You know how the original Dungeon issues claimed the adventures could be used separately, outside the adventure path? I've thinking about how to do that. What do you all think?
My own background with SCAP is that I was player, about 6 years ago, in two failed attempts at Life's Bazaar. The first resulted in a near TPK (my PC was one of two survivors) in Jhazidrun, and then a full TPK in the Malachite Fortress.
DMing my own campaign now, the PC's (mostly 4th level) are in the old WOTC adventure "Forge of Fury", a Moria-type setting. They've just encountered the duergar and troglodytes who occupy the main part of the fallen dwarven fortress. The campaign is Greyhawk (in the Yatil Mountains).
So here's what I'm thinking for my home campaign:
1) There's a gate between the Forge of Fury and the Malachite Fortress. It was created mostly for trade (weapons and armor from the Forge of Fury, for tropical fruit, coffee, diamonds, and obsidian from Cauldron). But it also as an escape hatch, through which some of the Forge of Fury's dwarves escaped the fall of their fortress 100 years ago. I'm toying with how its functionality is limited . . . perhaps it responds only to dwarves, or only Shackleborn dwarves in the direction coming from Cauldron? Perhaps it only works at certain times?
The gate is how the duergar -- and their trog allies -- got from the Underdark at Cauldron to the Forge of Fury. Why? Weapons and armor from the enchanted Forges, for their war against the White Kingdom (Kingdom of the Ghouls). If you read the intro on that old gem of a Dungeon issue, you'll notice it mentioning the Ghouls defeating duergar and trogs.
I'm thinking the Malachite Fortress operation is a duergar effort to make some cash for their war effort/recovery from refugee status. I'm thinking I should portKozmojen to being a durzagon or plain duergar. Half-troll, half-dwarf seems unnecessarily obscure to me. And who needs the riddle if you gate right there?
2) When the PC's go through the gate (and knowing the rogue, they will), they are temporarily stuck in Cauldron. They will come in at the scene of Kozmojen selling the kidnapped kids. I'm thinking, given their level, it won't be another TPK. :) I'll skip the Jhazidrun level, since most of it was already cleared by previous parties (from the older campaign) and the Stormblades could have finished the rest. The PC's killing the boss monster and rescuing the kids, after they slogged through Jhazidrun = good reason for the Stormblades to be mad at the PCs!
3) Flood Season. Run as written. Ebon Triad are the enemies here, but that doesn't matter much to the SCAP story arc or mine -- it's just a fun, colorful adventure.
4) Zenith Trajectory. Change of backstory here: the PC's actually travel through the Underdark (no Crazy Jared encounter) to reach the Kuo-toan fortress, which is otherwise the same. They realize by now they need Zenith to get home.
End it there, or with the Demonscar Legacy, or a bit later? In general, my players and I think 3.5e (which we love) becomes unplayably complex by about 15th level, thus the desire to jump back out/end the campaign early. Preferably not with a TPK this time. :)
Thanks for your posts. :)
Roth, I'm thinking I'll give them a choice after the Zenith Trajectory -- you CAN go home, but when the events of the Demonskar Legacy begin, you probably stick around (assuming they are friends with Jenya, etc. by then).
Once they've completed Demonskar Legacy, I think I'll ask the players what they want. The choices would be:
1) Planar high-level adventure in the rest of the Adventure Path as written.
2) Go home and adventure some more. I might do more from the original WOTC adventure path, probably the Heart of Nightfang Spire, which maybe I'd set in the Empire of Iuz.
3) One last adventure in Cauldron. Politics and volcano, but not the planar travel stuff, modified from selections in the last few adventures of the path. More "human scale" adventure.
4) Call the campaign done.
You'd think it would take 6 months. It will actually take us more like 3-4 YEARS, because we play only a few times a year. That's why we're still playing classic 3e/3.5e stuff. Busy schedules, 3 players with kids, etc. :)
@KenderKin. Totally awesome to me that you want to try jumping FROM Life's Bazaar TO Forge of Fury. Let us now how it works for you. Seems like it might work better than Drakthar's Way as the second adventure.
Just drove thru the Cascade Mountains in Washington State and thought of another export from the Forge to Cauldron via a portal- ice, mined from a glacier reached by a spiral staircase up the inside of the mountain.
What's a droll?
I didn't create new maps for Forge of Fury, but I did edit the orcs.
I got specific about the tribe (from AD&D era "Unearthed Arcana") as being worshippers of Luthic, the cave mother. I believe that's the Vile Rune tribe, but I might be wrong on that. These orcs are more like N to NE alignment, like to live in stone caves, and have female leaders/clerics.
Backstory elements:
-- The orcs who conquered the place 100 years ago have long ago move on, and left it to more sedentary, cave-loving orcs.
-- The orcs live mostly by hunting in the Yatils. They oppose the trogs and duergar who live beneath them and are interlopers from the Underdark (via the gate from the Malachite Fortress). They avoid the resident of the bottom level.
-- I removed the orc's leader/Boss monster, and replaced with a female adept/cleric, I think 9th level, with some low level Adept assistants.
-- I added cave bears -- the totem animal of Luthic -- and half-elf druid who cares for them. The cave bear on the lower level is stolen from them. The druid is the lone survivor of a party that was attacked by trolls. He was rescued by an orcish hunting party that's used to outsmarting trolls, and was healed by the chieftainess. He voluntarily works for them now, studying these unusual orcs as he would an unusual species of animal.
-- The prisoners are gnome prospectors. The orcs don't really want prisoners, but they are neutral, and hey, they could be worth something.
How it went down in actual play. Big, set piece battle to get into the Mountain Door. Fights to a draw at the inner door. Both sides rest overnight. In the morning, the chieftainess knocked on the door, and with the PC's halfling cleric, worked out a prisoner exchange -- wounded orcs for unknown prisoners they were holding (the gnomes). The cleric then offered to expand the deal -- tell us what you know about the place and let us through your domain, and we'll give you a keg of Stout. The orcs took the deal, and the Stout. The PC's bypassed the orcs, onto the stuff beyond, with limited knowledge of what was beneath (traps and trogs), and info about the door to go deeper, to the place the orcs had been driven back from.
So, quite different from what you plan to do with the orcs, I suspect. :)
Re: Cartography for Forge of Fury
I have the maps I made for my group. I was a bit of a newb with Campaign Cartographer, but they worked. We had a blast with this module. I think FoF is great.
Anyway, here's the LINK to a .rar archive with jpgs of every level.
I left the resolution high, as I printed these as posters for minis use. You'll need to reduce the resolution to use them for online play.
So, after a pause since I first posted this (in April 2011), we finally played on Saturday. It was a marathon session by our standards (nearly 7 hours).
In "The Forge of Fury", the PC's faced off with the duergar and defeated them handlily (almost no injuries) in 3 fights. They freed the Duergar's slaves working in the Bladeworks -- Lorthan Ironfold the dwarvish cartwright, Sondor Ironfold his wife, Maple the halfling "laborer" (actually rogue), Janeer the halfling jeweler's apprentice, and forgot-the-name the gnome alchemist (first person kidnapped). The alchemist told them about the gate to the Malachite Fortress, and had learned the command words -- "Ice" to come to the Forge, "Malachite" to go to the Fortress, and must be said by a dwarf.
After regaining spells and healing overnight, the PC's gated in. I had the Malachite Fortress gate in what's shown as the forge room (M27, I believe). I had it guarded by 4 bored hobgoblin mercenaries.
Unfortunately, one of the hobgoblin's survived long enough to open a door to the main hall (M22), drawing the attention of the hobgoblins there, who wisely alerted Kazmojen to intruders, instead of quitely dealing with it (i.e., just getting killed).
In the resulting big fight, the bad guys had two surviving hobgoblin guards, two Duergar guards (Warrior 2's), Kazmojen (Duergar Fighter 5), and Prickles.
The party's rogue ran in from the dining room and backstabbed Prickles, who spotted him first. Bad call -- it was a Critical Hit with Sneak Attack damage, but not enough to down the howler, who took him out in one round, to -8.
From the other direction (M22), those two pesky hobgoblins kept 3 PC's bottled up in a narrow cooridor to the gate room for far too long (4 rounds?). The other PC -- the dwarf wizard -- dove into M34 (The Slave Bazaar) alone to pour a Cure Medium Wounds down the Rogue's throat. The rogue stabilized at -1, doh. The Wizard then kept backing away from Prickles and letting off spells, getting mauled for his trouble more often than not, while the folks bottled up by the hobgoblins finally Bull Rushed out and mixed it up with the hobs, duergar guards, and Kazmojen (enlarged but somewhat immobile given the crowded fight).
Hold Person (from the PC halfling cleric) and Deep Slumber (from a scroll by the dwarf wizard) both failed completely. The human paladin managed to get some hits on Kazmojen, but he went down too.
So just the halfling cleric, the elf ranger (archer), and the dwarf wizard left conscious.
Then the tide finally turned. The halfling revived the paladin. The paladin got some solid hits in on the duergar. The duergar guards missed everyone for at least two rounds straight, while the elf archer dealt with them. The dwarf wizard landed two Scorching Rays -- both with near max damage -- on Kazmojen and took him down. Then it was just clean up -- killing two now unlucky rolling duergar, and that darn Prickles.
The PC's won, but were all near death, so they rescued the kids, coup de grace'd the duergar, and ran for the gate room.
Meanwhile, Pyllrak Shyraat had turned invisible and walked out at the end of this.
So all that's left are:
-- Pyllrak Shyraat -- as a durzagon, he's the only baddy left alive who can operate the gate.
-- Dark Stalker and about a half dozen Dark Creepers. They were moved down to the Malachite Fortress and given the kidnapping duty after another party of PC's (TPK'd in M34 years ago in real life with totally different players, a week ago in game time)killed all the skulks and cleared most of Jzadirune.
-- The other hobgoblins. I had 18 to start with, and 6 got killed, so there should be 12, plus the torturer leader, around somewhere.
-- Two goblin cooks.
-- Slaves. Kryllscar, Jasper, Deven, Irruth, I forget-his-name the cook, and I-forget-her-name the rogue/sorcerer.
-- The treasure room Mimic.
So what happens next?
Should Pyllrak Shyraat take the remaining useful slaves (I'm thinking just Jasper, as a math teacher might make a yummy lunch for Mind Flayer customers, and the cook) and flee into the Underdark?
-- Or should Pyllrak stay and take over the Malachite Fortress?
-- Or counterattack the Forge of Fury via the gate?
What about the hobgoblins? In my campaign (IMC), they are high-morale members of the Red Hand, working as mercenaries as a deal for weapons from the Duergar.
-- I think they will follow orders from Pyllrak if he stays.
-- If not, do they just kill the slaves (or abandon them to their fate) and flee? Into Cauldron or into the Underdark seem hopeless from their POV. They can't use the gate without Pyllrak. They could stay and fight the PC's, but they saw what happened to Kazmojen.
-- If they don't have Pyllrak offering an alternative, I think a doomed last stand makes sense.
-- They could also try to negotiate with the PC's, perhaps with the slaves as hostages, to be let back to the Forge of Fury and let go.
What about the Dark Stalker and Dark Creepers? IMC, they are Underdark mercenaries, with no particularly loyalty to the duergar. If Pyllrak goes, I think they will flee too, shortly afterwards. If Pyllrak takes over, they will follow his lead.
The final X factor -- the Stormblades. The offline backstory I made up is that after the first party (which was in close contact with Jenya of the Church of St. Cuthbert) was lost, Jenya asked the Stormblades to look for the missing orphans. The Stormblades had a map from the TPK'd party and got to the elevator with only a few minor mishaps. They killed hobgoblin replacement guards there (the first party killed the Mimic and other stuff on its way in) and more at M6 (the bridge to the Underdark). Then they had the "bright idea" of leaving blood trails into the Underdark with the hobgoblins, to draw out more of them. It didn't work. Kazmojen instead pulled in everyone and gave the Dark Ones the job of defending the Underdark entrance. So the Stormblades have been stuck, in the dark, trying to figure out what to do and planning some sort of eventual assault across the bridge.
I'm thinking if Pyllrak leaves (with Jasper and the cook), the Stormblades will ambush him. I may actually run that fight myself to see the outcome. :) Then they will sneak towards the bridge, and ambush the Dark Ones when they leave, getting in that way, probably "today", before the PC's lick their wounds and return to the Malachite Fortress. I think the Stormblades would try to hole up again in the Major Domo's room (assuming they are heavily beat up) rather than clearing the whole place. The Stormblades will, as appropriate, be very mad the interlopers moving in on the dungeon "they'd also cleared".
If Pyllrak doesn't leave, the Stormblades will still be waiting in the Underdark, and will storm the bridge while the PC's are fighting the Dark Ones -- which means the PC's and Stormblades will meet fighting a common enemy, which might change the dynamic a lot -- at least for the cleric, but not for Annah and the others.
What do you all think should happen with the monsters and the Stormblades, overnight before the PC's can return?
Let me try again only shorter. I'm looking for ideas on how the remaining monsters in the Malachite Fortress should react, during a day after the PC's killed Kazmojen and got away.
Remaining folks in/near the Malachite Fortress:
-- Pyllrak Shyrat, durzagon slave trader and ally of Kazmojen. He fled the big fight invisibly, but hasn't left the fortress.
-- Dark Stalker and 6 Dark Creepers. When another party of PC's (TPK'd in the Malachite Fortress 10 days ago in game time) killed off the Skulks, Kazmojen gave them kidnapping duty (the kidnapped the kids) and moved them from Jzazidrune to the door to the Underdark (M6).
-- Surviving hobgoblin mercenaries. 12 plus leader/torturer Zarkad remain alive -- 6 were killed.
-- Two goblin cooks.
-- Slaves. Kryllscar the drunkard militiaman, Jasper the mathematician, Deven the lamplighter, Irruth the chandler, and Gryffon the cook.
-- The treasure room Mimic. Alone in the dark, it knows nothing.
-- The Stormblades. They are hiding in a cave in the Underdark, hoping to ambush those coming and going to the Underdark, having been sent in by the Temple of St. Cuthbert to find the kids, after the first PC party got TPK'd and the Dark Creepers invaded the orphanage.
Background in my campaign:
- Kazmojen was a duergar. He and other Duergar took the Malachite Fortress, and a gate (operable only by dwarves) connecting to the Forge of Fury (old WOTC module). They were selling slaves and making weapons for the Underdark war (allied with Mind Flayers and Kuo-toans) against the Kingdom of the Ghouls.
- The PC's killed duergar & freed slaves in the Forge of Fury, then gated in -- they killed Kazmojen and some guards, then gated out with the rescued kids. All the duergar are now dead. The rogue made sure.
Let me try again only shorter. I'm looking for ideas on how the remaining monsters in the Malachite Fortress should react, during a day after the PC's killed Kazmojen and got away.
Remaining folks in/near the Malachite Fortress:
-- Pyllrak Shyrat, durzagon slave trader and ally of Kazmojen. He fled the big fight invisibly, but hasn't left the fortress.-- Dark Stalker and 6 Dark Creepers. When another party of PC's (TPK'd in the Malachite Fortress 10 days ago in game time) killed off the Skulks, Kazmojen gave them kidnapping duty (the kidnapped the kids) and moved them from Jzazidrune to the door to the Underdark (M6).
-- Surviving hobgoblin mercenaries. 12 plus leader/torturer Zarkad remain alive -- 6 were killed.
-- Two goblin cooks.-- Slaves. Kryllscar the drunkard militiaman, Jasper the mathematician, Deven the lamplighter, Irruth the chandler, and Gryffon the cook.
-- The treasure room Mimic. Alone in the dark, it knows nothing.
-- The Stormblades. They are hiding in a cave in the Underdark, hoping to ambush those coming and going to the Underdark, having been sent in by the Temple of St. Cuthbert to find the kids, after the first PC party got TPK'd and the Dark Creepers invaded the orphanage.
Background in my campaign:
- Kazmojen was a duergar. He and other Duergar took the Malachite Fortress, and a gate (operable only by dwarves) connecting to the Forge of Fury (old WOTC module). They were selling slaves and making weapons for the Underdark war (allied with Mind Flayers and Kuo-toans) against the Kingdom of the Ghouls.
- The PC's killed duergar & freed slaves in the Forge of Fury, then gated in -- they killed Kazmojen and some guards, then gated out with the rescued kids. All the duergar are now dead. The rogue made sure.
Pyllrak either flees or tries to ally with either goblinoid or creeper forces (or both) to either ransack the place (including taking any spare slaves) and make of into the underdark (most likely) or set up to replace Kazmojen.
mimic waits....if it takes too long, start looking for food
stormblades ..wait use them to either storm in and save the party from the allied forces (if needed) or storm in and arrive too late (for camedy value)
Thanks, Werecorpse. Your vision that Pyllrak's decision is the key makes sense.
So I'm thinking I roll some dice to decide between those options, with Pyllrak as the decider:
1) Pyllrak just leaves, after buying Jasper the gnome mathematician (good eats for the mindflayers he traded with). Hobgoblins and creepers sit on their hands for a day waiting to figure out a better idea. (So static dungeon.)
-- In the this option, the Stormblades ambush Pyllrak -- I'll figure out offline the results of that fight -- and may try to break into the Malachite Fortress with Pyllrak as a hostage. Otherwise, assuming they survive and likely kill Pyllrak, they will stake out the bridge into Fortress, and attack it when the PC's fight the creepers guarding it.
2) Pyllrak allies with the creepers, ransacks the place, and flees, while the hobgoblins remain and hold the slaves.
The hobgoblins will try to negotiate with the adventurers (let them use the gate to leave in exchange for the slaves lives) and failing that will try to capture the PC dwarf alive to use the gate. (My campaign background: The hobgoblins are from the Red Hand, on the other side of the gate they can't operate (dwarves only, and no dwarf slaves), working as mercenaries in a deal with the duergar,so they don't want to flee to the Underdark unless it's their only option for survival.)
-- In this option, the Stormblades ignore Pyllrak and the creepers (Pyllrak, 6 creepers, 1 stalker, and the automatons is too dangerous for them), and sneak up towards the bridge into the Malachite Fortress. Finding it empty, they attempt to loot, and likely are fighting the hammerer automatons near the cells when the PC's get there.
3) Pyllrak allies with the hobgoblins and creepers, tries to hold on and defeat the PC's, to continue the duergar business here. (Pretty much a static dungeon.)
-- In this option, the Stormblades are staking out the bridge, and is Option 1, their queue to enter the stage is the PC's fighting in the creepers in the guard room for the bridge.
Should I just roll dice, or is one of these options clearly more reasonable/more fun?
Apologies if this is boring, but I like reading about other people's campaigns, so I figure others might want to read about mine.
I finally decided what will happen next. This Saturday should be the first time we play since December (life as grown ups is tough!).
After the fight in the Slave Bazaar, which Pyllrak Shyraat escaped invisibly, he returns. He decides the Malachite Fortress is just too valuable (to him and to the duergar cause) to give up “without a fight”, and in any case he wants to find Kazmojen’s hidden treasure, so he stays and declares himself in charge.
The Dark Stalker, Dark Creepers, and hobgoblin rally behind him – because the Underdark is too dangerous, they can’t operate the gates without him, and the city above is also no refuge.
Pyllrak moves into M10 (Kazmojen’s Quarters) with his lemures and treasure (from M25). He also takes the skeleton keys to the city and crystal keys to Jzadirune from the Dark Stalker (from M4). From Zarhad, he learns of the existence of the treasury (M11) and the mimic, and he convinces the mimic to move to the gate room.
When the PC’s return:
• The Stormblades are staking out the Malachite Fortress, from outside M6 (Zenith’s Hall).
• Zarkad, the hobgoblin leader, is torturing Coryston Pike, asking about the PC’s. He assumes they must be her allies, since she was an adventurer.
• Pyllrak has redeployed the 4 hobgoblins from M26 (Main Barracks) to M27 (Malachite Fortress Gate Room).
o So when the PC’s arrive via the gate, 4 hobgoblin warriors (on alert) and the Mimic, in the form of a chest, await them. The hobgoblins says their master wants to parlay, and the chest is tribute for them.
o Whether the attempted parlay works or not, one hobgoblin will head out as a messenger to Pyllrak and Zarkad, who intend to return with all the other hobgoblins, either to negotiate or to fight.
• If there is a parlay, Pyllrak comes in full force, but leaves the hobgoblins, Dark Creeper, and Dark Stalkers in the hall and expects to talk.
o Pyllrak explains the duergar and troglodytes are fighting a war against the White Kingdom (the Kingdom of the True Ghouls), and need this place as a refuge and source of income and weapons.
o If the PC’s agree to leave him alone, he will hand over the remaining slaves (except the gnome Jasper, already promised to another buyer, he lies) and the crystal keys to the fallen gnomes fortress of Jzadirune, and to have a Dark Creeper show the party and the rescued slaves to the surface.
o He is willing to negotiate on issues like use of the gates for a fee (100 gp each time) and more information about the Underdark or Cauldron, and a full accounting of the fate of the slaves he sold on (#3, #4, #6, #8, #9).
About Cauldron, Pyllrak knows only that the city sits on the crater lake of a volcano, and that it's called The Shackled City because it's wealth comes slave plantations.
About Kozmojen's situations and the war between the True Ghouls and the Duergar, he knows much, but I'll bore you with it. We'll see if the players ask. :)