Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 frostden Nov 08, 2008 19:21:41	This module consists of a chase scene through a highly interactive environment. The force is initially insurmountable, but as the party is pursued through the keep they barricade rooms behind them to give them time to break into the next area and lay traps for their pursuers. A massive winged demon pursues them, filling a similar role to the t-rex in Jurassic park. It smashes down walls, chases the party, and rips through its own men to corner them. This module can be inserted into any adventure where the players are travelling. This rendition assumes the Thunderspire Labyrinth setting, and places the bridge over a magma river. The party has a guide with them, Terelan Darkstalker. Darkstalker gives clues as to how to overcome obstacles if the party is slow (E.g. Is there any way we can trap this room? How can we barricade that door? Hang on a sec, maybe there’s more we can do here to slow them down. What’s that over there?). If the party can’t figure out a section with hints, Terelan will actively solve them. The encounter also features a mini mystery as to who a traitor was. Module Summary: 1. Courtyard. The players attempt to wind up the drawbridge while the demon tries to yank it down. Failure lets some hyenas across. Players escape up belltower. 2. Belltower. Players try to get up belltower, gnolls follow. Demon attacks bell tower. Players can cut down bell. 3. Roof. Gnolls start battering down door. Players can delay gnolls here before descending. 4. Library. A good area for barricades 5. Pit. Large pit room with a tapestry on the wall. Good for setting a pit trap for pursuers. 6. Dining hall. The roof here is missing, enabling the demon to ambush the party. 7. Chasm. Needs to be crossed somehow. A good room for a sabotaged bridge trap. 8. Storeroom. Lots of flamable materials make this room good for a fire trap. 9. Slave quarters. 10. Kitchen. A boiler system and valve puzzle. Overloading the system sets a bomb to catch the demon trying to break down the wall. 11. Barracks. Dummies with swords on poles can be rigged to slow pursuers. 12. Escape. Using clues gleaned from the fort, the bridge can be destroyed, killing the pursuing gnolls. The demon escapes, leading to the climatic battle. Intro text. The cave system gives way to a small clearing, beyond which yawns a massive chasm. A bridge crosses the chasm, but it is unlike any bridge you’ve ever seen before. Rather than fortifying either anchor point, a fort is built onto the surface of the bridge itself. A drawbridge extends from the keep to the edge of the chasm, providing the only access. The bridge is held up by a massive pile beneath it, extending all the way to the magma river, hundreds of feet bellow. It looks like at some point this bridge was under siege, as catapults and other siege equipment liter the ground outside. The victor is unclear. You feel an odd vibration beneath your feet. A cackling laugh issues from the cavern behind you. Terelan looks up at you, the colour draining from his face. “Oh no...run!" Without another word, he dashes across the drawbridge. A large force begins to exit the tunnel behind you. Hyenas track ahead of the main pack, ranging up and then back to their gnoll masters. An ominous glow emanates from the entrance to the tunnel as it emerges. At least 50 gnolls lope out of the tunnel, making for the bridge. Area 1: Courtyard You’re in the courtyard of the fort. A fortified wall stands behind you, the drawbridge extended. There’s a crank to the right of the drawbridge. Ahead stands the keep proper, a heavy iron door stands solidly at the entrance, heavy stone gargoyles looming above. To your left is a bell tower. A plank of some sort stretches from the top of the tower to the roof of the keep. A massive trapdoor lies to the south, but there is no apparent mechanism to open it. When the players wind up the drawbridge The drawbridge starts to retract, but the hyena’s race towards it. They leap onto the drawbridge, hind paws scrabbling for a purchase. The demon lumbers forward, wading through the gnoll host, a huge talon grasping onto the edge, trying to stop it from shutting. Player passes strength check: The drawbridge snaps shut, the energy stored in the chains springing closed with a jerk, catching the unfortunate hyenas between the bridge and the wall. Players fail a strength test. The demon manages to hold the drawbridge down long enough for the hyenas to scurry on. They scamper and slide down the inclined surface, landing in a disorganized pile before snarling to their feet. Hyenas attack players. If the players try to enter the main door: The door is steadfastly closed. Without siege equipment, you’re not getting in this way. Clue: Proclamation Proclamation pinned to the side of the bell tower: The castle mourns the death of our chef, poisoned by traitors. Be on the lookout for these fiends, lest they sell the keep to blackguards. Area 2: The bell tower. Into the bell tower: An internal staircase winds up the bell tower. As you enter, you notice grappling hooks clanging over the walls of the keep. (If the players take up stations on the wall, have hordes of archers shoot back. It should be clear this is not feasible) You hear the drawbridge drop with a crash. The gnolls have breached the courtyard. A few meters bellow, gnolls scurry into the bell tower in pursuit. The players ascend the bell tower. The gnolls with bows will take shots if they have them, and tumble down if hit. The demon bridges the gap and lands on the side of the tower: A loud, dull crunch emanates from the wall of the tower, a few bricks pushed in as something heavy hits the side, the whole tower swaying with the impact. A sword penetrates the wall, before retracting. When the players reach the top: The heavy bell is secured by a frayed rope. A Plank leads from the upper platform onto the roof of the keep. Suggested action: Cut the rope. The bell plummets down the tower, clanging as it drops, smashing through the staircases and any unfortunate gnolls caught in the way. No one else is using that staircase. Area 3: On the roof (flat grey area of map. Only part of the roof is pictured): The roof of the keep is made of buttressed blocks. A staircase provides access to the interior. Hideous gargoyles perch, overlooking the entrance. You see a group of gnolls approach the heavy door, totting a battering ram salvage from the clearing. Suggested action: Push a gargoyle down. The gargoyle tilts, and then plummets to the ground 30 feet bellow. A slick crunch is followed by a loud crash as 3 gnolls are turned to a fine red paste. Area 4: The library downstairs: This room appears to be a study of some sort. Two bookshelves sit on either side of the room. The door leading out is secured with a padlock. Suggested actions: Barricade door with bookcase. Pick lock. Brace against bookcase until lock picked. The gnolls burst through the main door. The battering ram being too unwieldy to bring inside, they throw themselves at the blocked door. The bookcase tilts precariously as they charge. Area 5: The pit. It’s unclear what this room’s purpose was. The floor in the centre of the room is missing, showing the magma river hundreds of feet below. The walls are adorned with large, brightly coloured tapestries. A few tight tables sit in the corners of the room. The door on this side has the same latch as the other. Suggested actions: Lock the door behind them with the padlock. Use tapestries to make a pit trap. Area 6: The dining hall. The door to this room has a bolt on your side. A massive table dominates this room. Light streams in from a hole in the ceiling. With a crash, the demon descends, landing in the middle of the table in a cloud of splinters. It holds two gnolls in one hand by the scruffs of their necks. Suggested action: Retreat into area 5. Throw the bolt. Area 7: The chasm. This room is in even worse condition than the one before. A massive chasm shows where the floorboards have been ripped up. A door is open to the east, swaying towards you as it hangs from one hinge. Suggested action: Use the door to cross the chasm. Sabotage the door to give way when the next gnoll crosses. Area 8: The storeroom. This room smells strongly of decomposing organic matter. Piles of salted meat decompose along the walls, and the centre of the room is stacked with barrels of ale and sacks of flour. This room has a large number of supplies, everything from rope to lamp oil. The door exiting here is stuck. Heat and moisture have lead to it expanding in it's frame. Suggested action: Trap the previous door to ignite the ale and flour: e.g., place a lit torch above the door, oil or ale leading to the supplies in the centre. Force the blocking door. Area 9: The slave’s quarters: This area is lined with low quality bunk beds. It was likely a servants quarters of some sort. The door frame to the west is empty from your makeshift bridge. Two rooms away, arches take aim. Suggested actions: Push a bed in front of the door, move onto area 10. Clue: Diary A diary is hidden beneath whichever bed is moved. The last entry reads. The guards questioned me today about the chef’s death. Thought I might have something to do with the poison they found in the spice jar. I said I didn’t have a thing to do with it. Truth is, earlier that day I’d spilt a couple of jars of spice. I tried to scoop them back into the jars, but some got mixed up. Could one of them have had the poison in it? Area 10: The kitchen. A large boiler dominates the southern wall, using the heat of the magma river bellow to funnel steam into the benches to the west. The walls are lined with rusty knifes and utensils. A valve allows excess steam to escape the boiler, hissing along pipes to escape through a vent in the ceiling. Another valve leads to the benches. Two service windows adorn the northern wall for the cooks to pass food to the dining hall beyond. You can hear crashing on the other side as the gnolls try to get through to the pit room. A wheeled trolley with knives and other utensils site in the south east corner of the room. Clue: Chefs cookbook This book has been scrawled on with invisible ink, maybe lemon juice. With heat and time, the words have become browned and clearly legible. It’s probably foolish to keep a record of my activities, but if the captain finds these recipes I’m dead anyway. I was contacted by the opposing general with an intriguing offer. As the keeps chef, I won’t look suspicious if I import a variety of unusual items and spend some time working with a mortar and pestle. I have been tasked with preparing and affixing explosives to the support struts. I have concealed the detonator on the east shore, buried sideways beneath the south corner of the drawbridge. I will trigger it once my gold is prepared. Now, I just have to make sure I don’t mix up the explosives with the spices. A rather painful end, I’d imagine. If the party looks out the windows: The gnolls notice you’ve relocated, and scurry over to the windows. One barges at the door, while the other shoots arrows through the window. A small while later: A strangled yelp escapes one gnoll as a clawed talon wraps around its waist. The demon flings it behind it, yelping into the distance. One massive hand reaches through each window, as it starts to wrench on the wall. The mortar begins to give way. Suggested action: Wedge the trolley with knives between the door and the boiler. Close both valves from the boiler. Area 11: This long area appears to be a barracks and training area. Beds line one wall, and archery targets adorn the opposite wall. In the middle of the room, wooden dummies on poles stand on posts, one arm outstretched and wielding a sword. Suggested actions: Start the dummies spinning to slow pursuers. Area 12: You escape the keep well ahead of the gnoll forces. If the players seek the detonator: The detonator is buried about a foot down, right where the chefs log said it would be. It’s a simple box with a plunger. If the players don’t seek the detonator: A massive thwump emanates from the keep. In all the fighting, a fire has broken out. It seems to have spread to the ammunition stores. Either way: A series of explosions wrack the keep, cracking explosions tracing a destructive path through the structure. The heavy iron door twists under the force of the demon behind it, shouldering its way through the frame, getting stuck half way. Fireballs engulf the bridge as it lists to the left, the drawbridge pulling away from the shore as the whole thing starts to plummet. The demon gives a massive last pull, struggling to free itself from the doorframe…and succeeds. It takes to the air, powerful wings beating as it alights in front of you. It is backlit by the exploding keep, listing crazily as it tips into the lava river, carrying the bulk of the gnoll party to a fiery death. Its face sprouts a dozen white hot knives, driven deep into its crimson flesh. Terelan is doubled over, hyperventilating. It wraps it huge talons around Terelan, bringing him to eye level. “You come with me” “No, please…no, leave me…ah…what’s…ahhhhhhh!” Terelan's eyes roll up in his had as his shoulders broaden, expanding frame opening the demons hands. His face elongates into a muzzle, a ragged main bursting from his neck. With a howl, the transformation completes, the ragged creature launching itself at the bloodied demon. A three way battle then breaks out between the demon, Terelan, and the PCs on the edge of the magma river.
#2 balth99 Nov 22, 2008 10:36:58	This looks inventive; I will give it a go with my players who are just starting H2!
#3 frostden Nov 22, 2008 15:59:09	Sweet, tell me how it goes! I ran it with my players a few weeks back, and made one small adjustment to keep the pressure up: The gnolls chasing are predominantly archers. If the players take too long on a section, or fail to trap a section adequately, the archers manage to find a position to get some free shots in (Eg, 2 - 4 per failed section). If the players creatively delay the gnolls with traps and impedements of their own (Eg, Area effects) then they get shot credits, so they can afford to fail later areas. They also pointed out that it didn't make sense that they climbed a massive belltower and got off on the second level of the castle. Anyway, get back to me with how it went!
#4 stupidmop Nov 24, 2008 11:45:07	This is really awesome. I am going to have to beef up the baddies, since my players are going to be level 11, but this is awesome. Real nice work man, I apreciate it.
#5 frostden Nov 26, 2008 1:03:31	Go for gold, hope you enjoy it! Get make to me on how it goes so I can make any needed adjustments. One other thing I remember from when my players went through it, an unexpected quote when they realised that at some point the chefs ingredients got muddled. "So, is the bridged rigged with explosives, or nutmeg?"
#6 ramses_iii Nov 26, 2008 19:50:23	Go for gold, hope you enjoy it! Get make to me on how it goes so I can make any needed adjustments. One other thing I remember from when my players went through it, an unexpected quote when they realised that at some point the chefs ingredients got muddled. "So, is the bridged rigged with explosives, or nutmeg?" That could definitely make for a funny kind of "oh, !" moment. I like the setup -- I've done a cinematic chase scene like this earlier in my homebrew 4E campaign and it went off well. Mine was an urban chase with hazards the PCs or NPCs could activate in the market district; i.e. carts of fruit and fish tipped over and the like. This is well thought out; I'd like to adapt it if I find a place it fits in my campaign (and I think I've got a pretty good idea for one).
#7 minja_dup Nov 27, 2008 10:15:02	Great idea, I love it. I wish I was playing in it. :D
#8 frostden Dec 04, 2008 2:27:08	Thanks guys! If you do run it, make sure you tell me how it went!
#9 Aldoth Dec 05, 2008 1:47:05	Two thumbs up for the win
#10 balth99 Dec 13, 2008 22:36:34	I was sad they didn't give stats nor a small hook/story arc for him, I am glad you did. What monster did you use, and what stats did you use for Darkstalker? And I assume you used this as the vehicle to cure him? (or kill him)
#11 aranos Dec 14, 2008 18:15:08	Dude I totally needed something like this for my encounter at the Temple of Tiamat. This is awsome thanks.
#12 frostden Dec 14, 2008 23:29:24	When he is a human, I used the stats of a two weapon fighter ranger. I figured he would be an underground ranger equivlant. When he transformed, I used the stats of a level 7 Werewolf. I had him randomly attack either the party or the demon, weighted towards whoever did the most distracting thing last turn (So, something that damaged him, or something flashy). As far as curing him is concerned, I used the fire room quest from one of the dungeon magazines. I can't remember the issue off hand, but it had a room with a number of flame spouting statues that lit up one after another, ushering the players towards the middle of the chamber and some summoned hell hounds.
#13 Myrhdraak Dec 15, 2008 8:26:04	I really liked this chase seen and will try to incorporate it into my H2: Demon Prince of Undeath Conversion Guide, with credits to you for the original work. It works as a better than the provided encounter "Interlude 2: The Ambush" Show PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS IN HERE - DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY PLAYING THE ADVENTURES H1 Conversion Guide: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/Documents/H1-H3_Orcus_Conversion.pdf H2 Conversion Guide: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/Documents/H2_Orcus_Conversion.pdf I you want to read our game chronicles you may find them at: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/index.htm
#14 Myrhdraak Dec 16, 2008 17:08:52	Here is my contribution to a very good chase encounter. Just a small additions to it. You can find it in the H2 Conversion Guide on page 29-35 Show PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS IN HERE - DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY PLAYING THE ADVENTURES H1 Conversion Guide: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/Documents/H1-H3_Orcus_Conversion.pdf H2 Conversion Guide: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/Documents/H2_Orcus_Conversion.pdf I you want to read our game chronicles you may find them at: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/index.htm
#15 Lazulli Dec 16, 2008 18:32:49	This is a really creative adventure with some really nice touches (I love the belltower bit). I like things like this because they tend to catch groups off guard and they have to think hard and fast.
#16 Myrhdraak Dec 18, 2008 14:17:01	I have reworked the map from Frostden's orginal version. Is a roof version needed to understand that the chase goes through the upper levels? You find the maps on page 30 and 46 in the H2 Conversion Guide. Show PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS IN HERE - DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY PLAYING THE ADVENTURES H1 Conversion Guide: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/Documents/H1-H3_Orcus_Conversion.pdf H2 Conversion Guide: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/Documents/H2_Orcus_Conversion.pdf I you want to read our game chronicles you may find them at: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/index.htm
#17 frostden Dec 18, 2008 18:14:14	Wow, that map is incredible! Certainly puts my rpg maker one to shame. Im flattered that you've included my module, you've certainly done a very good job with it! My one concern would be the number of DC 12 insight checks that the players can make to solve the rooms. Even with a party with no character with a wisdom over 10, the party only has a 3% chance of not being given the answer to a section. My worry would be that the encounter would end up playing itself. I used Terelan to give the players hints to make it less mechanical, while still giving them an out if a section was too hard. Giving players with good initiative hints if they pass a check could achieve the same result. Other than that, it looks very good!
#18 Myrhdraak Dec 19, 2008 3:02:02	Wow, that map is incredible! Certainly puts my rpg maker one to shame. Im flattered that you've included my module, you've certainly done a very good job with it! My one concern would be the number of DC 12 insight checks that the players can make to solve the rooms. Even with a party with no character with a wisdom over 10, the party only has a 3% chance of not being given the answer to a section. My worry would be that the encounter would end up playing itself. I used Terelan to give the players hints to make it less mechanical, while still giving them an out if a section was too hard. Giving players with good initiative hints if they pass a check could achieve the same result. Other than that, it looks very good! I have used the medium skill challenge level of DC 12, but maybe I should use the DC 17 Hard level instead? My gut feeling is that these new skill challenge levels by WotC are to low, it feels many times to easy.
#19 Myrhdraak Dec 26, 2008 16:40:59	Back from Christmas celebrations - back to work :-) I have now added the two upper levels of the hold, please note the cracks in the roof on level 2, south of the "main tower", this is the damaged area the dragon uses to come crashing down into Area 4. Area 4 has also a damaged flooring with many cracks in the middle. This is the weak area the dragon uses to get down to Area 7 (right above the main table). Show PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS IN HERE - DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY PLAYING THE ADVENTURES H1 Conversion Guide: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/Documents/H1-H3_Orcus_Conversion.pdf H2 Conversion Guide: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/Documents/H2_Orcus_Conversion.pdf I you want to read our game chronicles you may find them at: http://web.comhem.se/mwester/Shadowfell/index.htm