It looks like it may be a few weeks before I can run the Whispering Cairn. . . so in the meantime, I’ve been developing an alternative ways to help out the 4 PCs who will be trying to survive it.
The following idea (when we finally get to start) uses the Wormfood article in Dragon #333. I thought I’d post it as an alternative, since so many people are having problems with certain parts of the first adventure.
The ruined mine office described in Dragon #333, while abandoned, does not stand empty. If the PCs want to use it as their base of operations, they’re going to have to win it from the creatures that have squatted there, including a small band of goblins led by their shaman, Ugloop. They have been wandering the countryside of the cairn hills for weeks, completely lost and cut-off from their tribe, trying to avoid the daily Garrison patrols. They have holed up there until their leader, Ugloop, can figure out what to do. In addition, there are a few infestations that must be dealt with to make the place safe.
I used the descriptions and mechanics found in the original article, but I also added the information to each room, as it applies. With the exception of the Shaman, the equipment used by the Goblins is rusty and in disrepair, and are valued at 1/5 their normal price (DC 10 Appraise check).
I am using this to start the campaign for three reasons: 1. I wanted the party to have a good 500 xp when they enter the cairn 2. I wanted to them to fight in a few CR 1 encounters to get a sense of their relative strengths/weaknesses 3. I wanted them to be equipped with a variety of solutions to handle the first swarm encounter in the Cairn, and have a little help in other areas too.
This set of encounters should waste the entire first night of the campaign, and its pretty cliché, but I’m hoping it’ll be worth it. Besides, if any goblins survive, they can provide a few shaky details about the noises found in the hill of the Whispering Cairn. . . adding a sense of ominous flavor to their approaching adventure. Anyway, here it is. . .
The Ruined Mine Office
The Yard (CR 1)
There is a twisted, dead tree that hangs over the yard. Hanging around the tree are 3 Stirges, 5 hp each, Monster Manual, pg. 236, who have caught the scent of sweat and blood inside the mine office, and are waiting for it to come out. They have been waiting too long however, and are now ravenous. They attack anyone who comes into the yard.
The Living Room (CR 1)
The Goblins inside should hear the commotion from the Stirges and the Shaman will nudge out a few guards to wait for the PCs in the Living Room. The Shaman hides in the Library/Study until the attack is over. 4 Goblins, 5 hp each, Monster Manual, pg. 133. If the Goblins hear nothing, they will be spread through the house in twos, with the Shaman inspecting the rooms upstairs.
Dining Room (CR 1)
This room contains the “guard dogs” for the small band, 2 starving, tortured Badgers, 6 hp each, Monster Manual, pg 268, who have taken to digging into the floorboards in frustration. They will attack anything that doesn’t feed them a scrap of food, and even then, will only pause long enough to eat it.
The Kitchen/Pantry
These areas are the same, except the Pantry contains the treasures of the small goblin band: 8 pints of oil, 5 tindertwigs, 1 Flask of Alchemist’s Fire, 50’ Silk rope, 18 Trail Rations, 625 sp, 60 gp, 1 rose quartz (50gp), 3 blue quartz (10gp each)
The Library Study (CR 2)
The Shaman, Ugloop, and his bodyguards are located here, and they fight to the death. After days and days of wandering and dodging the Garrison and other dangers of the cairn hills, these Goblins desperately fight to the death. Any taken alive will know nothing of the area, but they will have heard strange moaning and whispering coming from the hills.
2 Goblins, 5 hp each, Monster Manual pg. 133
Ugloop, 1st level Warrior, 1st level Adept, hp, 9, stats as the other Goblins, with Wisdom and Strength are 3 points higher. Make the following changes to stats: Will save is +2, +5 attack with Morningstar (1d6+2), +4 Spot checks, Spells: 0 level (DC 11) – cure minor wounds, ghost sound, touch of fatigue; 1 level (DC 12) – burning hands, sleep.
Ugloop uses a masterwork Morningstar, studded leather armor, 3 potions of cure light wounds, 1 potion of resist energy (acid), and an obsidian necklace valued at 200gp.
The Second Story
Is the same as the text, with the caved in roof. It is also possible that there could be more Stirges up here, roosting.
The Basement (CR 2)
A DC 7 Listen check will notice that there are ominous squeaking sounds coming from below, made by a nest of 5 Dire Rats, hp 5 each, Monster Manual pg 64, who have laired in the ruins of the basement. Also a number of non-combatant baby dire rats blindly root about a nest on the south wall, with a couple of badly decomposed bodies. The nest also contains a box, nestled under the debris, requiring a DC 10 Search check. The box contains an Elixir of Swimming, a scroll of Burning Hands a scroll of Animate Rope, 340 sp, 82 gp, a masterwork, and an ivory bound ledger worth 125gp.
The Tiny Crevasse
There is also a small crevasse surrounded by a littering of stones and rocks, about 100 yards from the mine office. It would be a great place to dispose/bury bodies. Alternatively, there could be a cleric of Wee-Jas nearby, wandering the hills and collecting the skins of dead animals. Maybe he would be cool with helping out the PCs with this problem.
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The ruined mine office described in Dragon #333, while abandoned, does not stand empty. If the PCs want to use it as their base of operations, they’re going to have to win it from the creatures that have squatted there, including a small band of goblins led by their shaman, Ugloop. They have been wandering the countryside of the cairn hills for weeks, completely lost and cut-off from their tribe, trying to avoid the daily Garrison patrols. They have holed up there until their leader, Ugloop, can figure out what to do. In addition, there are a few infestations that must be dealt with to make the place safe.
This looks great. Well thought out. It could prove a handy side plot that can be woven in between the other adventures should a DM think the players need a little experience boosting between episodes.
I do have a question. Is the treasure level commensurate with the challenge of the encounters? It seems excessive to me. The Cairn doesn't seem to offer as much treasure and the challenges in there are harder. Just my gut first impression. Otherwise, as I said, it does look great.
It looks like it may be a few weeks before I can run the Whispering Cairn. . . so in the meantime, I’ve been developing an alternative ways to help out the 4 PCs who will be trying to survive it.
The following idea (when we finally get to start) uses the Wormfood article in Dragon #333. I thought I’d post it as an alternative, since so many people are having problems with certain parts of the first adventure.
Thanks. This is perfect. I was concerned about my players' characters surviviing the swarm encounter. This should set them up well. Also, my new campaigns have a long standing tradition of the first encounter being stirges. Bravo!
--Ghul.
I do have a question. Is the treasure level commensurate with the challenge of the encounters? It seems excessive to me. The Cairn doesn't seem to offer as much treasure and the challenges in there are harder. Just my gut first impression. Otherwise, as I said, it does look great.
I whipped this up prety quick, using the treasure tables in the new DMG II as templates. If the CRs are right, and those tables are accurate, then everything should be okay. . . indicentally, thre are several typos and bad grammer in this quick write-up. The treasure in the Rat's Nest that says "a masterwork". . . this was meant to read "a masterwork, ivory bound ledger."
This is a great post that will prove to be very useful to alot of DMs. After several readings of the first series of encounters in Whispering I felt very nervous for my 4 person party. If I had seen this I would have happily used it.
We got together last night and finished up character creation, got the group together, and began the first adventure before throwing them into WHISPERING. I used the BURNING PLAGUE from WIZARDS.COM to give them a little xp under there belt, and thow a hint at them on how to deal with the swarms. The Burning Plauge was the very first FREE online adventure, I believe, and it fits in very well with Whispering. Only a few tweaks had to be made.
The PC's roll into town on a mundane coach only to see a sign made of hastily lashed together planks and runny red paint that said PLAGUE. The coach stops at the ABLE CARTER INN, and the PC's poke their heads out and see RED GLASS SHEATHS over the lanterns in front of all the stores, businesses, and houses. All but the FERAL DOG (a few of their patrons have built up a resistance to most diesease and ailments by this time). Seeing some people moving around inside they get out and head over there to find out what's up, and as soon as they are off the coach it takes off. While inside the Feral Dog they learn about the new plague, and that the only mine that has not been heard from is SMENKS new #3. Each mine manager sent a messenger to each mine warning them of the plague and all the mines were shut down as the miners left, but the messenger from SMENKS #3 said he didn't see anyone, and that he heard strange noises coming from within the mine.
So, the PC's went to check it out. If that does not pan out they plan to try and approach the Garrison (who has walled themselves in from the plague) for food and aid for the town.
I think it serves the same purpose as cleaning out the mine office, but gets the PC's a bit more known in town. This will hopefully set up a nice feeling of competition with THE TRIO from the BIG CITY.
Be groovy
I just realized something last night, going through the Tomb of the Architect encounters for my game prep. . . it is entirely feasable that a party could explore the whole thing, before the swarm-releasing green elevator trap falls. I keep thinking of the Swams as the second encoutner, but that's not absolutely the case.
If I'm adding in the Wormfood article encounter and the architect's tomb is explored, then the grand total XP values for 4 PCs is VERY close to 2nd level. I'm thinking it would be nice to get them to second level before the swarms. . . SO. . .
I've decided to extend the Green elevator's life a few more rounds. . . or figure out a way to encourage them to go ahead and explore the yellow evelvator first, before messing with the next click. plus, I may deifintely add a few more Stirges on the second floor. With 4 PCs, that should do it, and get them to second level.
Of course, it may not work out. . . they may go ahead and click over to Green to see what happens, wait the entire 6 rounds to listen to the noises and play around with it, and experience the first level terror anyway. . . the odds are still very good this is exactly what will happen, but still, it's a nice thought.
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Heh, I am actually hoping my group clicks over to the green alcove as soon as possible tonight! I want to put the fear of DM (or God or whatever you call yourself) in them. Mainly cause they are starting this adventure a few levels higher than 1st level. My swarm and Mad Slashers (yes two slasher are going to pop up.) are upgraded to give a group of 5th level adventures (who finally have every base class) covered a run for their money. ;) I can't wait. I expect at least one person will perish tonight. Muhahahahahahahahahaha :)
Prolly going to upgrade the Lurking strangler too and the earth elemental. heheheheh
I plan on running this also, but with a few minor tweaks to increase the difficulty slightly.
Areas marked as difficult terrrain in the map provide cover (+4 AC) for small creatures.
The goblins are equipped with two handed small spears (d6 damage) instead of javelins (d4) and shields. There are spears all over the house living room, allowing them to have constant access to ranged and melee weapons. Instead of Str 11 and Dex 13, they now have Str 10 and Dex 14, upping their AC to 15 and ranged attack to +4. Instead of alertness they have skill focus (hide) as their warrior feat, bringing their hide bonus up to +9. Ugloop's stats are also changed, and he will have Wis 14 instead of 12 and Strength 10 instead of 14 to increase his spell DCs from 13 to 14.
Strategy: The goblins in the living room listen for the sounds of the PCs in combat with the Stirges. The combat DC is around 8 (-10 combat, +15 stone walls, +3 and up for distance) so I'm assuming they'll hear them. They'll space out and hide in the building rubble and wait for the PCs to enter, attempting to surprise them. After the surprise round, one will of the gobbos will yell to the shaman in the next room. The shaman will then then yell from the other room, making a bluff check to distract the PCs. The goblins will then attempt to hide again and move to a different location. If engaged in melee combat they will withdraw and run away.
Strategy for Ugloop and guards: These goblins will also attempt to hide, hoping for to get a casting of sleep during the surprise round.
Interestingly, the staple food in a badger's diet is the earthworm. The kitchen could also contain two rotting lamb carcasses, with piles of collected maggots and bugs harvested from their bodies and stored to feed the badgers and goblins.
I'm using the base idea of goblins and stirges in the mine office, but instead of being led by an adept I'll have a blue (psionic goblin) lead the band.
As has been stated already, briliant idea Chris.
Again, a great post Chris, thanks.
I won't be running AOW for another three weeks, but this will be a great start to the campaign. Thanks Chris
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my players burned down Filge's observatory and let him go. While exploring the 3FoE in Dourstone, Kullen and some Feral Dogs came and burned down the mine office (already repaired by the PC's).
"You burned down my house, I'm just returning the favor." Balabar Smenk (okay it was Ra's al Ghul...but it's still an apt line)