"Thanks. May your aid long be remembered by Dagon," the half-orc says to the healer.
After the chilling days of hunting seals, the rogue figures he can survive the room they are warned of as cold.
into C19
Taeral attempts to identify the type of creatures that made the large pile of bones.
C9 – Boggard village, A-F are boggard homes. G was Kumanda’s lair. His two consorts live here. Having defeated him, you have rights to them. You also have rights to two large chunks of flawed but valuable amethyst worth 150gp and 220 gp respectively. A fossilized mammoth tusk worth 500gp, and a helm
It is a helm of comprehend languages and read magic
There are intact human, half-elven, elven, and dwarven skeletons in this pile that could be raised by animate dead into skeletal minions, should some enterprising necromancer decide to do this.
In looking it is not apparent that everyone made an attempt at the DC 30 perception check in C5. In fact, I'm pretty sure some folks did not try it, so swing away if you can!
"Brrr." the hiding rogue thinks.
So which of you are shacking up with the pair of boggard babes?
Ah, a dump site of bodies.
An excellent resource pile if ever we need fodder.
*ewww*
Right, taking 20 against a "known unknown" could work, but not against a random secret door that you've no idea is there.
I suppose i could make some rolls & hope for a 20. Random room perception with heroism & competence bonus.
So what's th plan then? Shack up a few days with the chick boggards before going back out and up?
Aren't there a space or two down here unexplored?
"Have we checked out everything down here?
For i have this hunch we've missed something as of yet."
"Should we check out the freezer too?" He asks (c19).
After the chilling days of hunting seals, the rogue figures he can survive the room they are warned of as cold.
[dice=Stealth]1d20+9 into C19
"Brrr." the hiding rogue thinks.
I wouldn't say nothing...
I'm sorry Gertrart, so you did! I'll Post something for you.
Gertrart sneaks into the room. As he goes in the room begins to feel colder and colder. Along the far side of the room, Gertrart spies a bunch of diamonds glittering on the wall as if producing their own light.
As Gertrart starts moving across the room towards the diamonds, his senses warn him of impending danger, and he leaps backwards.
A close inspection shows that there is a spot in the floor that is extremely thin, and likely would have caused Gertrart to fall through, to what he doesn't know, but through couldn't be good.
Having discovered the trapped area, Gertrart proceeds across the room to the "diamonds" only to discover that they are clear quartz with an unnatural glow coming from them.
Gertrart uses silent image [/] to outline the dangerous area before mining to the crystals. [I]"Well, what have we here?"
+9 (local), +8 (dungeoneering), +7 (engineering), +5 (all others), or spellcraft at +12.
Unfortunately Gertrart, the sum total of this room is a trap, with no treasure. The "diamonds" are worthless.
So, are we ready to move further up into the Horn?
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ok, I will point you towards this post and ask which of the routes of entrance do you wish to take.
You can easily have rested for a couple days. The boggards will provide you a secure base camp while you explore the Horn, but they know nothing about the upper levels.
Gertrart suggests the second entrance. "The easiest to reach means any inhabitants will have the best tested defenses. Someone depending on the terrain to protect them is likely to be more lax." It may not be sound logic, but it has a logic. The rogue's logic totally ignores the invisible scouts that could tell us a little more about either entrance.
"I believe this is another perfect example of when we should send in the imps to scout a bit for us. I think the first level and work our way up and through." Taeral adds to the suggestion.
"Yes, let the grunts do the work, they are here to serve, let them do their part. We've been at the front for far too long"
[Pats fingers together]
"Quite so, it'd be a waste to be cut from the task at hand, prematurely."
"I doubt we have a means to fly, so I recommend starting from the lowest level. Bapho, scout ahead!"
Gertrart let's the imps scout ahead but gets as close to the first entrance as he can.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ok, so the Imps (3 now?) go up the steps into area 1-1:
You simply walk up a wide set of stairs a hundred feet and arrive at the landing. Clearly, this area was supposed to be guarded. There are six arrow slits on both the east and west walls. Forty feet into the passage a solid stone half-wall rises that could provide cover to two medium-sized combatants.
From this point the passageway turns to the right. 40’ further there is a passageway to the left, and a large wooden door to the right. The passage continues a further 40’ down passing a second door on the right, and ending at a door.
The imps decide to not check any of the doors as yet, and instead they go up the north passageway that turned to the left. 30’ up the passageway it opens into a long room, a courtyard with numerous doors along either side goes west, and a fountain full of water. The fountain has a centerpiece in the form of Charon and his skiff. To the east, the room necks down and then reopens into a large vaulted space. Upon every surface there are carved baroque scenes of daemons and their humanoid allies marching together to conquer in the name of the daemon prince Vetra-Kali. At the far east end of that room is a dais, with a throne at the top. To the north and south are arches that lead into two rooms. The arches have ragged silk tapestries hanging in their openings, so the imps cannot see into the rooms without moving the tapestries.
They imps return to the party and report what they have found. They have been everywhere they could go without opening doors or moving tapestries aside.
"I guess it is time to find out who our upstairs neighbors are." Tearal says with a chuckle.
He peers through the arrow slits on both side of the hallway in turn.
Once the imps have scouted the area, and tell it's safe, Mordecai follows them upstairs.
"Very quiet. Is it even too quiet?"
"I told you there was no one here. Buuut, check here, mortals: Many battles have been fought here! But I guess it's a long time ago"
"That matters not, it is deserted now and fit for an undisturbed investigating."
222 days, to be precise.
Remember the "mechanic" used to determine when you had done enough sabotage to the keep in the last module? This module has a similar mechanic. Once you have taken over, you will have figured out what resources you have to station around the overall Horn and the dungeon to guard it. For example, the members of the boggard tribe are one such resource. The acid in the acid pool are another such resource. Places like this entrance, with its knee-wall and arrow slits on the sides too. Yes, there is a points system, and then at specific points in the 222 days, the outside world will make various attempts to break in and disrupt your ritual. Based on how well you guys have fortified, will depend on how much of the good guys get through for you to deal with and such, and in what shape.
Consider every dungeon stronghold you have ever broken into as the good guys in other modules and APs, and you wondered who set up the traps and guards and such? Well, in this adventure, that will be you!
You can well imagine some group of young goodie goodie PCs out there somewhere given the mission "three days ago, we got word that the Horn of Abaddon had been taken over by the forces of evil, and a terrible ritual has been started. We fear the successful resolution of that ritual, so you guys need to go out there and see that they bad guys fail."
Of course, you're just on the opposite side of it this time!
Peering through the arrow slits you can see guardrooms behind the arrow slits, empty guard rooms that would almost certainly gain a "Security Point" if there were guards here with missile weapons.
There are locations in the lower caverns where "Security Point" options exist, but I am not going to just tell you where they are, but the question having just been asked, and these two spots being so obvious, I wanted to show you how the mechanic works.
I would be comfortable giving a Profession(soldier) check if someone was good at that skill at various locations to determine if they were good spots, or not. I'm not sure what other skills might apply, maybe knowledge(architecture)?
There will be a number of "interesting" things in this "dungeon" that can be used as guards or traps, etc.
Please note the link I posted above for the "Main Levels"
If you read the description I gave above, you can follow where you came in from 1-1.
You guys are great about OOC knowledge. I'll try and post info tomorrow about the rooms, in the usual way, leaving the areas that have something "interesting" for us to "explore"
Sound good?
"There have been many battle here," Gertrart says looking at the scuffs, scratches and blood stains on the stones. "Though not for quite some time."
The blood desecrator leads the way around the corner after peering through the slits with Taeral. He moves as quietly as possible and listens to the three doors in the first hallway.
Gertart spent his time with the dwarves learning about various defenses of the last keep.
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Ok, so my intent is to provide you with what you can have discovered in the many rooms that are easy to scout. We can then worry about any “interesting” rooms. I provide you levels 1 and 2. I want to wait and discuss these levels before you go to level 3, as there is info on these levels that will help on level 3. There are places where I ask for skill checks, and some where I don’t and just gave you the info. I doubt I was consistent. If you think you’d be apt to take 20 searching certain spots and such, then by all means, do so and read the spoilers.
Level 1
There is a fireplace in this part of the tavern that actually has a small vent that opens in the side of the Horn. This vent, though covered by a small metal grate, is actually another (very difficult and dangerous) way in. If someone climbed two hundred feet (Climb skill checks DC 15) and pried off the grate (Strength check DC 12), they could climb down the flue and into the fireplace. Only medium sized are smaller individuals could fit through these tight spaces.
A There is a bar here and a small grill.
One of the acolytes, Brother Zander Trask, kept a journal. The journal is frankly rather dull and poorly written. Trask was no great thinker and mostly it is a repetitive and boring record of the day to day drudgery of being a lowly acolyte of the temple. If carefully read and studied for three hours though three interesting facts can be gleaned.
1. Trask believed there to be something unusual about the south eastern pillar in the lower temple (room 1-27). He suspected it was hollow and had a secret door into it.
2. Trask knew by rumor that two powerful daemons named Hexor and Vexor guarded the upper levels. He didn’t know precisely where they were stationed, but he desperately wanted to get a look at them some day.
3. Trask had seen a priest (who thought no one was present) sit upon the throne (room 1-27) and mysteriously vanish. He didn’t know where the priest went but thought it very interesting.
The only hint of former glories is a magic fountain that still produces fresh water (it possesses a moderate transmutation aura). The fountain’s centerpiece is carved in the form of Charon on his skiff. When water is needed the skeletal figure bleeds water like blood into the basin below. The great basin of the pool holds a hundred gallons of water and when it is depleted the basin is replenished at the rate of one gallon a round. Despite the fountain’s sinister appearance and the fact it was created by a pestilence-worshipping daemonic death cult, the water is clean, fresh and potable. The fountain is part of the floor of this room and cannot be removed.
There are twelve inscriptions:
“Laedrissia the Beautiful who believed she need not honor her promises to us.”
“Markhan the Golden, the draconic protector of Lossewyn. He slept then and now he sleeps forever.”
“Kallister Feign, an illusionist too clever to keep his head.”
“Lazarus M. Who mourns for you now?”
“King Croc, 23 feet snout to tail, delicious on a spit”
“Iris of Ghastenhall, dead from a broken heart and a poison dagger.”
“The Great Serpent of Korokunga, slain for its venom”
“Lord Jurys Hallifax called the Just hid in his castle and hope we had forgotten. We hadn’t.”
“Snorri Five-Axe died on a sixth.”
“The ears of Lord Kelerrian. If only he had sense enough to listen.”
“Chief Gorgun Sakkathet, invincible in battle, careless in choosing his cup bearer.”
“Ergun Nigma, The third scion left in the House of the House Hyrhul, second greatest swordsman in the land, the first to die.”
None of the names are familiar to our villains save for the city of Ghastenhall is mentioned in the sixth inscription.
If a skilled smith were in residence, this would make work to repair traps and fix torture implements much simpler. Instead of going to Farholde for every little thing, common items could be quickly made here.
[spoiler=1-23A]In the southern wall are set three heavy iron rings. These are perfect places to hang manacles to hold prisoners. Of course, manacles and locks could be purchased in Farholde.
Still, it could be repaired. If 1,300 gp is spent here, this room will grant a +5 competence bonus to intimidation checks against anyone who spends more than ten minutes “sampling the wares”. It will further grant a +2 circumstance bonus to Profession (torturer) skill checks. This initial skill check often does not involve any actual torture. Instead, it is simply necessary to strap someone in and show them what could happen. This alone will loosen the tongues of most.
For some though, threats are not enough. Actual torture is needed to extract information. A session of torture takes at least an hour and two skill checks must be made: Intimidate and Profession (torturer). The Intimidate skill check determines if information is extracted and the DC is determined normally (see the Core Rulebook entry on Intimidate; don’t forget the +5 competence bonus for the repaired torture gear).
The Profession (torturer) skill check is to avoid mishaps. A DC 15 skill check must be made for every torture session. A failed skill check means the victim passes out from pain, takes 4d6 damage (possibly dying) and reveals no information regardless of the results of the intimidation skill check. A natural one on this skill check means the victim has broken free and grabbed either an improvised weapon or one of the torturer’s weapons (50% chance of either). Regardless, failure means the session is wasted. Every successive session without allowing the victim an eight hour rest increases the DC by two. If the torturer makes the skill check, they can choose to inflict damage (anywhere from 1d6 to 8d6 points of damage – the torturer’s choice).
The 1,300 gp can expended up to six times. Every time the money is spent, the number of “guests” this chamber can serve increases by one. This room is not large enough to torture more than six victims concurrently. The torture equipment in this room (whether wrecked or repaired), together, weighs approximately three tons (6000 lbs).
Level 2
Once you arrive at the aperture, you are confronted with a forty foot long entryway that should be a death trap. Between the arrow slits (six on the right, six on the left), the pit trap and the half-wall at the corridor’s end, this should be a true defensive hard point of the Horn. Now, it is anything but. No one mans this defensive hallway. The once concealed pit trap is open and obvious, a twenty foot wide chasm with a wooden plank across it.
The pit trap falls in room 1-23 below.
The knight died assaulting the Sanctum above but his order was obeyed even when everyone had forgotten exactly why he had given it. And so the bed sits here. The finely varnished wood shows no sign of wear. The beddings are rotten and moldering but if they are replaced, this is a magnificent bed. It is worth 2500 gp but getting it out of the Horn back to Farholde would be a great labor.
The mural shows two strange looking horned and clawed bear-like creatures being summoned from the nether planes and bound using plates of iron.
There is a magic fountain here that produces fresh water (it possesses a moderate transmutation aura). The fountain’s centerpiece is carved in the form of a trio of exultant hydrodaemons that vomit forth the water into the basin below. The great basin of the pool holds a hundred gallons of water and when it is depleted the basin is replenished at the rate of one gallon a round.
Despite the fountain’s sinister appearance and the fact it was created by a disease-loving daemonic death cult, the water is clean, fresh and potable. The fountain is part of the floor of this room and cannot be removed.
Little more than a plain wooden table where many candles have burned down to nubs, there is also the drawn image of the sun on the wall. An inscription has been carved below that reading “Mitra lucet omnibus, Mitra omnia regit” – “Mitra shines on everyone, Mitra rules everything.” This is one of the mottos of the Knights of the Alerion rendered in an old holy tongue. A successful Knowledge (religion) skill test (DC 15) will know this.
Only as you progress towards the throne and the eastern wall does the message of the murals becomes clear. The figures become more and more emaciated, worn and diseased. Around the throne can be seen cackling daemons herding them like sheep. Nearer the wall they are no longer supplicants but instead shambling undead marching in great legions. And on the eastern walls is the supplicant’s destination -- a throne carved in the likeness of a great skull and above it reads (in abyssal) “Lead the flock into the arms of blessed Death.”
-- “Rah
Someone with a working knowledge of the Abyssal tongue and with patience could catalogue every major event in the Sons’ history -- from their founding in a distant land, their expulsion, their search for a new home, their building of the Horn, the summoning of Vetra-Kali and then the many years of serving the daemon prince. It is actually an epic tale (though doubtless aggrandizing of the sons). But there is more here than simple history.
Anyone who takes the time to carefully read the murals will realize that there are detailed rituals described here. Transcribing them into useable forms is time consuming. For every day of labor, the transcriber can make one Knowledge (arcane), Knowledge (religion) or Knowledge (planes) skill check (DC 25).
Hmmm, ok, upon further review, I am comfortable giving you MOST of level 3 at this time. You've not discovered the ways to 3-12 and 3-13 yet, and the secret doors to 3-3 and 3-6 are to be found below.
Level 3
The landing platform is baroquely adorned with every surface decorated with countless daemons tormenting and triumphing over mortals foolish enough to oppose them. Prominent among these decorations to the left of archway is a bas relief of Vetra-Kali sitting cross-legged. His three eyes are buttons that if pressed simultaneously deactivate the pit trap that wards the entrance.
The pit remains deactivated until an identical bas relief on the other side of the wall is similarly pressed. This mechanism can be found with a Perception skill check (DC 25). A Knowledge (engineering) skill test will reveal how the mechanism works.
Once inside, the entranceway is a large hallway with five doors. The baroque decoration continues and everywhere is found bas relief carving showing the doings of daemons. There is a great deal of abyssal writing here as well. If a Knowledge (planes) skill check is made (DC 25;
award a +5 bonus if the character understands the abyssal tongue) it can be understood that this hallway tells the tale of the ascension of the daemon prince Vetra-Kali Eats-the-Eyes.
It is revealed that Vetra-Kali is a leukodaemon who through his savagery and remorseless cruelty rose from the ranks to be appointed an Archdeacon of Pestilence in service to the Pale Horseman. This hallway exalts and praises the many ruthless deeds done by Vetra-Kali to gain this prominence.
Six green ominous flickering continual flames (one beside each of the single doors and two beside the double doors at the end of the hall) light this hall.
A DC 15 Perception check finds the secret door to 3-3.
At the front of the chamber are four shrines (A-D).
A – A white shrine decorated with bas relief depictions of open pits of the dead and lepers crying in anguish.
B – A shrine of red stone decorated with cruel iron weaponry and scenes of slaughter. C –A shrine of black stone decorated with images of mortals wasting away from hunger and starvation.
D – A shrine of pale green stone adorned with a skull with two coins over its eyes and an inscription of jagged abyssal writing which reads “Behold a pale horse. Its rider is Death and all shall follow him.”
E – A large bas-relief image of Vetra-Kali sitting crosslegged holding his greatest work, his masterpiece, a vial of some sort. Below the vial is inscribed a name ‘The Tears of Achlys.’ Vetra-Kali also holds three blades and a strange jagged key with an Abyssal inscription “Hail Vetra-Kali”. The three eyed daemon prince pays homage to the four shrines, but there is no doubt that this fane is built primarily to honor him.
On all the other walls are litanies of the deeds of this monster. It was Vetra-Kali who crossed the great void and came to the prime material plane to establish the Sons of the Pale Horseman. It was he who oversaw the construction of the Horn of Abaddon and it is because of this that the Horn superficially resembles this horror from another world.
If checked with detect magic, a door shaped area on the east wall radiates strong conjuration magic. A DC 30 Perception check finds the secret door to 3-6.
Apologies for the data dump, but it's better than, "we turn left and go 15 feet" I hope you agree.
I do agree & thank you. I just wanted to make my daily post so you'd know I'm still here. :)
"We'll have to fix that. "
Gertrat would like to investigate these further:
1-3 bench, 1-4 minotaur, 1-9/10 general, 1-18 alchemical stuff, 1-29 because it looks like something the blood desecrator would use >:)
"I got these from the dwarves, the master smith says holding up a satchel of tools.
Listed Perception checks:
Listed Perception checks:
[Dice=1.7]1d20+x[/dice
[Dice=1.13]1d20+[/dice
[Dice=1.21]1d20+[/dice
[Dice=1.27]1d20+[/dice
Listed Perception checks:
@Gertrart –
1-3 Nothing to see here, no magic auras, no traps or secret doors
1-4 The minotaur is amazingly well preserved. He bears upon his arm a tattoo of a white horse skull with three burning green eyes. This is the symbol of the servants of Vetra-Kali. I don’t believe you have any arcane or divine methods to determine more here, so that’s about all you will notice.
1-9/10 – It is pretty much just what I described, no traps, secret doors, or auras here.
1-18 – my apologies the stone salve should have been in italics. Excellent eye my friend, so the alchemical golem is broken, but not beyond repair, and the schematics are right here in the room.
- The Eye – Artephius even if activated would be blind. Its single glass lens has been shattered. The lens is entirely present however and so could be repaired using the make whole spell. Failing that, a new lens matching the exacting specifications of the schematics could be bought in Farholde. It would cost 1000 gp.
- The Brain – Artephius needs a new human, dwarven, elven, half-orc or half-elven brain. No other race will do – they are not the right size and attunement. It need not be from a living person. Someone who died in the last twenty four hours from natural causes will do. Of course, murder is always an option. Finding a brain will likely not be a problem for our band of villains. The difficulty is installing it. A successful Craft (Alchemy) skill check (DC 20) is required to install the brain. You get two chances to make this roll. If both of them fail, the brain has died and a new one must be sought.
- The Heart Cog – Artephius’ mithral heart cog was stolen long ago, likely by one of the Victor’s retainers. Without this critical component, Artephius will not activate. A new cog will have to be made. Fortunately, the exact shape is described in the schematics. 500 gp worth of mithral will suffice to make the heart cog. A smith in Farholde would do the delicate work for 10% of the mithral’s value (50 gp). Regardless, a Craft (smith) skill check (DC 20) is required.
- The Reservoir – Artephius needs a new glass reservoir where the four primal reagents can mingle and power the golem. The glass reservoir was smashed during the battle and now the pieces are missing so make whole is of no help. However, there is a spare reservoir amongst the smashed remains of the alchemist’s gear. A craft (alchemy) skill check (DC 20) will identify the reservoir for what it is. Once that is done, installation is a simple matter requiring no skill check. A glass blower will be able to follow the schematic and reproduce the reservoir for 100 gp.
- The Reagent of Fire – Artephius needs ten doses of alchemist’s fire.
- The Reagent of Ice – Artephius needs ten doses of alchemist’s ice (sometimes also called liquid ice).
- The Reagent of Acid – Artephius needs ten doses of a potent acid. The acid that pools in the lower cavern (C2) has more than enough to do the trick. Or it could be bought in Farholde.
- The Reagent of Electricity – Artephius needs a large supply of lightning elemental blood.
Once all the components have been assembled and the golem is repaired, Artephius will come to life by simply activating his heart pump.
1-29 – Nothing more to be learned here, nothing hidden