Before it stopped producing new stuff One Bad Egg created a pretty interesting "Points of Light" setting. It was all quite modular so you could stick it into pretty much any setting that you like. The general theme is that the setting is set in a part of the world forever shrouded in a perpetual mist. Being lazy I figured it could fit right into the Mournlands which is surrounded by mist.
Finally 8 months after I thought of the idea, my players have finally reached the Mournlands today. And so they got their first taste of the Shrouded Lands.
Their first interaction with material from this "pseudo-setting" was in an abandoned farm that had an apple tree. One of them picked a couple of apples as he scouted about the farm (to see if it was safe to enter) and as he returned back someone pointed out they had small purple dots on them. Some knowledge rolls later no-one has any idea what it is, so one of the 4 players eats it.
This reckless act introduced the Shroudrot disease from this product called Shrouded Agenda's: The Purifiers. Some poor attack rolls (I love how diseases attack the body now) and some good saving throws later, 3 apples have been devoured by 2 of my players to no affect. The next morning the 2 players decide to eat another apple each and take one for the road. I successfully beat the halfling's fortitude defence, but he opted to use halfling second chance and I failed the second time.
Technically I'm not sure he should have been able to second chance it but I fluffed it as "somehow your amazing constitution manages to fight off the attack, almost as if you were a dwarf." This turned out to be prophetic as at the end of the day they eat their last remaining apple and I beat the halfling's fort again. He didn't say "I take a 5 minute rest" after he used his second chance in the morning, so I didn't let him use it a second time (although he didn't even ask to use it). Much to everyone's delight the initial effect of the shroudrot disease is to gain an extra healing surge that you can spend as a dwarf. Many comments about "dwarven apples" were made as everyone else was disappointed they didn't get the same effect themselves.
Later in an abandoned town within the Mournlands the players came across some undead creations. Lying in ambush were two simple farmers who appeared dead, however when battle began with the players nearby they jumped up and started attacking. These corpses looked perfectly normal except they lacked mouths. They simply had none. In this battle were 3 other creatures which were sinuous bags of flesh. They were covered in blood and slime and when they were slashed at with a sword their skin split open to protude bones that were then used to damage people with. These lovely creations were from Horrors of the Shroud: The Death-Mother. Although they weren't actually death-mothers (instead they were bloody bones and silent corpses).
In the very next fight the players headed to a boarded up tavern that was in complete darkness. Except for the Silver Flame corpse which had four toddlers surrounding it feasting on its flesh. Standing over them all was a female undead holding a glowing skull in one hand. Protruding from its abdomen was an umbilical cord. THIS was the Death-Mother.
Initiative was rolled with the players battling "Mom" and "Babies" (one of my players keeps track of initiative so I have to give her names for the monsters). The babies were minions, but the death-mother could scoop up their corpse with its tentacle/umblical cord and swallow them in its abdomen. Next round it could give birth to a fresh new baby. As the fight wore on the death-mother scooped up the corpse of the Silver Flame soldier and shortly thereafter birthed a new undead horror. This one was a silent corpse. Thus answering the question "where are all these undead coming from?" The Death-Mother is creating them. Or at least was before the PCs killed her.
The PCs managed to (eventually) save the rest of the death-mother's captives, 3 more silver flame soldiers. They informed the PCs that they serve under the Great War Hero William ir'Trasser from Shrouded Agendas: The Purifiers I mentioned earlier. General ir'Trasser was ordered to hunt down the terrible war criminal Jolan Tankran* straight after the Last War ended. They tracked him into the Mournlands where they've been ever since.
The players were heralded as heroes and invited back to Amot Kur, where General ir'Trasser's camp is. This was is a large fortress with both an outer wall and an inner wall. The main living area is inside the keep that the inner wall surrounds and is only accessible by a rope bridge connected to the second floor of the Outer wall. It was created during the Last War and has all the defences the brilliant Cyran minds could think of.
Unfortunately Amot Kur was an entire month away. Every single night the halfling who had carelessly eaten the poisoned apple had to make an endurance roll or have the party cleric make a heal check in place of it. That's 30 checks (assuming he isn't cured before then). The three Silver Flame soldiers are extremely wary of the halfling (whose class is barbarian, and he truly does play a barbarian). They know the effects of the disease and know what it does to people.
For the first night the cleric refused to help the halfling as he had brought this foolishness onto himself. He failed his first endurance check and so the disease worsened (it wasn't even maintained. Considering con is a fairly important stat for barbarians the halfling had more than a fighting chance. The disease's level is only 6 and the players are level 4).
For the next few nights the cleric maintained once and then failed again. After that I started fudging the timeline and the regularity with which the halfling had to make checks. However even then with over a week to reach Amot Kur, the halfling succumbed to the effects of the disease. The final stage requires I apply a template to the PC and they become an NPC. Well that wasn't happening. Fortunately the cleric was able to intimidate the halfling into doing what he was told and FINALLY now she started rolling good heal checks, so he was kept under control.
Inside Amot Kur the players finally met General William ir'Trasser and the halfling was tackled to the floor by 4 Silver Flame soldiers and tied up for everyone's safety. The General sent someone to bring Vorrok into the Great Hall.
Vorrok was an Aundarian mage who came to the Mournlands to uncover its mysteries and how it was created. He fell in with the General and has been happily serving him ever since. He was quite eager to experiment on the halfling and requested one of the other players help him. The player whose help he requested was a half-elf sorcerer of House Lyrandar. He and the halfling had never gotten along well previously, and so the half-elf took great delight in thinking up all sorts of horrible experiments in an effort to cure the halfling.
Finally the halfling was cured, the silver flame cleric was asked to leave the Order of Friars and join the Order of Templars and serve underneath William ir'Trasser. She accepted and was immediately promoted to lieutenant.
The cleric was immediately ordered to go to Shaelas Tiraleth and the other PCs were requested to join her. The cleric is told that the gigantic tree is filled with psychotic and tainted elves who've been a thorn in William ir'Trasser's side ever since he entered the Mournlands. The PCs were to infiltrate it and take out the leader. Without their leader surely they would crumble and be easy to then wipe out. Vorrok piped up he wouldn't mind a live specimen or two of the elves as he'd like to see whether the cure he's discovered works on them or not.
And that was my players introduction to the Shrouded Lands supplements. I've Eberronised a lot of it (replacing villains from Eberron sources, changing the religion and name of Wilhelm ark-Trasser, etc).
* Jolan Tankran is from a 3.5e Eberron supplement.
For anyone interested here's a more detailed description of today's session:
[SBLOCK]Background
The cast of players are:
- Sister Nari ir'Acelin - A sister in the Order of Friars of the Silver Flame.
- Grognak - A halfling barbarian from the Talenta Planes.
- Avocado Greenscale d'Lyrandar - A half-elf sorcerer whose a fop and isn't very well respected within his house.
- Rask Murgragh - A half-orc Ranger whose a member of the Gatekeepers.
- Tarko - a tiger and the faithful companion to Rask.
They were travelling to the Mournlands because the entire population of Olath simply disappeared over night. So did the occupants of Rheklor in Darguun. Considering Nari is from Olath, she demanded everyone join her and journey into the Mournlands.
Of the players Grognak is the only one whose ever been there before. He journeyed through it on his way to Sharn. I tried to discourage the player from going this way but he insisted, so I've worked it into the story. His mount was stolen from him and then a couple of adventures ago Grognak found the thieves and demanded to know where his mount was. He found his mount, except his mount keeps disappearing. It blinks in and out of reality, mostly staying out of reality. The same thing happened to his beloved sharrash. Merrix d'Cannith who the players have helped in the past is currently studying the sharrash to try to fix it.
Today's Session
So far the adventures have focused largely on Grognak and Rask or the overall plot of the campaign. Nari's player, who is very quiet, has largely been left behind. So I wrote today's session with the intent of the focus being squarely on Nari. She would be the driving force for the session.
The players entered the mists surrounding the mournlands, and journeyed through it for an indeterminate amount of time. My players are level 4, so I didn't bother running the Mist Skill Challenge. I simply decreed they failed and they fought the subsequent battle but that was the end of the "mist" challenge.
They fought undead within a camp of Cyran soldiers that was right on the edge of the Mists. The undead were extremely fresh Cyran corpses. The players didn't immediately realise they were fighting undead (although the lack of talking tipped off Nari's player immediately and a religion roll quickly confirmed it).
This fight was fun as the Avocado's player started doing crazy stuff. She collapsed one of the tents onto the Grognak and an undead soldier which resulted in them both being grabbed and blind (move action to slash out of the tent). He then later set fire to a tent with a blast attack. I had intended for the players to use the tents, but those two tents were simply unsalvagable.
I don't know what the actual Mournlands is suppose to look like. But my Mournlands has the sun covered by a perpetual fog which seems to glow, giving a perpetual appearance of sunset (or sunrise, depending on your perspective).
The players had some trouble telling the days, instead simply walking until they were too exhausted to walk anymore. They entered the Mournlands in the morning so they had a full day of travel ahead of them. When they wanted to sleep they opted to go into an abandoned farmhouse. This was where they saw the poisoned apple tree (some minor symbology there. Two of them chose to eat the forbidden fruit).
Within the farmhouse I had to ad-lib as I hadn't expected my players to enter buildings and farms along when travelling in the Mournlands. They saw a family who had been sitting at a dining table with a nice big roast in front of them. There were two parents, a 6 year old girl and a 10 year old boy. All of them were frozen where they had died. The players had trouble telling how old they were, as they seemed to have died only moments before (except for the fact they were stone cold).
Sensitive Grognak stepped up to one of the corpses and prodded it. It fell off the chair. At this point Avocado declares they need to be buried, or set on fire and given a warrior's pyre. I'm a bit unsure which one the players decided, but I prompted Nari's player to perhaps say a few words in an effort to get her to talk more. She refused so I didn't push it, but one of the other players asked what sort of priest was she? and so Nari went into a long speech about how it would be disrespectful if these people didn't worship the Silver Flame and how they should respect these people the best they can along with the beliefs they held. I was impressed.
Avocado then declared that the roast the dead family had been eating could be reheated (it was still quite fresh) and made himself a nice dinner before he went to sleep in the master bedroom. Rask went looking for some "secret doors" he found none. He did find the cellar though which many different types of preserved apples including cider. Unfortunately the cider hadn't had time to ferment (or whatever it is cider does).
Grognak piped up "where are we going? How are we suppose to find some people in an entire country? They could be anywhere." Which was a good point and a bit of a hole in what I had written up. Fortunately Avocado made a good History roll (he has a crap bonus in it I discovered later on in the adventure. This made this particular roll even more spectacular and much needed) and spouted off a whole heap of information which convinced the players to head to Making.
To be honest the plot didn't REALLY care where they headed as I could fudge it. But south was the direction I was hoping they'd travel as it was the real direction they needed to go. After a few more days they came across a small town where they fought the silent corpses and bloody bones. The box-text for the beginning of this combat had bloody drag marks leading in a particular direction, so they followed them.
Rask's player had asked to manifest the Mark of Finding so the trail quickly disappeared. Fortunately Rask could spot the subtlest of clues and could confidently guide the players along straight to the tavern. Out front of the tavern Rask was confident their quarry were inside, he also manifested the Greater Dragonmark of Finding.
Avocado was immediately amazed while Grognak took the opportunity to ridicule Rask. Given the disparity between Avocado and Grognak, Grognak has a dim view of Dragonmarked house members and started asking Rask if he'd wear silk and perfume and go to fancy dinners, etc, etc. For me the reaction came so far out of left field. I was expecting they'd chase their prey straight to the tavern and burst in the front door. Instead they took 10 minutes to discuss Rask's dragonmark.
Eventually they burst in and fought the death-mother. They were suitably disgusted by the death-mother, and were a bit concerned for me that I would create such a monster (but I didn't create it. I just bought the PDF that had it. Completely different. Honest).
It was intended for the players to defeat the death-mother and find the 3 remaining soldiers hidden behind the tavern bar. This would result in Nari being heralded a hero and lead to the second half of the adventure. Instead the players wanted to go to the top floor so they could have a better view of the town.
Alright. I can handle that. I can even use it to my advantage. I asked for the marching order and as expected Nari brought up the rear. So I said "just as Nari is about to step onto the stairs she hears some moaning from behind the bar." Some of the other players started saying "I go look at the bar" but I wanted Nari's player to be the one who did it. This was her chance to be the hero. So i pointed out only Nari heard it so they all behaved. Nari said "I just ignore it and start walking up the stairs."
I couldn't believe my ears. First she's playing a cleric who has roleplayed ministering to the unfortunate and needy. She has actually acted like a priest and not just a war machine. Second the whole session and reason behind the session hinged on this one moment. It was a chance for Nari to be a hero and save the Silver Flame soldiers. And her player simply wanted to walk past it.
I'm happy for the players to do whatever they want (we had an entire adventure in the Gloaming because of Rask's player asking to go there). So I was going to just move on, but later the players told me they could see the horror on my face so it persuaded nari's player to go have a look at the bar.
Nari was suitably doted on with the other players thanked and quickly ignored in favour of giving the credit all to Nari. The other players joined in on this as well. The players learnt of Jolan Tankran and how William ir'Trasser is hunting him down. Jolan Tankran was a Karrnathi war criminal and so he's responsible for all the new and bizarre undead creatures roaming around (such as death-mothers which are 100% unique to the Mournlands).
In the very first adventure the players had to deal with a plague that was spreading through Sharn and turning people into zombies. It had all been because of an artifact created by Jolan Tankran. So this tied in suitably to that. The players and Silver Flame soldiers spent hours searching the entire village for Jolan Tankran. But he wasn't to be found.
They went to Amot Kur which took a month. It was intended for the players to each interact with specific NPCs and become friends with them while inside Amot Kur. They were also going to get Grand Master Training from the different NPCs (except for Nari who instead got the rank of Lieutenant and is now in the Order of Templars).However Grognak's player disrupted most of that by becoming diseased and then reaching the final stage.
I instead had to come up with a cure for a disease that was suppose to be incurable. I felt that effectively killing Grognak was a bit unfair on the player, so Avocado and Vorrok spent an entire week experimenting on guinea pigs and rats. Rask could have still spent time with one of the NPCs as I had originally intended, but he didn't trust Vorrok and so insisted on being in the same room as Grognak the whole time.
Aaah well. Avocado became extremely friendly with Vorrok as they concocted new ways to hurt, I mean "cure" Grognak. Eventually it came down to 5 options, 3 of which resulted in almost immediate death. I left the choice up to Avocado who chose a "cure" which seemed to work to a degree, before the rat choked and died horribly.
Avocado piped up with how he felt Grognak should be immersed in the liquid substance. It would be even better if Grognak swallowed some because apparently internal and external application results in being perfectly cured. Vorrok had no idea what Avocado was talking about, but he certainly didn't mind performing the experiment. He wanted to know what happened.
That night they brewed up the concoction and Vorrok said it was best to let it settle overnight. That night during dinner Nari was promoted. The next day she was ordered to go to Shaelas Tiraleth with a surgical squadron to assassinate the leader of the psychotic elves.
But first Grognak had to be cured. Nari insisted on it. So I rolled an arcana roll to see how well the concoction would work. I asked Avocado's player to help, although I had no idea what I was going to do if both of us rolled poorly. Avcaodo did roll poorly, fortunately I got a 19 on the dice.
However immersing Grognak in the liquid wasn't easy. First a couldron had to be filled up with the stuff. The cage that Grognak was in (that had a lock and the key was around Vorrok's neck as Rask had already tried to free Grognak once). So the cage had to be raised by a pulley system using rope, the couldron pushed to where the cage was and the cage then lowered into the couldron. My players seemed to take great delight as I described this process to them.
Fortunately Grognak was perfectly healed. And so a cure now exists for Shroudrot. That will affect future adventures in an interesting way.
The players then went to Shaelas Tiraleth. Just before they reached it they fought 2 Living Flaming Spheres and some clouds of daggers on a battlefield littered with corpses. The living spells which fly weren't hampered by this whatsoever.
I then described Shaelas Tiraleth as looking like a gigantic silver tree. Grognak pipes up "lets burn it." So I had to clarify that it was really big. So he said "alright. We'll burn it." I finally described it as similar in size to the the giant tree in Avatar. That's when they realised it wasn't going to be as easy as chopping down a tree.
At this point Avocado pipes up "what's our mission exactly?" When he learns its to kill the leader of an elf who lives inside a giant tree he said "wait a minute. I'm a half-elf. This doesn't feel right." And that's where the session ended for the night.
I hope someone enjoyed reading this
I was the editor on the Purifiers product and I was sad that it didn't get much love, since a lot of love went into it. It's good to see someone using it and having fun with it!
Adam Dray