Modules leading into the Emerald Spire

[sadie]

What modules and adventures can people suggest that might reasonably lead players into the Emerald Spire super-dungeon. I'm thinking of levels 1 to 4ish, set in somewhere like the River Kingdoms (a lawless place of banditry and minor monsters with isolated patches of law and order) or specifically Fort Inevitable (the Hellknight stronghold described at the start of the adventure).

[Landon Winkler]

There's Thornkeep, which is low-level and has some story ties to the Emerald Spire. That's probably your best bet.

The only other thing that leaps to mind is Stolen Lands, the first issue of Kingmaker. You could start out with them being granted some lands, then discovering the Emerald Spire.

The first should be very smooth. The second would take more work, but might be awesome.

Cheers!
Landon

[Lisa Stevens]

Not sure you need any modules leading into the Emerald Spire. I designed the top level to work with brand spanking new first level characters.

-Lisa

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

sadie, what are you wanting the lead-in modules to do? As Lisa said, Emerald Spire is designed to start you at 1st level.

[justaworm]

You could also run Thornkeep and Emerald Spire as part of the same campaign. With some work, and depending on how you wanted to handle the first few levels of Emerald Spire, you can run Thornkeep directly into Emerald Spire via Darklands tunnels that exist in both.

One thought:

Some Story Spoilers:

Shortly after the encounter with the Decapus and Slicer Beetle in Thornkeep's Dark Menagerie, the party could be ambushed by a group of Hellknight-led explorers coming from the Darkland's tunnel that has been newly opened in that room. A journal indicates that this group is part of a Hellknight expedition to explore and seize the Emerald Spire.

Travel through the tunnel leads to a series Darkland's passages, but with ample tracking the route of the explorers is clear and eventually leads a suitable level in Emerald Spire. The party is then thrust in the middle of a race against the Hellknights to explore the Spire and keep ancient mysteries out of their hands (the journal could include partial lore about the vaults of Orv and the Orv Gate). The above levels from your entry point could be cleared or partially cleared by the exploring Hellknights already.

You would have to decide whether or not to run through the Sanctum of a Lost Age, simply make the Darklands travel too hard until after levels gained from Sanctum, or provide some hook back into the Sanctum. Don't skip the Sanctum though, as it is probably the best Thornkeep level (in my opinion).