I was leafing through my copy of The Temple Of Elemental Evil (I am not a gamer, but I've always found Gary Gygax's work to be particularly good at firing my creative juices) and I came to the section where the PCs can confront and potentially defeat Zuggtmoy.
The text notes that if the PCs defeat Zuggtmoy, then the Elemental Nodes collapse, and destroy anything within them.
Here's my question, though-wouldn't destroying the Elemental Nodes essentially defeat the power of the Temple once and for all, or at least cripple it to a large extent? The Orb of Golden Death is still dangerous, but substantially less powerful, if the gems of power are not retrieved from the Nodes and are destroyed and the Nodes collapse along with them. Not to mention that all of the elemental cults will likely severely suffer with their vile lady now banished to the Abyss for a substantial amount of time, and the Elemental Nodes they draw their power from broken as well.
Needless to say, defeating Zuggtmoy is a very tall order, even if she is restrained and can't access her full powers. That said, assuming the PCs do in fact pull it off, what would be the larger implications for the campaign, in your view?
Ztuggmoy defeated means that Iuz doesn't have a base from which to back-stab Verbobonc, Furyondy, or Greyhawk when the wars break out. Your from the Ashes campaign would look a lot different.
As written, I never liked the "defeat the demon and destroy the temple" angle. It seemed too disconnected from everything else going on. I got the idea that she was Iuz's lover and working on his behalf and all that, but the way the text was written it seemed a little too wishy-washy. Add in the presence of Lolth, appearances by Iuz and Cuthbert, and (later) the involvement of Tharizdun - not to mention the question or whether or not Tharizdun is really the Elder Elemental Eye - and you have a mess with very little in the text to explain it all.
If you stick to the text as written, it seems likely a party could "defeat" the temple pretty handily without even addressing Zuggtmoy or the nodes. With a little adjustment, they could defeat her without addressing much of the temple itself. Multiple options present themselves. The addition of newer materials from 3e and Living Greyhawk further complicate the matter, and if you add in concepts and rumors like those bandied about on Dragonsfoot it could get even worse.
Then there are idiots like me who spend most of a decade trying to cobble it all together into a comprehensive whole... What a mess!
Here's my question, though-wouldn't destroying the Elemental Nodes essentially defeat the power of the Temple once and for all, or at least cripple it to a large extent?
It would defeat that particular scheme. With a world full of evil artifacts, demonic patrons, gods and monsters there's always another scheme to be had, though, if you still like the idea of the Temple of Elemental Evil as a reoccurring threat. They've proven themselves to be ambitious enough to turn to new patrons after Zuggtmoy's imprisonment; they can reinvent themselves again, perhaps in another part of the Flanaess or another plane if need be. They could be joined by a new villain to bolster their ranks or simply find a new source of power. They could show up diminished and desperate, a pale shadow of what they once were, or turn up more powerful than ever.
With a little adjustment, they could defeat her without addressing much of the temple itself. Multiple options present themselves.
This is true of the computer version of the game as well. You can skip much of the Temple, itself, and take out Zuggtmoy, thus winning the game. Even Lareth the Beautiful is in a part of the Temple that can be avoided. And the Nodes need never be visited.
And not only that, if players skip much of what there is to do, exactly how are the PCs going to have enough XP/levels (and magical gear) to defeat Zuggtmoy in the first place (assuming the DM isn't a complete wuss)? _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
I was rereading my copy of the module after originally writing this post, and I found that, if the Nodes are destroyed, the Orb of Golden Death is destroyed as well. So defeating Zuggtmoy does indeed defeat this incarnation of the Temple...at least to the extent that it revolved around the Orb. As many of you noted, this doesn't necessarily prevent Iuz or Lolth or the Elder Elemental Eye (and the Dark Lord, Dread Tharizdun, most certainly is not the same entity as the Eye, thank you very much), but that doesn't impact the other entities.
Taking Zuggtmoy out might just give Iuz and/or Lolth more room to maneuver and possibly supplant Zuggtmoy's place in the conspiracy. I can see Iuz using the Temple as a base for more of his own evil schemes south of Furyondy, Veluna and the Shield Lands, causing them no end of grief and undermining their ability to resist his inevitable invasion from the north.
Or Lolth starts using the Temple as a power base, spinning a web of intrigue as she seeks to become a new power in the central Flanaess as a salve for her defeats in Erelhei-Cinlu...
And then, of course, there's the Elder Elemental God, and who can say what an ambitious Eclavdra might not seek to do, assuming that her efforts to displace Lolth's clerics as the rulers of Erelhei-Cinlu are successful?
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