing greater invisibility spell in Mun's stats.)

After he rose from the dead, his twelve disciples and seven women continued to be his followers, and went to Galilee onto the mountain called "Divination and Joy". When they gathered together and were perplexed about the underlying reality of the universe and the plan, and the holy providence, and the power of the authorities, and about everything the Savior is doing with them in the secret of the holy plan, the Savior appeared - not in his previous form, but in the invisible spirit. And his likeness resembles a great angel of light. But his resemblance I must not describe. No mortal flesh could endure it, but only pure, perfect flesh, like that which he taught us about on the mountain called "Of the Olives" in Galilee.

"And he has a semblance of his own - not like what you have seen and received, but a strange semblance that surpasses all things and is better than the universe. It looks to every side and sees itself from itself. Since it is infinite, he is ever incomprehensible. He is imperishable and has no likeness (to anything). He is unchanging good. He is faultless. He is eternal. He is blessed. While he is not known, he ever knows himself. He is immeasurable. He is untraceable. He is perfect, having no defect. He is imperishability blessed. He is called 'Father of the Universe'".

"He was given great authority, and he ruled over the creation of poverty. He created gods and angels, archangels, myriads without number for retinue, from that Light and the tri-male Spirit, which is that of Sophia, his consort. For from this, God originated divinity and kingdom. Therefore he was called 'God of gods' and 'King of kings'.

The Holy One said to him: "I want you to know that First Man is called 'Begetter, Self-perfected Mind'. He reflected with Great Sophia, his consort, and revealed his first-begotten, androgynous son. His male name is designated 'First Begetter, Son of God', his female name, 'First Begettress Sophia, Mother of the Universe'. Some call her 'Love'. Now First-begotten is called 'Christ'. Since he has authority from his father, he created a multitude of angels without number for retinue from Spirit and Light."

The perfect Savior said: "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear. First Begetter Father is called 'Adam, Eye of Light,' because he came from shining Light, and his holy angels, who are ineffable (and) shadowless, ever rejoice with joy in their reflecting, which they received from their Father. The whole Kingdom of Son of Man, who is called 'Son of God,' is full of ineffable and shadowless joy, and unchanging jubilation, (they) rejoicing over his imperishable glory, which has never been heard until now, nor has it been revealed in the aeons that came afterward, and their worlds. I came from Self-begotten and First Infinite Light, that I might reveal everything to you." 781b155fdc