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| Halls of the Mountain King - session write-ups & queries |
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| richgreen01 |
 Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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Hi,
Here's what happened in Monday night's game. I changed the stinker's spew effluent power back to ranged - this was in my original draft but was changed in the final adventure, maybe in error. Overall, the battle with the otyugh-stitched dwarves was good fun with the players nicely revolted by the monsters!
I found the description of how the magma curtain and hot furnace damage the PCs, and the metal tines trap a bit confusing but managed to bluff my way through this OK.
22nd Quintilis (contd.)
Brother Sigil leads the PCs towards the Ash Chapel of Korak through the darkness of the Royal Residences with only Saethus' light spell to show them the way. As they near the temple, the eagle-eyed eladrin spots another caged derro savant hanging from the walls. The wizard sneaks up close and fires off a magic missile killing the creature just before it can scream out to alert any Forsaken patrols.
Their route clear, the party approach the stone doors of the Ash Chapel which are inscribed with the words "Fear not flame" and "Fear not ash". Krivinn unblocks the doors and opens them. Inside, disgusting dwarf-things stand before the party on the ash-covered temple floor. These foul beings have stumps where their arms once were and otyugh hides complete with tentacles stitched over their heads; they move in to attack the PCs, moaning, wailing and giggling. Saethus uses fey step to get into the room and stay ahead of the "dwotyugh" chasing him, casting burning hands and lightning bolt at the monsters. The others stay behind Krivinn near the entrance although this makes them all vulnerable to the sewage breath of the stinkers which poisons and weakens them. Khuma goes berserk and charges the dwarf-things, taking plenty of opportunity attacks as he does so. Eventually, the PCs, covered in sewage and ash, are victorious and their opponents lie dead.
The PCs search the chapel, looking for secret doors and treasure but don't find anything. The most interesting feature is the magma flowing down behind the large altar-forge. Krivinn throws a couple of dwotyugh corpses into the fiery curtain, allowing him to spot the dragon's mouth-shaped furnace door behind in the wall. Saethus searches the altar, finding a deadly spike trap but can't work out how it's triggered.
Realising that they need to open the forge door Bolval casts the endure elements ritual but unfortunately this is demonstrating the very fear of flames the chapel door inscription warned against. Sharp tines shoot from the altar as the cleric goes to put his hand into the magma, and his and Krivinn's armour turn against them as spikes penetrate their flesh. Krivinn is able to dismiss his armour but Bolval is wounded over and over again before he can get his off.
Saethus tries to open the furnace door next but cannot withstand the pain long enough. Neither can Krivinn (despite holding a dwotyugh corpse over his head for protection), but Khuma consults his trial spirits for guidance and manages to pull the handle inside the white-hot furnace to open a hidden spiral staircase down into the Royal Crypts. Brother Sigil insists on staying in the chapel so the others head downstairs without him.
The stairs lead into an antechamber holding a giant statue of Korak and a pair of statues of dwarves - one a warrior, the other a miner. Beyond lies a large hall of tombs with numerous holes in the walls giving off grey-black smoke. Krivinn strides into the room as nearly a dozen thoqqua shoot out of the holes to attack. Saethus' brand new paragon spell, storm cage, doesn't seem to do much at first, but the wall left behind kills three gravelgrinder minions. The others move in to engage the fiery elemental worms, and the PCs are able to defeat them without too much difficulty, although the party are starting to run low on healing surges. Nevertheless, they decide to press on for now, knowing that the earthquake victims above are relying on them.
Cheers
Richard |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:16 am Post subject: The Royal Crypts |
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Hi,
Here's what happened in Monday night's session. We had a fun evening and the scrimshaw skeletons skill challenge worked surprisingly well - I remember being skeptical about this encounter when the adventure was being written but it turned out fine. I allowed the party to open the trapped double doors with the mnemonic fob as they have no knock ritual and no one trained in Thievery after Brave Ella went into a coma.
I significantly reduced the treasure with the skeletons - this seemed too much to me. This meant taking the new items out apart from the stone of penance which the wizard picked up  Going to have to put a remove affliction scroll in somewhere so he can get rid of it after a session or two.
22nd Quintilis (contd.)
After defeating the thoqqua, the PCs explore the rough-hewn hallways of the royal crypts, checking the magic mirror Roen gave them to see what is going on in the Great Hall above, before heading down a set of stairs leading into a square chamber. Here, three feldspar xorns are squabbling over the grave goods they've found inside a stone sarcophagus. Saethus fires off a spell at the elemental creatures who then turn towards the party and attack. A fourth (and larger) corundum xorn burrows beneath the PCs and bursts from the ground behind them, surprising Khuma!
The xorn are tough opponents and both Saethus and Krivinn are bloodied in no time. However, Bolval's flame strike turns the tide, and Khuma's death-defying (and near suicidal) charges start to pay off. The smaller xorn are beaten, then Saethus finishes off the elite corundum xorn with magic missile. The PCs decide to leader the gems in here alone, but they do take an extended rest to recover healing surges and treat the filth fever that's affected Bolval, Krivinn and Khuma - all three PCs manage to shake the disease off.
23rd Quintilis
The party heads back into the hallway and then down another set of stairs. These lead to a second staircase flanked by four statues of dwarves, all Illuminated Brothers wearing mnemonic fobs around their necks. When the PCs go to open the double doors carved with flaming pillars ahead of them, they trigger a glyph of warding which blasts the whole party but only damages Khuma. Then, Saethus threads his own mnemonic fob on to a piece of string and hangs it round his neck - this allows the wizard to unlock the doors.
The room beyond has intricately carved walls and a mosaic of a trowel inlaid in the floor. On each side of the chamber are six burial nooks – five have dwarven skeletons carved with scrimshawed writing lying on top of closed stone sarcophagi; the sixth holds a dark, polished stone. When Bolval goes to try and read the writing, the skeletons summon flaming axes and attack the party. The PCs try to decipher the carvings on the bones as they dodge blows from the skeletons and their tethered shadows which appear after the first round of combat. Bolval, now a holy emissary, casts turn undead, which drives skeletons and shadows into one corner of the room, then Saethus throws a wall of fire around the undead, trapping them. One skeleton isn’t stuck behind the wall – Krivinn grabs this one, holding him still so he and the other PCs can read the inscriptions. The party learn that the Illuminated Brotherhood tried to steer its clansmen away from the corrupted veins of orichalcum. They sealed a band of dwarves who refused to leave the mines beneath the mountain, damning them to darkness and madness. These dwarves became the Forsaken. When the last bit of information is discovered by Saethus, the tethered shadows become normal, harmless shadows again! The PCs attack the surviving skeletons who have been wounded by passing through the wall of fire and soon defeat them.
Before the PCs can take a short rest, they hear a faint pummeling of fists on the south wall. This is followed by the appearance of a ghostly set of arms, straining and reaching through the wall as if the body they connect to is stuck behind in the stone. This wall does look like it would be relatively easy to break through.....
When the arms don’t harm anyone, the PCs ignore them for the moment and search the room. Saethus picks up the dark, polished stone lying on top of a sarcophagus. Unfortunately, this is a cursed stone of penance which weighs him down. Nonetheless, he carries on opening sarcophagi, finding more treasure including a suit of +3 chain armour of dwarven vigour, ritual scrolls, potions and gold. One item is a huge gold plate marked with the crest of the Sevrius family of Parsantium. Krivinn and Bolval aren’t keen on taking any of this stuff as it feels like grave-robbing to them but the lure of new armour sways the dwarf’s opinion.....
For next session I am changing the briar witch dryad in the Geode with the cave light moss to a trio of quaggoths and looking at how I can add a darkmantle or two to the cavern sections.
Looking forward to finishing the adventure next session.
Cheers
Richard
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| terraleon |
| Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:02 am Post subject: Re: The Royal Crypts |
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| richgreen01 wrote: |
| ... but they do take an extended rest to recover healing surges and treat the filth fever that's affected Bolval, Krivinn and Khuma - all three PCs manage to shake the disease off.... |
Uhhh, so with the remaining survivors trapped up in the top gallery, with the poisonous gas building up, they took a many-hour nap? Hmmm, looking at it, I guess they had two rests before things went south...Considering it now, I wonder if it should have been shorter-- maybe just one rest.
Hmmm, something to consider. We did do a lot of work on that opening collapse, I wonder if it drew our attention away from these elements.
-Ben.
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progressio sine timore aut praejudica - Spectemur agendo |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:07 am Post subject: Re: The Royal Crypts |
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| terraleon wrote: |
Uhhh, so with the remaining survivors trapped up in the top gallery, with the poisonous gas building up, they took a many-hour nap? Hmmm, looking at it, I guess they had two rests before things went south...Considering it now, I wonder if it should have been shorter-- maybe just one rest.
Hmmm, something to consider. We did do a lot of work on that opening collapse, I wonder if it drew our attention away from these elements.
-Ben. |
Well, I told them they could only afford to take two extended rests up front and they've certainly needed this one. They may need another one prior to the battle with the giant scaffold monster too - not sure yet. Under normal circumstances, they would have probably rested one or two encounters sooner. The 3.x fifteen minute adventuring day problem hasn't really been properly fixed in 4e - usually my PCs get through 3 encounters before freaking out and saying they need a rest!
Rich |
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| terraleon |
| Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 10:29 am Post subject: Re: The Royal Crypts |
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| richgreen01 wrote: |
Well, I told them they could only afford to take two extended rests up front and they've certainly needed this one... |
Awww, you're much nicer than me. I tend to let them make their choices and then see the consequences.
-Ben.
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:31 am Post subject: |
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Hi,
We finished Deeper Darkness off last night in a fun session. I'll post a full write up later but thought I'd post a few words now.
The PCs had quite a bit of trouble getting down the passages from the delver's hole to the geode which was quite entertaining - I basically got them to make one Athletics check for each section of "steps" which worked well. However, while the players enjoyed the encounter in the geode which I revised, removing the dryad and adding quaggoths and a darkmantle, I think the terrain features in the adventure as written made the combat duller than it needed to be. This is a vast cavern so requiring combatants to make a skill check to move at half speed or fall over, and also to stay on their feet if damaged by an attack just slowed things down and removed the tactical manouvering that is one of the interesting things about 4e combat. The mosses were also too easily spotted so no one blundered into them. If I were to run thus encounter again, I'd map out the cave in detail with small patches of difficult terrain, other areas where there is a risk of slipping and cutting yourself on sharp crystals, and maybe use the hazard version of the moss from the Iron Gazetteer.
The battle with the scaffolding colossus, on the other hand, was genius! My one suggestion here is to up the damage it dies in line with the rules updates/DMs Kit as it doesn't dish enough out. Nonetheless thus was a memorable encounter with the paladin teleporting on to its shoulders and clinging on. I thought the crumbling aura once bloodied and the spawn minions were great.
Looking forward to running the next chapter!
Cheers
Richard |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:17 pm Post subject: |
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OK, here's the write up from Monday night and the last part of Deeper Darkness:
23rd Quintilis (contd.)
Krivinn and Bolval smash down the south wall of the tomb, freeing the ghost trapped in the room beyond. It flies forward through the hole they’ve made and dissipates in the middle of the chamber. Searching the room, they’ve just discovered the PCs find a hole leading down into dark, damp caves below.
Krivinn lowers himself down on a rope, followed by the others. The caverns below are winding and uneven and the party need to proceed slowly and cautiously downward. Nevertheless, the PCs slip and trip a few times on the treacherous natural steps, before reaching a huge cavern resembling the inside of a massive geode. Bolval warns the others that the phosphorescent glow inside could indicate the presence of dangerous cavelight moss and he’s right. As the PCs move forward to confront a trio of quaggoths, Krivinn is grabbed and weakened by a large clump of moss and fails to smite it (righteously). Saethus and Bolval unleash deadly spells –fireball, storm cloud and flame strike – on the monsters as Khuma sends his spirit companion to attack the quaggoth chanter. Then, a darkmantle drops down on to Saethus but the wizard dodges out the way. The PCs finish off the quaggoths and the two mosses; the darkmantle teleports away to safety.
The quaggoth chanter was carrying a pouch containing dried mushrooms - Bolval figures out these can be made into a tea that will allow Saethus to get rid of his cursed stone. The dwarf brews up and removes the curse, although not without poisoning the eladrin.
From the geode, the PCs walk through another cave filled with stalactites, stalagmites and pools. An opening in the floor leads down into a vast cavern – the home of the Shank. Saethus levitates down and fixes a rope for the others to use to climb down safely. The rest of the party climb down onto the dodgy-looking wooden catwalks, only for a quake to rock the cavern. The catwalks and scaffolding collapse, sending Bolval tumbling to the floor, as the entire structure starts to gather, fold in on itself and transform into a scaffolding colossus! Krivinn teleports on to the back of the construct as Saethus and Bolval attack with magic. Khuma, meanwhile, decides the best way to get down to the ground is to fall off the catwalk, taking 39 hp damage in the process! As the paladin climbs up to the colossus’ shoulder to attack from a more stable position and Bolval’s spiritual weapon hammers away, Saethus is battling scaffolding minions flung at him by the monster and Khuma charges forward, not even trying to avoid being flattened. Finally, Krivinn, who has managed to cling on despite the construct’s numerous attempts to shake him off, delivers the killing blow and the colossus collapses to the cavern floor.
After a short rest, the PCs set to work on repairing the Shank and getting the water wheel turning again. Four hours later, they’ve managed it and the Shank starts to turn slowly in its base, restoring fresh air to the upper halls.
When the party arrive back in the halls above, they are hailed as returning heroes by most of the survivors. However, one group is gathered around a previously hidden secret door that has been revealed by the earthquake....
Cheers
Richard |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 5:05 am Post subject: |
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Hi,
Here's what happened in last night's game as we kicked off chapter 5. Only three players so I needed to make some tweaks to the derro encounter. I really don't like the dryad in area 8 of the Poisoned Passage so this encounter will be with cavelight mosses and darkmantles.
For those of that are interested I posted some derro insanity tech items that I wrote for the 4e conversion but didn't make it in to the final adventure here. I used a couple of these last night as I thought we'd had enough encounters with the original bombardiers.
24th Quintilis
After resting, the PCs go to have a look at the secret door revealed by the earthquake which Boso is eager to show them. Bolval figures out how to unlock it and then Krivinn shoves it open. Beyond lies a dusty chamber crammed with artefacts of the Illuminated Brotherhood, including books, tapestries, ceremonial uniforms and even carved blocks of stone. Krivinn blocks the view of the refugees outside to avoid them piling in after the party.
Two stone pillars are covered in engravings of gears and wheels which Bolval recognises as matching both the markings on Rabscuttle and the papers found on the dead dwarves beneath the airship, the Drake. As the PCs move in towards the massive ceremonial chair covered in stony earth and dirty ceremonial dress, no one is surprised when the dirt forms into the earthen body of a dwarf. This is Bartholomeus Lodoviceus, an architect, engineer and inventor, now stone-dead (a lich-like state of undeath). He tells the party that he invented the great adamantine doors in the Great Hall among many other clever devices and objects in the Golden Citadel. Bolval asks about Rabscuttle but Bartholomeus doesn’t seem to recognise the name although he does say that he perfected a technique for creating new clockwork bodies for dying dwarves.
The ancient dwarf shows the party a tapestry showing the six Old Masters who ruled the Citadel beyond the adamantine doors where they communed with the Spirit of the Mountain through the power of a golden bowl. To stop the earthquakes, the PCs need to obtain the bowl which means passing through the adamantine doors. The only way to open the doors is to descend into the poisoned passage below, go past the airlock (which Bartholomeus also built) and operate the controls found there.
The stone-dead dwarf is clearly getting more and more irritated as the PCs question him and eventually he snaps, using his golden breastplate to animate the huge automaton standing in the corner. The party beat a hasty retreat, shutting the secret door behind them.
After conferring with Varden Redfel, the PCs gather up extra equipment, including an everburning torch and two “poison gas detectors” (a canary and a white mouse), and head down to the clockwork doors leading to the poisoned passage. Someone appears to have sabotaged the doors and coated many of the gears with an oily hallucinogenic poison. As none of the party are trained in Thievery, they fetch Sawbones. The grey-haired surgeon’s experience in patching up Rabscuttle proves enough to get the doors open.
Beyond lies a partly collapsed tunnel - a moist, cloying green vapour hovers low over the floor and thick greenish, sludge covers the walls and ceiling. The PCs advance cautiously, avoiding a section of wall rigged to collapse and ignoring a rubble-filled side chamber with a too-good-to-be-true flaming sword sticking out of the debris. Ahead the corridor opens out into a large room inhabited by several Forsaken, one is holding a caged fetal savant on the end of a pole.
Khuma charges in to the room, triggering a glyph of warding which damages and dazes him. Krivinn and Bolval follow him and battle is joined. The derro’s attacks keep dazing the PCs, making it hard for them to focus fire – instead they are forced to charge different opponents each round. The forsaken savant conjures Visions of the Unspeakable Truth and the two bombardiers open fire with their insanity tech weapons – a nightmare projector and psychotropic bellows while the raider uses his guisarme to trip Khuma. Bolval kills the fetal savant after its ineffectual Wail from the Utter Black but it takes a long time to get rid of the other derro and all three PCs end up bloodied with no healing left. Finally, Khuma charges the last derro standing – the savant – impaling him with a critical from his spear.
The PCs search the guard station, finding some treasure including more forsaken gas masks and a bag of dust of appearance.
Cheers
Richard |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:17 am Post subject: The Airlock |
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Hi,
Here's what happened in last Monday's game. Hopefully we should finish the chapter next session but it may take two.
The airlock encounter was fun. We were down a player so they put Saethus the eladrin wizard in the suit while the other two pumped. I didn't split the group up - I just said "you start carefully making your way back to the airlock" after the wizard had pulled the lever, then cut to the two pumping and said "you hear a tap-tap-tap on the airlock window."
"Is it Saethus?" asked Krivinn's player. "It's someone in a protective suit" I said and they opened the door., probably half expecting a trap but not sure. The mohrg attacked, and then I had Saethus' player roll for initiative out in the control room. Good stuff! Glad it all worked as I remember quite a bit of discussion when the adventure was being written.
Anyway, here's the write up:
Leaving the derro chamber, the PCs scout the corridor ahead, passing a side room, its floor covered in moss, only to find the way ahead blocked by a collapse. They return to the side chamber; Krivinn enters and is immediately grabbed by strength-sapping moss tendrils. As the others move to help, two darkmantles drop from the ceiling; one engulfs the paladin, the second misses Saethus. Annoyingly, these creatures vanish when struck by an attack, and it's hard to escape their grab as Krivinn discovers, making several attempts to “toss it off”. Bolval charges in after initially attacking from range and both the mosses and the darkmantles are killed. The PCs gather up the treasure in the room, leaving the orichalcum ore behind.
Bolval and Krivinn clear the blocked passage which leads to the control room for the airlock Bartholomeus mentioned. Saethus figures out the instructions with the help of a comprehend languages ritual, then dons the protective suit and enters the airlock, while the dwarf and the dragonborn man the bellows to pump fresh air to him. The wizard enters the large, gas-filled room beyond, attaches an air hose, and slowly makes his way round the edge of the room to the master control panel. He deciphers the controls to unlock the great doors upstairs, pulls the rusty lever, then starts to return to the airlock.
Krivinn opens the airlock in response to a tap-tap sound on the door but it's not Saethus! Instead it's an undead mohrg wearing a worn protective suit. Meanwhile the eladrin is being attacked by a belker in the main room and is blinded. Fortunately he manages to shake off the condition and fey steps into the airlock. The wizard is then able to help his companions defeat the mohrg.
With the doors unlocked, the PCs are ready to return to the Great Hall but Bolval can't resist checking out the room where they saw a flaming sword sticking out of the rocks. He soon regrets it though as he is surrounded by green slimes and needs Saethus to take the drastic action of fireballing the whole room to deal with them. Even after the slimes are killed there is more trouble as the sword turns out to be the trigger for a trap – explosive poison gas is released into the room when Bolval pulls it out. The PCs don their Forsaken masks and beat a hasty retreat.....
Cheers
Rich |
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| tconnors |
| Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Rich,
Just had a chance to read some of this. Fantastic! Thanks for sharing! Feedback is priceless!
--Tim-- |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:20 am Post subject: |
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| tconnors wrote: |
Hi Rich,
Just had a chance to read some of this. Fantastic! Thanks for sharing! Feedback is priceless!
--Tim-- |
Glad you're enjoying it and found it helpful. I'm really enjoying Halls!
Rich |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:58 pm Post subject: The Grand Lodge of the Old Masters |
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Hi,
Here’s what happened in Monday night’s game which makes the end of Chapter Five.
The PCs push open the adamantine Great Doors. Beyond is the Receptory, a once magnificent chamber damaged by the earthquake, its walls decorated with "stations" of the Illuminated Brotherhood. The party enter, looking round the throne first, then at the mosaic stations. Bolval approaches the four sphinxes guarding the doors to the east - the statues awaken and recite a cryptic riddle. On the floor in front of them is a 4 x 4 grid filled with arcane symbols which the dwarf realises are numbers. Krivinn strides forward and steps on the wrong tile which causes two of the grimvigil criosphinxes to come to life and attack the party.
The monsters are hard to kill and the PCs spend much of the fight bloodied. Bolval strikes with a sucker punch, maxes out on damage and takes 6 points himself! Once the sphinxes are killed, Krivinn steps on another tile, gets it wrong again and is stunned. Plenty of discussion follows and more experimentation until eventually the PCs figure out which squares to tread on to open the doors.
The party enter the next room - an antechamber - with five pillars. Realising they are close to the room where they encountered Bartholomeus, the PCs look for secret doors in the south wall but don't find any. They use a mnemonic fob to open the doors and pass into the Chamber of the Old Masters. Bolval puts 50 gp into the golden bowl held aloft in the well of dust in the middle of the room by an arm made of fine grit. This summons a mighty earth elemental who speaks to the PCs with the authority of the Spirit of the Mountain.
The messenger answers the PCs' questions, saying that the "heartsblood" of the mountain carries much corruption. "A graven image with foulness in its belly stands there, where the sickness has taken form." They should look for the heartsblood "betwixt blood of earth and liquid air." After imparting this information, the elemental settles back into the well.
Bolval wanders over to have a look at the inscribed plaques on the wall. As he passes the far side of the podium, five undead constructs, similar in form to Rabscuttle, clamber to their feet and charge forward. These fellforged are strong combatants and it takes several rounds for the PCs to defeat them. Bolval casts turn undead twice (very effective) as Krivinn and Khuma fight in melee. When only two constructs are still standing, one of them throws several golden gears into the bowl in the well, summoning the earth elemental again. This time, the elemental is angry and attacks the PCs. The party decide to withdraw at this point, finishing off the two constructs as they retreat.
Looking forward to the final chapter!
Cheers
Richard |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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Hi,
Has anyone got any experience of running the 4e version of Heartsblood Forge. I've been reading through the chapter this evening and have been struck by the number of relatively low level encounters (considering my PCs have already hit 11th) and the prevalence of low level monsters. It's making me think I need to make quite a few of these encounters tougher.
Any thoughts?
Cheers
Richard |
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| richgreen01 |
| Posted: Sun May 08, 2011 12:41 am Post subject: Heartsblood Forge - first session |
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Hi,
Here's the write up from Monday's game:
After the PCs have rested, they head back towards the Grand Lodge of the Old Masters. In what's left of the Great Hall, they spot a group of sinister cloaked figures threatening Boso and Sawbones. Krivinn strides up, demanding to know what's going on. The cloaked figures are two devils - Mr Purse (a gilded devil) and Mr Bridle (a kyton) - and a familiar face - Orodak the tiefling. Two dwarven converts to the cult of Mammon round out the group. Battle ensues with Boso and Sawbones proving surprisingly good fighters, landing several good blows on first Mr Purse and then Orodak. The tiefling's knives of the mountain attack misses the PCs but hits both dwarves; his fumes of the earth power also damages his allies, although he does at least hit Bolval too. Meanwhile Krivinn is attacked by Mr Bridle, and Mr Purse runs off with Boso's bag of orichalcum coins. The PCs defeat the kyton and both dwarves, then go after Orodak who Boso and Sawbones have cornered. The slippery tiefling manages to get free and makes a run for it, having used turn the fatal blade to resist the PCs' weapon damage. This doesn't help him elude Saethus however - the wizard manages to bring him down with a magic missile.
The fight over, the PCs head into the Chamber of the Old Masters where Bolval reads the six names written on the plaques. One of them is very familiar: Mastermind of the Sanctum and Sealer of Gates, Verubious Rabscuttle.
Talking to Varden Redfel, the PCs learn that to get to the "heartsblood" of the mountain they need to descend the Great Stair, head through the lower halls of the Trochil Gate and take an elevator down the water-rise. The party sets off without further ado.
The passage from the Great Stair leads into a large cavern. The area leading to the gates out of the Citadel is shrouded in fog; the rest of the hall is filled with the mutilated bodies of Forsaken, apparently killed by a large clawed beast, presumably the gold dragon Vianna became. A few pathetic derro are still alive and Bolval tries to talk to them but their responses are insane, cryptic and not very helpful. As they approach the water elevator, another old enemy appears. This is the ghost of Carod the journeyman, still bearing the wounds inflicted on him by the party in the Ventshafts.
Carod tries to tempt the PCs, offering to bring Ella out of her coma and to heal Sharden's broken leg in exchange for the party giving up their quest. Our brave heroes refuse (of course!) and Bolval turns the undead as Carod and three fellforged constructs move to attack. The ghostly journeyman tries to possess Bolval but it doesn't work and the cleric is able to repel the undead. Then, five Forsaken shades join the fray, followed by another five, and Krivinn is forced to use knightly intercession to save Saethus who is down to 2 hp. The fellforged and shades are destroyed, then the eladrin finishes off Carod with magic missile.
After a short rest and some healing from Bolval, the PCs repair the water-rise, although Krivinn's botched up attempts to help make things harder! The party discuss whether to investigate the fog or descend the elevator next.
Cheers
Richard |
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| Dan Voyce |
| Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 11:55 am Post subject: |
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Patron
Joined: 04 Dec 2008
Posts: 1123
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Huzzah for the arrival of Mr. Purse! Make sure he gouges those PCs for everything they’ve got!
| richgreen01 wrote: |
Has anyone got any experience of running the 4e version of Heartsblood Forge. I've been reading through the chapter this evening and have been struck by the number of relatively low level encounters (considering my PCs have already hit 11th) and the prevalence of low level monsters. It's making me think I need to make quite a few of these encounters tougher.
Any thoughts?
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I could probably muster a couple.
Mmm, let me think back into the mists of time and my playtest… (Terraleon also playtested it so it might be worth checking if he remembers anything). I'll try and keep this as spoiler free as possible:
I seem to remember that patron preference of the time was for lots of low level enemies, to give the PCs the chance to wade through minions and not-quite-minion creatures, to really feel like they’re battling the whole cult at once. Unfortunately we also have a couple of BIIIIIIG set pieces (the boss fight and “the one with the skill challenge”) in the mix too. Are your guys the sort of players that will try to finish the whole thing in one assault, or are they likely to take a sneaky hit and run approach after their initial foray? The relatively low level opposition is there under the assumption of the former.
Anyway, on to practical ideas:
Encounters HF2 and HF3 are designed as written to potentially flow together anyway, so that’s good.
HF5 might come running to help HF 6… actually scratch that I think there’ll be more abject chaos if you do it the other way around...
HF 9 and HF 10 also run into each other by design, so just shorten the time it takes. In my original playtest, PCS allowed the inhabitants of the Slag Pits to surge up into HF 9 for a mighty 3-way brawl that everyone enjoyed.
As with HF 9 & 10, move up the timescale of reinforcements to HF 11 from HF 13.
If you want to really squeeze them, you can even combine HF 16’s preliminaries with -- ahem -- the Lady from p157… but I think that will probably be too much. On the other hand, I included plenty of ways to give enemies the slip if you let the party flee.
Other ideas would be to just throw in loads more minions (or make the lower level guys minions instead and comparatively increase their numbers). Adding multiples of the Thing From Room Three might be fun too, especially if they follow the party around and intrude on other encounters.
That's all I can remember off the top of my head - but shout if anything specific leaps to mind - all part of the service! In what other publishing company can you get DM and adventure design advice from the authors on request?
OD rocks
_________________
Level 1 Freelancer.
Champion of the Northlands! |
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