So i am just about done with Blackwall Keep and I coul dfind no reason for the PCs to end up in the egg chamber. Here is how it went...
They took a bunch of right turns and ended up facing off with the king pretty quick... drinking grog on his throne. (it was late at night and I didn't want him to be sleeping like many of the soldiers were) The mage runs around the corner and throws in a fireball, which does pretty minimal damage... the King in turn slams the mage with a crit from the trident and takes the mage down. They start taking a bit more caution and eventually take the king down. The Shaman approaches from the the rear and brokers the deal of hostages in exchange for the PCs trying to secure peace with the Free City. All is agreed...
Now why in the hell would the shaman ask the PCs to go into the egg chamber? Maybe he doesn't trust the dragon... I thought about that, but would he trust soft-bellies in the egg chamber either? I am thinking about having it have turned into a nasty little hole filled with Kyuss spawn if and when they return with the peace deal...
How did others handle this situation. I just couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse to get the PCs into a situation where they would go in there. The module offers a huge bonus (3,500 XP each!!!) if they go in and kill the spawnlings without damaging the eggs... but the only way I see them coming to this room is if they just slayed the shaman and they are plowing through looking for loot.
~Jamey
I had the PC's run into the shaman outside at a seperate cave. This made since to me because shamans often reside outside of the tribal complex to maintain their air of mystery and also to help isolate the sick and injured from the rest of the tribe.
I then had the shaman offer to release the captured mage if the PC's agreed to git rid of the chieftan for him. Once the agreement was made the shaman showed them the back entrance that leads through the egg chamber. The PC's went in and took care of the kobolds and the chieftan and his gang while the shaman went in through the front and made ready to make sure none of the normal lizard folk interfered with the PCs. Once the chieftan was dead they went back to take a closer look at the "black egg". The cleric confered with the shaman and they decided that something wasn't right about the egg and before they messed with it the shaman had all of the other eggs moved to a different location. When the egg broke they just backed off and watched all the hatchlings die with nothing to infect.
Hishka doesn't trust Ilthane. It says so in the adventure, I believe. In my game, when she surrendered to the PCs, she explained to them why she didn't have a problem with them killing the king and asked for thier help in removing the eggs from the chamber before Ilthane returned. She told the party that she and the other lizardfolk survivors would be no match for Ilthane's modified kobold guards and all she wanted to do was move the eggs to another tribe.
That was good enough for my group.
Pretty much what I did. The shaman held a knife to Marzena's throat (at first) and bargained for the regicide and the removal of Ilthane's egg and its guards, which in my case was a dragonkin and a handful of kobold sorcerers.
They'd already run into this dragonkin at the keep were more than willing to kick its *** for free.
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Same here. I had Hishka request the PCs remove both Shukak and Ilthane's kobolds. From Hishka's perspective wouldn't he/she (it? darn genderless lizard) assume that if Shukak was defeated that Ilthane would just groom another cohort to lead the tribe, and see that Ilthane was really the biggest threat to the tribe's existence? Hishka wouldn't want to kill Ilthane's minions directly - if the party is responsible then in the chance that Hishka crosses Ilthane's path, he can indicate the PCs were the cause of the destruction of Ilthane's plans, and act in the best interest of the Twisted Branch, even if that meant sending the black dragon hot after the party's trail (which is exactly what we want, right?)
I'm seeing a theme here... I did something similar too!
From memory, my players were asked to help the remaining lizardfolk move to another part of the marshes. Partly because they feared recriminations from the humans for attacking the keep, partly to get away from the dragon. They needed the PC's to help get all their eggs out, negotiate with the kobolds etc. The PC's only heard half this story, enough to get them to help out - they knew they were entering a potential heap of hurt in terms of annoying a black dragon, but they did it anyway to help out the lizardfolk especially as they had killed a number of innocent soldiers who were being forced to attack the humans by the (now dead) Lizard King.
In fact, I think the players themselves wanted to help move the lizadfolk; the idea of negotiating a truce never crossed their minds and if I did mention it they dismissed it anyway (I think they preferred to move them on just in case they became hostile again).
Oh yeah, it was also quite funny - the PC's never did crack open the dragon's egg, they left it there by itself, having cleared out all the lizardfolk eggs. One of the kobolds tried to crack it open himself, but as he'd been disarmed he only had his teeth and didn't get enough damage on it once hardness was taken into account. So the infected dragon's egg, with kobold teeth marks in it, was left behind, presumedly to "hatch" into spawn that die out due to having nothing to infect. I think the players didn't want to anno the dragon too much, but of course they didn't know what the egg was really there for, so it's all worked out really quite well for the overall plot...
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Haha... I forgot to mention the scene of my players in the Egg room.
Once inside the players (not the characters) began to discuss the advantages of keeping a black dragon egg, perhaps remembering back to when they had the baby owlbear in their custody. I remember specifically answering if they could squeeze the egg into their Heward's Handy Haversack. I finally reminded them this was the egg of an EVIL dragon and they finally decided to destroy it since they didnt want to leave it behind. Of course when they finally destroyed it, only 2 PCs were left on that side of the water-filled tunnel.
When the rogue in the group picked up a hammer and finally cracked it open, the worms began to spill out. His immediate reaction? Flee the scene... yep, you heard it... they let the green worms infest every last egg. At this point I was thinking evil DM thoughts of how to potentially make them regret this tragic decision.
Amazingly, the PC wizard became heroic, using his Fly spell and 2 wands of Burning Hands to zoom around the egg chamber and utilize all of his charges to kill the spawnlings single-handedly, since I ruled they were too small to reach him and had the ceiling go about 20' up from the floor.
Now why in the hell would the shaman ask the PCs to go into the egg chamber? Maybe he doesn't trust the dragon... I thought about that, but would he trust soft-bellies in the egg chamber either? I am thinking about having it have turned into a nasty little hole filled with Kyuss spawn...
Agreed. In my group, they've just headed into the Mistmarsh in pursuit of the captured soldiers and battle mage. I still hadn't decided how I was going to handle this. The Shaman may not trust the leader and Ilithane's involvement, and may try to bargain the captives' release for help in defeating the leader, but there's NO PLAUSIBLE REASON for the Shaman to go on to send them to the clutch. None. Especially with how important this clutch is to the tribe's existence.
Also, there's no reason for my group to let the Shaman LIVE long enough to get all this out. More likely, he'd be attacked before he could open his mouth and hiss out a syllable.
I was debating skipping the whole thing and just letting the Kyuss hatchlings do what they were intended to do when I got a much better suggestion from one of my players. (He's our primary DM, although I'm running the APs, so I'll sometimes bounce things off of him when I get stuck.)
When they find the captives, all of the background stuff the Shaman would have told them is actually going to be fed to them via the battle mage, who has gathered all this info from conversations she's overheard from her captors who didn't realize she can speak their language. Something isn't adding up as far as she's concerned, and she'll encourage the group to seek out the clutch. No chance for a treaty this way, but realistically my group wouldn't care about brokering a treaty between the lizardfolk and the Free City anyway.
I just had the shaman say to the PCs regarding the egg chamber, "Beyond lies the dragon's hidden chamber of forbidden secret mystery. No one is allowed."
They went in instantly.
IMC, the PCs found the kyuss zombie in the cellar of Blackwall Keep before they went into the Mist Marsh. When they discovered the worm-infested lizardfolk in the lair, the PCs investigated how he got infected.
The lizardfolk shaman explained that she gave a healing potion to the infected lizardfolk. They looked at her other potions, got a 23 on a spot check and saw the worm inside. The PCs asked the shaman where she got the potions, and she said they were gifts from Ilthane. Then they asked if Ilthane left any other "gifts," and the shaman told them about the egg chamber.
That's how the PCs got interested in the egg chamber. I liked it, because it kept focus on the Kyuss worms.
My group was VERY reluctant to go in egg chamber.
The shamen surrendered and told them of the king and his association with Ilthane. THe shamen didn't trust Ilthane and wanted to move to another part of the mistmarsh. However, The last thing my group wanted to do was incur the wrath of a black dragon that would kill them easily. They had done their job to rescue the hostages. They ignored the pleas to help them move the eggs. Luckily though, they needed the rest and decided to leave at first light.
The lizardfolk decided to move the eggs without their help. Late in the evening, the egg started to hatch and the kobolds kicked all of the lizardfolk out, killing one in the process. THe group only went in to escort the remaining Lizardfolk out. Once the kobolds were disposed of, they saw the treasure chests at the opposite end of the room and decided to loot them. They set up a trap to due subdual damage to the dragon baby. they were not expecting the worms to come out.
On a side note, for this encounter, I created a map of the egg chamber ahead of time and sprinkled m&m mini's around to represent the eggs and used a large black jellybean for the dragon egg. My group loved it.
Also, there's no reason for my group to let the Shaman LIVE long enough to get all this out. More likely, he'd be attacked before he could open his mouth and hiss out a syllable.
I introduced a lizardfolk NPC at Blackwall Keep that was an ally of the shaman, and against the king. He was a lizardfold ranger, and I had him in charge of attacking the keep.
The party mage cast web in front of the door (with the ground and the balcony being the opposing sides) and caught a bunch of lizardfolk that way. The PCs questioned the lizardfolk, who claimed that the humans introduced the worms to the swamp.
After they discovered the kyuss zombie in the cellar of the keep, the PCs started to believe the lizardfolk. After everyone sat down and told the PCs everything, they found out the worms were encountered in the swamp, and that these lizardfolk wanted help to overthrow their king.
So, it all went really smoothly from there out.
I just had the shaman say to the PCs regarding the egg chamber, "Beyond lies the dragon's hidden chamber of forbidden secret mystery. No one is allowed."
They went in instantly.
Works every time--on children and adventurers
THanks for all the feedback. I am not torn as to come up with someway to have the Shaman come and offer a reward for their assistance to clear the egg chamber, or just to let them move on... I know they will have to bring the ex-prisoners back to the keep, but they may go back to help. Since I have a party member out tomorrow night it might be good to do that instead of going into part 4 without him.
I skipped BK completly as I found that it did not contribute much to the AoW story - beside the egg chamber. Here is what I´ve done:
On their trip from Diamond Lage to Free City the group made stop at a wayside tavern and found the innkeepers wife in distress. They told the PCs that their husband came back from woodcutting the other day and was stragly disformed. She managed to lock him away in a cellar room. The PCs doublechecked and found out that poor innkeeper has been transformed into a Kyuss zombie. The PCs druid had a chat with the innkeepers horse and let the horse guide they way into the woods where the innkeeper left the horse alone.
There the PCs found the egg chamber that the innkeeper unfortunatly had discovered (which causes his infection). The kobolds and dragon eggs were destroyed by the PCs and will now meet an angry Ilthane sometimes.
I ran a "random encounter" style fight fairly close to the lair, prior to the party reaching it. It was actually the survivors of the siege who had fled -- I was too lazy to add their numbers to the lair. Anyway, the party took one captive. I decided the captive knew the bare bones of the black dragon's involvement with the tribe, and did not like the current king. He agreed to talk to the shaman for the PCs, and did. Then the shaman came out and made its deal with them regarding letting the prisoners go in exchange for brokering a peace treaty. The party's sorcerer had invisibility which he cast on everyone but the shaman, who led them straight to the king, no intervening encounters.
After the party killed both the king and his lieutenant in a pretty long-lasting battle, the druid simply asked them to kill the "special kobolds" the dragon had guarding the chamber. The druid (in my opinion) considered the kobolds a danger to the eggs and feared that they would try to keep the eggs hostage once they discovered the king had been killed. Therefore, the druid had to ask the PCs for help, or the situation would soon go right back to what it had been before the PCs killed the king, because the dragon would simply appoint another one just as bad, or worse. The PCs happily complied, and spotted the chests and the dragon egg after killing the kobolds.
These particular Players of mine are very goody-goody (which I like), so they felt sorry for the poor, misguided lizardfolk. They were careful not to step on any lizardfolk eggs, got the chests' contents, and then TOOK THE BLACK EGG WITH THEM! Yes, they decided they needed to show this to Allustan. So, with the egg out of the chamber, the lizardfolk eggs were safe, and there was no battle. Naturally, the lizarfolk plan an immediate move to a new lair, because the dragon will be angry when he comes back.
The funniest part was when the party returned to Blackwall Keep. The soldiers begged them to help with the Spawn, which I had increased in number to three. The party's fighter failed about six straight saves over a long, hit-and-run battle against the Spawn's fear effects -- she never landed a single blow. I was forced, of course, to sing the Monty Python "She bravely ran away" song.
I plan on a hopefully-gross dissection scene when the party gets the egg back to Allustan in Diamond Lake. They'll have lots of specimens to take to Eligos for viewing!
More details will follow in my campaign journal, but my party entered the lizardfolk lair earlier this week after a grueling trek through the mistmarsh. The Lizard King refused to come out to negotiate the desired prisoner exchange with the PCs (they had captured six lizardfolk at the Battle of Blackwall Keep, including Shesht, the assistant shaman). So, they visited the king in his throne room, manacled prisoners in tow. (They briefly considered sending two representatives in and keeping the rest of the party outside with the prisoners, but decided that that would make the entire party extremely vulnerable in the event of treachery.
As the party bard finished making his proposal (prisoner exchange and a chance to talk with Hishka about the plague of worms, which they knew about from interrogating Shesht), the Lizard King, who had no interest in bargaining and figured he could take the imprisoned lizardfolk back by killing the party, stood up and threw his trident, striking the bard in the shoulder. A huge melee ensued, in which the party succeeded in slaying the king and his lieutenant, but killed none of the other Lizardfolk. With the two leaders dead, Hishka ordered the lizardfolk to stand down and negotiated a truce with the PCs. Hishka had no trouble persuading them to rid the tribe of the Dragon's Egg and its dangerous kobold guardians. The party attempted to remove the egg from the hatchery, but the bard, who was carrying it, failed his balance check, slipped, and fell, crushing two lizardfolk eggs and cracking the dragon's egg slightly (the fall did 6 pts. of damage, enough to beat the egg's hardness, but not enough to break it completely). Some Kyuss worms slithered through the crack, and the bard shouted for someone to cast a mending spell on it. Fortunately, the party cleric just happened to have that spell prepared, so only enough worms escaped to infest one square--four eggs. As the Kyuss spawnlings hatched out one by one and were destroyed by the cleric's turn checks, the party wizard used the remaining charges on the Adventurer's Wand purchased in Diamond Lake to roast the egg and kill the worms inside. Unfortunately, he failed his knowledge arcana check to recognize the alchemical potential of the worm paste he had created.
So, the encounter didn't turn out extremely challenging, but it was interesting and gave the party something to think about. They spent the night at the Twisted Branch lair, and I had the infected Lizardfolk die and turn into a Kyuss zombie, just to add a little more to the mystery. When the party got back to Blackwall, one of the lizardfolk prisoners that had been kept there as a hostage against the party's return had just turned into a Kyuss zombie (I did away with the zombie locked in the basement business because I thought it was a bit far-fetched, figuring that the battle would net at least a couple of down but not dead lizardfolk captives to serve as vehicles for this encounter). After a close call involving a Kyuss spawn dropping a worm throught the eyeslit on the paladin's visor, followed by the cleric performing surgery with the bard's silver dagger to get the worm just as it was about to burrow through his eye socket into his brain, the Kyuss zombies were defeated. (Fortunately the cleric had turned the remaining zombies, giving the party breathing space.)
So, much fun was had by all. Now the party must contend with the vicious combination of Swamp Fever and Ghoul Fever that several of them contracted on their way home through the Mistmarsh!
I ran the adventure a bit differently. In fact, after the battle at Blackwell Keep, during which some soldiers unleashed the Kyuss Spawn against the lizardmen (and eventually the PCs), I had Hishka meet the party and actively ask for help. He wanted to remove the king and the draconic kobolds, and to sign a traty with the Free City of Grayhawk. This way I could bypass all the fights in the lizardmen lair, because Hishka had the party enter by the egg chamber. I chose this way because the fights in the lizardmen lair didn't seem much interesting to me.
The egg chamber is, in fact, the most important element of this adventure in the economy of the AP. So the party shouldn't miss it. I recommend tou to attract the party in there with some clues. Perhaps Marzena or some other prisoner saw it used, or the players search for treasure and find some silver coins down the water?