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| Halls of the Mountain King - session write-ups & queries |
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| richgreen01 |
 Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:05 am Post subject: |
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Not sure if I've mentioned this or not, but after a gladiatorial adventure set in Parsantium's Hippodrome featuring the dastardly Heinsoo, Courts of the Shadow Fey will be up next. Going to relocate to Parsantium from Zobeck and will try and combine with some stuff from the excellent Shadowfell boxed set!
Rich |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 10:12 pm Post subject: Final session! |
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Hi,
Here's what happened in our last ever session of Halls of the Mountain King. I have to say this one of the most enjoyable campaigns/mega-adventures I've run and a great advert for the creativity of Open Design!
As you will see below, the PCs made short work of the Shard and Mammon's Will - my advice to anyone running the 4e version of the adventure is to beef up the attacks and defenses of the Mountain King, the Shard and Mammon's Will as the PCs had a pretty easy time of it.
Looking back over the whole adventure, we agreed our favourite encounter was the one where Vianna has the molten gold poured down her throat, closely followed by the fight with the scaffolding monster at the end of Deeper Darkness. Oh, and Rabscuttle will be the most remembered NPC, for his crazy antics and annoying voice.
For those interested in what this group of PCs get up to next, their ongoing adventures will be chronicled here.
The gold statue of the Mountain King has split into two separate entities - the Shard, a twisted, elemental giant, and Mammon's Will, a rough humanoid formed of gold, gems, jewellery and forge tools, which appears right next to Bolval. Saethus conjures a flaming sphere to attack the Shard while Khuma goes to help Bolval. Krivinn boldly steps up to the Shard, hits the elemental once, and then again with a critical, doing 132 points of damage – enough to destroy it! The others gang up on Mammon's Will who strikes back, embezzling Bolval's holy symbol when he attacks with flame strike. Despite this, the cleric’s attacks prove deadly as the infernal construct implodes and is dragged back to the Hells! Even Masterstroke admits he is quite impressed with the dwarf’s prowess.
As Mammon vanishes, his voice echoes throughout the forge:
“Do not think that you have seen the last of me, mortals. Steal but one copper, scorn one beggar’s plea, plunder a single tomb for naught but greed, and we shall meet again. My eye is upon you and Mammon does not forget!”
The battle over, the PCs search the chamber – Saethus finds a +3 controller’s wand on one of the tieflings but there is little else in here. Heading back into the main corridor running round the Prime Forge, the party find and open a secret door in the wall opposite the doors Grajava’s statue smashed open. Beyond is a chamber with four carved pillars and the base of a fifth (which the PCs reckon used to hold the pillar in Bartholomeus’ room above), as well as the corpse of a dead Illuminated Brother clutching a sprig of acacia and a bunch of keys. Unsure what to make of this, the party continue to explore the rest of the level. Krivinn persuades them to leave Bragollach’s hoard untouched, they wipe out the goldveined chokers hanging in cages from the ceiling of a smelter, and investigate a library, taking a huge ledger of accounts of the Cult of Mammon which may contain valuable clues. Finally, the PCs plunder the lab and living quarters of the vampire countess, defeating her guardian jackal effigies. There is no sign, though, of the vampiress herself.
Returning up the Great Stair to the halls above, the PCs are hailed as heroes for ridding the citadel of Mammon and his cult. Over the coming days, they are showered with gifts and offers of marriage, and their faces are added to the frescoes in Heartsblood Forge once the refugees reclaim the lower halls.
The dwarves dig themselves out from under the earthquake and free up the entrance. Outside, the cold weather is over and the snow is starting to melt when they open the main doors. A couple of weeks later, dwarven reinforcements arrive from the cantons of St Mischau and Hammerfell. A cleric of Korak is able to restore both Brave Ella and Sharden to full health, as well as removing the ghoul curse on Bolval and Krivinn that has hung over them so long.
Bolval is inducted into the Illuminated Brotherhood, and he and Saethus study with the canton’s mystics and learn new rituals. He is politely asked to return Masterstroke, however.
Before heading back to Parsantium, Bolval goes with Krivinn to visit his family in Juralt where his grandmother, Therhildvin Runewise, and his parents, Norgyth and Duerif Dwomalk urge him to track down Heinsoo and find out why he is stealing religious texts. Sharden elects to return home to Grisal.
The overland journey to Parsantium takes the PCs just over six weeks. The party run into some minor trouble en route – bandits, orcs and the like – but nothing serious, and they are able to get back to the city safely.
Cheers
Richard |
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| ldw |
| Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 6:00 pm Post subject: Cupidity |
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Joined: 25 Mar 2008
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| I'm looking to run this adventure in a few months, so I'm doing my background reading now. On page 7 of the adventure it refers to the Domain Cupidity and references the Dwarves of Ironcrags Gazetteer, but I cannot find any mention of Cupidity in the Gazetteer. I noticed earlier in this thread that some of the spells were left out of the Gazetteer, is this what happened with Cupidity? If that is the case, is there anyway I can find out information about Cupidity? |
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| ldw |
| Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 6:33 pm Post subject: I posted too soon |
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Just glanced through the adventure from cover to cover and noticed the Cupidity domain at the back of the adventure on page 164, so false alarm on my part.
I'm looking forward to running this. I'm going to be playing with at least 2 people who have never role played that much. Are there any tips about things in this adventure that might prove difficult to introduce novices to? |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 8:07 pm Post subject: Re: I posted too soon |
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| ldw wrote: |
I'm looking forward to running this. I'm going to be playing with at least 2 people who have never role played that much. Are there any tips about things in this adventure that might prove difficult to introduce novices to? |
There are quite a few NPCs and the plot is fairly complex so my main recommendation would be to do a recap at the start of each session, and check the players are following what's going on.
Have fun - it's a great adventure!
Rich |
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| Afet |
| Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 4:10 pm Post subject: Halls of the Mountain King |
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Joined: 01 Feb 2011
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Hi, all.
I'm preparing the 4E version of the Halls of the Mountain King, using the DnD Next playtest rules and setting it in the Mines of Tethyamar in the Forgotten Realms.
I have a question that I'm hoping someone, perhaps Wolfgang or others, might be able to resolve for me.
It appears that the Hearthforge and the Heartsblood forge are only accessible via the great Clockwork gate, which gives access to the great stair.
When the PCs arrive in the Golden Citadel, the clockwork gate is still sealed. But the description of the Dwarven Miners (p. 37) clearly indicates that Mammonites have lost "control of Heartsblood Forge
to a growing faction of cultists" and that the dwarves have 50 guards "stationed near the Heartsblood Forge, where they
fi ght sporadic battles to reclaim the territory controlled by
the traitorous Mammonites".
How is this possible if there is no access to the Heartsblood Forge until the clockwork gate is broken? |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 11:40 pm Post subject: Re: Halls of the Mountain King |
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| Afet wrote: |
It appears that the Hearthforge and the Heartsblood forge are only accessible via the great Clockwork gate, which gives access to the great stair.
When the PCs arrive in the Golden Citadel, the clockwork gate is still sealed. But the description of the Dwarven Miners (p. 37) clearly indicates that Mammonites have lost "control of Heartsblood Forge
to a growing faction of cultists" and that the dwarves have 50 guards "stationed near the Heartsblood Forge, where they
fight sporadic battles to reclaim the territory controlled by
the traitorous Mammonites".
How is this possible if there is no access to the Heartsblood Forge until the clockwork gate is broken? |
Yeah, this is confusing. I asked this question too and I don't think I got an answer to it. My assumption was that some of the cultists – the mysterious Journeyman for example – know how to open the clockwork gate and went through the door ahead of Bragollach smashing it open. There is also a staircase in area 41 of the Dwarven Camp (see map on p.34) which I assumed leads to the Great Stair.
I think I said this upthread but the adventure really could do with an overall map showing how all the dungeon levels connect up to make it easier for the DM.
Hope this helps
Rich
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Co-author of the Midgard Bestiary for 4th Edition D&D
At the Sign of the Green Man |
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| Afet |
| Posted: Sat May 25, 2013 6:45 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 01 Feb 2011
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Thanks, Rich. It's unfortunate that you've never received an answer.
According to the background material the purpose of the clockwork gate was to seal off the lower Halls. In fact, it mentions tha, once the gate was in place and sealed, the Forsaken had to tunnel to the surface.
One solution is to assume that when the forsaken tunneled to the surface, they left passages that are now being used by the mammonites. But this is not accounted for in the text or the maps.
But even if you accept this premise, one has to explain how Abelard the Fire Shepherd and "cadre of devotees" are clearly able to move back and forth between the Hearthforges and the Golden Citadel. Or how the dwarves of the Golden Citadel are able to post guards at the Heartforge.
It strikes me that there must be a relatively simple explanation for this apparent problem. But I feel I'm missing it. It would really be helpful if the desighers could offer their insight. |
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