Why would the players decide to destroy Ilthane’s egg?
The module alludes to the idea that the players will want to defeat the draconic kobolds and destroy Ilthane’s egg. However, the only arrangement prescribed as part of the peace treaty with Hishka is one involving the players “killing or chasing off the current king and lieutenant” and to have the characters act as an ambassador on behalf of the Twisted Branch tribe to the Free City. Why then, after the players defeat them both and rescue the captives, would they continue further into the home of the lizardmen? Furthermore, if they did continue into the Twisted Branch’s nursery, what would motivate the characters to strike/ignite/freeze/cast remove curse, remove disease, or....pour silversheen on the egg?
Its seems that Mr. Reynolds included this tidbit for a good reason (the encounter with the spawnlings), but I’m certain its something my players just won’t do. They’re more likely to try and take the thing to sell than just hack at the egg of (what they think to be) an unhatched dragon.
If you’ve already finished Blackwall Keep, tell us what your players did in the scenario. If you haven’t, let us know how you plan on dealing with what could be a “hollow encounter.”
Interesting question. I don't have the magazine here with me, but I do seem to recall there was a logical reason for the PC's to travel to the nursery and to suggest to the lizardfolk that Ilthane might be behind their green worm problems. I'll re-read it tonight and post again.
Have the lizard king flee tthrough the water tunnel to the egg chamber. duh. They'll follow him there and find the egg and stuff.
I have to go and re-read this now (my players haven't gotten to it yet). For some reason I thought one of the eggs burst open, giving the players the clue that something was horribly wrong. Even if it doesn't say that, I may go that route anyways.
Creative Director
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If the PCs make an alliance with the lizardfolk shaman, it'll probably ask the PCs to go check on the eggs (or at least to accompany it to the egg chamber) since as long as the king's been around, access to the egg chamber has been limited.
That said, if the PCs don't check out the egg chamber, the egg'll hatch soon enough and they'll start hearing rumors of how the Mistmarsh is infested with spawn of Kyuss (aka "unkillable zombies"), which should give them the hint that there's something big worm-related going on.
They’re more likely to try and take the thing to sell than just hack at the egg of (what they think to be) an unhatched dragon.
If you’ve already finished Blackwall Keep, tell us what your players did in the scenario. If you haven’t, let us know how you plan on dealing with what could be a “hollow encounter.”
I just finished Blackwall Keep (thanks to Great Cleave, the adventure lasted less than two sessions) and th party found it to be relatively easy; even the Kyuss zombies (3) went down with relative ease. They were like: That's it?. And I only ran 4 characters level 7.
In any case, our Goliath thought selling the egg was a great idea. He carried it like a baby on his back until Diamond Lake garrison soldiers asked:
"Why are you carrying spoiled food in your pack?"
"Why?"
"Because you've got worms all over your back."
The ensuing panic was priceless.....
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My group was classically hilarious. The Bard and Hexblade were the only 2 who went to check out the Egg chamber, and the took the Shaman with them. They had little problem with the Kobolds, then decided to search the egg chamber. After much debate, they decide to try and take the egg out of the chamber to examine it. Well, the Bard is a halfling, so he couldn't carry it, so off goes the Hexblade, to get the egg. He fumbles his balance roll, a natural 1, and we roll randomly to determing which way he falls....guess....right into the Dragon Egg. out come the worms. At this point, I am laughing so hard I am almost in tears.
1st round, worms start crawling all over the Hexbalde. What does Lylo the Bard do....Alchemists fire baby...all over the Hexblade. Now he is on fire, and swatting at worms. Well, Lylo makes his spot and Bardic knowledge, and notices the fire is killing the worms. So, he and the shaman coat the area in a hemisphere around the egg with firs, preventing the worms from reaching most of the lizard eggs. In the meantime however, the Hexblade is taking frie damage from the Alchemist Fire on him, and now from the fire in the adjacent squares, and fighting about 6 spawnlings that have hatched...He survived, with about 5 hp, burned, pissed, but alive, and they averted a major disaster...Now the Bards favorite tale to regale the people in DL with is the one about the Hexblade and the Dragon Egg Omelette....Little do they know that word has gotten back to Ilthane, setting up the showdown...
Now, let's see if they survive Zyrxog...see my other post about avaioding a TPK...They are close to biting it.
Our party made a bargain with the shaman and then went on to defeat the chief. However, during the melee, over half the lizard folk warriors were wiped out. At this point, the shaman decided to take an embassy to several neighboring tribes to recruit new warriors. He asked the PC's to watch over the eggs while he was gone. He introduced the PC's to the kobolds, telling them they were left by the dragon, but that he didn't trust them. After the shaman left, it wasn't long before the PC's picked a fight with the kobolds, and made short work of them. The paladin of the party was curious about the black dragon egg, so he detected evil on it. I told him he did sense evil...but multiple auras...hundreds of them. When the shaman returned, the PC's told him of their discovery. He asked them to open the egg for him, which they did, after first removing it from the egg chamber. Green worms were released, but withouth water to swim in, they quickly died. Anticlimatic.
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my party took the egg taking care not to crack the egg or cause it to hatch. I then let an entire session pass while the PC's dreamed about how they were gonna sell the egg or if they should have a dragon for a pet. They stopped the dreams as The next session rolled around and I had the egg hatch with the worms crawling all over them. They fled their Inn room in terror while the worms died. They thought I'd stole the egg from them untill I showed the artwork from Blackwall keep.
IMC, the players captured two of the lizardfolk attacking the keep, and they learned from them that there were some lizardfolk that didn't want to follow their current leader. They decided to help the lizardfolk overthrow their leader and went to their lair.
While going through the lair, they noticed the lizardfolk with the worm infection. I described him as having "crawling skin" like Imhotep in the Mummy (with the scarab bettles crawling around), and eating mushrooms non-stop, having stained fingers like a chain-smoking person would have.
They were able to figure out that the worms took over the body as it attacked the victim's intelligence, and that the the mushrooms the lizardfolk was eating, though toxic, restored intelligence points.
They did some investigation into it, and discovered that he was tainted from a heal potion. The shaman told the party that the potions were gifts from Ilthane. That got everyone worried, and the shaman asked the PCs to check on their eggs, because Ilthane had promised safety, and now that was in doubt as well.
They saw the dragon egg and after some checks and whatnot decided to cast remove disease on it. They discovered that the spell worked on the infected lizardman, so they tried it on the egg. Maybe a little anti-climatic, but there is a lot of thought about why Ilthane would want to infect the lizardfolk with the worms.
If they hadn't done something with the egg and taken it to the Free City, I would have had it stolen by the Ebon Triad and have something evil done with it.
All in all, they really learned a lot about the nature of the Kyuss worms, and their trip to the Free City will be more informative to the people they meet instead of the other way around.
My players finally got to the egg-chamber last evening, so I thought I would post how the encounter went.
Thinking the egg to be that of a black dragon, the party was curious to see the creature and used a daylight spell and a couple of sunrods to shine light through one side of the egg. Im sure the egg would be pretty thick, but it was such an inventive idea that I decided to let it work. I told the players that they could see a "writhing mass" within the shell and that whatever it was it certainly wasnt a dragon. They realized they had to remove the egg from the chamber (suspecting it to be more worms) and the encounter became an interesting role-playing session that helped to unveil the treachery of the Ilthane to the lizard folk (who were still skeptical of the player's motives). The lizard folk, led by Hishka, removed their eggs in exodus to a new home. The party used the rescued soldiers to help carry the egg back to Blackwall Keep on a stretcher where they disposed of it in cauldron.
So far, no one has posted that they've (willingly) attacked the egg creating a fight with the Kyuss Spawnlings. What a shame. Im sure their are a lot of clerics out their who would love the chance to turn all those 1HD undead...like some kinda "divine fireball".
My players finally got to the egg-chamber last evening, so I thought I would post how the encounter went.
Thinking the egg to be that of a black dragon, the party was curious to see the creature and used a daylight spell and a couple of sunrods to shine light through one side of the egg. Im sure the egg would be pretty thick, but it was such an inventive idea that I decided to let it work. I told the players that they could see a "writhing mass" within the shell and that whatever it was it certainly wasnt a dragon. They realized they had to remove the egg from the chamber (suspecting it to be more worms) and the encounter became an interesting role-playing session that helped to unveil the treachery of the Ilthane to the lizard folk (who were still skeptical of the player's motives). The lizard folk, led by Hishka, removed their eggs in exodus to a new home. The party used the rescued soldiers to help carry the egg back to Blackwall Keep on a stretcher where they disposed of it in cauldron.
So far, no one has posted that they've (willingly) attacked the egg creating a fight with the Kyuss Spawnlings. What a shame. Im sure their are a lot of clerics out their who would love the chance to turn all those 1HD undead...like some kinda "divine fireball".
Interesting angle - and similar to the way that the USDA grades chicken eggs for sale. they shine a light through it and see how well put together the yolk is.
I say good call on letting them roll with it. rewarding good thinking is always a plus, imo.
With my players being in the mindset of 'aggression before discussion', i would have been surprised if they didn't attempt to destroy the egg, which is what happened. Escorted by a few of the remaining lizardfolk in the lair (Hiska, much to the shagrin of the party's own driud, was killed in battle), they entered the egg chamber. The lizardfolk were eager to destroy the unborn dragon, in hopes of nurturing their progeny and renewing the devestated lizardfolk tribe (the lizard king btw was determined to be to blame for the war, not the humans). Although the barbarian/rogue did a cursory examination of the egg (he saw a hairline crack with a tinge of luminous green in the fissure), it was ultimately determined that if the lizardfolk wanted the egg destroyed, the party wasn't going to stop them. Spread out throughout the chamber, actions at the ready, the lizardfolk began hacking at the outer shell. when it cracked open and the volumous green, writhing goo poured from within, the characters were surprised, but didn't panic. Initiative was rolled and knowing the worms spread at 5 feet per round, the characters had to react quick or all would be for not. Grabbing a tanglefoot bag from the druid, the bard proceeded to toss it to the ranger (knowing her ranged attack was far superior than his own). She proceeded to roll a confirmed critical hit directly on the egg! (I swear, i've never seen anyone roll as lucky as her, its truly remarkable). With the egg being described as the size of a halfling, i determined that the goo would harden and stave off the worms long enough for the warmage to resolve a fire orb. Good thinking resulted in the party earning a cool CR8 xp award for saving the colony.
1st round, worms start crawling all over the Hexbalde. What does Lylo the Bard do....Alchemists fire baby...all over the Hexblade. Now he is on fire, and swatting at worms.
The funny thing about this is how the halfling sees the hexblade covered in these vile worms, assumes he doomed, and just douses the whole horrible scene with alchemist fire. That's hilarious.
I have a lizardfolk druid as one of the PCs in my group. He's seen the corrupted egg. He will lead the group to it, and they will destroy it. At least that will be the general plan.
My PCs refused to break the egg in fear of the dragon's wrath. So they told Hishka he could break it if he wanted to, when they are away. Three of them swam back to look after Marzena and the soldiers but our fighter was too curious and stayed with Hishka. Hiska broke the egg, worms crawl out, infest the lizard eggs and so on. As the spawnlings crawl out the fighter decides to fight them (alone), while Hishka tells the other players to come back (after saving some eggs).
Due to some very bad fortitute save rolls the fighter was finally reduced to constitution 1 -- too low to hold his breath long enough to go back through the tunnel. Fortunately the others come back just in time to prevent his constitution from dropping to 0 by the secondary damage. (Well, actually they were late but I didn't want a PC death just because the others were one or two rounds late).
My group never reached the egg chamber. They made a pact with the shaman which involved defeating the lizard king and that was that. I read carefully through the mod and there wasn't any justification I could see for the shaman caring to mention the egg chamber. The idea that he wants them to help check it out didn't make much sense based on the information in the module. He knew the dragon made a deal with the king, but he didn't know about the worms in the egg and figured he could easily deal with the kobolds himself.
Since my group was only 6th-level at the end, I compensated for the lack in XP by having the PCs fight extra encounters on the way to Greyhawk. Of course, after rolling up five packs of displacer beasts (rolls eyes), I pulled out the DMG and used the Hills encounter table instead.
I have a DMing policy that any events the PCs leave behind to their own devices typically turn out for the worst. Eventually the egg will hatch and make an army of spawn of Kyuss out of the lizardfolk tribe. Consequently, I've been thinking of a few alternate plans. First of all, the PCs agreed to send ambassadors from the Free City to meet with Hishka. They will never return and the Free City will presume it was an ambush. So the recently reinforced soldiers at Blackwall Keep will be ordered to move in and eradicate the lizardfolk tribe in retribution. Upon facing a wall of spawn of Kyuss, a vast majority of the Blackwall Keep garrison flees due to the fear aura and the rest are "converted" to Kyuss' way of thinking. Shortly thereafter, Ilthane arrives and leads her spawn on an attack on Blackwall Keep. The keep is overrun and more converts are added to the army.
By this time, the PCs competing in the Champion's Games may start hearing rumors of the undead army in the Mistmarsh. What would be really fun is if the PCs fail to stop Loris and 20,000 wights start running around Greyhawk. Obviously at this point the Circle of the Eight will step in and offer aid but 20,000 wights is a bit much, even for them and by the time they arrive most of the city is already going to be in ruins and the Cult of the Shriven Sickle will have come out of hiding to take a leading role among the undead. A war of attrition will ensue. The PCs for their part will probably have fled by this time and probably received word that Eligos is dead. However, now they'd be faced with two undead armies.
Of course, it's possible they will stop Raknian and Greyhawk will be just fine. Either way, they proceed to Diamond Lake. And they find it in shambles. Ilthane isn't necessarily irate for this purpose. She's actually just trying to be proactive. Having learned that Allustan is helping the PCs she's really just playing the mercenary part for the Ebon Triad and nipping the problem of the PCs in the bud. Ever in hopes of increasing the size of her army, Ilthane lead them to Diamond Lake at the same time she assaulted it looking for Allustan. The priests managed to keep most of the undead at bay long enough to evacuate some parts of the city, but the spawn increased in number nevertheless and a war-zone has ensued. Ilthane left the undead to their own devices and went looking for Allustan so when the PCs arrive, they find the whole town a wreck and crawling with undead. They'll have to fight their way through the town looking for survivors to figure out what happened. I figure one of the survivors will be a lackey of Smenk's. :)
I believe this will serve to persuade the PCs that dark times are a comin'. One of the coolest parts about this is that other evl powers in the Flanaess are likely to hear about these events transpiring (especially if 20,000 wights are unleashed). Evil beings like Iuz and Korenth Zan are likely to begin marshalling their troops, preparing for the impending Age of Worms that they know is being heralded by the unpleasant events in the Domain of Greyhawk. The whole Flanaess could be on the verge of another war!
My players wanted to investigate the egg chamber as soon as Hishka mentioned it. They didn't trust what the black dragon was doing at all. The took care of the kobolds pretty quick and got to the eggs. The first examined one of the lizardfolk eggs to make sure they were ok. A very high search check showed that the egg was fine. They then cast detect thoughts and focused on the egg. I figured if the hatchlings were far enough along, which I assumed was the case otherwise the spawnlings won't have been useless, then they could pick up very basic thought patterns. Feeling that the lizardfolk egegs were ok they used levitate then tenser's floating disk to move the dragon egg out from the rest. Doing detect thoughts on it revealed no thoughts and a high intensity light inspection show a somewhat undefined form inside. So they put the egg down when the kobolds were and built a fire around it. When the egg cracked open from the heat, they finished off the last few worms with a few charges from the Burning Hands wand. They got the full xp for that one. :)