The Party: 10th level
(Drow) Cleric 6/Harbinger of Kiarensalee 2
(Deep Imaskari) Ninja 7/Shadow Dancer 3
(Neanderthal) Dragon Shaman 10 (red)
(Tiefling) Sorcerer 9
note: The dragon shaman can shed an aura to give everyone in 30 feet 15 fire resistance.
For word:
My players dont read these forums so i can do this safely. IF they do find out, theyre only killing it for themselves.
They are on the second leg of a campaign set in the underdark and this with one i plan to make a shock play to the elemental plane of fire. The party is equipted to handle it, even if they do not know it and im hopeing if all goes well it should be a memorable one.
In the past i have run a memorable detour to the plane of fire in the middle of an underdark campaign - but i feel i didnt do it any justice. I made this dungeon in the hopes of capturing the cruelty of the Efreeti as slavers and also the mercilessnes of the plane itself.
Anyway without furthur adue - a Summery:
Prologue:
The players begin at the end of the last campaign. They are turning in a major exploratory quest for a drow house in Menzoberranzan when the house comes under attack by its rivals. The matron in her haste shouts orders back and forth and as she exits makes a snap decision to have the players executed as spys. She ports to her villa while the players fight theyre way through her arcane gaurds and attempt to find theyre way out of the embattled house. Along the way they encounter a shield golem, a 13th level assasin, Turncoats, a hungry troll and even a mohrg but finally they should either find the hidden clues to activating a portal or find a well hidden secret door and escape into a back alley.
Regardless of what happens at the destination they are surrounded and confronted by theyre guild, the minions of the skull. The minions offer to get them out of the city before the matron musters her allys and takes the house back. They are sure that she will win, house despana is a force only a fool or a council house would trifal with. In truth, the minions of the skull do not want to be implicated in the attack and the assasin they encounter was actually sent by the minions. They activate a gate spell and send the players out into the planes - where they end up, not even the minions know. Whatever the case they end up teleported to the interior of a Palace made of Firebrass upon the elemental plane of fire.
The Dungeon:
The Palace is a 2-building complex with a bridge that spans a 180-foot lava flow. Inside the palace conditions are as follows:
Maximised Fire Magic
Impeeded water magic (Spell craft DC 20 + spell level to cast)
Contact with Walls deals d6 fire damage
Contact with Floors deal 1 Fire damage
This was done using the City of Brass from the DMG encounter example as a good base line for a structure built to house slaves / guests from the material plane.
even so it might take them a couple rounds to realise they are actually on the plane of fire because they begin within the palace but they will find out eventually or figure it out with the appropriate knowledge check.
The first few combats in the palace involve a run in with 3 efreeti gate gaurds and later in 2 more efreeti protecting a hall (depending where they go). There is also a run in with a Noble Salamander / Force cage trap, 4 salamanders attempting to bar a door and another 6 salamanders emerging 2 by 2 from a pool of lava. Eventually during theyre explorations of the first level they will come to the realisation the place is a large slave processing centre, tho the slaves kept in this quater are already bought and ready for export.
They will realise this around about the time they encounter either Sidora (a drow slaver) or Slavarak (An illithid slaver) somewhere in the guest quaters. Both have been trapped for 2 days after having bought theyre slaves and are awaiting the Efreeti slave lords return to open up the portal back to the underdark. During this time however both have begun to plot scheme and brood to kill the other to double theyre slaves. They do not have any intention to get involved in the players vendetta (if any) against the efreeti and instead offer them money to kill theyre rival, aswell as more job opportunitys upon the material if they can figure out a way to escape. If the players go back and forth between the two they offer more and more gold until 3000 is reached, if the players keep doing this the illithid turns out to have 600 more gold to offer than the drow (to serve as an easy choice if the players are materialistic like that). Whatever the result one party (or even possibly both!) will end up dead and the players will gain an ally and learn some information about the complex and what its all about. Ofcourse i dont care if the players decide to kill both parties - but it will work against them, and my players realise working to build more plot works in theyre favor.
The final things of intrigue in this part of the dungeon other than some flavor rooms with no real purpose is a bizzar statue offering a chest on the other side of a pit of lava with stepping stones. Removing the chest triggers a blade barrier trap AND begins to drop the stepping stones into the lava. It is a deadly trap but it has a simple method to solve it given the players gather enough information about how to dissarm the trap - the trigger is a true seeing effect on the statues eyes which focus upon the chest. If they blindfold the statue or dispell the effect the blade barrier is countered - but the dropping stepping stones are not. Each stepping stone gets an initiative against the players - and they drop at +0 initiative, which may lead to some jump checks etc. this is designed for the party ninja, even tho it is dangerous - it takes into account her ability to jump without a run up etc.
The final area of the level if they visit it was constructed by fiends - a torture chamber. They gain great pleasure feeding off the emotions of the dieing tortured slaves and find makeing deals with slaves for a merciful death is an easy way to ship new souls to the hells from unwitting and desperate primes. The Torture chambers is comprised of 3 sections - the main torture room, the bone room and the store room. There is also an outside area called the crematorium where they put the corpses to burn away to ashes. Also seperate but in the same area from the rest of the torture chamber is an interrogation room where a Half orc female barbarians screams of rage and defiance can be heard. Torturing her is a salamander noble who doesnt like being interupted - attacking the players when they enter. The barbarians name is Doucral and she wants nothing more than revenge upon those who put her in here. She makes a powerful (lvl 12) ally for the party and furthurs exploration into the torture chambers as all her gear is in there. Even if they kill her while she is helpless, they will have found out about her things before that point. In the torture chamber itself are 4 Pain devils and alot of "Saw Like" cruel traps and devices. I took inspiration from the Saw movies to add to the gut wrenching horror of the room - the devils fight as per theyre tactics in fiendish codex 2, but flee if 2 are killed. They make sure during the fight to kill all the prisoners in the chamber to deny the players any hope of rescueing anyone.
The chamber off from this is the bone room, it is sealed shut. The Efreeti Slavers had a red dragon subdued and tortured to death for failing to decipher a book (luring it in there saying they were keeping a reward for its horde in there). Scrolls, bags and other items crafted from its hide litter the dungeon and because its death was so horrible it has re-animated as a skeleton and now lurks in an alcove attacking anything that enters the chamber in its mindlessness. The pain devils take great pleasure in watching it savage prisoners that they cannot break. The pain devils are unaware that the discarded hilt of a legendary sword lies abandoned within the alcove with the dragon. beyond it is the storage room which the devils have barred (as they can teleport in and out, the door is only there out of courtesy). The Store room has a final door for secure storage with a lock on it, but the lock is false and is really a trap trigger. Devils dont need locks or doors. anything that does is obviously an intruder and triggers an EL 11 lasting pain trap from dungeon scape. Doucrals stuff aswell as some other useful items confiscated from all sorts of beings are located beyond.
After that furthur exploration reveals two other areas. A severe breach in a wall leading out to the scalding wasteland beyond which is defended by salamanders holding off disparate elemental attacks. The players will note this beyond the breach - but do not necessarily have to fight them or go beyond it. Its going to be somewhat discouraged. The other area is a blistering hot door that opens out onto a 160 foot brass bridge that crosses over to an elaborate brass structure on the other side of an immense lava flow.
Crossing the bridge exposes the party to the full extremes of the plane of fire itself which are as follows:
Maximised fire magic
Impeded magic of the water descriptor (DC 20+Spell level caster level check required)
3d10 fire damage per round
The bridge is ungaurded at first glance, but is ocassionally sprayed with flecks of lava. These lava drops bubble and hiss and some coagulate into Miagmins which patter around before jumping back into the lava bellow (the players can attempt to spot this , or notice it if they observe for a few minutes) Also a pair of rasts dwells under the bridge. Crossing the bridge triggers a combat with 8 Miagmins and both Rasts - this may cause the players to simply break and retreat or try to run across the other side. If they hold theyre ground and win, they will be able to find that there is an obsidian stair cavern off the side of the bridge across a span of built up barely solid obsidian piled up on the bridge side. Exploring down here reveals a nook in the obsidian leading to a Cyst formed beneath the surface of the lava where a small shrine has been built honoring Kossuth the lord of flames with a pillar of twisting magma. The partys sorcerer or cleric can draw power from here if they realise with an apropriate knowledge arcana check, identifying the area as a heart of flame. Whatever the case, the area is 1d10 hotter than the exterior to staying in the shrine is sweltering but drawing power from it gives a 1 year benefit of +1 Caster level to fire spells.
The Dungeon is strewed with many good quality rewards that might not help much on the plane of fire, but will be much more apreciated upon the material. A Flame tongue' hidden in an armory, a White Dragon draft (giving a 12d10 cone of cold breath weapon for 1 round ) found amidst the devils stash. The three parts to a legendary great sword named Crimson Ruination from weapons of Legacy which can be reforged later on with the magical "forge of the weapon smith" (which grants +20 to the DC to forge/reforge weapons) The hilt is hidden in the bone room, the shards are protected furthur in by a clay golem and the pommel jewel is a reward give for a side quest. In addition a generously filled spellbook is located in the posession of a Brass dragon who is attempting to figure out how to translate its cryptic means of opening. This is a challange from the Book of challanges called Zyphurs spellbook and i put it in relativly unchanged. The Dragon was tempted into helping out with an offer to expand its horde if it succeded. If the players can help it figure out the book it gives them a pommel jewel it discovered in the chamber but has a feirce aversion too - he feels something about it feels very wrong. but the players might apreciate it more. The book itself if they manage to take it (the dragon needs to be convinced to give it up but otherwise doesnt get violent over the book) has many good and obscure spells the sorcerer may cast out of it like a scroll. The Dragon meanwhile can be convinced into waiting at the underdark portal to return to the material but cannot be convinced to take on the efreeti. It might even attempt to subdue the party if it feels them a threat to itself, or it getting its reward. Either way they need to negotiate with the dragons needs before continueing which may result in gaining the book (or simply takeing it on the way out).
The second part of the dungeon stores all the slaves in 2 large over crowded slave warrens. the players fight a huge fire elemental patrolling the main hallway like an advancing fire front, have two more encounters with fire salamander mercinarys and find a few intrigueing chambers that tell the story of how the slaves are sold. The best armory is located here, but entering without the key activates the baked-clay golem sentry (who is also protecting the shards that form the legendary swords blade in a locked - power word stun - protected brass chest). The Clay golem is a difficult fight, but there is a way to make it easier just a few chambers away. The Forge of the Weapon Master - Tended to by a feirsom Ken-li weaponsmith and fueled by 5 Medium fire elementals. If the players vanquish him they find he posesses a Clay scarab of Golem bane and a light adamantine forgeing hammer. They can use the forge here to re-assemble the broken blade when they discover what it actually is - the seared but for the most part fireproofed journal of the legendary knight who once wielded Crimson ruination is kept within a bookshelf in the Efreeti slaver lords magic lamp.
When all is said and done the players might have learned that the slaver lord dwells within the grand tower of the building but enroute to it they are engaged by 2 Salamanders riding inferno spiders and a Fire Genasi favored soul of Kossuth flanked by 2 un-mounted salamanders. Battle looks certain but after the cavlary charge the players she engages her own body gaurds in combat. In the aftermath she explains she is named Shishari and she is the Efreeti's daughter. The only reason he kept and raised her when he sold so many others was because she was born different. Over the years she has grown a deep resent for him as he doesnt love her, he meerly uses her and flaunts her like a trophy of Kossuths blessing. Today is the day she breaks free of him forever, and with the players help, she might be able to begin the quest to find her mother - a drow woman who was sold to a house in ched nassad. Im not sure if the players will trust her. Im happy to role with the punches on this one - but she is very useful because of her Searing spell feat which alows her to damage fire resistant creatures. She tells the players everything they need to know about her father to give them the best chance of defeating the powerful efreeti in battle.
When they finally confront him at the top of the tower there will be some dialogue and dealing. He will be furious that the players have dared to butcher his gaurds, set free his slaves and trash his home. Worse he will completely turn on his daughter if present calling her an ingrate and a whelp. He conducts a cruel fight - summoning 2 Bloodfire oozes to assist him as he battles. 4 glyphs of warding exist throughout the battle ground and he attempts to manuver the players onto these. Ultimately tho if threatened with being vanquished he attempts to flee in a cloud of embers out one of his tower windows vowing revenge and leaving his elaborately bejweled magic lamp behind.
With the battle done and the means to opening the portals to the underdark secure again the party needs to battle back through the bridge denizens - meet up with whoever they allied with and escape whilst wild fire elementals move in to invade the domain of the vanquished Efreeti slavers. Everyone from Doucral, to Sidora or Slavarak, Shishara and the Brass dragon who is yet to be named shall be waiting at the portal for the players to acivate it with the efreeti's portal stone.
Meanwhile however with the slaver lord defeated many of the perimeter gaurds begin to abandon theyre positions and loot the palace. They will face about 3 random encounters on the way back to the portal room as chaos reigns - fleeing through the portal to the underdark with whomever else they saved.
From there onwards i have not made plans. But i expect they will be deposited at some location in the middle dark near civilisation - possibly Ched'Nassad. 
Otherwise thats what i have written so far. how does it sound?