Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Schandmaul 01-03-08, 08:08 AM	Hi folks, I just have to ask about this adventure. I know it is rather old but we have started it nearly a year ago and as a player I would like if this adventure is this - how to say - irritating, longish and full of fighting or is our DM just running it not properly. Not to offend my DM I know it is hard work to prepare an evening and a prewritten adventure. But session after session we wonder what we are doing in the underdark? We started by searching for some clues of the drow ambushs and thus were sent by Randal Morn. Then we find some Tombs of old elven and human families. Then we found some bazaars in the underdark. Learned that there are problems. Learend that there are now evil and not so evil drows. And the not-so-evil drows - supposed to be the good guys - are somehow Kiransalie Followers? (Spelled Correctly?) Then we have to got to that big city called Sith Morkain were we've been. Then there has to be a real tough guy called somewhat hellspawn... ...and all the while we fight drows, evil or not-so-evil. Undead. Black dragons. ...and have lost any idea of motivation what we are doing down here. And even if we want to back up and start teleportating back our DM says that this is not possible any more because some mysterious fog spreads through the underdark. Can someone help me? Is this adventure that complex with so many sideplots and our DM takes us from one to the other? Is it normal to do nothing other than fighting every second session? Cheers, Crazy DM
Alediran 01-03-08, 08:15 AM	I'm DMing it at this moment (chapter 2 of my campaign). It's a heavy-fight module with very classic dungeon crawling. Last season one of the players lost 2/3 of his equipment because he was grappled by one of the Black Puddings in Ghaunadaur's temple in the Bazaar. The fog your DM reffers it's a kind of radiation called Faerzzres that screws many kinds of magic, among them Teleportation, it doesn't prevents you from casting Teleportation, but you have a big random chance to fail the destination (yes, even Teleport without Error). For the rest of the questions I can't answer those or I'll spoil the adventure.
Rauric 01-03-08, 09:20 AM	It is pretty bad. The general plot can be ok, if a DM chopped it up and used it right. Until that happens it is an irritating dungeoncrawl that makes players go "Why do we care about this crap?" If shortened though it could be pretty decent. The first outpost and last city is all that is needed IMO. The tomb in the beginning and other encounters drag it out. Any adventure that takes you more than 5 levels seems to be a drag in my experience. Kinda blows since my one DM is running us through the Age Of Worms. 1-21st level. :weep:
Bonzai 01-03-08, 03:15 PM	Heh, yeah... It is a long, grueling adventure. It has a nasty reputation for being a real meat grinder early on too. To make matters worse, if you try to speed through it you may not have enough xp at the end to defeat the main villian. Our group was almost to the end of it, after almost a year, and are really unmotivated to finish it up. Heck, even the DM needed a break. We skipped a lot of content by going etherial in the castle and figuring that the Ultimate evil must always work in the highest room of the tallest tower, or the deepest darkest dungeon. Since the basement wasn't much, we went right up to the towers and beyond. Having skipped an entire castle's worth of encounters, the DM is now concerned wether or not we can live through the final encounter. LOL, at this point we don't care, as long as one of us is standing at the end to declare victory. So yeah... this mod is sort of infamous this way.
Alediran 01-03-08, 03:48 PM	That's why my players are going to have some time of relaxation on Evermeet (except one, all pcs are elves) once we finnish CotSQ. Although it was strange that my players so far (except for the one who lost equipement to the Black Pudding) have "massacred" every single encounter they found, and they began as 10th lvl at the begining. One example I can give was during the battle with the vampires before entering the tomb. The druid who was exploring the other building heard the sounds of battle and in his first action he grappled the vampire lord and forced him into the light of the day, obviously the other two were dust in a couple seconds without their leader.
Bonzai 01-03-08, 07:10 PM	Well... the begining can be tough if you don't have a good trap finder. Our Dm tweaked some of the encounters to try and make some of them more challenging. A swarm of suped up spring attacking shadows come to mind ::shudder:: Still, many of the encounters were trivial through good tactics and team work. At times my Dwarf Soulborn had to struggle to kill any thing, as they were dropping quick. The party consisted of my Soulborn, a Fighter, a Bard, and a Psion. Lol, the best I can claim is to one shotting an Illithid.
Mr_Miscellany 01-03-08, 07:49 PM	I liked this adventure. It requires a skilled DM to run, however. Were I your DM, I would increase the treasure (including items PCs can use right away) and I would make sure all the players had a good idea of what was going big-picture wise, by using NPCs and leaving clues for them to find. That way they stay interested and have a real sense of accomplishment by the time the adventure is over.
Zanan 01-05-08, 07:22 AM	Is it normal to do nothing other than fighting every second session? Hm ... you wanted to play this adventure? You know what you were up to? Agreed to the deal / plea? Never listened to those stories about the Underdark and the drow? Listen again ... In the dangerous caverns of the Underdark dwell many horrible monsters, including the drow. Obsidian-skinned kin to elves, this fell race has won mastery of magic - and a cruel reputation. Small children of Faerun hear whispered tales even before they are officially warned of Those Below. "Were they not divided into warring factions, they'd no doubt have overcome a realm or two before this - and mayhap (quietly, now; they've spies everywhere) even have already, on the sly, here on the very sunlit surface of Faerun! Eh - smile not! Have ye not heard of strange magic and doings, and this and that going short, that never ran out before? Well - tis going below, mark ye - to them." The Drow of the Underdark, p. 3
Teh_username 01-05-08, 03:45 PM	You've recognized the chaotic nature of our home - as befits our race - and yet you've not even attempted to do that which our younglings master at an age where yours are barely walking? As you've realized, there are a great many different factions in the Underdark - and the thought never occurred to you to play them against one another*? No wonder so many of your kind end up in our slave pens. *as a Selvetargtlin myself, might I suggest that you concentrate on destroying the Kiaransaleen forces loyal to that "Revenancer" elg'caress?
Wire 01-07-08, 02:42 PM	That's why my players are going to have some time of relaxation on Evermeet (except one, all pcs are elves) once we finnish CotSQ. Although it was strange that my players so far (except for the one who lost equipement to the Black Pudding) have "massacred" every single encounter they found, and they began as 10th lvl at the begining. One example I can give was during the battle with the vampires before entering the tomb. The druid who was exploring the other building heard the sounds of battle and in his first action he grappled the vampire lord and forced him into the light of the day, obviously the other two were dust in a couple seconds without their leader. As a DM, you did a poor job playing the vampire. Note this entry in the SRD under Vampires: Gaseous Form (Su) As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will as the spell (caster level 5th), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability. I've never ever seen a vampire successfully grappled for tactical gain due to Gaseous Form. :thumbsdow
Alediran 01-07-08, 02:59 PM	As a DM, you did a poor job playing the vampire. Note this entry in the SRD under Vampires: Gaseous Form (Su) As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will as the spell (caster level 5th), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability. I've never ever seen a vampire successfully grappled for tactical gain due to Gaseous Form. :thumbsdow Except the druid acted after the vampire (the sob delayed his action to attack after the vampire), who spent his actions and therefore he didn't had a Standard Action to become gaseous. It's hard to escape a grapple against a druid in Giant Spider form.
Craig C. 01-09-08, 01:50 PM	Except the druid acted after the vampire (the sob delayed his action to attack after the vampire), who spent his actions and therefore he didn't had a Standard Action to become gaseous. It's hard to escape a grapple against a druid in Giant Spider form. So in 1 action the druid successfully grappled the vampire *AND* drug him out into the sunlight? :uh-huh: That doesn't sound right from a game mechanics perspective. Also, looking at the map of the vampire crypt., that doesn't sound look at all.
Alediran 01-09-08, 02:01 PM	So in 1 action the druid successfully grappled the vampire *AND* drug him out into the sunlight? :uh-huh: That doesn't sound right from a game mechanics perspective. Also, looking at the map of the vampire crypt., that doesn't sound look at all. The druid was outside the house checking the doors to the inside of the mountain, while the other players where fighting the vampires, with their backs to the inner walls and slowly forcing the vampires to the edge of the light, without pushing them too much to avoid them becoming gaseous form (the cleric took a natural 20 on Knowledge(Religion) and after that he used a Message spell from his ring to deliver the information to the others), and changing places. The druid arrived to the side of the vampires (the first square outside that house and the vampires never saw him, they where too distracted) and in his next action he declares that he is going to wait. Just before the start of the next round he declares the grapple (he has his full-round action) and succeedes with a natural 20 (plus modifiers) while the Vampire gets a 1 on the grapple check (I make a second throw with natural 1's to see how bad it is), the second throw is a 20 (the worst possibility) and the druid still had his move action where he declares he moves out with the vampire (another opposed grapple check where the vampire fails misserably again) and he becomes toast. The other two vampires are easly dispatched after that.
Teh_username 01-09-08, 05:51 PM	http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/564/emotwordsly9.gif What? Ill-considered "critical miss"-style houserules ruining an encounter? Truly, this is a brand-new scenario no DM has ever had to deal with before! You don't use anything remotely close to the actual grappling rules, your players have realized this and exploit it, your games suffer as a result. Your point was...?
Alediran 01-10-08, 06:41 AM	You don't use anything remotely close to the actual grappling rules, your players have realized this and exploit it, your games suffer as a result. Your point was...? I know the whole sequence of the grappling rules: first a touch attack, then an opposed grapple check. My style of DMing favors quick thinking and creative solutions instead of dry numbers. I house-rule a lot and in the spot (fairly too, one of my players, the same with the Devil's Contract, lost 80% of it's equipment against a Black Pudding last session, because he was grappled by one)