The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb


Lost Omens Campaign Setting General Discussion

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Scarab Sages

Mike Shel wrote:
Now, anyone care to share their experiences in the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb and Sleepless?

I am dming MST for a group of eight 4th level pathfinder players at the moment. I use the redesigned 3.5 Version and replaced the worst traps and monster by CR approriate ones.

Advanced stone golems become animated objects, giant monk mummies become linen wrapped ogre zombies...

My group choose to explore first and examine later, so they are now, after the first evening, already at the room that teleported one of them into the annis lair while they evaded all other possible combats by luck or being careful. So a lone and wet barbarian is down in the darkness with a annis hag (standard, non rogue/assassin levels) while the rest frantically try to find clues about his demise. As the bloody barbarian parts disappeared together with the blades, they started getting suspicious about magical shenanigans.

He already fell into the water as he advanced towards the altar in the rug room. I allowed, due to some great swim checks on his part and a rope lowered into the rug by the party, him to survive his mistake.

Ulzaada is meanwhile stalking and toying with him while he tries to make her believe that he is in fact a mud sorcerer cultist, trying to wake Tzolo from her rest and needs to get back to his friends as they have the needed tools to do so.
All the while the rest of the group runs around the explored part of the tomb like headless chickens searching for him and are on their way to trigger several combats at roughly the same time. This is gonna be fun!

So far I really liked all the clues and hints, ambiguous as some of them are, especially the "To sail the ship that is smiled upon, the silver necklace must be donned" hint right after looting a certain silver necklace... :)
This is so much better than the dreaded "left or right? 50% chance of certain death"-traps that most of the old 1st & 2nd Ed AD&D adventures seem to favor.

Contributor

James Thomas wrote:

My players have a couple reactions: good and bad. The good: they like the interesting monsters, traps and puzzles. The bad: they found some of the puzzles too simplistic (e.g. pressing the letters on the belly of the elephant statue was jeered at as too simplistic). They also managed to avoid the illusionary/silenced pit trap (I like the trap... well done) because by chance the two characters who fell into it were an air genasi (can levitate at will) and a celestial sorcerer (SU: angelic wings), so they took the falling damage (no big deal) and flew out of the pit. Vs. the mud golems, they kept thier distance by flying or levitating or "expeditious retreat" to run away. They dropped a wall of iron on top of one - trapping him as well. The 2nd one they blasted with "orb of force" a Spell Compendium spell that one of them prepared multiple times. Otherwise, they were almost helpless to deal with the magic resistant golems. It took them a while to get out of there. The encounter with the sleeping Tzila was disappointing since she was easily defeated by the spell-readying arcanists. As soon as she even twitched, they blasted her and she couldn't even get a word out. The Symbol of Pain amazingly did little to slow them down since they are wizards and by sheer luck those who were affected made their fortitude saves! Go figure. Now they have just entered the boat room! That's where we left off last night.

Hmmm. This is the second time someone has said something about creaming Tzila in her sarcophagus. I seem to remember noting that the first attack against her is automatically repulsed, which would give her the time to become a more challenging problem for PCs. Am I remembering wrongly, or did the Paizo re-write not address this? Well, note with Tzolo's guardian that a wall of force gets thrown up. Let's hope the many nasty things in the final few chambers pose a greater challenge to the Jeering Party! ; ) I'm very much looking forward to their final verdict in terms of challenge/fun/atmosphere.

Contributor

Arcy wrote:
Mike Shel wrote:
Now, anyone care to share their experiences in the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb and Sleepless?

I am dming MST for a group of eight 4th level pathfinder players at the moment. I use the redesigned 3.5 Version and replaced the worst traps and monster by CR approriate ones.

Advanced stone golems become animated objects, giant monk mummies become linen wrapped ogre zombies...

Man, oh man, you redesigned MST for 4th level players? That must have been quite a chore. I'd love to hear more details as they romp through the place!


Arcy wrote:
I am dming MST for a group of eight 4th level pathfinder players at the moment. I use the redesigned 3.5 Version and replaced the worst traps and monster by CR approriate ones.

Hmm ... I guess in your version the builder of this massive and intricate complex burned their budget on construction and could no longer afford proper staffing ?

R.

Scarab Sages

Rezdave wrote:

Hmm ... I guess in your version the builder of this massive and intricate complex burned their budget on construction and could no longer afford proper staffing ?

R.

It's more like a combination of the death of Tzolo, the long time since it's construction and the soon to be Apocalypse looming over our campaignworld weakening most of the defensive mechanisms and guardians protecting the tomb.

My PCs, incarnations of more or less ancient heroes, are not delving into the tomb to steal the riches, but get a part of an ancient prophecy written by a servant of pharasma. This prophecy describes a way out of the apocalypse and the mud sorcerers seemed to have misinterpreted those texts and believed themselves to be the mentioned saviors.
Surely a somewhat twisted background but hey, sue me :)

And Mike, I will continue to describe their advances, but as we only play once or twice a month it might take some time.


DM Jeff wrote:

Back when it first came out I ran MST for my 2nd Edition D&D group and they loved it. It was particularly a challenge and had an old-school feel before we even knew what that meant. The overall theme of the place kept players interested and alert. I remember one PC nearly biting it thanks to an insidious carpet/tapestry trap. The group nearly went insane trying to figure out how to use the boat at the end.

Recently I played through Curse of the Crimson Throne, and used the updated version as the finale to that campaign, replacing Mud Sorcerers with Runelords was easy as pie, and a whole new group got to experience it!

I would really love to hear how you incorporated MST into the Crimson Throne end game as I am now at that stage.


I'm planning on running a group of eight 11th-12th level characters through the adventure, pretty much as written other than converted for PF.

The only difference is going to be that instead of the Mud Sorcerers, the people in temporal stasis are going to be the Olman Princes who escaped the Savage Tide to their fortress of Opar, now known as the Lost Citadel. I needed a grand adventure that would justify the air of myth that surrounded the place. And because I DM online via MapTool, I also needed one with a well done map. The end of the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb is now the place that holds the Pools of Truth and Beauty.

They should be to Opar within the next few weeks, and through it in a few more, so I'll let you know how it ends up.

Contributor

Kain Darkwind wrote:

I'm planning on running a group of eight 11th-12th level characters through the adventure, pretty much as written other than converted for PF.

They should be to Opar within the next few weeks, and through it in a few more, so I'll let you know how it ends up.

You dm online? Anyway to get me a transcript? Would be very interested in reading in detail...


Mike Shel wrote:
Would be very interested in reading in detail...

Mike ... a little backstory on Kain's campaign needs and the evolution of his decision to run MST can be found in THIS thread.

R.


I read MST back in the day when my copy of Dungeon arrived in the mail (*sob*), but I never got around to running it. Yet. From what I recall, I did like the feel of the adventure and the high level of danger within it. The traps felt particularly Tomb-like insidious.


Mike Shel wrote:
Kain Darkwind wrote:

I'm planning on running a group of eight 11th-12th level characters through the adventure, pretty much as written other than converted for PF.

They should be to Opar within the next few weeks, and through it in a few more, so I'll let you know how it ends up.

You dm online? Anyway to get me a transcript? Would be very interested in reading in detail...

Absolutely, Mike. I keep a journal of our adventures, which is a bit out of date at the moment, but once we begin the Tomb proper (which, like I said, should be in a few sessions), I can send you the log weekly. My email is kain_darkwind@yahoo.com, if you send me yours I'll be glad to keep you posted.

The place with the mudship is where the Pools of Truth and Beauty are going to be, so we'll see if they manage to get to those last two rooms.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

I loved MST as soon as I read it. I told my players we were going to play it as soon as they hit 13th level. But since I also told them it reminded of "Tomb of Horrors", they -really- did not want to go into it.

Eventually, I made it part of the campaign, working the Mud Sorcerers into my game world and making them part of several ancient plots. By the time they were ready for MST, the PC's pretty much -had- to go in to find the information supposedly resting there. Plus, by that time it was a point of pride for them to "beat" the tomb.

Chaos and fun were had by all. The PC's loved/hated the traps and riddles, while I loved the early 1st Edition feel of the thing, harkening back to my earliest teens. That's too long in the past for me to remember any specifics of the progress of the adventure other than their joy at gaining control of the Ship, and their obsessive attempts to keep it a secret from certain Powers That Be.

I reran it more recently with Paizo's updated version. Unlike my earlier PC's these guys immediately locked themselves out for a year. A "year later" when they returned, they (supposedly much more experienced players) got themselves dead quickly!

Mud Sorcerer's Tomb has always been on my list of the best all-time adventures. Welcome back to gaming, Mike, from one old guy to another!


Kain Darkwind wrote:
My email is [redacted]

OT for Kain:

You shouldn't post your email on these boards as they are searchable in Google, which means other spiders and bots can crawl through them as well and pull your address for even more spam than you're already getting.

Often people will use the form < kain_darkwind AT yahoo.com > but one day bots will get smart and look for that and other variants. Another option is to say, "email my Paizo screen name at Yahoo, but use an underscore instead of the space between in_da".

FWIW,

R.


I'm not too concerned, Rez. It is an alternate email to begin with, so I'm used to it getting tons of spam. Thanks for looking out though!

Dark Archive RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

Mike! We finished MST. And thank you, it was enjoyable! Our final comments:
Josh Thompson (Keltar, Wiz 12): "Did not like getting petrified and feel i need compensation due to the trauma and missed time at work!"
John Laraby (Kadaz, Wiz 12): "It was very hard. Made me paranoid, but all in all it nice game. Next time if i ever get a chance I will bring a rogue."
Game Master (Me): The players used some amazing tactics to get around the lack of any rogues and fighter-types. They used flesh to stone on Tzolo's marble sarcophagus so they didn't need any tricks to open it with the elephant statue "key". They ran out of the small room the Guardian was in, dispelled the wall of force, and blasted it with spells. After the fight with him, both cohorts were dead! The wail of the banshee trap killed the sorcerer. The wizards amazingly (again!) made their fortitude saves and remained the only survivors! They got the best treasures and sailed away on the Mud Ship. THE END.
If you want some feedback my friend, I'm willing to offer it:

My Criticisms of MST:
Mike - I'll just run these down as I think of them. The Amphesbaena is a neat monster, but having such a huge thing materialize in a 20x20 room which is also supposed to include the Guardian and the PCs is awkward in play. I suspect that this adventure wasn't playtested sufficiently. What do you recall? Some of the puzzles - like the false treasure room - were too easy. However, my players also missed at least two or three good treasures because they didn't look hard enough. 'Nuf said. I liked the traps and the puzzles especially. Were you asked by the editors to dumb them down at all? Or did they appear as we see them now? One of the things that kept frustrating me was how easy it was for my players to defeat the monsters. I think they were just savvy and also lucky, but for two wizards, one sorcerer and two 8th level cohorts, they got away pretty clean. My conclusion: when using PF characters in a 3.5 published adventure, only use characters that are at least 2 levels lower than the stated difficulty of the adventure.
Thanks again for all the fun!
Your admiring GM,
James Thomas

Contributor

James Thomas wrote:

Mike! We finished MST. And thank you, it was enjoyable! Our final comments:

Josh Thompson (Keltar, Wiz 12): "Did not like getting petrified and feel i need compensation due to the trauma and missed time at work!"
John Laraby (Kadaz, Wiz 12): "It was very hard. Made me paranoid, but all in all it nice game. Next time if i ever get a chance I will bring a rogue."
Game Master (Me): The players used some amazing tactics to get around the lack of any rogues and fighter-types. They used flesh to stone on Tzolo's marble sarcophagus so they didn't need any tricks to open it with the elephant statue "key". They ran out of the small room the Guardian was in, dispelled the wall of force, and blasted it with spells. After the fight with him, both cohorts were dead! The wail of the banshee trap killed the sorcerer. The wizards amazingly (again!) made their fortitude saves and remained the only survivors! They got the best treasures and sailed away on the Mud Ship. THE END.
If you want some feedback my friend, I'm willing to offer it:
** spoiler omitted **...

James:

First, thx to you and your players for taking the time to respond. I'd like to hear more from John re: how/why the module "made" him "paranoid." I'm very interested in what elements create a potent atmosphere in a table top RPG.

As for your objections, I think the amphis was smaller than the standard, though you are right about that room being pretty cluttered. Probably should have made it 30'x30' at least. As for what was too easy, some found them too obscure. I might have made it a bit tougher by putting the clues farther away from the rooms where the info applied; they may not have been as obvious with more time and distance between clue and encounter. Glad the Guardian was something of a challenge.

The original module was published with hardly any editorial input--they pretty much published it as I had written it, so I can't blame editors for dumbing it down. I have heard that the 3.5 version made it less lethal. Have you read the original? Some aspects of the monsters were a bit more dangerous in that version, I think. No reason you couldn't toughen up the monsters some for PF.

Whatcha gonna do with the mudship? Uzrith and Alyovoy are pissy beings...

Dark Archive RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

So tell us Mike, what kinds of game creation work are you into right now? Can you share with us a sample of your newest material or your project website?

Contributor

James Thomas wrote:
So tell us Mike, what kinds of game creation work are you into right now? Can you share with us a sample of your newest material or your project website?

I have no project site. Right now I am in the process of learning the Pathfinder system. Remember that my last acquaintence with D&D was back in the early 90s. All this business about feats and attacks of opportunity and what not is a new world for me. So far I have been quite impressed with the quality of Paizo and Pathfinder and am trying to educate myself about the system. I've got many ideas and would love to get back to writing again. I'd love to do some writing for Paizo, but I have to familiarize myself with their RPG first. As I mentioned before, I'm very interested in what paints a vivid picture for players and GMs, what makes an adventure memorable.

I'd be very interested to hear what kind of modules/products people would be interested in seeing.

Dark Archive RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

Mike Shel wrote:
James Thomas wrote:
So tell us Mike, what kinds of game creation work are you into right now? Can you share with us a sample of your newest material or your project website?

I have no project site. Right now I am in the process of learning the Pathfinder system. Remember that my last acquaintence with D&D was back in the early 90s. All this business about feats and attacks of opportunity and what not is a new world for me. So far I have been quite impressed with the quality of Paizo and Pathfinder and am trying to educate myself about the system. I've got many ideas and would love to get back to writing again. I'd love to do some writing for Paizo, but I have to familiarize myself with their RPG first. As I mentioned before, I'm very interested in what paints a vivid picture for players and GMs, what makes an adventure memorable.

I'd be very interested to hear what kind of modules/products people would be interested in seeing.

Mike! How'd you like to help me out with an idea or two I need to develop my homebrew gameworld? I could use a little "creative leverage" as I've run out of ideas for this city I'm working on. In the process, you can start mastering the Pathfinder rules: since I use them exclusively now. Check out some of my work here: My Paizo Profile.

If you'd like to contact me, send me an email at: thomasjam02 at earthlink dot com.

Sovereign Court

I'm getting ready to run MST this weekend as a One shot as half my groups got holiday plans, so it'll be myself and three 14th level PC's, a Monk, Cleric, Ftr/Occult Slayer & rogue cohort.

Reading over the adventure it certainly looks like it will really stretch my veteran players abilities especially without an Arcane caster. A few minor problem areas however did pop up.

Rough Spots:

1. Ctenixil's Lair (area 11).
The Naga is just chilling on his pillar in the middle of the area and is supposed to Hide amongst the similar looking pillars and let the PC's just pass by. Unfortunately he's got no Stealth or Hide/Move scores at all beyond it's +2 Dex mod (more than canceled by his -4 skill penalty from size). Without some special means to Hide his tactics as written just don't work.

2. Squinting Stone Face (area 14).
The Stone face has an open mouth that is a trap that if the Reflex save is failed results in a PC losing their hand and taking 3d6 damage. But 3.5 or Pathfinder don't have any rules on losing limbs in the Core. One could use some of the results from the Critical Hit deck not being able to use that hand without a Heal check or some application of magical healing, but that seems a minor inconvenience for 14th level PC's. Which always takes me back to the Regnerate spell. Why does it even exist?

3. Secret Door (area 24)
Why exactly can't this door be opened while the hallway is flooded? Weight of the water, suction, any reasonable explaination?

--Vrocky Road


So, sorry I found this thread late but

Just adding another thank you for an awesome adventure and adding that I would love to see these 'Elemental' Sorcereres and their sect further developed, the better for them to try and rule the WORLD!

*Insert manic laughter here*

Cheers!


King of Vrock wrote:
A few minor problem areas however did pop up.

I haven't read the adventure (either version) in a long time, so these are generic thoughts.

Thoughts on #1:

King of Vrock wrote:
The Naga is just chilling on his pillar in the middle of the area and is supposed to Hide amongst the similar looking pillars and let the PC's just pass by. Unfortunately he's got no Stealth or Hide/Move scores at all beyond it's +2 Dex mod (more than canceled by his -4 skill penalty from size). Without some special means to Hide his tactics as written just don't work.

I've found across the board that non-monsters supposedly able to stalk and hunt in the wild just do not have sufficient Hide or Survival bonuses to do so.

First, consider a +8 Racial Bonus to Hide, though that probably still isn't much against PCs of the level given.

Next, consider shifting some of its other Skill Points ... i.e. lower something else it has and raise Hide. Or change a Feat to Hide Focus.

Then, maybe add 3 Rogue levels. That's at least +6 Skill Points in Hide plus a Feat for Hide Focus right there without eliminating anything. Granted, the CR goes up considerably, so it needs a be guarding a stash of cure/heal potions for afterwards, since the extra-drain on party resources needs to be covered. Alternately, shave 3 HD and replace them with Rogue levels. Let the Naga spend Skill Points as if multi-classed, so it can put 6 Ranks in Hide as a Rogue, plus more for its Base HD, even if cross-classed. Switch the feat and add a Racial bonus (maybe just +4 to cover the size mod., in this case) and run with it.

All of these options alter the naga's attributes rather than rely upon magical means, thus controlling the flow of treasure into the party's hands. This is also one of the benefits of expendable magic items. Potion of Hide, perhaps?

Thoughts on #2:

King of Vrock wrote:
The Stone face has an open mouth that is a trap that if the Reflex save is failed results in a PC losing their hand and taking 3d6 damage. But 3.5 or Pathfinder don't have any rules on losing limbs in the Core. One could use some of the results from the Critical Hit deck not being able to use that hand without a Heal check or some application of magical healing, but that seems a minor inconvenience for 14th level PC's. Which always takes me back to the Regnerate spell. Why does it even exist?

The simplified combat system of D&D has never been meant to handle wound-effects, much less amputations.

Here are some ideas (I'd use them all)

1) Victim suffers Pain (as with a symbol) until they receive healing equal to the damage dealt;

2) Hand is mangled or missing. Cannot wield any item effectively in a mangled or missing hand, hence no Shield, THF or TWF involving the Off-Hand. If character does not specify which hand they put in the mouth then it is their Primary Hand, which can no longer be used to cast spells, use weapons or manipulate items. Off-hand penalties from TWF apply to fighting with the off-hand even though it is the only weapon used until Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat is taken or primary hand is restored. Spells take twice as long to cast and/or require a Concentration check even out-of combat and a higher check in-combat.

3) You can determine if heal is sufficient to treat a "mangled" hand. Otherwise, regeneration or better may be required. DM fiat.

Thoughts on #3:

King of Vrock wrote:
Why exactly can't this door be opened while the hallway is flooded? Weight of the water, suction, any reasonable explaination (sic)?

Go with whatever works for you. Any of your explanations are good.

Maybe the weight of the water in the flooded chamber triggers a balance-level that activates a locking-pin that slides home and bars the door. Maybe it's a permanent contingency that activates a greater arcane lock or some such thing.

You know your PCs and their capabilities. Come up with an idea that they can't readily defeat. Or, consider it "an epic level effect you guys can't overcome regardless of what you try" and hand-wave it.

HTH,

Rez

Sovereign Court

Rezdave wrote:
King of Vrock wrote:
A few minor problem areas however did pop up.
I haven't read the adventure (either version) in a long time, so these are generic thoughts.
...

I mainly posted to let others planning on running this know some of the places a DM could get tripped up a bit.

My thoughts:

The Spirit Naga is a Sor 5 on top of its racial 7 levels. So I'll likely add some illusion spells or maybe a "nosering" of Chameleon Power or something.

The Biting Trap is served well by some of the Critical effects in Paizo's Crit Deck. There is one that renders a hand useless until some condition is met. I may treat it as a Bestow Curse trap instead.

The Secret Door that won't open underwater is probably best served by making it a complex mechanical lock. You must drain the room to unlock the door. It really should have said something as simple as that.

--For those about to Vrock, we salute you!

Contributor

Let me bump this just one more time...

Silver Crusade

Mike you mentioned you are in the process of learning the new Pathfinder system. We all are. You might actually have an easier time of it because you are coming to Pathfinder with a clean slate and don't have to unlearn anything you learned from 3.5 D&D. If you have any questions, I’m sure we will all be happy to help.

As for what makes an adventure memorable? I'm sure there are as many answers as they are players.

I played in the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb and liked it so much I ran it at a later date. I also loved the sleepless module as well.

I am the kind of player who loves detail and atmosphere. I ask about the Hieroglyphics on the wall and wonder if they are Egyptian like or Aztec like.

So I found the mud sorcerers tomb full of delicious details. As a DM there was lots of story to the module, enough so I could put hints about the mud sorcerers earlier in the campaign. And when the PCs were the right level, I was excited to run the module.

Perhaps if you write with DM's in mind, and provide rich detail, they might get excited about the materiel, and that would translate into a memorable module as they run it. I don't know. its just a thought.

Thank you for writing such a memorable story, and I look forward to your future projects.


Mike are you interested in some freelance work? Because if you were I know Louis Porter Jr. Design would be interested in speaking to you about work.

Dark Archive RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

Uzria & Alyolvoy! Yes Mike the creators of the Mudship - alerted to it's use when the PCs activated it's powers - caught up with the two survivors, K'daz and Keltar, after they had traveled over a thousand miles to a city to sell off treasure and trade spells. The resulting encounter will surprise you...

Contributor

James Thomas wrote:
Uzria & Alyolvoy! Yes Mike the creators of the Mudship - alerted to it's use when the PCs activated it's powers - caught up with the two survivors, K'daz and Keltar, after they had traveled over a thousand miles to a city to sell off treasure and trade spells. The resulting encounter will surprise you...

Do tell...

Dark Archive RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

Well, as you may recall, K'daz (Envoker 12) and Keltar (Wizard 12) were the only survivors of the MST. They used the Uzrivoy (Mudship) to "sail" out through the solid rock of the tomb and slowly made their way across land and water to a port called Sullan (think Venice run by syndicate families). There, they were able to get a couple of cohorts raised and a friend cremated. After fitting the Uzrivoy with a "crew" of four servants they set course for Herz-El, an Emirate within the Sultanate of Khan (think moorish Spain in a fantasy world with bound genie servants and elementalist wizards). Fortunately, they had an introduction from a friend who's father is a noble in the Emir's court. The Emir of Herz-El was tremendously pleased to have such illustrious visitors from afar with rare treasures to sell and a fantastic boat that skims through the earth like a dhow on the sea. He fetted them for a week and even arranged good prices in trade for their tomb plunder.
Okay ... so everythings going fine when one morning (after obtaining their spellbooks on board the Uzrivoy for a meeting with an elementalist wizard) a sudden earth tremor yielded the rising of a golden-fleshed giant of a woman: Uzriya, Pasha of S'hale! With black hair like flint and eyes like iridescent, rounded, blue gemstones she carried a large sized scimitar (+3, keen) and had the advenced HD and additional powers of a noble shaitan (earth genie). She had a terse, business-like, demeanor and demanded to speak with Szolo, high-priestess of the Taalese. The activation of the Uzrivoy had alerted her and she now wanted to contact the one who had contracted her services. She had reviewed the agreement (written on silver plates linked together by brass rings) and found that the 1000-year contract had expired 3 mortal years ago and now she had the right to abolish the contract and be free of any further service or obligation. For this, she was required to make her claim personally with the other party: High priestess, Szolo. After some conversation with the mortals present (our wizards), she was told that the high priestess was no longer alive nor was anyone else responsible to the Temple of the Taalese religion. Though somewhat annoyed at mortal ephemeralities upseting her plans, she declared that since no party was present to claim her service, she was free to declare the agreement "Null and Void". And so she did ... with much flourish. She then proceeded to claim the Uzrivoy as her own (since it obviously belongs to no one now). At which, Keltar and K'daz bargained obsequiously for it's ownership on the basis of salvage and offered her one of the wishes from the ring of wishes found in the tomb. Uzriya agreed to consider the offer (she had many times been obliged to grant wishes to mortals - which she was loathed to do, being so undignified - so this was an opportunity to obtain one from a mortal: somehow recompensing her for past humiliations). But before she could inspect the Uzrivoy, Alyolvoy - shooting out of a nearby fountain - splashed onto the scene in fourteen foot glory! A noble marid and Padasha of Acosonda she had blue flesh the color of lakes and oceans which changed color with her mood. Her white hair tossed about like sea billows and her eyes were like black pearls. Her grin was playful, but like the sea she carried an aura of great power ... and danger.

Then!:
There's more to the story if you're interested

Scarab Sages

Well better late than never my group has finally finished the Tomb.

After a load of close calls and near death experiences they managed to free an befriend Tzila, Tzolos younger sister.
Delving even deeper into the tomb, again harassed by traps, poison and their own greed, they finally fought and beat they final guardian. (In our case a beefed up gargyole and a splattering of four mud grues, a good match for my 4th level party)
While the party secretly planned to knock Tzila out as soon as Tzolo awakes to get an easier endfight against the sorcerer herself, the true ending took them all quite by surprise.

Well, at the moment they are planning their return to the surface via the mudship and think about helping Tzila find later Piyyat for some cold served revenge.

Nice module, we all liked it.

Liberty's Edge

Oh wow, just saw this thread for the first time tonight. I loved "The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb"; I really think it's the best adventure ever published in Dungeon Magazine. I've run it three times for three different groups, and they've always loved it. Thank you so much for this fantastic adventure!

Jeremy Puckett


Ran both adventures and had TPKs with both. Thank you!

Besides, has anybody converted MST to Pathfinder (without scaling encounters to CR4)?


Eventually they came across a massive stone entrance. On further inspection, Boldarian noticed some dwarven scriptures….maybe this was what they had all been looking for… a safe haven, a reprieve; somewhere to rest and eat good food, to find equipment…. and weapons.

Boldarian worked out it was some kind of riddle and with Jurlue they made short work of it, they had opened the portal. Sarjin and the others moved boldly forward, little knowing what lay ahead. They soon realised they had not found sanctuary however, they had found an ancient tomb full of riddles and death. One of them had entered and would never leave, would never again grace the lands of the living.

The following days would live to haunt the survivors and to this day, for Sarjin,
it had become a blur of wrestling mechanical titans, dodging fireballs and running in fear from wave after wave of voracious spiders. It felt as if the minute they’d outfoxed something and a reprieve was in order, the tomb would become even more bent on their destruction. If it couldn’t claim more victims through out and out brute force then it would gain its victims through deception and downright skulduggery.

Sarjin was a mess of burnt flesh and bloody wounds. His breathing came in gasps and life expectancy was short. Light was foreign to this place and Boldarian, although in much better shape physically, also wore despondency like a cloak. Things looked bad. Only Jurlue, who had zero dark vision, and had to be lead around like a blind man, seemed somewhat at ease, although he was also certainly nonplussed about their current predicament. He didn’t want to be there either but one time in a rare moment of openness he whispered to Sarjin that he could just vaporise and leave at any time should things get too grim. Sarjin was awed and fascinated by the idea and although he couldn’t escape by that same means, maybe his companion’s skill could assist them all somehow.

Finally a moment’s respite. They had all combined desperately but magnificently to rid themselves of the deadly Naga beast which had plagued them time after time. Searching the area thoroughly, they discovered a coffin and out of desperation they forced the lid open in the hopes of finding something to assist their plight.

What happened over the next few moments would be etched into the brains of those who survived it for the remainder of their days…Slowly they pried open the lid and stared down into the depths. It appeared to be a half elf corpse wearing a silver necklace. It didn’t make sense though, because neither the necklace nor the occupant matched the depiction on the lid. In hindsight it was obvious that this tomb had already been disturbed and that the dangers of what we were about to let pass were staring at us in our faces and yet we stood back and let it happen…
In an attempt to assist us all, Boldarian removed the necklace and put it on. It was a desperate and dangerous decision and it was the last one he would make. The necklace tightened…and tightened…there was nothing we could do…
Boldarian, our friend and companion grew weaker and weaker, fading before our eyes. It did something to us to watch it happen, feeling so utterly helpless but finally Boldarian, cradled in Jurlue’s arms, stopped struggling. He left to meet his maker.

Desolate and numb with grief the two adventurers plodded off towards the exit. Without much talk they began a slow and thorough search of the rooms they had cleared. One room was lit by braziers of what appeared to be magical light. This was a room of power and they both noticed an unusual carpet strewn across the floor. On closer inspection by Jurlue, it appeared that something was very wrong with it. It seemed like something or someone was trapped within its folds!
After much thought and debate a method was devised and a plan was hatched.

Sarjin watched warily as Jurlue stepped in. He was worried and apprehensive but it seemed Jurlue had snagged their target. He grabbed Jurlue’s legs and pulled with all his might.

A lean, black and crumpled figure with an unusual hat carrying some kind of sack was writhing around on the floor cursing and yelling. Jurlue and Sarjin stood back and stared.

The young Drow Mage seemed to come back to himself and look around. On observing us he quickly rummaged through his sack and handed us both eccentric but sturdy and well made hats as gifts of gratitude and friendship. We had saved him from goodness knew how many years of imprisonment within the carpet and he was eternally grateful.

Sarjin loved his new hat. It had two beautiful feathers coming from it. He placed it on his head and peered at the gangly Drow. This one he would look after very carefully… friends it seemed, were too hard to lose and he would earn these feathers in his cap.

Liberty's Edge

For trivia buffs and fans of the module alike, Mud Sorcerer's Tomb was updated to "D&D Next" by WotC and included in the latest play test packet.


Ooooh, thread necromancy! And since I missed this one the first go-round...

I would need to look back through the adventure and read up on individual room descriptions to recall all of the terrible things that happened to my group when I ran MST. In short, this adventure was my revenge against a player and fellow GM who put us through "Return to the Tomb of Horrors" in the prior campaign.

In my homebrew game world, Arinia, a plague wiped out most of the spellcasters on the mainland continent several thousand years prior to the current date. The few survivors quickly established a hierarchy among themselves and carved out dominions across the mainland. Because I knew in advance that I wanted to include both Rich Baker's "Prism Keep" and "The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb" in this campaign arc, I wrote in both Alarius and Tzolo as two of the ruling archmagi of that time period.

The PCs needed to unseal one of the surviving archmagi, who had been placed in stasis in his castle by his peers, in order to acquire information on how to destroy Atropus (a high-CR BBEG detailed in D&D 3.5's Elder Evils sourcebook). To do so, they needed to acquire the personal runemarks of the other four archmagi. Tzolo's was the very last one they went after.

Again, my memory of how the whole thing played out is a bit hazy, but I do know that one PC fell victim to the lying snake in the box, and another one pulled that cord that is dangling inside the stone cylinder in one of the chambers, losing a leg in the process when he didn't move out of the way fast enough to avoid being at least partially crushed. I will look back over the module at some point and post any other memorable moments that spring to mind if they occur to me!


Beek Gwenders of Croodle wrote:


Besides, has anybody converted MST to Pathfinder (without scaling encounters to CR4)?

I am also wanting leads on a true conversion of MST to Pathfinder so bumping this request for exposure


Necromancy for the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb.

I just survived playing through this adventure. It is certainly a pure hard core dungeon crawler in every sense. I found it incredibly frustrating and challenging and that's what made it very fun!

Surviving the tomb felt like an accomplishment and I'll remember the experience for a long time.

Converting to PF is easy from 3.5. Just add CMB/CMD and you're done. The rest of the CRs match up or can be updated with Bestiary entries.

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