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Before I launch into a description of the big dungeon raid in this adventure, I think it’s useful to go over some background information.

Barzilai’s Desperation Move

As we say back in the background for Adventure 01, Barzilai’s scheme to become a genius loci will only work exactly as planned if he dies a natural death from old age. So he very much wants to keep on living.

As soon as he sees he’s lost the upper hand in the rebellion (at Authority 0), the dictator will turtle up in the Temple of Asmodeus, and will order its high priest to enact a ritual to contact Mephistopheles directly. The ritual takes three days and a lot of sacrifices to complete, and when it does Mephistopheles answers by sending six pit fiends to serve Barzilai and by giving him and all his underlings a major boost in stats that’s going to last for a whole month. So you can see why the PCs should be very interested in stopping this. This is why the final part of this adventure is an assault on the temple.

The Song of Silver

Fortunately, after completing all the missions in Part 01 of this adventure, the PCs should have eliminated some of Barzilai’s main goons and acquired everything they need to perform the Song of Silver: the score, the lyrics, and control of the Opera House.

The Song of Silver is a ritual developed by the original Silver Ravens. It must be performed on stage at the Kintargo Opera House, though it doesn’t really require an audience beyond the PCs and maybe some of their main allies. It’s short, taking only one minute to sing, and requires a skill test that should by now be trivial for any bard in the party. Shensen can also sing it if there are no PCs trained in Performance.

As soon as it completes, the dome of the opera house shines with a bright light and the whole city is enveloped in a protective field that lasts for seven days. While it’s active, all weapons in the city count as being made of silver, and all evil outsiders must succeed at a moderately difficult caster level check to teleport or use similar abilities. The performer, every other PC, and up to four additional allies also gain a major bonus on saves against charm and compulsion effects, and become completely immune to fear. They can choose to end this blessing to automatically pass a save, or to gain the effects of the breath of life spell (which yes, can return them to life if they die).

The song can only be performed once a month - the PCs should ideally only need to perform it once in this adventure. When it’s performed for the first time, Barzilai’s Authority is reduced by 15 if that’s still an issue. It would be optimal if the PCs went into the Temple while under the effects of the Song, as it makes the assault much easier.

The Temple of Asmodeus

The temple is a very large round building. It used to be dedicated to Aroden but was converted to the worship of Asmodeus when House Thrune took over Kintargo. The Asmodeans sacrificed all the remaining priests of the dead god back then, turning them into undead that hang around the temple and help defend it. In addition to this atrocious contingent, the place is as heavily fortified as its current occupants could make it.

As mentioned earlier, when Thrune’s forces retreat to the temple its Asmodean priests will begin a summoning ritual that will mean Game Over for the rebellion. This takes 3 days to complete, so that’s the window of time the PCs have to stop it. You should definitely inform them of this.

PCs can use rebellion actions to make their assault on the temple easier. These require DC 30 Secrecy checks, so if you haven’t been tracking the Rebellion rules so far, that’s where the PCs should put their +15. Their actions during the previous missions will gain them allies that will further help with this. One of the actions gives them a nearly complete map of the temple. The other sabotages the ritual, making it take 6 days instead of 3, penalizing its divine spellcasters (they’re demoralized!) and even reducing the frequency with which the temple bells ring (see below).

Raiding the Temple

The Temple of Asmodeus is a huuuge dungeon, and detailing every one of its rooms would be a bigger slog than raiding the place in play. So let’s take a more concise approach.

The party has two main goals when raiding the temple: disrupt the infernal ritual, and disable the cursed bells that are the temple’s main defense. This will break the remaining morale of the Thrune leadership, and cause them to flee the city.

The first thing is to get inside. There are three double doors on the temple’s ground floor and a balcony with another double door on the second floor. All four are protected by a magical trap that can teleport a PC straight to Hell unless it’s disarmed or dispelled first by the usual means.

The ground floor doors lead to empty foyer areas from which the PCs can either go to the central nave or through doors into a series of small side rooms. The balcony door leads directly into the rooms in the second floor loft.

As soon as the PCs enter, they must contend with some temple-wide magical defenses. There’s an effect similar to the Unhallow spell which is powered by a pair of “infernal engines”. These engines also maintain a series of more localized magical hazards inside the temple.

After every fight in here, the bells gather 1d6 power points (1d4 if the ritual was disrupted). When they reach 10 they ring, which inflicts a random bad effect on the PCs. The Song of Silver can help resist some of them, but the only way to stop the bells is to reach the belfry and exorcise them.

The ritual is happening in the nave on the center of the ground floor, but going there directly is suicidal. The enemies at that location are not only a hard encounter, they can also issue a general alert that will draw many of the temple’s other defenders there.

The optimal route would be to enter through the balcony, which puts the PCs on the second floor loft where they can head more or less directly to the infernal engines. This is something they should be able to figure out if they get the full map through a covert action.

Each engine is a magic circle carved on the stone floor with an imprisoned outsider inside. The circle slowly drains the outsider’s life force and uses it to power the temple’s security system. Disabling them requires either expert use of Thief skills, damaging the (very tough) floor carving, or killing the “fuel source”. One holds a rakshasa, the other a lillend azata. Both have a high number of negative levels and will gladly join in as temporary allies if those are restored, despite their opposite alignments.

With the engines disabled, it’s time to take care of the reinforcements. The dragon Rivozair has most likely been defeated before the PCs make it into the temple, but if that didn’t happen for some reason she will be in her lair here on the second floor. She will join in to defend the ritual unless she’s defeated first. In either case her hoard will be here, which is something to keep in mind for after the dungeon is cleared.

The rest of the reinforcements are in the side rooms on the ground floor. Most of these rooms are used in the temple’s day to day activities and populated either by the people and monsters responsible for those activities, or by assigned defenders. Many of these would respond to a general alarm, but none of them can raise one. Individually, each room is a medium-to-easy encounter, made a bit easier by the fact that the engines are already off.

With the reinforcements neutralized and the engines disabled, it’s finally time to assault the ritual. The team performing it can stop for long enough to put up a fight: that’s High Priest Grivenner, five lower-ranking clerics, and five summoned devils. Also in the room is a vampire high priestess of Zon-Kuthon (the shadow-and-torture god) acting as a bodyguard, and a fiendish-shadow-snake thing that will become a lot weaker with the infernal engines disabled.

It’s still a tough fight, but much more manageable without additional enemy waves or magic hazards. Theoretically there are several ways to disrupt the ritual, but “killing everyone involved” is probably the best one.

Optional Goal: Kill Thrune

This is the first time in the whole adventure path where the books recognize the PCs might be able to fight Thrune and win. He’s holed up in his inner sanctum on the second floor, though exceptionally stealthy PCs might be able to catch him sleeping in his room. He’s a tough fight on par with the other boss battles in this dungeon, but he’s definitely defeatable.

The problem is he’s nearly unkillable. The same infernal pact that lets him survive without a heart also make him supernaturally resilient to HP damage. He can keep operating normally until reduced from 206 all the way to -24 HP, after which he becomes stunned. The stun only clears if he’s healed to above -24 HP, but he does have access to a class ability that gives him fast healing and he uses that at the start of every fight.

There are two ways to kill him for real: total bodily destruction, or a certain set of insta-death or soul-trapping spells.

The first happens “naturally” if you get him to -191 HP (!) via standard damage sources, basically turning his body into hamburger. It also happens if you hit him with Destruction or Disintegrate spells when he’s below -24.

The second consists of spells like flesh to stone, soul jar, and other such magic that bypasses damage reduction. This triggers a clause in his infernal contract that kills him instantly to prevent capture.

Killing Barzilai here will prevent a later battle with him and will give the PCs early access to a vital plot coupon, but it’s perfectly possible to bypass the guy entirely. Given what awaits the PCs in the belfry, avoiding Thrune to preserve resources is an equally valid choice as killing him early.

Raiding the Profane Belfry

The dungeon is set up so that this is the last thing you do regardless of the path you took through the Temple. It’s not an optional goal, and it’s no simple victory lap either - it’s the real final boss fight for the Temple of Asmodeus.

The belfry can only be accessed via the hole on the roof of the nave, which only “unlocks” once both infernal engines have been deactivated. There are no stairs - you need flight or teleport magic to get there. A couple of magical traps lie in wait just past the lip of the hole. And then there are the guardians: four powerful undead with an even stronger leader, all former priests of Aroden.

The leader can and will ring one of the bells with his mind as a free action every round, causing an effect much more powerful than the ones the party has been experiencing so far. A Silence spell will prevent this, but will also prevent the PCs from casting most spells too.

Hell’s Bells

Once all guardians are destroyed, it’s time to exorcise the bells. The procedure for this is quite elaborate and it’s definitely something I’d allow the PCs to easily find out via prior research, because if they find themselves unprepared here the whole raid was for nothing. They’re going to need to at least one scroll of Hallow and five of Dispel Evil, though I’d also recommend multiple spares for each one. Preparing these spells also works, of course, but it eats into the number of slots they have available for the fights in the temple.

Steps 1 and 2 are disabling the infernal engines and killing the guardians. Done and done.

Step 3 is casting a Hallow spell on the belfry, or a Consecrate spell on each of the five bells.

Step 4 is drumming the chorus to the Song of Silver on one of the bells, which requires a trivial Performance check.

Step 5 is casting Dispel Evil on the same bell within a minute of drumming the chorus on it. This causes the bell to begin glowing. A PC must then touch the bell within 3 rounds (18 seconds). This will plunge the PC into a semi-real vision related to the bell’s nature, and if the PC can endure and overcome the vision, the bell is exorcised.

Failure to perform the song’s chorus, to enter the vision in time, or to overcome the vision causes the bell to ring a discordant note that dispels the Hallow effect and possibly summons a devil. The PCs must fight the monster and begin the process anew from step 3.

For each vision, the GM describes the scene, lets the player describe their PCs reaction to it, and then asks for a roll to overcome the ordeal. Good roleplaying on the part of the PC can give a +5 on the roll. Success exorcises the bell, failure deals ability drain and resets the procedure as above. The GM should tailor the vision to the PC. Here’s a summary of the visions and their tests:

Bell of Torments: The PC is being tormented in Hell by an enemy that particularly vexed them in the past. After a while they realize they are holding their favorite weapon, and can strike at their tormentor. Test: Attack roll vs. AC 28.

Bell of Slaves: The PC is enslaved to a cruel master (someone who lorded over them in the past), working on a grueling task. They must either tough it out, escape their bonds, or stand up to their overlord. Test: Player’s choice of Fort, Ref, or Will vs. DC 21.

Bell of Pride: The PC is called before one of the gods to display their skill or craft. Failing the test turns the vision into one of humiliation. Test: A Craft, Perform, or Knowledge skill test vs. DC 30.

Bell of Tyrants: The PC is the defendant in a trial where Barzilai is the judge, and the PC’s friends and allies jeer at them from the crowd. The PC must mound a successful defense. At the end of the trial, the crowd riots; on a success, they tear the judge apart, on a failure they do it to the PC. Test: A social skill vs. DC 30.

Bell of Infernal Darkness: The PC is sharing a happy moment with a loved one, when suddenly the entire world becomes a giant Barzilai Thrune with a black hole where his heart should be. The PC must lead the loved one away from danger through a shifting surreal landscape. Test: A movement skill vs. DC 30.

These tests seem to be calibrated so that only the PC most specialized in that skill has a decent chance of success, so unless the GM is very cruel I’d recommend giving advance warning that a different PC must touch each bell and throwing the PC in question straight into the vision they are most likely to overcome.

Concluding the Raid

Once all bells have been properly exorcised, the temple can be considered cleared. Any remaining defenders, including Barzilai himself, either flee or get banished back to hell if they were summoned creatures. The party has some time to finish looting the temple as well.

We’ll look at what happens after they leave in the next post.