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Finally I am almost finished the Invasion of Redgorge Adventure. I understand that many other people have created their own versions of the event including the original innovator - Chef Slaad.
I plan on posting my version of the adventure up in parts on this messageboard to get peoples feedback, advice and general help on making the adventure run smoothly for my game (and anyone elses game who wishes to use it in the future). I am beginning this adventure for my party next session which will probably be in the next couple of weeks, so the more help I get before this date the better!
I don't have any maps draw up for the adventure besides the two 'offical' maps included in the Hard Cover of the town of Redgorge and the Hall of Carvings so if anyone has a flair for such things (I definately don't :( ) and the interest and time to help with this, that would be fantastic.
Well here is my version of the Redgorge Seige.
Hope you enjoy it.
Delvesdeep
The Redgorge Seige
Special thanks to Chef’s Slaad for his thread and ideas that inspired this adventure.
The Redgorge Siege occurs after the very tumultuous period in Cauldrons recent history. The Chisel, an organisation who reveres Sundabar Spellmason -Cauldron’s founder, had attempted to usurp the cities corrupt government beginning with the captain of the guard. This challenge, coupled with a huge tax riot, also organised by a member of the chisel, was all the motivation and justification the government needed to destroy the ‘renegade cult’.
Once the tax riot was dealt with, Teresong petitioned the Lord Mayor to lead a pre-emptive strike against the Chisel and the town that protected them. The Lord Mayor initially agreed but later called for delay while the situation could be investigated further. Only a few days later the Lord Mayor inexplicitly disappeared.
The now leaderless council voted to take action, mainly due to an impassioned speech from Lord Vhalantru, and Teresong immediately began to gather as many of his guard as the city could spare and began preparation for a siege of the town of Redgorge.
Vhalantru informed the Cagewrights of the fortuitous events and Dry’yrd organised that the lord of the Demonskar be told that Redgorge will soon be severely weakened and ripe for conquest.
Nabthatoran saw an opportunity he had been waiting for thousands of years for and immediately gathered his banished army and marched on Redgorge.
Without aid, Redgorge was destined to fall ….
Foreword
The Redgorge Seige is an event based adventure designed to play as part of the SCAP.
This adventure is designed to play after the party arrive back from Occipitus proceeding chapter 6 – Test of the Smoking Eye. The adventure could easily be used after chapter 5 with a few alterations.
The adventure assumes that Nabthatoran escaped from the final encounter in the Demonskar Legacy. If he was killed you have a few options –
(1) Nabthatoran is raised by Dreghakas using ancient Spellweaver lore he found in the Demonskar rift (see end of Hard Cover).
(2) Dreghakas takes control of the army (increase his power and abilities)
(3) Demogorgon is outraged by the death of his banished general and decides to send an even more powerful servant to conquer the region beginning with Redgorge.
Summary of Events
Event One - Arrival
The party arrive at Redgorge as Cauldrons human guard and the half-orc mercenaries arrive outside the walls. Captain Teresong issues an ultimatum to the Chisel which is refused. The siege begins.
Event Two – Captain’s Betrayal
Teresong leads a force of human troops, including the Stormblades and Skylar, to a hastily repaired breach in the Redgorge basalts and attacks. The human guard’s eventually retreat quickly leaving Teresong’s body lying on the battlefield, two half-orc axes left in his back.
Event Three – Battle Plans
The party meet with the Chisel to discuss the situation and to organise the town’s defences. Redgorge is outnumbered and ill prepared for a siege.
Event Four – Town Defences
The town’s defences can be improved in a variety of ways before the Chisel predict the siege will begin. These include rebuilding the basalts, building a trebuchet, repairing the town well, training the citizens, preparing the shrine, gathering the armoury and retrieving huge blocks of stone for the Foreman to construct golems from.
Event Five – Counter Attack
The attackers can be weakened before the siege by using methods such as destroying their siege engines and tools, creating a copy of their battle plans, convincing Skylar and Stormblades to leave with their army or even change sides.
Event Six – The Infernal Heralds
As the demon horde claws its way out of the Demonskar and begins to march towards the unsuspecting town of Redgorge, Nabthatoran sends five Vrocks to scout ahead of the main force and inform the Blue Duke of the infernal armies impending arrival. On their return, the Vrocks make a rash decision to cause some havoc within the unsuspecting town.
Event Seven – Sundabar’s Preparation
The party learn of the basalts abilities and attempt to find Sundabar’s hidden stockpile of weapons to help defend the town against a future infernal assault. The party enter into the old tomb of the cities first Captains of the Guard and attempt to learn the location of the armoury from a powerful undead creature called a gravecrawler then defeating its traps and guardians and finally retrieving the precious stockpile of weapons.
Event Eight – The Demonskar Army
The party witness a great horde of demons march from the Demonskar towards Redgorge. Nabthatoran issues a horrific warning before setting up camp on the southern side of the Caravans’ Gates.
Event Nine – Assault on the Hall
The party rush to the Hall of Carvings at night to defend the Chisel from an assassination attempt lead by Nabthatoran’s sergeant – Dreghakus, and a strike team of powerful demons. The party emerge from the Hall with the final battle already raging.
Event Ten – The Final Battle
Under the cover of night the Half-Orc Merceries and Demonic army attack Redgorge. The party can attack the demons, stop the hail of flaming boulders from the fiendish giants on the eastern cliffs and/or defend the most important defence point of the assault, the Gatehouse, where they battle the Blue Duke and his personal ogre mage guard from opening Cauldrons Gate.
Event Eleven – Death of the Demonskar
As the conflict begins to draw to a climax, Nabthataron flies to the battlements and issues a final challenge to the party.
Event Twelve - The Aftermath
Nabthataron, the Blue Duke and their armies are defeated and what’s left of their forces, flee back to the Demonskar or the half-orc camp.
Cool setup Delvesdeep.
I like the aditions you made, such as the preparations and Surabar's weapons cache...
I'm looking forward to reading the adventure.
b.t.w. I thing you mean the Siege of Redgorge, you old rouge.
Thanks Chef. The Seige of Redgorge it is then :)
I'm sure I already posted this but it doesn't seem to have come up so if this turns out to be a double post I apologise in advance.
Summary of Events
Event One - Arrival
The party arrive at Redgorge as Cauldrons human guard and the half-orc mercenaries arrive outside the walls. Captain Teresong issues an ultimatum to the Chisel which is refused. The siege begins.
Event Two – Captain’s Betrayal
Teresong leads a force of human troops, including the Stormblades and Skylar, to a hastily repaired breach in the Redgorge basalts and attacks. The human guard’s eventually retreat quickly leaving Teresong’s body lying on the battlefield, two half-orc axes left in his back.
Event Three – Battle Plans
The party meet with the Chisel to discuss the situation and to organise the town’s defences. Redgorge is outnumbered and ill prepared for a siege.
Event Four – Town Defences
The town’s defences can be improved in a variety of ways before the Chisel predict the siege will begin. These include rebuilding the basalts, building a trebuchet, repairing the town well, training the citizens, preparing the shrine, gathering the armoury and retrieving huge blocks of stone for the Foreman to construct golems from.
Event Five – Counter Attack
The attackers can be weakened before the siege by using methods such as destroying their siege engines and tools, creating a copy of their battle plans, convincing Skylar and Stormblades to leave with their army or even change sides.
Event Six – The Infernal Heralds
As the demon horde claws its way out of the Demonskar and begins to march towards the unsuspecting town of Redgorge, Nabthatoran sends five Vrocks to scout ahead of the main force and inform the Blue Duke of the infernal armies impending arrival. On their return, the Vrocks make a rash decision to cause some havoc within the unsuspecting town.
Event Seven – Sundabar’s Preparation
The party learn of the basalts abilities and attempt to find Sundabar’s hidden stockpile of weapons to help defend the town against a future infernal assault. The party enter into the old tomb of the cities first Captains of the Guard and attempt to learn the location of the armoury from a powerful undead creature called a gravecrawler then defeating its traps and guardians and finally retrieving the precious stockpile of weapons.
Event Eight – The Demonskar Army
The party witness a great horde of demons march from the Demonskar towards Redgorge. Nabthatoran issues a horrific warning before setting up camp on the southern side of the Caravans’ Gates.
Event Nine – Assault on the Hall
The party rush to the Hall of Carvings at night to defend the Chisel from an assassination attempt lead by Nabthatoran’s sergeant – Dreghakus, and a strike team of powerful demons. The party emerge from the Hall with the final battle already raging.
Event Ten – The Final Battle
Under the cover of night the Half-Orc Merceries and Demonic army attack Redgorge. The party can attack the demons, stop the hail of flaming boulders from the fiendish giants on the eastern cliffs and/or defend the most important defence point of the assault, the Gatehouse, where they battle the Blue Duke and his personal ogre mage guard from opening Cauldrons Gate.
Event Eleven – Death of the Demonskar
As the conflict begins to draw to a climax, Nabthataron flies to the battlements and issues a final challenge to the party.
Event Twelve - The Aftermath
Nabthataron, the Blue Duke and their armies are defeated and what’s left of their forces, flee back to the Demonskar or the half-orc camp.
Good stuff. A couple of things we found about defenses:
Stone shape ain't gonna do it for repairing the breaches. Its area is 10 cu. ft + 1 cu. ft. per level of already existing stone. Even with mounds of gravel from the mines, the breaches are 20 ft. wide, by 20 ft. deep, by 40 ft. tall. We actually had Shensen and a 9th level druid, and two breaches. They took 3 stone shapes per day (though they could have burned more higher level spells to take more), and once the breach came down they could only mend, not rebuild.
Siege weapons take weeks to build, not hours, as explained in Heroes of Battle. You need the craft (siege weapon) skill, and the DC for constructing or repairing is 20. So going by pg. 70-71 in PHB, you make a check after a week of work and you accomplish the check result X 20 gp worth of progress. So it takes a long time to build one and if the Redgorge Siege is over in a matter of days, it'll never happen.
Given that Redgorge is full of miners, the best use of any time w/o the army in front of the gates (and our bard sent the entire army away with a mass suggestion on the leaders) was digging lots of pit traps. Lots of pit traps. It takes 1 creature 1 hour to build a 5 ft. berm. They spent a day and threw 200 miners at the problem and easily slowed any approach to the wall. 1 in 3 of the half-orcs fell into a pit and took 1d6. None of it stopped or killed anyone, it just made their formations go to hell and morale dropped.
The volley of arrows rules from Heroes of Battle were indispensable. Just whittling things down from individuals to companies sped things along immeasurably.
Even so, my PCs wanted to lead the battle. Heroes of Battle basically says to isolate your party and give them small tasks that add up to helping the larger goal. That's fine when the party is much lower level than the leaders of the army, but when they're the highest level characters there, they take charge. The bookkeeping of running the battle was a nightmare. Keep the Chisel firmly in charge, telling the party where they're needed.
Thanks for your response dodo. You make a lot of good points and have obviously have thought and played through the Invasion extensively. I've read a number of your posts in 'Running the Invasion of Redgorge' and you seemed to have had a great deal of fun with your version of the Invasion when you played it.
I don't have the Hero's of Battle Book so every rule I have created here is purely that - my creation. I'm not concerned about other ruling that may impede play rather than support it.
Any advice, ideas or positive critism is always welcome...I may not always agree with all of it but at the very least it will help me clarify my own ideas and iron out any potential creases in the adventure, so to speak.
Good stuff. A couple of things we found about defenses:[/b]
Stone shape ain't gonna do it for repairing the breaches.
During the seige the party have an opportunity to 'patch up' the breaches. This can be done any way the party wishes to do it but could include liberal use of 'Wall of Stone' spells coupled with building etc.During one of the mini adventures found during the Seige, the party have an opportunity to acquire a Lyre of Building. This helps with repairing and building such things substantially.
The basalts can never be fully repaired in any event. In this version of the adventure they are magical and possess powers that are awakened when the demons appear that assist in the defense of the town against the demonic army.
Siege weapons take weeks to build, not hours, as explained in Heroes of Battle.
I could increase the numbers of engineers, have the majority of the engines already built or just ignore that particular ruling altogether. After all such rules are ther to support play not hinder it.
I use the manufacture of the seige engineers as a timeline which in turn allow the town and adventures more time to prepare Redgorge than they would of otherwise, normally have had.
The other element to the engines and timeline is the fact that ultimately the hold in the attack has little to do with the engines at all and all to do with the assembly of the Demonskar Army. Building the engines is in fact a bonus but in the end the Blue Dukes forces will wait until Nabthatoran's arrive any how.
If building the engines is a sticking point then I could easily have the Cauldron forces arrive with the engines and have the engineers build the ladders, battering ram or the like.
Given that Redgorge is full of miners, the best use of any time w/o the army in front of the gates was digging lots of pit traps.
That could certainly be an option to improve the defenses of the town. I may add that or just leave that to individual parties to come up with. I'm trying to give players more ownership of the adventure and reward them for ideas 'out of the box' rather than tell them they can't do that because it is not a written option.
If my players come up with ideas to defend the town, such as pit traps, that is not written up I will reward them with victory points.
The volley of arrows rules from Heroes of Battle were indispensable.
The final battle will be won and lost through the actions of the party rather than the actual battle itself...if that makes sense.
What I mean by that is that I will be concentrating on the players not the attackers or defenders unless they directly attack the party.
So the defenders firing arrows a the swarming demons will be described (if the party is present to watch it) but I will not role a single die to see what happens because depending on the players previous actions I will know.
If your confused this will make more sense as I post up more of the adventure.
Even so, my PCs wanted to lead the battle. Heroes of Battle basically says to isolate your party and give them small tasks that add up to helping the larger goal.
The whole adventure is event based. The DM will not have to make copious amounts of rolls for the invasion nor concern themselves with what happens away from the players. This adventure is all about the party and how it pans out is directly influenced by their actions.
If they never arrive to help Redgorge will be a pile of smoking rubble ithin 16 days.
If they assist they may save Redgorge, destroy the Demonskar army, strengthen the town with allies and friendships, land of blow against the Cagewrights and most of all have fun.
And if the players enjoy themselves then you never know...the DM may too :)
Thanks for your input
Delvesdeep
Event One - Arrival
The party approach Redgorge or appear in the town via magic and witness the Cauldron Army march on the town. The Redgorge citizens are panicked; mothers rush their children inside, guards call soldiers to arms and members of the Chisel attempt to direct the townsfolk to take up defensive positions on the Basalts.
The Invading forces are broken up into three clear divisions. Leading the army is the Cauldron Guard that wear the white tabard of the city depicting the black eye wreathed in flames. Marching behind the humans is a group of engineers and soldiers rolling along a battering ram and two trebuchets, and finally behind them march the half-orc mercenaries which wear blue tabards depicting a charging bull.
Eventually the army stops outside Cauldron Gate (beyond arrow range), and a small group of riders ride towards the gates waving a flag of truce. The party may recognize three of the 7 riders – Teresong (leading), Skylar (to his right) and Allah (to his left).
When he comes close enough to the gates Teresong begins to cry out –
Citizens of Redgorge. We have long lived in peace as neighbours. Cauldron and Redgorge have been allies and partners for hundreds of years and share a mutual respect. Sundabar Spellmason founded both our great settlements as his greatest legacy to the frontier lands.
But now this is all being threatened by a small group of traitors.
Yes I speak of the treacherous group that uses you as a shield to hide and work its deceit and evil in your very midst. They have sought to undermine our city, its kind people, and its leaders. They have desired our government’s fall leaving us defenceless and ripe for conquest.
I speak of the dark cult known as ‘The Chisel’.
Cut out this cancer that threatens to destroy our town and your children, and hand the Chisel over to us so that justice may be served.
You have until dusk or we will be forced to take them and Redgorge by force.
I plead to your honour, to the love of your families and to what is right – do not put all that you love to the sword for the sake of these traitors.
The Chisel must face justice.
His speech finished Teresong rides from the walls back to his army. If the party try to reason with him from the walls or in person he will talk but is unwavering with his mission to either capture or dispose of the Chisel. No amount of reasoning will change his mind or sway his resolve. Teresong will urge them to help him and see the Chisel for what they are but in the end leaves the party with a simple decision – ‘You either fight for Cauldron or defend its attackers’.
If he is dominated, charmed etc this will be dispelled by the Blue Duke or Stormblades when he returns. If he is captured then the party have unwittingly saved his life but it does not change the resolve of the army with Blue Duke stepping up as general and Skylar leader of the human forces.
# The party may chose to attack immediately possibly taking to the air and casting from above before the Dark Army even arrives. If this eventuates the Blue Duke and the Blue Guard will take to the air, along with the Stormblades using fly potions to combat the party immediately. This could prove disastrous to the party as the Blue Duke and Blue Guard use their Cone of Cold abilities first and the Stormblades follow up.
Invading Army
Human Contingent
* 200 soldiers/town guards (humans fighter 2 – use half-orc stats on SCAPHC pg 381)
* 20 Leaders (human fighter 4)
* 2 Spiritual Advisors (human Clerics of Kord 5)
* Sergeant Skylar Krewis (human fighter 10)
* Captain Teresong Skellerang (human fighter 12)
Half-Orc Contingent
* 300 mercenaries (half-orc fighter 2 SCAPHC pg 381)
* 30 leaders (half-orc fighter 8 pg 355)
* 50 Lancers (half-orc fighter 3 & large warhorse)
* 100 crossbowmen (half-orc fighter 2)
* Blue Guard – Blue Dukes Bodyguards (6 Ogre Mage)
* The Blue Duke/Zarn Kyass (Ogre Mage Fighter 4)
The Engineers
* Battering Ram
* 30 Engineers (Expert 1)
* 5 Master Engineers (3 Half-Orc/2 Human Expert 5)
Redgorge's Defenders
* 600 citizens (human commoner 1)
* 25 men at arms (human fighter 4)
* Bailiff Pragat Millak (human fighter 6)
The Chisel:
* The Foreman (Oliron Marsh) ftr3/wiz7/hgh4
* The Honest Minstrel (Ekaym Smallkask) ftr3/brd4/hgh3
* Camel Driver (Maavu) exp5/wiz4/hgh1
* Bird Seed (Mikimax) comm5/exp2/hgh1
If the party try to reason with him from the walls or in person he will talk but is unwavering with his mission to either capture or dispose of the Chisel. No amount of reasoning will change his mind or sway his resolve. Teresong will urge them to help him and see the Chisel for what they are but in the end leaves the party with a simple decision – ‘You either fight for Cauldron or defend its attackers’.
You haven't accounted for being Tereson being "diplomized". I recommend including some responses, such as:
"You have made some very good points that I have not considered. And I acknowledge that you may be right. Unfortunately I am duty-bound to recover the members of the Chisel at this time. I assure you that there will be a trial. And I will arrange for you to attend so that you can present your testimony. You have my word. I am confident that when you state what you have told me that the charges against the members of the Chisel will be dropped and that they will be acquitted. I regret that I must follow through on the arrest order that I have received. But please bear with us. Cauldron—and I'm sure the Chisel—would appreciate your assistance in this matter. I thank you for your understanding and patience." This represents the "Yes I will be Helpful. But I am very Lawful" response.
On a different subject, you can pick up Heroes of Battle from a marketplace ("used and new") seller at Amazon.com for around $5. I did recently. I also picked up the 30 years of D&D book for a penny.
Thanks Frank. I had considered the chance of swaying his stance through diplomacy but discarded it. It's a personal bugbear of mine that you can just roll a dice without any roleplay at all and influence a NPC to change his mind from one extreme to the next...but that's another issue altogether.:)
I'll take your advice though and include something mentioning his nigh unbendable determination to eradicate the Chisel. Perhaps on a natural roll of 20 he could be convinced to delay the seige. I'll have a think about it.
Whatever his option the seige will go ahead in any event with the leadership of the Blue Duke.
Great little write up though Frank.
Delvesdeep
This part is a bit piece-meal so any help tightening it up would be useful.
The purpose of this event is two-fold - firstly to reveal the Blue Dukes treachory whe he engineers the humans disasterous attack and Teresongs murder and secondily, to expose the party to the Stormblades might. It also uncovers the division in the attackers (Humans v Half-Orcs) and the potential for a later alliance.
Event Two –Captains Betrayal
Once the town have refused Teresongs offer to surrender, Teresong gathers all of the human guards (including Skylar and the Stormblades) and moves in front of the recently repaired old northern breaches. The Blue Duke positions the half-orc forces to strike at the Cauldron Gate with the Battering Ram at the ready.
The breaches have been repaired using Wall of Stone Scrolls by the Foreman but these walls are much narrower and weaker than the ancient basalts that support them. The Miners Bridge also had to be destroyed to the east of the city when the Invading Army first began their march.
At dusk, 3 hours from the time the Cauldron forces arrived, a horn sounds from the north signally the beginning of the siege. The human forces charge the newly repaired breach using siege ladders.
The Stormblades take to the air (using pre purchased potions of flying) to attack the defenders with spells and ranged weapons while the human guards charge the walls. They ensure that they are spread out in case they are targeted with such spells as Fireball or Icestorm.
The assault will be brief, lasting only 5 minutes (50 rounds) before overwhelming numbers of Redgorge defenders arrive to drive back the siege attempt. If the party are able to cause the Stormblades significant damage and drive them off the conflict will end sooner (1 minute proceeding – ie if the Stormblades flee after 2 minutes of conflict the entire attack will finish after 3 minutes).
Depending on what actions the players take will depend on the success of the attack.
The forces lead by the Blue Duke including the soldiers manning the battering ram, remain in place and never attack or offer any support to the human forces at all.
• The attack is disastrous for the human guards losing their leader and half their numbers to the rash assault.
Tersong’s Actions
The success of Annah’s casting changes Tersong’s actions.
If she is successful Teresong leads the charge into the tunnel closely followed by his two bodyguards given to him by the Blue Duke and a wave of attackers. The two blue armoured half-orcs are part of a group of 8 Ogre Mages who form the Blue Dukes personal guard. Teresong never emerges from the other side of the tunnel and can be found later with two deep axe wounds his back and neck. The party may even witness the assassination if they go to confront Teresong directly. The ogre mages use cone of cold to kill any of the attackers who witness the murder before flying away or use gaseous form to escape after the murder.
If Annah is unsuccessful Tersong will retreat to the back of the forces to command the attack where he meets a similar fate to the one written above.
Stormblades Actions
Todd (Ari 1/Rog 5/Ass 7)
Annah used one of her Stoneskin scrolls of Todd before the conflict giving him a damage reduction of 10/+5 for a maximum of 120hp damage)
Before the battle Todd has cast Improved Invisibility and Freedom of Movement on himself.
Todd attempts to pick off defenders with his magical short bow from the air until the party arrive. If and when the party arrive Todd takes it upon himself to target the party with his 3 arrows of slaying (human- Fort DC 20 or die).
Once he has fired these missiles he moves high above the party to observe (3 rounds) one of them closely (preferably a character he particularly dislikes) before diving down to attempt a death attack (Fort Save DC 19 to avoid) with his poisoned rapier (Wyvern Poison DC 17 –2d6/1d6 Con damage). After he is either successful in killing the party member, run out of poison or seriously damaged himself (under half his hp) he flees using his dimension door ability, flies direct up and then away or even throws himself over the wall and runs if need be.
Annah (Ari 1/Bard 12)
In addition to her normal equipment Annah also possesses the following scrolls – Circle of Death (Caster Check DC 12), Chain Lightning (CC DC12), 2 Cloudkill(CC DC 10), 2 Passwall (CC DC 10), 3 Stoneskin, Icestorm and 5 Fireball scrolls.
Annah has asked Cora to protect her in case she is attacked while casting and Cora has begrudging accepted, much preferring to get into the action on the walls with Zach.
Annah casts improved invisibility on herself and waits until the ladder bearers are almost at the wall before she attempts to use one of her scrolls of Passwall. She needs to make a caster check of 10 (50% chance) to succeed. If she is unsuccessful, if she is able, she will attempt to use the second scroll of Passwall.
The other attackers continue to attempt to climb the walls.
Once Annah has finished with the scrolls she will fly above the battlements and cast spells such as dominate person, ice storm (scroll) or fireball(scroll).
Zachary (Ari 1/Rgr 6/ Clr 6) –
‘Cleave’ feat has been swapped with ‘Two-Weapon Defence’.
Annah has also used one of her Stoneskin scrolls of Zach before the conflict giving him a damage reduction of 10/+5 for a maximum of 120hp damage)
Zachary has cast Bull Strength on himself and Cora before the conflict giving him a strength of 18 and bless. Zach flies down to fight from the battlements in an effort to stop the defenders. He cast Animate Dead to use havoc raising 12 skeletons. He uses Power Attack and Cleave to cut through the Redgorge soldiers on the wall. When the party arrive Zach takes to the air and uses a scroll of Flame Strike (CC 10). Zach has 5 such scrolls.
Once he has reached near half his hit points he retreats, flying away back over the wall.
Cora (Ari 1/ Swa 8/ Dul 4)
Cora is itching to get down into the heat of the battle but has been asked to guard Annah while she casts Passwall and the bigger more offensive spells from the air. Cora uses her longbow with normal arrows initially but switches to using her recently purchased chaotic arrows which causes 1d8 + 3 plus 2d6 chaotic damage to any lawful creature they strike. Cora knows the party well enough that she will begin to target the lawful characters as soon as they arrive.
As soon as the tide starts to turn on the attackers the Stormblades retreat immediately.
DD, are you going to put this up on rpgenius?
Cheers,
Shade
PS: Great work, as always!
DD, are you going to put this up on rpgenius?
Cheers,
Shade
PS: Great work, as always!
After I've given people time to have a look over the document and make suggestions I'll download the complete 'finished' work on theRPGenius.com site.
Delvesdeep
Glad you found the almost complete document on the seige I emailed you useful Nib!
I'll be keen to see how your alternations turn out.
Delvesdeep
Event Three –Battle Plans
When the dust settles after the siege attempt the Foreman sends word to the party, if they have not already sought them out, to meet with the Chisel in the Redhead Miner Tavern.
When they arrive all of the Chisel are waiting and are extremely thankful for the party’s presence in the town.
The Foreman divulges the following information to the party –
• After the party had begun searching for Alek the Chisel sent the Honest Minstrel to Cauldron to attempt to speak directly to the Lord Mayor. After sneaking into the Town Hall the Honest Minstrel was able to tell the Lord Mayor of all that had happened and assured him that the Chisel or Redgorge posed a threat to the Cauldron. As a result the Lord Mayor assured the Honest Minstrel that he would stop the invasion so further investigation could be undertaken into the matter.
The Honest Minstrel had returned and the invasion had been stopped. That was a week ago….
Only recently, the Chisel received word that the Cauldron guard had begun to march on Redgorge. The Foreman sent the Honest Minstrel back to Cauldron to speak to the Lord Mayor again but quickly discovered that the Lord Mayor had gone missing.
The Chisel had already made moves to shore up the old breaches in the basalts but time was against them. They were still far from prepared to take on an invading force.
Timeline
The Foreman tells the party that just before speaking to them now he was given some extremely important news. The Chisel has a number of spy’s in the Invading forces. The most reliable of these is one of the head engineers for the Cauldron forces. This spy has just got word to the Foreman predicting how long Redgorge has until the Invasion begins.
Redgorge has 16 days to prepare.
The Invaders are hurriedly attempting to construct a series of siege engines and equipment in a camp behind the main siege camp. The spy has instructed the Chisel that the Invaders are quickly constructing walls for the camps, siege ladders, a battering ram, trebuchets and a siege tower, all of which should take just over two weeks to put together.
Another of the Chisels spies have said that they get the impression that the Invaders are in no hurry to attack and the Blue Duke seem to be ‘waiting’ for something.
If this information proves correct then this leaves Redgorge with some valuable time to prepare for the attack.
Chisel’s Plans
Before the Foreman explains the possible improvements the Chisel has hurriedly come up with, he asks the party if they have any ideas how to best defend the town or weaken the defenders.
The Foreman is happy to show them a map of the town and give them a run down on the number of defenders and attackers and where they are currently positioned.
Feel free to give Improvements that the party come up with Victory Points based on the options presented below.
Once the party are finished allow the Foreman to run over the ideas found in Event Four and Five.
Communication
Before the party begin anything, the Foreman requests that they keep regular contact with him and the other members of the Chisel. Later that night the Foreman then gives them the tremendous honour of taking them into the most sacred of locations for the Chisel – the secret Hall of Carvings.
The Foreman believes that the Hall of Carvings will be safe from any attack and offers to them to stay in the guest room for the remainder of the conflict if they so desire.
Hi,
What I chose to be substantially different from Delvesdeep is the duration of the siege.
I have already realized that many events need to be brought up on the fly or in changed order. This battle is completely open and can change in multiple ways very quickly.
Nib,
I re-read your post and I think you offer sound advice.
I understand that you were keen to make the seige last around 3 days similiarly to what Chef and dodo had done previously and with Kouraphon (sp?) in tow he would have been very impatient with any delay and giving the adventure a seen of urgency with his presence.
Event 4 & 5 are particularly open to the players. There is a list of possible town improvements and methods to weaken the attackers that is quite substantial. Add to this any other ideas the party come up with and this period of the adventure could seem a bit choatic. It is meant to be.
This section is a chance for the party to do something that is rare in the SCAP - take ownership. They actually get a chance, within a framework, to decide to do exactly what they want to do rather than what they are directed or feel compelled to do.
My guess is that it is this portion of the game that they will be the most animated about and later say they enjoyed the most.
When the party come up with possible improvements to the town or methods to weaken the invaders, then the DM will need to measure the actions worth against the listed improvements/weakenesses and decide the Victory Points they will be attributing to the action.
For example if the party have allies who are not listed in the SCAP, perhaps a group of drow who the party rescued in a side trek the DM wrote up specifically for the party, who they wish to conscript for the Seige - the DM will need to make a judgement. They may have them ask for a service or task in return (similiar to what the Stone Giants do) or be involved in a battle of their own that needs resolving first.
Either way I feel this sort of initiative should not be ignored but celebrated.
When it is all said and done the allies really do not do anything that the DM needs to concern themselves about during the seige but their presence (and perhaps description of their efforts) should be awarded using Victory Points.
As a said earlier Nib, I'm looking forward to seeing you write up on the seige.
Delvesdeep
Event Four –Town Improvements
The party can organise teams of workers to improve the town. Each workforce consists of 20 citizens. Three such teams can be assembled at any time plus the party if they choose to use their time in this manner. Each improvement takes a certain amount of time and may require a skill check to be made by the team leader or party member if they are supervising.
Defences
Repairing the Well
The town has been cut off from the river and will need a large supply of water for drinking and to put out any fires. The old siege well has been left derelict once part of it collapsed.
The party can use magic to repair the well or a work team which would take 3 days to complete the task.
Skill Check: Engineering DC 15, failed check increases time by 1 day
Victory Points: 100
Battle Training
The party can elect to train a group of citizens to better prepare them for the conflict. Many of the citizens have already undertaken traditional military training as part of their duties as a Redgorge citizen but specialist training is still needed for use of some equipment and duties. Additional training may include trebuchet use, running repairs, battle formations, etc
The party may wish to conduct this training themselves or use Captain Pragat Millak (human fighter 6)
The training will take 3 days for a group of 20 citizens.
Victory Points: 100
Preparing the Shrine
The shrine of Pelor will act as a makeshift infirmary and hospital for the siege but is unprepared. The shrine has one priest and two acolytes that can tend to the wounded but others will need to be enlisted for the shrine to be prepared fully. The interior of the shrine will need to be changed, beds constructed, herbs and medicine collected, etc.
This job requires one workforce 4 days to complete.
Skill Check: Heal DC 20, failed check increases time by 2 days
Victory Points: 100
Constructing the Trebuchet
The town have a series of large areas that rest on either side of the gate towers which once held trebuchets. The platforms still remain but the siege engines have long still fallen into disrepair and been dismantled. There still remains the material required to build a number of these siege machines but there are few people within the town with the knowledge nor (until now) motivation to replace them.
Building such a machine requires two work teams 8 days. The town has enough materials for 3 such machines.
Skill Check: Engineering DC 20 (Engineer must supervise for at least 2
hours a day) , failed check increases the time by 2 days.
Victory Points: 300
Patching the Walls
Repairing the walls is beyond the power and skill of any of the Chisel or residence of Redgorge but ‘patching’ them is not. The party may wish to patch them up magically with spells such as Wall of Stone or use a work team to construct a wooden wall to fill the gap.
Repairing a breech requires 2 teams 7 days of work.
Skill Check: Engineering DC 20
Victory Points: 200
Digging Pit Traps
Digging out pit traps in strategic locations in and around the town could serverely damage the attackers, hinder their movements and lower their morale. The town is full of miners more than capable of preparing such defenses.
Digging a 10’ deep pit takes a day of work.
Skill Check: Mining DC 10
Victory Points: 100
Recruiting the Striders
If the party are on good terms with the Striders they may be able to petition Meerthan to help them in the defence Redgorge.
If a party member is a Strider then Meerthan is easily swayed to offer assistance (Diplomacy Dc 15) but tells the party he can not personally offer assistance because he believes he is close to uncovering the location of the Cagewrights Lair and fears any delayed interruption in his search would destroy all his efforts to date.
Meerthan can offer the party the services of Fario and Fallian. Unfortunately he recently sent them back down into the Kopru Ruins beneath Cauldron. Meerthan believes that the Ebony Triad were in league with the Cagewrights before the party destroyed the group months a go.
In Striders who reside in Sasserine recently sent message to Meerthan that the Ebony Traids who worked within that city had been linked to the Cagewrights. The Striders had found old plans within their abandoned cult headquarters describing how to construct a strange twisted cage.
Meerthan believes that the Cagewrights who now hid somewhere in the Cauldron region were using the Ebony Triad that the party destroyed to build this cage too and he has sent Fario and Fallian back into the Ruins to find any traces of the strange construction.
Scrying doesn’t seem to work beneath the city so Meerthan can not pin point their exact location at the moment.
If the party return back to the ruins they find that Fario and Fallian have discovered that the Kopru Ruins did not stay empty for long. An exploration team of illithid have moved into the ruins curious about its past and magical properties. They have also brought with them some troll slaves. (5 Mind Flayers and 13 Trolls)
Fario and Fallian have managed to so far sneak through the complex without detection and are now holed up in the old Harpoon Spider Lair which the Illithid and Trolls have so far avoided. The Striders are trying to come up with a method to move into the various past leaders lairs of the Ebony Triad where they suspect they may find the evidence of the creation they are searching for.
If the party find the striders and assist them in their search they may find plans to create a strange Cage in the library in a secret cache behind the bookshelves (Search DC 30). Three of the five illithids can be found in the library researching at any one time.
Victory Points: Retrieving Fario and Fallian - 300
Helping the Striders find evidence - 200
Recruiting Allies
The party may attempt to enlist the aid of allies such as Jenya or even Vhalantru. Most key NPCs in the city are embroiled in their own duties and agenda’s and will not join in the defence. If the party have gained allies through other adventures/side treks that are not part of the official SCAP (in my game the ‘Acquirers’ fit into this category), they can ask these friends for assistance. Depending upon their relationship with the party, role in the city or elsewhere and motivation to assist, the DM should decide whether these allies will just automatically assist, request a reward/task/assistance in a matter first or require a high Diplomacy Check.
Whoever the allies are or how many the party has, the reward for gaining there assistance should not exceed 500 in total.
Victory Points: 500
Hey Delve,
I wasn't trying to rain on your parade, I was just pointing out some of the pitfalls I encountered (because players own and read rulebooks too). The stuff you've got is great, and should lead to more small encounters than I had.
Another couple of things to keep in mind--
The demon army of babau, vrock, Nabby, and his lieutenant all have greater teleport at will. Why would they march? I had the walls block any magical attempt to cross them, including any kind of magical flight. So while an eagle or a pigeon can easily fly over the wall, a vrock can't (same with a deva) because their flight relies at least in part, on magic.
This still leaves the nagging question of why they don't teleport to the mines, then fly or teleport over the river into the unwalled section of Redgorge. I had the bridge rigged with alchemist's fire by the townies, but I had no satisfying answer to this. I ended up with "they just don't" which was less than great.
The vrock "Dance of Ruin" is devastating if they can get it off. 20d6 damage to anything that's not a demon within 100 ft. One of the great moments in my siege was having the heroes racing through town to the south wall where it seems the defenders are fighting... something that the party can't see. They just about got there when there was a flash of light and every commoner on the wall was blown to dust. I figured 20d6 vs. a 4 hp commoner = nuke. The two members of the Chisel and the 5 men at arms were smoking corpses, and that led to a nice battle between wall-scaling babaus, the hezrou, and the party.
The question I kept coming back to is would they use the Dance of Ruin when they were allied with half-orcs? My instinct is that the demons would consider the half-orcs cannon fodder and gladly sacrifice them if it gave them any kind of advantage, but during the battle it just seemed too powerful, so I used the dance for a moment and then they stopped.
I also couldn't see the Stormblades sticking with the army once they were allied with Nabby, so I had them try to escape. The party saw the escape attempt and their subsequent battle with babaus. They actually had to save the Stormblades, which I thought was a cool little encounter.
Stat-wise, the Stormblades are no match for babaus, and both Todd and Cora were killed in the battle. Annah and Zach took their bodies, gave no thanks to my party and rode off towards Cauldron. It was sweet, and sets up the dissolution of the Stormblades in Soul Pillars.
Another thing that helped greatly (and suggested in the other thread) was barrels of holy water stationed at 30 foot intervals on the walls. They're useless against the half-orcs, but really saved the day vs. the demons.
Hey, delvesdeep!
Now I need to figure out how to insert this into my next campaign or re-run the SCAP someday. If I ever get to your shores, I'm going to find you and sit in on your campaign. As someone said above, you've become an SCAP celebrity!
Best regards,
Koramado
Thanks dodo and Koramado (as always :) ).
dodo - I have covered most of your concerns in later events. Marching to Redgorge adds both time and flavour to the adventure. The walls in my version 'Awaken' when the the vrocks heralds attack the city which envoke a number of magical defenses against the demons including teleportation, dimension door etc.
I would reason that the Demonskar Army and Nabthatoran are weel aware and remember not to fondly the defenses the basalts offer Redgorge against them and rather than risk any unforseen disasters befalling them through use of such magic close to the town they would rather undertake the day long march.
I too have used the dance of ruin but not during the battle as (hopefully) the party have by this time secured the stone blocks the foreman requires to create the Stone Golems that assist in the defense of the southern battlements and therefore would stop any chance of the dance occuring.
Thanks again for your advice. Hopefully the adventure will make more sense and address most of your concerns as I post more of it here.
Delvesdeep
Two things I need assistance with here are -
1. I have no maps draw up for this mini-adventure
2. I am not happy with the method the giants use to get the blocks into the city. I did not wish to use the 'old tunnel under the town' clique. Any one have any ideas?
Probably the biggest ‘improvement’ the party can make to the town is by giving the town further allies to combat the dark forces rising up to destroy them.
The Foreman has the ability to create very powerful stone golems from the nearby quarry that is said to be linked to the Elemental Plane of Earth which gives the stone superior qualities.
Stone Smugglers
The Foreman shows the party on a map the nearby location of what he refers to as the Old Malachite Quarry. He explains that the old quarry is mined by a volatile tribe of Stone Giants who have refused to trade with Redgorge after the Foremans predecessor demanded the stone for an insulting price.
The Foreman explains that if the party can sneak out of Redgorge and to the quarry (5 miles away to the east) he will give the party 5000gp worth of gems to use to buy as many ‘Mystic Malachite Blocks’ as they can secure and somehow transport back and smuggle into the town.
Assuming the party choose to attempt the trade the party can sneak out of the town and travel towards the Old Malachite Quarry. Following the map they eventually (3 hours by foot) arrive at the quarry where they see a collection of large stone huts perched up against the quarry walls around a great pile of great stone blocks. Two stone fences sit to either side of the quarry containing a herd of goats in one area and a herd of sheep in the other. Great stone gates carved to resemble noble looking stone giants, sit against the cliff face almost completely obscured by the pile of blocks.
If they watch long enough they can count about 10 adult giants and 5 children going about various tasks including sculpting, painting, pottery, tanning, grinding grain, cooking etc. A group of 5 larger giants return later in the day from hunting bringing back a variety of kills. If the party arrive at dusk/early evening they witness the giants sitting around a great camp fire playing stone flutes and drum while others dance. A small group of giants latter engage in a rock throwing contest at each other at increasing distances. An elderly female giant sits around the camp fire overseeing all and telling stories to the children.
The party can choose to attack the clan or parley with them.
After the party approach a number of giants move forward with clubs in hand while others stand back with rocks ready to throw. Others move off to search the area for any other hidden threats. After being helped to her feet, the elderly giant hobbled forward – (adapt the following to suit)
‘Why do you disturb our village little ones?’
If the party choose to be honest and tell the giants their mission the elderly woman relaxes somewhat and responds –
‘I am sorry little people but even if we could agree upon a trade we can not give you the stone you require. This is not our home. Out ancestral home lies beyond those blocked gates. We chose to leave our stone village beyond the gates only a month a go when my son, the chief of our tribe, and 4 greatest warriors disappeared in the tunnels.
Many of our people had begun to disappear in the main tunnel that links our village to the mines, storage and route through the mountains. Finally my son choose to find out what was happening to his people but when he and our greatest warriors did not return I decided to leave the caves before more of our people disappeared.
If you can find out what is causing our people to disappear and reclaim our homeland for us then I will give you all the Mystic Malachite blocks you and my warriors can transport to Redgorge.
Do you have the strength little ones to help the Malachite Clan?’
If they choose to help the stone giants, the giants assist the party to move the great stone blocks and force open the gates before quickly moving back. Through the gates the party find a beautifully carved great tunnel with alcoves containing stone giant statues spaced alone it every 10 feet.
After 50 feet the entrance tunnel opens up into a great chamber that rises up over 150 feet revealing multiple levels connected by flights of stone steps and bridges that criss-cross across the chamber. Scores of great cave doorways spot the walls leading into stone giant homes.
Across the chamber lies the entrance to a great tunnel.
The passageway quickly changes from being beautifully carved to a rough hewn natural tunnel. Two hundred feet alone the tunnel seems to have collapsed and as the party approach they can see a number of stone giant limbs hanging out of the cave in.
A Tunnel Terror lies in wait just before the cave-in camouflaged against the walls/floor/ceiling. If the party specifically choose to spot around the walls (and not the cave-in) they can make a DC 20 a witness the walls slowly moving (a tentacle).
The Tunnel Terror (Fiend Folio pg 179; hp 171) waits until as many of the party walk into it before ‘casts’ wall of stone behind the party effectively trapping them inside it. It them begins to engulf (1d8 +13 & suffocation) 2 medium sized opponents while using its two tentacles (+20, 1d8+9) to attack the rest of the party until it has killed its victims and moves onto the next creatures. The Tunnel Terror always uses Bulls Strength and Cats Grace to prepare and will use Telekinesis (CL 12th, DC 13 + spell level) to drag creatures into it if it needs to.
Behind the Tunnel Terror (in the gap between the wall and the creature) the party can find (Search DC 20) the squashed body of the chief and two odd looking stones (Stone of good luck and a Stone horse (destrier)) plus a great club (+ 3 thundering), a stone close faced helm (comprehending languages and reading magic) and giant sized +5 leather armour. The Chief also has a bejewelled necklace (2000 gp) and a great stone ring (+ 3 protection).
If the party dig the bodies out of the wall they can also find 7500 gp worth of gems.
Returning to the Stone Giants the tribe hoists the party above their heads while other beats their drums or play their stone flutes in spontaneous celebration. The Elder asks after a time if the party found her son.
The elder is visibly distressed by the news of her son’s death.
If the party choose to keep the magical equipment found the Elder will look at the equipment sadly before honouring her word and send 10 warriors and 5 carts to return back to Redgorge with the party.
If the party return the equipment found on his body the Elder thanks the party for their selfless act before offering them a choice of one of the items to keep. Then in front of the tribe the Elder announces –
For too long we have remained isolated and shunned the smaller races. We have believed them inferior and two-faced yet today it was a group of these little people who saved us when we could not save ourselves.
It is time to help just as these people have helped us.
Heroes, we will send 5 carts carrying the Mystic Malachite blocks you need and 10 warriors to help transport them to your town.
These warriors will remain to defend and fight for your people just as you have fought for our people this day.
I hope our clan and your people can forge an alliance that will outlast the mountains themselves!
The giants ask the party to go ahead and organise a way to lift the blocks over river. They assure the party that they will be able to get the blocks to the river unseen.
Assuming the party travel ahead have them make a spot check DC 20 to see the 10 half-orc crossbowmen on the top of the cliff hiding. The crossbowmen have their back to the approaching party so they are unlikely to see them.
If the party can dispatch them before they sound the alarm they can enter the town unhindered.
When the party near the town the giants use their camouflage ability to sneak to the town and lift the blocks down over the cliff and then over hurl the blocks jointly over the river if no other option is available.
Victory Points:
Defeating the Tunnel terror and successfully returning with the Mystic Malachite Blocks - 600
Gaining the assistance of 10 Stone Giant Warriors - 400
Event Five –Counter Attacks
Destroying the Siege Engines
The party can attempt to sneak out of the town and make their way to the edge of the jungle, 500m from the enemy camp, where the half-orcs engineers are busily constructing the final siege pieces of equipment they will need to defeat Redgorge.
two trebuchets, twenty siege ladders, a siege tower and a great battering ram. What has been, and is being, constructed depends on when the party choose to attack.
Order / Construction Time / Hardiness /Hit Points /Disable Device
1. Trebuchets /Already Built / 10 /300 / 30
2. Battering Ram/ Already Built / 8 /200 / 30
3. Camp Walls/ 3 days / 5 /
4. Ladders/ 1 day / 2 / /10 each
5. Siege Tower /12 days / 10 / 300 / 30
Battering Ram – This great weapon has the head shaped to resemble a bull. It was the first item to be assembled months a go.
Trebuchets - These great engines have taken a great deal of time to construct but are a huge weapon against the town if made operational. Gathering the ammunition is part of the construction time.
Camp Walls – The walls are the first thing that the team of engineers construct with the assistance of the soldiers. They use a team of soldiers to begin cutting down the appropriate trees and digging the ditch to anchor the wall.
Ladders – The ladders are reinforced, capped with hooks and fitted with spikes to anchor the bases. Twenty ladders are constructed in this manner.
Siege Tower – The final weapon in the Half-orcs arsenal is the siege tower. This will make Redgorge’s famous basalts near obsolete unless it is destroyed or at least temporarily disabled.
Without any interruption from the Redgorge defenders, the engineers will have constructed all of the siege engines and be ready to lay full siege on the town after 16 days.
The engineer’s camp is a series of tents, a few smaller tents where the engineers sleep and a larger makeshift central hunt which contains the engineer’s tools. This hut is locked (DC 30) and guarded by two 8th level half-orc mercenaries. Another two similar guards patrol the camp with two war dogs.
The large siege engines are constructed just outside the walls of the engineer’s camp but the battering ram and ladders are left within the walls of the camp. Another two guards (8th level half-orcs) are camped out here.
All of the guards are equipped with horns which they sound as soon as they detect any intruders.
Disable versus destroy
The party can attempt to disable the engines rather than destroying them but unless they have destroyed or taken, the engineers tools the engine will be repaired within a short time.
If the party are able to silence the guards and engineers found in the Engineer’s Camp without alerting the main camp then the party can disable the engines or begin destroying them at their leisure. If they do not attempt to mask their actions the main camp may hear their work (Listen DC 18 – no mods) and send down a patrol of 10 guards (4th level) to investigate.
If destructive magic (fireball etc) is witnessed the whole half-orc camp will mobilise with one minute to wash over the party as 6 great mobs plus the lancers and crossbowmen.
Victory Points: 100 (disabled), 300 (destroyed)
Copying the Battle plans
The party can attempt to find the enemies battle plans and copy them without being noticed. If at any time they are seen within the vicinity of the Blue Dukes Tent, the plans will be changed.
The party would have been told by the Chisel that the likely location of the enemy’s battle plans is within the main tent which happens to be the Blue Duke’s tent. The Blue Duke is always accompanied by his guards – 8 blue armoured half-orcs wielding halberds. These guards are more than what they appear and are in fact Ogre Mages.
Guarding the tent is always two 8th level half orcs.
The tent sits on a small hill with the half-orc soldiers tents strewn around its base. In turn these tents have been afforded a small amount of protections with a wooden wall encircling it.
Camped just off to the right of the camp is a second, unprotected camp, where the human guards and Skylar Krewis are located (100m distance).
The Blue Duke is usually found within his tent pouring over the battle plan, receiving reports, speaking to his master or simply resting and sleeping. But there is two times during the day when he ritually leaves his abode which the Chisel spies have noted. One is to meditate as the sun rises, while the other is to examine his troops, supplies and siege weapons at dusk.
The tent contains a large table with 4 chairs, a sparring dummy and armour mannequin, a large mat on the floor (Battle Plans), a six of braziers, a wash bowl, a large pile of furs which act as the Dukes bed and a great iron chest.
The Battle Plans
The Mat on the floor is the battle plans. The mat itself is magical and allows the owner to create plans which move and change with a mental command. Written details are also magically inscribed onto the mat with a mere thought.
When the party inspect the mat they find it containing an aerial view if Redgorge with the Blue Dukes Army depicted as a light blue shield with a deep blue charging bull.
The human guards (if they are still supporting the Duke at this stage) attack the western battlements while another force depicted as a black shield with a red demons head in the foreground attacks the southern Caravan Gate. The whole plans are continuously in motion and repeat the siege.
The Blue Dukes army attacks the northern battlements and the Cauldron Gate while a small strike force somehow moves into the gatehouse and opens the gates to then allow the blue army to flood into the town.
The party can read the actual numbers of the Blue Duke’s Army from the writing on the plans.
Trap – Explosive Ruins written under the under the depiction of the demonic symbol.
Table
The table is covered in parchments and letters most of which are written in a strange language. If comprehend language is used one sealed letter reads –
Master Gau,
I have arrived at Redgorge and are preparing for the attack. The general of the skar will arrive on the 16th night of the siege to assist in the town’s complete annihilation. It would be an honour for you to inspect the aftermath of the conquest personally. I await your arrival eagerly.
Your humble servant
Zarn Kyass
Chest - The chest contains a glyph of warding with a 9d6 fireball (Reflex DC 17) attached. The glyph will go off if anyone other than the Duke opens the chest exploding the tent and warning the entire camp of the intruders.
Within the chest is a 12,500 gp in gems, a collection of fine blue clothes and a figurine of wondrous power (serpentine owl).
Victory Points: 500
Allies Within
Skylar Krewis is directly in command of the human guards and with the suspicious death of Captain Teresong, has become very suspicious of the Blue Duke and the motivations for the invasion in general. Only loyalty and a sense of duty to Cauldron and the government has kept him from abandoning the siege altogether up to this point.
Similarly, the Stormblades have joined the invasion out of a sense of heroics and loyalty to their city and family interests.
The human camp is set up outside the walled half-orc camp, and is little more than a collection of ramshackle tents. Moral is very low with the guards the disastrous decimation in the initial attack on Redgorge. Only their trust and belief in Skylar stops them from deserting the conflict altogether.
Despite all of this the camp still remains on alert and guarded against any surprise attack from Redgorge. If the party is seen approaching the camp the alarm goes up alerting the half-orc camps as well. The party will be quickly overwhelmed if they can not change the hostile attitude of the troops before they swarm them (Diplomacy or Intimidate check DC 30)
2 Riots (Mob of Guards)
LN Gargatuan humanoid (mob of Medium humans)
Int: +4 Senses: Listen +4, Spot +4
Languages: Common
AC 11, touch 11, flat footed 11
Hp 182 (30HD)
Fort +17, Ref +9, Will +11
Spd 20ft
Melee mob 5d6
Space 20ft; Reach 0ft
Base Attack +22; Grp +34
Atk Options: expert grappler, trample 2d6
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
SQ mob anatomy
Feats Improved Iniative, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun
Alternatively if the party manage to sneak into the camp and approach Skylar personally his starting attitude is indifferent. If he can be convinced of the true nature of the Blue Duke and the true motivations behind the siege then he can made to lead his troops back to Cauldron.
The party may also attempt to convince the Stormblades to join Redgorge but, depending on previous events, the likelihood of swaying the adventuring group will be much lower.
Before the party attempt to use diplomacy to convince Skylar take into account the following modifiers –
Convincing Skylar (Diplomacy Check)
Actions Modifications
Assisted Skylar in locating Triel + 3
Have evidence of Teresong’s betrayal + 3
Have evidence of the Blue Duke’s true identity + 5
Saved Skylar during Tax Riot + 5
Reveal that the Blue Duke is in league with demons + 5
Party killed human guards to reach Skylar within the camp -3 per guard
Party killed Teresong - 10
If the party roll a 30 this is enough to convince Skylar to lead his troops back to Cauldron that night.
If the party roll 40 or higher Skylar is so convinced and incensed that he agrees to join Redgorge against the half-orcs and asks the party to organise for his troops to sneak into Redgorge.
Convincing the Stormblades (Diplomacy Check)
Actions Modifications
Have evidence of Teresong’s betrayal + 3
Have evidence of the Blue Duke’s true identity + 5
Have insulted/battled the group in the past - 5
Party killed Todd - 10
(Returned Todds body + 5)
Killed Annah, Zach or Cora - 15 (each)
If the party roll a 15 or under the Stormblades decide to attack the party immediately before attempting to flee and warn the Blue Duke of the parties actions.
If the party roll between 16 – 29 the Stormblades refuse and leave the camp to join with the Blue Duke.
If the party roll a 30 this is enough to convince the Stormblades to return back to Cauldron that night.
If the party roll 35 or higher the Stormblades are so convinced and incensed that they agree to join Redgorge.
• No matter what the decision the rest of the Stormblades make, Todd decides to join with the Blue Duke.
Eventuation
The desertion of the human guards does not go unnoticed by the Blue Duke. At the first opportunity he has, Todd slips away to warn the Blue Duke.
Returning to Cauldron
Skylar leads his troops back to Cauldron under the cover of night. If the party have convinced the Stormblades to return with him or assist in Redgorges defence as Skylar begins to move his troops Annah approaches the party and informs them of Todd’s disappearance.
Skylar marches his troops back towards Cauldron that night. A few hours after they leave Skylar leads the human guards through a small gorge. As they pass through the gorge they are ambushed by waiting half-orc crossbowmen that shower them with a hail of crossbow bolts. Over half of the human guards are killed within the first minute while the rest find cover or attempt to flee. Without aid every guard, including Skylar, will be killed before dawn. If the Stormblades have been convinced to return with the Skylar they are able to counter attack the half-orc crossbowmen and cause them to retreat.
Unless the party have been monitoring or escorting the troop, it is likely that the party only hear about the disaster after it is too late.
Joining with Redgorge
If Skylar is convinced to join with the Redgorge defenders he asks the party to assist him in smuggling the human guards into Redgorge. If the party inform the Foreman of the defection of the guards he assures them that he will organise for Cauldron Gate to be opened as they approach the town and for additional archers to man the northern battlements in case of attack.
Skylar leads his troops from the encampment at midnight but as they approach Redgorge a horn sounds from the Blue Dukes camp and shouts of alarm ring out from the enemy camp. Skylar orders his troops to double time it to the gate. As the humans rush towards the opening gate a chorus of warning shout cry out as a troop of half-orc lancers ride out from the Half-Orc Camp to finish off the humans before they can reach the walls. The party will most likely be witness to the approaching doom.
The party have 10 rounds to stop the charge and either hold up the lancers or kill over half them if they are going to buy Skylar and his human guards enough time to make it through the gates and for the gates to be closed before the rest of the half-orc army mobiles.
50 Half-Orc Lancers, fighter 3
CR 3, Medium humanoid (orc), HD 3d10 +6; hp 22, Int +1, Spd 20ft, 50ft (mounted), AC 16, Base Att +3, Grp + 6, Att +8 melee (lance, heavy 1d8+6), SA -, SQ darkvision 60ft, AL LE, SV Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +0; Str 17, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 10.
Skills: Ride +6, Intimidate +2
Feats: Mounted Combat, Ride By Attack, Trample.
Mount: Heavy Warhorse hp 30
Victory Points: 200 (Guards return), 500 (Guards join Redgorge)
300 (Stormblades return), 500 (Stormblades join
Redgorge)
Event Six – The Screeching Heralds
The Forewarning
On the morning of the 15th day of the siege a great horde of Infernal creatures claws its way out of the Demonskar. Nabthatoran, Ancient General of the Demonskar Army, commands the demonic army to march upon its most ancient and hated enemy – the town of Redgorge.
Nabthatoran commands five of his most powerful demons to fly ahead of the army to scout out their path and inform his ally; the Blue Duke of his impending arrival.
The Vrocks take to the air and fly towards Redgorge arriving as night descends upon the region. They firstly meet with the Blue Duke to herald their army’s arrival within the next day before leaving.
Instead of immediately returning though, the Vrocks decide to observe Redgorge from the air and then in a rash decision to cause some havoc within the unsuspecting town. The Vrocks wrongly decide that this action would please their general and that after causing as much damage as they can to the town they would return victorious to tell Nabathatoran of the attack.
The Vrock swoop down upon the guards upon the southern basalts to attack. As the Vrocks attack though the ancient basalts that Sundabar created so long ago awaken at their presence. White light pours out from the walls temporarily blinding the demons and angering the Vrocks with the sudden wave of holy might that washes over them.
Awakened Basalts
Metropolis Walls(DMG p99; 1170 hp, 40ft high)
Special –
• Defenders Light -Creates bright light over the battlements and shines 100 feet away from the walls
• Abysmal Dimensional Anchor – as per spell but only effects creatures from the abyss.
• Protection from Evil – as per spell for all defenders on the battlements/basalts.
The Vrocks change their actions and instead choose to fly down into the heart of the town itself and into the Town Square determined to destroy as much of the town as they can.
Sequence of Actions
The following is what will occur without any ‘interruption’ from the party. Change the actions of the demons, defenders and/or Chisel depending upon what the party’s actions. If the party have been discussing tactics etc with the Chisel they should be warned of the demons in Round Two.
Round One
The Vrocks land and three of the five begins to attack the Town Hall which bears the symbol of Sundabar which they recognise instantly. The other two demons spread out to attack the townsfolk who have left their nearby home to investigate or as wandering home from the Redhead Miner.
Round Two
A troop of guards race to attack the Vrocks with their spears. The two attacking demons use mass charm to get them to begin attacking their comrades. The unaffected guards weapons are useless against the Vrocks.
Round Three
More defenders arrive firing arrows which are ineffective against the demons. The three Vrocks attacking the Town Hall break through the doors and proceed to destroy the interior. The other two Vrocks use their screech ability to stun as many guards as possible.
Round Four
All of the Vrocks move to the centre of the town square while the town gaurs continue to swarm around them. The demons link hands, oblivious to the ineffective defenders, and begin their ‘Dance of Ruin’.
Round Five
The Honest Minstrel and Miramax appears from the Redhead Miner and move down the street towards the conflict.
Round Six
The Honest Minstrel uses a scroll of ‘Rock to Mud’ to disrupt the demons and cause them to take to the air. Miramax moves into the fray wielding his magical great club.
Round Seven
The Foreman arrives with Maavu. The Foreman summons an earth elemental while Maavu casts. The Vrocks concentrate their attacks on the Chisel until two or more of their numbers are slain. If the party do not intercede Miramax is slain in the conflict. Once this occurs they attempt to flee back to the demonic army.
Before they leave though the Vrocks attempt to drive fear into the towns heart and telepathically hearld to all within 100 feet –
The might of the Demonskar is right now marching upon your pitiful Town.
The great general will soon be feasting upon your warm flesh and the Demonskar army will turn Redgorge into rubble.
Nabthatoran is coming and all of Sundabar’s spawn will soon be but corpses!
The Warning
After the sudden attack the town is reeling. The guard gather up their dead and injured while attempting to calm the sense of panic and dread that is washing over the town with the news of the approach of the Demonskar Army.
Screams of - ‘We are doomed!’, ‘The Demons will kill us all! and ‘We can not fight them, our weapons are useless!’ mingle with the sounds of open weeping and terror as the news continues to spread.
Amidst the rising wave of hopelessness and dread the Foreman climbs the steps of the townhall and addresses the town as guards and townsfolk continue move into the square.
Defenders of Redgorge. You have nothing to fear. We are the descendants of the great Sundabar. He erected this very town to defeat the Infernal plague of the Demonskar.
The Basalts have awakened and the demon army will smash against them like waves against a cliff. They will not allow them to pass into our townp/b]
Shouts ring out from the gathered crowd –
[b]‘But the demons flew over the basalts’, ‘Our weapons were useless against them!’ and ‘We can not hope to defeat Nabthatoran without Sundabar!’
Holding up his hand to quite the crowd the Foreman continues -
It is true these demons did fly over the walls but they were some of the most powerful troops the Demonskar possesses and we still defeated them!
I also have great news. We have found the Sunabars Lost Armoury! With the weapons secreted away within it we can fight the demon horde.
Cheers erupt and the people openly rejoice.
And why we don’t have Sundabar to fight Nabthatoran we do have his most powerful weapon against the general. The heroes by my side wield Alakast and Nabthaoran will once and for all be destroyed by its power.
Great cheers resound around the town as the Foreman signals the people to return to their homes and duties before quietly requesting to speak privately with the party….
Invasion Points: 100 per Vrock killed
Minus 300 points per Chisel Member killed
Event Seven – The Lost Armoury
After the town has calmed down the party may wish to know what ‘Sundabars Armoury’ is. The Foreman takes the party aside and for the first time tells them that Sundabar gathered together a collection of equipment that would help Redgorge repel the armies of Demonskar in case the town was ever besieged by the demonic forces ever again.
To ensure that the equipment would not be stolen or used inappropriately, Sundabar had only told his greatest general the location. As the centuries wore on the secret location was passed from General to the Redgorges first Captain of the Guard and when they retired to the new Captain throughout the centuries.
Unfortunately some 80 years past the Captain of the Guard was murdered before he had a chance to pass on the secret and the location of the Armoury has remained a mystery ever since.
The Frantic Search
The Foreman says there is still hope though. Recently the Chisel have discovered that a strange creature known as a Gravecrawler has entered the old tome of the guards. This creature is a magical earthen entity attracted by the powerful earth magic that emanates through the region and town.
The Gravecrawler roams ancient tomes and cemeteries petrifying the dead and living alike. The Foreman has also learnt another strange truth about the creature from the library within the Hall of Carvings, when this creature petrifies the dead it absorbs all their past memories also.
The Foreman hopes that if the creature can be reasoned with that it may reveal the location of Sundabar’s armoury to the party before the Demonskar Army arrives and Redgorge is left near defenceless against the infernal attackers.
Sundabar’s Secret Armoury
Stone Tomb
The party search for the ancient armoury that Sundabar and Redgorge’s founders left hidden for when Nabthatoran returned to destroy the town. The Chisel know that such a stockpile of weapons have been secretly secured somewhere within the town but none of their research has revealed its location.
The Chisel believes the answer lies within the Stone Tomb. All of the cities original leaders where buried within the Tomb and the secret may have been left with them.
The Tomb can be unlocked with an ancient key shaped like a chisel and reveals a large circular room alight with magically burning lanterns. In the centre of the room is a sarcophagus which only opens with the touch of one of Sundabar’s descendents.
Opening the sarcophagus releases a Living Spell.
Living Spell – Chilling Fog hp 67 (MM3 pg 92).
Opening the sarcophagus also opens a secret door in the chamber uncovering a series of stairs which follow the curve of the walls and ascends into the roof. As the party begin to ascend they observe that the walls are carved with life-sized images of men and women looking out towards the party. Most of these carvings have been worn down over time but some remain relatively intact. As they near half way up the cramped tunnel two Caryatid Column step out in front of the party and two more step out behind them wielding long spears in place of bastard swords.
The party will need to use piecing weapons and only the characters at the front and back of the group can engage in hand to hand combat.
Caryatid Columns (4) hp 53 (SCAP HC pg 350)
Part of the stairs is missing revealing a small tunnel dropping away into the darkness. This 1 ½ foot wide tunnel descends into a series of old collapsed tombs dating back to the fallen soldiers from the original Battle of Redgorge and is where the gravecrawler burrowed into the chamber. If the players make the considerable effort to descend into the old tombs they will find crumbling tunnels and a thorough search (Search DC 30) will reveal a pair of dusty scaled silver boots. Each designed to resemble a sleeping little dragon. When the boots are worn the boots begin to ‘stir’ and the wearer witnesses little ‘dragon wings’ emerge from either side of the heel of each boot. If the wearer wills them to, the boots will fly otherwise the dragons remain sleeping.
(Boots, Winged.)
The stairs ascend into a chamber where seven sarcophagi ring the room like spokes of a wagon wheel. In the centre of the chamber is a sculpture of Nidrama looking skywards, one hand reaching to the heavens while the other clasps a small ivory lyre (Lyre of Building). At the zenith of the domed chamber is a large crystal which channels small rays of sunlight down upon the seven sarcophagi and a large column of light directly down upon the statue of Nidrama.
Within the tomb the party find a gravecrawler (MM2 pg118) which has petrified all the remains of the ancestors and in so doing has absorbed all of their memories, including the location of Sundabar’s Secret Armoury.
The Gravecrawler (Ancestor Worm)
When the party arrive at the Captains Chamber they instantly feel their bodies begin to slowly stiffen and dry (Calcifying Aura - Fort DC 22 or take 1d2 Con)
Sliding slowly from behind the statue of Nidrama, a bloated, pale, segmented worm about 3 feet in length appears. Its face looks like that of a human or humanoid, except it has no eyes – not even vestigial ones.
With a voice like the wind the creature speaks -
Have you have come to learn from the dead or become one of them?
The gravecrawler waits for the party’s response.
If they attack it says without emotion - You have chosen a stony death before moving forward to bit the nearest opponent. If taken to below half its hit points it burrows through the floor and then down through the stairs to escape.
If the party says they wish to learn then the gravecrawler asks –
What secrets of the dead do you wish to unearth?
Before they respond have the party make another save.
If they ask about the location of Sundabar’s Secret Armoury then the gravecrawler responds –
Before you learn you must first teach. What knowledge of living do you have that is yet to pass to the dead?
Before they respond have the party make another save.
Any character with a Knowledge (local), (history) or (undead) can make a skill check DC 20 as they teach the gravecrawler some information it doesn’t know about the Cauldron Region.
If the party have no such knowledge but know of some history themselves (the players) give them a chance based on the depth of their own knowledge. Give them some bonuses (between 0 and 5) before they attempt to make the check (DC 20).
If they succeed in either method, then the Gravecrawler will tell them the location.
Failure means the gravecrawler is disappointed –
Without the knowledge of the past Redgorge can not hope to have a future. Return when you have something to offer the dead.
Two other options are now available to the party if they can not think of any ideas themselves.
The Foreman may suggest to offer the gravecrawler access to the magically warded town cemetery to learn from the bodies of the recently deceased or they could take with them a ancient tomb written by Sundabar kept in the Hall of Carving.
The first choice would require a town meeting to convince the Redgorge citizens of the action. This will take a few hours to organise the people to assemble in the town square and mean only a skeleton defence for the town for the duration of the meeting. The party would then have to make an impassioned plea to the people to convince them to allow the gravecrawler to calcify the remains of the deceased, most of who are relatives and/or friends of the citizens. (Diplomacy DC 30)
The second choice is to offer the gravecrawler the option to claim the bodies of all the enemies who fall in battle. This option can not be taken by a good party without morality issues and potential consequences to their classes, alignment and reputation.
When the party return, have them make the same Fort Save each round DC 22 to avoid the calcifying effect (1d2 Con damage) as they discuss their offer. Any offer made to the gravecrawler involving learning from multiple dead creatures will be accepted.
The Armoury lies beneath water and stone, beneath statues of glory and strength. The Armoury lays intact, hidden from thieves and merchants alike. It lies beneath the statue of the great leader himself. The Armoury sits below the Foundation Fountain and Sundabar is waiting he hold his legendary weapon aloft once more.
The creature reveals that the armoury lies beneath the Foundation Fountain and the magical words that must be spoken for the armoury entrance to open.
Gravecrawler (CR 16)
Small Undead (Earth)
Hit Dice: 25d12 (162 hp)
Int: +2
Speed: 20ft, burrow 20ft
AC: 17 (+1 size, +2 dex, +4 natural)
Attacks: Bite +13
Damage: Bite 1d4/19-20 plus 1d4 constitution
Special Attacks: Calcifying Aura, Con Drain
Special Qualities: Burrow, speak with dead, SR 30, tremorsense, turn resistance +6, undead traits
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +16
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 15, Con -, Int 16, Wis 11, Cha 11
Alignment: Neutral
Foundation Fountain
The party find the fountain in the centre of the old district, abandoned to all but a few.
The Fountain would have been beautiful in its day but now no longer runs leaving a stagnant pool of slimy water pooled in its basin. Thrusting out of its centre is a weathered sculpture depicting the founders of Redgorge lifting Sundabar skyward as he holds his empty hand aloft. Many of the features of the sculpture have been worn away but the features of Sundabar remain intact.
If the party place Alakast into Sundabars empty hand, the basin of the Fountain cascades down, emptying the water and creating a spiral staircase. The staircase descends into a large well lit chamber filled with cold iron weapons and ammunition, and a score of barrels filled with holy water.
Guarding the ammunition is Slaughterhouse Eviscerator (MM3 pg 160). If you don’t have MM3 perhaps swap the Slaughterhouse Eviscerator with a four armed advanced stone golem.
Victory Points: 1000
Event Eight – The Demonskar Army
As day begins to wane and night creeps closer the distant sound of dark drums reverberate from the jungles to the west. As the sound of impending doom gradually escalates more and more of the citizens within the town began to panic and attempt to flee from their posts or out of the town completely.
As dusk approaches from the walls the defenders begin to shout warnings when the jungle seems to rip open and a swarm of dark howling demons march from its depths. Upon seeing the town the demons begin to scream and howl with excitement and sound great horns to herald their arrival.
Amidst the dark army red skinned and bull horned giants stride forward.
Screeching vulture-like demons take to the air and circle about the army beneath them like they were waiting to feed while a sickly looking toad creature pushes its way to the front.
The sound of the horde is almost unbearable washing over the town like a tidal wave. But just as it becomes almost unbearable the horde suddenly stops and all noise ends.
Then, like a terrifying nightmare, the legendary demonic general of the Demonskar strides through his horrific horde and towards Redgordge.
A wave of terror spills over the watching battlements and town itself. Cry’s of – ‘We are doomed’ and ‘We must flee before our very souls are ripped from us!’ echo out adding to the panic.
Nabathatoran stops and laughs at the noise of panic –
I feel your fear humans…I feel your panic. Redgorge will be burning before the night is through and you and your children will be slowly feasted upon in Abyss for all eternity.
Spawn of Sundabar, your death is but moments away.
If the party decide to attack Nabathatoran or the army before/while he speaks he laughs and yells–
Thankyou heroes for showing me where you are.
He then orders the Vrock to attack the party on the wall. This could prove disastrous for the party if they do not flee. Once the party fall or flee the Vrocks return to the rest of the army out of range of the walls.
Once he has made his speech or the party have been dealt with laughing once more with delight, Nabatharon orders his army to march, well out of range, around the town towards the Caravan Gate, before they stop to rest.
Demonskar Army
* General Nabatharon (Glabrezu)
* Lieutenant Dreghakus (Hezrou)
* 24 Vrock
* 100 Babau
* 10 Fiendish Hill Giants
# Note that the Demonskar Army are unable to summon other demons due to the nature of their ancient banishment.
Event Nine – The Sergeant
Assassination Attempt
Over a century ago Nabthatoran managed to capture a member of the Chisel and learn the location of the Hall of Carvings and most importantly the rhyme to open the entrance into the historical base. Nabthatoran hs been waiting for the right opportunity to use this most important of secrets and now the time has come.
Sergeant Dreghakas, Nabthatoran’s dreaded second in command, is sent into the town under the cover of night to destroy the leaders of Redgorge and the ancestors of Sundabar - the Chisel. Dreghakas has learnt to perform the rhyme almost perfectly with decades of practise.
Sergeant Dreghakas is escorted by a small group of Palrethee (MMII pg 59) on his mission and move directly over the east river and land unnoticed in the ‘abandoned’ building and move down into the cellar. While they sneak into the town the Palrethee change their flames to a ghostly mist to avoid detection. After performing the rhyme Dreghakas instructs the Palrethee to destroy every creature they find.
If you do not possess MMII swap the 10 Palrethee with 4 Vrock.
Chisel Starting Locations
Foreman H10
Maavu H9
Honest Minstril H5
Mirimax (Redhead Miner – not in Hall of Carvings)
Round by round
Please note that the below run down assumes the party do not make it into the Hall of Carvings to assist at any point. Change the Chisel and demons actions depending upon the players actions when they arrive.
Arrival – Round One
Sergeant Dreghakas and the 10 Palrethee enter the Hall of Carvings. Dreghakas cast magical Circle against Good while the Palrethee cast detect good.
Battle – Round Two
Dreghakas races straight through the room towards H6 but the Palrethee are attacked by the Sundabar’s daughters (Caryatid Columns). Battle ensues. The Foreman, Maavu and the Honest Minstrel are alerted by the noise.
Battle & Hunt – Round Three
Dreghakas moves into H5. The Foreman summons a Large Earth Elemental. The Honest Minstril casts invisibility and gathers his equipment. Maavu moves from H9 to H10 to warn the Foreman. The Palrethee defeat the Columns.
Round Four
Dreghakas moves into H5 and hears the Honest Minstrel and immediately attacks him using his Blind Fighting Ability. The Palrethee spread out – 6 racing into H3 while the other 4 run through H4 to the intersection. The Foreman casts Summon Monster IV : Small Xorn while Maavu casts bears endurance.
Round Five
The Honest Minstril attempts to escape but is seriously wounded by Dreghakas. The 6 Vrocks are attacked by the 2 stone golems from area H8, the Xorn, Earth Elemental and the Foreman and Maavu. The Palrethee’s attempt to use their fear abilities on the members of the Chisel.
Round Six
The Honest Ministril is killed and Dreghakas moves to H4 along with the last 4 Palrethee.
Round Seven
Three of the Palrethee and the Xorn is killed.
Round Eight
Dreghakas and the remaining 4 Palrethee’s join the battle. Maavu is killed along with 2 another Palrethee’s.
Round Nine
The Earth elemental is killed along with 2 more of the Palrethee. The Foreman is seriously wounded by Dreghakas.
Round Ten
The Foreman is killed.
Subsequent rounds
After 3 more rounds only Dreghakas and a single Palrethee are left standing. Dreghakas sets about destroying the Hall of Carvings for another 10 rounds before leaving the Hall and returning to the battle.
Victory Points: 1000 points minus 300 points for each member of the Chisel who is killed.
Once the battle is finished the town alarm bells begin to sound and the roar of the enemy attacker’s spills over Redgorge as the siege begins.
Any remaining Chisel urges the party to help defend the town gates to protect from the approach of the attackers.
Event Ten – The Final Battle
To the south and north the escalating murmuring of battle lust begins to sound from the gathering armies under the dark cloudy night sky. The defenders stare fearfully out into the darkness listening to the terrifying sound of the dark armies.
Then from the south great demonic horns reverberate across the town. Then from the south higher pitched trumpets sound in response and then from the darkness the horrific roar of the charging dark armies breaks.
The Final Battle of Redgorge has begun.
Event Ten finishes when the final battle has already begun. The party will appear from the Hall of Carvings to the sound of the siege in full swing.
Flaming boulders rain down upon the town from high above on top of the east cliffs exploding buildings and starting fires across Redgorge.
To the south the Demonskar Army spill over the Southern Bridge, 4 fiendish giants batter the Caravans’ Gate, Babua clamber up the walls while Vrocks dive from the sky and rip through the waiting defenders on the battlements.
The half-orc army rushes the northern walls with siege ladders and using any siege equipment they have at their disposal. During the initial attack the Blue Duke and his Blue guards turn into gaseous form and enter the gatehouse through the arrow slits and attempt to open the gates.
Fire Throwers
During the siege the party may attempt to stop the fiery bombardment from the fiendish giants on the east cliff.
Six Fiendish Giants are spread 50 feet apart supported with a small ‘artillery team’ of 2 Half-Orc Mercenaries (Fighter 2) who are tending to great flaming pits filled with massive red hot rocks.
The giants will assist each other if the threat is close (50ft – are next to giant attacked) otherwise they continue to their bombardment unless 3 or more of their number are felled.
If the party have recruited the aid of the Malchite Tribe then these Stone Giants Warriors will assist the party to defeat the Fiendish Hill Giants.
Victory Points: 500
I'm dieing to see what you do with the magical properties of the walls. I have always treated them as quasi-magical with unspecified properties.
I'm dieing to see what you do with the magical properties of the walls. I have always treated them as quasi-magical with unspecified properties.
I wrote them up under event six if you want to quickly scan the posts above. Have you already run through the Invasion?
Delvesdeep
Blue Murder
Five minutes (100 rounds) after the party emerge from the Hall of Carvings the Blue Duke and his bodyguards attempt to take the Cauldron Gatehouse. If the party copied the Blue Dukes Battle Plans they will know that the Blue Duke plans to attack the gatehouse and maybe there waiting for him. If will be warned by the Honest Minstrel (assuming he survived the attack on the Hall of Carvings) who casts whispering wind to communicate the situation to the party. If the party did not copy the battle plans or save the Honest Minstrel then the Blue Duke will succeed in opening the Caravan Gates unhindered.
While his half-orc army clamber up siege ladders, batter the gates and rain crossbow bolts down upon the defenders, the Blue Duke charges up to the gates and then turns gaseous to slip into the gatehouse through the arrow slits.
Round by round
Please note that the below run down assumes the party do not make it into the Cauldron Gatehouse to assist at any point. Change the Blue Duke and his Ogre Mage bodyguards actions depending upon the players actions when they arrive.
Round One
The Blue Duke and his 6 Ogre Mage slip through the arrow slits and appear in the gatehouse.
Round Two
The Blue Duke and four of his bodyguards attack the guards while the remaining two bodyguards turn invisible and begin searching for the gates and portcullis mechanisms.
Round Three - Five
Battle and search continues.
Round Six
The two searching Ogre Mages find the mechanisms and begin to open the front gate. The Blue Dukes and remaining Ogre Mages spread out to dispose of any arriving defenders.
Round Seven
The Ogre Mages finish opening the first gates.
Round Eight
Ogre’s open the forward portcullis.
Round Nine
Ogre’s open the secondary gates.
Round Ten
Ogre’s open the final portcullis. Half-Orc army streams into Redgorge.
Victory Points: 1200
Event Eleven – Death of the Demonskar
As the battle begins to reach a climax Nabthatoran takes matters into his own hands and fights his way to the western battlements to destroy the defenders and the group of heroes that have ruined his century old plans.
He screams with rage alerting the town of his presence and begins to bellow out in fury –
Heroes of Redgorge! Spawn of Sundabar!
Come to me and meet your doom!
This will be a tough battle for the party. They will have come off two major battles – Hall of Carvings and Defence of the Gatehouse and may need time to heal. The longer they take though the more damage Nabthatoran will cause to the town and the more allies he will gain.
Nabthatoran’s Assistance
Location ------ Assistance
Battlements (Initial 10 rounds) ------ None
Town ------ 2 Vrock
Redhead Miner ------ 4 Vrock
If the party take too long to respond the demonic general descends from the Battlements and into the town itself where he begins begins to rip defenders apart, destroy buildings and making his way to the Redhead Miners Inn to unleash his uncontrollable anger upon the Chisel and party.
If the party attempt to fight the general from the air he uses his power word stun on the spell caster of the group before ordering the Vrock (2) to tear them apart. He then races to the Redhead Miners Inn to gain cover and find any Chisel.
Defeating the general signals the end of the Invasion.
Victory Points: 1500
This is the last part of the adventure.
I intend on beginning this with my group on Friday so if anyone has any suggestions about improving the document and avoiding any potential problems using it could you please post them up ASAP.
Thanks for reading the document and I hope some DMs can get a few ideas from it for their SCAP game.
Delvesdeep
Event Twelve – The Aftermath
Depending on how many Victory Points the party accumulated with depend on the level of victory they received.
0 – 2000 --- Utter Defeat
The combined forces of Demonskar and the half-orcs wash over Redgorge, killing ever citizen within its ancient walls. Nabthatoran and his army are finally awarded their freedom from the Demonskar and return to the Demogorgons side. Nabthatoran is given a new mission to utterly destroy Cauldron and resume his initial task of creating a Demonic Empire in the region.
The Hall of Carvings is discovered and forever destroyed.
The Blue Duke sets up camp within Redgorge and begins rebuilding the town’s defences to create a fortress for his forces and his Masters army when the planar gate is finally opened.
Vhalantru declares that the traitorous town and its evil leaders, the Chisel, have been destroyed forever and that Cauldron’s citizens can now live without fear.
The adventurers are considered wanted criminals by the Cauldron government and executed if captured.
2000 – 4000 ----- Defeat
Redgorge falls to the enemy and its citizens are made prisoners. Cauldron places the town under Martial Law and what’s left of the Chisel go into hiding with the Hall of Carvings.
Vhalantru declares that the traitorous town and its evil leaders, the Chisel, have been destroyed forever and that Cauldron’s citizens can now live without fear.
The adventurers are considered wanted criminals by the Cauldron government and imprisoned if captured.
4000 – 6000 ----- Winless Battle
Redgorge has been brought near ruin but the enemy has been routed. What’s left of the Chisel begin to attempt to rebuild the town while the Demonskar Army and Half-Orc Forces retreat to rebuild and continue the invasion when they are better prepared.
Vhalantru declares that Redgorge has been taught a lesson by Cauldron and that no trade or relations between the neighbours is to end.
The adventures become distrusted and scorned by the government, nobility and law in Cauldron.
The Chisel give the party 5000 gp in gems as a reward for their help.
6000 – 8000 ------ Victory
Redgorge repels the invasion and the enemy forces are scattered. Nabthatoran and the Blue Duke are defeated and their armies never assemble to attack Redgorge again.
Redgorge begins to rebuild with a renewed sense of hope and with the aid of the Chisel and their new allies.
Vhalantru issues a notice that peace has been declared between the two ancient allies and that the Chisel has been pardoned for any suspected crime they have committed.
The adventures are seen as heroes in Redgorge where they are given free room and board where-ever they stay. In Cauldron the parties role in the victory is considered a blow against the increasingly unpopular government and the party gain further reputation as champions of the people.
Redgorge gains an additional 5000 gp to their limit.
The Chisel give the party a gift of 15 000 gp in gems as reward.
8000 - 10 000 ------- Complete Victory
The combined forces of the Demonskar and the Half-Orc Mercenaries are utterly destroyed and break against the mighty Regorge Walls like a wave crashing against a cliff face.
Nabthatoran and the Blue Duke are defeated and Cauldron government left bewildered and embarrassed by the humiliating attack.
Redgorge has been strengthen rather than weakened by the siege gaining new allies, powerful defenses and community moral. Over the next few year citizens of Cauldron and Sasserine begin to relocate to the prosperous town.
Vhalantru declares peace in the region and blames the evil intentions and manipulations of the half-orcs on the attack.
The adventures are welcomed in every Redgorge home and given all goods at cost. The Chisel becomes stance allies of the party.
In Cauldron the victory is seen as a victory against the increasingly unpopular government and the party continue to adhere themselves to the peoples hearts. They receive a gift a
Redgorge gains an additional 10 000gp to their limit.
The Chisel give the party 30 000gp in gems as a reward for their invaluable assistance.
So tonight I will use this adventure on my party.
Any last minute advice, changes, corrections before I begin?
Delvesdeep
Thanks nib for your response.
I played throught he start of the adventure last session and the players had a great time. They liked the way the 'differences' in the adventure and the choices they had particularly with choosing the different methods to better defender the tow or counter attack the invaders. That's why I was a bit surprized with you 'railroad' comment.
A couple of stages that the party surprized me was with the initial attack. The party divided themselves into two groups - the majority moving down to defend the wall that the half-orc were threatening while the other two moved up to guard the northern basalts against Teresong and the Stormblades. When the humans attacked the characters that were guarding the southern battlements decided to take the fight to the half-orcs by launching long-range spells. I had to move the half-orc troops right back to avoid any further damage,
Another surprize was when the half-orcs killed Teresong. The party retrieved the captains body and went to raise it. I had to think on m,y feet and tell them that the Blue Guard had lopped off his head. While having a raised Teresong wouldn't not have been a problem in retrospect at the time it was a surprize.
The party killed Todd as expected but I didn't predict their anomousity to the NPC. I thought I would have Todd's body show up in the Church of Wee Yas in chapter 7 (I still might but just one piece of it or pieces) but the party decided to make sure the Stormblade would not return and proceeded to chop him up into small pieces and burn his remains. I may have to rethink things here.
Anyway the party are intending to make their way to the Stone Giant Quarry next game so I'll let people know how it all goes after the next session.
Delvesdeep
Good luck, Delves. I *love* your work and can't wait for you to post it to rpgenius once you've play-tested and polished it.
I'm half way through Flood Season and after that they will be going through your Flood Season Ball, which I anticipate will be brilliant.
IMC, Skaven escaped, traded his wand for his spellbook, and disappeared. I figure he'll make a re-appearance later in the campaign. The party REALLY wanted to kill him. Heh!
~Shade
Thanks Shade :) Hope the Demonskar Ball works out well for you!
nib - I'm glad you had time to finish your version of the Siege and post it up. In terms of the railroading because of the sudden urgency to find 'Sundabar's Lost Armoury' this was written up in this manner to give the players a sense of urgency as the Demonskar Army unexpectively approaches the town. If the players were given the option of finding the stockpile of weapons and equipment collected to combat the Demonic forces of the Skar earlier then they would of immediately become suspicious.
Also by giving the party a timeline to find the armoury it immediately instills a level of excitement and urgency that up until this point has been relatively relaxed and driven by the party. The Demon Army causes panic throughout Redgorge and unless the party can discover the secret armoury then Redgorge will struggle to defend themselves against their most ancient enemies. All of a sudden defending the town against the Blue Duke and his half orc forces becomes minor.
In terms of your write up nib - I really like it. It shares the same framework that I have written up here but with a significantly reduced timeframe. I find the reward system you use to figure out how the party has faired in the seige a bit complicated and confusing but I'm a fairly simple fellow at the best of times so this could be just me.
Good luck mate and I'll look forward to downloading your work from theRPGenius.com.
I'll keep everyone updated on the adventure as my party progresses through it.
So far so good.
Delvesdeep
My party continued through the Siege last night starting with organising the defenses and working teams. This worked well but the party felt a bit limited with the 3 work team maximum a bit limiting. I either need to come up with a better explanation for the limited number of helpers or increase the amount of teams and change the Town Improvement requirements (ie time to complete, skill DC etc).
I'll play around with this one.
The party then headed off to the Quarry to secure the stone from the giants to use to create the stone golems. This went beautifully and the party found this senerio very enjoyable. Probably the only slight would be the party trying to figure out what the creature that was attacking them actually looked like (Tunnel Terror).
After getting the blocks back into the town the party then decided to try and contact Skylar by using the spell - sending. They tried to set up a meeting in a neutral location to attempt to sway the human leader over to their side. The location they decided was in the boat houses near the Redgorge waterfall.
When the party invisibly snuck out to the place to see if Skylar had arrived they found that the half-orcs had set up a division of guards to create boats within the shelters. The party then decided to attck these guards from the walls and use the ensueing conflict to smuggle to of their number (polymorphed and disguised) into the half-orcs midst while they fled back to the enemy camp.
The party attacked from the air (fly spells) with flame strike and from the walls using archery (flaming bow) to generate sufficent panic and as to plan the two party 'spies' moved into their midst (invisible until this point).
When the tow disguised characters entered the camp they witnessed the half-orcs arming themselves and preparing to defend the camp incase of further attack. The Blue Duke and his bodyguards took to the air and then promptly disappeared. Using this situation to their advantage the disguised characters moved up to the Blue Dukes Tent as a mouse (polymorphed) and invisible to sneak into the tent.
While this was all happening the remaining party members waited on the walls where they were suddenly attacked from the air with cones of cold by 4 of the guards. The party fought the guards for a few rounds depelling charmed comrades etc before the Blue Guards disappeared. Within the town itself the party heard warning horns and rushed to aid the townsfolk from whatever trouble they were facing.
Back in the Blue Duke's tent the party spies went through the Blue Dukes table and sealed envelopes (resealing them with the mending spell)in an attempt to find the battle plans but stubbled upon the Blue Dukes message to his master and reference to the other army.
They founf the gylph on the chest and decided to leave the trap alone fearful of leaving any traces of their presence once they left. Finally they found the plans on the mat and using the activation words (fond using read magic) they witnessed the intentions of the enemy and arrival of the 3rd army. They quickly fled the tent and camp immediately afterwards.
In Redgorge the other characters, fresh from their battle with the Blue Guards on the battlements, hurried to the town centre to see the destruction that the Blue Duke had inflicted upon the town and the dead body of the Chisel 'Innkeeper' lying admidst the fallen defenders. The Duke had fled back to his camp.
That is where we left it.
Delvesdeep
Hey, Delves, I have kind of a fundamental question for you. If the Cauldron forces approaching Redgorge know about the demon army, why wouldn't they join forces with Redgorge to defend against this larger threat? Taxes and 'traitors' are one thing, but demons? YIKES!
My thought was to allow Cauldron a day or two to try to break down Redgorge's defenses, then bring the demons in - surprise! Demons should have an easier time if some of the magical defenses have been breached. Any thoughts?
I will be starting this next session (in a week or two) and will let you know how it goes. I really like the overall strategy of giving the PC's a few key things to do rather than worrying about the entire battle. The Stormblades and my group are romantically linked as well as rivals, so this should be fun.
As always, thanks to Chef's Slaad, Delvesdeep, and others for their boffo work on these mods. It really adds a lot to this adventure path.
Treppa.
So tonight I will use this adventure on my party.
Any last minute advice, changes, corrections before I begin?
Delvesdeep
How can the Foreman create a stone golem? He is effective Wizard CL9 and creating a stone golem requires caster level 14. I didn't see anything special in High Handcrafter that would allow golem creation. Can you clarify? I'd be happy to jack him up to CL14, no prob, just curious how you got there. Thanks!
Hey, Delves, I have kind of a fundamental question for you. If the Cauldron forces approaching Redgorge know about the demon army, why wouldn't they join forces with Redgorge to defend against this larger threat? Taxes and 'traitors' are one thing, but demons? YIKES!
My thought was to allow Cauldron a day or two to try to break down Redgorge's defenses, then bring the demons in - surprise! Demons should have an easier time if some of the magical defenses have been breached. Any thoughts?
Treppa,
The Blue Duke is the only creature who knows of the assembling Demonic Army in the Demonskar. The human forces certainly do not know of Nabthatoran or his armies existance until they arrive. Hopefully by this stage the party has convinced Skylar and the human guards to change sides.
For the majority of the seige Nabthatoran is gathering his troops and it is only on the 15th day of the Invasion that the demonic army emerges from the Skar and march on the town. So to answer your question - they don't know and if they did find out they probably would change sides, which happens to be one of the options the party has during the siege - convincing the human troops to switch sides.
Delvesdeep
How can the Foreman create a stone golem? He is effective Wizard CL9 and creating a stone golem requires caster level 14. I didn't see anything special in High Handcrafter that would allow golem creation. Can you clarify? I'd be happy to jack him up to CL14, no prob, just curious how you got there. Thanks!So tonight I will use this adventure on my party.
Any last minute advice, changes, corrections before I begin?
Delvesdeep
This one is called creative license :)
I reasoned that Sundabar had left behind the knowledge and magical capacity to allow such earthen creations to be constructed without the normal spell requirements. So unless your a stickler for the rules, there is no need to bump up the Foreman to CL14. It can be explained away with unique earthen powers that Sundabar once possessed and the earthen defenses/facilities he created with them. The Basalts and Hall of Carvings are two such examples, the 'workshop' which is needed to create the Malachite Golems is another one.
The golems are as much for flavour (showcasing the Chisels/Redgorges link to earth) as for anything else.
Anyway I hope everything goes well
Delvesdeep
This one is called creative license :)...
Sweet! I like it. I thought it tied in well with the powers of the High Handicrafters and the general Redgorge ambiance, but couldn't figured out precisely how you pulled it off. I will probably explain it away with "the blood of Suribar Spellmason runs true in a few" or some such thing. Once I examined the CL14 spells, I really didn't want the Foreman to have that level.
Our group has just defeated the demon army lieutenant and saved Alek (surprising me) and has teleported directly in to the planning meeting of the Chisel for the defense of Redgorge... hello! That meansI will start the Seige of Redgorge mod next week. Will post any feedback then. Thanks again!
Sounds great Intrepid!
I'm going to use the Purple Worm as an alternative challenge to the Tunnel Terror for those people who don't have access to that particular Monster Manual and feel uncomfortable using the monster without all the write up infront of them.
I also like the idea of stealing the enemy armies weapons but won't most of them be held by the troops already?
Delvesdeep