I like Punjar as a campaign setting. The map is a bit confusing, but does have enough interesting elements to spark the imagination. Unfortunately, I don't have the old 3rd edition Goodman Games adventures that take place in Punjar so I'm fuzzy on the city's history. They put out a free campaign guide for the city after I started my campaign, which adds some much needed detail to some of the areas, but it still leaves a lot to the imagination.
I modified the "Mists of Madness" adventure quite a bit. I replaced a few of the toads with stirges to balance out the encounter. The encounter with the cultists turned into a diplomatic skill challenge that I really enjoyed. Turning the minions against their masters was very satisfying for the players.
I completely changed the shadow encounter in the mist filled cave. I didn't want to use homebrewed shadow copies of each of the characters so I restructured it to be a fixed encounter that used shadow and ghost themed monsters. Using a doppleganger to stand in for Malikai helped me patch up a plot hole (Malikai is supposed to be grotesque and I had described him as young and beautiful) while also giving the party a glimpse of their final villain. I made up all the stuff about the blue crystals and the spirit censer to replace the shadow orb trap.
I restructured the dungeon under the Maw. Rather than have two death trap rooms and one hidden "correct" path I made the door puzzle solvable. I ended up using the maps from Keep on the Shadowfell for the last two chambers. I borrowed many ideas from the final battle in that module for the final battle with Malikai. In hind-sight, the ghouls proved to be too powerful for the group. Stunning and dazing PCs every round is very frustrating. I ended up fudging some rolls so they could get past the ghouls and focus on the main baddie.
I liked the "Mists of Madness" is pretty good for a cheap product, but like most of the dungeon crawl classics the maps are pretty pitiful and you pretty much need to make your own.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Mists of Madness, Session 2: Malicious Malikai
Aletha, Chiana, Regnor, and Corvus gathered again early the next day to discuss what should be done about Skolous and Malikai the Mad. Aletha and Chiana were still suffering from their cursed disease so were anxious to find a remedy. They went with Corvus to the bazaar of gods to research Skolous and a possible cure. They found histories that told of a phylactery that Skolous had created to safeguard his essence while he slumbered in an attempt to outlive his enemies. It was said that he sent the thing far away with one of his loyal followers to be hidden and passed down the ages until he could be raised again. Many of his priests and followers were sacrificed and buried alive with him in order to watch over his place of rest and rise up if his tomb was threatened before the return of his phylactery. Research indicated that the disease was caused by the presence of this phylactery and that its destruction would be the cure. Destroying the phylactery required sending it into the Far Realm, but doing so would require performing a ritual beyond their current abilities. When they researched the whereabouts of this phylactery they found that it was supposed to have been passed down through many hands over the centuries and the current owner was unknown. They took a brief description of it to their contact, Randall, to ask if he had seen it. He said, yes, he had seen something similar on Malikai the Mad the other day.
Armed with their new knowledge they headed back to the spire in the marsh to seek out Malikai and the phylactery. There they found the Maw of Madness still spewing forth its blue mist. They climbed a rickety scaffolding up into the cave and into the mist. In the maw they found the mists pouring forth from an iron censer hung from the roof of the cavern, like a metal uvula. The shadows in the cavern seemed to shift and move about them. Aletha decided to try to dislodge the censer by feystepping up to it, but she missed her grab and fell prone on the floor below it. That's when the phantom warriors lurking in the misty shadows moved in for the kill. The phantoms wielded ghostly blades that passed through armor and flesh with ease and left behind the chill of death. The party attempted to come to Aletha's aid and moved deeper into the cavern to fend off the phantoms. Another enemy came out from hiding, dressed in star patterned robes and his face matched the description of Malikai the Mad. A small winged homunculus leaped from his shoulder and disappeared into the mist. Malikai drew a short sword and closed with Corvus. His face shifted and became that of Corvus before slashing with his sword. Corvus was not impressed and used his booming voice to chasten and intimidate the shape-shifting creature into backing away. The creature ran around a wall and Corvus chased after it.
Regnor, Chiana and Aletha made battle with the phantoms as the small clay guardian lurked in the shadows and played tricks with their minds. Once the phantoms were sent howling back to the Shadowfell, the clay homunculus was easily crushed under the weight of Chiana's thundering mace. The shape-shifter came out of hiding, took on Aletha's face, feinted to the left, and then stabbed her. Corvus caught up and slew it. As it fell its face took on a pale and almost featureless countenance. The party found the end of the chain suspending the censer, lowered it, and removed the whole thing from the cave. They also found a crate half-full of bluish crystals, which acted as fuel for the foul thing. They determined that these objects had acted as a catalyst, reviving the spirits of dead guardians of the fort to protect the cave against Skolous's enemies. In a side cavern they found the remains of a camp for two people, Malikai and apparently his Doppleganger companion. Notes scrawled on scrolls confirmed their suspicions. Malikai had the phylactery and was somewhere near seeking to either raise Skolous or take his power for himself it was unclear. He described suffering from the same maladies as Aletha and Chiana, although he saw it as a blessing. Aletha found an Eladrin pact sword hidden amongst his discarded gear and claimed it as her own.
They searched the rest of the cavern and found a secret door that had been previously discovered and broken open with tools. It led to a narrow passage where a hidden pit trap had been sprung. At the bottom lay the body of a swamp dweller, impaled on cruel spikes. They passed the pit and continued down a spiraling stone staircase which ended in a low cavern with two identical bronze portals, each engraved with strange symbols and depictions of Far Realm dwellers. Above one of the portals the letters “SKOLOUS” were carved. Aletha pulled out one of Malikai's mad scrawlings and noted that he had referred to Skolous as the “one who shall not be named” and inferred that they should take the door that lacked the inscription. They passed safely beyond the chamber and avoided what was most likely a death trap in the other room.
They continued down a long high passage lined with murals depicting heinous acts that Skolous had either performed during his previous life or was destined to do upon his revivification. At the end the passage opened up into a large tomb with crystal columns and a series of high stone steps leading to a massive sarcophagus and a huge throne. The real Malikai was standing beside the partially opened sarcophagus and holding the phylactery aloft apparently in the final acts of an awful rite. The bones of sacrificial victims and discarded weapons and implements of torture littered the floor amongst the rubble. Malikai noticed the intruders and commanded his thralls to “rise up and protect your master!”. With that an army of skeletons clattered to life and picked up various weapons to attack. From many side-chapels came figures garbed in priestly robes and wielding long hooked glaive. Their movements were an eerily swift sliding motion. When they came fully into the light of Corvus's sunrod he could see that their bodies were made entirely up of a mass of writhing bugs, maggots, and other vermin.
Chiana began to sing a song of courage while Regnor charged into the fray cleaving through bones with his greataxe. One of the priestly horrors reached out with its glaive and grappled Regnors sword arm. Aletha blasted her enemies from afar with cold, causing the shambling horrors to burst with outward with poisonous debris. Corvus braved a gauntlet of grasping glaives to reach the center of the tomb where he burst outward with radiant light, destroying many of the weaker undead. The rest of the remaining tomb guardians were chopped and blasted into dust. While the party had been distracted with his undead servants, Malikai had disappeared around a corner behind the throne and escaped. The party took some time to search the tomb and found treasure buried with Skolous in his sarcophagus: many hundreds of mixed silver and gold coins and a pair of bracers of mighty striking which Regnor claimed as his own. Skolous, in his final form, resembled a massive shriveled toad with far too many eyes. His corpse showed now signs of life.
They searched for Malikai in a labyrinth of narrow passages hidden behind the throne. The finally found a small chamber with an obviously magical portal in the form of a mosaic of a greedy maw painted on the floor. Suspended in the air above the maw Aletha, Regnor, and Corvus saw a massive sapphire, while Chiana saw a nasty sacrificial dagger. She also heard a voice beckoning her to take the dagger and become Skolous's chosen one. Aletha warned the party of the presence of illusions so they were not tempted to grab the hovering items. Eventually they stepped into the portal and were teleported to the final room. If they had grasped the illusionary items, things could have turned out much worse than they did.
In the final room, there was a massive portal leading into a black void punctuated with stars of many colors and cloudy nebulas. A massive shadowy shape seemed to be swimming across the void and approaching the portal from a great distance. Malikai stood before the portal in the ring of a magic circle facing away from it and at the party as the appeared. Between Malikai and the party was an ever-filling pool of blood that a group of four ghouls were drinking from, who looked up only when the adventurers appeared. Malikai ignored the portal for a moment and taunted the newcomers, telling them they would be the first to witness his ascension to god-hood now that he had taken all of Skolous's power into himself. In fact he began to refer to himself as Skolous. He lifted his hands and a wave of black scarabs surged from out of nowhere to swarm over the closely packed party who were assaulted psychically with pain. The ghouls sprang forward and engaged each of the party members, immobilizing them in place with their fearsome claw attacks. Malikai cackled at the party from a safe distance and launched wave after wave of scarabs and bolts of burning black fire at them, all the while the massive shadow in the background grew larger and larger in the portal. The adventurers struggled mightily against the ghouls who were slashing and biting the immobilized members. Chiana used her ritual of Affect Normal Fire to brighten the burning braziers next to her and catch a nearby ghoul on fire. Regnor chopped and hack at the undead soldiers. Aletha teleported about in an attempt to evade the ghoul that pursued her. Corvus was blasting them with radiant light which they seemed to be vulnerable to. Suddenly some huge tentacled colossus reached through the portal and began grasping at Malikai to his great chagrin. Malikai was momentarily distracted while the party finished off the ghouls and moved into range with him. Chiana took a moment to bath in the pool of blood and take a drink to refresh herself. Corvus hid behind a nearby pillar and launched radiant fire at Malikai. Aletha kept moving to gain concealment in her fey mist, while blasting him with eldritch magic. Regnor fired arrows from his dragonhorn longbow from a safe distance.
Malikai was worn down and as he gasped out his last curse upon the party, the tentacled horror from beyond the portal got a firm hold of him and yanked him bodily through the portal. As soon as the phylactery around his neck passed the threshold the portal shuddered and imploded, taking much of the room with it. The concussive blow knocked the party out briefly and extinguished all but the strongest light in the chamber. The characters were awoken only by the shifting and rumbling of stone as the spire began to crumble and sink around them. A great fissure leading up and out to the surface had opened up during the implosion so the party hurried up the scree filled path and into the light. As they reached the surface the spire toppled over and sank into the swamp. Aletha and Chiana found that their various afflictions had magically been cured. The party dusted themselves off and headed back to the relative safety of the walls of Punjar, a little richer and more experienced than before.
Armed with their new knowledge they headed back to the spire in the marsh to seek out Malikai and the phylactery. There they found the Maw of Madness still spewing forth its blue mist. They climbed a rickety scaffolding up into the cave and into the mist. In the maw they found the mists pouring forth from an iron censer hung from the roof of the cavern, like a metal uvula. The shadows in the cavern seemed to shift and move about them. Aletha decided to try to dislodge the censer by feystepping up to it, but she missed her grab and fell prone on the floor below it. That's when the phantom warriors lurking in the misty shadows moved in for the kill. The phantoms wielded ghostly blades that passed through armor and flesh with ease and left behind the chill of death. The party attempted to come to Aletha's aid and moved deeper into the cavern to fend off the phantoms. Another enemy came out from hiding, dressed in star patterned robes and his face matched the description of Malikai the Mad. A small winged homunculus leaped from his shoulder and disappeared into the mist. Malikai drew a short sword and closed with Corvus. His face shifted and became that of Corvus before slashing with his sword. Corvus was not impressed and used his booming voice to chasten and intimidate the shape-shifting creature into backing away. The creature ran around a wall and Corvus chased after it.
Regnor, Chiana and Aletha made battle with the phantoms as the small clay guardian lurked in the shadows and played tricks with their minds. Once the phantoms were sent howling back to the Shadowfell, the clay homunculus was easily crushed under the weight of Chiana's thundering mace. The shape-shifter came out of hiding, took on Aletha's face, feinted to the left, and then stabbed her. Corvus caught up and slew it. As it fell its face took on a pale and almost featureless countenance. The party found the end of the chain suspending the censer, lowered it, and removed the whole thing from the cave. They also found a crate half-full of bluish crystals, which acted as fuel for the foul thing. They determined that these objects had acted as a catalyst, reviving the spirits of dead guardians of the fort to protect the cave against Skolous's enemies. In a side cavern they found the remains of a camp for two people, Malikai and apparently his Doppleganger companion. Notes scrawled on scrolls confirmed their suspicions. Malikai had the phylactery and was somewhere near seeking to either raise Skolous or take his power for himself it was unclear. He described suffering from the same maladies as Aletha and Chiana, although he saw it as a blessing. Aletha found an Eladrin pact sword hidden amongst his discarded gear and claimed it as her own.
They searched the rest of the cavern and found a secret door that had been previously discovered and broken open with tools. It led to a narrow passage where a hidden pit trap had been sprung. At the bottom lay the body of a swamp dweller, impaled on cruel spikes. They passed the pit and continued down a spiraling stone staircase which ended in a low cavern with two identical bronze portals, each engraved with strange symbols and depictions of Far Realm dwellers. Above one of the portals the letters “SKOLOUS” were carved. Aletha pulled out one of Malikai's mad scrawlings and noted that he had referred to Skolous as the “one who shall not be named” and inferred that they should take the door that lacked the inscription. They passed safely beyond the chamber and avoided what was most likely a death trap in the other room.
They continued down a long high passage lined with murals depicting heinous acts that Skolous had either performed during his previous life or was destined to do upon his revivification. At the end the passage opened up into a large tomb with crystal columns and a series of high stone steps leading to a massive sarcophagus and a huge throne. The real Malikai was standing beside the partially opened sarcophagus and holding the phylactery aloft apparently in the final acts of an awful rite. The bones of sacrificial victims and discarded weapons and implements of torture littered the floor amongst the rubble. Malikai noticed the intruders and commanded his thralls to “rise up and protect your master!”. With that an army of skeletons clattered to life and picked up various weapons to attack. From many side-chapels came figures garbed in priestly robes and wielding long hooked glaive. Their movements were an eerily swift sliding motion. When they came fully into the light of Corvus's sunrod he could see that their bodies were made entirely up of a mass of writhing bugs, maggots, and other vermin.
Chiana began to sing a song of courage while Regnor charged into the fray cleaving through bones with his greataxe. One of the priestly horrors reached out with its glaive and grappled Regnors sword arm. Aletha blasted her enemies from afar with cold, causing the shambling horrors to burst with outward with poisonous debris. Corvus braved a gauntlet of grasping glaives to reach the center of the tomb where he burst outward with radiant light, destroying many of the weaker undead. The rest of the remaining tomb guardians were chopped and blasted into dust. While the party had been distracted with his undead servants, Malikai had disappeared around a corner behind the throne and escaped. The party took some time to search the tomb and found treasure buried with Skolous in his sarcophagus: many hundreds of mixed silver and gold coins and a pair of bracers of mighty striking which Regnor claimed as his own. Skolous, in his final form, resembled a massive shriveled toad with far too many eyes. His corpse showed now signs of life.
They searched for Malikai in a labyrinth of narrow passages hidden behind the throne. The finally found a small chamber with an obviously magical portal in the form of a mosaic of a greedy maw painted on the floor. Suspended in the air above the maw Aletha, Regnor, and Corvus saw a massive sapphire, while Chiana saw a nasty sacrificial dagger. She also heard a voice beckoning her to take the dagger and become Skolous's chosen one. Aletha warned the party of the presence of illusions so they were not tempted to grab the hovering items. Eventually they stepped into the portal and were teleported to the final room. If they had grasped the illusionary items, things could have turned out much worse than they did.
In the final room, there was a massive portal leading into a black void punctuated with stars of many colors and cloudy nebulas. A massive shadowy shape seemed to be swimming across the void and approaching the portal from a great distance. Malikai stood before the portal in the ring of a magic circle facing away from it and at the party as the appeared. Between Malikai and the party was an ever-filling pool of blood that a group of four ghouls were drinking from, who looked up only when the adventurers appeared. Malikai ignored the portal for a moment and taunted the newcomers, telling them they would be the first to witness his ascension to god-hood now that he had taken all of Skolous's power into himself. In fact he began to refer to himself as Skolous. He lifted his hands and a wave of black scarabs surged from out of nowhere to swarm over the closely packed party who were assaulted psychically with pain. The ghouls sprang forward and engaged each of the party members, immobilizing them in place with their fearsome claw attacks. Malikai cackled at the party from a safe distance and launched wave after wave of scarabs and bolts of burning black fire at them, all the while the massive shadow in the background grew larger and larger in the portal. The adventurers struggled mightily against the ghouls who were slashing and biting the immobilized members. Chiana used her ritual of Affect Normal Fire to brighten the burning braziers next to her and catch a nearby ghoul on fire. Regnor chopped and hack at the undead soldiers. Aletha teleported about in an attempt to evade the ghoul that pursued her. Corvus was blasting them with radiant light which they seemed to be vulnerable to. Suddenly some huge tentacled colossus reached through the portal and began grasping at Malikai to his great chagrin. Malikai was momentarily distracted while the party finished off the ghouls and moved into range with him. Chiana took a moment to bath in the pool of blood and take a drink to refresh herself. Corvus hid behind a nearby pillar and launched radiant fire at Malikai. Aletha kept moving to gain concealment in her fey mist, while blasting him with eldritch magic. Regnor fired arrows from his dragonhorn longbow from a safe distance.
Malikai was worn down and as he gasped out his last curse upon the party, the tentacled horror from beyond the portal got a firm hold of him and yanked him bodily through the portal. As soon as the phylactery around his neck passed the threshold the portal shuddered and imploded, taking much of the room with it. The concussive blow knocked the party out briefly and extinguished all but the strongest light in the chamber. The characters were awoken only by the shifting and rumbling of stone as the spire began to crumble and sink around them. A great fissure leading up and out to the surface had opened up during the implosion so the party hurried up the scree filled path and into the light. As they reached the surface the spire toppled over and sank into the swamp. Aletha and Chiana found that their various afflictions had magically been cured. The party dusted themselves off and headed back to the relative safety of the walls of Punjar, a little richer and more experienced than before.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Forges of the Mountain King, Session 2: Into the Halls of Tannheim
Rael, Mike, Dawn, Lethe, and Jym pressed on towards the Halls of Tannheim. Beyond the guardhouse was a rocky defile cut into the mountain-side with a wide river rushing down the center and rushing over the edge of the cliff. The sound of a crashing waterfall came from somewhere further up the river. Two paths presented themselves, a wide path climbing up the ravine and out of sight, and another path crossed over a ruined bridge to the other side of the river and followed the shore around a corner. They opted against attempting to cross the bridge and headed up the ravine path. The path was lined with grisly trophies, and a pair of ancient rooks perched and picked at them. Before the suspicious party killed the birds that they suspected were spies, the mountain shook and a deep rumble followed scaring the carrion creatures away.
Vismund seemed overcome for a moment and in a strange voice said “The fools have broken through! Freedom... at last free from my imprisonment!”. When asked what the hell he meant by that he seemed confused and said “I was just overcome by a sudden surge of rage, similar to what has been in my dreams lately, but it's passed now. We should continue on.”
The path ended before another cascading waterfall where a cave cut into the mountainside sheltered a set of huge copper portals flanked by a pair of massive statues depicting dwarves with weapons at the ready. Taking cover behind the statues a couple of dwarves with crossbows guarded the doors. Chained to the base of the statues by their spiked collars were a matched set of dire wolves lounging at the feet of the dwarves. The party stealthily surveyed the scene and then backed off to make a plan of attack.
Sharp eyes had picked out pressure plates set into the floor of the cavern before the gates and they had seen a conspicuous lever near one of the dwarves. They decided to try to avoid the plates and take out the dwarf near the lever first. They launched their attack and managed to daze the dwarf, but he was still able to pull the lever to fire up the automated defenses. The other dwarf released the first of the wolves that was straining at its leash to get at the adventurers. The party was surprised when the statues blew forth a mighty wind knocking them back and prone. Unluckily, Jym was near the cliff when he was pushed back, missed his grab for the edge, and fell 40 feet into the river below. The water cushioned the blow so he survived, but he struggled out of the water and began climbing back to the top of the cliff. Vismund lowered a rope to help.
Meanwhile the rest of the party struggled with the wind trap, the wolves, and the dwarves with their crossbows. Rael was able to get in behind the statues with his feystep and take out the dwarves before throwing the switch to turn off the statues. Mike, Lethe, and Dawn battled the dire wolves into submission and then chased them away. Once the guardians were dealt with they regrouped and pushed open the doors.
Inside they found a square hall with a circular tile mosaic pattern in the floor. Another pair of gates faced them on the other side. A series of low grates lined the walls and the whole room was cold and damp. The sound of rushing water came from somewhere above. Once the party was inside the room the doors slammed shut behind them and locked. They tried the other door and found it barred against them. A magic mouth appeared on the door and spoke a pre-programmed message: “The Mountain King welcomes you to the Halls of Tannheim. Enjoy your stay. Sincerely, Yrgüt the Trapmaster.” The party heard the shifting of stone and gears above them and then the sound of water flowing. Cold water began pouring into the room through the low grates and the room began to fill. The party frantically began searching the room for a route of escape. Vismund used his skills in dungeoneering to discern that there was a slight curve to the middle of the room and that there must be a drain somewhere. With help from the rest of the party he was able to find the seam hidden in the mosaic, but opening it proved to be more difficult as the room gradually filled with water. Eventually the strongest members of the party were able to yank the drain open. Once opened, the suction of the draining water sucked the adventurers down with it. Dawn took the brunt of the battering on the way down.
The party landed in a shallow underground lake of sulfurous smelling warm water. Those with knowledge of nature determined that it was a caldera, heated by a volcanic fissure somewhere in the cave. An slow current flowed out of the cavern and down a passage towards the dim light of day. The sound of the waterfall could be heard from that direction. On the opposite side of the cavern was a passage leading up out of the lake, but was blocked by a rusty iron gate. Seven statues, depicting large dwarves with demonic visages, were carved into the walls of cavern. Vismund identified them as the Septych, a pantheon of dark dwarven gods often worshiped in secret. At the base of one of the statues was an iron-bound chest, tempting the adventurers to further explore the cavern.
As the adventurers began to move about the cavern, the previous victims of the flood-gate trap began to surface and shamble toward the party. A host of rotting goblin zombies and a pair of hobgoblin zombies advanced on the party while a corpulent and bloated dwarven zombie hurled gobs of its own viscera at them. Lethe blasted the undead by brandishing his holy symbol. Dawn and Mike dropped powerful bursts of magic on the group. Rael, Jym, and Vismund closed in to cleave them with their weapons. The zombies were soon decimated.
Lethe checked the chest for locks and traps and then searched its contents. He found it filled with severed and rotting heads, from previous adventurers, but buried underneath them were a pair of useful magic items for the party. The gate was rusted beyond use, but Dawn was able to easily snap off enough of the bars to allow them to pass through. Beyond was a slimy and foul smelling passage that gradually led upward. Lethe scouted ahead and then came back to get the party.
At the top of the passage was a low ceiling hall filled with squat columns that seemed to have been abandoned long ago and re-purposed as a haphazard sewer system, complete with a series of streams of foul fluid criss-crossing the floor. The sounds of squeaking and crawling vermin echoed about the chamber, causing Vismund to recoil in terror due to his aversion to small furry things. As the party entered the room, Jym noticed long shallow cuts in the ground between the columns, but before he could piece together what they meant Lethe stumbled and fell into one of the streams drawing the attention of the chamber's inhabitants.
Two swarms of ravenous rats came out looking for a new meal, and an amorphous but semi-intelligent blob of ooze came flowing out from a side passage to attack the party. Mike jumped a stream and charged the first of the rat swarms, but tripped a well hidden wire and heard the tell-tale sounds of a trap gearing up to strike. After he pounced on the rats a scything blade came slicing down from the low-ceiling, slashing him, knocking him down and back and causing him to bleed. The rats and the ooze seemed unaffected by the trap. The party spread out to engage the scavengers and avoid the trap.
During the battle Mike was struck several more times by the pendulum blades, almost killing him, but the party rushed in to heal and support him. The rats were destroyed by coordinated blast attacks from Dawn, Rael, and Mike while the ooze was beat back by Lethe, Jym and Vismund. Before it was killed the ooze split in two in order to attack on multiple fronts, but the party soon closed in on it and finished it off. Vismund was viciously struck by the scything blade trap before it was all over. The party hide safely behind the columns until the trap finished its cycle. Afterwords they carefully searched the room and found a discarded and forgotten magic item buried in the refuse.
Vismund seemed overcome for a moment and in a strange voice said “The fools have broken through! Freedom... at last free from my imprisonment!”. When asked what the hell he meant by that he seemed confused and said “I was just overcome by a sudden surge of rage, similar to what has been in my dreams lately, but it's passed now. We should continue on.”
The path ended before another cascading waterfall where a cave cut into the mountainside sheltered a set of huge copper portals flanked by a pair of massive statues depicting dwarves with weapons at the ready. Taking cover behind the statues a couple of dwarves with crossbows guarded the doors. Chained to the base of the statues by their spiked collars were a matched set of dire wolves lounging at the feet of the dwarves. The party stealthily surveyed the scene and then backed off to make a plan of attack.
Sharp eyes had picked out pressure plates set into the floor of the cavern before the gates and they had seen a conspicuous lever near one of the dwarves. They decided to try to avoid the plates and take out the dwarf near the lever first. They launched their attack and managed to daze the dwarf, but he was still able to pull the lever to fire up the automated defenses. The other dwarf released the first of the wolves that was straining at its leash to get at the adventurers. The party was surprised when the statues blew forth a mighty wind knocking them back and prone. Unluckily, Jym was near the cliff when he was pushed back, missed his grab for the edge, and fell 40 feet into the river below. The water cushioned the blow so he survived, but he struggled out of the water and began climbing back to the top of the cliff. Vismund lowered a rope to help.
Meanwhile the rest of the party struggled with the wind trap, the wolves, and the dwarves with their crossbows. Rael was able to get in behind the statues with his feystep and take out the dwarves before throwing the switch to turn off the statues. Mike, Lethe, and Dawn battled the dire wolves into submission and then chased them away. Once the guardians were dealt with they regrouped and pushed open the doors.
Inside they found a square hall with a circular tile mosaic pattern in the floor. Another pair of gates faced them on the other side. A series of low grates lined the walls and the whole room was cold and damp. The sound of rushing water came from somewhere above. Once the party was inside the room the doors slammed shut behind them and locked. They tried the other door and found it barred against them. A magic mouth appeared on the door and spoke a pre-programmed message: “The Mountain King welcomes you to the Halls of Tannheim. Enjoy your stay. Sincerely, Yrgüt the Trapmaster.” The party heard the shifting of stone and gears above them and then the sound of water flowing. Cold water began pouring into the room through the low grates and the room began to fill. The party frantically began searching the room for a route of escape. Vismund used his skills in dungeoneering to discern that there was a slight curve to the middle of the room and that there must be a drain somewhere. With help from the rest of the party he was able to find the seam hidden in the mosaic, but opening it proved to be more difficult as the room gradually filled with water. Eventually the strongest members of the party were able to yank the drain open. Once opened, the suction of the draining water sucked the adventurers down with it. Dawn took the brunt of the battering on the way down.
The party landed in a shallow underground lake of sulfurous smelling warm water. Those with knowledge of nature determined that it was a caldera, heated by a volcanic fissure somewhere in the cave. An slow current flowed out of the cavern and down a passage towards the dim light of day. The sound of the waterfall could be heard from that direction. On the opposite side of the cavern was a passage leading up out of the lake, but was blocked by a rusty iron gate. Seven statues, depicting large dwarves with demonic visages, were carved into the walls of cavern. Vismund identified them as the Septych, a pantheon of dark dwarven gods often worshiped in secret. At the base of one of the statues was an iron-bound chest, tempting the adventurers to further explore the cavern.
As the adventurers began to move about the cavern, the previous victims of the flood-gate trap began to surface and shamble toward the party. A host of rotting goblin zombies and a pair of hobgoblin zombies advanced on the party while a corpulent and bloated dwarven zombie hurled gobs of its own viscera at them. Lethe blasted the undead by brandishing his holy symbol. Dawn and Mike dropped powerful bursts of magic on the group. Rael, Jym, and Vismund closed in to cleave them with their weapons. The zombies were soon decimated.
Lethe checked the chest for locks and traps and then searched its contents. He found it filled with severed and rotting heads, from previous adventurers, but buried underneath them were a pair of useful magic items for the party. The gate was rusted beyond use, but Dawn was able to easily snap off enough of the bars to allow them to pass through. Beyond was a slimy and foul smelling passage that gradually led upward. Lethe scouted ahead and then came back to get the party.
At the top of the passage was a low ceiling hall filled with squat columns that seemed to have been abandoned long ago and re-purposed as a haphazard sewer system, complete with a series of streams of foul fluid criss-crossing the floor. The sounds of squeaking and crawling vermin echoed about the chamber, causing Vismund to recoil in terror due to his aversion to small furry things. As the party entered the room, Jym noticed long shallow cuts in the ground between the columns, but before he could piece together what they meant Lethe stumbled and fell into one of the streams drawing the attention of the chamber's inhabitants.
Two swarms of ravenous rats came out looking for a new meal, and an amorphous but semi-intelligent blob of ooze came flowing out from a side passage to attack the party. Mike jumped a stream and charged the first of the rat swarms, but tripped a well hidden wire and heard the tell-tale sounds of a trap gearing up to strike. After he pounced on the rats a scything blade came slicing down from the low-ceiling, slashing him, knocking him down and back and causing him to bleed. The rats and the ooze seemed unaffected by the trap. The party spread out to engage the scavengers and avoid the trap.
During the battle Mike was struck several more times by the pendulum blades, almost killing him, but the party rushed in to heal and support him. The rats were destroyed by coordinated blast attacks from Dawn, Rael, and Mike while the ooze was beat back by Lethe, Jym and Vismund. Before it was killed the ooze split in two in order to attack on multiple fronts, but the party soon closed in on it and finished it off. Vismund was viciously struck by the scything blade trap before it was all over. The party hide safely behind the columns until the trap finished its cycle. Afterwords they carefully searched the room and found a discarded and forgotten magic item buried in the refuse.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Forges of the Mountain King, Session 1: a Problem with Squatters
We started off with Vismund gathering together the new recruits Rael, Lethe, Dawn, and Mike Mitchel for a bit of thuggery. Mina's contacts within the Thieves Guild had passed on word that some squatters had broken into the abandoned warehouses that used to belong to the Beggar-King which was now de facto property of GoHAC. Vismund decided this would make for an excellent training exercise so they left for the Rat's Catcher Row to deal with the incursion themselves. Jym had mysterious business of his own to attend to before joining them and would be along later.
Vismund led the troops in a thorough sweep of the rotting warehouses and attached townhouse of the late Beggar-King. They found signs of a break-in in an alley behind one of the warehouses. The stout chain and padlock that used to secure the entrance to a basement level storage area was broken and laying in the mud on the street. A dark ramp descended underground. Vismund pushed the newbies in front and told them “Alright now, time ter show me what ye all can do. Get in there and clear 'em out. I don't care if'n you have to kill 'em all.”
Lethe and Rael took the lead and found a dark and low-ceilinged storage room at the bottom of the ramp. Piles of rubble, broken crates and other debris littered the area making movement difficult. There was no sign of life, but piles of stacked crates in the back of the room and alcoves on the sides provided excellent hiding places. Once they moved deeper into the room for a thorough search the lurkers in the dark attacked. A group of Goblin Cutters rushed out of the alcoves and attacked while a pair of greasy looking Dwarven Warriors launched deadly crossbow bolts from behind the crates. The first wave of Goblins was dispatched easily, but the sounds of battle drew the attention of reinforcements from an adjoining room. A second wave of Goblin Cutters joined the battle followed by a Dwarven Hexer, leading the attack from the rear. The Hexer plagued the party with a vexing cloud and then pushed his own minions into the path of ranged attacks that targeted him, while the Dwarven Warriors continued to launch bolts at the party from a safe distance.
At this point Jym came rushing down the ramp to join the party, having apparently dealt with whatever problems were vexing him and ready for a fight. The party waded through the rest of the Goblins with ease and closed in on the Dwarves. Without minions to protect him, the Hexer was cornered and slain and the Warriors were run down. When they searched the bodies they found a strange brand or tattoo on each of them depicting a jagged mountain peak with a crown over it. This same symbol was found minted on their foreign coins, although the gold and silver would spend the same as any in Punjar. This symbol seemed to strike a nerve with Vismund and when pressed by the party he revealed that the same symbol had been appearing in his dream. He admitted to having troubling dreams often, but as of late there was a more urgent hatred about them and largely focused on this symbol.
It struck Mike the Druid as strange, with his knowledge of natural things, that Goblins and Dwarves would work together, since they are usually bitter enemies who fight over territory. They figured that there must be some powerful being keeping order amongst such as these. In the next room the party discovered the remains of a camp and some evidence of a ritual in preparation. In the coals of the camp fire they found the burnt corner of a letter. Vismund performed a simple Make Whole ritual to reveal the rest of the message. It was written in Dwarvish so Vismund translated for the party. The gist was that these squatters were summoned here as mercenaries by the Beggar-King, but had arrived from some far off land too late to be of use to the dead despot. The letter contained instructions from an “MK”, who the party determined must stand for the Mountain King, that they should answer the summons and attempt to create a portal linking Punjar to the Halls of Tannheim, for what nefarious purpose it was unclear. Rael searched his memory and recalled that the Halls of Tannheim were supposedly the secret halls of a cursed race of Dwarves who were wiped out by their own wickedness. It was rumored that they had dug too deep into the Trollbone Mountains and summoned forth a demon, but bound it with fell rituals to their infernal forge. Many powerful arms and armor were forged in the Halls of Tannheim but they often carried terrible curses. The ancient Dragonborn empire was known to have commissioned many Tiefling slayer items from the Dwarves of Tannheim during their struggles with their ancient enemies.
Vismund suggested that their next goal should be to find these lost Dwarven halls and rid them of the thralls of this Mountain King and take what treasure may be there for themselves. To that end they must complete the portal ritual and follow it through. The party agreed, rested up and then used the ritual scroll the Hexer had left behind. Before they stepped through the shimmering portal they each made sure to grab a specially prepared recall stone that would allow them passage back to Punjar.
On the other side they found themselves much higher in elevation higher than before and in the cold mountain air of the Trollbone mountains. A steep cliff-edged path led away from the stone circle at this side of the portal and up to a ruined guard tower, which was once built of massive stone blocks now was hardly more than a trio of ruined walls. They could hear and see a massive water-fall on the other side of the tower, with mist or steam rising from the edge as it tumbled far below. A low chanting sound also emanated from somewhere within the tower, seeming to rise and fall with the cold wind that blew through the stones.
Mike was the first to approach the tower and discovered the pit trap lurking under a rotten wooden gate as he fell in it. He landed prone at the base of the pit and was greeted by a pair of fire beetles who had made their nest down there. One of them blasted him with fire while the other scaled the side of the pit to blast Jym and Lethe. Rael leaped into the pit to aid Mike, who had morphed into his beastly form and was ravaging the beetle. A Goblin Blackblade came out of the shadows he was lurking in and rushed the party, but he was forced to retreat back into the tower after receiving punishing blows. Also the party was harried by bolts fired by hidden snipers from somewhere inside the tower. The party first dealt with the beetle brutes before leaping across the pit into the tower. Jym and Dawn found a second entrance through a crack in the wall around the side of the tower. Meanwhile below in the pit Mike was investigating the remains of a previous meal for the beetles and discovered an intact pair of Burglar's Gloves still worn by the corpse. He decided to take them with him and carved out the glowing glands of one of the beetles before he climbed out of the trap.
Inside the tower were a pair of massive statues depicting vicious looking Dwarves geared for war. Sniper fire came from behind these statues so the party moved in on them from multiple sides. The Goblin Blackblade emerged from hiding again to flank Lethe, but Rael kept him protected with his aegis of shielding. With excellent teamwork a pair of Goblin Sharpshooters were flushed out of their hiding spots and laid low along with their Blackblade companion. After the battle the party investigated the statues. The sounds of muffled chanting was coming from these statues, and their hollowed mouths had been stuffed with rubble in a failed attempt to silence them. Once the blockage was removed the wind powered chanting was significantly louder. Vismund claimed that the mantra filled him with a strange sort of invigoration.
The statues appeared to be pointing to a spot on the East wall, but searching did not turn up anything immediately. Vismund, filled with new-found vigor, charged the wall and smashed it apart with his warhammer revealing a small concealed room. In the room was a dead Dwarf draped over an iron coffer. Apparently his greed outweighed his wisdom as he was locked inside the hidden chamber to die of thirst and starvation. The party removed the Dwarf and then ripped off the lid of the coffer when picking the attempts to pick the lock failed. Inside was an intricately carved wooden box which contained strange meteoric ore filings that adhered to steel when brought in contact with it. Also, a slip of parchment was found on the dead Dwarf with the following words scrawled on it.
“At the Gates of Gilded Blood
One click sinister, then shun both extremes.
Keep to the center; keep your life.
--Yrgüt the Trapmaster”
Vismund led the troops in a thorough sweep of the rotting warehouses and attached townhouse of the late Beggar-King. They found signs of a break-in in an alley behind one of the warehouses. The stout chain and padlock that used to secure the entrance to a basement level storage area was broken and laying in the mud on the street. A dark ramp descended underground. Vismund pushed the newbies in front and told them “Alright now, time ter show me what ye all can do. Get in there and clear 'em out. I don't care if'n you have to kill 'em all.”
Lethe and Rael took the lead and found a dark and low-ceilinged storage room at the bottom of the ramp. Piles of rubble, broken crates and other debris littered the area making movement difficult. There was no sign of life, but piles of stacked crates in the back of the room and alcoves on the sides provided excellent hiding places. Once they moved deeper into the room for a thorough search the lurkers in the dark attacked. A group of Goblin Cutters rushed out of the alcoves and attacked while a pair of greasy looking Dwarven Warriors launched deadly crossbow bolts from behind the crates. The first wave of Goblins was dispatched easily, but the sounds of battle drew the attention of reinforcements from an adjoining room. A second wave of Goblin Cutters joined the battle followed by a Dwarven Hexer, leading the attack from the rear. The Hexer plagued the party with a vexing cloud and then pushed his own minions into the path of ranged attacks that targeted him, while the Dwarven Warriors continued to launch bolts at the party from a safe distance.
At this point Jym came rushing down the ramp to join the party, having apparently dealt with whatever problems were vexing him and ready for a fight. The party waded through the rest of the Goblins with ease and closed in on the Dwarves. Without minions to protect him, the Hexer was cornered and slain and the Warriors were run down. When they searched the bodies they found a strange brand or tattoo on each of them depicting a jagged mountain peak with a crown over it. This same symbol was found minted on their foreign coins, although the gold and silver would spend the same as any in Punjar. This symbol seemed to strike a nerve with Vismund and when pressed by the party he revealed that the same symbol had been appearing in his dream. He admitted to having troubling dreams often, but as of late there was a more urgent hatred about them and largely focused on this symbol.
It struck Mike the Druid as strange, with his knowledge of natural things, that Goblins and Dwarves would work together, since they are usually bitter enemies who fight over territory. They figured that there must be some powerful being keeping order amongst such as these. In the next room the party discovered the remains of a camp and some evidence of a ritual in preparation. In the coals of the camp fire they found the burnt corner of a letter. Vismund performed a simple Make Whole ritual to reveal the rest of the message. It was written in Dwarvish so Vismund translated for the party. The gist was that these squatters were summoned here as mercenaries by the Beggar-King, but had arrived from some far off land too late to be of use to the dead despot. The letter contained instructions from an “MK”, who the party determined must stand for the Mountain King, that they should answer the summons and attempt to create a portal linking Punjar to the Halls of Tannheim, for what nefarious purpose it was unclear. Rael searched his memory and recalled that the Halls of Tannheim were supposedly the secret halls of a cursed race of Dwarves who were wiped out by their own wickedness. It was rumored that they had dug too deep into the Trollbone Mountains and summoned forth a demon, but bound it with fell rituals to their infernal forge. Many powerful arms and armor were forged in the Halls of Tannheim but they often carried terrible curses. The ancient Dragonborn empire was known to have commissioned many Tiefling slayer items from the Dwarves of Tannheim during their struggles with their ancient enemies.
Vismund suggested that their next goal should be to find these lost Dwarven halls and rid them of the thralls of this Mountain King and take what treasure may be there for themselves. To that end they must complete the portal ritual and follow it through. The party agreed, rested up and then used the ritual scroll the Hexer had left behind. Before they stepped through the shimmering portal they each made sure to grab a specially prepared recall stone that would allow them passage back to Punjar.
On the other side they found themselves much higher in elevation higher than before and in the cold mountain air of the Trollbone mountains. A steep cliff-edged path led away from the stone circle at this side of the portal and up to a ruined guard tower, which was once built of massive stone blocks now was hardly more than a trio of ruined walls. They could hear and see a massive water-fall on the other side of the tower, with mist or steam rising from the edge as it tumbled far below. A low chanting sound also emanated from somewhere within the tower, seeming to rise and fall with the cold wind that blew through the stones.
Mike was the first to approach the tower and discovered the pit trap lurking under a rotten wooden gate as he fell in it. He landed prone at the base of the pit and was greeted by a pair of fire beetles who had made their nest down there. One of them blasted him with fire while the other scaled the side of the pit to blast Jym and Lethe. Rael leaped into the pit to aid Mike, who had morphed into his beastly form and was ravaging the beetle. A Goblin Blackblade came out of the shadows he was lurking in and rushed the party, but he was forced to retreat back into the tower after receiving punishing blows. Also the party was harried by bolts fired by hidden snipers from somewhere inside the tower. The party first dealt with the beetle brutes before leaping across the pit into the tower. Jym and Dawn found a second entrance through a crack in the wall around the side of the tower. Meanwhile below in the pit Mike was investigating the remains of a previous meal for the beetles and discovered an intact pair of Burglar's Gloves still worn by the corpse. He decided to take them with him and carved out the glowing glands of one of the beetles before he climbed out of the trap.
Inside the tower were a pair of massive statues depicting vicious looking Dwarves geared for war. Sniper fire came from behind these statues so the party moved in on them from multiple sides. The Goblin Blackblade emerged from hiding again to flank Lethe, but Rael kept him protected with his aegis of shielding. With excellent teamwork a pair of Goblin Sharpshooters were flushed out of their hiding spots and laid low along with their Blackblade companion. After the battle the party investigated the statues. The sounds of muffled chanting was coming from these statues, and their hollowed mouths had been stuffed with rubble in a failed attempt to silence them. Once the blockage was removed the wind powered chanting was significantly louder. Vismund claimed that the mantra filled him with a strange sort of invigoration.
The statues appeared to be pointing to a spot on the East wall, but searching did not turn up anything immediately. Vismund, filled with new-found vigor, charged the wall and smashed it apart with his warhammer revealing a small concealed room. In the room was a dead Dwarf draped over an iron coffer. Apparently his greed outweighed his wisdom as he was locked inside the hidden chamber to die of thirst and starvation. The party removed the Dwarf and then ripped off the lid of the coffer when picking the attempts to pick the lock failed. Inside was an intricately carved wooden box which contained strange meteoric ore filings that adhered to steel when brought in contact with it. Also, a slip of parchment was found on the dead Dwarf with the following words scrawled on it.
“At the Gates of Gilded Blood
One click sinister, then shun both extremes.
Keep to the center; keep your life.
--Yrgüt the Trapmaster”
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Mists of Madness, Session 1: Disgusting Diseases
Aletha and Regnor along with the help of their new recruits Corvus Tremaine and Chiana Xan investigated the outbreak of a hideously debilitating disease among the common people of Punjar and determined that the source was originating from the strange new monstrous idols appearing in the markets of Squalor Court. In addition, due to GoHAC's excellent advertising campaign, they were hired by one of the High Quarter nobles to locate her missing daughter, who was last seeing slumming it in Squalor Court with a mysterious new suitor.
The trail led outside the protective gates of Punjar, through an abandoned ramshackle hamlet of the queer swamp folk, and into the foreboding Black Salt Marsh. In the marsh they battled ambushing crocodiles as they balanced on rotting log bridges. Eventually the sound of distant drumming drew them to a huge stone spire surrounded by a collapsed and sinking fortress. They had to fight their way past giant toads and blood draining stirges making their homes in the sinking moat-house before gaining entrance to the inner courtyard.
Once there they stumbled into the middle of a blood sacrifice, the subject of their rescue mission lain out on an altar surrounded by a crowd of raving revelers, their evil mistress Ursula and her huge half-ogre bodyguard beating out a frantic rhythm on an equally large drum. Quick thinking and acting on the part of the heroes halted the ritual, as the fast-talking bard and deceptive warlock convinced them that they were recent converts that had come to join in the celebration.
They spun a tale that cast doubt onto worthiness of their chosen victim of sacrifice and then implied that Ursula was not fit to lead the ritual and a new sacrifice was called for. All their bluffing would have amounted to naught, however, if it had not been for Corvus's thundering voice apparently coming from nowhere and everywhere at once claiming to be their “god” Skoulos and demanding a new sacrifice. To add impact to his words he summoned a fiery angel
into their midst who strode up to the altar and pointed menacingly at Ursula. The awe-struck revelers were swayed and as one surged forward to eagerly lay hands on their former mistress and offer her up to the false aspect of Skoulos.
Seeing her minions turned against her, Ursula lost no time and called down a wrathful curse on Aletha and Chiana, inflicting them with a magical disease, while her loyal bodyguard rushed to her defense. From the far end of the courtyard a sleepy eyed dwarven sentry, recently awoken by a loud booming voice coming from the courtyard, rode into view astride a giant crocodile, followed by another pair of smaller crocs. Regnor, who'd been waiting patiently this whole time and watching the shadows for movement, launched a barrage of arrows at the startled dwarf, who then closed into melee with Regnor and Corvus. A chaotic battle ensued in which Regnor ended up leaping onto the neck of the giant crocodile to trade blows with the dwarf, Corvus was being crushed by its massive jaws, Chiana viciously mocked the crocodiles calling them alligators, and Aletha bit eyes safely from a distance as the minions took most of the brunt of the damage.
When the dust cleared, Ursula, the half-ogre, dwarf, and the crocodiles where all slain and only a handful of bloodied revelers remained. They told the party that “Malikai the Mad” had brought the them the poor victim and had ascended into the rock spire via the Maw of Madness looming above them. The swamp folk returned to their homes vowing to destroy any remaining cursed idols and never to return to this place. The party then revived the noble brat, but not before Chiana had sated her urgent craving for blood from her wounds, a newly acquired quirk due to the magical disease.
The party gathered up their new found treasure and the girl and headed back to Punjar. Regnor had to exploit influence among the guards watching the gate to gain access back into the city after dark before they were able to claim their rewards and send the girl back home. Now they ponder what to do about this horrifying disease. Maybe the cure lies somewhere deep within the Maw of Madness? And who is this “Malikai the Mad” and what does all this have to do with “Skoulos the Undying”?
The trail led outside the protective gates of Punjar, through an abandoned ramshackle hamlet of the queer swamp folk, and into the foreboding Black Salt Marsh. In the marsh they battled ambushing crocodiles as they balanced on rotting log bridges. Eventually the sound of distant drumming drew them to a huge stone spire surrounded by a collapsed and sinking fortress. They had to fight their way past giant toads and blood draining stirges making their homes in the sinking moat-house before gaining entrance to the inner courtyard.
Once there they stumbled into the middle of a blood sacrifice, the subject of their rescue mission lain out on an altar surrounded by a crowd of raving revelers, their evil mistress Ursula and her huge half-ogre bodyguard beating out a frantic rhythm on an equally large drum. Quick thinking and acting on the part of the heroes halted the ritual, as the fast-talking bard and deceptive warlock convinced them that they were recent converts that had come to join in the celebration.
They spun a tale that cast doubt onto worthiness of their chosen victim of sacrifice and then implied that Ursula was not fit to lead the ritual and a new sacrifice was called for. All their bluffing would have amounted to naught, however, if it had not been for Corvus's thundering voice apparently coming from nowhere and everywhere at once claiming to be their “god” Skoulos and demanding a new sacrifice. To add impact to his words he summoned a fiery angel
into their midst who strode up to the altar and pointed menacingly at Ursula. The awe-struck revelers were swayed and as one surged forward to eagerly lay hands on their former mistress and offer her up to the false aspect of Skoulos.
Seeing her minions turned against her, Ursula lost no time and called down a wrathful curse on Aletha and Chiana, inflicting them with a magical disease, while her loyal bodyguard rushed to her defense. From the far end of the courtyard a sleepy eyed dwarven sentry, recently awoken by a loud booming voice coming from the courtyard, rode into view astride a giant crocodile, followed by another pair of smaller crocs. Regnor, who'd been waiting patiently this whole time and watching the shadows for movement, launched a barrage of arrows at the startled dwarf, who then closed into melee with Regnor and Corvus. A chaotic battle ensued in which Regnor ended up leaping onto the neck of the giant crocodile to trade blows with the dwarf, Corvus was being crushed by its massive jaws, Chiana viciously mocked the crocodiles calling them alligators, and Aletha bit eyes safely from a distance as the minions took most of the brunt of the damage.
When the dust cleared, Ursula, the half-ogre, dwarf, and the crocodiles where all slain and only a handful of bloodied revelers remained. They told the party that “Malikai the Mad” had brought the them the poor victim and had ascended into the rock spire via the Maw of Madness looming above them. The swamp folk returned to their homes vowing to destroy any remaining cursed idols and never to return to this place. The party then revived the noble brat, but not before Chiana had sated her urgent craving for blood from her wounds, a newly acquired quirk due to the magical disease.
The party gathered up their new found treasure and the girl and headed back to Punjar. Regnor had to exploit influence among the guards watching the gate to gain access back into the city after dark before they were able to claim their rewards and send the girl back home. Now they ponder what to do about this horrifying disease. Maybe the cure lies somewhere deep within the Maw of Madness? And who is this “Malikai the Mad” and what does all this have to do with “Skoulos the Undying”?
Friday, May 1, 2009
GM Commentary: The formation of GoHAC
Back in May I put out the call for anyone wanting to do more D&D 4e and I got an overwhelming response. I had more than enough for one group so I decided to break folks into two group that would meet on separate days. I wanted to give them the option to change groups later so the idea of an adventuring guild came up. The first name that came to mind was the Guild of Heroic Adventuring Companions and it stuck. This was a lame nod at the Penny Arcade and PvPonline podcasts with Wizards of the Coast in which they formed Acquisitions Incorporated, but it worked just the same.
I decided to run more of the Goodman Games modules for 4e. They are decent starting points from which to then build your own ideas around. I used the "Mists of Madness", "Forges of the Mountain King" and "Scions of Punjar" modules.
I decided to run more of the Goodman Games modules for 4e. They are decent starting points from which to then build your own ideas around. I used the "Mists of Madness", "Forges of the Mountain King" and "Scions of Punjar" modules.
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