|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I decided to start a thread where we DMs can share other published modules or dungeon adventures that we know of that we can use at certain points during the SCAP.
Whether its something being planned or already done, perhaps sharing them may inspire others.
I have come up with two (so far). Due to the recent history of filth-fever plaque and the docks-ring known for being infested with rats, theres a Dungeon Crawl Classics by Goodman Games for levels 1-3 called Idyllis of the Rat King.
The Swashbuckler of the group is the yonger adopted brother of Todd Vanderboren. I started off SCAP (as it pertains to him) with the Vanderborens working out a real-estate deal with an agent for some "lord" who will be moving to town soon and needing a warehouse to purchase. This agent is buying for a "Lord Drathkar." Premiach Vanderboren asked the swashbuckler younger son, Dailen (because Todd was away with the Stormblades saving the city from Kobolds) to go down to the warehouses that the Vanderboren's own and look into the property to see if it is indeed overrun by rats - so they can sell the property with a clear conscience. Before he could do much in that regards he got sucked into the kidnapped children plot and it has gone untouched since, but he has shown interest in seeing it through once he gets done with "Life's Bazaar."
The other one I found could fit in nicely is Temple of the Dragon Cult for 8-10th also a Dungeon Crawl Classic by Goodman Games. This would fit in perfectly as the antagonist of this module is a rather young red dragon who fits in nicely as a spawn of Hookface.
Finally, I remember reading in mone of my Dungeon Mags an adventure that has to do with the destruction or semi-destruction of a wizards academy. I plan to look back through them to find them, but I'm thinking it would may work out well with a PC who has strong ties to Bluewater Academy. I have an elven wizard PC in my game with just such ties.
Robert
I'm actually in the middle of running the adventure you're talking about as a supplement for my group. It's called "The Fall of Graymalkin Academy," and it's in issue #140 of Dungeon. I'm using it to build levels and treasure between "Test of the Smoking Eye" and "Secrets of the Soul Pillars." My group got beat up hard on the Abyss and used up a lot of the wealth they had built up just to revive fallen allies and recover from the ordeal. Bluecrater Academy is easily substituted into the adventure, though I changed the premise and timeline a lot. I replaced the multiple invading factions with a single group of evil adventurers (the Necrocants) seeking to raid the academy's vault for something of value to the Cagewrights as a test of their worthiness to serve the evil cabal. I altered the adventure's drow sorceress and made her a necromancer wizardess (and elder sister to the group's drow rogue). There's also Khyron bonesworn, and two others I created from scratch. Everything has happened overnight (can't justify two months passing in the middle of the city with an ice barrier blocking off the school). Several of the most junior students have survived and are protected by the two remaining academy wizards because I needed to spare the younger siblings of my group's bard, since she's spent a lot of time and money seeing that they get a good education, and I didn't want to slap her in the face for good roleplay and character develoment. I plan for Aldevein (the drow necromancer) and Khyron to escape, so they can be present for Lords of Oblivion, which will give the party a nice sense of satisfaction when they finally take the pair down at that point. If you want any more details about the changes I've made, just ask, and I'll be happy to post them here.
|
|
Thats perfect! Thats exactly what i was hoping to share with this thread. I'll go grab my 140 from the shelf and thumb trhough that adventure.
And of course if there are any other side-trek adventures I think to use with printed material, I'll post the ideas and sources here.
Thanks for the input.
Robert
I ran my group through the Sons of Gruumsh module prior to Flood Season, though I did use it to introduce the Stormblades by first running Event 6 - Meet the Competition. In the module, a young adventuring group made up of the children of local nobles is missing. The PCs are recruited to seek them out and bring them back. In my game, the reward was open to any seekers and both the Stormblades and PCs were privately asked to join the search. However, the noble offering the reward made the proviso that the return of his son was required.
So, as the PCs prepared to leave town they learned, to their dismay, that the Stormblades were also on the same trail. And after some discussion, they opted to team up for the duration of the search and share the reward, though the detail of shares was a bit sketchy. The Stormblades, having nobles within their ranks, knew the other group of adventurers and were helpful in getting off in the right direction. But after the initial meeting in the tavern from Event 6, there was a lot of tension between the groups.
During the fight through the orc temple, the Stormblades were combat helpful, but continued to do just the right things to annoy my players. Finally, I managed a bit of careful manipulation and arranged the attack plans for the last battle to allow the Stormblades first access to the nobles held hostage, minus the son of the noble offering the reward. When the opportunity presented itself, I ran the Stormblades in to grab the other nobles and had them flee the combat to escape to the surface with their friends and back to town. The PCs were left short-handed to fight the battle and discover the deception. Their paladin went down and the rest were getting desperate before it all came to an end. They recovered the final noble, the son who mattered, and returned to Cauldron as well.
Now, the fun thing I added was to have the Stormblades face the PCs as they came to return the noble son for their reward. The Stormblades claimed their share of the reward, though they had abandoned him and did not escort him back to Cauldron. The PCs were naturally unwilling to go along with this and it developed into a fight. The noble offering the reward called for the town guard who broke up the fight and brought them all before the mayor and Vhalantru to arbitrate the matter.
Long enough story short, the PCs and Stormblades were each allowed to make their arguments to the mayor and the way things went the PCs had to settle for less than they had expected. They were wholly justified in their anger and the Stormblades became an immediate thorn.
Without going into further detail, it was lovely! My players have enjoyed taking the Stormblades on at every opportunity, especially the Demonskar Ball that followed shortly after all of this took place. I've been meaning to get back to my notes to write up the idea for theRPGenius.com and now is as good a time as any.
Thanks for the kickstart, Robert.
|
|
I guess we both offered a little Kick-start. When I posted this thread originally a few weeks ago, i had thought it would get more immediate responses, but didn't.
Now it got resurrected, and it has inspired me to thumb through my old Dungeons and see what other adventures I can pilfer for the campaign.
I'll of course share with everyone here.
Robert
When I get round to running SCAP (I've another set of adventures to finish first), I'm planning on converting a couple of adventures from the 2e 'Treasures of Greyhawk' compilation.
One concerns a ghost haunting a magical dagger and committing murder to its wielders. The second concerns Neogi infiltration (and might work as a distraction whilst other plans are in progress).
|
I had a pre-trek adventure for the group, while travelling to Cauldron.
I used "Thieves in the Forest" on the way from the coast to Cauldron to build up a bit of experience, gauge the capabilities of my players and foreshadow Alek Tercival (female in my campaign and on the lookout for her brother), Sarcem Delasharn (on his way to get the Wands for the third chapter) and the Lucky Monkey with Shensen Tesseril.
That was way before the Hardcover compilation became available, so I did not know about any of the traits... sigh.
My GM ran a third-party Oriental Adventures module (unfortunately I don't know the name; something to do with hungry dead, and featuring jikiniki) after Zenith and before Demonskar. He adapted it to link it up with the Adventure Path.
In the module, an ancient witch tried to become a goddess by building a sort of alchemical device and marinating herself in it for a thousand years. Unfortunately the PCs find her partway through, and she is very upset at the interruption.
My GM put her alchemical laboratory on top of the stump of a badly damaged Soul Pillar which had taught her the techniques needed to do this. Once the PCs had beaten her, they cautiously tried to interrogate the Soul Pillar, and got some scraps of useful information as well as a healthy fear of broken Soul Pillars. (It took them until Karran-Kurul to realize that they should also be afraid of intact ones. He depicts them as being a danger to the user's sanity and soul. The party mage came to understand how the witch had ended up in that vat, and was pretty appalled, though also intensely fascinated.)
He also had the earlier part of the module, in which a rival adventuring party is manipulating a group of bandits to insure their sole access to the alchemical lab, tie in with the main line. The leader of the rival party was angling to get an in with the Cagewrights (who were interested in Soul Pillar lore). When the PCs found this out, they impersonated him at his next meeting with his contact, a doppleganger in the service of Nowlan Fish. Lots of fun mind-reading, bluff and double-bluff, and a wonderful fight at the Lucky Monkey when someone finally cast True Seeing and found out just how many of the staff were not what they ought to be.
The final tie-in, though the GM probably didn't plan this, was that the PCs drained off the witch's marinade and bottled it, and it turned out to be a minor-artifact level curative potion. They used it to cure Zenith and Alec, and are now seriously wondering how to get a dose into Adiramachus.
I really liked the way this foreshadowed substantial parts of the upcoming plot, without giving the PCs any link so direct that they would sail ahead a couple of modules and get themselves killed (always a risk if you give too much information in a story structured like this).
Mary
I played the whole Shackled City adventure path with many other adventures inserted into the campaign. Until level 10, the PCs levelled once every two adventures, after 10 they went up once per adventure.
The setting is Turmish, a country in the Vilhon Reach in the Forgotten Realms. It’s a two-man party. The PCs come from the mountains, one lived in a village next to the mountains, the other one is a mountain barbarian. The PCs are cousins.
On their way to the capital of Turmish, the PCs helped out some dwarves in The Swarm (Dungeon # 92), gaining the friendship of the dwarves of Ironfang Deep. Next we played through The Legend of Garthulga (Dungeon # 91) and went on to the great adventure Devil Box (Dungeon # 109) to introduce the PCs to Alaghôn, the capital of Turmish.
One of the PCs, a priest of Ilmater (St Cuthbert), was informed that some children went missing from the orphanage, which led to Life’s Bazaar (Dungeon # 97). The PCs also saved a dwarf and kobold from the Malachite Fortress, who told them their mines had been overrun by duergar. The PCs helped them reclaim the mines in Ever Changing Fortunes (Dungeon # 85).
Upon returning to Alaghôn, the barbarian PC took part in his first arena fights. While they were in the capital, the heroes got caught up in a political intrigue in Shades of Gray (a great city based adventure form a company Auran which was free for download). The PCs undertook this mission at the request of Lady Ophella Knowlern from Gildenglade (Cauldron), a loyal follower and sponsor of the church of Ilmater.
Travelling to Gildenglade to meet the elven noblewoman, the PCs saved a ranger and his wolf from poacher in Cry Wolf (Dungeon # 102). Lady Knowlern introduced the PCs to Lord Taskerhill who asked them to look into some trouble in his distant estates by the sea. What initially looked like a slave trade turned out to be the intricate organization of a female vampire in Sanctuary (another great adventure by Auran, not for free, though, and unfortunately out of print).
Returning to Gildenglade, the PCs got caught up in the tribulations of Flood Season (Dungeon # 98), which led to the death of high priest Sarcem and the beginning of unrest in Gildenglade.
At the request of Sarcem’s replacement Jenya Urikas, the PCs traveled to Merrydell (Redgorge) to order a statue of Ilmater for the new temple in Dowwood. In Merrydell the PCs met Berli, the sculptor (and member of the Chisel), and the beautiful Viela, priestess of Sûne (goddess of beauty). In Dowwood the PCs solved the mysterious accidents that were plaguing the construction of the temple, exposing a gnoll plot behind the trouble and protecting the village from a full blown gnoll attack in The Witch of Serpent Bridge (Dungeon # 95).
Next the PCs returned to Alaghôn to take part in the arena games and exposing the drug and murder plot of a bitter arena doctor in Pandemonium in the Veins (Dungeon # 96). Following that the PCs helped a sewer worker clear the city sewers of various infestations and drive out the devilish locathan responsible for spreading the diseases in The Stink (Dungeon # 105). The trail of the locathan led to an island off the coast where a broken magic seal had leaked evil into the local locathan population. The PCs fought more devilish locathan, marine undead and finally resealed the broken seal in Tammeraut’s Fate (Dungeon # 106).
The PCs saved some infected locathan eggs from their latest adventure and found out they could get the eggs purified in the mythical hot water springs in Xorhun. While they were waiting for the eggs to get pure again, the PCs helped out a desperate merchant get his daughter safely to Hlondeth, posing as a decoy for the dangerous assassin in Racing the Snake (Dungeon # 106).
In Hlondeth the PCs met another merchant who needed some guards to accompany him to the mage fair in The Five Lions, an elven village in Turmish. The fair was a poor excuse to get victims for a night hag who reappeared in this place every seven years. The PCs defeated her in Mellorn Hospitality (Dungeon # 107).
When the eggs were safe, the PCs returned them to the locathan and back in Alaghôn they were hired by a nobleman to investigate who was trying to steal his amulet. The trail led to an old underground complex in the swamps from where a powerful magician had reigned terror on the region 70 years ago, until he and his marilith ally had finally been defeated by a priest of Ilmater. The PCs caught a frozen reflection of the marilith in a magical mirror and noticed a strange tattoo on her shoulder, marking her as a member of the XIII (the Cagewrights).
Next a vision took the PCs to solitary priest of Ilmater who had been infected with lycanthropy in the second edition adventure The Beast Within (Dungeon # 65). The PCs helped him get better and afterwards the atoned cleric became the new high priest of Ilmater in Turmish.
In Gildenglade the PCs met Davked Splintershield, who hired them to save his son Zenith from the Underdark. I actually changed the adventure Zenith Trajectory (Dungeon # 102) completely after this point and took the PCs to a duergar city from which they saved Zenith Splintershield. On their way back to the surface, the PCs ran into a medusa lair in The Statue Gallery (Dungeon # 93).
Maavu, a merchant and member of the Chisel, approached the PCs to enlist their aid with the problems and increasing tax rates in Gildenglade, taking them to the headquarter of the Chisel in Merrydell. Berli, the sculptor, did not show up at the meeting of the Chisel. Investigating his absence, the PCs uncovered a plot to free a petrified glabrezu. The menhirs in the little "park" in the village square turned out to be the petrified claws of Nabthatoron (the rest of him was buried under the ground). The beautiful priestess of Sûne, Viela, was actually the succubus ally of the glabrezu, who succeeded in freeing her demon friend and escaping with him. This story was based on the first part of The Iron Satyr (Dungeon # 108).
A demonstration in Gildenglade that got out of hand started the PCs off in The Demonskar Legacy (Dungeon # 104), which led the PCs to the old spellweaver ruins, looking for Alek Tercival, a paladin of Ilmater. On their way there, the PCs met Nidrama, a deva who warned them of the dangers to come.
Travelling through the Starry Mirror, the PCs tracked down Alek Tercival and defeated the glabrezu Nabthatoron, who also had the mark of the XIII on his body (making him the first Cagewright the PCs defeated).
Following Alek Tercival’s dying words, the PCs journeyed to Occipitus in Test of the Smoking Eye (Dungeon # 107), where they tracked down the succubus Viela and killed her (again she was one of the XIII). Finishing the tests of the realm, the PC priest received the Sign of the Smoking Eye after a truly climatic battle with the traitor Kaurophon.
Plane shifting back to the Forgotten Realms, the PCs ended up in the mountains where they had spent their childhood, stumbling upon the barbarian PC’s father who was investigating recent murders and beheadings. They PCs accompanied him to an overrun frost giant fortress, where slaadi had apparently taken over control. In this fortress from the adventure Headless (Dungeon # 89), the PCs found two more Cagewrights, the death slaad Drusalakas and an elven sorceress Eldrua. The Sorceress escaped and the death slaad forced the PCs to retreat. When the PCs got back, they found the place abandoned and many of the heads from the "deadgate" missing (actually carried off to be used as evilly charged power sources for the soulcages).
An unsuccessful attack by assassins in Gildenglade set the PCs on the path of Ike Iverson in the temple of Kelemvor (Wee Jas) in Secrets of the Soul Pillars (Dungeon # 109). The PCs and their new allies the Stormblades defeated the priest, killing the death slaad Drusalakas in the process (discovering he was also one of the XIII) and watching the elven sorceress Eldrua slip through their fingers for a second time. In the temple the PCs also found a soulcage, and a link to the spellweaver ruins of Karran-Kural. There the PCs learned more about the plans of the XIII, when they discovered the writings of Fetor Abradius, the powerful loremaster of the XIII, who managed to slip through the PCs’ fingers as well. In the notes the PCs also came across a little letter from a fellow Cagewright “Mark” who was very close to retrieving an iron flask which magically imprisoned yet another Cagewright.
This led the PCs on the trail of two new Cagewrights in the adventure Strike on the Rabid Dawn (Dungeon # 111), the magic-user Markosian and the demon Nyxthseht.
This is where we are in the campaign at the moment.
I’m planning to play Lords of Oblivion (also Dungeon # 111) and Foundation of Flame (Dungeon # 113) afterwards. The closing adventures of the campaign are going to be completely rewritten.
|
|
I played the whole Shackled City adventure path with many other adventures inserted into the campaign. Until level 10, the PCs levelled once every two adventures, after 10 they went up once per adventure.
Wow. That looks like a helluva epic quest. It sounds like the players will be deserving a nice LONG break after this concludes.
Robert
I used "Mad God's Key," actually, as a pre-adventure for some of the characters that weren't from Cauldron, to get them to Cauldron. At the end of "Mad God's Key," the missing pages and note instead made mention of getting the information to Skaven and pointed at Cauldron, and when "Flood Season" finally happened, and those PCs realized who Skaven was, they were very happy.
I did a homebrew beginning for the characters from Cauldron, and then they met each other when the story began and Rufus was being assaulted. They may have been very close to 2nd level before the adventure even started, come to think of it, or some might have <I>been</I> 2nd level... I do recall that the wizard and the druid had scribed a few scrolls.
Yes, Mad God's Key was in issue #114.
The Lost Temple of Demogorgon in issue #120 has a good Cauldron area feel to it (apes, jungle, mountains). It's good for levelling parties up before Foundations of Flame.
My group felt a little too constrained in Life's Bazaar, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to bend the game to their interests and get to know Cauldron a bit better. Since I was never too keen on the second adventure in the Path (And since it isn't immensely plot-important), I cut it in favor of a more free-form adventure between Bazaar and Flood. It'll be up to the PCs to root out possible encounters (I've got between 10 and 12 pre-made, short adventures ready to go, plus I am pretty adapt at creating encounters on the fly, if need be). The goals of this sojourn are three-fold: 1) Bring life to the city of Cauldron, 2) Let the PCs shape their own destinies of sorts, perhaps seeking out training for exotic feats or prestige classes (I have one PC looking to head into Master Specialist, and so will be wanting to find an appropriatly leveled Specialist Wizard; I have another PC interested in joining the Shadow Thieves of Amn), and 3)accruing enough experience to advance at least to level 4, if not higher.
I think that sounds like a really great idea. Right after Life's Bazaar is a perfect place to shift the focus to Cauldron. The players have had a chance to rumble in Jzadirune and Malachite Fortress, so they won't be as antsy as they would be at the start of the campaign, but it's early enough that you can set the stage for things to come later. At the moment, I plan to keep the premise of Drakthar's Way, but move part of the adventure to an investigation/warehouse break-in. If anyone can think of another adventure that would fit well here, I'm definitely interested in hearing about it.
I'll also use the break after Life's Bazaar to foreshadow some of the Cagewrights, drawing inspiration from the wonderful resources at www.therpgenius.com.
As I'm in the middle of Life's Bazaar right now, I'm trying to mix in a few of the role-playing ideas I've picked up from these boards, such as a chance encounter with Celeste, and a couple of my own, like an interview with a journalist from the Cauldron Chronicle and a meeting with Vhalantru for the noble-born in my party.
As for sidequests, I think the place right after the PC's fight Nabthatoren is a great place to introduce something that's not AP-related. The party will be far away from Cauldron in a foreign land, which is just the opportunity for a fresh change of pace. I'm looking at The Coming Storm from an earlier Dungeon, or possibly something else - not sure yet.
Yes, Mad God's Key was in issue #114.
The Lost Temple of Demogorgon in issue #120 has a good Cauldron area feel to it (apes, jungle, mountains). It's good for levelling parties up before Foundations of Flame.
This has an added bonus of whetting the player's appetites for the Savage Tide AP, if you move on to that one after this campaign is done.
|
|
This has an added bonus of whetting the player's appetites for the Savage Tide AP, if you move on to that one after this campaign is done.Yes, Mad God's Key was in issue #114.
The Lost Temple of Demogorgon in issue #120 has a good Cauldron area feel to it (apes, jungle, mountains). It's good for levelling parties up before Foundations of Flame.
Yeah, I was going to mention the tie-in to it; have already considered it, but thought instead to hold on to that adventure for when I DO run Savage Tide.
I'll re-look at it and see if perhaps it would be good to run it with SCAP or indeed wait until Savage Tide as I originally planned.
Robert
|
|
I think that sounds like a really great idea. Right after Life's Bazaar is a perfect place to shift the focus to Cauldron. The players have had a chance to rumble in Jzadirune and Malachite Fortress, so they won't be as antsy as they would be at the start of the campaign, but it's early enough that you can set the stage for things to come later. At the moment, I plan to keep the premise of Drakthar's Way, but move part of the adventure to an investigation/warehouse break-in. If anyone can think of another adventure that would fit well here, I'm definitely interested in hearing about it.
My players just finished Life's Bazaar. They don't know what to think of the beholder that just delivered the children back to the orphanage safely. (I had Orbius do all 4 so that there wasn't any "suspicion" towards Terrem specificaly)
One of the preliminary 'getting to know you' hooks that was happening during the onset of the game was that the party's swashbuckler (Dailen: the younger adopted brother to Todd V.) was asked by his step-father to spend some time cleaning up some rats at a warehouse that they had recently sold and the owner was about to move to cauldron soon. The buyer: Drathkar, who had the purchase brokered by an agent of his.
Now that the children are back Dailen is set to appease his father's request. I busted out "Idyllis of the Rat King" module by Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classics.
Get this: it includes rats, goblins (some of the were-rats), a mine, and a long-lost terror of a vampire. Does it get any better of a tie-in to Drathkar's way?
I'm replacing the vampire in Idyllis with Drathkar. The goblins in that module will be part of the same group that will be in Drathkar's way.
The ultimate reason for the warehouse purchase by Drathkar is to have a place to store "Soulcage building material" which is what I am replacing the half-orc mercenaries in Drathkar's way way as the object of being smuggled.
Eventually, during Drathkar's Way the PCs will need to find out that the person who purchased the warehouse has the same name as the vampire ruling the goblins, and will have to infiltrate or otherwise storm the warehouse and slay or drive off the goblins once and for all.
Robert
Now that the children are back Dailen is set to appease his father's request. I busted out "Idyllis of the Rat King" module by Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classics.
Get this: it includes rats, goblins (some of the were-rats), a mine, and a long-lost terror of a vampire. Does it get any better of a tie-in to Drathkar's way?
I'm replacing the vampire in Idyllis with Drathkar. The goblins in that module will be part of the same group that will be in Drathkar's way.
The ultimate reason for the warehouse purchase by Drathkar is to have a place to store "Soulcage building material" which is what I am replacing the half-orc mercenaries in Drathkar's way way as the object of being smuggled.
Thanks, I'll have to check that out when I get home tonight. I think I even have Idylls of the Rat King lying around!
Currently, I have a PC who is friends with a rogue-turned-honest-warehouse-worker. I was going to have the friend mention to the PC that he went to a newly-established warehouse looking for work. He was told that all positions had been filled, but not before seeing two small shadowy figures (goblins) through an open door, and he hasn't heard of anyone actually being hired by the warehouse. Hopefully, when the PCs start trying to track down some goblins, the PC will remember the conversation and get on the track to investigate the warehouse.
I still can't decide whether to have the warehouse owned by Drakthar, or by Adrick Garthun. If it's owned by Adrick, I'll make sure that there is a separate warehouse manager and that Adrick has a cover story so that he doesn't take the fall for goblins in his warehouse.
I'm definitely with you on replacing the smuggled mercenaries with smuggled Soulcage material.
|
|
Thanks, I'll have to check that out when I get home tonight. I think I even have Idylls of the Rat King lying around!
Currently, I have a PC who is friends with a rogue-turned-honest-warehouse-worker. I was going to have the friend mention to the PC that he went to a newly-established warehouse looking for work. He was told that all positions had been filled, but not before seeing two small shadowy figures (goblins) through an open door, and he hasn't heard of anyone actually being hired by the warehouse. Hopefully, when the PCs start trying to track down some goblins, the PC will remember the conversation and get on the track to investigate the warehouse.
I laid the groundwork: While investigating the warehouses for the rats, they encountered Maavu who has a warehouse nearby. He mentioned that there seemed to be a lot more rat infestation as of late, ever since he started hearing some wierd music coming from the Vanderboren warehouse - sounded like some flute or pipes (insert cliche' pipes of sewers here).
While investigating the warehouse, the PCs found evidence of rat infestations, along with small booted feet and signs of sentient life. When searching they found trace evidence of silver ore that had fallen on the ground - which had been clung to or tracked from the silver mine locale that is the crux of the Idyllis Module.
They investigated the town's hall of records to find out who own a silver mine to find that it was House Schmenk (adding in an NPC mine-owner noble to foreshadow persons in the next AP of Age of Worms.) They went to talk to him and he told them that the mine had been abandoned years ago due to some superstitious evil that seemed to permeate from it.
Hook set, and snared!
The antagonist of Idyllis is the descendants of the original Silver mine owners who accidentally unleased a supernatural evil in the mine. The miners blamed said owner for the evil and lynched him and cursed his family. The descendants, now were-rats have come back to the mine to exact vengeance on those who cursed the family. The vampire deep in the mine is not in cahoots with the goblins and were-rats.
For purposes of my SCAP, Schmenk (now the descendants) was the ring-leader for the lynchmob. The goblins and were-rats are harrassing House Schmenk little by little. (this coincides with the goblin problems that arise in Drathkar's Way). The vampire (replaced with Drathkar) is not a part of this "yet" but after the PCs infiltrite the mine and drive off the goblins and wear-rats (in effect completing the Idyllis module), Drathkar will of course escape, incorporate the remaining goblins as his own thralls and move to another underground complex that will be the bulk of the Drathkar's Way scenario.
Robert
Hey all,
I'm in need of a good Kingfisher Hollow side trek. The players found Vervil's letter to Kazmojen and have been meaning to follow up but I started Drakthar's Way on the heels of Life's Bazaar so they never got the chance. They've finished with Drakthar and have burned most of their downtime already expanding their friendships and contacts in the city and I'm about to start Flood Season. I'm running the Shackled City in a Home Brew setting and a many of my players built characters with slavery as part of their past, so I'd like to foreshadow Ashmantle a bit and also expand his role in the campaign. I've already introduced a corpulent sorcerer to the party as part of a previous side trek so I'm thinking of making Ashmantle a suave and handsome villain.
FYI, the party consists of the following:
Marduk Hammurabi -- Male Human Binder 4; Marduk is an exiled noble from a distant and exotic land with an elaborate caste system (short description: one part ancient Egypt, one part ancient India, one part Frank Herbert's Dune). Marduk's goal is to reestablish his noble standing in the Cauldron region and to complete a ritual that will transform him into a Karsite (a Race from Tome of Magic that I turned into a template).
Anson Hammurabi -- Male Human Wizard 3/Fighter 1; Marduk's brother and likewise exiled nobleman. Anson's interests run to the violent and macabre. His alignment is slowly shifting towards evil and he may be dragging his brother with him.
Enlil, Daughter of Enkiou -- Female Human Ranger 2/Monk 2; Enlil is the sixteen year old slave and bodyguard of the Hammurabi brothers. She followed them into exile and has since discovered that not everyone in the world is a noble or a slave. Her Lawful alignment is beginning to clash with a newfound yearning for freedom (and, no doubt, a healthy dose of teenage rebelliousness).
Edwin Spellmason -- Male Human Rogue 2/Bard 2; Edwin is a descendant of Cauldron's legendary founder, and his heroic temperament sometimes gets him in over his head in combat. For generations the Spellmason line has worked in secret to defend the city (so much so that most people believe the line has died out). Recent events have lead Edwin to believe that it's time to revive his lineage and it's reputation, but everyone who could prove Edwin is who he says he is keeps turning up dead. Edwin is obsessed with the idea that the demons of the Demonscar are going to attack the city someday soon.
Desmond Greenleaf -- Male Human Archivist 3/Wizard 1; A former Lantern Street orphan, Desmond's caretakers noticed his genius early on and arranged a scholarship to Bluecrater via a mysterious benefactor. Since his graduation Desmond has performed various services for the local temples in exchange for scrolls and other help, most notably the Temple of Mithras (replaces St. Cuthbert in my campaign) and Wee Jas. He's begining to think that the clerics of Wee Jas have alterior motives for their friendship, however.
Heimdahl Balkirk -- Male Dwarf Barbarian 2/Fighter 2; As a youth Heimdahl trained with his brother in the Malachite Fortress to become a champion of his people. A surprise raid from the underdark led to his bondage in the chains of Pyllrak Shyraat, however, and he spent the next decade toiling in the deep mines and fighting for his life against his cruel master and his fellow slaves. He became wild and savage and developed a righteous hate for slavers of all kinds. He was rescued from his bondage when Zenith Splintershield went mad and declared war on the underdark. He was taken in by his brother who had since become a priest of Mithras and is slowly being rehabilitated. He has the Dream Haunted trait and a drinking problem.
The party has other reasons to visit Kingfisher Hollow as well. While exploring the underdark outside the Malachite Fortress the party encountered a band of drow slavers looking to make a purchase from Kazmojen. Marduk and Anson deceived the rest of the party and later managed to sell some hobgolins that they had captured from Kazmojen. They learned that the drow intended to visit Kingfisher Hollow next, but not who they intended to visit there. During Drakthar's Way Marduk managed to capture the Tiefling there but assumed she was just a dominated pawn of Drakthar. He let her go but offered to meet her in kingfisher Hollow on a certain date to discuss offering her a job. Since he assumed her a dominated pawn he has no idea that she works for the Blue Duke. Before the the Lord Mayor sealed off the entrance the party attempted to recruit warrior to staff the Malachite Fortress but the Blue Duke snatched them up before they party had a chance to make them an offer. But the Blue Duke might be interested in knowing who else is trying to start an army in the region and may use the Tiefling as a spy.
As you can see I have a LOT to work with. Unfortunately I have little time to work with it in. If anyone has any ideas or knows of any modules I could adapt to the situation I'd be very appreciative!
I bid thee all greetings, dear audience,
it was a long time since my last contribution to these marvellous threads, but I´m back now with the first Side Trek adventure idea (hopefully others will follow – time is always precious and scedule tight – so please be patient, dear reader of these lines).
The Beast of Cauldron – Chapter Ia
A short Side Trek Adventure taking place directly after Lifes Bazaar. In my campaign it was combined with the revels of Flood-Festival, which was the reason why the characters assembled in Cauldron initially, but the festival wasn´t about to start until their return from the Malachite Fortress. The main reason forselecting that time was to give the characters a better starting position in the competitions and games throughout the fare (no longer first level!), and with a city filled to the brim with visitors, red herrings are easier to place.
The story starts with a grisly murder, the victim, a street-vendor selling fruit and vegetables, is found dead, killed by powerful claw-strikes and partially eaten, in the early morning hours. All tracks found on the crime scene (located near the Drunken Morkoth Inn) suggest that the assailant (who wore brown fur clothing, or was covered with fur) came from above, jumping down from a nearby roof, pouncing on the poor vendor and completing his vile deed, and leaving again on all fours, only to gain speed, and taking wide leaps, to get on the rooftops again, relying heavily on claws to do the climbing.
On the next morning a new body turns up, same clawmarks, and partally eaten, this time a local fisherman, washed ashore on the southern shore of Craterlake, near the piers. One day later the next victim is claimed by the beast, this time near Minutas Board, a shady Halforc and resident of mentioned flophouse, earning his meager living with staging cockfights and similar cruel means of entertainment involving small animals.
But there is good news – he survived the attack – badly wounded he is taken into the custody of the town watch, who rescued him by showing up on patrol. The guardsmen saw only a shape of something large and furred, the beast retreated and escaped, running along the waterline – conciously to avoid tracks – using great speed, so the guards weren´t able to follow.
The Halforc is in very bad shape, his two halfbrothers, who were also on the scene, suffered a far worse fate, both are nearly ripped apart. If the characters are able to supply some healing, the Halforc tells his story about a beast, which runs on all fours, but fights standing upright and using both powerful, clawed arms.
At this time, the Lordmayor announces, that the beast has to be stopped, and a bounty for bringing in the corpse of whatever animal caused this mayhem, is set – and attracts all kinds of competition for our characters – an old ranger past his prime, but with lots of experience; an elven hunter, using some kind of mysticism to locate the beast; a cruel slayer of beasts using poisoned crossbowbolts and some vicious hunting dogs; and, of course – the Stormblades!
Every hunter or hunting party has to register at townhall, and receives a letter which entitles them to openly carry the kind of weapons, ready, they need for the hunt. Soon the bickering begins, every party uses different tactics and constantly seems to get in another hunting partys way (definitly a bad time for furred animal companions) and brawls ensure – sometimes even blows with weapons are exchanged – Lord Skellerangs men have to spend more time going after hunters gone mad than after the quarry in question ...
The beast goes on with its rampaging, staying near the shore, prowling the western half of Cauldron, the next victims include a single would-be hunter, and a barmaid with the bad habit of kicking dogs.
The characters hunt, no matter how carefully planned and executed, yields no success at first, there is no glimpse of the beast to be seen, only having, or carefully avoiding, a blue-on-blue with an other hunting party, puts some action in those boring nights.
But who is behind all that?
Below are some suggestions – which one is the real culprit, is up to you, dear GM, to decide - for you know best, which solution fits your campaign-style, the others are excellent red herrings ...
The (un)usual suspects:
A ranger/druid who has the ability to wildshape and is determined to punish all those, who lack proper respect for nature and her creatures.
A real Lycanthrope/Shapechanger, seeking retribution for a deed in the past, or simply driven by murderous hunger.
Somebody who came into the possesion of an cursed magic item, which allows transformation into beastform, but the user has to pay the price of succumbing into savagery
Somebody who is able to enlarge and magically augment his animal companion – imagine an enlarged dire boar with greater magic fang – to extract revenge
Some kind of Olman warrior/monk from the nearby Armedio jungle, dressed up as wild beast and proficient with claw-like weapons, killing members/progeny of some adventurers who ransacked the holy temple of his people
A wild beast from the jungle, brought into the city by the priests of Korrd, to offer a challenge fighting for young initiates, but the animal freed itself from its chains and escaped – angry and very, very hungry
...
The characters should have one opportunity to fight the beast unprepared, survive, but get some important clues, and one last, climatic fight, when they know about the true nature of the beast and are able at last to get their hard earned victory.
Hopefully you enjoyed this little Side Trek, dear reader,
Yours sincerely, Claremont the Elder, Lord Buckley
I bid all thee greetings,
Welcome to an other installment of Straying from the Path – the Side Treks, a (hopefully) ongoing series of adventure ideas to fill the gaps the original storyline left, and other buckley-isms to entertain you, my worthy audience.
Before I start with Side Trek Ib: The Retake of the Malachite Fortress, some, unfortunately not to gentle, words about the location in question:
We know that the fortress was built by dwarves to guard against incursions from the Underdark and was abandoned when Zenith Splintershield and his righteous, but foolish comrades decided to wage a war against the denizens of the Underdark on their own turf … that was about a decade ago, the fortress was left, only a few defenders remain, who were quickly overrun and sold into slavery when Kazmojen and his cronies moved in – a little more than a year ago.
That’s fine, and makes sense, but sadly (sorry, Chris & Chris) the whole layout of the Malachite Fortress doesn´t, because the whole design doesn´t reflect the purpose it was built for.
1st – Watersupply
The Fortress has no independent watersupply of its own – there is no well, fountain or the like. Somebody might point out that there is a waterfilled cavern under the arched bridge M13 to serve that purpose, but chances are high that this body of water is somewhat connected with the moat under the main bridge M7 – a watersupply the enemy, coming from the underdark can easily tamper with …
Adding a well to the pantry or the larder M31/M32 solves the problem, but there are others …
2nd – Acess to the Fortress
There are two points of access: the main, fortified double door, leading across the bridge into the dreaded Underdark, and a secret passage, leading to the elevator shaft, and to the gmomish enclave of Jzadirune. Both of them connect in Zeniths Hall M6, the first room to fall into the hands of possible invaders from the Underdark – when the invading troops secure the hall, the remaining dwarves are trapped, no supplies, reinforcements or other benefits can reach them – if they are not able to drive out the invaders, sucessfully securing the first room an invading force can enter leads to their automatic victory …
3rd – Supplies
Supplies can be brought into the fortress using the afore mentioned two ways – but wait ! – the fortress against incursions fom the Underdark gets supplied by the main enemy ? – O.K., nobody would do that, so the main gate is out of question – the only remaining way leads to the gnomes of Jzadirune – but wait ! – they left the enclave, plagued by the Vanishing, a whole 75 years ago, and abandoned the place, effectively erasing the memory of - so good old Zenith had to go on for 60 years without supplies ? (That would drive me too into a foolish military campaign, rushing into the Underdark just to get a cup of coffee and some fresh bread …)
To get out of this dilemma, there are two ways – change the timeline, or change the layout of the fortress, adding an other, perhaps secret, corridor, which connects the fortress with some dwarven settlement on the outside, preferrably within Cauldron.
Changing the timeline means that the Vanishing struck later, about ten years ago, and when the support for Zenith ceased, he shortly after decided, that time was right for his crusade – but then every gnome in Cauldron can recall what happened a mere decade ago and will warn the characters – the Vanishing shouln´t be a real threat to them any more …
Changing the layout means adding a corridor which leads upward, but has to be blocked in some way, or be cleverly hidden to remain secret until now (Kazmojen and his cronies had more than a year to get familiar with their new residence)
Best place to place such a corridor would be on the last position the defenders of the fortress would, just in case that the complex is overrun, retreat to (behind the bridge M13)
to be continued ...
Side Trek Ib: The Retake of the Malachite Fortress, part II
4th – General Layout
The main complex M22 to M33 is fine (just a question: where does the chimney of the forge lead to?) – all necessary rooms are there, and if the fortress is overrun with attackers, the defenders retreat across the bridge M13 to their firing positions, covering the single point of entry the following attacker has with thrown axes and crossbowbolts – fine – but, what kind of rooms do they retreat to?
A dead end watchtower with no tactical value whatsoever? Dozens of cellblocks, built for prisoners which shouldn´t be in a position to enter the fortress at all? And there is still a secret passage, which will allow the enemy to suddenly appear behind the defenders backs!
A whole lot of changing layout seems absolute necessary – first the watchtower (now the torture chamber M21) has to be placed to overlook the bridge M13 to give possible invaders hell from above with ranged weapons.
Then delete the second secret entrance to Zeniths Hall M6 on the south-western hall, because it would allow the invasors to attack the defenders from both sides – the would be cut up between two pincers …
And, honestly, is there really a need for three cellblocks? Additional barracks and storage rooms would seem a better idea (even when Kazmojen changed their interior to makeshift cellblocks) for the original concept of a fortress built for defense.
And after all that re-aranging is done, the curtain goes up, dramatic, martial music starts, and it´s time for Side Trek Ib: The Retake of the Malachite Fortress …
In my campaign, and perhaps in yours, dear reader, too, the characters weren´t able to free all the kidnap victims at once – they got their share, though – but the nagging sense of having not finished the whole business (something the Stormblades never grew too tired to mention) was a thorn in my partys side.
Nor having a foul halfblood defile the hohorable halls of Zenith Splintershield was something the local dwarven community couldn´t tolerate any longer – so why not combine resources, manpower and knowledge to start a short military campaign to satisfy all partys concerned …
This short Side Trek adventure pairs our party of heroes with a dwarven warparty, roughly the same size and made up entirely of fighters (unless your party is in the dire need of additional spiritual backup or arcane firepower) of a little bit lower level than the characters are, with their own leader, a grizzled veteran of the greyhawk wars (which were barely noticable in Cauldron – but who cares, he can show several medals of honor, heroically won at different campaignsites, if asked for something to back up his neverending stories about the war) and tough opponent (not only in melee, especially when it comes to haggling about the share of loot).
It works best if the players sit around a big map of the fortress, depicting all they know about Kazmojens residence, combined with some data supplied by the dwarves, but still with a few doors, which open to the unknown … let them scribble down what they know about traps, where and how many guard were posted during their last visit, and how many did survive …
Those planning sessions (how do you get a dwarf in full armor to cross a ten foot pit?) are fun, and detailed battle plan should be rewarded, but alas, Kazmojen was busy, too, and improved his defenses – and he absolutely knows from which direction the possible danger will come …
New guards will be hired, some of them better trained than those, who fell – the is a lot of inspiration in the scaling the adventure sidebar at the beginning of Lifes Bazaar – and shrewd old K. knows how to use the tactical advantages of his new, reconstructed mansion …
Think of some nasty incident in the elevatorshaft (how often you can say “plummet” accelerating 10 meters per squaresecond down the shaft, hmm?)… animated chains dangling behind and above closed doorways, ready to grapple (not essentially the first or the last to pass) … falling shutters to divide the entering party … some mimic midschief – like posing as ideal cover in a ranged weapon fight … perhaps old K. hired some additional talent from the Underdark – perhaps some Drow wizard … or he changed his pet to some monstrous xxx (you know better than anyone else, what works best to give your players the screaming whillies …)
All in all, the victory should be sweet, but earned the hard way, because that is what being a real hero is about … and several, but not all kidnap victims can be freed on that day – some of them are still missing, and rescuing them might take an other Side Trek …
Thanks for your undivided attention, dearest readers
Yours sincerely, Claremont the Elder, Lord Buckley
|
|
I bid thee all greetings, dear audience,
it was a long time since my last contribution to these marvellous threads, but I´m back now with the first Side Trek adventure idea (hopefully others will follow – time is always precious and scedule tight – so please be patient, dear reader of these lines).
The story starts with a grisly murder, the victim, a street-vendor selling fruit and vegetables, is found dead, killed by powerful claw-strikes and partially eaten, in the early morning hours. All tracks found on the crime scene (located near the Drunken Morkoth Inn) suggest that the assailant (who wore brown fur clothing, or was covered with fur) came from above, jumping down from a nearby roof, pouncing on the poor vendor and completing his vile deed, and leaving again on all fours, only to gain speed, and taking wide leaps, to get on the rooftops again, relying heavily on claws to do the climbing.
I think this can easily be tied into the were-baboon encounter in Flood Season chapter. Perhaps this killer in Cauldron is a spawn or otherwise tied to Toungue-Eater.
Good work Lord Buckley. I like the story and will use it as fodder for a side trek I was looking for during the Flood Festival, and as I suggested, I'll use it to tie into the Flood Season chapter and the encounter at the Lucky Monkey.
Robert