Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lord Obsidian 12-07-04, 10:59 AM	Okay this is what I'm thinking. I want to run a game in a place similar to Icewind Dale. Basically the story will be that the characters, all first level, will come across a map to the lost tomb of the ice wizard known only as Icebolt. I want this game to take place over three parts. Part One: In which the characters find the map and journy across the tundra to the lost tomb Part Two: In which the players explore the ancient tomb and discover that Icebolt wasn't dead, only entombed, and they just let him out. Part Three: In which the players must defeat Icebolt and his minions. The trouble I'm haveing begins in part one. I can't decide how the characters will stumble on this ancient map. I also would like suggestions on random encounters for the journy to the tomb.
Tsai_Auron 12-07-04, 11:11 AM	What if the charactera were all told by the same NPC, at seperate times, about this map he would sell them. Start off by having the characters in the same town or city and each will meet this mysterious seller at different' times. This seller can arange a meeting for the sell of the map at a particular time. All the character show up and the seller suggests that instead of selling it to one character, he will split the cost between them all and they can go together and split whatever they find. It gets the characters together and headed in the same direction. Anything that comes the character will kinda create as they go.
clarkvalentine 12-07-04, 11:22 AM	The trouble I'm haveing begins in part one. I can't decide how the characters will stumble on this ancient map. One of the PCs finds it tucked into the pages of a book left to him by his dear departed Uncle Trapspringer. Of course, this leads to the subplot "Why did HE have this map?" and "You mean I have a personal connection to all this?"
Escef 12-07-04, 11:26 AM	The trouble I'm haveing begins in part one. I can't decide how the characters will stumble on this ancient map. I also would like suggestions on random encounters for the journy to the tomb. Assuming that Icebolt was fairly (in)famous, if they find a scrap of cloth with some verse or other reference to him or his hidden lair they might be inclined to track it down. Perhaps the remnants of an orc tribe that served Icebolt raids a town the PCs are in, and maybe an orc or two starts screaming some of the fanatical dogma that he was brought up with? Either as battle cries or during an interrogation, maybe a wounded orc babbling about it as he bleeds to death in the snow. Perhaps an orc shaman has a map, or a former apprentice of Icebolt works for the tribe. As for random encounters, are there stats for Yeti anywhere in 3e, I can't remember? Ice trolls, small white dragons, orcs, rogue spellcasters (especially sorcerers or ice/storm clerics, or the occasional neutral evil druid), maybe a caribou stampede accidently brought upon the party by barbarian hunters.
tackleberry 12-07-04, 12:47 PM	hook: send them to a small local dungeon first - they hear from an old blind adventurer in a tavern tale that it was rumoured that the place was the lair of some great wizard who mysteriously disapeared. this place was actually icebolts lair before he was entombed and inside they find clues to who this person is - it allows you to sew some seeds of wonder among the pcs as they find this wizards old scribblings. inside this dungeon they find an imp or something who disguises himself as a good creature/maiden/faerie etc and tells the pcs that icebolt was a good person and was killed by evil demon worshippers or the like. the imp gives the pcs the location of the tomb saying that if they break its 7 seals they can help themselves to his treausre he was buried with. the imp is obviously using the pcs to free his imprisoned master as he is incapable of doing it himself. he will keep up the disguise and accomapny the pcs to 'help' or follow them from afar to see if they take the bait. part 1 the pcs encounter agents of the neutral cult that actually imprisoned icebolt -they discover the pcs aim to free the wizard not realising the pcs have been hoodwinked. the pcs will be puzzeled as to who these wierd people with the tatoos are who keep attacking them. the imp of course tells them taht they are followers of the evil demon that "killed" the good and just icebolt and that they should ignore their lies!!! on the way, the terrain could provide the encounters - avalanches, snowstorms, ice floes, frozen lakes etc aswell as CR1-3 monsters that live in these areas. other encounters in cold climates could be with 'ice orcs' & 'nomads' who give further clues as to the location of the tomb - maybe a white dragon guards the entrance but when the pcs get there (crapping themselves) they realise that the white dragon is long dead (or is actually a young rhemoraz) they are first level after all. part 2 the pcs may start to realise that the 'tomb' is actually a 'prison' more of the cultists turn up trying to stop the pcs making a terrible mistake. they may get to talk to the pcs at this point but its too late - the imp has already broken the seals and icebolt is free! bwuahahahahaha! and so on... part 3 icebolt is slowly thawing, when he is totally thawed out, his reign of terror will commence once more. the pcs have to fight the imp and whatever creatures are summoned into the tomb (ice mephits & elementals) but maybe the cult now have a bigger problem on their hands - the pcs have been fooled but the cult now demand their help in sealing icebolt back into his tomb before he totally thaws. you cant kill icebolt you see - thats why they had to imprison him in the first place! the pcs have to destroy the 7 guardians of the 7 seals instead before icebolt regenerates completely. when the 7th seal guardian is destroyed and its seal renewed, icebolt is imprisoned once more. leaves it open for later - how the pcs then deal with the cult (or visa versa) is up to you and them. maybe they send the pcs on a quest to find a way of destroying icebolt permenantly...
Orcboss 12-07-04, 12:53 PM	The trouble I'm haveing begins in part one. I can't decide how the characters will stumble on this ancient map. I also would like suggestions on random encounters for the journy to the tomb. It's delivered by messenger with an anonymous note explaining what it is. The person who sent it want's something from the tomb and doesn't want to go all the way there himself, so he tells the PCs, planning on stealing it from them at a more convenient time and place.
Lord Obsidian 12-07-04, 12:55 PM	I like both Escef and Tackleberry's suggestions on initiating the quest so I'm going to combine them. The old lair with the imp, as well as the remains of an orc tribe still dwelling in the ruins. This way if the players miss or don't pay attention to the orcs ramblings, they will still encounter the imp. I also plan to adopt the cult idea, it serves to reason there would be people trying to keep Icebolt entombed. And yes Icebolt was infamous, a tyranical ruler of the icey region. Now on to part 2 Thus far the only thing I have planned for Icebolts tomb is haveing to gaurded by an Ice Drake or White Dragon. Any suggestions for encounter inside the tomb, traps, monsters, puzzles, riddles, ect...
BloodGod 12-07-04, 12:58 PM	PCs are asked to clear out a cave just filled with little giddies and baddies. So they do. They find the corpses of a few lost adventurers. They find the map tucked in a lost adventurer's belt. -BG
tackleberry 12-07-04, 01:01 PM	just editted some more ideas into my original post if they are of any use to you :) good luck!
Lord Obsidian 12-07-04, 01:32 PM	Tacleberry, you the man!! :cool: Those are all some great ideas. Especially about haveing Icebolt thaw out slowly giveing the players time to reseal the tomb before he breaks free, but I should alos plan on the possibility that the player fail to reseal the tomb and Icebolt gets free. Oh, and you mentioned changeing the guardian, but I plan for the players to be at least fourth or fifth level by the time the reach the tomb so a young white dragon or Ice Drake wouldn't be too unreasonable, beside this creature is supposed to be the first defense against anyone freeing Icebolt.
tackleberry 12-07-04, 03:12 PM	no problem! if the party fail and he gets free, maybe the cult could then geas the group into tracking him down. or, the pcs could still be sent on the quest to find a way of finishing him for good whilst the cult work on finding where he escaped too (assuming he actually thawed out and then fled as opposed to attacking!) i quite like the idea of this shaky alliance between the guardians of the prison and the pcs.
Spankinstein 12-07-04, 08:45 PM	Fine premise, but just change the name Icebolt, it sounds like a spell, not a fearsome wizard.
Lord Obsidian 12-07-04, 09:19 PM	Tackleberry: I like the idea of haveing this uneasy alliance between the cult and the characters too. I've decided the cult will not be of the common races though, I'm thinking maybe a winter varient on the goblin, something tall and skinny but weak. BAsically I want the players to see them and think of them as monsters at first glance. Spankinstein: No I'm not changeing the name Icebolt except maybe to Winterbolt.
Escef 12-08-04, 02:44 AM	[...] except maybe to Winterbolt. Oooh, oooh, how about making his name Winterfresh instead! :D ... ok, maybe not. I'm reminded of a trap I saw many a moon ago on a D&D trading card (yes, they made those). Adventurers walk on a smooth, down slanted section of hall and trigger some sort of cold spell that ices over the floor (back in the day it was Icestorm, but I'd go for a varient Grease). They slide down the floor and end up in a pool of water, triggering an Otiluke's Freezing Sphere, freezing the water to 6 inches of depth and trapping the PCs (temporarily). We're talking a lot of subdual/cold damage here. The trap stopped there, but at this point it might be good for some scavengers to "come out of the woodwork". Even at 4th or 5th level a handful of dire rats are scarey when you can't move, especially if your weapon arm is frozen under.
HomebrewedMonster 12-08-04, 03:37 AM	If your going with the whole "prison" idea I would think that the main entrance into the tomb would have a powerful seal upon. Of course the PC's would come in through the front door and fight some protectors, probably constructs or undead. I personally like using golems as guardians. Now once that encounter is over. At the end of the frost bitten enterance hall you see huge double doors. Like the walls of this ancient chamber it seems to be made of the clearest blue ice, torch light can dimly be seen through the massive doors. Upon them are carved intracit markings of an ancient decent. Now asuming the trek across the tundra will have the party to the 3-5th level range they have the means to descipher the markings, either by a good descipher script roll, DC 25ish, or the ability to cast comprend language . I'd have the doors words be a riddle, something that involves Icebolt and how he had become entombed here. From this point it could be up to you how the PC's trigger the door to open. Say a certain word of phrase in the cults favored language, cast a firespell, an cold spell, ect. Just be sure to prep the doors against knock , otherwise it'll take away from the challenge and fun of solving the Doors of Ice's mystery.
Vharuck 12-08-04, 03:51 AM	I'd say that at least one room (maybe even the dragon's room) should be coated in a thick layer of ice, with a wide column (30' or so) in the center made of ice, and bridges of ice leading to it from the doors around the room. This would be a perfect place for a unique combat encounter, as the PCs must stay balanced, but can also decide to smash the ice bridges if they want.
Escef 12-08-04, 09:24 AM	I once used an area with an ice floor strong enogh to hold the PCs, but it was open air beneath it. This made for a great ambush for a white dragon to come crashing up from below.
Lord Obsidian 12-08-04, 09:43 AM	Escef that is a great idea, I have no idea how to pull it off inside a tomb, but its still cool. These are all great ideas please keep them comeing, the tomb of Icebolt is vast and complex, I plan for the characters to go from 4th level to 7th or 8th level before part 3 begins.
tackleberry 12-08-04, 10:14 AM	in regards to escafs suggestion about the white dragon attack - earlier today i posted this in another thread asking for 'most memorable encounters' it was from an adventure i ran a couple of years ago in a sub-artic climate - its where i got the idea for the 'thawing' bbeg answer to your post... ...my most memorable [encounter] was a couple of years ago when the pcs were looking for the lair of a white dragon - long ago, a cleric had imprisoned the dragon in a temple that was located behind a waterfall - not a very original location agreed, many things have been placed behind waterfalls by DMs before. this waterfall however had been frozen solid by powerful magics and therefore the temple was sealed behind the waterfall. the lake below was also frozen. when they got into the temple by using well palced fireballs, they discovered the dragon also frozen in a huge ensorcelled block of ice. when the pcs freed the dragon (they needed its heart) it of course came to life, the spell was broken and the waterfall started to thaw. the pcs decided to retreat outside where they would ahve more room to fight the dragon after it had thawed. outside on the frozen lake, they waited and watched as the ice started breaking up around the edges. then the dragon emerged - bursting with a screech through the waterfall sending blocks of ice flying into the air. it dived down on the pcs and breathed before circling and then plummeting under the ice with a crash - the pcs watched its murky form under the ice circling beneath them before it came crashing up through the ice right underneath them. during the course of the fight, the ice was breaking up underneath them, the waterfall had started to flow though large columns of ice were crashing into the lake around them, one pc managed to stick his sword into the dragon as it went past but the sword got stuck and he didnt let go, the dragon went mad trying to shake this fighter off of his side whilst he was trying to climb up onto the back of the beast! he somehow managed to climb to the head of the dragon (after several near impossible checks that he somehow passed) and stick a blade into its skull - i allowed him several critical hits just for being so god damn cool! of course - this killed the beast and it was then that the fighter realised he was several hundred feet in the air on top of a dead dragon... by now the lake was completely thawed and the fighter and the dead dragon plummeted into it - the other pcs waited and waited whilst the player made his saves and checks - then he surfaced with a gasp. the other players actually applauded. now THAT is the stuff heroes are made of.
psionichamster 12-08-04, 11:59 AM	HECK YEAH!!! that scenario sounds uber-cool... if the encounter with the white takes place inside, remember, they slick their cave walls with ice for a reason... no reason not to have its lair in a large cavern (ie, top too tall to really see in the dark) where its at the advantage... then, the dragon can hit and run (as a white should be doing) into the shadows, perhaps even dropping giant ice stalagtites down on the pc's heads... then, when they DO manage to get the beast (prob when he's at 15 or 10 % hp), he can trigger the BIG'UN's...giant stalagtites designed to fall and break up the floor...grabbing Icebolt (winterbolt, etc. whom i see imprisoned in a giant block of ice a la frankenstein in Van Helsing) and fleeing with him through the now-not-there floor if the PC's give chase, (and are able to catch up), killing the dragon will only free the wizard in another environment... oh yeah, adn when the floor goes down, the party can leap out of the way and stay where they are or go down with it (as you see fit) sounds like a fun game! the hamster