My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ...!

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N1njato Ebon Hand Cultist (3/11/04 5:06 am) Reply	My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ...! Yes, they've found the 4 sided statue and alter, and want the 'officials' in Hommlet to destroy them. They haven't found the huge obelisk yet but I imagine they're going to want to destroy that too somehow. Questions are: How do you destroy the alter? The statue isn't especially magical so that can just crumble. But what about that nasty alter? How would they destroy the massive obelisk? Is it even possible? Last question. I don't want the PC's to simply ask the townsfolk like Y'dey and Elmo to do this for them, but I'm not sure how I can get the PC's to try to do it themselves. So far I've told them that now that the cultists are active again, none of the official protectors of Hommlet want to leave the town in case of an attack, even for just a day. Any suggestions?
msherman Briar Beast (3/11/04 5:17 am) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... The altar is nearly identical to the one in the Fire temple, which has a hardness of 10 and 60 hp, which means it can be destroyed the old fashioned way, with a bag full of maces. Have you read through the whole module yet? If not, I recommend you do -- there's a lot of subtle interconnection between the earlier parts of the module and the latter parts. (The reason I ask is because a nearly identical altar exists in the Fire Temple in the CRM, and one of the events in the module involves the Water Temple sending a strike force to destroy it, possibly with the party's help.)
N1njato Ebon Hand Cultist (3/11/04 7:53 am) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... Actually I haven't read through everything. I've read up to the crater ridge mines and then skimmed the rest. I should give the whole thing a total read-through you're right. Just finding the time to go through all that material... nice suggestion though. Hardness 10 HP 60... go it. Are there any other ill side effects? They're paranoid that the amorphous black creature thing is going to come out and eat them. I almost want that to happen... But what about that enormous obelisk?
msherman Briar Beast (3/11/04 8:01 am) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... The best they can do with the obelisk is seal it up again. If you want to be thorough, you can assign it a ridiculously high hardness.
Angelalex242 Ghoul Worm (3/11/04 9:32 am) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... There's still the possibility of Adamantite. There's ways to destroy anything. Heaven's wish to destroy all minds! Holy Explosion!
msherman Briar Beast (3/11/04 9:43 am) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... Not if the hardness is greater than 20. I was thinking maybe 200. (I was going to make a comment here likening Tharizdun to Shiva, with respect to the Obelisk, but this is a family board. )
Mr Kaze Staj (3/11/04 11:18 am) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... I seem to recall that description of the black spike in the blasted yard (Inner Fane) discusses how difficult it is to destroy this black obelisk-y material. Personally, I replaced its physical presence with a hole in the space-time continuum. Awfully hard to destroy one of those, no matter how many bags of maces you've got. Bit more dramatic and thematically correct than "A big rock -- and it's Evil![tm]" in my opinion. ::Kaze
N1njato Human (3/11/04 2:20 pm) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... Yeah the obelisk is supposed to be ancient, and I suppose an artifact in its own right. I don't think I'll let them damage it unless they come back with anything short of epic weapons. The alter I'll let them wreck though, but I'd like to have something special happen when they break it. Any suggestions?
Infiniti2000 Night Beast (3/11/04 2:22 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... Doesn't something happen everytime you hit the altar? Even if not, IMO it is an artifact and can only be destroyed via a specific set of events, like all artifacts.
N1njato Human (3/11/04 2:55 pm) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... All that happens is it changes colour, and anyone that tries to touch it does a Fort save DC 18 or get paralyzed for 1d4 hours.
Cordo Crowfoot (3/11/04 4:44 pm) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... I disagree with the artifact sentiments. It's identical to the fire temple's after all which the water temple is trying to take out with a simple disintegrate. I might up the hardness a bit but that's just because I think objects in general are a bit too soft for two handed power attacking fighter types who can tear through things like they are paper.
N1njato Human (3/11/04 11:17 pm) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... My own comment on artifact was directed at the Obelisk that eats souls. The alter is questionable however. I'd still like to know if there is some other special result after destroying the alter (whether or not it's the same as the Fire Temple one). I think it a bit of a let down if it simply 'breaks' and nothing happens. I'll have to find the page where the Fire Temple one is listed. Yes, I'm a bad, bad DM. I still haven't read every page of the mod... tut tut.
Amethysst Human (3/12/04 3:14 am) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... Regarding the Giant Obelisk (M32) You have to remember how this obelisk interacts with the PCs - The veins writhe and move towards living beings as if it was alive. This to me shows some degree of sentience and therefore self preservation could be considered. If the PCs amass enough brave souls to get past the terrible feeling of evil and cold eminating from the obelisk (most normal people would run at the sight of it!) Then the Obelisk would probably find some way to defend itself from attacks. Some examples... The veins amass arround the base of the Obelisk where the people are chipping away at it with picks, reducing the responce time for the veins to attempt to draw the soul into it. The Obelisk, if cracked open releases a number of tentacles (treat as dark tentacles) which spill into the cavern and start devouring the attackers - with each soul devoured the crack heals. Everquest:Drakh Darkscale < Europa > Druzzil Ro Everquest:Amethysst Rage < Ex-Europa > Tallon Zek
N1njato Staj (3/13/04 12:40 am) Reply	Re: My party wants to destroy the Alter in the Moathouse ... Sounds... interesting...
Greyson Human (3/18/04 1:16 pm) Reply	Some More Thoughts Regarding the Altars in the Moathouse Dungeon 34A (pg. 28-29) and the Fire Temple 121 (pg.75-77), here are some more thoughts. We need clarification on the altars' Hardnesses. The Moathouse Altar is made of "...porous, slightly corroded black rock..." It sounds like it is hewn stone. So, I am thinking that the Moathouse Altar is Hardness 8, Hit Points 540 and Break DC 50. And Magical attacks - this Altar has +5 to Saves (+2 base, +3 for caster level [assuming the caster level was 6, half of the caster level of the Fire Temple's Altar]). And the effects of destryoing this altar? Use your imagination. How about a blast glyph (glyph of warding, 6th level caster) that is activated upon destruction and does 3d8 points of cold damage. The Fire Temple's Altar "...is an altar of obsidian..." So, it sounds like volcanic material more like hard glass than stone. The Altar, being obsidian and more like glassy rock than traditional stone might have Hardness 4, Hit Points 240 and Break DC 25. This Altar has +7 to Saves (+2 base, +5 for half caster level [11th]). The effects of its destruction are noted in the text. Now thse statistics noted here and in the adventure regarding the Fire Temple Altar, namely the Hardness 10, Hit Pints 60 and Break DC 28, are for the platform, according to the text on page 77. It reads, "Destroying the Altar: If the platform is destroyed (Hardness 10, Hit Pints 60 Break DC 28 )..." That is why I have contrived different stats for the Altar. I buy the agrument for the Fire Temple Altar being a minor artifact. So destroying it is not a matter of pummeling it with the favored bag of maces. It is "...an altar of ancient power dedicated to the Elder Elemental Eye." Perhaps the Book of the Dark Eye can shed some light on the destruction of Fire Temple's Altar. But, neither Altar is listed in RttToEE's New Magic Items appendix. But, they are obviously magical. So here we are figuring this a out on our own - which is okay, and fun. Thoughts? Villifying rants? Etc... -------- Greyson -------- "Besides, I think Carthage must be destroyed."