Inside Kalak's Ziggurat - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Inside Kalak's Ziggurat

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Valien
Jun 02, 2011 20:11:06 My players just turned Paragon, and as their first adventure, I think that King Tithian will recruit them to go into Kalak's Ziggurat for exploration (maybe trying to find Kalak's body, since the SK died in our last session).

I'll probably turn it into a dungeon, three or four increasingly larger floors as the chars descent, culminating in an entrance to Under-Tyr (whose existence the players don't even suspect yet).

I need suggestions for what to put in there. What types of rooms would there be inside a Ziggurat? The top one was reserved for Kalak's ritual of ascension, but the ones bellow, what could there be? What types of (non-gold, metaphorical) treasures could be in it? And what kinds of perils (traps, monsters, puzzles)? The only thing I know will be in there is one of Kalid-Ma's orbs (inspired by May's Eye on Dark Sun article...)

Could you guys help me by brainstorming a little?
#2
mach4
Jun 02, 2011 20:40:21 What did your Kalak plan after his ascension to Dragon-hood? Did he still plan to rule a city (one whose population would likely need rebuilding, but there's plenty of time in a dragon's life for that). If so, there could be sanctums of worship devoted to the Kalak Dragon that were entirely unused and rewritten 'future' histories of his reign as biblical texts scattered about. I would stress the pristine and unused nature of whatever places there are. If Kalak had planned to turn his attentions towards the other SKs, then some of the ziggurat could be devoted to tactical maps, arms and armor for troop supplies (once the troops had been amassed again) and other training grounds. I would however leave most of the temple devoid of guardians and instead utilize far more magical traps that could have been bypassed by those with the right knowledge or implements. If Kalak was far more simple and simply wanted power for the sake of power, then I would expect a lot of the temple to be devoted to arcane study and research, perhaps with portals to elsewhere on Athas and possibly even denizen from those strange regions. The Athasian Cartographer's Guild has some nice player made world and regional maps that you can fill in with any kind of now stranded sentient or beastly creatures. I'd try and fit in a place that has failed material components for the metamorphosis spell such as imperfect obsidian orbs or even flawed spell experiments and it's results (Kalak's Diary, Day 10,981. Tried Frank's Defiler Metamorphosis spell. It didn't work. I'll be spending all week trying to put my intestines back in, but such is the price of progress. Day 12,542. Annie's Quick Path to Dragonhood was a bust. I have a rash I'd rather not write too much about. I hope it clears up soon."

What you fill the ziggurat find in there should reflect Kalak's mindset and his future intentions after he wiped out most of the city and became a dragon and not just "I need to put the obligatory pit-trap somewhere . . . how about here, oh and I need someplace with undead guardians. Every dungeon has undead guardians after all."
#3
Valien
Jun 02, 2011 21:37:21 Pure genius, man, and on such a short notice. Thank you very much. Will probably do a little bit of all you said (after all, I don't see a reason why he shouldn't try to be worshipped and get rid of the other SKs at the same time).

I love your bits of diary, will probably introduce something like that, although my players don't know that the Ritual was supposed to turn him into a Dragon, and I don't want them to learn it so soon.
#4
johnmcadorey
Jun 02, 2011 23:22:16
Pure genius, man, and on such a short notice. Thank you very much. Will probably do a little bit of all you said (after all, I don't see a reason why he shouldn't try to be worshipped and get rid of the other SKs at the same time).

I love your bits of diary, will probably introduce something like that, although my players don't know that the Ritual was supposed to turn him into a Dragon, and I don't want them to learn it so soon.

Great ideas. Still in early heroic stages, but that is a great idea to start off the paragon theme. Love it.
#5
Valien
Jun 03, 2011 5:03:04
Pure genius, man, and on such a short notice. Thank you very much. Will probably do a little bit of all you said (after all, I don't see a reason why he shouldn't try to be worshipped and get rid of the other SKs at the same time).

I love your bits of diary, will probably introduce something like that, although my players don't know that the Ritual was supposed to turn him into a Dragon, and I don't want them to learn it so soon.

Great ideas. Still in early heroic stages, but that is a great idea to start off the paragon theme. Love it.

No Rikus&friends in my game. At some point in the heroic tier, the heroes were hired by a disguised Tithian to escort him in and out of Bodach so that he could learn of the catastrophe that befell there. He found a journal-type book and took it with him (before they were overrun by undead and had to flee the city).

In this book, Tithian learned about the Ritual of Ascension and realized that Kalak would attempt the same in Tyr. He then called for the players' help again, and they broke into the ziggurat and stopped the ritual (by destroying the five obsidian orbs) - it was a very nice final fight for the Heroic tier, lots of templars and guards and minions and monsters, and the characters having to evade/kill/slip by them to destroy the Orbs.

When they finally did it (losing one fellow player character in the process), a blinding light exploded inside the Ziggurat, a light that could be seen from miles away. When Tithian finally got into the Ziggurat, not a single body was there, all vanished. The heroes were considered dead and I asked them to create other character (they are not really dead, but they don't know it yet... they traveled in time. While the new group of characters must solve the problems in Tyr after Kalak's death, I want the old one to explore Athas' Blue Age and the Cleansing Wars).
#6
Kye_Tyrad
Jun 03, 2011 8:48:36 If you don't mind going through some modules for additional ideas, the Tomb of Horrors provides a lot of great ideas and even just using the encounters straight up is helpful. Since no one really knows what Kalak's Ziggurat is like inside there could be any number of pitfalls, traps, misguided rooms, etc depending on Kalak's frame of mind at the time as well as fulfilling any whim he desired at the time it was being constructed.
#7
aumshantih
Jun 09, 2011 16:39:24 I'm actually running Kalak's Ascenscion right now for my 4E Dark Sun (Darque Fun) group. It's going "well", and by that, I mean the proverbial sh*t is about to hit the fan.

I've roughly organized the levels based on the seven colors of the rainbow *and* the metaphysical chakra system, because, hey, I swing that way.

The Pc's have a limited time to stop him, and may be able to before he completes his transformation. They are mid paragon tier, which I am finding beefy enough to deal with seriously trouble, but one can occasionally through the low epic tier adversary at them and have it not be a total wipe.

Once it's done, I'll post a more thorough write-up of my thoughts on the matter.

#8
mgbeach
Jun 09, 2011 19:43:56
Pure genius, man, and on such a short notice. Thank you very much. Will probably do a little bit of all you said (after all, I don't see a reason why he shouldn't try to be worshipped and get rid of the other SKs at the same time).

I love your bits of diary, will probably introduce something like that, although my players don't know that the Ritual was supposed to turn him into a Dragon, and I don't want them to learn it so soon.

As for the diary, Kalak (being the paranoid type) might have written in a personal cypher or obscure/arcane language. You can describe the angular/pictographic script and some of the strange drawings and then when the time comes you can provide them the "Rosetta Stone" that allows them to learn the information contained in the diaries.
#9
BRJN
Jul 06, 2011 20:15:16 Somewhere in the ziggurat should be an item that just screams (well, not literally) "I am a powerful magic item!" In a zone around it, triggered when living beings get too close, is a defiling field.

If you just want to get rid of uninvited guests, you need no more. But if you are up to something, the field may act like a battery re-charger and activate some thing. Maybe the attention-getting item, maybe a hidden object in a nearby room.

In the worst case, triggering the field starts a chain reaction of events that ends when a bunch of undead (previous victims of the defiling field?) attack you.

Kalak doesn't have to worry about getting hurt by this; he knows the attention-getting object is just a decoy, and the room is a dead-end so he has no reason to go into it.

Look up some books on IRL pyramids and ziggurats, to see how the insides are built. Fill whatever you want in the rooms, but use some of the shapes and sizes.

My 'buggy' wizard - who is a paranoid coward - also has a hideout partially designed. He has an inner sanctum that cannot be reached by human-sized and -shaped individuals. My wizard's personal sanctuary is behind 20' of bricks in all directions (prevents use of that teleporting armor)and the only entrance is the twisty turny vents of the air system - you have to drink a Potion of Gaseous Form or be able to disperse into a bug swarm to get in/out. (Since Primal Power, he has to keep some frogs and bats and such to deal with any Swarm Druids who come calling.) Feel free to lift the idea.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Valien Jun 02, 2011 20:11:06	My players just turned Paragon, and as their first adventure, I think that King Tithian will recruit them to go into Kalak's Ziggurat for exploration (maybe trying to find Kalak's body, since the SK died in our last session). I'll probably turn it into a dungeon, three or four increasingly larger floors as the chars descent, culminating in an entrance to Under-Tyr (whose existence the players don't even suspect yet). I need suggestions for what to put in there. What types of rooms would there be inside a Ziggurat? The top one was reserved for Kalak's ritual of ascension, but the ones bellow, what could there be? What types of (non-gold, metaphorical) treasures could be in it? And what kinds of perils (traps, monsters, puzzles)? The only thing I know will be in there is one of Kalid-Ma's orbs (inspired by May's Eye on Dark Sun article...) Could you guys help me by brainstorming a little?
#2 mach4 Jun 02, 2011 20:40:21	What did your Kalak plan after his ascension to Dragon-hood? Did he still plan to rule a city (one whose population would likely need rebuilding, but there's plenty of time in a dragon's life for that). If so, there could be sanctums of worship devoted to the Kalak Dragon that were entirely unused and rewritten 'future' histories of his reign as biblical texts scattered about. I would stress the pristine and unused nature of whatever places there are. If Kalak had planned to turn his attentions towards the other SKs, then some of the ziggurat could be devoted to tactical maps, arms and armor for troop supplies (once the troops had been amassed again) and other training grounds. I would however leave most of the temple devoid of guardians and instead utilize far more magical traps that could have been bypassed by those with the right knowledge or implements. If Kalak was far more simple and simply wanted power for the sake of power, then I would expect a lot of the temple to be devoted to arcane study and research, perhaps with portals to elsewhere on Athas and possibly even denizen from those strange regions. The Athasian Cartographer's Guild has some nice player made world and regional maps that you can fill in with any kind of now stranded sentient or beastly creatures. I'd try and fit in a place that has failed material components for the metamorphosis spell such as imperfect obsidian orbs or even flawed spell experiments and it's results (Kalak's Diary, Day 10,981. Tried Frank's Defiler Metamorphosis spell. It didn't work. I'll be spending all week trying to put my intestines back in, but such is the price of progress. Day 12,542. Annie's Quick Path to Dragonhood was a bust. I have a rash I'd rather not write too much about. I hope it clears up soon." What you fill the ziggurat find in there should reflect Kalak's mindset and his future intentions after he wiped out most of the city and became a dragon and not just "I need to put the obligatory pit-trap somewhere . . . how about here, oh and I need someplace with undead guardians. Every dungeon has undead guardians after all."
#3 Valien Jun 02, 2011 21:37:21	Pure genius, man, and on such a short notice. Thank you very much. Will probably do a little bit of all you said (after all, I don't see a reason why he shouldn't try to be worshipped and get rid of the other SKs at the same time). I love your bits of diary, will probably introduce something like that, although my players don't know that the Ritual was supposed to turn him into a Dragon, and I don't want them to learn it so soon.
#4 johnmcadorey Jun 02, 2011 23:22:16	Pure genius, man, and on such a short notice. Thank you very much. Will probably do a little bit of all you said (after all, I don't see a reason why he shouldn't try to be worshipped and get rid of the other SKs at the same time). I love your bits of diary, will probably introduce something like that, although my players don't know that the Ritual was supposed to turn him into a Dragon, and I don't want them to learn it so soon. Great ideas. Still in early heroic stages, but that is a great idea to start off the paragon theme. Love it.
#5 Valien Jun 03, 2011 5:03:04	Pure genius, man, and on such a short notice. Thank you very much. Will probably do a little bit of all you said (after all, I don't see a reason why he shouldn't try to be worshipped and get rid of the other SKs at the same time). I love your bits of diary, will probably introduce something like that, although my players don't know that the Ritual was supposed to turn him into a Dragon, and I don't want them to learn it so soon. Great ideas. Still in early heroic stages, but that is a great idea to start off the paragon theme. Love it. No Rikus&friends in my game. At some point in the heroic tier, the heroes were hired by a disguised Tithian to escort him in and out of Bodach so that he could learn of the catastrophe that befell there. He found a journal-type book and took it with him (before they were overrun by undead and had to flee the city). In this book, Tithian learned about the Ritual of Ascension and realized that Kalak would attempt the same in Tyr. He then called for the players' help again, and they broke into the ziggurat and stopped the ritual (by destroying the five obsidian orbs) - it was a very nice final fight for the Heroic tier, lots of templars and guards and minions and monsters, and the characters having to evade/kill/slip by them to destroy the Orbs. When they finally did it (losing one fellow player character in the process), a blinding light exploded inside the Ziggurat, a light that could be seen from miles away. When Tithian finally got into the Ziggurat, not a single body was there, all vanished. The heroes were considered dead and I asked them to create other character (they are not really dead, but they don't know it yet... they traveled in time. While the new group of characters must solve the problems in Tyr after Kalak's death, I want the old one to explore Athas' Blue Age and the Cleansing Wars).
#6 Kye_Tyrad Jun 03, 2011 8:48:36	If you don't mind going through some modules for additional ideas, the Tomb of Horrors provides a lot of great ideas and even just using the encounters straight up is helpful. Since no one really knows what Kalak's Ziggurat is like inside there could be any number of pitfalls, traps, misguided rooms, etc depending on Kalak's frame of mind at the time as well as fulfilling any whim he desired at the time it was being constructed.
#7 aumshantih Jun 09, 2011 16:39:24	I'm actually running Kalak's Ascenscion right now for my 4E Dark Sun (Darque Fun) group. It's going "well", and by that, I mean the proverbial sht is about to hit the fan. I've roughly organized the levels based on the seven colors of the rainbow and* the metaphysical chakra system, because, hey, I swing that way. The Pc's have a limited time to stop him, and may be able to before he completes his transformation. They are mid paragon tier, which I am finding beefy enough to deal with seriously trouble, but one can occasionally through the low epic tier adversary at them and have it not be a total wipe. Once it's done, I'll post a more thorough write-up of my thoughts on the matter.
#8 mgbeach Jun 09, 2011 19:43:56	Pure genius, man, and on such a short notice. Thank you very much. Will probably do a little bit of all you said (after all, I don't see a reason why he shouldn't try to be worshipped and get rid of the other SKs at the same time). I love your bits of diary, will probably introduce something like that, although my players don't know that the Ritual was supposed to turn him into a Dragon, and I don't want them to learn it so soon. As for the diary, Kalak (being the paranoid type) might have written in a personal cypher or obscure/arcane language. You can describe the angular/pictographic script and some of the strange drawings and then when the time comes you can provide them the "Rosetta Stone" that allows them to learn the information contained in the diaries.
#9 BRJN Jul 06, 2011 20:15:16	Somewhere in the ziggurat should be an item that just screams (well, not literally) "I am a powerful magic item!" In a zone around it, triggered when living beings get too close, is a defiling field. If you just want to get rid of uninvited guests, you need no more. But if you are up to something, the field may act like a battery re-charger and activate some thing. Maybe the attention-getting item, maybe a hidden object in a nearby room. In the worst case, triggering the field starts a chain reaction of events that ends when a bunch of undead (previous victims of the defiling field?) attack you. Kalak doesn't have to worry about getting hurt by this; he knows the attention-getting object is just a decoy, and the room is a dead-end so he has no reason to go into it. Look up some books on IRL pyramids and ziggurats, to see how the insides are built. Fill whatever you want in the rooms, but use some of the shapes and sizes. My 'buggy' wizard - who is a paranoid coward - also has a hideout partially designed. He has an inner sanctum that cannot be reached by human-sized and -shaped individuals. My wizard's personal sanctuary is behind 20' of bricks in all directions (prevents use of that teleporting armor)and the only entrance is the twisty turny vents of the air system - you have to drink a Potion of Gaseous Form or be able to disperse into a bug swarm to get in/out. (Since Primal Power, he has to keep some frogs and bats and such to deal with any Swarm Druids who come calling.) Feel free to lift the idea.